‘One Sabbath morning more than two hundred years ago, the dawn broke clear and beautiful over New England. It was one of those lovely mornings that seem like a benediction, a smile of God upon the earth, so calm are they, so full of unutterable rest and quiet. Over the sea, with its endless line of beach and promontory washed softly by the ocean swells; over the towns of the coast, —Boston and Salem, —already large, giving splendid promise of the future; over the farms and hamlets of the interior, and into the rude clearings where the outer limits of civilization mingled with the primeval forest, came a flood of light as the sun rose above the blue line of eastern sea…’
Frederic Homer Balch was born in Oregon but had converted to Christianity at the age of 21. He became a preacher and helped establish a lot of churches in Oregon. His keen interest in Native Indian folklore and belief gave him a deep insight into their customs and rituals.