An incident occurred in the school, in 1878, worthy of note. One of the scholars in arithmetic found four examples which he could not do, and after a time took them to his teacher, Mr. G. F. Boynton, for assistance. After the teacher (who was a good scholar) had tried them to his satisfaction, he found that there was a mistake about the answers in the book and told the boy so, and then, in a half-joking way, said to him: “You had better write Dr. Thomson and tell him about it.” The boy did so, telling also who he was. In due time he received a reply from Dr. Thomson, who said that two of the mistakes had been discovered and corrected in later editions, but that the other two had not before been found; and then he wondered how an Indian boy out in Washington Territory should be able to correct his arithmetic. He invited the boy to continue the correspondence, but I believe he never did. XIII. THE FOURTH OF JULY. This day has always been celebrated in some way, at least by a dinner. During the first few years the agent furnished the beef and most of the provisions at government expense. On the Fourth of July, 1874, among other exercises, I married seven couples; on the next Fourth, three couples, and in 1878 four more. Speech-making by some of the whites, explaining the day, and music were interspersed. Long tables have usually been made, on which were dishes, knives, and forks, while beef, bread, tea, coffee, sugar, cake, pie, rice, beans, doughnuts, and such things were the principal food. It was not until 1878 that they took upon themselves the main burden of the day, both of expense and labor, and since that time they have furnished both. The following, from the _Tacoma Herald_ of July, 1879, will answer for THE FOURTH OF JULY ON SKOKOMISH RESERVATION. “Among the Indians, from all appearances, the Fourth of July will probably in time take the place of the potlatch. The latter is spoken of by their white neighbors as being so foolish, while the former is held in such high esteem; and as Indians, like others, enjoy holidays and festivals, it now seems as if the potlatch would be merged into the Fourth, changed a little to suit circumstances and civilization. The potlatch has always been given by a few individuals to invited guests and tribes, presents of money and other things being made to those who came, while in return a great name and honorable character was received. It lasts several days or weeks and is accompanied by gambling, feasting, tamahnous, and the like.