4
Two or three examples may be given of his methods. In Chapter X he discusses the missionary situation in 1842 and Whitman's resolution to come east.
In this critical juncture, instead of setting before the reader all the contemporary uncolored testimony, Dr. Mowry begins with Gushing Eells' letter of 1866, written to sup- port the Spalding story. The next citation is from Mr. Eells' affidavit of forty years after the event; then comes an extract from Elkanah Walker's contemporary letter, which is attributed to Gushing Eells ! Although this error renders more glaring the inconsistency between the contemporary testimony and Gushing Eells' later statements. Dr. Mowry says nothing of this disagreement. It is not until Ghapter XV is reached that the record of the mission meeting authorizing Whitman's journey is printed, and then with the last eight words omitted.^
In discussing Whitman's relation to the emigration of 1843, Dr. Mowry omits all reference to the absolutely con- vincing adverse testimony printed by Myron Eells, and relies on such flimsy evidence as Spalding's Zachrey letter. ^ Again, comparison of his book with the extracts quoted in this essay from Mrs. Whitman's letters will reveal how clearly Dr. Mowry is the advocate and not the historian. His book will be searched in vain for any rigorous methodical criticism of the evidence.^ Dr. Mowry, however, in spite of the shortcomings of his narrative, has laid students under great obligation, by the documents he has printed.*
The new and "grand feature " of reaching the writers of school books which has been described, was, however, early
1 Page 175. The purpose of Whitman's journey as stated in the record was " to confer with the committee of the A. B. C. F. M. in regard to the interests of this mission." See p. 56.
2 Cf. Myron Eells' Marcus Whitman, 27-29, with Mowry's Marcus Whitman^ 194-196, and m/ra, pp. 93-95.
^ Dr. Mowry's reliance on Spalding leads him to quote Dr. White's letter to the Indian Commissioner from Spalding's garbled extract which reduces forty lines into nine. Mowry, 208. White's Ten Years in Oregon, 191.
- Especially the correspondence relating to the m
