her it was an emblem, a good omen, and her spirit became quiet and happy
amid all the contradictions of her rough life. She sat down at last on the
log before her door, with the somewhat strange remark:

"I do hate Injuns; _nevertheless_--"

Mrs. Woods was accustomed to correct the wrong tendencies of her heart and
tongue by this word "nevertheless," which she used as an incomplete
sentence. This "nevertheless" seemed to express her better self; to
correct the rude tendencies of her nature. Had she been educated in her
early days, this tendency to self-correction would have made her an ideal
woman, but she owed nearly all her intellectual training to the sermons of
the Rev. Jason Lee, which she had heard in some obscure corner of a room,
or in Methodist chapel, or under the trees.

Her early experience with the Indians had not made her a friend to the
native races, notwithstanding the missionary labors of the Rev. Jason Lee.
The first Indian that made her a visit on the donation claim did not leave
a favorable impression on her mind.

This Indian had come to her door while she was engaged in the very hard
work of sawing wood. He had never seen a saw before, and, as it seemed to
him to be a part of the woman herself, he approached her with awe and
wonder. That the saw should eat through the wood appeared to him a
veritable miracle.

Mrs. Woods, unaware of her visitor, paused to take breath, looked up,
beheld the tall form with staring eyes, and started back.

"Medicine-woman--conjure!" said the Indian, in Chinook.