CORRESPONDENCE 309
ney: 124 these journeys are often performed in the dead of winter while the rain is falling every day; all groceries and store goods are obtained in this way, except such as are purchased off of ships. The people have just put in opera- tion a mill sufficient to meet the home demand, and the days of privation are fast passing by. Now the actual expense of living in Oregon, with half the comforts of life, is twice as great as it is in the western states, and how to meet these expenses of your missionaries is the question to be considered. Articles of clothing are exceedingly difficult to be obtained here. Sisters of the churches could make up clothing or send the articles unmade, or even half worn clothing, such as is laid by, and would contribute largely to our wants. They would probably thus provide for us with great cheerfulness; at the same time it would not at all diminish the annual cash contributions. You can have no conception of the manner in which we are clad in our ordinary business. We are still wearing old clothes which we had laid aside as unfit for use in the Western states, and have purchased but a few of the most common articles, and those of the coarse and substantial kind when they could be obtained. We still prefer to practice this kind of self-denial to the abandonment of our enterprise, while we have the hope left that we may be made instrumental in laying the foundation of the cause of Christian civilization where it is so much needed. We wish not to make the gospel an item of merchandise, and I think both Brother Johnson and my- self are willing to practice the most rigid economy for the sake of carrying out the great object of our mission. As to the amount necessary to sustain our families, you will be able to judge by referring to the Methodist Board to find what it costs them to sustain the families of their ministers in this field. It may be proper to write a few lines relative to the sufferings of the late emigration which in far too many cases have been great, and in some cases perhaps without parallel
124 These were probably brought from Vancouver or Oregon City, and possibly also from Portland.
