58 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
We are in daily expectation of the arrival of a vessel freighted with Roman missionaries, priests, teachers, nuns and missionary funds to the amount, it is said, of $130,000 to be expended in Oregon. Can we, must we labor five or six days with our hands and then, when the Sabbath re- turns, go worn down in body (and shall I say in spirit) and but half prepared to the place where God is to be publicly worshipped and there meet the congregations and proclaim to them the words of Eternal Life? But God is our helper, and His promise does not fail. Even in these trying circum- stances we often feel an assurance of the Divine presence in the little groups to which we preach.
You request me to be specific in making my reports ac- cording to the instructions contained in our appointments. I must be honest in this matter. For the last six months my labors have been principally confined to the Sabbath ; my visits of a pastoral kind have been few. In our county we have not sustained a prayer-meeting; but we are beginning to make an effort to sustain the monthly concert. On our removal to these plains, we immediately organized a Sabbath school and Bible class in connection with the Presbyterians. There are about twenty-five Sabbath school children and I have a Bible class of about ten middle-aged and young men. Mrs. Fisher and our daughter have each a class. We have a small library of about thirty volumes and expect to obtain an addition from books sent out by the Massachusetts S. S. Society. We have made this temporary arrangement and addressed the corresponding secretary of the A. S. S. Union, soliciting a donation of books. Our Sabbath exercises are conducted as follows: Preaching at 11 o'clock A. M. ; inter- mission; Sunday school, after which we spend about an hour in singing.
Our plains extend from the mouth of the Columbia River along the beach south about fifteen miles, and, for the sake of our Sabbath school, we have deemed it expedient to meet and preach with the Presbyterians, the Presbyterian minister
