being a Christian and holding slaves, a confession which made him an undesirable citizen of his much loved South.
The disagreement had become critical, and as he saw no prospect of any amelioration in the social environment in the slave States, and his large family of sons and daughters would probably become involved and interested in perpetuating human chattelhood, he resolved to emigrate to Oregon, where the state of society was in harmony with moral precepts and left men conscience free. His coming to Oregon was, as he said, a great deliverance for himself and family, and also a wholesome addition to our pioneer society, which soon after needed men of high moral principle and unshakable firmness of purpose to resist the machinations of the malign power from which he fled. And Mr. Small's presence here was alone of great assistance, as it afforded an object lesson of the mutual and irreconcilable antagonism which slavery engendered among even members of the same family. During his southern experience he became acquainted with all phases of the slave system, and while he seldom spoke of the atrocities inseparable from it—for he considered the southern people as good as those of the North—he laid all the blame upon the system, which he denounced as a school of barbarism.
Mr. Small was a very strong character; on first acquaintance seemingly stern and imperious in bearing, but really a genial and companionable person, independent himself and desiring others to be the same. He was a steadfast and loyal friend, and exercised a strong influence in favor of righteous living.
A familiar presence among the opponents of the Oregon democracy, prior to the year 1859, was "Old John Denny," of Marion County. The word "old" was not hitched on to his name, from any levity or disrespect, but from his venerable appearance and admiration for his excellent qualities of head and heart. He was not an orator, as the word is generally understood, and though old fashioned as to pronunciation, and home-educated, it was reported that Abraham Lincoln said of him, he could make a better off-hand speech than any other
