The Home At Lapwai

Location – The School Room – Rondthaller Cottage – Government Sanitarium – Earlier Homes at Spalding, Kamiah, Mt. Idaho –
The Home Coming to the Thaw Cottage

On the Lapwai Creek scarcely a mile south of where the Spalding’s first Idaho cabin was built, is a friendly, gabled house, whose wide veranda is shaded by fragrant honeysuckles and flaming rambler roses. The nearby encircling hills, although absolutely treeless, are marvelously beautiful, a mingling of smooth stretches of pastel shades of browns and yellow – abruptly contrasted with bold outstanding ledges of purple and pink rock.

Dignified hollyhocks, golden glow, sweet peas and a well watered bit of green lawn color the yard in front of the house and rows of wide spreading locust trees etch cool shadows, very welcome in this almost treeless valley. On the southern exposure, near the irrigating canal, luxuriant fruit trees, hardy berry vines and a tiny vegetable patch bespeak thrift and wise planning, while on further are wood sheds and a small stable; chickens are industriously scratching their living in the enclosure beyond the garden fence. Besides the chickens, a buckskin horse and visiting ponies find sufficient food in the dry grass of the brown pasture – some twenty acres in extent and well watered by a branch of the Lapwai, meandering along its further corner. Along this watercourse are scraggy willows and discouraged looking poplars, the only native trees in this thirsty land.

For the last years of her life, this was the dearly loved home of the late Kate Christine McBeth. Thirty-six winters of Idaho snow storms and blizzards varied with long days of rain, thirty-six summers of torrid heat in this semi-arid country, with intervening spring days of quickly fleeting greenness and languorous autumn time, enticing beckoning one to rest, found Kate Christine McBeth tirelessly going in and out of the homes of the Nez Perces – teaching and exemplifying the evangel, in what these Indians called "the white Man’s guide to Heaven":

How Kate loved this Lapwai home! How all her womanly and housewifely instincts found expression in her satisfaction of possession! What joy to scrub it, furbish it up and keep it always immaculately clean! Every corner of it ready at any moment for thorough inspection by dark, critical eyes! She often said the missionary’s home was the only one to which the Indians always had access and that they learned far quicker by observation than from books.

Opening directly off the veranda is a spacious room with a noticeably high ceiling, used for a variety of purposes – in the morning the theological students gather here for instruction, in the afternoon and evening the old and young alike drop in for a friendly chat, a sewing lesson or, what the young folks prize most of all, a chorus drill.

In cold weather a large, sheet-iron stove glows with warmth and in summer many open windows on three sides invite the errant breezes and assure abundance of fresh air always; the floor is covered with heavy linoleum, mopped daily and this is kept free of seasonal dust and mud.

Kate McBeth’s interpretation of "Good tidings" to all men, included drilling in cleanliness, careful preparation of food and cultivating neighborly interest. Without so labeling it, for thirty-six she was doing the finest kind of social service to the Red men of far away Idaho. In a peculiar degree the influence of this remarkable woman lingers in her old schoolroom; whether in the men’s classes in the mornings, or the general visiting of the afternoons, she was always inspiringly pushing others upward! Her niece, Mazie Crawford, now uses the same big room for the same great work.

Now, perhaps, you are think, the gaudily-painted-much-feathered-wild-looking-wooden Indian standing in front of the village cigar stand and who quite terrified you child heart, is an exact prototype of the Idaho Nez Perce Indians. Efface him entirely from your mind, no matter how tender the association! Banish the misconception that this sentimental fancy is the ‘real, genuine Indian". No, if you want this kind of an Indian go to an Eastern city’s wild west show, for seldom will you find such a one in a teepee of the far west!

No, these Nez Perce Indians are men, with hearts and longings and aspirations very like the white men you know; dark-skinned, dark-eyed and dark-haired –yes – but, dignified, quiet, often smiling, clad plainly and simply are the same men one meets on the street. The women, however, in their dress, are noticeably different from us. Most of them do not wear hats; colored silk or cotton kerchiefs are deftly tied over glossy, well combed hair and shawls are worn always; a few women are the proud possessors of very handsome silk shawls, but what ever the material, the colors are bright and attractive.

There is a marked difference between the Christian and heathen Nez Perce men, for with few exceptions, the latter allow their hair to grow long, braid it in two plaits, which are strikingly ornamented with rabbits’ tails and beads, but even the heathen, with the excepting of the wearing their hair long, dress as do white men – and I know of no "blanket Indians" among the Nez Perces.

Promptly at eight o’clock in the morning, these good looking Indian students gathered around the big square table in the schoolroom. Miss Kate’s class consisted of a few, carefully selected, adult men, some of whom had completed the entire course in the government school. She taught thoroughly the Bible, but the only study was not theology unless, indeed you would accept a definition of theology that would embrace familiarity with a wide range of subjects. Table manners, politics, garden culture, simple hygiene and other unusual combinations had place in the curriculum of this unique theological seminary, where all the professors were combined in one little woman of Scotch parentage, born in far off Ohio long ago. The training, largely individual, was not confined to candidates for the ministry – for elders. Sunday school superintendents and teachers, as well as possible leaders in other departments of Christian work, were interested students.

Perhaps a couple of hundred yards north of the little gabled house, but in the pasture enclosure, is the Rondthaller cottage, provided by interested friends in Indianapolis. This is an ideal apartment house, for while there are few rooms, each is very large, has its own outside entrance, many windows and is conveniently adapted for simple housekeeping. Here the Indian students with their families lived, when during he winter they came to study with Miss Kate. The summer months they would work on their farms and thus earn enough to comfortably support themselves, while attending school.

Across the road from them mission property is the northern line of the government farm, from whence it extends south a long way, embracing rich alluvial valley lands, pastures and rolling hills, to the very crest of the range. Within short walking distance of the missions, many buildings glitter – some very old, other quite new – but all fresh and shining in dazzling white paint. The original structures were part of old Fort Lapwai, a government post of long standing; later, with additions, they served for the government school, accommodating as many as two hundred Nez Perce boys and girls. Seven years ago, they were entirely renovated and remodeled. The government is now conducting here one of its most efficient institutions in the country – its first sanatorium for the many tubercular children from all tribes. The percentage of cures has been very large and recently two similar institutions, but much smaller, have been started elsewhere.

For a number of years, also, the agency has occupied one of these buildings, thus mission headquarters among the Nez Perces is most strategically located. For the last twenty-six years of her life, these were the immediate surroundings of Kate McBeth. Prior to that, the work necessitated frequent changes and her fleeting abiding places were almost as primitive and bare as the cabins and teepees in which many of the Indians then lived.

When Kate first went to Idaho (1879) the Agency buildings were three miles north of their present location, on the Clearwater, near the site of the new town of Spalding. Years ago, for a few months, Kate McBeth lived three, at first in a rough little government shack; then one very much better, but nearer the Indian church, was put at her disposal.

But all her thirty-six years among the Nez Perces were not passed in the Lapwai Valley. Two other places claimed her – Mount Idaho, which after the discovery of mines in the vicinity had a fleeting popularity, and Kamiah, the old historic home of this branch of the Nez Peres people.

One alluring influence, contributing to Kate McBeth’s willingness to devote her life to the Nez Perce Indians, was her deep love for her elder sister, Susan L. McBeth who had gone (1873) to Idaho to take charge of a government school for the Indians. Before very long, believing her influence and power would be greater, if officially connected with her church she gave up her fine government position with its prestige and good salary, and became a missionary. Six years later (1879) Kate went to Idaho and the sisters met at Fort Lapwai. The Indians always refer to Miss Susan as "Miss McBeth", while the younger, although surviving her sister for nearly a quarter of a century, was simply "Miss Kate". After her arrival, the sisters lingered awhile in Fort Lapwai and then journeyed together to Kamiah, eight miles east on the wondrous fair Clearwater.

There, the marvelous beauty of the Kamiah Valley, very closely shut in by high, steep mountains across while latterly are growing tall, yellow pines in columns so stately and in rows so regular that the look like companies of soldiers, drawn up in battle array, the exceptionally rich alluvial valley, where the Indians first successfully raised vegetables and melon of appetizing sweetness – these things and also, because the legend of the coming of the people is localized here, had all contributed to make this spot especially dear to the Nez Perce.

Miss McBeth, reinforced by Kate, determined that the Kamiah Valley should be the center of their missionary operations, and she secured a little cabin near the Indian church. Later Miss McBeth arranged that her sister should live further up the river, about a mile beyond the church. This little home had only three rooms and on of these had to be used for pupils. Here, with her Indian friends, Mr. And Mrs. Pond, Miss Kate lived for a number of years.

Mrs. Rachel Pond was the oldest daughter of one of the first Indian elders, Billy Williams, historian of the tribe and also a nephew of one of the four Nez Perce Indians, who in 1832 started out to find Lewis and Clark. The old men of the tribe have often told me that in those days of the long ago, the Indians would say among themselves, if we could but find the trail of Lewis and Clark, they would lead us to the white man’s book of Heaven.

Billy was a wild little Indian boy of about ten years old when the four Indians started out to search for Lewis and Clark. He was one of the party of interested relatives who accompanied the travelers for several days on their historic journey, and when an old man, he would frequently tell the story. He died in 1897. Exact dates are uncertain, but if it were not the year of he going out of the four, it was the following, that, in far away Ohio, a little girl baby of Scotch parentage was born, who, when a mature woman, was to travel far westward to this very valley where, according to their own myth, the Nez Perces had their origin, and as their "white other" teach the children of these four seekers and others of the tribe, the truths in the "white man’s guide to Heaven". The little lad who journeyed for a few days with the four Indians became her trusted friend always and his eldest daughter, Rachel, taught her the Nez Perce language.

Dear Rachel! How she loves to recount those early memories! She told me, most graphically, how Miss Kate rode the first time a la Indian – that is, astride the pony, with limbs well protected by a large shawl adroitly folded, a most clever arrangement, still used by Nez Perce women and rivaling in protection and comfort the best efforts of New York tailors. OH, but we were all happy to see Miss Kate ride our way, and our hearts were made very glad", added Rachel.

It was necessary to ride, but Kate was always afraid of horses and riding, even with an alert Indian right at hand to seize her bridle on instant call, was always terrifying. Her fear and also her indomitable Scotch will made her walk where her work required her. The Indians all had ponies, in those days they had no hacks nor spring wagons, but they were all great riders, and it was hard for them to realize why a woman would walk many miles every day. Harry Hayes, the Nez Perce Superintendent of the Sunday school of the Kamiah First Church of which his brother, the Rev. James Hayes is Pastor, vividly pictured early days in Kamiah:

"She was very little then, not fat at all, but oh so quick! One day I met her, just this side of Kooskia, over five miles from her home, and she would have to walk all the way back too; she had come to see a very sick woman, and the next day I saw her beyond Felix Corbett’s old house, four and a half miles in the other direction, and so it was all the time.

She walked everywhere, whenever anybody was sick she would go and see them: and myself, once when I was twenty-six years old, I was sick for two months and every week she came to see me, and she would always say the 23^rd Psalm, and every time she gave me good courage and strength. Then when I was well, she had me to dinner with her and two of my friends. We all sat at the table together and we were all glad together.

"Wednesdays, she would have ten Indian ladies sitting around her and she taught them to read, to study the Bible, to sew , to knit stockings, to make good bread, put up fruit, and we men were all so very glad to see our wives do these nice things. Thursdays, she would had a prayer meeting, and the people all had very glad hearts because of the good words she would give us from the "white man’s guide to Heaven." So were passed six years in the Kamiah cabin. Then, in 1885, "after two days and two nights on the road because it was so muddy and bad" the distance eighty miles! – she again journeyed to the Lapwai valley. But, did you ask, was the little gabled house covered with red roses, built then? How she herself would have loved to answer that very question – as if the contrast she so vividly portrayed would emphasize the abounding luxury with which her grateful heart always regarded her small, but well built, comfortable home!

An abandoned root house with a dirt floor belonging to the government but outside the school grounds was what she chose, although Colonel McConville, then Superintendent of the government school, had generously offered her the use of a far better house on the campus. But it was its location, that made her refuse the good house and take the shanty. Necessarily the discipline of a government school must be maintained. The gates of the large campus were closed at a certain house and Kate realized that her influence would be far greater if the Indians knew they would be welcome whenever they sought her – no locked gates should ever bar this ‘white mother’ from her needy children.

There was also another reason. Government employees are not always patient with the older Indians, whose knowledge of English is limited, and who unwittingly might infringe some school regulation, thus causing misunderstanding which could easily be prevented by separation. To insure friendship, by not allowing her Red children of the forest to see too much of unsympathetic government employees, she chose the house outside the grounds. Poor as it was she made it clean and wholesome. The old Indians have told me how Miss Kate papered the walls, while they boarded the floor for her and tried to make her comfortable. In this little make-shift house, Miss Alice C. Fletcher, the allotting agent of the government, found her and there began the rare friendship which was never weakened by long absence from each other. It was Miss Alice Fletcher who told her friend, Mrs. William Thaw of Pittsburgh, of this unusual missionary among the Indians – and so interested this generous support to missions that she provided the little home for Miss Kate McBeth.

The Thaw cottage was erected shortly after Miss Susan McBeth’s death while Miss Kate was temporarily in her sister’s home at Mount Idaho, built for her by the late Mrs. Wm. S. Ladd of Portland, Oregon, the great philanthropist of the far Northwest. Miss Susan had gone to Mount Idaho a few years before Miss Kate had left Kamiah, because a new discovery of gold in nearby mines had attracted white miners, who were eager purchasers of potatoes, corn, and other garden produce raised by the thrifty Indians. It was always the policy of the McBeth sisters to go where the Indians went – rather than to comfortable establish themselves and try to attract the Indians to them. Hence these changes of residence – displaying a remarkable sense of being able quickly to adapt their policy to any change, no matter at what discomfort – provided only they could reach the Indians. Because the Nez Perces went to Mount Idaho seeking a market for their vegetables, Miss Susan McBeth promptly moved there her theological seminary; but even before her death, the mining interest had greatly depreciated and the Nez Perces were drifting back to their old Kamiah homes and also to Lapwai, whose growing popularity influenced Kate to remove there several years before the death of her sister. It was while Miss Kate was away at Mount Idaho that the Thaw cottage was finished. How her eyes would dance when she described her return to Lapwai and her first entrance into the new home!

Colonel McConville, who was still superintendent of the Government School, had arranged for the transportation, unpacking and arranging of all Miss Kate’s furniture – the dishes even on the shelves, the table set, the teakettle boiling, and Colonel McConville himself escorted her, followed by many of the teachers, through the new house, from one delightful surprise to another, while she, travel-stained from the ninety miles stage trip across the country, was ejaculating, "I never, never thought anything for me could be quite so grand"! or, "And what now is this?" and, "I just feel like having a good cry, I am so glad!" or, "Now, what shall I do?" The Colonel, looking at her face, somewhat bespattered with mud, smiled "I guess you had better wash your face Miss Kate, it is pretty dirty."

The hearty laugh relieved the strain and before very long the jolly crowd of friends were enjoying a cup of tea, while the Indian boys, members of the school brass band, out on the wide veranda were noisily and enthusiastically playing, "Home, Sweet Home" and "See, the Conquering Hero Comes".

No wonder dear Miss Kate’s eyes would grow misty when she would tell of that happy homecoming! No wonder, after ten years of crude, primitive abiding places, she appreciated so keenly the comfort and peace of the Thaw Cottage, and the satisfying beauty of the hills of pastel colors encircling Lapwai Valley l- "Where the Butterfly Dwells".