out, and the old grandfather sat holding a white-haired boy. When
dinner was over, the great business of drying the clothes was resumed by
the travellers and the family; and we held our wrappings by the fire,
and turned them about, until we became so drowsy that we lost all sense
of responsibility. We found, the next morning, that our host sat up and
finished all that were left undone. He had become so accustomed to this
kind of work, that he did not seem to consider it was any thing extra,
or that it entitled him to any further compensation than the usual one
for a meal and a night's lodging. When we offered something more, he
pointed to a little box nailed up beside the door, over which was a
notice that any one who wished might contribute something for a school
which the Sisters were attempting to open for the children of that
neighborhood. Being Scotch people, I could hardly believe they were
Catholics; but found upon inquiry that their views were so liberal as to
enable them to appreciate the advantages of education, by whomsoever
offered. I was quite touched by McDonald's little contribution to
civilization, in the midst of the wilderness. As I looked back, in
leaving, at the great trees and the exquisitely curved slope of his
little clearing, I felt that in the small log house was something worthy
of the fine surroundings.

OLYMPIA, December 23, 1866.

When we reached Cowlitz Landing, we found the river quite different in
character from what we had known it before. It had risen many feet above
its ordinary level, and was still rising, and had become a wide, fierce,
and rushing stream, bearing on its surface great trees and fragments of
wrecked buildings, swiftly sailing down to the Columbia. How serenely we
descended the river last year, floating along at sunset, admiring the
lovely valley and the hills, reaching over the side of the canoe, and
soaking our biscuits in the glacier-water, without once thinking of the
vicissitudes to which we were liable from its mountain origin!

The little steamer that recently had begun to compete with the Indian
canoes in the traffic of the river, and the carrying of passengers, did
not dare to attempt to ascend it. Navigation was not to be thought of by
ordinary boats, or by white men, and was possible only by canoes in the
most trusty hands. No land-conveyance could be had at this point. We
were told that we might take the stream, by those familiar with it, if
we could f