“But the Indians don’t have to be the enemy of the whites,” Miss Kenner protested.
“But that’s the way it’s been seen for decades, even centuries.” Andrew knew his thoughts weren’t lost on her.
“True, but that doesn’t make it right. Doing the wrong thing over and over will never turn it into the right thing. We need to find a way to make it so that the whites and Indians can live together.”
He smiled. “You think you and I could just sit down and figure that out, do you?”
“I meant a collectivewe. If this government and all the peoples, no matter the color of their skin, would work together, we could resolve this warring mentality. My fellow students at the medical college feel the same. We want to help in whatever way we can. I’ve even written to my folks about the desire to hold lectures to educate people. I think education is key. Just imagine if we could get everyone working together.”
He shook his head. “I’d like that more than you can imagine, but it’s never going to happen. No matter how hard we try.”
“Why not?” Miss Kenner seemed genuinely confused.
“Because each side cherishes their differences enough to refuse to yield them. The whites don’t want to get along with the Indians. They want to eliminate them. Whether that means kill them or force their assimilation, they don’t want Indians, with their cultural ways and different languages and dress. They want replicas of themselves.”
Miss Kenner considered this a moment and nodded. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you are right for the vast majority.”
“Sadly, I know I am. I’ve heard the talk up this river and down. I’ve heard it from Oregon’s ports to California’s.”
“Then we must seek a higher power to resolve it. I believe God would have us live together in peace. The New Testament speaks about there no longer being Jew and Gentile, so why not have it no longer be an issue of white or Native?”
Andrew appreciated her unwillingness to give up. “I’m not sure God is listening anymore.”
“Then we must pray all the harder. Like nagging children seeking their father’s attention.” She straightened and gathered her things. “We must pray without ceasing and come toHim all the more humbled and yielded in obedience. But we must never stop seeking His help, because I know He hears us. I know He cares.”
Faith was glad to have followed up on her stitching job. She told herself it was that alone that made her feel so happy. She tried not to remember the way her heart beat a little faster when Captain Gratton smiled or how he seemed to respect her opinions and thoughts. How different he’d been during this encounter! He was unlike some men, who treated her as if she were too stupid to reason. He reminded her of her father and the logical process he used to think through his circumstances.
“I must say, it’s quite a surprise to run into you in this part of town.”
Faith looked up to find Gerome Berkshire standing in front of her. She forced a smile. “If you follow me now, you’ll be even more surprised by my destination.”
“And why would that be? Going to a dress fitting? A tea?”
“A dissection.”
He choked back whatever witty statement he had planned to deliver. “A dissection?”
“Yes. I’m making my way to the livery at the corner of Southwest Park and Jefferson Street. You’re welcome to come along. As a benefactor of the school, I’m sure you’d be welcome to join us. We rent rooms above the livery. Have you ever seen the dissection of a human body?”
“Human?” His face paled even more.
Faith smiled. “I do love application. It’s one thing to discuss cancerous growths, all black and oozing, but to see them for yourself—to feel them and smell them—well, there is nothingmore beneficial. The same is true for broken bones or defective hearts. I want to see these things and better know what to look for in the future.”
Berkshire wiped his mouth with a folded handkerchief before dabbing his sweat-dotted forehead. “Your topic is most unusual for a beautiful young woman such as yourself. But no, I can’t accompany you, as interesting as it sounds. I’m on my way to a board meeting.”
“I understand. Perhaps another time. I’m sure, if you spoke with the medical college president, he would be happy to set it up.” She smiled and bid him farewell. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must catch that trolley.”
She all but ran for the car and, once aboard, turned back to find Berkshire hadn’t moved an inch. She wanted to roar in laughter but knew it wasn’t compassionate to make fun of someone about to lose the contents of his stomach.
Perhaps her love of medicine and all its idiosyncrasies would be enough to drive him away from her without Faith having to be forceful and harsh. She thought of Nancy and Seth’s concerns about Berkshire acting as a spy for the government. It was clear even to her that people like Berkshire served only themselves. Men like him never had any other loyalty. Faith had known a lot of Berkshires in her thirty years of life. So many people pretended interest in one thing while truly seeking to benefit their own desires. She was thankful she’d learned early on about the games people played and the falsehoods of fools.
Her first mama, as she used to call Eletta Browning, had taught her to give everyone a chance but to guard her heart and mind at the same time. If what others said or did lined up with God’s Word, then that was the first test. The second was in motives. Watching a person’s actions and seeing what wasmost important to them and their desired end result would help her judge their motives. People who were truly determined to give of themselves and be servants of God would always do so in such a way that was never to their own glory.
Her second mama, who was in truth the woman who gave her life, reflected that same thought. When Eletta died, Faith had found her journal. Eletta had detailed Faith’s violent conception and birth. Her mother, Hope Flanagan, had been raped and impregnated by the Cayuse brave who’d held her hostage. Hope was only one of many other women. Aunt Mercy had been there too, but she was so small that Hope convinced everyone that Mercy was years younger than her true age. It worked, by some miracle, and Mercy never had to endure the horrors that Faith’s mother had gone through.
Even thinking of such things now made Faith sad. She hated to see her mother pained and thus seldom brought up her many questions about that time in Hope’s life. She definitely never asked about her biological father.
Faith had never blamed Hope for giving her to the Brownings. In fact, she seemed to have an innate understanding of it, as well as a great sympathy for her mother. As Faith grew up with Hope and Lance Kenner after the Brownings died, she came to love them both and felt blessed to have had two sets of parents who cared for her. They were the best of people, and she had learned so much from them.
