70 REVEREND EZRA FISHER
ful clime and in this most delightful and important work? Is not the great Head of the church now pressing the question to the very heart of our members of our lay brethren? Will they not go and plant the seed and cultivate the tender plants in the garden of the Lord? How important the position in relation to half the globe, and that yet unevangelized ! How important the position in relation to the commercial world, if the half is even realized which our national government anticipates ! Will not many of our praying brethren heed the call and come and work with us in the morning of our exist- ence in Oregon ? Everything is to be done, if this part of the country is to be saved from the reign of idolatry , the tyranny of skepticism and the dominion of the Beast. I must close this and hasten to write a few lines to our private friends.
Yours respectfully,
EZRA FISHER.
N. B. We shall establish the monthly concert in these plains next month. Romans are sparing no pains to secure the influence and wealth of Oregon to their church ; their priests are all Jesuits. May all our brethren in the States pray for God's blessings to rest on our labours. Will you not use your influence in encouraging our lay brethren to come and settle with us? I can almost assure them that they will never regret the sacrifice they must make at the first, if they will first count the cost, in the fear of the Lord, and wait on Him, after their arrival, before they get dis- heartened. Many on their arrival, seeing things so new and different from the more improved parts of the country they have left, become soon dissatisfied, before they have tried a winter and a summer in Oregon. But few, very few, remain dissatisfied more than six or eight months. When once they feel the bracing, salubrious atmosphere of the summer and see the generous returns for their labor, they soon form a strong attachment to the country, and nothing but the want of im- proved society and a love of relatives and friends left behind will induce them to look back with desire to the land of their
