She peered into the sky for a cloud, but there was none, on this dazzling Oregon morning.

The trail now opened for a long way before the eyes of the travelers.

Far ahead gleamed the pellucid waters of the Columbia, or Oregon.

Half-way between them and the broad, rolling river a dark, tall figure appeared.
"Gretchen ?" "What, mother ?" "Gretchen, look! There goes the Yankee schoolmaster.

Came way out here over the mountains to teach the people of the wilderness, and all for nothing, too.