The Sagers Go West, part 10
Captain and Mrs. Shaw, as well as Doctor Dagon left the Whitman Mission, leaving the Sager children to settle in and get use to their new home. Even though their surroundings were new and somewhat strange, at least they were all together except for the youngest child, the infant Rosanna.
That same afternoon there was a knock on the door. When it was opened a woman thrust a small bundle through the opening and into Mrs. Whitman's arms. The woman briefly explained, indicating the strange soiled bundle, that it was her "turn to nurse her, but I ain't got enough milk for my own babe." Having heard that the rest of the Sager children were at the mission, she had brought the Sager baby there.
In spite of the fact that the infant was wrapped in a filthy blanket and appeared to be considerably undernourished, great joy filled the empty space the baby girl had left.
Fall came and everyone was very busy at the mission. Often Doctor Whitman would be away from the mission, tending to the ills of one or the other of the Indians the Whitman's had come to consider their Indians. It became evident, later into the season, that the Sager children were becoming more settled in their situation. All along Mary Ann Bridger and Helen Mar Meek, as well as other youngsters left in the care of Doctor and Mrs. Whitman, called these two hard-working missionaries Father and Mother. Now the Sager girls also began referring to them as such. Only John and Frank Sager refused to do so, but perhaps it was because they were older--soon to become men. And Frank was also of a somewhat rebellious nature. Frank, unlike the other children, resented and often stayed away from the numerous sessions of prayer the missionaries held in their home. There seemed to be things that Frank did not understand and sometimes he questioned them. After observing that the Indians were allowed to enter the school and the church he questioned why these Indians were forbidden to enter the Whitman's home since they, the white people, were allowed to enter the Indians' lodges.
When the school at the mission resumed classes that fall, with the addition of all the Sager children except John who was to old to attend, trouble was soon on the rise. Right from the beginning of classes, under the instruction of the teacher, a Mr. Hinman, Frank was up to tricks and constantly in trouble. They were the usual antics that young boys seem to be prone to, but no matter how sever the punishment the teacher welded on the boy, Frank refused to cry out, a situation that caused Mr. Hinmen to lay on even more punishment.
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