the old streets of
Mayence. She recalled the legends and music of the river of song--a river
that she had once thought to be the most beautiful on earth. But what were
the hills of the Rhine to the scenery that pierced the blue sky around
her, and how light seemed the river itself to the majestic flow of the
Columbia! Yet the home-land haunted her. Would she go back again? How
would her real parents have felt had they known that she would have found
a home here in the wilderness? Why had Providence led her steps here? Her
mother had been a pious Lutheran. Had she been led here to help in some
future mission to the Indian race?

"Dreaming?" said Mrs. Woods. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped. If a
body has the misfortune to be kiting off to the clouds, going up like an
eagle and coming down like a goose, it can't be helped. There are a great
many things that can't be helped in this world, and all we can do is to
make the best of them. Some people were born to live in the skies, and it
makes it hard for those who have to try to live with them. Job suffered
some things, but--I won't scold out here--I have my trials; but it may be
they are all for the best, as the Scripture says."

These forbearing remarks were not wholly meant for Gretchen's reproval.
Mrs. Woods liked to have the world know that she had her trials, and she
was pleased to find so many ears on this bright morning open to her
experiences.

She liked to say to Gretchen things that were meant for other ears; there
was novelty in the indirection. She also was accustomed to quote freely
from the Scriptures and from the Methodist hymnbook, which was almost her
only accomplishment. She had led a simple, hard-working life in her
girlhood; had become a follower of Jason Lee during one of the old-time
revivals of religion; had heard of the Methodist emigration to Oregon, and
wished to follow it. She hardly knew why. Though rough in speech and
somewhat peculiar, she was a kind-hearted and an honest woman, and very
industrious and resolute. Mr. Lee saw in her the spirit of a pioneer, and
advised her to join his colony. She married Mr. Woods, went to the Dalles
of the Columbia, and afterward to her present home upon a donation claim.

CHAPTER II.

THE CHIEF OF THE CASCADES.

Marlowe Mann was a graduate of Harvard in the classic period of the
college. He had many scholarly gifts, and as many noble qualities of soul
as mental endowments. He was used to the o