FOREWORD
THE VISIT OF EDWIN MARKHAM to his native land revives many pleasant and interesting recollections. As a child of five he went away with his parents. Now he returns as a mature man who has achieved a world-wide fame that reflects honor upon his family, distinction upon the place of his birth, and is most gratifying to its citizenship.
As another son of an Oregon Pioneer, I trust it will not be regarded as temerity on my part, if I aid in extending to our distinguished visitor a hearty and fitting welcome. A prompting incentive is the fact that his parents and mine made the long and wearisome journey across the plains in 1847 in the same immigrant train.
His mother was held in high esteem by mine. I have frequently heard her speak of Mrs. Markham's culture and ability; also of her literary work, some of which was done under peculiar difficulties during their long hegira westward. She told me that I could recognize Mrs. Markham's writings by the initials "E. M."—Elizabeth Markham.
When I first met Edwin Markham, July 8, 1915, at a reception tendered him at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, in the Oregon building, I related the foregoing and other incidents, which naturally interested him very much. He requested me to get as many of his mother's poems which had been published in Oregon as I could. Agreeable thereto, I have gladly collated the accompanying poems, and given the names and dates of the papers in which they were published, all of which were found in the archives of the Oregon Historical Society.
Oregon admires, loves and welcomes her distinguished son.
J. D. LEE.
