Page:McLoughlin and Old Oregon.djvu/337

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DR. McLOUGHLIN RESIGNS 331

"He used to wear a long blue cloak thrown around him. To see him walking to church Sunday morning, it was really a sight," said ex-Governor Chadwick twenty-five years after, so out of keeping seemed the patriarchal figure with the modern world that was pushing in.

One of the most beautiful characteristics of the now famous doctor was his life-long devotion to Margaret, his wife of the old fur-hunting days. "He treated her like a princess," says a missionary of that day. "In public and in private he was as loyal to her as if she had been a daughter of Victoria. His gallantry to her knew no bounds."

It was well understood that a slight to the Madame was a slight to the doctor. When the "Modeste "was at Vancouver the people of the fort gave the officers a picnic. On their return the doctor perceived his wife walking alone, carrying a heavy basket. Turning to an officer, "Tut, tut, tut! What do you mean by letting a lady walk alone and carry a burden like that?" he cried, as he hastened to her assistance. If a servant entered her presence with his hat on "Your manners, sir, your manners, before ladies! "was the punctilious reprimand. Old Oregonians remember the two, sitting in their porch like the Dutch burghers of Amsterdam, greeting the passers-by. The Madame took the liveliest interest in the doctor's benevolences, going about hunting up sick immigrants and putting herself to no end of trouble to help them. Many a time she sent petitioners home with a great Indian basket full of provisions, and out of her own stores supplied needed clothing. "It is a duty put upon us by our Heavenly Father," the Madame was wont to say.

Across the hall from the Madame's room was the