356 CHARLES HENRY CAREY
invested with authority to dispose of the mission prop- erty, and reduce the number of persons employed in the secular department at his own discretion. Nor was he to consider himself obliged to remain in Oregon longer than was necessary for the prosecution of the special duties assigned him. Having accomplished the objects for which he was appointed, in much less time than was expected, he informed the Board, in a letter bearing date Nov. 9, 1844, of his desire to return to the States as soon as it might be thought expedient ; suggesting, at the same time, the early appointment of his successor in the super- intendency of the mission. In a subsequent letter, which is dated March 2, 1846, he presents a very satisfactory exhibit of the financial condition of the mission, and re- peats his convictions of the propriety of his return home.
From the commencement of our missionary opera- tions in Oregon, the interests of education have been steadily kept in view. At an early period in the history of the mission, a school was established under its auspices for the benefit of the Indian children. Suitable school premises were erected and for several years a school was kept up, at which children were gratuitously boarded, clothed and educated, at a very heavy expense to the So- ciety. This mission school was always a cherished pro- ject with Brother Lee, and his hopes concerning its suc- cess were sanguine to the last. Still, for various reasons not now necessary to be given, the results anticipated by the friends were not realized. Comparatively few of the Indian children could be secured as pupils, and still fewer could be long retained. The most of these who came were subjects of hereditary disease, and were conse- quently soon cut off by death. But, notwithstanding these discouragements, the hopes of many continued to linger around the school, and they would fain have be- lieved that prosperity still awaited it.
Soon after the arrival of Brother Gary, the question of the continuance of the school became one of very grave
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