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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Labrador Doctor, by Wilfred Thomason
+Grenfell
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: A Labrador Doctor
+       The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
+
+
+Author: Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
+
+
+
+Release Date: August 22, 2007  [eBook #22372]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LABRADOR DOCTOR***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Roger Frank, Jeannie Howse, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 22372-h.htm or 22372-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/3/7/22372/22372-h/22372-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/3/7/22372/22372-h.zip)
+
+
+      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+      | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+      |                                                           |
+      | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+      | been preserved.                                           |
+      |                                                           |
+      | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For     |
+      | a complete list, please see the end of this document.     |
+      |                                                           |
+      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+         +-------------------------------------------------+
+         |    By Wilfred T. Grenfell                       |
+         |                                                 |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    A LABRADOR DOCTOR. The Autobiography of      |
+         |    Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. Illustrated.      |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    LABRADOR DAYS. Tales of the Sea Toilers.     |
+         |    With frontispiece.                           |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    TALES OF THE LABRADOR. With frontispiece.    |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    THE ADVENTURE OF LIFE.                       |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    ADRIFT ON AN ICE-PAN. Illustrated.           |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY                     |
+         |    BOSTON AND NEW YORK                          |
+         +-------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+A LABRADOR DOCTOR
+
+The Autobiography of
+Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
+
+
+[Illustration: (signed) Wilfred Grenfell]
+
+
+A LABRADOR DOCTOR
+
+The Autobiography of
+Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
+M.D. (Oxon.), C.M.G.
+
+With Illustrations
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Boston and New York
+Houghton Mifflin Company
+The Riverside Press Cambridge
+
+Copyright, 1919, by Wilfred T. Grenfell
+All Rights Reserved
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+I have long been resisting the strong pressure from friends that would
+force me to risk having to live alongside my own autobiography. It
+seems still an open question whether it is advisable, or even whether
+it is right--seeing that it calls for confessions. In the eyes of God
+the only alternative is a book of lies. Moreover, sitting down to
+write one's own life story has always loomed up before my imagination
+as an admission that one was passing the post which marks the last
+lap; and though it was a justly celebrated physician who told us that
+we might profitably crawl upon the shelf at half a century, that added
+no attraction for me to the effort, when I passed that goal.
+
+Thirty-two years spent in work for deep-sea fishermen, twenty-seven of
+which years have been passed in Labrador and northern Newfoundland,
+have necessarily given me some experiences which may be helpful to
+others. I feel that this alone justifies the writing of this story.
+
+To the many helpers who have coöperated with me at one time or another
+throughout these years, I owe a debt of gratitude which will never be
+forgotten, though it has been impossible to mention each one by name.
+Without them this work could never have been.
+
+To my wife, who was willing to leave all the best the civilized world
+can offer to share my life on this lonely coast, I want to dedicate
+this book. Truth forces me to own that it would never have come into
+being without her, and her greater share in the work of its production
+declares her courage to face the consequences.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    I. EARLY DAYS                                          1
+
+   II. SCHOOL LIFE                                        15
+
+  III. EARLY WORK IN LONDON                               37
+
+   IV. AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL                             64
+
+    V. NORTH SEA WORK                                     99
+
+   VI. THE LURE OF THE LABRADOR                          119
+
+  VII. THE PEOPLE OF LABRADOR                            139
+
+ VIII. LECTURING AND CRUISING                            159
+
+   IX. THE SEAL FISHERY                                  171
+
+    X. THREE YEARS' WORK IN THE BRITISH ISLES            183
+
+   XI. FIRST WINTER AT ST. ANTHONY                       197
+
+  XII. THE COÖPERATIVE MOVEMENT                          215
+
+ XIII. THE MILL AND THE FOX FARM                         226
+
+  XIV. THE CHILDREN'S HOME                               241
+
+   XV. PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION                             254
+
+  XVI. "WHO HATH DESIRED THE SEA?"                       270
+
+ XVII. THE REINDEER EXPERIMENT                           288
+
+XVIII. THE ICE-PAN ADVENTURE                             304
+
+  XIX. THEY THAT DO BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS             315
+
+   XX. MARRIAGE                                          331
+
+  XXI. NEW VENTURES                                      344
+
+ XXII. PROBLEMS ON LAND AND SEA                          357
+
+XXIII. A MONTH'S HOLIDAY IN ASIA MINOR                   376
+
+ XXIV. THE WAR                                           384
+
+  XXV. FORWARD STEPS                                     403
+
+ XXVI. THE FUTURE OF THE MISSION                         411
+
+XXVII. MY RELIGIOUS LIFE                                 424
+
+INDEX                                                    435
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL                _Frontispiece_
+
+VIEW FROM MOSTYN HOUSE, THE AUTHOR'S BIRTHPLACE, PARKGATE,
+CHESHIRE                                                        2
+
+OXFORD UNIVERSITY RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL TEAM                    44
+
+THE LABRADOR COAST                                            120
+
+ESKIMO WOMAN AND BABY                                         128
+
+ESKIMO MAN                                                    128
+
+ESKIMO GIRLS                                                  132
+
+BATTLE HARBOUR                                                140
+
+A LABRADOR BURIAL                                             156
+
+THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN SUMMER                                 164
+
+THE STRATHCONA                                                192
+
+THREE OF THE DOCTOR'S DOGS                                    198
+
+A KOMATIK JOURNEY                                             202
+
+THE FIRST COÖPERATIVE STORE                                   218
+
+ST. ANTHONY                                                   226
+
+INSIDE THE ORPHANAGE                                          250
+
+FISH ON THE FLAKES                                            272
+
+DRYING THE SEINES                                             272
+
+A PART OF THE REINDEER HERD                                   296
+
+REINDEER TEAMS MEETING A DOG TEAM                             296
+
+A SPRING SCENE AT ST. ANTHONY                                 304
+
+DOG RACE AT ST. ANTHONY                                       304
+
+ICEBERGS                                                      320
+
+COMMODORE PEARY ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE POLE, 1909           340
+
+THE INSTITUTE, ST. JOHN'S                                     354
+
+DOG TRAVEL                                                    368
+
+THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN WINTER                                 406
+
+ENTRANCE TO ST. ANTHONY HARBOUR                               418
+
+
+
+
+A LABRADOR DOCTOR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+EARLY DAYS
+
+
+To be born on the 28th of February is not altogether without its
+compensations. It affords a subject of conversation when you are asked
+to put your name in birthday books. It is evident that many people
+suppose it to be almost an intrusion to appear on that day. However,
+it was perfectly satisfactory to me so long as it was not the 29th. As
+a boy, that was all for which I cared. Still, I used at times to be
+oppressed by the danger, so narrowly missed, of growing up with undue
+deliberation.
+
+The event occurred in 1865 in Parkgate, near Chester, England, whither
+my parents had moved to enable my father to take over the school of
+his uncle. I was always told that what might be called boisterous
+weather signalled my arrival. Experience has since shown me that that
+need not be considered a particularly ominous portent in the winter
+season on the Sands of Dee.
+
+It is fortunate that the selection of our birthplace is not left to
+ourselves. It would most certainly be one of those small decisions
+which would later add to the things over which we worry. I can see how
+it would have acted in my own case. For my paternal forbears are
+really of Cornish extraction--a corner of our little Island to which
+attaches all the romantic aroma of the men, who, in defence of
+England, "swept the Spanish Main," and so long successfully singed the
+Bang of Spain's beard, men whose exploits never fail to stir the best
+blood of Englishmen, and among whom my direct ancestors had the
+privilege of playing no undistinguished part. On the other hand, my
+visits thither have--romance aside--convinced me that the restricted
+foreshore and the precipitous cliffs are a handicap to the development
+of youth, compared with the broad expanses of tempting sands, which
+are after all associated with another kinsman, whose songs have helped
+to make them famous, Charles Kingsley.
+
+My mother was born in India, her father being a colonel of many
+campaigns, and her brother an engineer officer in charge during the
+siege of Lucknow till relieved by Sir Henry Havelock. At the first
+Delhi Durbar no less than forty-eight of my cousins met, all being
+officers either of the Indian military or civil service.
+
+To the modern progressive mind the wide sands are a stumbling-block.
+Silting up with the years, they have closed the river to navigation,
+and converted our once famous Roman city of Chester into a sleepy,
+second-rate market-town. The great flood of commerce from the New
+World sweeps contemptuously past our estuary, and finds its
+clearing-house under the eternal, assertive smoke clouds which
+camouflage the miles of throbbing docks and slums called
+Liverpool--little more than a dozen miles distant. But the
+heather-clad hills of Heswall, and the old red sandstone ridge, which
+form the ancient borough of the "Hundred of Wirral," afford an
+efficient shelter from the insistent taint of out-of-the-worldness.
+
+Every inch of the Sands of Dee were dear to me. I learned to know
+their every bank and gutter. Away beyond them there was a mystery in
+the blue hills of the Welsh shore, only cut off from us children in
+reality by the narrow, rapid water of the channel we called the Deep.
+Yet they seemed so high and so far away. The people there spoke a
+different language from ours, and all their instincts seemed
+diverse. Our humble neighbours lived by the seafaring genius which we
+ourselves loved so much. They made their living from the fisheries of
+the river mouth; and scores of times we children would slip away, and
+spend the day and night with them in their boats.
+
+   [Illustration: VIEW FROM MOSTYN HOUSE, THE AUTHOR'S BIRTHPLACE,
+   PARKGATE, CHESHIRE]
+
+While I was still quite a small boy, a terrible blizzard struck the
+estuary while the boats were out, and for twenty-four hours one of the
+fishing craft was missing. Only a lad of sixteen was in charge of
+her--a boy whom we knew, and with whom we had often sailed. All my
+family were away from home at the time except myself; and I can still
+remember the thrill I experienced when, as representative of the "Big
+House," I was taken to see the poor lad, who had been brought home at
+last, frozen to death.
+
+The men of the opposite shores were shopkeepers and miners. Somehow we
+knew that they couldn't help it. The nursery rhyme about "Taffy was a
+Welshman; Taffy was a thief," because familiar, had not led us to hold
+any unduly inflated estimate of the Welsh character. One of my old
+nurses did much to redeem it, however. She had undertaken the burden
+of my brother and myself during a long vacation, and carried us off
+bodily to her home in Wales. Her clean little cottage stood by the
+side of a road leading to the village school of the State Mining
+District of Festiniog. We soon learned that the local boys resented
+the intrusion of the two English lads, and they so frequently chased
+us off the village green, which was the only playground offered us,
+that we at last decided to give battle. We had stored up a pile of
+slates behind our garden wall, and luring the enemy to the gates by
+the simple method of retiring before their advance, we saluted them
+with artillery fire from a comparatively safe entrenchment. To my
+horror, one of the first missiles struck a medium-sized boy right over
+the eye, and I saw the blood flow instantly. The awful comparison of
+David and Goliath flashed across my terror-stricken mind, and I fled
+incontinently to my nurse's protection. Subsequently by her adroit
+diplomacy, we were not only delivered from justice, but gained the
+freedom of the green as well.
+
+Far away up the river came the great salt-water marshes which seemed
+so endless to our tiny selves. There was also the Great Cop, an
+embankment miles long, intended to reach "from England to Wales," but
+which was never finished because the quicksand swallowed up all that
+the workmen could pour into it. Many a time I have stood on the broken
+end, where the discouraged labourers had left their very shovels and
+picks and trucks and had apparently fled in dismay, as if convicted of
+the impiousness of trying to fill the Bottomless Pit. To my childish
+imagination the upturned wheelbarrows and wasted trucks and rails
+always suggested the banks of the Red Sea after the awful disaster had
+swept over Pharoah and his host. How the returning tide used to sweep
+through that to us fathomless gulch! It made the old river seem ever
+so much more wonderful, and ever so much more filled with adventure.
+
+Many a time, just to dare it, I would dive into the very cauldron, and
+let the swirling current carry me to the grassy sward beyond--along
+which I would run till the narrowing channel permitted my crossing to
+the Great Cop again. I would be drying myself in the sunshine as I
+went, and all ready for my scanty garments when I reached my clothing
+once more.
+
+Then came the great days when the heavy nor'westers howled over the
+Sands--our sea-front was exposed to all the power of the sea right
+away to the Point of Ayr--the days when they came in with big spring
+tides, when we saw the fishermen doubling their anchors, and carefully
+overhauling the holding gear of their boats, before the flooding tide
+drove them ashore, powerless to do more than watch them battling at
+their moorings like living things--the possessions upon which their
+very bread depended. And then this one would sink, and another would
+part her cable and come hurtling before the gale, until she crashed
+right into the great upright blocks of sandstone which, riveted with
+iron bands to their copings, were relied upon to hold the main road
+from destruction. Sometimes in fragments, and sometimes almost entire,
+the craft would be slung clean over the torturing battlements, and be
+left stranded high and dry on our one village street, a menace to
+traffic, but a huge joy to us children.
+
+The fascination of the Sands was greatly enhanced by the numerous
+birds which at all times frequented them, in search of the abundant
+food which lay buried along the edges of the muddy gutters. There were
+thousands of sandpipers in enormous flocks, mixed with king plovers,
+dunlins, and turnstones, which followed the ebb tides, and returned
+again in whirling clouds before the oncoming floods. Black-and-white
+oyster-catchers were always to be found chattering over the great
+mussel patches at low water. With their reddish bills, what a trophy a
+bunch of them made as we bore them proudly home over our shoulders!
+Then there were the big long-billed curlews. What a triumph when one
+outwitted them! One of my clearest recollections is discovering a
+place to which they were flighting at night by the water's edge; how,
+having no dog, I swam out for bird after bird as they fell to my
+gun--shooting some before I had even time to put on my shirt again;
+and my consequent blue-black shoulder, which had to be carefully
+hidden next day. There were wild ducks, too, to be surprised in the
+pools of the big salt marshes.
+
+From daylight to dark I would wander, quite alone, over endless miles,
+entirely satisfied to come back with a single bird, and not in the
+least disheartened if I got none. All sense of time used to be lost,
+and often enough the sandwich and biscuit for lunch forgotten, so that
+I would be forced occasionally to resort to a solitary public house
+near a colliery on our side of the water, for "tea-biscuits," all that
+they offered, except endless beer for the miners. I can even remember,
+when very hard driven, crossing to the Welsh side for bread and
+cheese.
+
+These expeditions were made barefoot as long as the cold was not too
+great. A diary that I assayed to keep in my eighth year reminds me
+that on my birthday, five miles from home in the marshes, I fell head
+over heels into a deep hole, while wading out, gun in hand, after some
+oyster-catchers which I had shot. The snow was still deep on the
+countryside, and the long trot home has never been quite forgotten. My
+grief, however, was all for the gun. There was always the joy of
+venture in those dear old Sands. The channels cut in them by the
+flowing tides ran deep, and often intersected. Moreover, they changed
+with the varying storms. The rapidly rising tide, which sent a bore up
+the main channel as far as Chester, twelve miles above us, filled
+first of all these treacherous waterways, quite silently, and often
+unobserved. To us, taught to be as much at home in the water as on the
+land, they only added spice to our wanderings. They were nowhere very
+wide, so by keeping one's head, and being able to swim, only our
+clothes suffered by it, and they, being built for that purpose, did
+not complain.
+
+One day, however, I remember great excitement. The tide had risen
+rapidly in the channel along the parade front, and the shrimp
+fishermen, who used push-nets in the channels at low tide, had
+returned without noticing that one of their number was missing. Word
+got about just too late, and already there was half a mile of water,
+beyond which, through our telescopes, we could see the poor fellow
+making frantic signals to the shore. There was no boat out there, and
+a big bank intervening, there seemed no way to get to him. Watching
+through our glasses, we saw him drive the long handle of his net deep
+into the sand, and cling to it, while the tide rose speedily around
+him. Meanwhile a whole bevy of his mates had rowed out to the bank,
+and were literally carrying over its treacherous surface one of their
+clumsy and heavy fishing punts. It was a veritable race for life; and
+never have I watched one with keener excitement. We actually saw his
+post give way, and wash downstream with him clinging to it, just
+before his friends got near. Fortunately, drifting with the spar, he
+again found bottom, and was eventually rescued, half full of salt
+water. I remember how he fell in my estimation as a seaman--though I
+was only a boy at the time.
+
+There were four of us boys in all, of whom I was the second. My next
+brother Maurice died when he was only seven, and the fourth, Cecil,
+being five years younger than I, left my brother Algernon and myself
+as the only real companions for each other. Moreover, an untoward
+accident, of which I was the unwitting cause, left my younger brother
+unable to share our play for many years. Having no sisters, and
+scarcely any boy friends, in the holidays, when all the boys in the
+school went home, it might be supposed that my elder brother and I
+were much thrown together. But as a matter of fact such was not the
+case, for our temperaments being entirely different, and neither of us
+having any idea of giving way to the other, we seldom or ever found
+our pleasures together. And yet most of the worst scrapes into which
+we fell were coöperative affairs. Though I am only anxious to shoulder
+my share of the responsibility in the escapades, as well as in every
+other line of life, my brother Algernon possessed any genius to which
+the family could lay claim, in that as in every other line. He was my
+father over again, while I was a second edition of my mother. Father
+was waiting to get into the sixth form at Rugby when he was only
+thirteen years old. He was a brilliant scholar at Balliol, but had
+been compelled to give up study and leave the University temporarily
+owing to brain trouble. He never published anything, but would reel
+off brilliant short poems or essays for friends at a moment's notice.
+I used always to remark that in whatever company he was, he was always
+deferred to as an authority in anything approaching classics. He could
+read and quote Greek and Latin like English, spoke German and French
+fluently, while he was an excellent geologist, and Fellow of the
+Geographical Society. Here is quite a pretty little effusion of his
+written at eight years of age:
+
+      O, Glorious Sun, in thy palace of light,
+      To behold thee methinks is a beautiful sight.
+      O, Glorious Sun, come out of thy cloud,
+      No longer thy brightness in darkness shroud.
+      Let thy glorious beams like a golden Flood
+      Pour over the hills and the valleys and wood.
+      See! Mountains of light around him rise,
+      While he in a golden ocean lies:
+      O, Glorious Sun, in thy Palace of Light
+      To behold thee methinks is a beautiful sight.
+
+    Algernon Sydney Grenfell
+      Aged eight years
+
+Some of my brother's poems and hymns have been published in the school
+magazine, or printed privately; but he, too, has only published a
+Spanish grammar, a Greek lexicon, and a few articles in the papers.
+While at Oxford he ran daily, with some friends, during one "eights
+week" a cynical comic paper called "The Rattle," to boost some
+theories he held, and which he wished to enforce, and also to "score"
+a few of the dons to whom he objected. This would have resulted in his
+being asked to retire for a season from the seat of learning at the
+request of his enemies, had not our beloved provost routed the special
+cause of the whole trouble, who was himself contributing to a London
+society paper, by replying that it was not to be wondered at if the
+scurrilous rags of London found an echo in Oxford. Moreover, a set of
+"The Rattle" was ordered to be bound and placed in the college
+archives, where it may still be seen.
+
+My father having a very great deal of responsibility and worry during
+the long school terms, as he was not only head master, but owned the
+school as well, which he had purchased from his great-uncle, used to
+leave almost the day the holidays began and travel abroad with my
+mother. This partly accounts for the very unusual latitude allowed to
+us boys in coming and going from the house--no one being anxious if
+now and again we did not return at night. The school matron was left
+in charge of the vast empty barracks, and we had the run of
+play-field, gymnasium, and everything else we wanted. To outwit the
+matron was always considered fair play by us boys, and on many
+occasions we were more than successful.
+
+One time, when we had been acquiring some new lines of thought from
+some trashy boys' books of the period, we became fired with the desire
+to enjoy the ruling passion of the professional burglar. Though never
+kept short of anything, we decided that one night we would raid the
+large school storeroom while the matron slept. As always, the planning
+was entrusted to my brother. It was, of course, a perfectly easy
+affair, but we played the whole game "according to Cavendish." We let
+ourselves out of the window at midnight, glued brown paper to the
+window panes, cut out the putty, forced the catch, and stole sugar,
+currants, biscuits, and I am ashamed to say port wine--which we mulled
+in a tin can over the renovated fire in the matron's own sanctum. In
+the morning the remainder was turned over to fishermen friends who
+were passing along shore on their way to catch the early tide.
+
+I had no share in two other of my brother's famous escapades, though
+at the time it was a source of keen regret, for we were sent to
+different public schools, as being, I suppose, incompatible. But we
+heard with pride how he had extracted phosphorus from the chemical
+laboratory and while drawing luminous ghosts on the wall for the
+benefit of the timorous, had set fire to the large dormitory and the
+boys' underclothing neatly laid out on the beds, besides burning
+himself badly. Later he pleaded guilty to beeswaxing the seat of the
+boys in front of him in chapel, much to the detriment of their
+trousers and the destruction of the dignity of Sunday worship.
+
+During the time that my parents were away we never found a moment in
+which to be lonely, but on one occasion it occurred to us that the
+company of some friends would add to our enjoyment. Why we waited till
+my father and mother departed I do not know, but I recall that
+immediately they had gone we spent a much-valued sixpence in
+telegraphing to a cousin in London to come down to us for the
+holidays. Our message read: "Dear Sid. Come down and stay the
+holidays. Father has gone to Aix." We were somewhat chagrined to
+receive the following day an answer, also by wire: "Not gone yet.
+Father." It appeared that my father and mother had stayed the night in
+London in the very house to which we had wired, and Sid. having to ask
+his father's permission in order to get his railway fare, our uncle
+had shown the invitation to my father. It was characteristic of my
+parents that Sid. came duly along, but they could not keep from
+sharing the joke with my uncle.
+
+During term-time some of our grown-up relatives would occasionally
+visit us. But alas, it was only their idiosyncrasies which used to
+make any impression upon us. One, a great-uncle, and a very
+distinguished person, being Professor of Political Economy at Oxford,
+and a great friend of the famous Dr. Jowett, the chancellor, was the
+only man we knew who ever, at any time, stood up long to my father in
+argument. It was only on rare occasions that we ever witnessed such a
+contest, but I shall never forget one which took place in the evening
+in our drawing-room. My great-uncle was a small man, rather stout and
+pink, and almost bald-headed. He got so absorbed in his arguments,
+which he always delivered walking up and down, that on this occasion,
+coming to an old-fashioned sofa, he stepped right up onto the seat,
+climbed over the back, and went on all the time with his remarks, as
+if only punctuating them thereby.
+
+Whether some of our pranks were suggested by those of which we heard,
+I do not remember. One of my father's yarns, however, always stuck in
+my memory. For once, being in a very good humour, he told us how when
+some distinguished old lady had come to call on his father--a house
+master with Arnold at Rugby--he had been especially warned not to
+interrupt this important person, who had come to see about her son's
+entering my grandfather's "House." It so happened that quite
+unconsciously the lady in question had seated herself on an old
+cane-bottomed armchair in which father had been playing, thus
+depriving him temporarily of a toy with which he desired to amuse
+himself. He never, even in later life, was noted for undue patience,
+and after endeavouring in vain to await her departure, he somehow
+secured a long pin. With this he crawled from behind under the seat,
+and by discreetly probing upwards, succeeded suddenly in dislodging
+his enemy.
+
+Our devotions on Sunday were carried out in the parish church of the
+village of Neston, there being no place of worship of the Established
+Church in our little village. In term-time we were obliged to go
+morning and evening to the long services, which never made any
+concessions to youthful capacities. So in holiday-time, though it was
+essential that we should go in the morning to represent the house, we
+were permitted to stay home in the evening. But even the mornings were
+a time of great weariness, and oft-recurrent sermons on the terrible
+fate which awaited those who never went to church, and the still more
+untoward end which was in store for frequenters of dissenting
+meeting-houses, failed to awaken in us the respect due to the
+occasion.
+
+On the way to church we had generally to pass by those who dared even
+the awful fate of the latter. It was our idea that to tantalize us
+they wore especially gorgeous apparel while we had to wear black Etons
+and a top hat--which, by the way, greatly annoyed us. One waistcoat
+especially excited our animosity, and from it we conceived the title
+"specklebelly," by which we ever afterwards designated the whole
+"genus nonconformist." The entrance to the chapel (ours was the
+Church!) was through a door in a high wall, over which we could not
+see; and my youthful brain used to conjure up unrighteous and strange
+orgies which we felt must take place in those precincts which we were
+never permitted to enter. Our Sunday Scripture lessons had grounded us
+very familiarly with the perverse habits of that section of the Chosen
+People who _would_ serve Baal and Moloch, when it obviously paid so
+much better not to do so. But although we counted the numbers which we
+saw going in, and sometimes met them coming out, they seemed never to
+lessen perceptibly. On this account our minds, with the merciless
+logic of childhood, gradually discounted the threatened calamities.
+
+This must have accounted for the lapse in our own conduct, and a sort
+of comfortable satisfaction that the Almighty contented Himself in
+merely counting noses in the pews. For even though it was my brother
+who got into trouble, I shall never forget the harangue on impiety
+that awaited us when a most unchristian sexton reported to our father
+that the pew in front of ours had been found chalked on the back, so
+as to make its occupants the object of undisguised attention from the
+rest of the congregation. As circumstantial evidence also against us,
+he offered some tell-tale squares of silver paper, on which we had
+been cooking chocolates on the steam pipes during the sermon.
+
+In all my childhood I can only remember one single punishment, among
+not a few which I received, which I resented--and for years I never
+quite forgot it. Some one had robbed a very favourite apple tree in
+our orchard--an escapade of which I was perfectly capable, but in this
+instance had not had the satisfaction of sharing. Some evidence had
+been lodged against me, of which I was not informed, and I therefore
+had no opportunity to challenge it. I was asked before a whole class
+of my schoolmates if I had committed the act, and at once denied it.
+Without any hearing I was adjudged guilty, and promptly subjected to
+the punishment of the day--a good birching. On every occasion on which
+we were offered the alternative of detention, we invariably "plumped"
+for the rod, and got it over quickly, and, as we considered,
+creditably--taking it smiling as long as we could. But that one act of
+injustice, the disgrace which it carried of making me a liar before my
+friends, seared my very soul. I vowed I would get even whatever it
+cost, and I regret to say that I hadn't long to wait the opportunity.
+For I scored both the apples and the lie against the punishment before
+many months. Nor was I satisfied then. It rankled in my mind both by
+day and by night; and it taught me an invaluable lesson--never to
+suspect or condemn rashly. It was one of Dr. Arnold's boys at Rugby, I
+believe, who summed up his master's character by saying, "The head was
+a beast, but he was always a just beast."
+
+At fourteen years of age my brother was sent to Repton, to the house
+of an uncle by marriage--an arrangement which has persuaded me never
+to send boys to their relatives for training. My brother's pranks were
+undoubtedly many, but they were all boyish and legitimate ones. After
+a time, however, he was removed at his own request, and sent to
+Clifton, where he was head of the school, and the school house also,
+under Dr. Percival, the late Bishop of Hereford. From there he took an
+open scholarship for Oxford.
+
+It was most wisely decided to send us to separate schools, and
+therefore at fourteen I found myself at Marlborough--a school of
+nearly six hundred resident boys, on entering which I had won a
+scholarship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SCHOOL LIFE
+
+
+Marlborough "College," as we say in England for a large University
+preparatory school, is situated in Wiltshire, in a perfectly beautiful
+country, close to the Savernake Forest--one of the finest in all
+England. As everything and everybody was strange to me on my arrival,
+had I been brought up to be less self-reliant the events of my first
+day or two would probably have impressed themselves more deeply on my
+memory than is the case. Some Good Samaritan, hearing that I was bound
+for a certain house, allowed me to follow him from the station to the
+inn--for a veritable old inn it was. It was one of those lovely old
+wayside hostels along the main road to the west, which, with the
+decline of coaching days, found its way into the market, and had
+fallen to the hammer for the education of youth. Exactly how the
+adaptation had been accomplished I never quite understood. The
+building formed the end of a long avenue of trees and was approached
+through high gates from the main road. It was flanked on the east side
+by other houses, which fitted in somewhat inharmoniously, but served
+as school-rooms, dining-hall, chapel, racquets and fives courts,
+studies, and other dwelling-houses. The whole was entirely enclosed so
+that no one could pass in or out, after the gates were shut, without
+ringing up the porter from his lodge, and having one's name taken as
+being out after hours. At least it was supposed that no one could,
+though we boys soon found that there were more ways than one leading
+to Rome.
+
+The separate dwelling-houses were named A, B, and C. I was detailed
+to C House, the old inn itself. Each house was again divided into
+three, with its own house master, and its own special colour and
+badges. Our three were at the time "Sharps," "Upcutts," and "Bakers."
+Our particular one occupied the second floor, and was reached by great
+oak staircases, which, if you were smart, you could ascend at about
+six steps at a time. This was often a singular desideratum, because
+until you reached the fifth form, according to law you ascended by the
+less direct back stairway.
+
+Our colours were white and maroon, and our sign a bishop's
+mitre--which effigy I still find scribbled all over the few book
+relics which I have retained, and which emblem, when borne
+subsequently on my velvet football cap, proved to be the nearest I
+ever was to approach to that dignified insignia.
+
+My benefactor, on the night of my arrival, having done more for me
+than a new boy could expect of an old one, was whirled off in the
+stream of his returning chums long before I had found my resting-place
+for the night. The dormitory to which I at last found myself assigned
+contained no less than twenty-five beds, and seemed to me a veritable
+wilderness. If the coaches which used to stop here could have ascended
+the stairs, it might have accommodated several. What useful purpose it
+could have served in those far-off days I never succeeded in deciding.
+The room most nearly like it which I can recall is the old dining-hall
+of a great manor, into which the knights in armour rode on horseback
+to meals, that being far less trouble than removing one's armour, and
+quite as picturesque. More or less amicably I obtained possession of a
+bed in a good location, under a big window which looked out over the
+beautiful gardens below. I cannot remember that I experienced any of
+those heart-searchings or forebodings which sentiment deplores as the
+inevitable lot of the unprotected innocent.
+
+One informal battle during the first week with a boy possessed of the
+sanctity of having come up from the lower school, and therefore being
+an "old boy," achieved for me more privileges than the actual decision
+perhaps entitled one to enjoy, namely, being left alone. I
+subsequently became known as the "Beast," owing to my belligerent
+nature and the undue copiousness of my hair.
+
+The fact that I was placed in the upper fourth form condemned me to do
+my "prep" in the intolerable barrack called "Big School"--a veritable
+bear-garden to which about three hundred small boys were relegated to
+study. Order was kept by a master and a few monitors, who wandered to
+and fro from end to end of the building, while we were supposed to
+work. For my part, I never tried it, partly because the work came very
+easy to me, while the "repetition" was more readily learned from a
+loose page at odd times like dinner and chapel, and partly because,
+winning a scholarship during the term, I was transferred to a building
+reserved for twenty-eight such privileged individuals until they
+gained the further distinction of a place in the house class-room, by
+getting their transfer into the fifth form.
+
+Besides those who lived in the big quad there were several houses
+outside the gates, known as "Out-Houses." The boys there fared a good
+deal better than we who lived in college, and I presume paid more
+highly for it. Our meals were served in "Big Hall," where the whole
+four hundred of us were fed. The meals were exceptionally poor; so
+much so that we boys at the beginning of term formed what we called
+brewing companies--which provided as far as possible breakfasts and
+suppers for ourselves all term. As a protection against early
+bankruptcy, it was our custom to deposit our money with a rotund but
+popular school official, known always by a corruption of his name as
+"the Slug." Every Saturday night he would dole out to you your deposit
+made on return from the holidays, divided into equal portions by the
+number of weeks in the term. Once one was in the fifth form, brewing
+became easy, for one had a right to a place on the class-room fire for
+one's kettle or saucepan. Till then the space over gas stoves in Big
+School being strictly limited, the right was only acquired "vi et
+armis." Moreover, most of the fourth form boys and the "Shells," a
+class between them and the fifth, if they had to work after evening
+chapel, had to sit behind desks around the house class-room facing the
+centre, in which as a rule the fifth form boys were lazily cooking and
+devouring their suppers. Certain parts of those repasts, like
+sausages, we would import ready cooked from the "Tuck Shop," and hence
+they only needed warming up. Breakfast in Big School was no comfort to
+one, and personally I seldom attended it. But at dinner and tea one
+had to appear, and remain till the doors were opened again. It was a
+kind of roll-call; and the penalty for being late was fifty lines to
+be written out. As my own habits were never as regular as they should
+have been, whenever I was able to keep ahead, I possessed pages of
+such lines, neatly written out during school hours and ready for
+emergencies. On other occasions I somewhat shamefacedly recall that I
+employed other boys, who devoted less time to athletics than was my
+wont, to help me out--their only remuneration being the "joy of
+service."
+
+The great desire of every boy who could hope to do so was to excel in
+athletics. This fact has much to commend it in such an educational
+system, for it undoubtedly kept its devotees from innumerable worse
+troubles and dangers. All athletics were compulsory, unless one had
+obtained permanent exemption from the medical officer. If one was not
+chosen to play on any team during the afternoon, each boy had to go to
+gymnasium for drill and exercises, or to "flannel" and run round the
+Aylesbury Arms, an old public house three quarters of a mile distant.
+Any breach of this law was severely punished by the boys themselves.
+It involved a "fives batting," that is, a "birching" carried out with
+a hardwood fives bat, after chapel in the presence of the house. As a
+breach of patriotism, it carried great disgrace with it, and was very,
+very seldom necessary.
+
+Experience would make me a firm believer in
+self-government--determination is the popular term now, I believe. No
+punishments ever touched the boys one tenth part as much as those
+administered by themselves. On one occasion two of the Big School
+monitors, who were themselves notorious far more for their constant
+breaches of school law than for their observance of it, decided to
+make capital at the expense of the sixth form. One day, just as the
+dinner-bell rang, they locked the sixth form door, while a conclave
+was being held inside. Though everyone was intended to know to whom
+the credit belonged, it was understood that no one would dream of
+giving evidence against them. But it so happened that their voices had
+been recognized from within by one of the sixth form boys--and
+"bullies" and unpopular though the culprits were, they wouldn't deny
+their guilt. Their condign punishment was to be "fives-batted"
+publicly in Big School--in which, however, they regained very
+considerable popularity by the way they took a "spanking" without
+turning a hair, though it cost no less than a dozen bats before it
+was over.
+
+The publicity of Big School was the only redemption of such a
+bear-garden, but that was a good feature. It served to make us toe the
+line. After tea, it was the custom to have what we called "Upper
+School Boxing." A big ring was formed, boxing-gloves provided, and any
+differences which one might have to settle could be arranged there.
+There was more energy than science about the few occasions on which I
+appeared personally in the ring, but it was an excellent safety-valve
+and quite an evolutionary experience.
+
+The exigency of having to play our games immediately after noon dinner
+had naturally taught the boys at the head of athletic affairs that it
+was not wise to eat too much. Dinner was the one solid meal which the
+college provided, and most of us wanted it badly enough when it came
+along, especially the suet puddings which went by the name of
+"bollies" and were particularly satisfying. But whenever any game of
+importance was scheduled, a remorseless card used to be passed round
+the table just after the meat stage, bearing the ominous legend "No
+bolly to-day." To make sure that there were no truants, all hands were
+forced to "Hooverize." Oddly enough, beer in large blue china jugs was
+freely served at every dinner. We called it "swipes," and boys,
+however small, helped themselves to as much as they liked. Moreover,
+as soon as the game was over, all who had their house colours might
+come in and get "swipes" served to them freely through the buttery
+window. Both practices, I believe, have long since fortunately fallen
+into desuetude.
+
+To encourage the budding athlete there was an excellent custom of
+classifying not only the players who attained the first team; but
+beyond them there were "the Forty" who wore velvet caps with tassels,
+"the Sixty" who wore velvet caps with silver braid, "the Eighty," and
+even "the Hundred"--all of whom were posted from time to time, and so
+stimulated their members to try for the next grade.
+
+Like every other school there were bounds beyond which one might not
+go, and therefore beyond which one always wanted to go. Compulsory
+games limited the temptation in that direction very considerably; and
+my own breaches were practically always to get an extra swim. We had
+an excellent open-air swimming pool, made out of a branch of the river
+Kenneth, and were allowed one bathe a day, besides the dip before
+morning chapel, which only the few took, and which did not count as a
+bathe. The punishment for breaking the rule was severe, involving a
+week off for a first offence. But one was not easily caught, for even
+a sixth-former found hundreds of naked boys very much alike in the
+water, and the fact of any one having transgressed the limit was very
+hard to detect. Nor were we bound to incriminate ourselves by replying
+to leading questions.
+
+"Late for Gates" was a more serious crime, involving detention from
+beloved games--and many were the expedients to which we resorted to
+avoid such an untoward contingency. I remember well waiting for an
+hour outside the porter's view, hoping for some delivery wagon to give
+me a chance to get inside. For it was far too light to venture to
+climb the lofty railings before "prep" time. Good fortune ordained,
+however, that a four-wheel cab should come along in time, containing
+the parents of a "hopeful" in the sick-room. It seemed a desperate
+venture, for to "run" the gate was a worse offence than being late and
+owning up. But we succeeded by standing on the off step, unquestioned
+by the person inside, who guessed at once what the trouble was, and
+who proved to be sport enough to engage the porter while we got clear.
+Later on a scapegrace who had more reason to require some by-way than
+myself, revealed to me a way which involved a long détour and a climb
+over the laundry roof. Of this, on another occasion, I was sincerely
+glad to avail myself. One of the older boys, I remember, made a much
+bolder venture. He waited till dusk, and then boldly walked in through
+the masters' garden. As luck would have it, he met our form master,
+whom we will call Jones, walking the other way. It so happened he
+possessed a voice which he knew was much like that of another master,
+so simply sprinting a little he called out, "Night, night, Jones," and
+got by without discovery.
+
+Our chapel in those days was not a thing of beauty; but since then it
+has been rebuilt (out of our stomachs, the boys used to say) and is a
+model work of art. Attendance at chapel was compulsory, and no "cuts"
+were allowed. Moreover, once late, you were given lines, besides
+losing your chapel half-holiday. So the extraordinary zeal exhibited
+to be marked off as present should not be attributed to religious
+fervour. The chapel was entered from quad by two iron gates, with the
+same lofty railings which guarded the entrance on each side. The bell
+tolled for five minutes, then was silent one minute, and then a single
+toll was given, called "stroke." At that instant the two masters who
+stood by the pillars guarding each gate, jumped across, closing the
+gates if they could, and every one outside was late. Those inside the
+open walk--the length of the chapel that led to the doors at the far
+end--then continued to march in.
+
+During prayers each form master sat opposite his form, all of which
+faced the central aisle, and marked off those present. Almost every
+morning half-dressed boys, with shirts open and collars unbuttoned,
+boots unlaced, and jumping into coats and waistcoats as they dashed
+along, could be seen rushing towards the gate during the ominous
+minute of silence. There was always time to get straight before the
+mass of boys inside had emptied into chapel; and I never remember a
+gate master stopping a boy before "stroke" for insufficiency of
+coverings. Many were the subterfuges employed to get excused, and
+naturally some form masters were themselves less regular than others,
+though you never could absolutely count on any particular one being
+absent. Twice in my time gates were rushed--that is, when "stroke"
+went such crowds of flying boys were just at the gate that the masters
+were unable to stop the onslaught, and were themselves brushed aside
+or knocked down under the seething mass of panic-stricken would-be
+worshippers. On one of these occasions we were forgiven--"stroke" was
+ten seconds early; on the other a half-holiday was stopped, as one of
+the masters had been injured. To trip one's self up, and get a bloody
+nose, and possibly a face scratched on the gravel, and then a "sick
+cut" from the kindly old school doctor, was one of the more common
+ways boys discovered of saving their chapel half--when it was a very
+close call.
+
+The school surgery was presided over in my day by a much-beloved old
+physician of the old school, named Fergus, which the boys had so long
+ago corrupted into "Fungi" that many a lad was caught mistakenly
+addressing the old gentleman as Dr. Fungi--an error I always fancied
+to be rather appreciated.
+
+By going to surgery you could very frequently escape evening chapel--a
+very desirable event if you had a "big brew" coming off in class-room,
+for you could get things cooked and have plenty of room on the fire
+before the others were out. But one always had to pay for the
+advantage, the old doctor being very much addicted to potions. I never
+shall forget the horrible tap in the corner, out of which "cough
+mixture" flowed as "a healing for the nations," but which, nasty as it
+was, was the cheapest price at which one could purchase the cut. Some
+boys, anxious to cut lessons, found that by putting a little soap in
+one's eye, that organ would become red and watery. This they practised
+so successfully that sometimes for weeks they would be forbidden to do
+lessons on account of "eye-strain." They had to use lotions,
+eye-shades, and every spectacle possible was tried, but all to no
+avail. Sometimes they used so much soap that I was sure the doctor
+would suspect the bubbles.
+
+I had two periods in sick-room with a worrying cough, where the time
+was always made so pleasant that one was not tempted to hasten
+recovery. Diagnosis, moreover, was not so accurate in those days as it
+might have been, and the dear old doctor took no risks. So at the age
+of sixteen I was sent off for a winter to the South of France, with
+the diagnosis of congestion of the lungs.
+
+One of my aunts, a Miss Hutchinson, living at Hyères in the South of
+France, was delighted to receive me. With a widowed friend and two
+charming and athletic daughters, she had a very pretty villa on the
+hills overlooking the sea. My orders--to live out of doors--were very
+literally obeyed. In light flannel costumes we roamed the hills after
+moths and butterflies, early and late. We kept the frogs in miniature
+ponds in boxes covered with netting, providing them with bamboo
+ladders to climb, and so tell us when it was going to be wet weather.
+We had also enclosures in which we kept banks of trap-door spiders,
+which used to afford us intense interest with their clever artifices.
+To these we added the breeding of the more beautiful butterflies and
+moths, and so, without knowing that we were learning, we were taught
+many and valuable truths of life. There were horses to ride also, and
+a beautiful "plage" to bathe upon. It was always sunny and warm, and I
+invariably look back on that winter as spent in paradise. I was
+permitted to go over with a young friend to the Carnival at Nice,
+where, disguised as a clown, and then as a priest, with the _abandon_
+of boys, we enjoyed every moment of the time--the world was so big and
+wonderful. The French that I had very quickly learned, as we always
+spoke it at our villa, stood me on this occasion in good stead. But
+better still, I happened, when climbing into one of the
+flower-bedecked carriages parading in the "bataille de fleurs"--which,
+being in costume, was quite the right thing to do--to find that the
+owner was an old friend of my family, one Sir William Hut. He at once
+carried me to his home for the rest of the Carnival, and, of course,
+made it doubly enjoyable.
+
+A beautiful expedition, made later in that region which lives in my
+memory, was to the gardens at La Mortola, over the Italian line, made
+famous by the frequent visits of Queen Victoria to them. They were
+owned by Sir Thomas Hanbury, whose wife was my aunt's great friend.
+
+The quaintness of the memories which persist longest in one's mind
+often amuse me. We used, as good Episcopalians, to go every Sunday to
+the little English Church on the rue des Palmiers. Alas, I can
+remember only one thing about those services. The clergyman had a
+peculiar impediment in his speech which made him say his _h_'s and
+_s_'s, both as _sh_. Thus he always said _sh_uman for _h_uman, and
+invariably prayed that God might be pleased to "shave the Queen." He
+nearly got me into trouble once or twice through it.
+
+About the middle of the winter I realized that I had made a mistake.
+In writing home I had so enthusiastically assured my father that the
+place was suiting my health, that he wrote back that he thought in
+that case I might stand a little tutoring, and forthwith I was
+despatched every morning to a Mr. B., an Englishman, whose house,
+called the "Hermitage," was in a thick wood. I soon discovered that
+Mr. B. was obliged to live abroad for his health, and that the
+coaching of small boys was only a means to that end. He was a good
+instructor in mathematics, a study which I always loved, but he
+insisted on my taking Latin and French literature, for neither of
+which I had the slightest taste. I consequently made no effort
+whatever to improve my mind, a fact which did not in the least disturb
+his equanimity. The great interest of those journeys to the Hermitage
+were the fables of La Fontaine--which I learned as repetition and
+enjoyed--and the enormous number of lizards on the walls, which could
+disappear with lightning rapidity when seen, though they would stay
+almost motionless, waiting for a fly to come near, which they then
+swallowed alive. They were so like the stones one could almost rub
+one's nose against them without seeing them. Each time I started, I
+used to cut a little switch for myself and try to switch them off
+their ledges before they vanished. The attraction to the act lay in
+that it was almost impossible to accomplish. But if you did they
+scored a bull's-eye by incontinently discarding their tails, which
+made them much harder to catch next time, and seemed in no way to
+incommode them, though it served to excuse my conscience of cruelty.
+At the same time I have no wish to pose as a protector of flies.
+
+Returning to Marlborough School the following summer, I found that my
+father, who knew perfectly the thorough groundwork I had received in
+Greek and Latin, had insisted on my being given a remove into the
+lower fifth form "in absentia." Both he and I were aware that I could
+do the work easily; but the form master resented it, and had already
+protested in vain. I believe he was a very good man in his way, and
+much liked by those whom he liked. But alas, I was not one of them;
+and never once, during the whole time I was in his form, did I get one
+single word of encouragement out of him. My mathematical master, and
+"stinks," or chemical master, I was very fond of, and in both those
+departments I made good progress.
+
+The task of keeping order in a chemistry class of boys is never easy.
+The necessary experiments divert the master's eye from the class, and
+always give opportunity for fooling. Added to this was the fact that
+our "stinks" master, like many scientific teachers, was far too
+good-natured, and half-enjoyed himself the diversion which his
+experiments gave. When obliged to punish a boy caught "flagrante
+delicto," he invariably looked out for some way to make it up to him
+later. It was the odd way he did it which endeared him to us, as if
+apologizing for the kindness. Thus, on one occasion, suddenly in most
+righteous anger, just as if a parenthesis to the remark he was making,
+he interposed, "Come and be caned, boy. My study, twelve o'clock."
+When the boy was leaving, very unrepentant after keeping the
+appointment, in the same parenthetical way the master remarked, "Go
+away, boy. Cake and wine, my room, five o'clock"--which proved
+eventually the most effective part of the correction.
+
+To children there always appears a gap between them and "grown-ups"
+as impassable as that which Abraham is made to describe as so great
+that they who would pass to and fro cannot. As we grow older, we cease
+to see it, but it exists all the same. As I write, five children are
+romping through this old wood on broom-handle horses. One has just
+fallen. A girl of twelve at once retorts, "Do get up, Willy, your
+horse is always throwing you off." The joys of life lie in us, not in
+things; and in childhood imagination is so big, its joys so entirely
+uncloyed. Sometimes grown-ups are apt to grudge the time and trouble
+put into apparently transient pleasures. A trivial strawberry feast,
+given to children on our dear old lawn under the jasmine and
+rose-bushes, something after the order of a New England clam-bake,
+still looms as a happy memory of my parents' love for children,
+punctuated by the fact that though by continuing a game in spite of
+warning I broke a window early in the afternoon, and was banished to
+the nursery "as advised," my father forgave me an hour later, and
+himself fetched me down again to the party.
+
+To teach us independence, my father put us on an allowance at a very
+early age, with a small bank account, to which every birthday he added
+five pounds on our behalf. We had no pony at that time, indeed had not
+yet learned to ride, so our deposits always went by the name of "pony
+money." This was an excellent plan, for we didn't yet value money for
+itself, and were better able to appreciate the joy of giving because
+it seemed to postpone the advent of our pony. However, when we were
+thought to have learned to value so sentient a companion and to be
+likely to treat him properly, a Good Samaritan was permitted to
+present us with one of our most cherished friends. To us, she was an
+unparalleled beauty. How many times we fell over her head, and over
+her tail, no one can record. She always waited for you to remount, so
+it didn't much matter; and we were taught that great lesson in life,
+not to be afraid of falling, but to learn how to take a fall. My own
+bent, however, was never for the things of the land, and though
+gallops on the Dee Sands, and races with our cousins, who owned a
+broncho and generally beat us, had their fascination, boats were the
+things which appealed most to me.
+
+Having funds at our disposal, we were allowed to purchase material,
+and under the supervision of a local carpenter, to build a boat
+ourselves. To this purpose our old back nursery was forthwith
+allocated. The craft which we desired was a canoe that would enable us
+to paddle or drift along the deep channels of the river, and allow us
+to steal upon the flocks of birds feeding at the edges. Often in
+memory I enjoy those days again--the planning, the modelling, the
+fitting, the setting-up, and at last, the visit of inspection of our
+parents. Alas, stiff-necked in our generation, we had insisted on
+straight lines and a square stern. Never shall I forget the
+indignation aroused in me by a cousin's remark, "It looks awful like a
+coffin." The resemblance had not previously struck either of us, and
+father had felt that the joke was too dangerous a one to make, and had
+said nothing. But the pathos of it was that we now saw it all too
+clearly. My brother explained that the barque was intended to be not
+"seen." Ugliness was almost desirable. It might help us if we called
+it the "Reptile," and painted it red--all of which suggestions were
+followed. But still I remember feeling a little crestfallen, when
+after launching it through the window, it lay offensively resplendent
+against the vivid green of the grass. It served, however, for a time,
+ending its days honourably by capsizing a friend and me, guns and all,
+into the half-frozen water of the lower estuary while we were
+stalking some curlew. I had to run home dripping. My friend's gun,
+moreover, having been surreptitiously borrowed from my cousin's
+father, was recovered the following day, to our unutterable relief.
+Out of the balance of the money spent on the boat, we purchased a
+pin-fire, breech-loading gun, the pride of my life for many days. I
+was being kept back from school at the time on account of a cold, but
+I was not surprised to find myself next day sitting in a train, bound
+for Marlborough, and "referred once more to my studies."
+
+A little later my father, not being satisfied, took me away to read
+with a tutor for the London matriculation, in which without any
+trouble, I received a first class.
+
+A large boarding-school in England is like a miniature world. One
+makes many acquaintances, who change as one gets pushed into new
+classes, so at that stage one makes few lasting friends. Those who
+remain till they attain the sixth form, and make the school teams,
+probably form more permanent friendships. I at least think of that
+period as one when one's bristles were generally up, and though many
+happy memories linger, and I have found that to be an old Marlburian
+is a bond of friendship all the world over, it is the little oddities
+which one remembers best.
+
+A new scholarship boy had one day been assigned to the closed
+corporation of our particular class-room. To me he had many
+attractions, for he was a genius both in mathematics and chemistry. We
+used to love talking over the problems that were set us as voluntary
+tasks for our spare time; and our united excursions in those
+directions were so successful that we earned our class more than one
+"hour off," as rewards for the required number of stars given for good
+pieces of work. My friend had, however, no use whatever for
+athletics. He had never been from home before, had no brothers, and
+five sisters, was the pet of his parents, and naturally somewhat of a
+square plug in a round hole in our school life. He hated all
+conventions, and was always in trouble with the boys, for he entirely
+neglected his personal appearance, while his fingers were always
+discoloured with chemicals, and he would not even feign an interest in
+the things for which they cared. I can remember him sitting on the
+foot of my bed, talking me to sleep more than once with some new plan
+he had devised for a self-steering torpedo or an absolutely reliable
+flying machine. He had received the sobriquet of "Mad G.," and there
+was some justice in it from the opposition point of view. I had not
+realized, however, that he was being bullied--on such a subject he
+would never say a syllable--till one day as he left class-room I saw a
+large lump of coal hit him square on the head, and a rush of blood
+follow it that made me hustle him off to surgery. Scalp wounds are not
+so dangerous as they are bloody to heads as thick as ours. His
+explanation that he had fallen down was too obvious a distortion of
+truth to deceive even our kindly old doctor. But he asked no further
+question, seeing that it was a point of honour. The matter, however,
+forced an estrangement between myself and some of my fellows that I
+realized afterwards was excellent for me. Forthwith we moved my
+friend's desk into my corner of the room which was always safe when I
+was around, though later some practices of the others to which I took
+exception led to a combination which I thought of then as that made by
+the Jews to catch Paul, and which I foiled in a similar way,
+watchfully eluding them when they were in numbers together, but always
+ready to meet one or two at a time. The fact that I had just taken up
+"racquets" impressed it on my memory, for considering the class-room
+temporarily unsafe for "prep" work, I used that building as a
+convenient refuge for necessary study. It would have been far better
+to have fought it out and taken, if unavoidable, whatever came to
+me--had it been anywhere else I should probably have done so. But the
+class-room was a close corporation for Foundation scholars, and not
+one of my chums had access to it to see fair play.
+
+My friendship for "Mad G." was largely tempered by my own love for
+anything athletic, and eccentricities paid a very heavy price among
+all boys. Thus, though I was glad to lend my protection to my friend,
+we never went about together--as such boys as he always lived the life
+of hermits in the midst of the crowd. I well remember one other boy,
+made eccentric by his peculiar face and an unfortunate impediment of
+speech. No such boy should have been sent to an English public school
+as it was in my day. His stutter was no ordinary one, for it
+consisted, not in repeating the first letter or syllable, but in
+blowing out both cheeks like a balloon, and making noises which
+resembled a back-firing motor engine. It was the custom of our form
+master to make us say our repetition by each boy taking one line, the
+last round being always "expressed"--that is, unless you started
+instantly the boy above you finished, the next boy began, and took
+your place. I can still see and hear the unfortunate J. getting up
+steam for his line four or five boys ahead of time, so that he might
+explode at the right moment, which desirable end, however, he but very
+rarely accomplished, and never catching up, he used, like the man in
+the parable, always to "begin with shame to take the lowest place."
+Sometimes the master in a merciful mood allowed us to write the line;
+but that was risky, for it was considered no disgrace to circumvent
+him, and under those circumstances it was very easy for the next boy
+to write his own and then yours, and pass it along if he saw you were
+in trouble.
+
+There was, and I think with some reason, a pride among the boys on
+their appearance on certain occasions. It went by the name of "good
+form." Thus on Sundays at morning chapel, we always wore a button-hole
+flower if we could. My dear mother used to post me along a little box
+of flowers every week--nor was it by any means wasted energy, for not
+only did the love for flowers become a hobby and a custom with many of
+us through life, and a help to steer clear of sloppiness in
+appearance, but it was a habit quite likely to spread to the soul. But
+beyond that, the picture of my dear mother, with the thousand worries
+of a large school of small boys on her hands, finding time to gather,
+pack, address, and post each week with her own hands so fleeting and
+inessential a token of her love, has a thousand times arisen to my
+memory, and led me to consider some apparently quite unnecessary
+little labour of love as being well worth the time and trouble. It is
+these deeds of love--not words, however touching--that never fade from
+the soul, and to the last make their appeal to the wandering boy to
+"arise" and do things.
+
+Like everything else this fastidiousness can be overdone, and I
+remember once a boy's legal guardian showing me a bill for a hundred
+pounds sterling that his ward had incurred in a single term for cut
+flowers. Yet "form" is a part of the life of all English schools, and
+the boys think much more of it than sin. At Harrow you may not walk in
+the middle of the road as a freshman; and in American schools and
+universities, such regulations as the "Fence" laws at Yale show that
+they have emulated and even surpassed us in these. It was, however, a
+very potent influence, and we were always ridiculously sensitive about
+breaches of it. Thus, on a certain prize day my friend "Mad G.,"
+having singularly distinguished himself in his studies, his parents
+came all the way from their home, at great expense to themselves, to
+see their beloved and only son honoured. I presume that, though wild
+horses would not drag anything out of the boy at school, he had
+communicated to them the details of some little service rendered. For
+to my horror I was stopped by his mother, whom I subsequently learned
+to love and honour above most people, and actually kissed while
+walking in the open quad--strutting like a peacock, I suppose, for I
+remember feeling as if the bottom had suddenly fallen out of the
+earth. The sequel, however, was an invitation to visit their home in
+North Wales for the Christmas holidays, where there was rough
+shooting,--the only kind I really cared for,--boating, rock-climbing,
+bathing, and the companionship of as lively a family as it was
+possible to meet anywhere. Many a holiday afterwards we shared
+together, and the kindness showered upon me I shall never be able to
+forget, or, alas, return; for my dear friend "Mad G." has long ago
+gone to his rest, and so have both his parents, whom I loved almost as
+my own.
+
+Another thing for which I have much to thank my parents is the
+interest which they encouraged me to take in the collecting and study
+of natural objects. We were taught that the only excuse that made the
+taking of animal life honourable was for some useful purpose, like
+food or study or self-preservation. Several cases of birds stuffed and
+set up when we were fourteen and sixteen years of age still adorn the
+old house. Every bit had to be done by ourselves, my brother making
+the cases, and I the rock work and taxidermy. The hammering-up of
+sandstone and granite; to cover the glue-soaked brown paper that we
+moulded into rocks, satisfied my keenest instinct for making messes,
+and only the patience of the old-time domestics would have "stood for
+it." My brother specialized in birds' eggs, and I in butterflies and
+moths. Later we added seaweeds, shells, and flowers. Some of our
+collections have been dissipated; and though we have not a really
+scientific acquaintance with either of these kingdoms, we acquired a
+"hail-fellow-well-met" familiarity with all of them, which has
+enlivened many a day in many parts of the world as we have journeyed
+through life. Moreover, though purchased pictures have other values,
+the old cases set on the walls of one's den bring back memories that
+are the joy and solace of many idle moments later in life--each rarer
+egg, each extra butterfly picturing some day or place of keen triumph,
+otherwise long since forgotten. Here, for instance, is a convolvulus
+hawk father found killed on a mountain in Switzerland; there an Apollo
+I caught in the Pyrenees; here a "red burnet" with "five eyes"
+captured as we raced through the bracken on Clifton Downs; and there
+are "purple emperors" wired down to "meat" baits on the Surrey Downs.
+
+Many a night at school have I stolen into the great forest, my
+butterfly net under my coat, to try and add a new specimen to my
+hoard. We were always supplied with good "key-books," so that we
+should be able to identify our specimens, and also to search for
+others more intelligently. One value of my own specialty was that for
+the moths it demanded going out in the night, and the thrills of out
+of doors in the beautiful summer evenings, when others were "fugging"
+in the house or had gone to bed, used actually to make me dance
+around on the grass. The dark lantern, the sugaring of the tree stems
+with intoxicating potions, and the subsequent excitement of searching
+for specimens, fascinated me utterly. Our breeding from the egg,
+through the caterpillar stage, taught us many things without our
+knowing that we were learning.
+
+One of our holidays was memorable, because as soon as our parents left
+we invited my friend and two sisters as well to come and stay with us.
+They came, fully expecting that mother had asked them, but were good
+enough sports to stay when they found it was only us two boys. They
+greatly added to the enjoyment of the days, and if they had not been
+such inveterate home letter-writers--a habit of which we were very
+contemptuous--it would have saved us boys much good-humoured teasing
+afterwards, for the matron would have been mum and no one the wiser.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+EARLY WORK IN LONDON
+
+
+In 1883 my father became anxious to give up teaching boys and to
+confine himself more exclusively to the work of a clergyman. With this
+in view he contemplated moving to London where he had been offered the
+chaplaincy of the huge London Hospital. I remember his talking it over
+with me, and then asking if I had any idea what I wanted to do in
+life. It came to me as a new conundrum. It had never occurred to me to
+look forward to a profession; except that I knew that the heads of
+tigers, deer, and all sorts of trophies of the chase which adorned our
+house came from soldier uncles and others who hunted them in India,
+and I had always thought that their occupation would suit my taste
+admirably. It never dawned on me that I would have to earn my bread
+and butter--that had always come along. Moreover, I had never seen
+real poverty in others, for all the fisher-folk in our village seemed
+to have enough. I hated dress and frills, and envied no one. At
+school, and on the Riviera, and even in Wales, I had never noticed any
+want. It is true that a number of dear old ladies from the village
+came in the winter months to our house once or twice a week to get
+soup. They used to sit in the back hall, each with a round tin can
+with a bucket handle. These were filled with hot broth, and the old
+ladies were given a repast as well before leaving. As a matter of fact
+I very seldom actually saw them, for that part of the house was cut
+off entirely by large double green-baize covered doors. But I often
+knew that they must have been there, because our Skye terrier, though
+fed to overflowing, usually attended these séances, and I presume,
+while the old ladies were occupied with lunch, sampled the cans of
+soup that stood in rows along the floor. He used to come along with
+dripping whiskers which betrayed his excursion, and the look of a
+connoisseur in his large round eyes--as if he were certifying that
+justice had been done once more in the kitchen.
+
+While I was in France the mother of my best chum in school had been
+passing through Marseilles on her way home from India, and had most
+kindly taken me on a jolly trip to Arles, Avignon, and other
+historical places. She was the wife of a famous missionary in India.
+She spoke eight languages fluently, including Arabic, and was a
+perfect "vade mecum" of interesting information which she well knew
+how to impart. She had known my mother's family all her life, they
+being Anglo-Indians in the army service.
+
+About the time of my father's question, my friend's mother was staying
+in Chester with her brother-in-law, the Lord Lieutenant of
+Denbighshire. It was decided that as she was a citizeness of the
+world, no one could suggest better for what profession my peculiar
+talents fitted me. The interview I have long ago forgotten, but I
+recall coming home with a confused idea that tiger hunting would not
+support me, and that she thought I ought to become a clergyman, though
+it had no attraction for me, and I decided against it.
+
+None of our family on either side, so far as I can find out, had ever
+practised medicine. My own experience of doctors had been rather a
+chequered one, but at my father's suggestion I gladly went up and
+discussed the matter with our country family doctor. He was a fine
+man, and we boys were very fond of him and his family, his daughter
+being our best girl friend near by. He had an enormous practice, in
+which he was eminently successful. The number of horses he kept, and
+the miles he covered with them, were phenomenal in my mind. He had
+always a kind word for every one, and never gave us boys away, though
+he must have known many of our pranks played in our parents' absence.
+The only remaining memory of that visit was that the old doctor
+brought down from one of his shelves a large jar, out of which he
+produced a pickled human brain. I was thrilled with entirely new
+emotions. I had never thought of man's body as a machine. That this
+weird, white, puckered-up mass could be the producer or transmitter of
+all that made man, that it controlled our physical strength and
+growth, and our responses to life, that it made one into "Mad G." and
+another into me--why, it was absolutely marvellous. It attracted me as
+did the gramophone, the camera, the automobile.
+
+My father saw at once on my return that I had found my real interest,
+and put before me two alternative plans, one to go to Oxford, where my
+brother had just entered, or to join him in London and take up work in
+the London Hospital and University, preparatory to going in for
+medicine. I chose the latter at once--a decision I have never
+regretted. I ought to say that business as a career was not suggested.
+In England, especially in those days, these things were more or less
+hereditary. My forbears were all fighters or educators, except for an
+occasional statesman or banker. Probably there is some advantage in
+this plan.
+
+The school had been leased for a period of seven years to a very
+delightful successor, it being rightly supposed that after that time
+my brother would wish to assume the responsibility.
+
+Some of the subjects for the London matriculation were quite new to
+me, especially "English." But with the fresh incentive and new vision
+of responsibility I set to work with a will, and soon had mastered the
+ten required subjects sufficiently to pass the examination with
+credit. But I must say here that Professor Huxley's criticisms of
+English public school teaching of that period were none too stringent.
+I wish with all my heart that others had spoken out as bravely, for in
+those days that wonderful man was held up to our scorn as an atheist
+and iconoclast. He was, however, perfectly right. We spent years of
+life and heaps of money on our education, and came out knowing nothing
+to fit us for life, except that which we picked up incidentally.
+
+I now followed my father to London, and found every subject except my
+chemistry entirely new. I was not familiar with one word of botany,
+zoölogy, physics, physiology, or comparative anatomy. About the
+universe which I inhabited I knew as little as I did about cuneiform
+writings. Except for my mathematics and a mere modicum of chemistry I
+had nothing on which to base my new work; and students coming from
+Government free schools, or almost anywhere, had a great advantage
+over men of my previous education; I did not even know how to study
+wisely. Again, as Huxley showed, medical education in London was so
+divided, there being no teaching university, that the curriculum was
+ridiculously inadequate. There were still being foisted upon the world
+far too many medical men of the type of Bob Sawyer.
+
+There were fourteen hospitals in London to which medical schools were
+attached. Our hospital was the largest in the British Isles, and in
+the midst of the poorest population in England, being located in the
+famous Whitechapel Road, and surrounded by all the purlieus of the
+East End of the great city. Patients came from Tilbury Docks to
+Billingsgate Market, and all the river haunts between; from Shadwell,
+Deptford, Wapping, Poplar, from Petticoat Lane and Radcliffe Highway,
+made famous by crime and by Charles Dickens. They came from Bethnal
+Green, where once queens had their courts, now the squalid and crowded
+home of poverty; from Stratford and Bow, and a hundred other slums.
+
+The hospital had some nine hundred beds, which were always so full
+that the last surgeon admitting to his wards constantly found himself
+with extra beds poked in between the regulation number through sheer
+necessity. It afforded an unrivalled field for clinical experience and
+practical teaching. In my day, however, owing to its position in
+London, and the fact that its school was only just emerging from
+primeval chaos, it attracted very few indeed of the medical students
+from Oxford and Cambridge, who are obliged to come to London for their
+last two or three years' hospital work--the scope in those small
+university towns being decidedly limited.
+
+Looking back I am grateful to my alma mater, and have that real
+affection for her that every loyal son should have. But even that does
+not conceal from me how poor a teaching establishment it was. Those
+who had natural genius, and the advantages of previous scientific
+training, who were sons of medical men, or had served apprenticeships
+to them, need not have suffered so much through its utter
+inefficiency. But men in my position suffered quite unconsciously a
+terrible handicap, and it was only the influences for which I had
+nothing whatever to thank the hospital that saved me from the
+catastrophes which overtook so many who started with me.
+
+To begin with, there was no supervision of our lives whatever. We were
+flung into a coarse and evil environment, among men who too often
+took pride in their shame, just to sink or swim. Not one soul cared
+which you did. I can still remember numerous cases where it simply
+meant that men paid quite large sums for the privilege of sending the
+sons they loved direct to the devil. I recall one lad whom I had known
+at school. His father lavished money upon him, and sincerely believed
+that his son was doing him credit and would soon return to share his
+large practice, and bring to it all the many new advances he had
+learned. The reports of examinations successfully passed he fully
+accepted; and the non-return of his son at vacation times he put down
+to professional zeal. It was not till the time came for the boy to get
+his degree and return that the father discovered that he had lived
+exactly the life of the prodigal in the parable, and had neither
+attended college nor attempted a single examination of any kind
+whatever. It broke the father's heart and he died.
+
+Examinations for degrees were held by the London University, or the
+Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, never by the hospital
+schools. These were practically race committees; they did no teaching,
+but when you had done certain things, they allowed you to come up and
+be examined, and if you got through a written and "viva voce"
+examination you were inflicted on an unsuspecting public "qualified to
+kill"--often only too literally so.
+
+It is obvious on the face of it that this could be no proper criterion
+for so important a decision as to qualifications; special crammers
+studied the examiners, their questions, and their teachings, and luck
+had a great deal to do with success. While some men never did
+themselves justice in examinations, others were exactly the reverse.
+Thus I can remember one resident accoucheur being "ploughed," as we
+called it, in his special subject, obstetrics--and men to whom you
+wouldn't trust your cat getting through with flying colours.
+
+Of the things to be done: First you had to be signed up for attending
+courses of lectures on certain subjects. This was simply a matter of
+tipping the beadle, who marked you off. I personally attended only two
+botany lectures during the whole course. At the first some practical
+joker had spilled a solution of carbon bisulphide all over the
+professor's platform, and the smell was so intolerable that the
+lecture was prorogued. At the second, some wag let loose a couple of
+pigeons, whereupon every one started either to capture them or stir
+them up with pea-shooters. The professor said, "Gentlemen, if you do
+not wish to learn, you are at liberty to leave." The entire class
+walked out. The insignificant sum of two and sixpence secured me my
+sign-up for the remainder of the course.
+
+Materia medica was almost identical; and while we had better fortune
+with physiology, no experience and no apparatus for verifying its
+teachings were ever shown us.
+
+Our chemistry professor was a very clever man, but extremely
+eccentric, and his class was pandemonium. I have seen him so
+frequently pelted with peas, when his head was turned, as to force him
+to leave the amphitheatre in despair. I well remember also an
+unpopular student being pushed down from the top row almost on to the
+experiment table.
+
+There was practically no histology taught, and little or no pathology.
+Almost every bit of the microscope which I did was learned on my own
+instrument at home. Anatomy, however, we were well taught in the
+dissecting-room, where we could easily obtain all the work we needed.
+But not till Sir Frederick Treves became our lecturer in anatomy and
+surgery was it worth while doing more than pay the necessary sum to
+get signed up.
+
+In the second place we had to attend in the dispensary, actually to
+handle drugs and learn about them--an admirable rule. Personally I
+went once, fooled around making egg-nogg, and arranged with a
+considerate druggist to do the rest that was necessary. Yet I
+satisfied the examiners at the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
+those of the London University at the examinations for Bachelor of
+Medicine--the only ones which they gave which carried questions in any
+of these subjects.
+
+In the athletic life of the University, however, I took great
+interest, and was secretary in succession of the cricket, football,
+and rowing clubs. I helped remove the latter from the old river Lea to
+the Thames, to raise the inter-hospital rowing championship and start
+the united hospitals' rowing club. I found time to row in the
+inter-hospital race for two years and to play on the football team in
+the two years of which we won the inter-hospital football cup. A few
+times I played with the united hospitals' team; but I found that their
+ways were not mine, as I had been taught to despise alcohol as a
+beverage and to respect all kinds of womanhood. For three years I
+played regularly for Richmond--the best of the London clubs at the
+time--and subsequently for Oxford, being put on the team the only term
+I was in residence. I also threw the hammer for the hospital in the
+united hospitals' sports, winning second place for two years. Indeed,
+athletics in some form occupied every moment of my spare time.
+
+It was in my second year, 1885, that returning from an out-patient
+case one night, I turned into a large tent erected in a purlieu of
+Shadwell, the district to which I happened to have been called. It
+proved to be an evangelistic meeting of the then famous Moody and
+Sankey. It was so new to me that when a tedious prayer-bore began with
+a long oration, I started to leave. Suddenly the leader, whom I
+learned afterwards was D.L. Moody, called out to the audience, "Let us
+sing a hymn while our brother finishes his prayer." His practicality
+interested me, and I stayed the service out. When eventually I left,
+it was with a determination either to make religion a real effort to
+do as I thought Christ would do in my place as a doctor, or frankly
+abandon it. That could only have one issue while I still lived with a
+mother like mine. For she had always been my ideal of unselfish love.
+So I decided to make the attempt, and later went down to hear the
+brothers J.E. and C.T. Studd speak at some subsidiary meeting of the
+Moody campaign. They were natural athletes, and I felt that I could
+listen to them. I could not have listened to a sensuous-looking man, a
+man who was not a master of his own body, any more than I could to a
+precentor, who coming to sing the prayers at college chapel
+dedication, I saw get drunk on sherry which he abstracted from the
+banquet table just before the service. Never shall I forget, at the
+meeting of the Studd brothers, the audience being asked to stand up if
+they intended to try and follow Christ. It appeared a very sensible
+question to me, but I was amazed how hard I found it to stand up. At
+last one boy, out of a hundred or more in sailor rig, from an
+industrial or reformatory ship on the Thames, suddenly rose. It seemed
+to me such a wonderfully courageous act--for I knew perfectly what it
+would mean to him--that I immediately found myself on my feet, and
+went out feeling that I had crossed the Rubicon, and must do something
+to prove it.
+
+   [Illustration: OXFORD UNIVERSITY RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL TEAM
+   W.T. Grenfell at left of bottom row]
+
+We were Church of England people, and I always attended service with
+my mother at an Episcopal church of the evangelical type. At her
+suggestion I asked the minister if I could in any way help. He offered
+me a class of small boys in his Sunday School, which I accepted with
+much hesitation. The boys, derived from houses in the neighbourhood,
+were as smart as any I have known. With every faculty sharpened by the
+competition of the street, they so tried my patience with their pranks
+that I often wondered what strange attraction induced them to come at
+all. The school and church were the property of a society known by the
+uninviting title of the "Episcopal Society for the promotion of
+Christianity among the Jews." It owned a large court, shut off from
+the road by high gates, around which stood about a dozen houses--with
+the church facing the gates at one end of a pretty avenue of trees. It
+was an oasis in the desert of that dismal region. It possessed also an
+industrial institution for helping its converts to make a living, when
+driven out of their own homes; and its main work was carried on for
+the most part by superannuated missionaries. One was from Bagdad, I
+remember, and one from Palestine, both themselves Jews by extraction.
+These missionaries were paid such miserable salaries that in their old
+age they were always left very poor.
+
+One instance of a baptism I have never forgotten. I was then living in
+the court, having hired a nice separate house under the trees after my
+father had died and my mother had moved to Hampstead. In such a
+district the house was a Godsend. One Sunday I was strolling in the
+court when the clergyman came rushing out of the church and called to
+me in great excitement, "The church is full of Jews. They are going to
+carry off Abraham. Can't you go in and help while I fetch the police?"
+My friend and I therefore rushed in as directed to a narrow alleyway
+between high box pews which led into the vestry, into which "Abraham"
+had been spirited. The door being shut and our backs put to it, it was
+a very easy matter to hold back the crowd, who probably supposed at
+first that we were leading the abduction party. There being only room
+for two to come on at once, "those behind cried forward, and those in
+front back," till after very little blood spilt, we heard the police
+in the church, and the crowd at once took to flight. I regret to say
+that we expedited the rear-guard by football rather than strictly
+Christian methods. His friends then charged Abraham with theft,
+expecting to get him out of his place of refuge and then trap him, as
+we were told they had a previous convert. We therefore accompanied him
+personally through the mean streets, both to and fro, spoiling for
+more fun. But they displayed more discretion than valour, and to the
+best of my belief he escaped their machinations.
+
+My Sunday-School efforts did not satisfy me. The boys were few, and I
+failed to see any progress. But I had resolved that I would do no work
+on Sundays except for others, so I joined a young Australian of my
+class in hospital in holding services on Sunday nights in half a dozen
+of the underground lodging-houses along the Radcliffe Highway. He was
+a good musician, so he purchased a fine little portable harmonium, and
+whatever else the lodgers thought of us, they always liked the music.
+We used to meet for evening tea at a place in the famous Highway known
+as "The Stranger's Rest," outside of which an open-air service was
+always held for the sailors wandering up and down the docks. At these
+a number of ladies would sing; and after the meetings a certain number
+of the sailors were asked to come in and have refreshments. There were
+always some who had spent their money on drink, or been robbed, or
+were out of ships, and many of them were very fine men. Some were
+foreigners--so much so that a bit farther down the road a Norwegian
+lady carried on another similar work, especially for Scandinavians.
+
+A single story will illustrate the good points which some of these men
+displayed. My hospital chief, Sir Frederick Treves, had operated on a
+great big Norwegian, and the man had left the hospital cured. As a
+rule such patients do not even know the name of their surgeon. Some
+three weeks later, however, this man called at Sir Frederick Treves's
+house late one dark night. Having asked if he were the surgeon who had
+operated on him and getting a reply in the affirmative, he said he had
+come to return thanks, that since he left hospital he had been
+wandering about without a penny to his name, waiting for a ship, but
+had secured a place on that day. He proceeded to cut out from the
+upper edge of his trousers a gold Norwegian five-kronen piece which
+his wife had sewed in there to be his stand-by in case of absolute
+need. He had been so hungry that he had been tempted to use it, but
+now had come to present it as a token of gratitude--upon which he
+bowed and disappeared. Sir Frederick said that he was so utterly taken
+aback that he found himself standing in the hall, holding the coin,
+and bowing his visitor out. He said he could no more return it than
+you could offer your teacher a "tip," and he has preserved it as a
+much-prized possession.
+
+The underground lodging-house work did me lots of good. It brought me
+into touch with real poverty--a very graveyard of life I had never
+surmised. The denizens of those miserable haunts were men from almost
+every rank of life. They were shipwrecks from the ocean of humanity,
+drifted up on the last beach. There were large open fireplaces in the
+dens, over which those who had any food cooked it. Often while the
+other doctor or I was holding services, one of us would have to sit
+down on some drunken man to keep him from making the proceedings
+impossible; but there was always a modicum who gathered around and
+really enjoyed the singing.
+
+We soon found that there were no depths of contemptible treachery
+which some among these new acquaintances would not attempt. We became
+gradually hardened to the piteous tales of ill luck, of malignant
+persecution, and of purely temporary embarrassments, and learned soon
+to leave behind us purses, and watches, and anything else of value,
+and to keep some specially worn clothing for this service.
+
+There was always a narrow passage from the front door to the staircase
+which led down into those huge underground basements. The guardians
+had a room inside the door, with a ticket window, where they took five
+or possibly eight cents from the boarders for their night's lodging.
+At about eleven o'clock a "chucker out" would go down and clear out
+all the gentlemen who had not paid in advance for the night. This was
+always a very melancholy period of the evening, and in spite of our
+hardened hearts, we always had a score against us there. That,
+however, had to be given in person, for there were plenty among our
+audiences who had taken special courses in imitative calligraphy.
+I.O.U.'s on odd bits of paper were a menace to our banking accounts
+till we sorrowfully abandoned that convenient way of helping often a
+really deserving case.
+
+In those houses, somewhat to my astonishment, we never once received
+any physical opposition. We knew that some considered us harmless and
+gullible imbeciles; but the great majority were still able to see that
+it was an attempt, however poor, to help them. Drink, of course, was
+the chief cause of the downfall of most; but as I have already said,
+there were cases of genuine, undeserved poverty--like our sailor
+friend, overtaken with sickness in a foreign port. We induced some to
+sign the pledge and to keep it, if only temporarily, but I think that
+we ourselves got most out of the work, both in pleasure and uplift. I
+recall one clergyman, one doctor, and many men from the business world
+and clerk's life in the flotsam and jetsam.
+
+One poor creature, in the last stage of poverty and dirt, proved to be
+an honours man in Oxford. We looked up his record in the University.
+He assured us that he intended to begin again a new life, and we
+agreed to help start him. We took him to a respectable, temperance
+lodging-house, paid for a bed, a bath, and a supper, and purchased a
+good second-hand outfit of clothing for him. We were wise enough only
+to give this to him after we had taken away his own while he was
+having a bath in the tub. We did not give him a penny of money,
+fearing his lack of control. Next morning, however, when we went for
+him, he was gone--no one knew where. We had the neighbouring saloons
+searched, and soon got track of him. Some "friend" in the temperance
+house had given him sixpence. The barman offered him the whiskey; his
+hands trembled so that he could not lift the glass to his mouth, and
+the barman kindly poured it down his throat. We never saw him again.
+
+In this lodging-house work a friend, now a well-known artist and
+successful business man, often joined us two doctors.
+
+My growing experience had shown me that there was a better way to the
+hearts of my Sunday-School boys than merely talking to them. Like
+myself, they worshipped the athlete, whether he were a prize-fighter
+or a big football player. There were no Y.M.C.A.'s or other places for
+them to get any physical culture, so we arranged to clear our
+dining-room every Saturday evening, and give boxing lessons and
+parallel-bar work: the ceiling was too low for the horizontal. The
+transformation of the room was easily accomplished. The furniture was
+very primitive, largely our own construction, and we could throw out
+through the window every scrap of it except the table, which was soon
+"adapted." We also put up a quoit pitch in our garden.
+
+This is no place to discuss the spiritual influences of the "noble art
+of boxing." Personally I have always believed in its value; and my
+Sunday-School class soon learned the graces of fair play, how to take
+defeat and to be generous in victory. They began at once bringing
+"pals" whom my exegesis on Scripture would never have lured within my
+reach. We ourselves began to look forward to Saturday night and Sunday
+afternoon with an entirely new joy. We all learned to respect and so
+to love one another more--indeed, lifelong friendships were developed
+and that irrespective of our hereditary credal affiliations. The
+well-meaning clergyman, however, could not see the situation in that
+light, and declining all invitations to come and sample an evening's
+fun instead of condemning it unheard, or I should say, unseen, he
+delivered an ultimatum which I accepted--and resigned from his school.
+
+My Australian friend was at that time wrestling with a real ragged
+school on the Highway on Sunday afternoons. The poor children there
+were street waifs and as wild as untamed animals. So, being
+temporarily out of a Sunday job, I consented to join him.
+
+Our school-room this time owed no allegiance to any one but
+ourselves, and the work certainly proved a real labour of love. If the
+boys were allowed in a minute before there was a force to cope with
+them, the room would be wrecked. Everything movable was stolen
+immediately opportunity arose. Boys turned out or locked out during
+session would climb to the windows, and triumphantly wave stolen
+articles. On one occasion when I had "chucked out" a specially
+obstreperous youth, I was met with a shower of mud and stones as I
+passed through a narrow alley on my return home. The police were
+always at war with the boys, who annoyed them in similar and many
+other ways. I remember two scholars whose eyes were blacked and badly
+beaten by a "cop" who happened to catch them in our doorway, as they
+declared, "only waiting for Sunday School to open." Old scores were
+paid off by both parties whenever possible. My own boys did not stay
+in the old school long after I left, but came and asked me to keep a
+class on Sunday in our dining-room--an arrangement in which I gladly
+acquiesced, though it involved my eventually abandoning the ragged
+school, which was at least two miles distant.
+
+With the night work at the lodging-houses, we used to combine a very
+aggressive total abstinence campaign. The saloon-keepers as a rule
+looked upon us as harmless cranks, and I have no doubt were grateful
+for the leaflets we used to distribute to their customers. These
+served admirably for kindling purposes. At times, however, they got
+ugly, and once my friend, who was in a saloon talking to a customer,
+was trapped and whiskey poured into his mouth. On another occasion I
+noticed that the outer doors were shut and a couple of men backed up
+against them while I was talking to the bartender over the counter,
+and that a few other customers were closing in to repeat the same
+experiment on me. However, they greatly overrated their own stock of
+fitness and equally underrated my good training, for the scrimmage
+went all my own way in a very short time.
+
+If ever I told my football chums (for in those days I was playing
+hard) of these adventures in a nether world, they always wanted to
+come and coöperate; but I have always felt that reliance on physical
+strength alone is only a menace when the odds are so universally in
+favour of our friend the enemy. At this time also at St. Andrew's
+Church, just across the Whitechapel Road from the hospital, the
+clergyman was a fine athlete and good boxer. He was a brother of Lord
+Wenlock, and was one night returning from a mission service in the
+Highway when he was set upon by footpads and robbed of everything,
+including the boots off his feet. Meantime "Jack the Ripper" was also
+giving our residential section a most unsavoury reputation.
+
+My long vacations at this time were always taken on the sea. My
+brother and I used to hire an old fishing smack called the "Oyster,"
+which we rechristened the "Roysterer." This we fitted out,
+provisioned, and put to sea in with an entirely untrained crew, and
+without even the convention of caring where we were bound so long as
+the winds bore us cheerily along. My brother was always cook--and
+never was there a better. We believed that he would have made a mark
+in the world as a chef, from his ability to satisfy our appetites and
+cater to our desires out of so ill-supplied a galley. We always took
+our departure from the north coast of Anglesea--a beautiful spot, and
+to us especially attractive as being so entirely out of the run of
+traffic that we could do exactly as we pleased. We invariably took our
+fishing gear with us, and thus never wanted for fresh food. We could
+replenish our bread, milk, butter, and egg supply at the numerous
+small ports at which we called. The first year the crew consisted of
+my brother and me--skipper, mate, and cook between us--and an Oxford
+boating friend as second mate. For a deckhand we had a young East
+London parson, whom we always knew as "the Puffin," because he so
+closely resembled that particular bird when he had his vestments on.
+We sailed first for Ireland, but the wind coming ahead we ran instead
+for the Isle of Man. The first night at sea the very tall
+undergraduate as second mate had the 12 P.M. to 4 A.M. night watch.
+The tiller handle was very low, and when I gave him his course at
+midnight before turning in myself, he asked me if it would be a breach
+of nautical etiquette to sit down to steer, as that was the only
+alternative to directing the ship's course with his ankles. No land
+was in sight, and the wind had died out when I came on deck for my 4
+A.M. to 8 A.M. watch. I found the second mate sitting up rubbing his
+eyes as I emerged from the companion hatch.
+
+"Well, where are we now? How is her head? What's my course?"
+
+"Don't worry about such commonplace details," he replied. "I have made
+an original discovery about these parts that I have never seen
+mentioned before."
+
+"What's that?" I asked innocently.
+
+"Well," he replied, "when I sat down to steer the course you gave
+brought a bright star right over the topmast head and that's what I
+started to steer by. It's a perfect marvel what a game these heavenly
+bodies play. We must be in some place like Alice in Wonderland. I just
+shut my eyes for a second and when next I opened them the sun was
+exactly where I had left that star--" and he fled for shelter.
+
+It is a wonder that we ever got anywhere, for we had not so much as a
+chronometer watch, and so in spite of a decrepit sextant even our
+latitude was often an uncertain quantity. However, we made the port of
+Douglas, whence we visited quite a part of the historic island. As our
+parson was called home from there, we wired for and secured another
+chum to share our labours. Our generally unconventional attire in
+fashionable summer resorts was at times quite embarrassing.
+Barelegged, bareheaded, and "tanned to a chip," I was carrying my
+friend's bag along the fashionable pier to see him off on his homeward
+journey, when a lady stopped me and asked me if I were an Eskimo,
+offering me a job if I needed one. I have wondered sometimes if it
+were a seat in a sideshow which she had designed for me.
+
+We spent that holiday cruising around the island. It included getting
+ashore off the north point of land and nearly losing the craft; and
+also in Ramsey Harbour a fracas with the harbour authorities. We had
+run that night on top of the full spring tide. Not knowing the
+harbour, we had tied up to the first bollard, and gone incontinently
+to sleep. We were awakened by the sound of water thundering on top of
+us, and rushing up found to our dismay that we were lying in the mud,
+and a large sewer was discharging right on to our decks. Before we had
+time to get away or clean up, the harbour master, coming alongside,
+called on us to pay harbour duties. We stoutly protested that as a
+pleasure yacht we were not liable and intended to resist to the death
+any such insult being put upon us. He was really able to see at once
+that we were just young fellows out for a holiday, but he had the last
+word before a crowd of sight-seers who had gathered on the quay above
+us.
+
+"Pleasure yacht, pleasure yacht, indeed!" he shouted as he rode away,
+"I can prove to any man with half an eye that you are nothing but one
+of them old coal or mud barges."
+
+The following year the wind suited better the other way. We were
+practically all young doctors this time, the cook being a very
+athletic chum in whose rooms were collected as trophies, in almost
+every branch of athletics, over seventy of what we called silver
+"pots." As a cook he proved a failure except in zeal. It didn't really
+interest him, especially when the weather was lively. On one occasion
+I reported to the galley, though I was the skipper that year, in
+search of the rice-pudding for dinner--Dennis, our cook, being
+temporarily indisposed. Such a sight as met my view! Had I been
+superstitious I should have fled. A great black column the
+circumference of the boiler had risen not less than a foot above the
+top rim, and was wearing the iron cover jauntily on one side as a
+helmet. It proved to be rice. He had filled the saucepan with dry
+rice, crowded in a little water, forced the lid on very tight and left
+it to its own devices!
+
+Nor, in his subsequent capacity as deckhand, did he redeem in our eyes
+the high qualities of seamanship which we had anticipated from him.
+
+Our tour took us this time through the Menai Straits, _via_ Carnarvon
+and the Welsh coast, down the Irish Channel to Milford Haven. In the
+region of very heavy tides and dangerous rocks near the south Welsh
+coast, we doubled our watch at night. One night the wind fell very
+light, and we had stood close inshore in order to pass inside the
+Bishop Rocks. The wind died out at that very moment, and the heavy
+current driving us down on the rocky islands threatened prematurely to
+terminate our cruise. The cook was asleep, as usual when called, and
+at last aroused to the nature of the alarm, was found leaning forward
+over the ship's bows with a lighted candle. When asked what he was
+doing, he explained, "Why, looking for those bishops, of course."
+
+No holiday anywhere could be better sport than those cruises. There
+was responsibility, yet rest, mutual dependence, and a charming,
+unconventional way of getting acquainted with one's own country. We
+visited Carnarvon, Harlech, and other castles, lost our boat in a
+breeze of wind off Dynllyn, climbed Snowden from Pwllheli Harbour, and
+visited a dozen little out-of-the-world harbours that one would
+otherwise never see. Fishing and shooting for the pot, bathing and
+rowing, and every kind of healthy out-of-doors pleasure was indulged
+in along the road of travel. Moreover, it was all made to cost just as
+much or as little as you liked.
+
+Another amusing memory which still remains with me was at one little
+seaport where a very small man not over five feet high had married a
+woman considerably over six. He was an idle, drunken little rascal,
+and I met her one day striding down the street with her intoxicated
+little spouse wrapped up in her apron and feebly protesting.
+
+One result of these holidays was that I told my London boys about
+them, using one's experiences as illustrations; till suddenly it
+struck me that this was shabby Christianity. Why shouldn't these town
+cagelings share our holidays? Thirteen accompanied me the following
+summer. We had three tents, an old deserted factory, and an
+uninhabited gorge by the sea, all to ourselves on the Anglesea coast,
+among people who spoke only Welsh. Thus we had all the joys of foreign
+travel at very little cost.
+
+Among the many tricks the boys "got away with" was one at the big
+railway junction at Bangor, where we had an hour to wait. They
+apparently got into the baggage-room and stole a varied assortment of
+labels, which they industriously pasted over those on a large pile of
+luggage stacked on the platform. The subsequent tangle of destinations
+can better be imagined than described.
+
+Camp rules were simple--no clothing allowed except short blue knickers
+and gray flannel shirts, no shoes, stockings, or caps except on
+Sundays. The uniform was provided and was as a rule the amateur
+production of numerous friends, for our finances were strictly
+limited. The knickers were not particularly successful, the legs
+frequently being carried so high up that there was no space into which
+the body could be inserted. Every one had to bathe in the sea before
+he got any breakfast. I can still see ravenous boys staving off the
+evil hour till as near midday as possible. No one was allowed in the
+boats who couldn't swim, an art which they all quickly acquired. There
+was, of course, a regular fatigue party each day for the household
+duties. We had no beds--sleeping on long, burlap bags stuffed with
+hay. A very favourite pastime was afforded by our big lifeboat, an old
+one hired from the National Lifeboat Society. The tides flowed very
+strongly alongshore, east on the flood tide and west on the ebb. Food,
+fishing lines, and a skipper for the day being provided, the old boat
+would go off with the tide in the morning, the boys had a picnic
+somewhere during the slack-water interim, and came back with the
+return tide.
+
+When our numbers grew, as they did to thirty the second year, and
+nearly a hundred in subsequent seasons, thirty or more boys would be
+packed off daily in that way--and yet we never lost one of them. If
+they had not had as many lives as cats it would have been quite
+another story. The boat had sufficient sails to give the appearance
+to their unfamiliar eyes of being a sailing vessel, but the real work
+was done with twelve huge oars, two boys to an oar being the rule. At
+nights they used to come drifting homeward on the returning tides
+singing their dirges, like some historic barge of old. There was one
+familiar hymn called "Bringing in the Sheaves," which like everything
+else these rascals adapted for the use of the moment; and many a time
+the returning barge would be announced to us cooking supper in the old
+factory or in the silent gorge, by the ringing echoes of many voices
+beating with their oars as they came on to the words:
+
+    "Pulling at the sweeps,
+    Pulling at the sweeps;
+    Here we come rejoicing,
+    Pulling at the sweeps."
+
+As soon as the old boat's keel slid up upon the beach, there would be
+a rush of as appreciative a supper party as ever a cook had the
+pleasure of catering for.
+
+An annual expedition was to the top of Mount Snowdon, the highest in
+England or Wales. It was attempted by land and water. Half of us
+tramped overland in forced marches to the beautiful Menai Straits,
+crossed the suspension bridge, and were given splendid hospitality and
+good beds on the straw of the large stables at the beautiful country
+seat of a friend at Treborth. Here the boat section who came around
+the island were to meet us, anchoring their craft on the south side of
+the Straits. Our second year the naval division did not turn up, and
+some had qualms of conscience that evil might have overtaken them. Nor
+did they arrive until we by land had conquered the summit, travelling
+by Bethesda and the famous slate quarries, and returning for the
+second evening at Treborth. We then found that they had been stranded
+on the sands in Red Wharf Bay, so far from shore that they could
+neither go forward nor back; had thus spent their first night in a
+somewhat chilly manner in old bathing machines by the land wash, and
+supped off the superfluous hard biscuit which they had been reserving
+for the return voyage. They were none the worse, however, our genial
+host making it up to them in an extra generous provision and a special
+evening entertainment. One of my smartest boys (a Jew by nationality,
+for we made no distinctions in election to our class), in recounting
+his adventures to me next day, said: "My! Doctor, I did have some fun
+kidding that waiter in the white choker. He took a liking to me so I
+let him pal up. I told him my name was Lord Shaftesbury when I was
+home, but I asked him not to let it out, and the old bloke promised he
+wouldn't." The "old bloke" happened to be our host, who was always in
+dress-clothes in the evening, the only time we were at his house.
+
+These holidays were the best lessons of love I could show my boys. It
+drew us very closely together; and to make the boys feel it less a
+charitable affair, every one was encouraged to save up his railway
+fare and as much more as possible. By special arrangement with the
+railway and other friends, and by very simple living, the per caput
+charges were so much reduced that many of the boys not only paid their
+own expenses, but even helped their friends. The start was always
+attended by a crowd of relatives, all helping with the baggage. The
+father of one of my boys was a costermonger, and had a horse that he
+had obtained very cheap because it had a disease of the legs. He
+always kept it in the downstairs portion of his house, which it
+entered by the front door. It was a great pleasure to him to come and
+cart our things free to the station. The boys used to load his cart
+at our house, and I remember one time that they made him haul
+unconsciously all the way to the big London terminal at Euston half
+our furniture, including our coal boxes. His son, a most charming boy,
+made good in life in Australia and bought a nice house in one of the
+suburbs for his father and mother. I had the pleasure one night of
+meeting them all there. The father was terribly uneasy, for he said he
+just could not get accustomed to it. All his old "pals" were gone, and
+his neighbours' tastes and interests were a great gulf between them. I
+heard later that as soon as his son left England again the old man
+sold the house, and returned to the more congenial associations of a
+costermonger's life, where I believe he died in harness.
+
+The last two years of my stay in London being occupied with resident
+work at hospital, I could not find time for such far-off holidays, and
+at the suggestion of my chief, Sir Frederick Treves, himself a
+Dorsetshire man, we camped by permission of our friends, the owners,
+in the grounds of Lulworth Castle, close by the sea. The class had now
+developed into a semi-military organization. We had acquired real
+rifles--old-timers from the Tower of London--and our athletic clubs
+were portions of the Anglesey Boys' Brigade, which antedated the Boys'
+Brigade of Glasgow, forerunner of the Church Lads' Brigade, and the
+Boy Scouts.
+
+One of the great attractions of the new camping-ground was the
+exquisite country and the splendid coast, with chalk cliffs over which
+almost any one could fall with impunity. Lulworth Cove, one of the
+most picturesque in England, was the summer resort of my chief, and he
+being an expert mariner and swimmer used not only very often to join
+us at camp, but always gave the boys a fine regatta and picnic at his
+cottage. Our water polo games were also a great feature here, the
+water being warm and enabling us easily to play out the games. There
+are also numerous beautiful castles and country houses all the way
+between Swanage and Weymouth, and we had such kindness extended to us
+wherever we went that every day was a dream of joy to the lads.
+Without any question they acquired new visions and ideals through
+these experiences.
+
+We always struck camp at the end of a fortnight, having sometimes
+arranged with other friends with classes of their own to step into our
+shoes. The present head master of Shrewsbury and many other
+distinguished persons shared with us some of the educative joys of
+those days. Among the many other more selfish portions of the holidays
+none stand out more clearly in my memory than the August days when
+partridge and grouse shooting used to open. Most of my shooting was
+done over the delightful highlands around Bishop's Castle in
+Shropshire, on the outskirts of the Welsh hills, in Clun Forest, and
+on the heather-covered Longmynds. How I loved those days, and the
+friends who made them possible--the sound of the beaters, the
+intelligent setters and retrievers, the keepers in velveteens, the
+lunches under the shade of the great hedges or in lovely cottages,
+where the ladies used to meet us at midday, and every one used to
+jolly you about not shooting straight, and you had to take refuge in a
+thousand "ifs."
+
+As one looks back on it all from Labrador, it breathes the aroma of an
+old civilization and ancient customs. Much of the shooting was over
+the old lands of the Walcotts of Walcott Hall, a family estate that
+had been bought up by Earl Clive on his return from India, and was now
+in the hands of his descendant, an old bachelor who shot very little,
+riding from one good stand to another on a steady old pony. There
+were many such estates, another close by being that of the Oakovers of
+Oakover, a family that has since sold their heritage.
+
+A thousand time-honoured old customs, only made acceptable by their
+hoary age, added, and still continue to add in the pleasures of
+memory, to the joys of those days, with which golf and tennis and all
+the wonderful luxury of the modern summer hotel seem never able to
+compete. It is right, however, that such eras should pass.
+
+The beautiful forest of Savernake, that in my school days I had loved
+so well, and which meant so much to us boys, spoke only too loudly of
+the evil heirloom of the laws of entail. Spendthrift and dissolute
+heirs had made it impossible for the land to be utilized for the
+benefit of the people, and yet kept it in the hands of utterly
+undeserving persons. Being of royal descent they still bore a royal
+name even in my day; but it was told of them that the last, who had
+been asked to withdraw from the school, on one occasion when, half
+drunk, he was defending himself from the gibes and jeers of grooms and
+'ostlers whom he had made his companions, rose with ill-assumed
+dignity and with an oath declared that he was their king by divine
+right if only he had his dues. Looking back it seems to me that the
+germs of democratic tendencies were sown in me by just those very
+incidents.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL
+
+
+I have never ceased to regret that there was not more corporate life
+in our medical school, but I believe that conditions have been greatly
+improved since my day. Here and there two or three classmates would
+"dig" together, but otherwise, except at lectures or in hospitals, we
+seldom met unless it was on the athletic teams. We had no playground
+of our own, and so, unable to get other hospitals to combine, when a
+now famous St. Thomas man and myself hired part of the justly
+celebrated London Rowing Club Headquarters at Putney for a united
+hospitals' headquarters, we used to take our blazers and more
+cherished possessions home with us at night for fear of distraint of
+rent.
+
+They were great days. Rowing on the Thames about Putney is not like
+that at Oxford on a mill-pond, or as at Cambridge on what we nicknamed
+a drain that should be roofed over. Its turgid waters were often rough
+enough to sink a rowing shell, and its busy traffic was a thing with
+which to reckon. But it offered associations with all kinds of
+interesting places, historical and otherwise, from the Star and Garter
+at Richmond and the famous Park away to Boulter's Lock and Cleveden
+Woods, to the bathing pools about Taplow Court, the seat of the senior
+branch of our family, and to Marlow and Goring where our annual club
+outings were held. Twice I rowed in the inter-hospital race from
+Putney to Mortlake, once as bow and again as stroke. During those
+early days the "London" frequently had the best boat on the river.
+
+Having now finished my second year at hospital and taken my
+preliminary examinations, including the scientific preliminary, and my
+first bachelor of medicine for the University of London degree, I had
+advanced to the dignity of "walking the hospitals," carried a large
+shining stethoscope, and spent much time following the famous
+physicians and surgeons around the wards.
+
+Our first appointment was clerking in the medical wards. We had each
+so many beds allotted to us, and it was our business to know
+everything about the patients who occupied them, to keep accurate
+"histories" of all developments, and to be ready to be quizzed and
+queried by our resident house physician, or our visiting consultant on
+the afternoon when he made his rounds, followed by larger or smaller
+crowds of students according to the value which was placed upon his
+teaching. I was lucky enough to work under the famous Sir Andrew
+Clark, Mr. Gladstone's great physician. He was a Scotchman greatly
+beloved, and always with a huge following to whom he imparted far more
+valuable truths than even the medical science of thirty years ago
+afforded. His constant message, repeated and repeated at the risk of
+wearying, was: "Gentlemen, you must observe for yourselves. It is your
+observation and not your memory which counts. It is the patient and
+not the disease whom you are treating."
+
+Compared with the methods of diagnosis to-day those then were very
+limited, but Sir Andrew's message was the more important, showing the
+greatness of the man, who, though at the very top of the tree, never
+for a moment tried to convey to his followers that his knowledge was
+final, but that any moment he stood ready to abandon his position for
+a better one. On one occasion, to illustrate this point, while he was
+in one of the largest of our wards (one with four divisions and twenty
+beds each) he was examining a lung case, while a huge class of fifty
+young doctors stood around.
+
+"What about the sputum, Mr. Jones?" he asked. "What have you observed
+coming from these lungs?"
+
+"There is not much quantity, sir. It is greenish in colour."
+
+"But what about the microscope, Mr. Jones? What does that show?"
+
+"No examination has been made, sir."
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "I will now go to the other ward, and you shall
+choose a specimen of the sputum of some of these cases. When I return
+we will examine it and see what we can learn."
+
+When he returned, four specimens awaited him, the history and
+diagnoses of the cases being known only to the class. The class never
+forgot how by dissolving and boiling, and with the microscope, he told
+us almost more from his examination of each case than we knew from all
+our other information. His was real teaching, and reminds one of the
+Glasgow professor who, in order to emphasize the same point of the
+value of observation, prepared a little cupful of kerosene, mustard,
+and castor oil, and calling the attention of his class to it, dipped a
+finger into the atrocious compound and then sucked his finger. He then
+passed the mixture around to the students who all did the same with
+most dire results. When the cup returned and he observed the faces of
+his students, he remarked: "Gentlemen, I am afraid you did not use
+your powers of obsairvation. The finger that I put into the cup was no
+the same one that I stuck in my mouth afterwards."
+
+Sir Stephen Mackenzie, who operated on the Emperor Frederick, was
+another excellent teacher under whom we had the good fortune to study.
+Indeed, whatever could be said against the teaching of our college,
+in this much more important field of learning, the London Hospital was
+most signally fortunate, and, moreover, was famed not only in London,
+but all the world over. Our "walking class" used to number men from
+the United States to Australia, insomuch that the crowds became so
+large that the teachers could not get room to pass along. It was this
+fact which led to the practice, now almost universal, of carrying the
+patient in his bed with a nurse in attendance into the theatre for
+observation as more comfortable and profitable for all concerned.
+
+On changing over to the surgical side in the hospital, we were
+employed in a very similar manner, only we were called "dressers," and
+under the house surgeon had all the care of a number of surgical
+patients. My good fortune now brought me under the chieftaincy of Sir
+Frederick Treves, the doyen of teachers. His great message was
+self-reliance. He taught dogmatically as one having authority, and
+always insisted that we should make up our minds, have a clear idea of
+what we were doing, and then do it. His ritual was always thought out,
+no detail being omitted, and each person had exactly his share of work
+and his share of responsibility. It used greatly to impress patients,
+and he never underestimated the psychical value of having their
+complete confidence. Thus, on one occasion asking a dresser for his
+diagnosis, the student replied:
+
+"It might be a fracture, sir, or it might be only sprained."
+
+"The patient is not interested to know that it might be measles, or it
+might be toothache. The patient wants to know what is the matter, and
+it is your business to tell it to him or he will go to a quack who
+will inform him at once."
+
+All his teachings were, like Mark Twain's, enhanced by such
+over-emphasis or exaggeration. He could make an article in the
+"British Medical Journal" on Cholecystenterostomy amusing to a general
+reader, and make an ordinary remark as cutting as an amputation knife.
+He never permitted laxity of any kind in personal appearance or dress,
+or any imposing on the patients. His habit of saying openly exactly
+what he meant made many people fear, as much as they respected, him.
+However, he was always, in spite of it, the most popular of all the
+chiefs because he was so worth while.
+
+One incident recurs to my mind which I must recount as an example when
+psychology failed. A Whitechapel "lady," suffering with a very violent
+form of delirium tremens, was lying screeching in a strait-jacket on
+the cushioned floor of the padded room. With the usual huge queue of
+students following, he had gone in to see her, as I had been unable to
+get the results desired with a reasonable quantity of sedatives and
+soporifics. It was a very rare occasion, for cases which did not
+involve active surgery he left strictly alone. After giving a talk on
+psychical influence he had the jacket removed as "a relic of
+barbarism," and in a very impressive way looking into her glaring eyes
+and shaking his forefinger at her, he said: "Now, you are comfortable,
+my good woman, and will sleep. You will make no more disturbance
+whatever." There was an unusual silence. The woman remained absolutely
+passive, and we all turned to follow the chief out. Suddenly the
+"lady" called out, "Hi, hi,"--and some perverse spirit induced Sir
+Frederick to return. Looking back with defiant eyes she screamed out,
+"You! You with a faice! You do think yerself ---- ---- clever, don't
+yer?" The strange situation was only relieved by his bursting into a
+genuine fit of laughter.
+
+Among other celebrated men who were admired and revered was Mr. Harry
+Fenwick on the surgical side, for whom I had the honour of
+illustrating in colours his prize Jacksonian essay. Any talent for
+sketching, especially in colours, is of great value to the student of
+medicine. Once you have sketched a case from nature, with the object
+of showing the peculiarity of the abnormality, it remains permanently
+in your mind. Besides this, it forces you to note small differences;
+in other words, it teaches you to "obsairve." Thus, in the skin
+department I was sent to reproduce a case of anthrax of the neck, a
+rare disease in England, though all men handling raw hides are liable
+to contract it. The area had to be immediately excised; yet one never
+could forget the picture on one's mind. On another occasion a case of
+genuine leprosy was brought in, with all the dreadful signs of the
+disease. The macula rash was entirely unique so far as I knew, but a
+sketch greatly helped to fix it on one's memory. The poor patient
+proved to be one of the men who was handling the meat in London's
+greatest market at Smithfield. A tremendous hue and cry spread over
+London when somehow the news got into the paper, and vegetarianism
+received a temporary boost which in my opinion it still badly needs
+for the benefit of the popular welfare.
+
+Among the prophets of that day certainly should be numbered another of
+our teachers, Dr. Sutton, an author, and very much of a personality.
+For while being one of the consulting physicians of the largest of
+London hospitals, he was naturally scientific and strictly
+professional. He was very far, however, from being the conventionalist
+of those days, and the younger students used to look greatly askance
+at him. His message always was: "Drugs are very little use whatever.
+Nature is the source of healing. Give her a chance." Thus, a careful
+history would be read over to him; all the certain signs of typhoid
+would be noted--and his comment almost always was: "This case won't
+benefit by drugs. We will have the bed wheeled out into the sunshine."
+The next case would be acute lobar pneumonia and the same treatment
+would be adopted. "This patient needs air, gentlemen. We must wheel
+him out into the sunshine"--and so on. How near we are coming to his
+teaching in these days is already impressing itself upon our minds.
+Unfortunately the fact that the doctors realize that medicines are not
+so potent as our forbears thought has not left the public with the
+increased confidence in the profession which the infinitely more
+rational treatment of to-day justifies, and valuable time is wasted
+and fatal delays incurred, by a return of the more impressionable
+public to quacks with high-sounding titles, or to cults where faith is
+almost credulity.
+
+Truly one has lived through wonderful days in the history of the
+healing art. The first operations which I saw performed at our
+hospitals were before Lord Lister's teaching was practised; though
+even in my boyhood I remember getting leave to run up from Marlborough
+to London to see my brother, on whom Sir Joseph Lister had operated
+for osteomyelitis of the leg. Our most famous surgeon in 1880 was Sir
+Walter Rivington; and to-day there rises in memory the picture of him
+removing a leg at the thigh, clad in a blood-stained, black velvet
+coat, and without any attempt at or idea of asepsis. The main thing
+was speed, although the patient was under ether, and in quickly
+turning round the tip of the sword-like amputation knife, he made a
+gash in the patient's other leg. The whole thing seemed horrible
+enough to us students, but the surgeon smiled, saying, "Fortunately it
+is of no importance, gentlemen. The man will not live."
+
+The day came when every one worked under clouds of carbolic steam
+which fizzed and spouted from large brass boilers over everything; and
+then the time when every one was criticizing the new, young surgeon,
+Treves, who was daring to discard it, and getting as good results by
+scrupulous cleanliness. His aphorism was, "Gentlemen, the secret of
+surgery is the nailbrush." Now with blood examinations, germ cultures,
+sera tests, X-rays, and a hundred added improvements, one can say to a
+fisherman in far-off Labrador arriving on a mail steamer, and to whom
+every hour lost in the fishing season spells calamity, "Yes, brother,
+you can be operated on and the wound will be healed and you will be
+ready to go back by the next steamer, unless some utterly unforeseen
+circumstance arises."
+
+The fallibility of diagnosis was at this very impressionable time
+fixed upon my mind--a fact that has since served me in good stead. For
+what can be more reactionary in human life than the man who thinks he
+knows it all, whether it be in science, philosophy, or religion?
+
+During my Christmas vacation I was asked to go north and visit my
+father's brother, a well-known captain in Her Majesty's Navy, who was
+also an inventor in gun machinery and sighting apparatus, and who had
+been appointed the naval head of Lord Armstrong's great works at
+Yarrow-on-the-Tyne. All that I was told was that he had been taken
+with such severe pains in the back that he needed some one with him,
+and my new-fledged dignity of "walking the hospitals" was supposed to
+qualify me especially for the post. Already my uncle had seen many
+doctors in London and had been ordered to the Continent for rest.
+After some months, not a bit improved, he had again returned to
+London. This time the doctor told his wife that it was a mental
+trouble, and that he should be sent to an asylum. This she most
+indignantly denied, and yet desired my company as the only medical
+Grenfell, who at such a crisis could stay in the house without being
+looked upon as a warder or keeper. Meantime they had consulted Sir
+C.P., who had told my uncle that he had an aneurism of his aorta, and
+that he must be prepared to have it break and kill him any minute. His
+preparations were accordingly all made, and personally I fully
+anticipated that he would fall dead before I left. He put up a
+wonderful fight against excruciating pain, of which I was frequently a
+witness. But the days went by and nothing happened, so I returned to
+town and another young doctor took my place. He also got tired of
+waiting and suggested it might be some spinal trouble. He induced them
+once more to visit London and see Sir Victor Horsley, whose work on
+the brains of animals and men had marked an epoch in our knowledge of
+the central nervous system. Some new symptoms had now supervened, and
+the famous neurologist at once diagnosed a tumour in the spinal canal.
+Such a case had never previously been operated on successfully, but
+there was no alternative. The operation was brilliantly performed and
+a wonderful success obtained. The case was quoted in the next edition
+of our surgical textbooks.
+
+A little later my father's health began to fail in London, the worries
+and troubles of a clergyman's work among the poor creatures who were
+constantly passing under his care utterly overwhelming him. We had
+agreed that a long change of thought was necessary and he and I
+started for a fishing and sight-seeing tour in Norway. Our steamer was
+to sail from the Tyne, and we went up to Newcastle to catch it. There
+some evil fiend persuaded my father to go and consult a doctor about
+his illness, for Newcastle has produced some well-known names in
+medicine. Thus, while I waited at the hotel to start, my father became
+persuaded that he had some occult disease of the liver, and must
+remain in Newcastle for treatment. I, however, happened to be
+treasurer of the voyage, and for the first time asserting my
+professional powers, insisted that I was family physician for the
+time, and turned up in the evening with all our round-trip tickets and
+reservations taken and paid for. In the morning I had the trunks
+packed and conveyed aboard, and we sailed together for one of the most
+enjoyable holidays I ever spent. We travelled much afoot and in the
+little native carriages called "stolkjærre," just jogging along,
+staying anywhere, fishing in streams, and living an open-air life
+which the increasing flood of tourists in after years have made much
+less possible. We both came back fitter in body and soul for our
+winter's work.
+
+My father's death a year later made a great difference to me, my
+mother removing to live with my grandmother at Hampstead, it being too
+lonely and not safe for her to live alone in East London. Twice our
+house had been broken into by burglars, though both times fruitlessly.
+The second occasion was in open daylight during the hour of evening
+service on a Sunday. Only a couple of maids would have been in the
+house had I not been suffering from two black eyes contracted during
+the Saturday's football game. Though I had accompanied the others out,
+decidedly my appearance might have led to misinterpretations in
+church, and I had returned unnoticed. The men escaped by some method
+which they had discovered of scaling a high fence, but I was close
+behind following them through the window by which they had entered.
+Shortly afterward I happened to be giving evidence at the Old Bailey
+on one of the many cases of assault and even murder where the victims
+were brought into hospital as patients. London was ringing with the
+tale of a barefaced murder at Murray Hill in North London, where an
+exceedingly clever piece of detective work, an old lantern discovered
+in a pawnbroker's shop in Whitechapel--miles away from the scene of
+the crime--was the means of bringing to trial four of the most
+rascally looking villains I ever saw. The trial preceded ours and we
+had to witness it. One of the gang had turned "Queen's evidence" to
+save his own neck. So great was the hatred of the others for him and
+the desire for revenge that even in the court they were hand-cuffed
+and in separate stands. Fresh from my own little fracas I learned what
+a fool I had been, for in this case also the deed was done in open
+daylight, and the lawn had tight wires stretched across it. The young
+son, giving chase as I did, had been tripped up and shot through his
+abdomen for his pains. He had, however, crawled back, made his will,
+and was subsequently only saved by a big operation. He looked in
+terrible shape when giving evidence at the trial.
+
+The giving of expert evidence on such occasions was the only
+opportunity which the young sawbones had of earning money. True we
+only got a guinea a day and expenses, but there were no other movie
+shows in those days, and we learned a lot about medical jurisprudence,
+a subject which always greatly interested me. It was no uncommon sight
+either at the "London" or the "Poplar," at both of which I did interne
+work, to see a policeman always sitting behind the screen at the foot
+of the patient's bed. One man, quite a nice fellow when not occupied
+in crime, had when furiously drunk killed his wife and cut his own
+throat. By the curious custom of society all the skill and money that
+the hospital could offer to save a most valuable life was as usual
+devoted to restoring this man to health. He was weaned slowly back
+from the grave by special nurses and treatment, till it began to dawn
+upon him that he might have to stand his trial. He would ask me if I
+thought he would have to undergo a long term, for he had not been
+conscious of what he was doing. As he grew better, and the policeman
+arrived to watch him, he decided that it would probably be quite a
+long time. He had a little place of his own somewhere, and he used to
+have chickens and other presents sent up to fellow patients, and would
+have done so to the nurses, only they could not receive them. I was
+not personally present at his trial, but I felt really sorry to hear
+that they hanged him.
+
+Many of these poor fellows were only prevented from ending their own
+lives by our using extreme care. The case of one wretched man, driven
+to desperation, I still remember. "Patient male; age forty-five;
+domestic trouble--fired revolver into his mouth. Finding no phenomena
+of interest develop, fired a second chamber into his right ear. Still
+no symptoms worthy of notice. Patient threw away pistol and walked to
+hospital." Both bullets had lodged in the thick parts of his skull,
+and doing no damage were left there. A subsequent note read: "Patient
+to-day tried to cut his throat with a dinner-knife which he had hidden
+in his bed. Patient met with no success." Another of my cases which
+interested me considerably was that of a professional burglar who had
+been operated upon in almost every part of the kingdom, and was
+inclined to be communicative, as the job which had brought him to
+hospital had cost him a broken spine. Very little hope was held out to
+him that he would ever walk again. He was clear of murder, for he
+said it was never his practice to carry firearms, being a nervous man
+and apt to use them if he had them and got alarmed when busy
+burglaring. He relied chiefly on his extraordinary agility and steady
+head to escape. His only yarn, however, was his last. He and a friend
+had been detailed by the gang to the job of plundering one of a row of
+houses. The plans of the house and of the enterprise were all in
+order, but some unexpected alarm was given and he fled upstairs,
+climbed through a skylight onto the roof, and ran along the gables of
+the tiles, not far ahead of the police, who were armed and firing at
+him. He could easily have gotten away, as he could run along the
+coping of the brick parapet without turning a hair, but he was brought
+up by a narrow side street on which he had not counted, not having
+anticipated, like cats, a battle on the tiles. It was only some twelve
+or fifteen feet across the gap, and the landing on the other side was
+a flat roof. Taking it all at a rush he cleared the street
+successfully, but the flat roof, black with ages of soot, proved to be
+a glass skylight, and he entered a house in a way new even to him. His
+falling on a stone floor many feet below accounted for his
+"unfortunate accident"! After many months in bed, the man took an
+unexpected turn, his back mended, and with only a slight leg paralysis
+he was able to return to the outside world. His long suffering and
+incarceration in hospital were accepted by the law as his punishment,
+and he assured me by all that he held sacred that he intended to
+retire into private life. Oddly enough, however, while on another
+case, I saw him again in the prisoner's dock and at once went over and
+spoke to him.
+
+"Drink this time, Doctor," he said. "I was down on my luck and the
+barkeeper went out and left his till open. I climbed over and got the
+cash, but there was so little space between the bar and the wall that
+with my stiff back I couldn't for the life of me get back. I was
+jammed like a stopper in a bottle."
+
+Among many interesting experiences, one especially I shall never
+forget. Like the others, it occurred during my service for Sir
+Frederick Treves as house-surgeon, and I believe he told the story. A
+very badly burned woman had been brought into hospital. Her dress had
+somehow got soaked in paraffin and had then taken fire. Her terribly
+extensive burns left no hope whatever of her recovery, and only the
+conventions of society kept us from giving the poor creature the
+relief of euthanasia, or some cup of laudanum negus. But the law was
+interested. A magistrate was brought to the bedside and the husband
+sent for. The nature of the evidence, the meaning of an oath, the
+importance of the poor creature acknowledging that her words were
+spoken "in hopeless fear of immediate death," were all duly impressed
+upon what remained of her mind. The police then brought in the savage,
+degraded-looking husband, and made him stand between two policemen at
+the foot of the bed, facing his mangled wife. The magistrate, after
+preliminary questions, asked her to make her dying statement as to how
+she came by her death. There was a terrible moment of silence. It
+seemed as if her spirit were no longer able to respond to the stimuli
+of life on earth. Then a sudden rebound appeared to take place, her
+eyes lit up with a flash of light, and even endeavouring to raise her
+piteous body, she said, "It was an accident, Judge. I upset the lamp
+myself, so help me God"; and just for one moment her eyes met those of
+her miserable husband. It was the last time she spoke.
+
+Tragedy and comedy ran hand in hand even in this work. St. Patrick's
+Day always made the hospital busy, just as Christmas was the season
+for burned children. Beer in an East London "pub" was generally served
+in pewter pots, as they were not easily broken. A common head injury
+was a circular scalp cut made by the heavy bottom rim, a wound which
+bled horribly. A woman was brought in on one St. Patrick's Day, her
+scalp turned forward over her face and her long hair a mass of clotted
+blood from such a stroke, made while she was on the ground. When the
+necessary readjustments had been made and she was leaving hospital
+cured, we asked her what had been the cause of the trouble. "'Twas
+just an accidint, yer know. Sure, me an' another loidy was just havin'
+a few words."
+
+On another occasion late at night, we were called out of bed by a
+cantankerous, half-drunken fellow whom the night porter could not
+pacify. "I'm a regular subscriber to this hospital, and I have never
+had my dues yet," he kept protesting. A new drug to produce immediate
+vomiting had just been put on the market, and as it was exactly the
+treatment he required, we gave him an injection. To our dismay, though
+the medicine is in common use to-day, either the poison which he had
+been drinking or the drug itself caused a collapse followed by head
+symptoms. He was admitted, his head shaved and icebags applied, with
+the result that next day he was quite well again. But when he left he
+had, instead of a superabundance of curly, auburn hair, a polished
+white knob oiled and shining like a State House at night. We debated
+whether his subscription would be as regular in future, though he
+professed to be profoundly grateful.
+
+I have digressed, but the intimacy which grew up between some of my
+patients and myself seemed worth while recounting, for they showed me
+what I never in any other way could have understood about the seamy
+side of life in great cities, of its terrible tragedies and pathos, of
+how much good there is in the worst, and how much need of courage, and
+what vast opportunities lie before those who accept the service of man
+as their service to God. It proved to me how infinitely more needed
+are unselfish deeds than orthodox words, and how much the churches
+must learn from the Labour Party, the Socialist Party, the
+Trades-Union, before tens of thousands of our fellow beings, with all
+their hopes and fears, loves and aspirations, have a fair chance to
+make good. I learned also to hate the liquor traffic with a loathing
+of my soul. I met peers of the realm honoured with titles because they
+had grown rich on the degradation of my friends. I saw lives damned,
+cruelties of every kind perpetrated, jails and hospitals filled,
+misery, want, starvation, murder, all caused by men who fattened off
+the profits and posed as gentlemen and great people. I have seen men's
+mouths closed whose business in life it was to speak out against this
+accursed trade. I have seen men driven from the profession of priests
+of God, making the Church a stench in the nostrils of men who knew
+values just as well as those trained in the universities do, all
+through alcohol, alcohol, alcohol. This awful war has been dragging
+its weary course for over four years now, and yet England has not
+tackled this curse which is throttling her. We sing "God save the
+King," and pretend to believe in the prayer, and yet we will not face
+this glaring demon in our midst. Words may clothe ideas, but it takes
+deeds to realize them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My parents having gone, it became necessary for me to find
+lodgings--which I did, "unfurnished," in the house of a Portuguese
+widow. Her husband, who had a good family name, had gone down in the
+world, and had disappeared with another "lady." The eldest son, a
+mathematical genius, had been able to pay his way through Cambridge
+University by the scholarships and prizes which he had won. One
+beautiful little dark-eyed daughter of seven was playing in a West End
+Theatre as the dormouse in "Alice in Wonderland." She was second
+fiddle to Alice herself, also, and could sing all her songs. Her pay
+was some five pounds a week, poor enough for the attraction she
+proved, but more than all the rest of the family put together earned.
+At that time I never went to theatres. Acquaintances had persuaded me
+that so many of the girls were ruined on the stage that for a man
+taking any interest in Christian work whatever, it was wrong to
+attend. Moreover, among my acquaintances there were not a few theatre
+fans, and I had nothing in common with them. The "dormouse," however,
+used to come up and say her parts for my benefit, and that of
+occasional friends, and was so modest and winsome, and her earnings so
+invaluable to the family, that I entirely altered my opinion. Then and
+there I came to the conclusion that the drama was an essential part of
+art, and that those who were trying to elevate and cleanse it, like
+Sir Henry Irving, whose son I had met at Marlborough, must have the
+support of a public who demanded clean plays and good conditions both
+in front and behind the screen. When I came to London my father had
+asked me not to go to anything but Shakespearian or equally
+well-recognized plays until I was twenty-one. Only once did I enter a
+music hall and I had plenty to satisfy me in a very few minutes.
+Vaudevilles are better than in those days. The censor does good work,
+but it is still the demand which creates the supply, and whatever
+improvement has occurred has been largely due to the taste of the
+patrons. Medical students need all the open air they can get in order
+to keep body and soul fit, and our contempt for the theatre fan was
+justifiable.
+
+My new lodgings being close to Victoria Park afforded the opportunity
+for training if one were unconventional. To practise throwing the
+sixteen-pound hammer requires rough ground and plenty of space, and as
+I was scheduled for that at the inter-hospital sports, it was
+necessary to work when not too many disinterested parties were around.
+Even an East-Ender's skull is not hammer-proof, as I had seen when a
+poor woman was brought into hospital with five circular holes in her
+head, the result of blows inflicted by her husband with a hammer. The
+only excuse which the ruffian offered for the murder was that she had
+forgotten to wake him, he had been late, and lost his job.
+
+A number of the boys in my class were learning to swim. There was only
+one bathing lake and once the waters were troubled we drew the line at
+going in to give lessons. So we used to meet at the gate at the hour
+of opening in the morning, and thus be going back before most folks
+were moving. Nor did we always wait for the park keeper, but often
+scaled the gates and so obtained an even more exclusive dip. Many an
+evening we would also "flannel," and train round and round the park,
+or Hackney Common, to improve one's wind before some big event. For
+diet at that time I used oatmeal, milk, and eggs, and very little or
+no meat. It was cheaper and seemed to give me more endurance; and the
+real value of money was dawning on me.
+
+Victoria Park is one of those open forums where every man with a sore
+spot goes out to air his grievance. On Sundays there were little
+groups around the trees where orators debated on everything from a
+patent medicine to the nature of God. Charles Bradlaugh and Mrs.
+Annie Besant were associated together in iconoclastic efforts against
+orthodox religion, and there was so much truth in some of their
+contentions that they were making no little disturbance. Hanging on
+their skirts were a whole crowd of ignorant, dogmatic atheists, who
+published a paper called "The Freethinker," which, while it was a
+villainous and contemptible rag, appealed to the passions and
+prejudices of the partially educated. To answer the specious arguments
+of their propaganda an association known as the Christian Evidence
+Society used to send out lecturers. One of them became quite famous
+for his clever arguments and answers, his ready wit, and really
+extensive reading. He was an Antiguan, a black man named Edwards, and
+had been a sailor before the mast. I met him at the parish house of an
+Episcopal clergyman of a near-by church, who, under the caption of
+Christian socialism, ran all kinds of social agencies that really
+found their way to the hearts of the people. His messages were so much
+more in deeds than in words that he greatly appealed to me, and I
+transferred my allegiance to his church, which was always well filled.
+I particularly remember among his efforts the weekly parish dance. My
+religious acquaintances were apt to class all such simple amusements
+in a sort of general category as "works of the Devil," and turn deaf
+ears to every invitation to point out any evil results, being
+satisfied with their own statement that it was the "thin edge of the
+wedge." This good man, however, was very obviously driving a wedge
+into the hearts of many of his poor neighbours who in those days found
+no opportunity for relief in innocent pleasures from the sordid round
+of life in the drab purlieus of Bethnal Green. This clergyman was a
+forerunner of his neighbour, the famous Samuel Barnett of Mile End,
+who thought out, started, and for many years presided over Toynbee
+House, the first big university settlement in East London. His workers
+preached their gospel through phrases and creeds which they accepted
+with mental reservations, but just exactly in such ways as they
+believed in absolutely. At first it used to send a shiver down my
+spine to find a church worker who didn't believe in the Creed, and
+stumbled over all our fundamentals. At first it amazed me that such
+men would pay their own expenses to live in a place like Whitechapel,
+only to work on drain committees, as delinquent landlord mentors, or
+just to give special educational chances to promising minds, or
+physical training to unfit bodies. Yet one saw in their efforts
+undeniable messages of real love. Personally I could only occasionally
+run up there to meet friends in residence or attend an art exhibition,
+but they taught me many lessons.
+
+Exactly opposite the hospital was Oxford House, only two minutes
+distant, which combined definite doctrinal religion with social work.
+Being an Oxford effort it had great attractions for me. Moreover,
+right alongside it in the middle of a disused sugar refinery I had
+hired the yard, converted it into a couple of lawn-tennis courts, and
+ran a small club. There I first met the famous Dr. Hensley Henson, now
+Bishop of Hereford, and also the present Bishop of London, Dr.
+Winnington-Ingram--a good all-round athlete. He used to visit in our
+wards, and as we had a couple of fives courts, a game which takes
+little tune and gives much exercise, we used to have an afternoon off
+together, once a week, when he came over to hospital. Neither of these
+splendid men were dignitaries in those days, or I am afraid they would
+have found us medicals much more stand-offish. I may as well admit
+that we had not then learned to have any respect for bishops or church
+magnates generally. We liked both of these men because they were
+unconventional and good sports, and especially in that they were not
+afraid to tackle the atheist's propaganda in the open. I have seen Dr.
+Henson in Whitechapel debating alone against a hall full of opponents
+and with a fairness and infinite restraint, convincing those open to
+reason that they were mistaken. Moreover, I have seen Dr. Ingram doing
+just the same thing standing on a stone in the open park. It may all
+sound very silly when one knows that by human minds, or to the human
+mind, the Infinite can never be demonstrated as a mathematical
+proposition. But the point was that these clergy were proving that
+they were real men--men who had courage as well as faith, who believed
+in themselves and their message, who deserved the living which they
+were supposed to make out of orthodoxy. This the audience knew was
+more than could be said of many of the opponents. Christ himself
+showed his superb manhood in just such speaking out.
+
+Indelibly impressed on my mind still is an occasion when one of the
+most blatant and vicious of these opponents of religion fell ill. A
+Salvation Army lass found him deserted and in poverty, nursed and
+looked after him and eventually made a new man of him.
+
+Far and away the most popular of the Park speakers was the Antiguan.
+His arguments were so clever it was obvious that he was well and
+widely read. His absolute understanding of the crowd and his witty
+repartee used frequently to cause his opponents to lose their tempers,
+and that was always their undoing. The crowd as a rule was very fair
+and could easily distinguish arguments from abuse. Thus, on one Sunday
+the debate was as to whether nature was God. The atheist
+representative was a very loud-voiced demagogue, who when angry
+betrayed his Hibernian origin very markedly. Having been completely
+worsted and the laugh turned against him by a clever correction of
+some one's, he used the few minutes given him to reply in violent
+abuse, ending up that "ladies and gentlemen did not come out on
+holidays to spend their time being taught English by a damned nigger."
+
+"Sir," Edwards answered from the crowd, "I am a British subject, born
+on the island of Antigua, and as much an Englishman as any Irishman in
+the country."
+
+Edwards possessed an inexhaustible stock of good-humour and his laugh
+could be heard halfway across the Park. As soon as his turn came to
+mount the stone, he got the crowd so good-natured that they became
+angry at the interruptions of the enemy, and when some one suggested
+that if nature were that man's God, the near-by duckpond was the
+natural place for him, there was a rush for him, and for several
+subsequent Sundays he was not in evidence. Edwards was a poor man, his
+small salary and incessant generosity left him nothing for holidays,
+and he was killing himself with overwork. So we asked him to join us
+in the new house which we were fitting up in Palestine Place. He most
+gladly did so and added enormously to our fun. Unfortunately
+tuberculosis long ago got its grip upon him, and removed a valuable
+life from East London.
+
+It was a queer little beehive in which we lived in those days, and a
+more cosmopolitan crowd could hardly have been found: one young doctor
+who has since made his name and fortune in Australia; another in whose
+rooms were nearly a hundred cups for prowess in nearly every form of
+athletics, and who also has "made good" in professional life, besides
+several others who for shorter or longer periods were allotted rooms
+in our house. Among the more unusual was the "C.M.," a Brahmin from
+India, a priest in his youth, who had been brought back to England by
+some society to be educated in medical missionary work, but whom for
+some reason they had dropped. For a short time a clever young Russian
+of Hebrew extraction who was studying for the Church helped to render
+our common-room social engagements almost international affairs.
+
+As I write this I am at Charleston, South Carolina, and I see how hard
+it will be for an American to understand the possibility of such a
+motley assembly being reasonable or even proper. It seems to me down
+here that there must have been odd feelings sometimes in those days. I
+can only say, however, that I never personally even thought of it.
+East London is so democratic that one's standards are simply those of
+the value of the man's soul as we saw it. If he had been yellow with
+pink stripes it honestly would not have mattered one iota to most of
+us.
+
+It so happened that there was at that time in hospital under my care a
+patient known as "the elephant man." He had been starring under that
+title in a cheap vaudeville, had been seen by some of the students,
+and invited over to be shown to and studied by our best physicians.
+The poor fellow was really exceedingly sensitive about his most
+extraordinary appearance. The disease was called "leontiasis," and
+consisted of an enormous over-development of bone and skin on one
+side. His head and face were so deformed as really to resemble a big
+animal's head with a trunk. My arms would not reach around his hat. A
+special room in a yard was allotted to him, and several famous people
+came to see him--among them Queen Alexandra, then the Princess of
+Wales, who afterward sent him an autographed photograph of herself.
+He kept it in his room, which was known as the "elephant house," and
+it always suggested beauty and the beast. Only at night could the man
+venture out of doors, and it was no unusual thing in the dusk of
+nightfall to meet him walking up and down in the little courtyard. He
+used to talk freely of how he would look in a huge bottle of
+alcohol--an end to which in his imagination he was fated to come. He
+was of a very cheerful disposition and pathetically proud of his left
+side which was normal. Very suddenly one day he died--the reason
+assigned being that his head fell forward and choked him, being too
+heavy for him to lift up.
+
+In 1886 I passed my examinations and duly became a member of the
+College of Physicians and of the Royal College of Surgeons of England;
+and sought some field for change and rest, where also I could use my
+newly acquired license to my own, if to no one else's, benefit. Among
+the patients who came to the London Hospital, there were now and again
+fishermen from the large fishing fleets of the North Sea. They lived
+out, as it were, on floating villages, sending their fish to market
+every day by fast cutters. Every two or three months, as their turn
+came round, a vessel would leave for the home port on the east coast,
+being permitted, or supposed to be permitted, a day at home for each
+full week at sea. As the fleets kept the sea summer and winter and the
+boats were small, not averaging over sixty tons, it was a hazardous
+calling. The North Sea is nowhere deeper than thirty fathoms, much of
+it being under twenty, and in some places only five. Indeed, it is a
+recently sunken and still sinking portion of Europe, so much so that
+the coasts on both sides are constantly receding, and when Heligoland
+was handed over by the English to the Kaiser, it was said that he
+would have to keep jacking it up or soon there would be none left.
+Shallow waters exposed to the fierce gales which sweep the German
+Ocean make deep and dangerous seas, which readily break and wash the
+decks of craft with low freeboard, such as the North Sea vessels are
+obliged to have in order to get boats in and out to ferry their fish
+to the cutter.
+
+There being no skilled aid at hand, the quickest way to get help used
+to be to send an injured man to market with the fish. Often it was a
+long journey of many days, simple fractures became compound, and limbs
+and faculties were often thus lost. It so happened that Sir Frederick
+Treves had himself a love for navigating in small sailing craft. He
+had made it a practice to cross the English Channel to Calais in a
+sailing lugger every Boxing Day--that is, the day after Christmas. He
+was especially interested in those "that go down to the sea in ships"
+and had recently made a trip among the fishing fleets. He told me that
+a small body of men, interested in the religious and social welfare of
+the deep-sea fishermen, had chartered a small fishing smack, sent her
+out among the fishermen to hold religious services of a simple,
+unconventional type, in order to afford the men an alternative to the
+grog vessels when fishing was slack, and to carry first aid, the
+skipper of the vessel being taught ambulance work. They wanted,
+however, very much to get a young doctor to go out, who cared also for
+the spiritual side of the work, to see if they could use the
+additional attraction of proper medical aid to gain the men's
+sympathies. His advice to me was to go and have a look at it. "If you
+go in January you will see some fine seascapes, anyhow. Don't go in
+summer when all of the old ladies go for a rest."
+
+I therefore applied to go out the following January, and that fall,
+while working near the Great London docks, I used often to look at
+the tall East Indiamen, thinking that I soon should be aboard just
+such a vessel in the North Sea. It was dark and raining when my train
+ran into Yarmouth, and a dripping, stout fisherman in a blue uniform
+met me at that then unattractive and ill-lighted terminus. He had
+brought a forlorn "growler" or four-wheeled cab. Climbing in we drove
+a mile or more along a deserted road, and drew up at last apparently
+at the back of beyond.
+
+"Where is the ship?" I asked.
+
+"Why, those are her topmasts," replied my guide, pointing to two posts
+projecting from the sand. "The tide is low and she is hidden by the
+quay."
+
+"Heavens!" I thought; "she's no tea clipper, anyhow."
+
+I climbed up the bank and peered down in the darkness at the hull of a
+small craft, a little larger than our old Roysterer. She was just
+discernible by the dim rays of the anchor light. I was hesitating as
+to whether I shouldn't drive back to Yarmouth and return to London
+when a cheery voice on deck called out a hearty welcome. What big
+things hang on a smile and a cheery word no man can ever say. But it
+broke the spell this time and I had my cabby unload my bags on the
+bank and bade him good-night. As his wheels rumbled away into the rain
+and dark, I felt that my cables were cut beyond recall. Too late to
+save me, the cheery voice shouted, "Mind the rigging, it's just tarred
+and greased." I was already sliding down and sticking to it as I went.
+Small as the vessel was she was absolutely spotless. Her steward, who
+cooked for all hands, was smart and in a snow-white suit. The contrast
+between-decks and that above was very comforting, though my quarters
+were small. The crew were all stocky, good-humoured, and independent.
+Democratic as East London had made me, they impressed me very
+favourably, and I began to look forward to the venture with real
+pleasure.
+
+Drink was the worst enemy of these men. The quaysides of the
+fisherman's quarters teemed with low saloons. Wages were even paid off
+in them or their annexes, and grog vessels, luring the men aboard with
+cheap tobacco and low literature, plied their nefarious calling with
+the fleets, and were the death, body and soul, of many of these fine
+specimens of manhood.
+
+There was never any question as to the real object of the Mission to
+Deep-Sea Fishermen. The words "Heal the sick" carved in large letters
+adorned the starboard bow. "Preach the Word" was on the port, and
+around the brass rim of the wheel ran the legend, "Jesus said, Follow
+me and I will make you fishers of men." Thirty years ago we were more
+conventional than to-day, and I was much surprised to learn from our
+skipper that we were bound to Ostend to ship four tons of tobacco,
+sent over from England for us in bond, as he might not take it out
+consigned to the high seas. In Belgium, however, no duty was paid. The
+only trouble was that our vessel, to help pay its expenses, carried
+fishing gear, and as a fishing vessel could not get a clearance in
+Belgium. Our nets and beams, therefore, had to go out to the fishing
+grounds in a friendly trawler while we passed as a mercantile marine
+during the time we took on our cargo.
+
+So bitter was the cold that in the harbour we got frozen in and were
+able to skate up the canals. We had eventually to get a steamer to go
+around us and smash our ice bonds when we were again ready for sea.
+During the next two months we saw no land except Heligoland and
+Terschelling--or Skilling, as the fishermen called it--far away in
+the offing. Nor was our deck once clear of ice and snow during all the
+time.
+
+Our duty was to visit as many fleets as we could, and arrange with
+some reliable vessel to take a stock of tobacco for the use of their
+special fleet. The ship was to carry about six feet of blue bunting on
+her foretopmast stay, a couple of fathoms above her bowsprit end, so
+that all the fleet might know her. She was to sell the tobacco at a
+fixed price that just covered the cost, and undersold the "coper" by
+fifty per cent. She was to hoist her flag for business every morning,
+while the small boats were out boarding fish on the carrier, and was
+to lie as far to leeward of the coper as possible so that the men
+could not go to both. Nineteen such floating depots were eventually
+arranged for, with the precaution that if any one of them had to
+return to port, he should bring no tobacco home, but hand over his
+stock and accounts to a reliable friend.
+
+These deep-sea fisheries were a revelation to me, and every hour of
+the long trip I enjoyed. It was amazing to me to find over twenty
+thousand men and boys afloat--the merriest, cheerfullest lot which I
+had ever met. They were hail-fellow-well-met with every one, and never
+thought of deprivation or danger. Clothing, food, customs, were all
+subordinated to utility. They were the nearest possible thing to a
+community of big boys, only needing a leader. In efficiency and for
+their daring resourcefulness in physical difficulties and dangers,
+they were absolutely in a class by themselves, embodying all the
+traits of character which make men love to read the stories of the
+buccaneers and other seamen of the sixteenth-century period.
+
+Each fleet had its admiral and vice-admiral, appointed partly by the
+owner, and partly by the skippers of the vessels. The devil-may-care
+spirit was always a great factor with the men. The admiral directed
+operations by flags in the daytime and by rockets at night, thus
+indicating what the fleet was to do and where they were to fish.
+Generally he had the fastest boat, and the cutters, hunting for the
+fleet always lay just astern of the admiral, the morning after their
+arrival. Hundreds of men would come for letters, packages, to load
+fish, to get the news of what their last assignment fetched in market.
+Moreover, a kind of Parliament was held aboard to consider policies
+and hear complaints.
+
+At first it was a great surprise to me how these men knew where they
+were, for we never saw anything but sky and sea, and not even the
+admirals carried a chronometer or could work out a longitude; and only
+a small percentage of the skippers could read or write. They all,
+however, carried a sextant and could by rule of thumb find a latitude
+roughly. But that was only done at a pinch. The armed lead was the
+fisherman's friend. It was a heavy lead with a cup on the bottom
+filled fresh each time with sticky grease. When used, the depth was
+always called out by the watch, and the kind of sand, mud, or rock
+which stuck to the grease shown to the skipper. "Fifteen fathoms and
+coffee grounds--must be on the tail end of the Dogger. Put her a bit
+more to the westward, boy," he would remark, and think no more about
+it, though he might have been three or four days looking for his
+fleet, and not spoken to a soul since he left land. I remember one
+skipper used to have the lead brought down below, and he could tell by
+the grit between his teeth after a couple of soundings which way to
+steer. It sounds strange even now, but it was so universal, being just
+second-nature to the men, who from boyhood had lived on the sea, that
+we soon ceased to marvel at it. Skippers were only just being obliged
+to have certificates. These they obtained by _viva voce_ examinations.
+You would sometimes hear an aspiring student, a great black-bearded
+pirate over forty-seven inches around the chest, and possibly the
+father of eight or ten children, as he stamped about in his watch
+keeping warm, repeating the courses--"East end of the Dogger to Horn
+S.E. by E. ½ and W. point of the island [Heligoland] to Barkum S. ½ W.
+Ower Light to Hazebrough N.N.W."--and so on. Their memories were not
+burdened by a vast range of facts, but in these things they were the
+nearest imaginable to Blind Tom, the famous slave musician.
+
+Our long round only occupied us about a month, and after that we
+settled down with the fleet known as the Great Northerners. Others
+were the Short Blues, the Rashers (because they were streaked like a
+piece of bacon), the Columbia, the Red Cross, and so on. Sometimes
+during the night while we were fishing into the west, a hundred sail
+or more of vessels, we would pass through another big fleet coming the
+other way, and some of our long trawls and warps would tangle with
+theirs. Beyond the beautiful spectacle of the myriads of lights
+bobbing up and down often enough on mighty rough seas--for it needed
+good breezes to haul our trawls--would be the rockets and flares of
+the entangled boats, and often enough also rockets and flares from
+friends, and from cutters. One soon became so friendly with the men
+that one would not return at night to the ship, but visit around and
+rejoin the Mission ship boarding fish next day, to see patients coming
+for aid. Though it was strictly against sea rules for skippers to be
+off their vessels all night, that was a rule, like all others on the
+North Sea, as often marked in the breach as in the observance. A
+goodly company would get together yarning and often singing and
+playing games until it was time to haul the trawl and light enough to
+find their own vessel and signal for the boat.
+
+The relation of my new friends to religion was a very characteristic
+one. Whatever they did, they did hard. Thus one of the admirals, being
+a thirsty soul, and the grog vessels having been adrift for a longer
+while than he fancied, conceived the fine idea of holding up the
+Heligoland saloons. So one bright morning he "hove his fleet to" under
+the lee of the island and a number of boats went ashore, presumably to
+sell fish. Altogether they landed some five hundred men, who held up
+the few saloons for two or three days. As a result subsequently only
+one crew selling fish to the island was allowed ashore at one time.
+The very gamble of their occupation made them do things hard. Thus it
+was a dangerous task to throw out a small boat in half a gale of wind,
+fill her up with heavy boxes of fish, and send her to put these over
+the rail of a steamer wallowing in the trough of a mountainous sea.
+
+But it was on these very days when less fish was sent to market that
+the best prices were realized, and so there were always a number of
+dare-devils, who did not care if lives were lost so long as good
+prices were obtained and their record stood high on the weekly list of
+sales which was forwarded to both owners and men. I have known as many
+as fourteen men upset in one morning out of these boats; and the
+annual loss of some three hundred and fifty men was mostly from this
+cause. Conditions were subsequently improved by the Board of Trade,
+who made it manslaughter against the skipper if any man was drowned
+boarding fish, unless the admiral had shown his flags to give the
+fleet permission to do so. In those days, however, I often saw twenty
+to thirty boats all tied up alongside the cutter at one time, the
+heavy seas every now and again rolling the cutter's sail right under
+water, and when she righted again it might come up under the keels of
+some of the boats and tip them upside down. Thus any one in them was
+caught like a mouse under a trap or knocked to pieces trying to swim
+among the rushing, tossing boats.
+
+As a rule we hauled at midnight, and it was always a fresh source of
+wonder, for the trawl was catholic in its embrace and brought up
+anything that came in its way. To emphasize how comparatively recently
+the Channel had been dry land, many teeth and tusks of mammoths who
+used to roam its now buried forests were given up to the trawls by the
+ever-shifting sands. Old wreckage of every description, ancient
+crockery, and even a water-logged, old square-rigger that must have
+sunk years before were brought one day as far as the surface by the
+stout wire warp. After the loss of a large steamer called the Elbe
+many of the passengers who had been drowned were hauled up in this
+way; and on one occasion great excitement was caused in Hull by a
+fisher lad from that port being picked up with his hands tied behind
+his back and a heavy weight on his feet. The defence was that the boy
+had died, and was thus buried to save breaking the voyage--supported
+by the fact that another vessel had also picked up the boy and thrown
+him overboard again for the same reason. But those who were a bit
+superstitious thought otherwise, and more especially as cruelty to
+these boys was not unknown.
+
+These lads were apprenticed to the fishery masters largely from
+industrial or reformatory schools, had no relations to look after
+them, and often no doubt gave the limit of trouble and irritation. On
+the whole, however, the system worked well, and a most excellent class
+of capable seamen was developed. At times, however, they were badly
+exploited. During their apprenticeship years they were not entitled to
+pay, only to pocket money, and yet sometimes the whole crew including
+the skipper were apprentices and under twenty-one years of age. Even
+after that they were fitted for no other calling but to follow the
+sea, and had to accept the master's terms. There were no fishermen's
+unions, and the men being very largely illiterate were often left
+victims of a peonage system in spite of the Truck Acts. The master of
+a vessel has to keep discipline, especially in a fleet, and the best
+of boys have faults and need punishing while on land. These skippers
+themselves were brought up in a rough school, and those who fell
+victims to drink and made the acquaintance of the remedial measures of
+our penal system of that day were only further brutalized by it.
+Religion scarcely touched the majority; for their brief periods of
+leave ashore were not unnaturally spent in having a good time. To
+those poisoned by the villainous beverages sold on the sordid grog
+vessels no excess was too great. Owners were in sympathy with the
+Mission in trying to oust the coper, because their property, in the
+form of fish, nets, stores, and even sails, were sometimes bartered on
+the high seas for liquor. On one occasion during a drunken quarrel in
+the coper's cabin one skipper threw the kerosene lamp over another
+lying intoxicated on the floor. His heavy wool jersey soaked in
+kerosene caught fire. He rushed for the deck, and then, a dancing mass
+of flames, leaped overboard and disappeared.
+
+Occasionally skippers devised punishments with a view to remedying the
+defects of character. Thus one lad, who through carelessness had on
+more than one occasion cooked the "duff" for dinner badly, was made to
+take his cinders on deck when it was his time to turn in, and go
+forward to the fore-rigging. Then he had to take one cinder, go up to
+the cross-tree, and throw it over into the sea, come down the opposite
+rigging and repeat the act until he had emptied his scuttle. Another
+who had failed to clean the cabin properly had one night, instead of
+going to bed, to take a bucketful of sea water and empty it with a
+teaspoon into another, and so to and fro until morning. On one
+occasion a poor boy was put under the ballast deck, that is, the cabin
+floor, and forgotten. He was subsequently found dead, drowned in the
+bilge water. It was easy to hide the results of cruelty, for being
+washed overboard was by no means an uncommon way of disappearing from
+vessels with low freeboards in the shallow water of the North Sea.
+
+A very practical outcome in the mission work was the organization of
+the Fisher Lads' Letter-Writing Association. The members accepted so
+many names of orphan lads at sea and pledged themselves to write
+regularly to them. Also, if possible, they were to look them up when
+they returned to land, and indeed do for them much as the War Camp
+Community League members are to-day trying to accomplish for our
+soldiers and sailors. As every practical exposition of love must, it
+met with a very real response, and brought, moreover, new interests
+and joys into many selfish lives.
+
+I remember one lady whose whole care in life had been her own health.
+She had nursed it, and worried over it, and enjoyed ill health so
+long, that only the constant recourse to the most refined stimulants
+postponed the end which would have been a merciful relief--to others.
+The effort of letter-writing remade her. Doctors were forgotten,
+stimulants were tabooed, the insignia of invalidism banished, and to
+my intense surprise I ran across her at a fishing port surrounded by a
+bevy of blue-jerseyed lads, who were some of those whom she was being
+blessed by helping.
+
+The best of efforts, however, sometimes "gang aft agley." One day I
+received a letter, evidently written in great consternation, from an
+elderly spinster of singularly aristocratic connections and an
+irreproachableness of life which was almost painful. The name sent to
+her by one of our skippers as a correspondent who needed help and
+encouragement was one of those which would be characterized as
+common--let us say John Jones. By some perverse fate the wrong ship
+was given as an address, and the skipper of it happened to have
+exactly the same name. It appeared that lack of experience in just
+such work had made her letter possibly more affectionate than she
+would have wished for under the circumstances which developed. For in
+writing to me she enclosed a ferocious letter from a lady of
+Billingsgate threatening, not death, but mutilation, if she continued
+making overtures to "her John."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+NORTH SEA WORK
+
+
+I have dwelt at length upon the experiences of the North Sea, because
+trivial as they appear on the surface, they concern the biggest
+problem of human life--the belief that man is not of the earth, but
+only a temporary sojourner upon it. This belief, that he is destined
+to go on living elsewhere, makes a vast difference to one's estimate
+of values. Life becomes a school instead of a mere stage, the object
+of which is that our capacities for usefulness should develop through
+using them until we reach graduation. What life gives to us can only
+be of permanent importance as it develops our souls, thus enabling us
+to give more back to it, and leaves us better prepared for any
+opportunities than may lie beyond this world. The most valuable asset
+for this assumption is love for the people among whom one lives.
+
+The best teachers in life are far from being those who know most, or
+who think themselves wisest. Show me a schoolmaster who does not love
+his boys and you show me one who is of no use. Our faith in our
+sonship of God is immensely strengthened by the puzzling fact that
+even God cannot force goodness into us, His sons, because we share His
+nature.
+
+These convictions, anyhow, were the mental assets with which I had to
+begin work, and no others. A scientific training had impressed upon me
+that big and little are very relative terms; that one piece of work
+becomes unexpectedly permanent and big, while that which appears to be
+great, but is merely diffuse, will be temporary and ineffective.
+Experience has taught me that one human life has its limits of direct
+impetus, but that its most lasting value is its indirect influence.
+The greatest Life ever lived was no smaller for being in a carpenter's
+shop, and largely spent among a few ignorant fishermen. The Scarabee
+had a valid _apologia pro vita sua_ in spite of Dr. Holmes. Tolstoy on
+his farm, Milton without his sight, Bunyan in his prison, Pasteur in
+his laboratory, all did great things for the world.
+
+There is so much that is manly about the lives of those who follow the
+sea, so much less artificiality than in many other callings, and with
+our fishermen so many fewer of what we call loosely "chances in life,"
+that to sympathize with them was easy--and sympathy is a long step
+toward love. Life at sea also gives time and opportunity for really
+knowing a man. It breaks down conventional barriers, and indeed almost
+compels fellowship and thus an intelligent understanding of the
+difficulties and tragedies of the soul of our neighbour. That rare
+faculty of imagination which is the inspiration of all great lovers of
+men is not alone indispensable. Hand in hand with this inevitably goes
+the vision of one's own opportunity to help and not to hinder others,
+even though it be through the unattractive medium of the collection
+box--for that gives satisfaction only in proportion to the sacrifice
+which we make.
+
+In plain words the field of work offered me was attractive. It seemed
+to promise me the most remunerative returns for my abilities, or, to
+put it in another way, it aroused my ambitions sufficiently to make me
+believe that my special capacities and training could be used to make
+new men as well as new bodies. Any idea of sacrifice was balanced by
+the fact that I never cared very much for the frills of life so long
+as the necessities were forthcoming.
+
+The attention that Harold Begbie's book "Twice-Born Men" received, was
+to me later in life a source of surprise. One forgets that the various
+religions and sects which aimed at the healing of men's souls have
+concerned themselves more with intellectual creeds than material,
+Christ-like ends. At first it was not so. Paul rejoiced that he was a
+new man. There can be no question but that the Gospels show us truly
+that the change in Christ's first followers was from men, the slaves
+of every ordinary human passion, into men who were self-mastered--that
+Christ taught by what he was and did rather than by insistence on
+creeds and words. It has been seeing these changes in men's lives, not
+only in their surroundings, though those improve immediately, that
+reconcile one to our environment, and has induced me to live a
+life-time in the wilds.
+
+Another movement that was just starting at this time also interested
+me considerably. A number of keen young men from Oxford and Cambridge,
+having experienced the dangers that beset boys from big English public
+schools who enter the universities without any definite help as to
+their attitude toward the spiritual relationships of life, got
+together to discuss the question. They recognized that the formation
+of the Boys' Brigade in our conservative social life only touched the
+youth of the poorer classes. Like our English Y.M.C.A., it was not
+then aristocratic enough for gentlemen. They saw, however, that
+athletic attainments carried great weight, and that all outdoor
+accomplishments had a strong attraction for boys from every class.
+Thus it happened that an organization called the Public School Camps
+came into being. Its ideal was the uplift of character, and the
+movement has grown with immense strides on both sides of the
+Atlantic.
+
+An integral part of my summer holidays during these years was spent as
+medical officer at one of these camps. For many reasons it was wise in
+England to run them on military lines, for besides the added dignity,
+it insured the ability to maintain order and discipline. Some
+well-known commandant was chosen who was a soldier also in the good
+fight of faith. Special sites were selected, generally on the grounds
+of some big country seat which were loaned by the interested lord of
+the manor, and every kind of outdoor attraction was provided which
+could be secured. Besides organized competitive games, there was
+usually a yacht, good bathing, always a gymkhana, and numerous
+expeditions and "hikes." Not a moment was left unoccupied. All of the
+work of the camp was done by the boys, who served in turn on orderly
+duty. The officers were always, if possible, prominent athletes, to
+whom the boys could look up as being capable in physical as well as
+spiritual fields. There was a brief address each night before "taps"
+in the big marquee used for mess; and one night was always a straight
+talk on the problems of sex by the medical officers, whom the boys
+were advised to consult in their perplexities. These camps were among
+the happiest memories of my life, and many of the men to-day
+gratefully acknowledge that the camps were the turning-point of their
+whole lives. The secret was unconventionality and absolute naturalness
+with no "shibboleths." The boys were allowed to be boys absolutely in
+an atmosphere of sincere if not omniscient fervour. On one occasion
+when breaking up camp, a curly-headed young rascal in my tent, being
+late on the last morning--unknown to any one--went to the train in his
+pajamas, hidden only by his raincoat. At a small wayside station over
+a hundred miles from London, whither he was bound, leaving his coat in
+the carriage, he ventured into the refreshment stall of the
+waiting-room. Unfortunately, however, he came out only to find his
+train departed and himself in his nightclothes on the platform without
+a penny, a ticket, or a friend. Eluding the authorities he reached the
+huge Liverpool terminus by night to find a faithful friend waiting on
+the platform for him with the sorely needed overgarment.
+
+No one was ever ashamed to be a Christian, or of what Christ was, or
+what he did and stood for. However, to ignore the fact that the mere
+word "missionary" aroused suspicion in the average English
+unconventional mind--such as those of these clean, natural-minded
+boys--would be a great mistake. Unquestionably, as in the case of
+Dickens, a missionary was unpractical if not hypocritical, and mildly
+incompetent if not secretly vicious. I found myself always fighting
+against the idea that I was termed a missionary. The men I loved and
+admired, especially such men as those on our athletic teams, felt
+really strongly about it. Henry Martyn--as a scholar--was a hero to
+those who read of him, though few did. Moreover, who does not love
+Charles Kingsley? Even as boys, we want to be "a man," though Kingsley
+was a "Parson Lot." It always seemed that a missionary was naturally
+discounted until he had proved his right to be received as an ordinary
+being. Once after being the guest of a bank president, he told me that
+my stay was followed by that of their bishop, who was a person of
+great importance. When the bishop had gone, he asked his two boys one
+day. "Well, which do you like best, the bishop or the doctor?" "Ach,"
+was the reply, "the bishop can't stand on his head." On another
+occasion during a visit--while lecturing on behalf of the
+fishermen--and doing my usual evening physical drill in my bedroom,
+by a great mischance I missed a straight-arm-balance on a chair, fell
+over, and nearly brought the chandelier of the drawing-room down on
+the heads of some guests. That a so-called "missionary" should be so
+worldly as to wish to keep his body fit seemed so unusual that I heard
+of that trifle a hundred times.
+
+The Church of Christ that is coming will be interested in the forces
+that make for peace and righteousness in this world rather than in
+academic theories as to how to get rewards in another. That will be a
+real stimulus to fitness and capacity all round instead of a dope for
+failures. It is that element in missions to-day, such as the
+up-to-date work of the Rockefeller Institute and other medical
+missions in China and India, which alone holds the respect of the mass
+of the people. The value of going out merely to make men of different
+races think as we think is being proportionately discounted with the
+increase of education.
+
+Our North Sea work grew apace. Vessel after vessel was added to the
+fleet. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, became interested, and besides
+subscribing personally toward the first hospital boat, permitted it to
+be named in her honour. According to custom the builders had a
+beautiful little model made which Her Majesty agreed to accept. It was
+decided that it should be presented to her in Buckingham Palace by the
+two senior mission captains.
+
+The journey to them was a far more serious undertaking than a winter
+voyage on the Dogger Bank. However, arrayed in smart blue suits and
+new guernseys and polished to the last degree, they set out on the
+eventful expedition. On their return every one was as anxious to know
+"how the voyage had turned out" as if they had been exploring new
+fishing grounds around the North Cape in the White Sea. "Nothing to
+complain of, boys, till just as we had her in the wind's eye to shoot
+the gear," said the senior skipper. "A big swell in knee-breeches
+opened the door and called out our names, when I was brought up all
+standing, for I saw that the peak halliard was fast on the port side.
+The blame thing was too small for me to shift over, so I had to leave
+it. But, believe me, she never said a word about it. That's what I
+call something of a lady."
+
+At this time we had begun two new ventures, an institute at Yarmouth
+for fishermen ashore and a dispensary vessel to be sent out each
+spring among the thousands of Scotch, Manx, Irish, and French
+fishermen, who carried on the herring and mackerel fishery off the
+south and west coast of Ireland.
+
+The south Irish spring fishery is wonderfully interesting. Herring and
+mackerel are in huge shoals anywhere from five to forty miles off the
+land, and the vessels run in and out each day bringing back the catch
+of the night. Each vessel shoots out about two miles of net, while
+some French ones will shoot out five miles. Thus the aggregate of nets
+used would with ease stretch from Ireland to New York and back. Yet
+the undaunted herring return year after year to the disastrous
+rendezvous. The vessels come from all parts. Many are the large
+tan-sailed luggers from the Scottish coasts, their sails and hulls
+marked "B.F." for Banff, "M.E." for Montrose, "C.N." for Campbelltown,
+etc. With these come the plucky little Ulster boats from Belfast and
+Larne, Loch Swilly and Loch Foyle; and not a few of the hereditary
+seafaring men from Cornwall, Devon, and Dorset. Others also come from
+Falmouth, Penzance, and Exmouth. Besides these are the Irish
+boats--few enough, alas, for Paddy is not a sailor. A good priest had
+tried to induce his people to share this rich harvest by starting a
+fishery school for boys at Baltimore, where net-making and every other
+branch of the industry was taught. It was to little purpose, for I
+have met men hungry on the west coast, who were trying to live on
+potato-raising on that bog land who were graduates of Father D.'s
+school.
+
+There was one year when we ourselves were trying out the trawling in
+Clew Bay and Blacksod, and getting marvellous catches; so much so that
+I remember one small trawler from Grimsby on the east coast of England
+making two thousand dollars in two days' work, while the Countess of
+Z. fund was distributing charity to the poverty-stricken men who lived
+around the bay itself. The Government of Ireland also made serious
+efforts to make its people take up the fishery business. About one
+million dollars obtained out of the escheated funds of the Church of
+England in Ireland, when that organization was disestablished by Mr.
+Gladstone, was used as a loan fund which was available for fishermen,
+resident six months, at two per cent interest. They were permitted to
+purchase their own boat and gear for the fishery out of the money thus
+provided.
+
+While we lay in Durham Harbour at the entrance to Waterford Harbour,
+we met many Cornishmen who were temporarily resident there, having
+come over from Cornwall to qualify for borrowing the money to get
+boats and outfit. During one week in which we were working from that
+port, there were so many saints' days on which the Irish crews would
+not go out fishing, but were having good times on the land, that the
+skippers, who were Cornishmen, had to form a crew out of their own
+numbers and take one of their boats to sea.
+
+One day we had landed on the Arran Islands, and I was hunting ferns in
+the rock crevices, for owing to the warmth of the Gulf current the
+growth is luxuriant. On the top of the cliffs about three hundred feet
+high, I fell in with two Irishmen smoking their pipes and sprawling on
+the edge of the precipice. The water below was very deep and they were
+fishing. I had the fun of seeing dangling codfish hauled leisurely up
+all that long distance, and if one fell off on the passage, it was
+amusing to note the absolute insouciance of the fishermen, who assured
+me that there were plenty more in the sea.
+
+It has always been a puzzle to me why so few tourists and yachtsmen
+visit the south and west coast of Ireland. Its marvellous wild, rock
+scenery, its exquisite bays,--no other words describe them,--its
+emerald verdure, and its interesting and hospitable people have given
+me, during the spring fishing seasons that I spent on that coast, some
+of the happiest memories of my life. On the contrary, most of the
+yachts hang around the Solent, and the piers of Ryde, Cowes, and
+Southampton, instead of the magnificent coast from Queenstown to
+Donegal Cliffs, and from there all along West Scotland to the
+Hebrides.
+
+About this time our work established a dispensary and social centre at
+Crookhaven, just inside the Fastnet Lighthouse, and another in Tralee
+on the Kerry coast, north of Cape Clear. Gatherings for worship and
+singing were also held on Sundays on the boats, for on that day
+neither Scotch, Manx, nor English went fishing. The men loved the
+music, the singing of hymns, and the conversational addresses. Many
+would take some part in the service, and my memories of those
+gatherings are still very pleasant ones.
+
+On this wild coast calls for help frequently came from the poor
+settlers as well as from the seafarers. A summons coming in one day
+from the Fastnet Light, we rowed out in a small boat to that lovely
+rock in the Atlantic. A heavy sea, however, making landing impossible,
+we caught hold of a buoy, anchored off from the rock, and then rowing
+in almost to the surf, caught a line from the high overhanging crane.
+A few moments later one was picked out of the tumbling, tossing boat
+like a winkle out of a shell, by a noose at the end of a line from a
+crane a hundred and fifty feet above, swung perpendicularly up into
+the air, and then round and into a trap-door in the side of the
+lighthouse. On leaving one was swung out again in the same fashion,
+and dangled over the tumbling boat until caught and pulled in by the
+oarsmen.
+
+Another day we rowed out nine miles in an Irish craft to visit the
+Skerry Islands, famous for the old Beehive Monastery, and the
+countless nests of gannets and other large sea-birds. The cliffs rise
+to a great height almost precipitously, and the ceaseless thunder of
+the Atlantic swell jealously guards any landing. There being no davit
+or crane, we had just to fling ourselves into the sea, and climb up as
+best we could, carrying a line to haul up our clothing from the boat
+and other apparatus after landing, while the oarsmen kept her outside
+the surf. To hold on to the slippery rock we needed but little
+clothing, anyhow, for it was a slow matter, and the clinging power of
+one's bare toes was essential. The innumerable gannets sitting on
+their nests gave the island the appearance of a snowdrift; and we soon
+had all the eggs that we needed lowered by a line. But some of the
+gulls, of whose eggs we wanted specimens also, built so cleverly onto
+the actual faces of the cliffs, that we had to adopt the old plan of
+hanging over the edge and raising the eggs on the back of one's foot,
+which is an exploit not devoid of excitement. The chief difficulty
+was, however, with one of our number, who literally stuck on the top,
+being unable to descend, at least in a way compatible with comfort or
+safety. The upshot was that he had to be blindfolded and helped.
+
+One of our Council, being connected at this time with the Irish
+Poor-Relief Board and greatly interested in the Government efforts to
+relieve distress in Ireland, arranged that we should make a voyage
+around the entire island in one of our vessels, trying the trawling
+grounds everywhere, and also the local markets available for making
+our catch remunerative. There has been considerable activity in these
+waters of late years, but it was practically pioneer work in those
+days, the fishery being almost entirely composed of drift nets and
+long lines. It was supposed that the water was too deep and the bottom
+too uneven and rocky to make trawling possible. We had only a sailing
+vessel of about sixty tons, and the old heavy beam trawl, for the
+other trawl and steam fishing boats were then quite in their infancy.
+The quantity and variety of victims that came to our net were
+prodigious, and the cruise has remained as a dream in my memory,
+combined as it was with so many chances of helping out one of the most
+interesting and amiable--if not educated--peoples in the world. It
+happened to be a year of potato scarcity; as one friend pointed out,
+there was a surplus of Murphys in the kitchen and a scarcity of
+Murphys in the cellar--"Murphys" being another name for that vegetable
+which is so large a factor in Irish economic life. As mentioned
+before, a fund, called the Countess of Z.'s fund, had been established
+to relieve the consequent distress, and while we were fishing in Black
+Sod Bay, the natives around the shore were accepting all that they
+could secure. Yet one steam trawler cleared four hundred pounds
+within a week; and our own fine catches, taken in so short a while,
+made it seem a veritable fishermen's paradise for us, who were
+accustomed to toil over the long combers and stormy banks of the North
+Sea. The variety of fish taken alone made the voyage of absorbing
+interest, numbering cod, haddock, ling, hake, turbot, soles, plaice,
+halibut, whiting, crayfish, shark, dog-fish, and many quaint monsters
+unmarketable then, but perfectly edible. Among those taken in was the
+big angler fish, which lives at the bottom with his enormous mouth
+open, dangling an attractive-looking bait formed by a long rod growing
+out from his nose, which lures small victims into the cavern, whence,
+as he possesses row upon row of spiky teeth which providentially point
+down his throat, there is seldom any returning.
+
+Among the many memories of that coast which gave me a vision of the
+land question as it affected the people in those days, one in
+particular has always remained with me. We had made a big catch in a
+certain bay, a perfectly beautiful inlet. To see if the local
+fishermen could find a market within reach of these fishing grounds,
+with one of the crew, and the fish packed in boxes, we sailed up the
+inlet to the market town of Bell Mullet. Being Saturday, we found a
+market day in progress, and buyers, who, encouraged by one of the new
+Government light railways, were able to purchase our fish. That
+evening, however, when halfway home, a squall suddenly struck our own
+lightened boat, which was rigged with one large lugsail, and capsized
+her. By swimming and manoeuvring the boat, we made land on the low,
+muddy flats. No house was in sight, and it was not until long after
+dark that we two shivering masses of mud reached an isolated cabin in
+the middle of a patch of the redeemed ground right in the centre of a
+large bog. A miserably clad woman greeted us with a warm Irish
+welcome. The house had only one room and accommodated the live-stock
+as well as the family. A fine cow stood in one corner; a donkey tied
+to the foot of the bed was patiently looking down into the face of the
+baby. Father was in England harvesting. A couple of pigs lay under the
+bed, and the floor space was still further encroached upon by a goodly
+number of chickens, which were encouraged by the warmth of the peat
+fire. They not only thought it their duty to emphasize our welcome,
+but--misled by the firelight--were saluting the still far-off dawn.
+The resultant emotions which we experienced during the night led us to
+suggest that we might assist toward the erection of a cattle pen.
+Before leaving, however, we were told, "Shure t' rint would be raised
+in the fall," if such signs of prosperity as farm buildings greeted
+the land agent's arrival.
+
+The mouth of Loch Foyle, one of the most beautiful bays in Ireland,
+gave us a fine return in fish. Especially I remember the magnificent
+turbot which we took off the wild shore between the frowning basalt
+cliffs of the Giant's Causeway, and the rough headlands of Loch
+Swilly. We sold our fish in the historic town of Londonderry, where we
+saw the old gun Mons Meg, which once so successfully roared for King
+William, still in its place on the old battlements. By a packet
+steamer plying to Glasgow, we despatched some of the catch to that
+greedy market. At Loch Foyle there is a good expanse of sandy and mud
+bottom which nurses quite a harvest of the sea, though--oddly
+enough--close by off Rathlin Island is the only water over one hundred
+fathoms deep until the Atlantic Basin is reached. The Irish Sea like
+the North Sea is all shallow water. Crossing to the Isle of Man, we
+delayed there only a short while, for those grounds are well known to
+the Fleetwood trawlers, who supply so much fish to the dense
+population of North Central England. We found little opportunity of
+trawling off the west of Scotland, the ocean's bottom being in no way
+suited to it. On reaching the Western Hebrides, however, we were once
+more among many old friends. From Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis alone
+some nine hundred drifters were pursuing the retreating armies of
+herring.
+
+The German hordes have taught us to think of life in large numbers,
+but were the herring to elect a Kaiser, he would dominate in reality
+an absolutely indestructible host. For hundreds of years fishermen of
+all countries have without cessation been pursuing these friends of
+mankind. For centuries these inexhaustible hordes have followed their
+long pathways of the sea, swimming by some strange instinct always
+more or less over the same courses--ever with their tireless enemies,
+both in and out of the water, hot foot on their tracks. Sharks,
+dog-fish, wolf-fish, cod, and every fish large enough to swallow them,
+gulls, divers, auks, and almost every bird of the air, to say nothing
+of the nets set now from steam-propelled ships, might well threaten
+their speedy extermination. This is especially true when we remember
+that even their eggs are preyed upon in almost incalculable bulk as
+soon as they are deposited. But phoenix-like they continue to reappear
+in such vast quantities that they are still the cheapest food on the
+market. Such huge numbers are caught at one time that they have now
+and again to be used for fertilizer, or dumped overboard into the sea.
+The great bay of Stornaway Harbour was so deeply covered in oil from
+the fish while we lay there, that the sailing boats raced to and fro
+before fine breezes and yet the wind could not even ripple the
+surface of the sea, as if at last millennial conditions had
+materialized. Many times we saw nets which had caught such quantities
+of fish at once that they had sunk to the bottom. They were only
+rescued with great difficulty, and then the fish were so swollen by
+being drowned in the net that it took hours of hard work and delay to
+shake their now distended bodies out again.
+
+The opportunities for both holding simple religious services and
+rendering medical help from our dispensary were numerous, and we
+thought sufficiently needed to call for some sort of permanent effort;
+so later the Society established a small mission room in the harbour.
+
+Alcohol has always been a menace to Scotch life, though their
+fishermen were singularly free from rioting and drunkenness. Indeed,
+their home-born piety was continually a protest to the indulgence of
+the mixed crowd which at that time followed King Henry. Scores of
+times have I seen a humble crew of poor fishermen, who themselves
+owned their small craft, observing the Sunday as if they were in their
+homes, while the skippers of large vessels belonging to others fished
+all the week round at the beck of their absent owners, thinking they
+made more money in that way.
+
+In 1891 the present Lord Southborough, then Mr. Francis Hopwood, and a
+member of the Mission Board, returned from a visit to Canada and
+Newfoundland. He brought before the Council the opportunities for
+service among the fishermen of the northwest Atlantic, and the
+suggestion was handed on to me in the form of a query. Would I
+consider crossing the Atlantic in one of our small sailing vessels,
+and make an inquiry into the problem?
+
+Some of my older friends have thought that my decision to go was made
+under strong religious excitement, and in response to some deep-seated
+conviction that material sacrifices or physical discomforts commended
+one to God. I must, however, disclaim all such lofty motives. I have
+always believed that the Good Samaritan went across the road to the
+wounded man just because he wanted to. I do not believe that he felt
+any sacrifice or fear in the matter. If he did, I know very well that
+I did not. On the contrary, there is everything about such a venture
+to attract my type of mind, and making preparations for the long
+voyage was an unmitigated delight.
+
+The boat which I selected was ketch-rigged--much like a yawl, but more
+comfortable for lying-to in heavy weather, the sail area being more
+evenly distributed. Her freeboard being only three feet, we replaced
+her wooden hatches, which were too large for handling patients, by
+iron ones; and also sheathed her forward along the water-line with
+greenheart to protect her planking in ice. For running in high seas we
+put a large square sail forward, tripping the yard along the foremast,
+much like a spinnaker boom. Having a screw steering gear which took
+two men to handle quickly enough when she yawed and threatened to jibe
+in a big swell, it proved very useful.
+
+It was not until the spring of 1892 that we were ready to start. We
+had secured a master with a certificate, for though I was myself a
+master mariner, and my mate had been in charge of our vessel in the
+North Sea for many years, we had neither of us been across the
+Atlantic before. The skipper was a Cornishman, Trevize by name, and a
+martinet on discipline--an entirely new experience to a crew of North
+Sea fishermen. He was so particular about everything being just so
+that quite a few days were lost in starting, though well spent as far
+as preparedness went. Nothing was wanting when at last, in the second
+week of June, the tugboat let us go, and crowds of friends waved us
+good-bye from the pier-head as we passed out with our bunting
+standing. We had not intended to touch land again until it should rise
+out of the western horizon, but off the south coast of Ireland we met
+with heavy seas and head winds, so we ran into Crookhaven to visit our
+colleagues who worked at that station. Our old patients in that lonely
+corner were almost as interested as ourselves in the new venture, and
+many were the good eggs and "meals of greens" which they brought down
+to the ship as parting tokens. Indeed, we shrewdly guessed that our
+"dry" principles alone robbed us of more than "one drop o' potheen"
+whose birth the light of the moon had witnessed.
+
+As we were not fortunate in encountering fair winds, it was not until
+the twelfth day that we saw our first iceberg, almost running into it
+in a heavy fog. The fall in the temperature of the sea surface had
+warned us that we were in the cold current, and three or four days of
+dense fog emphasized the fact. As it was midsummer, we felt the change
+keenly, when suddenly on the seventeenth day the fog lifted, and a
+high evergreen-crowned coast-line greeted our delighted eyes. A lofty
+lighthouse on a rocky headland enabled us almost immediately to
+discover our exact position. We were just a little north of St. John's
+Harbour, which, being my first landfall across the Atlantic, impressed
+me as a really marvellous feat; but what was our surprise as we
+approached the high cliffs which guard the entrance to see dense
+columns of smoke arising, and to feel the offshore wind grow hotter
+and hotter as the pilot tug towed us between the headlands. For the
+third time in its history the city of St. John's was in flames.
+
+The heat was fierce when we at last anchored, and had the height of
+the blaze not passed, we should certainly have been glad to seek again
+the cool of our icy friends outside. Some ships had even been burned
+at their anchors. We could count thirteen fiercely raging fires in
+various parts of the city, which looked like one vast funeral pyre.
+Only the brick chimneys of the houses remained standing blackened and
+charred. Smoke and occasional flame would burst out here and there as
+the fickle eddies of wind, influenced, no doubt, by the heat, whirled
+around as if in sport over the scene of man's discomfitures. On the
+hillside stood a solitary house almost untouched, which, had there
+been any reason for its being held sacred, might well have served as a
+demonstration of Heaven's special intervention in its behalf. As it
+was, it seemed to mock the still smouldering wreck of the beautiful
+stone cathedral just beside it. Among the ruins in this valley of
+desolation little groups of men darted hither and thither, resembling
+from the harbour nothing so much as tiny black imps gloating over a
+congenial environment. I hope never again to see the sight that might
+well have suggested Gehenna to a less active imagination than Dante's.
+
+Huts had been erected in open places to shelter the homeless; long
+queues of hungry human beings defiled before temporary booths which
+served out soup and other rations. Every nook and corner of house-room
+left was crowded to overflowing with derelict persons and their
+belongings. The roads to the country, like those now in the environs
+of the towns in northern France, were dotted with exiles and belated
+vehicles, hauling in every direction the remnants of household goods.
+The feeling as of a rudely disturbed antheap dominated one's mind, and
+yet, in spite of it all, the hospitality and welcome which we as
+strangers received was as wonderful as if we had been a relief ship
+laden with supplies to replace the immense amount destroyed in the
+ships and stores of the city. Moreover, the cheerfulness of the town
+was amazing. Scarcely a "peep" or "squeal" did we hear, and not a
+single diatribe against the authorities. Every one had suffered
+together. Nor was it due to any one's fault. True, the town
+water-supply had been temporarily out of commission, some stranger was
+said to have been smoking in the hay loft, Providence had not
+specially intervened to save property, and hence this result. Thus to
+our relief it was a city of hope, not of despair, and to our amazement
+they were able to show most kindly interest in problems such as ours
+which seemed so remote at the moment. None of us will ever forget
+their kindness, from the Governor Sir Terence O'Brien, and the Prime
+Minister, Sir William Whiteway, to the humblest stevedore on the
+wharves.
+
+I had expected to spend the greater part of our time cruising among
+the fishing schooners out of sight of land on the big Banks as we did
+in the North Sea; but I was advised that owing to fog and isolation,
+each vessel working separately and bringing its own catch to market,
+it would be a much more profitable outlay of time, if we were to
+follow the large fleet of over one hundred schooners, with some thirty
+thousand fishermen, women, and children which had just sailed North
+for summer work along the coast of Labrador. To better aid us the
+Government provided a pilot free of expense, and their splendid
+Superintendent of Fisheries, Mr. Adolph Nielsen, also accepted the
+invitation to accompany us, to make our experiment more exhaustive and
+valuable by a special scientific inquiry into the habits and manner of
+the fish as well as of the fishermen. Naturally a good deal of delay
+had occurred owing to the unusual congestion of business which needed
+immediate attention and the unfortunate temporary lack of facilities;
+but we got under way at last, and sailing "down North" some four
+hundred miles and well outside the land, eventually ran in on a
+parallel and made the Labrador coast on the 4th of August.
+
+The exhilarating memory of that day is one which will die only when we
+do. A glorious sun shone over an oily ocean of cerulean blue, over a
+hundred towering icebergs of every fantastic shape, and flashing all
+of the colours of the rainbow from their gleaming pinnacles as they
+rolled on the long and lazy swell. Birds familiar and strange left the
+dense shoals of rippling fish, over which great flocks were hovering
+and quarrelling in noisy enjoyment, to wave us welcome as they swept
+in joyous circles overhead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE LURE OF THE LABRADOR
+
+
+Twenty years have passed away since that day, and a thousand more
+important affairs which have occurred in the meantime have faded from
+my memory; but still its events stand out clear and sharp. The large
+and lofty island, its top covered with green verdure, so wonderful a
+landmark from the sea, its peaks capped with the fleecy mist of early
+morning, rose in a setting of the purest azure blue. For the first
+time I saw the faces of its ruddy cliffs, their ledges picked out with
+the homes of myriad birds. Its feet were bathed in the dark, rich
+green of the Atlantic water, edged by the line of pure white breakers,
+where the gigantic swell lazily hurled immeasurable mountains of water
+against its titanic bastions, evoking peals of sound like thunder from
+its cavernous recesses--a very riot of magnificence. The great schools
+of whales, noisily slapping the calm surface of the sea with their
+huge tails as in an _abandon_ of joy, dived and rose, and at times
+threw the whole of their mighty carcasses right out of water for a
+bath in the glorious morning sunshine. The shoals of fish everywhere
+breaching the water, and the silver streaks which flashed beneath our
+bows as we lazed along, suggested that the whole vast ocean was too
+small to hold its riches.
+
+When we realized that practically no man had ever lived there, and few
+had even seen it, it seemed to overwhelm us, coming as we did from the
+crowded Island of our birth, where notices not to trespass haunted
+even the dreams of the average man.
+
+A serried rank of range upon range of hills, reaching north and south
+as far as the eye could see from the masthead, was rising above our
+horizon behind a very surfeit of islands, bewildering the minds of men
+accustomed to our English and North Sea coast-lines.
+
+In a ship just the size of the famous Matthew, we had gone west,
+following almost the exact footsteps of the great John Cabot when just
+four hundred years before he had fared forth on his famous venture of
+discovery. We seemed now almost able to share the exhilaration which
+only such experiences can afford the human soul, and the vast
+potential resources for the blessing of humanity of this great land
+still practically untouched.
+
+At last we came to anchor among many schooners in a wonderful natural
+harbour called Domino Run, so named because the Northern fleets all
+pass through it on their way North and South. Had we been painted
+scarlet, and flown the Black Jack instead of the Red Ensign, we could
+not have attracted more attention. Flags of greeting were run up to
+all mastheads, and boats from all sides were soon aboard inquiring
+into the strange phenomenon. Our object explained, we soon had calls
+for a doctor, and it has been the experience of almost every visitor
+to the coast from that day to this that he is expected to have a
+knowledge of medicine.
+
+   [Illustration: Cape Uivuk
+   THE LABRADOR COAST]
+
+   [Illustration: The Tickle Anchorage
+   THE LABRADOR COAST]
+
+One impression made on my mind that day undoubtedly influenced all my
+subsequent actions. Late in the evening, when the rush of visitors was
+largely over, I noticed a miserable bunch of boards, serving as a
+boat, with only a dab of tar along its seams, lying motionless a
+little way from us. In it, sitting silent, was a half-clad,
+brown-haired, brown-faced figure. After long hesitation, during which
+time I had been watching him from the rail, he suddenly asked:
+
+"Be you a real doctor?"
+
+"That's what I call myself," I replied.
+
+"Us hasn't got no money," he fenced, "but there's a very sick man
+ashore, if so be you'd come and see him."
+
+A little later he led me to a tiny sod-covered hovel, compared with
+which the Irish cabins were palaces. It had one window of odd
+fragments of glass. The floor was of pebbles from the beach; the earth
+walls were damp and chilly. There were half a dozen rude wooden bunks
+built in tiers around the single room, and a group of some six
+neglected children, frightened by our arrival, were huddled together
+in one corner. A very sick man was coughing his soul out in the
+darkness of a lower bunk, while a pitiably covered woman gave him cold
+water to sip out of a spoon. There was no furniture except a small
+stove with an iron pipe leading through a hole in the roof.
+
+My heart sank as I thought of the little I could do for the sufferer
+in such surroundings. He had pneumonia, a high fever, and was probably
+tubercular. The thought of our attractive little hospital on board at
+once rose to my mind; but how could one sail away with this husband
+and father, probably never to bring him back. Advice, medicine, a few
+packages of food were only temporizing. The poor mother could never
+nurse him and tend the family. Furthermore, their earning season,
+"while the fish were in," was slipping away. To pray for the man, and
+with the family, was easy, but scarcely satisfying. A hospital and a
+trained nurse was the only chance for this bread-winner--and neither
+was available.
+
+I called in a couple of months later as we came South before the
+approach of winter. Snow was already on the ground. The man was dead
+and buried; there was no provision whatever for the family, who were
+destitute, except for the hollow mockery of a widow's grant of twenty
+dollars a year. This, moreover, had to be taken up in goods at a truck
+store, less debts _if_ she owed any.
+
+Among the nine hundred patients that still show on the records of that
+long-ago voyage, some stand out more than others for their peculiar
+pathos and their utter helplessness. I shall never forget one poor
+Eskimo. In firing a cannon to salute the arrival of the Moravian
+Mission ship, the gun exploded prematurely, blowing off both the man's
+arms below the elbows. He had been lying on his back for a fortnight,
+the pathetic stumps covered only with far from sterile rags dipped in
+cold water. We remained some days, and did all we could for his
+benefit; but he too joined the great host that is forever "going
+west," for want of what the world fails to give them.
+
+It is not given to every member of our profession to enjoy the
+knowledge that he alone stands between the helpless and suffering or
+death, for in civilization modern amenities have almost annihilated
+space and time, and the sensations of the Yankee at the Court of King
+Arthur are destroyed by the realization of competitors, "just as
+good," even if it often does leave one conscious of limitations. The
+successful removal of a molar which has given torture for weeks in a
+dentistless country, gains one as much gratitude as the amputation of
+a limb. One mere boy came to me with necrosis of one side of his lower
+jaw due to nothing but neglected toothache. It had to be dug out from
+the new covering of bone which had grown up all around it. The
+whimsical expression of his lop-sided face still haunts me.
+
+Deformities went untreated. The crippled and blind halted through
+life, victims of what "the blessed Lord saw best for them." The
+torture of an ingrowing toe-nail, which could be relieved in a few
+minutes, had incapacitated one poor father for years. Tuberculosis and
+rickets carried on their evil work unchecked. Preventable poverty was
+the efficient handmaid of these two latter diseases.
+
+There was also much social work to be done in connection with the
+medical. Education in every one of its branches--especially public
+health--was almost nonexistent--as were many simple social amenities
+which might have been so easily induced.
+
+At one village a woman with five children asked us if we could marry
+her to her husband. They had never been together when a parson
+happened along, and they now lived in a lonely cove three miles away.
+This seemed a genuine case of distress; and as it happened a parson
+was taking a passage with us, we sent two of our crew over in a boat
+to round up the groom. Apparently he was not at all anxious, but being
+a very small man and she a large woman, he discreetly acquiesced. The
+wedding was held on board our ship, every one entering into the spirit
+of the unusual occasion. The main hold was crammed with guests, bells
+were rung and flags flown, guns fired, and at night distress rockets
+were sent up. We kept in touch with the happy couple for years, till
+once more they moved away to try their luck elsewhere.
+
+Obviously the coast offered us work that would not be done unless we
+did it. Here was real need along any line on which one could labour,
+in a section of our own Empire, where the people embodied all our best
+sea traditions. They exhibited many of the attractive characteristics
+which, even when buried beneath habits and customs the outcome of
+their environment, always endear men of the sea to the genuine
+Anglo-Saxon. They were uncomplaining, optimistic, splendidly
+resourceful, cheerful and generous--and after all in one sense soap
+and water only makes the outside of the platter clean.
+
+I confess that we had greatly enjoyed the adventure _qua_ adventure.
+Mysterious fjords which wound out of sight into the fastnesses of
+unknown mountains, and which were entirely uncharted, fairly shouted
+an invitation to enter and discover what was round the next corner.
+Islands by the hundred, hitherto never placed on any map, challenged
+one's hydrographic skill. Families of strange birds, which came
+swinging seaward as the season advanced, suggested a virgin field for
+hunting. Berries and flowering plants, as excellent as they were
+unfamiliar, appealed for exploration. Great boulders perched on
+perilous peaks, torn and twisted strata, with here and there raised
+beaches, and great outcrops of black trap-rock piercing through red
+granite cliffs in giant vertical seams--all piqued one's curiosity to
+know the geology of this unknown land. Some stone arrow-heads and
+knives, brought to me by a fisherman, together with the memories that
+the Norse Vikings and their competitors on the scroll of discovery
+made their first landfall on this the nearest section of the American
+coast to Europe, excited one's curiosity to know more of these shores.
+The dense growth of evergreen trees abounding in every river valley,
+and the exquisite streams with trout and salmon and seals attracted
+one whose familiarity with sport and forests was inseparably connected
+with notices to trespassers.
+
+It only wanted an adventure such as we had one day while sailing up a
+fjord on a prosaic professional call, when we upset our cutter and had
+to camp for the night, to give spice to our other experiences, and
+made us wish to return another year, better equipped, and with a more
+competent staff.
+
+I am far from being the only person from the outside world who has
+experienced what Wallace describes as "the Lure of the Labrador." It
+was a genuine surprise to me one morning to find ice on deck--a scale
+of sparkling crystals most beautifully picking out the water-line of
+our little craft. It was only then that I realized that October had
+come. The days, so full of incident, had passed away like ships in the
+night. Whither away was the question? We could not stay even though we
+felt the urgent call to remain. So "Heigho for the southward bar" and
+a visit to St. John's to try and arouse interest in the new-discovered
+problems, before we should once more let go our stern lines and be
+bowling homeward before the fall nor'westers to dear old England.
+
+Home-going craft had generously carried our story before us to the
+city of St. John's. The Board of Trade commended our effort. The
+papers had written of the new phenomenon; the politicians had not
+refrained from commendation. His Excellency the Governor made our path
+plain by calling a meeting in Government House, where the following
+resolution was passed:
+
+"That this meeting, representing the principal merchants and traders
+carrying on the fisheries, especially on the Labrador coast, and
+others interested in the welfare of this colony, desires to tender its
+warmest thanks to the directors of the Deep-Sea Mission for sending
+their hospital ship Albert to visit the settlement on the Labrador
+coast.
+
+"Much of our fishing industry is carried on in regions beyond the
+ordinary reach of medical aid, or of charity, and it is with the
+deepest sense of gratitude that this meeting learns of the amount of
+medical and surgical work done....
+
+"This meeting also desires to express the hope that the directors may
+see their way to continue the work thus begun, and should they do so,
+they may be assured of the earnest coöperation of all classes of this
+community."
+
+When at last we said good-bye on our homeward voyage, our cabins were
+loaded with generous souvenirs for the journey, and no king on his
+throne was happier than every man of the crew of the good ship Albert.
+
+Our report to the Council in London, followed by the resolution sent
+by the Newfoundland Committee, induced the Society to repeat the
+experiment on a larger scale the following spring. Thus, with two
+young doctors, Elliott Curwen of Cambridge and Arthur Bobardt from
+Australia, and two nurses, Miss Cawardine and Miss Williams, we again
+set out the following June.
+
+The voyage was uneventful except that I was nearly left behind in
+mid-Atlantic. While playing cricket on deck our last ball went over
+the side, and I after it, shouting to the helmsman to tack back. This
+he did, but I failed to cut him off the first time, as he got a bit
+rattled. However, we rescued the ball.
+
+We had chosen two islands two hundred miles apart for cottage
+hospitals, one at Battle Harbour, on the north side of the entrance of
+the St. Lawrence (Straits of Belle Isle), and the other at Indian
+Harbour, out in the Atlantic at the mouth of the great Hamilton Inlet.
+Both places were the centres of large fisheries, and were the
+"bring-ups" for numberless schooners of the Labrador fleet on their
+way North and South. The first, a building already half finished, was
+donated by a local fishery firm by the name of Baine, Johnston and
+Company. This was quickly made habitable, and patients were admitted
+under Dr. Bobardt's care. The second building, assembled at St.
+John's, was shipped by the donors, who were the owners of the Indian
+Harbour fishery, Job Brothers and Company. Owing to difficulties in
+landing, this building was not completed and ready for use until the
+following year, so Dr. Curwen took charge of the hospital ship Albert,
+and I cruised as far north as Okkak (lat. 57°) in the Princess May, a
+midget steam launch, eight feet wide, with a cook and an engineer. As
+there was no coal obtainable in the North, we used wood, and her
+fire-box being small the amount of cutting entailed left a permanent
+impression on our biceps.
+
+A friend from Ireland had presented this little boat, which I found
+lying up on the Chester Race-Course, near our home on the Sands of
+Dee. We had repaired her and steamed her through the canal into the
+Mersey, where, somewhat to our humiliation, she had been slung up onto
+the deck of an Allan liner for her trans-Atlantic passage, as if she
+were nothing but an extra hand satchel. Nor was our pride restored
+when on her arrival it was found that her funnel was missing among the
+general baggage in the hold. We had to wait in St. John's for a new
+one before starting on our trip North. The close of the voyage proved
+a fitting corollary. In crossing the Straits of Belle Isle, the last
+boat to leave the Labrador, we ran short of fuel, and had to burn our
+cabin-top to make the French shore, having also lost our compass
+overboard. Here we delayed repairing and refitting so long that the
+authorities in St. John's became alarmed and despatched their mail
+steamer in search of us. I still remember my astonishment, when, on
+boarding the steamer, the lively skipper, a very tender-hearted father
+of a family, threw both arms around me with a mighty hug and
+exclaimed, "Thank God, we all thought you were gone. A schooner picked
+up your flagpole at sea." Poor fellow, he was a fine Christian seaman,
+but only a year or two later he perished with his large steamer while
+I still rove this rugged coast.
+
+That summer we visited the stations of the Moravian Brethren, who were
+kindness personified to us. Their stations, five in number, dated back
+over a hundred and thirty years, yet they had never had a doctor among
+them. It would scarcely be modest for me to protest that they were the
+worse off for that circumstance. Each station was well armed with
+homoeopathic pills, and at least those do no harm; while one old
+German house-father had really performed with complete success
+craniotomy and delivery of a child _en morcellement_, in the case of a
+colleague's wife. During our stay they gave us plenty of work among
+their Eskimos, and were good enough to report most favourably of our
+work to their home Committee.
+
+As there was no chart of any use for the coast north of Hopedale, few
+if any corrections having been made in the topographic efforts of the
+long late Captain Cook, of around-the-world reputation, one of the
+Brethren, Mr. Christopher Schmidt, joined the Princess May to help me
+find their northern stations among the plethora of islands which
+fringe the coast in that vicinity. Never in my life had I expected any
+journey half so wonderful. We travelled through endless calm fjords,
+runs, tickles, bays, and straits without ever seeing the open sea, and
+with hardly a ripple on the surface. We passed high mountains and
+lofty cliffs, crossed the mouths of large rivers, left groves of
+spruce and fir and larches on both sides of us, and saw endless birds,
+among them the Canada goose, eider duck, surf scoters, and many
+commoner sea-fowl. As it was both impossible and dangerous to proceed
+after dark, when no longer able to run we would go ashore and gather
+specimens of the abundant and beautiful sub-arctic flora, and
+occasionally capture a bird or a dish of trout to help out our
+diminutive larder.
+
+   [Illustration: ESKIMO WOMAN AND BABY]
+
+   [Illustration: ESKIMO MAN]
+
+Among the Eskimos I found a great deal of tuberculosis and much eye
+trouble. Around the Moravian Mission stations wooden houses had
+largely replaced the former "tubiks," or skin tents, which were moved
+as occasion required and so provided for sanitation. These wooden huts
+were undrained, dark and dirty to a remarkable degree. No water supply
+was provided, and the spaces between the houses were simply
+indescribable garbage heaps, presided over by innumerable dogs. The
+average life was very short and infant mortality high. The best for
+which we could hope in the way of morals among these people was that a
+natural unmorality was some offset to the existing conditions. The
+features of the native life which appealed most to us were the
+universal optimism, the laughing good-nature and contentment, and the
+Sunday cleanliness of the entire congregation which swarmed into the
+chapel service, a welcome respite from the perennial dirt of the week
+days. Moreover, nearly all had been taught to read and write in
+Eskimo, though there is no literature in that language to read, except
+such books as have been translated by the Moravian Brethren. At that
+time a strict policy of teaching no English had been adopted. Words
+lacking in the language, like "God," "love," etc., were substituted by
+German words. Nearly every Eskimo counted "ein, zwei, drei." In one of
+my lectures, on returning to England, I mentioned that as the Eskimos
+had never seen a lamb or a sheep either alive or in a picture, the
+Moravians, in order to offer them an intelligible and appealing
+simile, had most wisely substituted the kotik, or white seal, for the
+phrase "the Lamb of God." One old lady in my audience must have felt
+that the good Brethren were tampering unjustifiably with Holy Writ,
+for the following summer, from the barrels of clothing sent out to
+the Labrador, was extracted a dirty, distorted, and much-mangled and
+wholly sorry-looking woolly toy lamb. Its _raison d'être_ was a
+mystery until we read the legend carefully pinned to one dislocated
+leg, "Sent in order that the heathen may know better."
+
+Their love for music and ability to do part-playing and singing also
+greatly impressed us, and we spent many evenings enjoying their brass
+bands and their Easter and Christmas carols. We made some records of
+these on our Edison phonograph, and they were overpowered with joy
+when they heard their own voices coming back to them from the machine.
+The magic lantern also proved exceedingly popular, and several tried
+to touch the pictures and see if they could not hold them. We were
+also able to show some hastily made lantern slides of themselves, and
+I shall never forget their joyful excitement. The following season, in
+giving them some lantern views, we chanced to show a slide of an old
+Eskimo woman who had died during the winter. The subsequent commotion
+caused among the "little people" was unintelligible to us until one of
+the Moravian Brethren explained that they thought her spirit had taken
+visible form and returned to her own haunts.
+
+I happened to be in the gardens at Nain when a northerly air made it
+feel chilly and the thermometer stood only a little above freezing. A
+troop of Eskimo women came out to cover up the potatoes. Every row of
+potatoes is covered with arched sticks and long strips of canvas along
+them. A huge roll of sacking is kept near each row and the whole is
+drawn over and the potatoes are tucked in bed for the night. I could
+not resist the temptation to lift the bedclothes and shake hands and
+say good-night to one of the nearest plants, whereat the merry little
+people went off into convulsions of laughter.
+
+At Hopedale there was a large Danish ship with over six hundred tons
+of cargo for the new Moravian buildings. The Brethren do not build as
+we are doing from coast material. In order to save time and also to
+have more substantial buildings, they are cut out and built in
+Germany, photographed, and each piece marked. Then they are taken to
+pieces, shipped, and sent out here for erection.
+
+Some years ago in Germany, when the Socialists were wearing beards and
+mustaches, all respectable people used to shave. Therefore the
+missionaries being Germans insisted on the Eskimos shaving as they
+did. The result is that at one store at least a stock of ancient
+razors are left on hand, for now neither missionary nor Eskimo shaves
+in the inhospitable climate of this country. A small stock of these
+razors was, therefore, left on my account in some graves from which
+one or two Eskimos were good enough to go and get us a few ancient
+stone implements. It is a marvellous thing how superstition still
+clings around the very best of native Christian communities.
+
+The Moravian Mission is a trading mission. This trading policy in some
+aspects is in its favour. It is unquestionably part of a message of
+real love to a brother to put within his reach at reasonable rates
+those adjuncts of civilized life that help to make less onerous his
+hard lot. Trade, however, is always a difficult form of charity, and
+the barter system, common to this coast, being in vogue at the
+Moravian Mission stations also, practically every Eskimo was in debt
+to them. In reality this caused a vicious circle, for it encouraged
+directly the outstanding fault of the Eskimo, his readiness to leave
+the morrow to care for itself so long as he does not starve to-day.
+Like a race of children, they need the stimulus of necessity to make
+them get out and do their best while the opportunity exists. In the
+past twenty-six years I have made many voyages to one and another of
+the stations of the Brethren, and have learned to love them all very
+sincerely as individuals, though their mission policies are their own
+and not mine.
+
+I remember once in Nain the slob ice had already made ballicaters and
+the biting cold of winter so far north had set in with all its vigour.
+There was a heavy sea and a gale of wind. One of two boats which had
+been out all day had not come in. The sea was so rough and the wind so
+strong that the occupants of the first boat could not face it, and so
+had run in under the land and walked all the way round, towing their
+boat by a long line from the shore. Night came on and the second boat
+had not appeared. Next morning the Nain folk knew that some accident
+must have happened. Some men reported that the evening before they had
+seen through a glass the boat trying to beat against the storm, and
+then disappear. The Eskimos gathered together to see what could be
+done and then decided that it was kismet--and went their way. The
+following evening a tiny light was seen on the far shore of the
+bay--some one must be alive there. There was no food or shelter there,
+and it was obvious that help was needed. The gale was still blowing in
+fury and the sea was as rough as ever, and Eskimos and missionaries
+decided that in their unseaworthy boats they could do nothing. There
+was one dissentient voice--Brother Schmidt; and he went and rescued
+them. One was nearly spent. When their boat had capsized, one man, a
+woman, and a lad had been drowned, but two men had succeeded in
+getting into their kajaks and floated off when the disaster happened.
+
+    [Illustration: ESKIMO GIRLS]
+
+With October came the necessity for returning South, and the long
+dark nights spent at the little fishing stations as we journeyed from
+place to place proved all too short. The gatherings for lantern
+meetings, for simple services, for spinning yarns, together with
+medicine and such surgery as we could accomplish under the
+circumstances, made every moment busy and enjoyable. One outstanding
+feature, however, everywhere impressed an Englishman--the absolute
+necessity for some standard medium of exchange. Till one has seen the
+truck system at work, its evil effects in enslaving and demoralizing
+the poor are impossible to realize.
+
+All the length and breadth of the coast, the poorer people would show
+me their "settling up" as they called their account, though many never
+got as far as having any "settling up" given them--so they lived and
+died in debt to their merchant. They never knew the independence of a
+dollar in their pockets and the consequent incentive and value of
+thrift.
+
+It was incredible to me that even large concerns like the Hudson Bay
+Company would not pay in cash for valuable furs, and that so many
+dealers in the necessities of life should be still able to hold free
+men in economic bondage. It seemed a veritable chapter from "Through
+the Looking Glass," to hear the "grocer" and "haberdasher" talking of
+"my people," meaning their patrons, and holding over them the whip of
+refusal to sell them necessities in their hour of need if at any time
+they dealt with outsiders, however much to their advantage such a
+course might be.
+
+This fact was first impressed upon me in an odd way. Early in the
+summer an Eskimo had come aboard the hospital ship with a bear skin
+and a few other furs to sell. We had not only been delighted with the
+chance to buy them, but had spread them all around the cabin and
+taken a picture of him in the middle. Later in the season, while
+showing my photograph album to a trader, he had suddenly remarked,
+"Why, what's ---- doing here?"
+
+"Selling me some beautiful furs," I replied.
+
+"Oh! was he?" said the man. "I'll make him sing for selling the furs
+for which I supplied him."
+
+It was no salve to his fretfulness when I assured him that I had paid
+in good English gold, and that his "dealer" would be as honest with
+the money as the system had made him. But the trader knew that the
+truck system creates slippery, tricky men; and the fisherman openly
+declares war on the merchant, making the most of his few opportunities
+to outwit his opponent.
+
+A few years later a man brought a silver fox skin aboard my ship, just
+such a one as I had been requested by an English lady to secure for
+her. As fulfilling such a request would involve me in hostilities
+(which, however, I do not think were useless), I asked the man, who
+was wretchedly poor, if he owed the skin to the trader.
+
+"I am in debt," he replied, "but they will only allow me eight dollars
+off my account for this skin, and I want to buy some food."
+
+"Very well," I answered. "If you will promise to go at once and pay
+eight dollars off your debt, I will give you eight gold sovereigns for
+this skin."
+
+To this he agreed, and faithfully carried out the agreement--while the
+English lady scored a bargain, and I a very black mark in the books of
+my friend the trader.
+
+On another occasion my little steamer had temporarily broken down, and
+to save time I had journeyed on in the jolly-boat, leaving the cook to
+steer the vessel after me. I wanted to visit a very poor family, one
+of whose eight children I had taken to hospital for bone tuberculosis
+the previous year, and to whom the Mission had made a liberal grant
+of warm clothing. As the steamer had not come along by night, I had to
+sleep in the tiny one-roomed shack which served as a home. True, since
+it stood on the edge of the forest, there was little excuse that it
+was no larger; but the father, a most excellent, honest, and faithful
+worker, was obviously discouraged. He had not nearly enough proper
+food for his family; clothing was even more at a discount; tools with
+which to work were almost as lacking as in a cave man's dwelling; the
+whole family was going to pieces from sheer discouragement. The
+previous winter on the opposite bank of the same river, called Big
+River, a neighbour had in desperation sent his wife and eldest boy out
+of the house, killed his young family, and then shot himself.
+
+When night came five of the children huddled together for warmth in
+one bed, and the parents and balance of the family in the other. I
+slept on the floor near the door in my sleeping-bag, with my nose
+glued to the crack to get a breath of God's cold air, in spite of the
+need for warmth--for not a blanket did the house possess. When I
+asked, a little hurt, where were the blankets which we had sent last
+year, the mother somewhat indignantly pointed to various trousers and
+coats which betrayed their final resting-place, and remarked, "If
+you'se had five lads all trying to get under one covering to onct,
+Doctor, you'd soon know what would happen to that blanket."
+
+Early in the morning I made a boiling of cocoa, and took the two elder
+boys out for a seal hunt while waiting for my steamer. I was just in
+time to see one boy carefully upset his mug of cocoa, when he thought
+I was not looking, and replace it with cold spring water. "I 'lows
+I'se not accustomed to no sweetness" was his simple explanation. It
+was raw and damp as we rowed into the estuary at sunrise in search of
+the seals. I was chilly even in a well-lined leather coat. But the
+two shock-headed boys, clad in ancient cotton shirts, and with what
+had once been only cotton overall jackets, were as jolly as crickets,
+and apparently almost unduly warm. The Labrador has taught me one
+truth, which as a physician I never forget, that is, coddling is the
+terrible menace of civilization, and "to endure hardness" is the best
+preparation for a "good soldier." On leaving, I promised to send to
+those boys, whose contentment and cheerfulness greatly endeared them
+to me, a dozen good fox traps in order to give them a chance for the
+coming winter. Such a gift as those old iron rat traps seemed in their
+eyes! When at last they arrived, and were really their own
+possessions, no prince could have been prouder than they. The next
+summer as I steamed North, we called in at D---- B----'s house. The
+same famine in the land seemed to prevail; the same lack of apparently
+everything which I should have wanted. But the old infective smile was
+still presented with an almost religious ceremonial, and my friend
+produced from his box a real silver fox skin. "I kept it for you'se,
+Doctor," he said, "though us hadn't ne'er a bit in t' house. I know'd
+you'd do better 'n we with he."
+
+I promised to try, and on my way called in at some northern islands
+where my friend, Captain Bartlett, father of the celebrated "Captain
+Bob" of North Pole fame, carried on a summer trade and fishery. He
+himself was a great seal and cod fisherman, and a man known for his
+generous sympathy for others.
+
+"Do your best for me, Captain Will," I asked as I handed over the
+skin--and on coming South I found a complete winter diet laid out for
+me to take to D---- B----'s little house. It was a veritable full load
+for the small carrying capacity of my little craft.
+
+When we arrived at the house on the promontory, however, it was locked
+up and the family gone. They were off fishing on the outer islands, so
+all we could do was to break in the door, pile up the things inside,
+bar it up again, affixing a notice warning off bears, dogs, and all
+poachers, and advising Dick that it was the price of his pelt. In the
+note we also told him to put all the fur he caught the following
+winter in a barrel and "sit on it" till we came along, if he wanted a
+chance to get ahead. This he did almost literally. We ourselves took
+his barrel to the nearest cash buyer, and ordered for him goods for
+cash in St. John's to the full amount realized. The fur brought more
+than his needs, and he was able to help out neighbours by reselling at
+cash prices. This he did till the day of his death, when he left me,
+as his executor, with a couple of hundred good dollars in cash to
+divide among his children.
+
+It was experiments like this which led me in later years to start the
+small coöperative distributive stores, in spite of the knowledge of
+the opposition and criticism it would involve. How can one preach the
+gospel of love to a hungry people by sermons, or a gospel of healing
+to underfed children by pills, while one feels that practical teaching
+in home economics is what one would most wish if in their position?
+The more broad-minded critics themselves privately acknowledged this
+to me. One day a Northern furrier, an excellent and more intelligent
+man than ordinary, came to me as a magistrate to insist that a trading
+company keep its bargain by paying him in cash for a valuable fox
+skin. They were trying to compel him to take flour and supplies from
+them at prices far in excess of those at which he could purchase the
+goods in St. John's, _via_ the mail steamer.
+
+When asked to act as a justice of the peace for the Colony, I had
+thought it my duty to accept the responsibility. Already it had led me
+into a good deal of trouble. But that I should be forced to seize the
+large store of a company, and threaten an auction of goods for
+payment, without even a policeman to back me up, had never entered my
+mind. It was, however, exactly what I now felt called upon to do. To
+my intense surprise and satisfaction the trader immediately turned
+round and said: "You are quite right. The money shall be paid at once.
+The truck system is a mistaken policy, and loses us many customers."
+It was Saturday night. We had decided to have a service for the
+fishermen the next day, but had no place in which to gather.
+Therefore, after we had settled the business I took my pluck in my
+hands, and said:
+
+"It's Sunday to-morrow. Would you lend us your big room for prayers in
+the morning?"
+
+"Why, certainly," he replied; and he was present himself and sang as
+heartily as any man in the meeting. Nor did he lose a good customer on
+account of his open-mindedness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PEOPLE OF LABRADOR
+
+
+Since the publication of the book "Labrador, the Country and the
+People," the means of transportation to the coast have been so
+improved that each year brings us an increasing number of visitors to
+enjoy the attractions of this sub-arctic land. So many misconceptions
+have arisen, however, as to the country and its inhabitants, and one
+is so often misrepresented as distorting conditions, that it seems
+wise at this point to try and answer a few questions which are so
+familiar to us who live on the coast as to appear almost negligible.
+
+The east coast of Labrador belongs to Newfoundland, and is not part of
+the territory of Canada, although the ill-defined boundary between the
+two possessions has given rise to many misunderstandings. Newfoundland
+is an autonomous government, having its own Governor sent out from
+England, Prime Minister, and Houses of Parliament in the city of St.
+John's. Instead of being a province of Canada, as is often supposed,
+and an arrangement which some of us firmly believe would result in the
+ultimate good of the Newfoundlanders, it stands in the same
+relationship to England as does the great Dominion herself. Labrador
+is owned by Newfoundland, so that legally the Labradormen are
+Newfoundlanders, though they have no representation in the
+Newfoundland Government. At Blanc Sablon, on the north coast in the
+Straits of Belle Isle, the Canadian Labrador begins, so far as the
+coast-line is concerned. The hinterland of the Province of Ungava is
+also a Canadian possession.
+
+The original natives of the Labrador were Eskimos and bands of roving
+Indians. The ethnologist would find fruitful opportunities in the
+country. The Eskimos, one of the most interesting of primitive races,
+have still a firm foothold in the North--chiefly around the five
+stations of the Moravian Brethren, upon whose heroic work I need not
+now dilate. The Montagnais Indians roam the interior. They are a
+branch of the ancient Algonquin race who held North America as far
+west as the Rockies. They are the hereditary foes of the Eskimos,
+whole settlements of whom they have more than once exterminated.
+Gradually, with the influx of white settlers from Devon and Dorset,
+from Scotland and France, the "Innuits" were driven farther and
+farther north, until there are only some fifteen hundred of them
+remaining to-day. Among them the Moravians have been working for the
+past hundred and thirty-five years. A few bands of Indians still
+continue to rove the interior, occasionally coming out to the coast to
+dispose of their furs, and obtain such meagre supplies as their mode
+of life requires. The balance of the inhabitants of the country are
+white men of our own blood and religion--men of the sea and dear to
+the Anglo-Saxon heart.
+
+During the past years it has been the experience of many of my
+colleagues, as well as myself, that as soon as one mentions the fact
+that part of our work is done on the north shore of Newfoundland,
+one's audience loses interest, and there arises the question: "But
+Newfoundland is a prosperous island. Why is it necessary to carry on a
+charitable enterprise there?"
+
+There is a sharp demarcation between main or southern Newfoundland and
+the long finger of land jutting northward, which at Cape Bauld splits
+the polar current, so that the shores of the narrow peninsula are
+continuously bathed in icy waters. The country is swept by biting
+winds, and often for weeks enveloped in a chilly and dripping blanket
+of fog. The climate at the north end of the northward-pointing finger
+is more severe than on the Labrador side of the Straits. Indeed, my
+friend, Mr. George Ford, for twenty-seven years factor of the Hudson
+Bay Company at Nakvak, told me that even in the extreme north of
+Labrador he never really knew what cold was until he underwent the
+penetrating experience of a winter at St. Anthony. The Lapp reindeer
+herders whom we brought over from Lapland, a country lying well north
+of the Arctic Circle, after spending a winter near St. Anthony, told
+me that they had never felt anything like that kind of cold, and that
+they really could not put up with it! The climate of the actual
+Labrador is clear, cold, and still, with a greater proportion of
+sunshine than the northern peninsula of Newfoundland. As a matter of
+fact, our station at St. Anthony is farther north and farther east
+than two of our hospitals on the Labrador side of the Straits of Belle
+Isle. Along that north side the gardens of the people are so good that
+their produce affords a valuable addition to the diet--but not so
+here.
+
+   [Illustration: BATTLE HARBOUR]
+
+The dominant industry of the whole Colony is its fisheries--the
+ever-recurrent pursuit of the luckless cod, salmon, herring, halibut,
+and lobster in summer, and the seal fishery in the month of March. It
+is increasingly difficult to overestimate the importance, not merely
+to the British Empire, but to the entire world, of the invaluable
+food-supply procured by the hardy fishermen of these northern waters.
+Only the other day the captain of a patrol boat told me that he had
+just come over from service on the North Sea, and in his opinion it
+would be years before those waters could again be fished, owing to the
+immense numbers of still active mines which would render such an
+attempt disproportionately hazardous. From this point of view, if
+from no other more disinterested angle, we owe a great and continuous
+debt to the splendid people of Britain's oldest colony. It was among
+these white fishermen that I came out to work primarily, the floating
+population which every summer, some twenty thousand strong, visits the
+coasts of Labrador; and later including the white resident settlers of
+the Labrador and North Newfoundland coasts as well.
+
+The conditions prevailing among some of the people at the north end of
+Newfoundland and of Labrador itself should not be confused with those
+of their neighbours to the southward. Chronic poverty is, however,
+very far from being universally prevalent in the northern district.
+Some of the fishermen lead a comfortable, happy, and prosperous life;
+but my old diaries, as well as my present observations, furnish all
+too many instances in which families exist well within the danger-line
+of poverty, ignorance, and starvation.
+
+The privations which the inhabitants of the French or Treaty shore and
+of Labrador have had to undergo, and their isolation from so many of
+the benefits of civilization, have had varying effects on the
+residents of the coast to-day. While a resourceful and kindly, hardy
+and hospitable people have been developed, yet one sometimes wonders
+exactly into what era an inhabitant of say the planet Mars would place
+our section of the North Country if he were to alight here some crisp
+morning in one of his unearthly machines. For we are a reactionary
+people in matters of religion and education; and our very "speech
+betrays us," belonging as so many of its expressions do to the days
+when the Pilgrims went up to Canterbury, or a certain Tinker wrote of
+another and more distant pilgrimage to the City of Zion.
+
+The people are, naturally, Christians of a devout and simple faith.
+The superstitions still found among them are attributable to the
+remoteness of the country from the current of the world's thought, the
+natural tendency of all seafaring people, and the fact that the days
+when the forbears of these fishermen left "Merrie England" to seek a
+living by the harvest of the sea, and finally settled on these rocky
+shores, were those when witches and hobgoblins and charms and amulets
+were accepted beliefs.
+
+Nevertheless, to-day as a medical man one is startled to see a fox's
+or wolf's head suspended by a cord from the centre, and to learn that
+it will always twist the way from which the wind is going to blow. One
+man had a barometer of this kind hanging from his roof, and explained
+that the peculiar fact was due to the nature of the animals, which in
+life always went to windward of others; but if you had a seal's head
+similarly suspended, it would turn from the wind, owing to the timid
+character of that creature. Moreover, it surprises one to be assured,
+on the irrefutable and quite unquestioned authority of "old Aunt Anne
+Sweetapple," that aged cats always become playful before a gale of
+wind comes on.
+
+"I never gets sea boils," one old chap told me the other day.
+
+"How is that?" I asked.
+
+"Oh! I always cuts my nails on a Monday, so I never has any."
+
+There is a great belief in fairies on the coast. A man came to me once
+to cure what he was determined to believe was a balsam on his baby's
+nose. The birthmark to him resembled that tree. More than one had
+given currency if not credence to the belief that the reason why the
+bull's-eye was so hard to hit in one of our running deer rifle matches
+was that we had previously charmed it. If a woman sees a hare without
+cutting out and keeping a portion of the dress she is then wearing,
+her child will be born with a hare-lip.
+
+When stripping a patient for examination, I noticed that he removed
+from his neck what appeared to be a very large scapular. I asked him
+what it could be. It was a haddock's fin-bone--a charm against
+rheumatism. The peculiarity of the fin consists in the fact that the
+fish must be taken from the water and the fin cut out before the
+animal touches anything whatever, especially the boat. Any one who has
+seen a trawl hauled knows how difficult a task this would be, with the
+jumping, squirming fish to cope with.
+
+Protestant and Catholic alike often sew up bits of paper, with prayers
+written on them, in little sacks that are worn around the neck as an
+amulet; and green worsted tied around the wrist is reported to be a
+never-failing cure for hemorrhage.
+
+Every summer some twenty thousand fishermen travel "down North" in
+schooners, as soon as ever the ice breaks sufficiently to allow them
+to get along. They are the "Labrador fishermen," and they come from
+South Newfoundland, from Nova Scotia, from Gloucester, and even
+Boston. Some Newfoundlanders take their families down and leave them
+in summer tilts on the land near the fishing grounds during the
+season. When fall comes they pick them up again and start for their
+winter homes "in the South," leaving only a few hundreds of scattered
+"Liveyeres" in possession of the Labrador.
+
+We were much surprised one day to notice a family moving their house
+in the middle of the fishing season, especially when we learned that
+the reason was that a spirit had appropriated their dwelling.
+
+Stephen Leacock would have obtained much valuable data for his essay
+on "How to Become a Doctor" if he had ever chanced to sail along "the
+lonely Labrador." In a certain village one is confidently told of a
+cure for asthma, as simple as it is infallible. It consists merely of
+taking the tips of all one's finger-nails, carefully allowed to grow
+long, and cutting them off with sharp scissors. In another section a
+powder known as "Dragon's Blood" is very generally used as a plaster.
+It appears quite inert and harmless. A little farther south along the
+coast is a baby suffering from ophthalmia. The doctor has only been
+called in because blowing sugar in its eyes has failed to cure it.
+
+A colleague of mine was visiting on his winter rounds in a delightful
+village some forty miles south of St. Anthony Hospital. The "swiles"
+(seals) had struck in, and all hands were out on the ice, eager to
+capture their share of these valuable animals. But snow-blindness had
+incontinently attacked the men, and had rendered them utterly unable
+to profit by their good fortune. The doctor's clinic was long and busy
+that night. The following morning he was, however, amazed to see many
+of his erstwhile patients wending their way seawards, each with one
+eye treated on his prescription, but the other (for safety's sake)
+doctored after the long-accepted methods of the talent of the
+village--tansy poultices and sugar being the acknowledged favourites.
+The consensus of opinion obviously was that the stakes were too high
+for a man to offer up both eyes on the altar of modern medicine.
+
+In the course of many years' practice the methods for the treatment
+and extraction of offending molars which have come to my attention are
+numerous, but none can claim a more prompt result than the following:
+First you attach a stout, fine fish-line firmly to the tooth. Next
+you lash the other end to the latch of the door--we do not use knobs
+in this country. You then make the patient stand back till there is a
+nice tension on the line, when suddenly you make a feint as if to
+strike him in the eye. Forgetful of the line, he leaps back to avoid
+the blow. Result, painless extraction of the tooth, which should be
+found hanging to the latch.
+
+Although there have been clergyman of the Church of England and
+Methodist denominations on the coast for many years past--devoted and
+self-sacrificing men who have done most unselfish work--still, their
+visits must be infrequent. One of them told me in North Newfoundland
+that once, when he happened to pass through a little village with his
+dog team on his way South, the man of one house ran out and asked him
+to come in. "Sorry I have no time," he replied. "Well, just come in at
+the front door and out at the back, so we can say that a minister has
+been in the house," the fisherman answered.
+
+Even to-day, to the least fastidious, the conditions of travel leave
+much to be desired. The coastal steamers are packed far beyond their
+sleeping or sitting capacity. On the upper deck of the best of these
+boats I recall that there are two benches, each to accommodate four
+people. The steamer often carries three hundred in the crowded season
+of the fall of the year. One retires at night under the
+misapprehension that the following morning will find these seats still
+available. On ascending the companionway, however, one's gaze is met
+by a heterogeneous collection of impedimenta. The benches are buried
+as irretrievably as if they "had been carried into the midst of the
+sea." Almost anything may have been piled on them, from bales of
+hay--among which my wife once sat for two days--to the nucleus of a
+chicken farm, destined, let us say, for the Rogues' Roost Bight.
+
+As the sturdy little steamer noses her way into some picturesque
+harbour and blows a lusty warning of her approach, small boats are
+seen putting off from the shore and rowing or sculling toward her with
+almost indecorous rapidity. Lean over the rail for a minute with me,
+and watch the freight being unloaded into one of these bobbing little
+craft. The hatch of the steamer is opened, a most unmusical winch
+commences operations--and a sewing machine emerges _de profundis_.
+This is swung giddily out over the sea by the crane and dropped on the
+thwarts of the waiting punt. One shudders to think of the probably
+fatal shock received by the vertebræ of that machine. One's
+sympathies, however, are almost immediately enlisted in the interest
+and fortunes of a young and voiceful pig, which, poised in the blue,
+unwillingly experiences for the moment the fate of the coffin of the
+Prophet. Great shouting ensues as a baby is carried down the ship's
+ladder and deposited in the rocking boat. A bag of beans, of the
+variety known as "haricot," is the next candidate. A small hole has
+been torn in a corner of the burlap sack, out of which trickles a
+white and ominous stream. The last article to join the galaxy is a tub
+of butter. By a slight mischance the tub has "burst abroad," and the
+butter, a golden and gleaming mass,--with unexpected consideration
+having escaped the ministrations of the winch,--is passed from one
+pair of fishy hands to another, till it finds a resting-place by the
+side of the now quiescent pig.
+
+We pass out into the open again, bound for the next port of call. If
+the weather chances to be "dirty," the sufferers from _mal-de-mer_ lie
+about on every available spot, be it floor or bench, and over these
+prostrate forms must one jump as one descends to the dining-saloon for
+lunch. It may be merely due to the special keenness of my
+professional sense, but the apparent proportion of the halt, lame, and
+blind who frequent these steamers appears out of all relation to the
+total population of the coast. Across the table is a man with an
+enormous white rag swathing his thumb. The woman next him looks out on
+a blue and altered world from behind a bandaged eye. Beside one sits a
+young fisherman, tenderly nursing his left lower jaw, his enjoyment of
+the fact that his appetite is unimpaired by the vagaries of the North
+Atlantic tempered by an unremitting toothache.
+
+But the cheerful kindliness and capability of the captain, the crew,
+and the passengers, on whatever boat you may chance to travel,
+pervades the whole ship like an atmosphere, and makes one forget any
+slight discomfort in a justifiable pride that as an Anglo-Saxon one
+can claim kinship to these "Vikings of to-day."
+
+Life is hard in White Bay. An outsider visiting there in the spring of
+the year would come to the conclusion that if nothing further can be
+done for these people to make a more generous living, they should be
+encouraged to go elsewhere. The number of cases of tubercle, anæmia,
+and dyspepsia, of beri-beri and scurvy, all largely attributable to
+poverty of diet, is very great; and the relative poverty, even
+compared with that of the countries which I have been privileged to
+visit, is piteous. The solution of such a problem does not, however,
+lie in removing a people from their environment, but in trying to make
+the environment more fit for human habitation.
+
+The hospitality of the people is unstinted and beautiful. They will
+turn out of their beds at any time to make a stranger comfortable, and
+offer him their last crust into the bargain, without ever expecting or
+asking a penny of recompense. But here, as all the world over, the
+sublime and the ridiculous go hand in hand. On one of my dog trips
+the first winter which I spent at St. Anthony, the bench on which I
+slept was the top of the box used for hens. This would have made
+little difference to me, but unfortunately it contained a youthful and
+vigorous rooster, which, mistaking the arrival of so many visitors for
+some strange herald of morning, proceeded every half-hour to salute it
+with premature and misdirected zeal, utterly incompatible with
+unbroken repose just above his head. It was possible, without moving
+one's limbs much, to reach through the bars and suggest better things
+to him; but owing to the inequality which exists in most things, one
+invariably captured a drowsy hen, while the more active offender
+eluded one with ease. Lighting matches to differentiate species under
+such exceptional circumstances in the pursuit of knowledge was quite
+out of the question.
+
+A visit to one house on the French shore I shall not easily forget.
+The poor lad of sixteen years had hip disease, and lay dying. The
+indescribable dirt I cannot here picture. The bed, the house, and
+everything in it were full of vermin, and the poor boy had not been
+washed since he took to bed three or four months before. With the help
+of a clergyman who was travelling with me at the time, the lad was
+chloroformed and washed. We then ordered the bedding to be burned,
+provided him with fresh garments, and put him into a clean bed. The
+people's explanation was that he was in too much pain to be touched,
+and so they could do nothing. We cleansed and drained his wounds and
+left what we could for him. Had he not been so far gone, we should
+have taken him to the hospital, but I feared that he would not survive
+the journey.
+
+Although at the time it often seemed an unnecessary expenditure of
+effort in an already overcrowded day, one now values the records of
+the early days of one's life on the coast. In my notebook for 1895 I
+find the following: "The desolation of Labrador at this time is easy
+to understand. No Newfoundlanders were left north of us; not a vessel
+in sight anywhere. The ground was all under snow, and everything
+caught over with ice except the sea. I think that I must describe one
+house, for it seems a marvel that any man could live in it all winter,
+much less women and children. It was ten feet by twenty, one storey
+high, made of mud and boards, with half a partition to divide bedroom
+from the sitting-room kitchen. If one adds a small porch filled with
+dirty, half-starved dogs, and refuse of every kind, an ancient and
+dilapidated stove in the sitting part of the house, two wooden benches
+against the walls, a fixed rude table, some shelves nailed to the
+wall, and two boarded-up beds, one has a fairly accurate description
+of the furnishings. Inside were fourteen persons, sleeping there, at
+any rate for a night or two. The ordinary regular family of a man and
+wife and four girls was to be increased this winter by the man's
+brother, his wife, and four boys from twelve months to seven years of
+age. His brother had 'handy enough flour,' but no tea or molasses. The
+owner was looking after Newfoundland Rooms, for which he got flour,
+tea, molasses, and firewood for the winter. The people assure me that
+one man, who was aboard us last fall just as we were going South,
+starved to death, and many more were just able to hold out till
+spring. The man, they tell me, ate his only dog as his last resource."
+
+I sent one day a barrel of flour and some molasses to a poor widow
+with seven children at Stag Islands. She was starving even in summer.
+She was just eating fish, which she and her eldest girl caught, and
+drinking water--no flour, no tea, nothing. Two winters before she and
+her eldest girl sawed up three thousand feet of planking to keep the
+wolf from the little ones. The girl managed the boat and fished in
+summer, drove the dogs and komatik and did the shooting for which they
+could afford powder in winter.
+
+A man, having failed to catch a single salmon beyond what he was
+forced to eat, left in his little boat to row down to the Inlet to try
+for codfish. To get a meal--breakfast--and a little flour to sustain
+life on the way, he had to sell his anchor before he left.
+
+The life of the sea, with all its attractions, is at best a hazardous
+calling, and it speaks loud in the praise of the capacity and simple
+faith of our people that in the midst of a trying and often perilous
+environment, they retain so quiet and kindly a temper of mind. During
+my voyage to the seal fishery I recall that one day at three o'clock
+the men were all called in. Four were missing. We did not find them
+till we had been steaming for an hour and a half. They were caught on
+pans some mile or so apart in couples, and were in prison. We were a
+little anxious about them, but the only remark which I heard, when at
+last they came aboard, was, "Leave the key of your box the next time,
+Ned."
+
+To those who claim that Labrador is a land of plenty I would offer the
+following incident in refutation. At Holton on a certain Sunday
+morning the leader of the church services came aboard the hospital
+steamer and asked me for a Bible. Some sacrilegious pigs which had
+been brought down to fatten on the fish, driven to the verge of
+starvation by the scarcity of that article, had broken into the church
+illicitly one night, and not only destroyed the cloth, but had
+actually torn up and eaten the Bible. In reply to inquiry I gave it
+as my opinion that it would be no sin to eat the pork of the erring
+quadrupeds.
+
+Once when I was cruising on the North Labrador coast I anchored one
+day between two desolate islands some distance out in the Atlantic, a
+locality which in those days was frequented by many fishing craft. My
+anchors were scarcely down when a boat from a small Welsh brigantine
+came aboard, and asked me to go at once and see a dying girl. She
+proved to be the only woman among a host of men, and was servant in
+one of the tiny summer fishing huts, cooking and mending for the men,
+and helping with the fish when required. I found her in a rude bunk in
+a dark corner of the shack. She was almost eighteen, and even by the
+dim light of my lantern and in contrast with the sordid surroundings,
+I could see that she was very pretty. A brief examination convinced me
+that she was dying. The tender-hearted old captain, whose aid had been
+called in as the only man with a doctor's box and therefore felt to be
+better qualified to use it than others, was heart-broken. He had
+pronounced the case to be typhoid, to be dangerous and contagious, and
+had wisely ordered the fishermen, who were handling food for human
+consumption, to leave him to deal with the case alone. He told me at
+once that he had limited his attentions to feeding her, and that
+though helpless for over a fortnight, and at times unconscious, the
+patient had not once been washed or the bed changed. The result, even
+with my experience, appalled me. But while there is life in a young
+patient there is always hope, and we at once set to work on our Augean
+task. By the strangest coincidence it was an inky dark night outside,
+with a low fog hanging over the water, and the big trap boat, with a
+crew of some six men, among them the skipper's sons, had been missing
+since morning. The skipper had stayed home out of sympathy for his
+servant girl, and his mind was torn asunder by the anxiety for the
+girl and his fear for his boys.
+
+When night fell, the old captain and I were through with the hardest
+part of our work. We had new bedding on the bed and the patient clean
+and sleeping quietly. Still the boat and its precious complement did
+not come. Every few minutes the skipper would go out and listen, and
+stare into the darkness. The girl's heart suddenly failed, and about
+midnight her spirit left this world. The captain and I decided that
+the best thing to do was to burn everything--and in order to avoid
+publicity to do it at once. So having laboriously carried it all out
+onto the edge of the cliff, we set a light to the pile and were
+rewarded with a bonfire which would have made many a Guy Fawkes
+celebration. Quite unintentionally we were sending out great streams
+of light into the darkness over the waters away down below us, and
+actually giving the longed-for signal to the missing boat. Her crew
+worked their way in the fog to life and safety by means of the blazing
+and poor discarded "properties" of the soul preceding us to our last
+port.
+
+Although our work has lain almost entirely among the white population
+of the Labrador and North Newfoundland coasts, still it has been our
+privilege occasionally to come in contact with the native races, and
+to render them such services, medical or otherwise, as lay within our
+power. Our doctor at Harrington on the Canadian Labrador is appointed
+by the Canadian Government as Indian Agent.
+
+Once, when my own boat was anchored in Davis Inlet, a band of roving
+Indians had come to the post for barter and supplies. Our steamer was
+a source of great interest to them. Our steam whistle they would
+gladly have purchased, after they had mastered their first fears. At
+night we showed them some distress rockets and some red and blue port
+flares. The way those Indians fled from the port flares was really
+amusing, and no one enjoyed it more than they did, for the shouting
+and laughter, after they had picked themselves out of the scuppers
+where they had been rolling on top of one another, wakened the very
+hills with their echoes. Next morning one lonely-looking brave came on
+board, and explained to me by signs and grunts that during the
+entertainment a white counter, or Hudson Bay dollar, had rolled out of
+the lining of his hat into our woodpile. An elaborate search failed to
+reveal its whereabouts, but as there was no reason to doubt him, I
+decided to make up the loss to him out of our clothes-bag. Fortunately
+a gorgeous purple rowing blazer came readily to hand, and with this
+and a helmet, both of which he put on at once, the poor fellow was
+more than satisfied. Indeed, on the wharf he was the envy of the whole
+band.
+
+At night they slept in the bunkhouse, and they presented a sight which
+one is not likely to forget--especially one lying on his back on the
+table, with his arms extended and his head hanging listlessly over the
+edge. One felt sorely tempted to put a pin into him to see if he
+really were alive, but we decided to abstain for prudential reasons.
+
+We had among the garments on board three not exactly suited to the
+white settlers, so I told the agent to let the Indians have a rifle
+shooting match for them. They were a fox huntsman's red broadcloth
+tail-coat, with all the glory of gilt buttons, a rather dilapidated
+red golf blazer, and a white, cavalryman's Eton coat, with silver
+buttons, and the coat-of-arms on. Words fail me to paint the elation
+of the winner of the fox hunting coat; while the wearer of the cavalry
+mess jacket was not the least bit daunted by the fact that when he got
+it on he could hardly breathe. I must say that he wore it over a
+deerskin kossak, which is not the custom of cavalrymen, I am led to
+believe.
+
+The coast-line from Ramah to Cape Chidley is just under one hundred
+miles, and on it live a few scattered Eskimo hunters. Mr. Ford knew
+every one of them personally, having lived there twenty-seven years.
+It appears that a larger race of Eskimos called "Tunits," to whom the
+present race were slaves, used to be on this section of the coast. At
+Nakvak there are remains of them. In Hebron, the same year that we met
+the Indians at Davis Inlet, we saw Pomiuk's mother. Her name is
+Regina, and she is now married to Valentine, the king of the Eskimos
+there. I have an excellent photograph of a royal dinner party, a thing
+which I never possessed before. The king and queen and a solitary
+courtier are seated on the rocks, gnawing contentedly raw walrus
+bones--"ivik" they call it.
+
+The Eskimos one year suffered very heavily from an epidemic of
+influenza--the germ doubtless imported by some schooner from the
+South. Like all primitive peoples, they had no immunity to the
+disease, and the suffering and mortality were very high. It was a
+pathetic sight as the lighter received its load of rude coffins from
+the wharf, with all the kindly little people gathered to tow them to
+their last resting-place in the shallow sand at the end of the inlet.
+The ten coffins in one grave seemed more the sequence of a battle
+than of a summer sickness in Labrador. Certainly the hospital move on
+the part of the Moravians deserved every commendation; though I
+understand that at their little hospital in Okkak they have not always
+been able to have a qualified medical man in residence.
+
+One old man, a patient on whose hip I had operated, came and insisted
+that I should examine the scars. Oddly enough during the operation the
+Eskimo, who was the only available person whom I had been able to find
+to hold the light, had fainted, and left me in darkness. I had
+previously had no idea that their sensibilities were so akin to ours.
+
+At Napatuliarasok Island are some lovely specimens of blue and green and
+golden Labradorite, a striated feldspar with a glorious sheen. Nothing
+has ever really been done with this from a commercial point of view;
+moreover, the samples of gold-bearing quartz, of which such good hopes
+have been entertained, have so far been found wanting also. In my
+opinion this is merely due to lack of persevering investigation--for one
+cannot believe that this vast area of land can be utterly unremunerative.
+
+On one of the old maps of Labrador this terse description is written
+by the cartographer: "Labrador was discovered by the English. There is
+nothing in it of any value"; and another historian enlarges on the
+theme in this fashion: "God made the world in five days, made Labrador
+on the sixth, and spent the seventh throwing stones at it." It is so
+near and yet so far, so large a section of the British Empire and yet
+so little known, and so romantic for its wild grandeur, and many
+fastnesses still untrodden by the foot of man! The polar current
+steals from the unknown North its ice treasures, and lends them
+with no niggard hand to this seaboard. There is a never-wearying charm
+in these countless icebergs, so stately in size and so fantastic in
+shape and colouring.
+
+   [Illustration: A LABRADOR BURIAL]
+
+The fauna and flora of the country are so varied and exquisite that
+one wonders why the world of science has so largely passed us by.
+Perhaps with the advent of hydroplanes, Labrador will come to its own
+among the countries of the world. Not only the ethnologist and
+botanist, but the archæologist as well reaps a rich harvest for his
+labours here. Many relics of a recent stone age still exist. I have
+had brought to me stone saucepans, lamps, knives, arrow-heads, etc.,
+taken from old graves. It is the Eskimo custom to entomb with the dead
+man all and every possession which he might want hereafter, the idea
+being that the spirit of the implement accompanies the man's spirit.
+Relics of ancient whaling establishments, possibly early Basque, are
+found in plenty at one village, while even to-day the trapper there
+needing a runner for his komatik can always hook up a whale's jaw or
+rib from the mud of the harbour. Relics of rovers of the sea, who
+sought shelter on this uncharted coast with its million islands, are
+still to be found. A friend of mine was one day looking from his boat
+into the deep, narrow channel in front of his house, when he perceived
+some strange object in the mud. With help he raised it, and found a
+long brass "Long Tom" cannon, which now stands on the rocks at that
+place. Remains of the ancient French occupation should also be
+procurable near the seat of their deserted capital near Bradore.
+
+My friend, Professor Reginald Daly, head of the Department of Geology
+at Harvard University, after having spent a summer with me on the
+coast, wrote as follows:
+
+"We crossed the Straits of Belle Isle once more, homeward bound. Old
+Jacques Cartier, searching for an Eldorado, found Labrador, and in
+disgust called it the 'Land of Cain.' A century and a half afterward
+Lieutenant Roger Curtis wrote of it as a 'country formed of frightful
+mountains, and unfruitful valleys, a prodigious heap of barren rock';
+and George Cartwright, in his gossipy journal, summed up his
+impressions after five and twenty years on the coast. He said, 'God
+created this country last of all, and threw together there the refuse
+of his materials as of no use to mankind.'
+
+"We have learned at last the vital fact that Nature has set apart her
+own picture galleries where men may resort if for a time they would
+forget human contrivances. Such a wilderness is Labrador, a kind of
+mental and moral sanitarium. The beautiful is but the visible splendor
+of the true. The enjoyment of a visit to the coast may consist not
+alone in the impressions of the scenery; there may be added the deeper
+pleasure of reading out the history of noble landscapes, the
+sculptured monuments of elemental strife and revolutions of distant
+ages."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+LECTURING AND CRUISING
+
+
+We had now been coming for some two years to the coast, and the
+problem was assuming larger proportions than I felt the Society at
+home ought to be called on to finance. It seemed advisable, therefore,
+to try and raise money in southern Newfoundland and Canada. So under
+the wing of the most famous seal and fish killer, Captain Samuel
+Blandford, I next visited and lectured in St. John's, Harbour Grace,
+and Carbonear.
+
+The towns in Newfoundland are not large. Its sectarian schools and the
+strong denominational feeling between the churches so greatly divide
+the people that united efforts for the Kingdom of God were extremely
+rare before the war. Even now there is no Y.M.C.A. or Y.W.C.A. in the
+Colony. The Boys' Brigade, which we initiated our first year, divided
+as it grew in importance, into the Church Lads Brigade, the Catholic
+Cadet Corps, and the Methodist Guards.
+
+Dr. Bobardt, my young Australian colleague, and I now decided to cross
+over to Halifax. We had only a certain amount of money for the
+venture; it was our first visit to Canada, and we knew no one. We
+carried credentials, however, from the Marquis of Ripon and other
+reputable persons. If we had had experience as commercial travellers,
+this would have been child's play. But our education had been in an
+English school and university; and when finally we sat at breakfast at
+the Halifax hotel we felt like fish out of water. Such success as we
+obtained subsequently I attribute entirely to what then seemed to me
+my colleague's colonial "cheek." He insisted that we should call on
+the most prominent persons at once, the Prime Minister, the General in
+charge of the garrison, the Presidents of the Board of Trade and
+University, the Governor of the Province, and all the leading
+clergymen. There have been times when I have hesitated about getting
+my anchors for sea, when the barometer was falling, the wind in, and a
+fog-bank on the horizon--but now, years after, I still recall my
+reluctance to face that ordeal. But like most things, the obstacles
+were largely in one's own mind, and the kindness which we received
+left me entirely overwhelmed. Friends formed a regular committee to
+keep a couple of cots going in our hospital, to collect supplies, and
+sent us to Montreal with introductions and endorsements. Some of these
+people have since been lifelong helpers of the Labrador Mission.
+
+By the time we reached Montreal, our funds were getting low, but Dr.
+Bobardt insisted that we must engage the best accommodations, even if
+it prevented our travelling farther west. The result was that
+reporters insisted on interviewing him as to the purpose of an
+Australian coming to Montreal; and I was startled to see a long
+account which he had jokingly given them published in the morning
+papers, stating that his purpose was to materialize the All Red Line
+and arrange closer relations between Australia and Canada. According
+to his report my object was to inspect my ranch in Alberta. Life to
+him, whether on the Labrador Coast, in an English school, or in his
+Australian home, was one perpetual picnic.
+
+Naturally, our most important interview was with Lord Strathcona. He
+was President of the Hudson Bay Company, the Canadian Pacific
+Railroad, and the Bank of Montreal. As a poor Scotch lad named Donald
+Smith he had lived for thirteen years of his early life in Labrador.
+There he had found a wife and there his daughter was born. From the
+very first he was thoroughly interested in our work, and all through
+the years until his death in 1914 his support was maintained, so that
+at the very time he died we were actually due to visit him the
+following month at Knelsworth.
+
+We hired the best hall and advertised Sir Donald as our chairman. To
+save expense Dr. Bobardt acted in the ticket-box. When Sir Donald came
+along, not having seen him previously, he insisted on collecting fifty
+cents from him as from the rest. When Sir Donald strongly protested
+that he was our chairman, the shrewd young doctor merely replied that
+several others before him had made the same remark. Every one in the
+city knew Sir Donald; and when the matter was explained to him in the
+greenroom, he was thoroughly pleased with the business-like attitude
+of the Mission. As we had never seen Canada he insisted that we must
+take a holiday and visit as far west as British Columbia. All of this
+he not only arranged freely for us, but even saw to such details as
+that we should ride on the engine through the Rocky Mountains, and be
+entertained at his home called "Silver Heights" while in Winnipeg. It
+was during this trip that I visited "Grenfell Town," a queer little
+place called after Pascoe Grenfell, of the Bank of England. The marvel
+of the place to me was the thousands and thousands of acres of
+splendid farmland on which no one lived. I promised that I would send
+the hotel-keeper the Grenfell crest.
+
+Lord Strathcona later presented the Mission with a fine little
+steamer, the Sir Donald, purchased and equipped at his expense through
+the Committee in Montreal.
+
+We went back to England very well satisfied with our work. Dr. Bobardt
+left me and entered the Navy, while I returned the following year and
+steamed the new boat from Montreal down the St. Lawrence River and the
+Straits to Battle Harbour. There the Albert, which had sailed again
+from England with doctors, nurses, and supplies, was to meet me. We
+had made a fine voyage, visiting all along the coast as we journeyed,
+and had turned in from sea through the last "run," or passage between
+islands. We had polished our brass-work, cleaned up our decks, hoisted
+our flags, all that we might make a triumphant entry on our arrival a
+few minutes later--when suddenly, _Buff--Bur-r--Buff_, we rose,
+staggered, and fell over on a horrible submerged shoal. Our side was
+gored, our propeller and shaft gone, our keel badly splintered, and
+the ship left high and dry. When we realized our mistake and the
+dreadful position into which we had put ourselves, we rowed ashore to
+the nearest island, walked three or four miles over hill and bog, and
+from there got a fisherman with a boat to put us over to Battle
+Harbour Island. The good ship Albert lay at anchor in the harbour. Our
+new colleagues and old friends were all impatiently waiting to see our
+fine new steamer speed in with all her flags up--when, instead, two
+bedraggled-looking tramps, crestfallen almost to weeping, literally
+crept aboard.
+
+Sympathy took the form of deeds and a crowd at once went round in
+boats with a museum of implements. Soon they had her off, and our
+plucky schooner took her in tow all the three hundred miles to the
+nearest dry-dock at St. John's.
+
+Meanwhile Sir Thomas Roddick, of Montreal, an old Newfoundlander, had
+presented us with a splendid twenty-foot jolly-boat, rigged with
+lug-sail and centre-boom. In this I cruised north to Eskimo Bay,
+harbouring at nights if possible, getting a local pilot when I could,
+and once being taken bodily on board, craft and all, by a big friendly
+fishing schooner. It proved a most profitable summer. I was so
+dependent on the settlers and fishermen for food and hospitality that
+I learned to know them as would otherwise have been impossible. Far
+the best road to a seaman's heart is to let him do something for you.
+Our impressions of a landscape, like our estimates of character, all
+depend on our viewpoint. Fresh from the more momentous problems of
+great cities, the interests and misunderstandings of small isolated
+places bias the mind and make one censorious and resentful. But from
+the position of a tight corner, that of needing help and hospitality
+from entire strangers, one learns how large are the hearts and homes
+of those who live next to Nature. If I knew the Labrador people before
+(and among such I include the Hudson Bay traders and the Newfoundland
+fishermen), that summer made me love them. I could not help feeling
+how much more they gladly and freely did for me than I should have
+dreamed of doing for them had they come along to my house in London. I
+have sailed the seas in ocean greyhounds and in floating palaces and
+in steam yachts, but better than any other I love to dwell on the
+memories of that summer, cruising the Labrador in a twenty-footer.
+
+That year I was late returning South. Progress is slow in the fall of
+the year along the Labrador in a boat of that capacity. I was
+weather-bound, with the snow already on the ground in Square Island
+Harbour. The fishery of the settlers had been very poor. The traders
+coming South had passed them by. There were eight months of winter
+ahead, and practically no supplies for the dozen families of the
+little village. I shall never forget the confidence of the patriarch
+of the settlement, Uncle Jim, whose guest I was. The fact that we were
+without butter, and that "sweetness" (molasses) was low, was scarcely
+even noticed. I remember as if it were yesterday the stimulating tang
+of the frosty air and the racy problem of the open sea yet to be
+covered. The bag of birds which we had captured when we had driven in
+for shelter from the storm made our dry-diet supper sweeter than any
+Delmonico ten-course dinner, because we had wrested it ourselves from
+the reluctant environment. Then last of all came the general meeting
+in Uncle Jim's house at night to ask the Lord to open the windows of
+heaven for the benefit of the pathetic little group on the island.
+Next morning the first thing on which our eyes lighted was the belated
+trader, actually driven north again by the storm, anchored right in
+the harbour. Of course Uncle Jim knew that it would be there.
+Personally, I did not expect her, so can claim no credit for the
+telepathy; but if faith ever did work wonders it was on that occasion.
+There were laughing faces and happy hearts as we said good-bye, when
+my dainty little lady spread her wings to a fair breeze a day or so
+later.
+
+The gallant little Sir Donald did herself every credit the following
+year, and we not only visited the coast as far north as Cape Chidley,
+but explored the narrow channel which runs through the land into
+Ungava Bay, and places Cape Chidley itself on a detached island.
+
+There were a great many fishing schooners far north that season, and
+the keen pleasures of exploring a truly marvellous coast, practically
+uncharted and unknown, were redeemed from the reproach of selfishness
+by the numerous opportunities for service to one's fellow men.
+
+   [Illustration: THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN SUMMER]
+
+Once that summer we were eleven days stuck in the ice, and while there
+the huge mail steamer broke her propeller, and a boat was sent up to
+us through the ice to ask for our help. The truck on my mastheads was
+just up to her deck. The ice was a lot of trouble, but we got her into
+safety. On board were the superintendent of the Moravian Missions and
+his wife. They were awfully grateful. The great tub rolled about so in
+the Atlantic swell that the big ice-pans nearly came on deck. My
+dainty little lady took no notice of anything and picked her way among
+the pans like Agag "treading delicately." We had five hours' good
+push, however, to get into Battle Harbour. It was calm in the
+ice-field, only the heavy tide made it run and the little "alive"
+steamer with human skill beat the massive mountains of ice into a
+cocked hat.
+
+At Indian Tickle there is a nice little church which was built by
+subscription and free labour the second year we came on the coast.
+There is one especially charming feature about this building. It
+stands in such a position that you can see it as you come from the
+north miles away from the harbour entrance, and it is so situated that
+it leads directly into the safe anchorage. There are no lights to
+guide sailors on this coast at all, and yet during September, October,
+and November, three of the most dangerous months in the year, hundreds
+of schooners and thousands of men, women, and children are coming into
+or passing through this harbour on their way to the southward. By a
+nice arrangement the little east window points to the north--if that
+is not Irish--and two large bracket lamps can be turned on a pivot, so
+that the lamps and their reflectors throw a light out to sea. The
+good planter, at his own expense, often maintains a light here on
+stormy or dark nights, and "steering straight for it" brings one to
+safety.
+
+While cruising near Cape Chidley, a schooner signalling with flag at
+half-mast attracted our attention. On going aboard we found a young
+man with the globe of one eye ruptured by a gun accident, in great
+pain, and in danger of losing the other eye sympathetically. Having
+excised the globe, we allowed him to go back to his vessel, intensely
+grateful, but full of apprehension as to how his girl would regard him
+on his return South. It so happened that we had had a gift of false
+eyes, and we therefore told him to call in at hospital on his way home
+and take his chance on getting a blue one. While walking over the hill
+near the hospital that fall I ran into a crowd of young fishermen,
+whose schooner was wind-bound in the harbour, and who had been into
+the country for an hour's trouting. One asked me to look at his eye,
+as something was wrong with it. Being in a hurry, I simply remarked,
+"Come to hospital, and I'll examine it for you"; whereupon he burst
+out into a merry laugh, "Why, Doctor, I'm the boy whose eye you
+removed. This is the glass one you promised. Do you think it will suit
+her?"
+
+Another time I was called to a large schooner in the same region.
+There were two young girls on board doing the cooking and cleaning, as
+was the wont in Newfoundland vessels. One, alas, was seriously ill,
+having given birth to a premature child, and having lain absolutely
+helpless, with only a crew of kind but strange men anywhere near.
+Rolling her up in blankets, we transferred her to the Sir Donald, and
+steamed for the nearest Moravian station. Here the necessary
+treatment was possible, and when we left for the South a Moravian's
+good wife accompanied us as nurse. The girl, however, had no wish to
+live. "I want to die, Doctor; I can never go home again." Her physical
+troubles had abated, but her mind was made up to die, and this, in
+spite of all our care, she did a few days later. The pathos of the
+scene as we rowed the poor child's body ashore for interment on a
+rocky and lonely headland, looking out over the great Atlantic,
+wrapped simply in the flag of her country, will never be forgotten by
+any of us--the silent but unanswerable reproach on man's utter
+selfishness. Many such scenes must rise to the memory of the general
+practitioner; at times, thank God, affording those opportunities of
+doing more for the patients than simply patching up their
+bodies--opportunities which are the real reward for the "art of
+healing." Some years later I revisited the grave of this poor girl,
+marked by the simple wooden cross which we had then put up, and
+bearing the simple inscription:
+
+Suzanne
+"Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee."
+
+The fall trip lasted till late into November, without our even
+realizing the fact that snow was on the ground. Indeed the ponds were
+all frozen and we enjoyed drives with dog teams on the land before we
+had finished our work and could think of leaving. We had scarcely left
+Flowers Cove and were just burying our little steamer--loaded to the
+utmost with wood, cut in return for winter clothing--in the dense fog
+which almost universally maintains in the Straits, and were rounding
+the hidden ledges of rock which lie half a mile offshore, when we
+discovered a huge trans-Atlantic liner racing up in our wake. We
+instantly put down our helm and scuttled out of the way to avoid the
+wash, and almost held our breath as the great steamer dashed by at
+twenty miles an hour, between us and the hidden shoal. She altered her
+helm as she did so, no doubt catching her first sight of the
+lighthouse as she emerged from the fog-bank, but as it was, she must
+have passed within an ace of the shoal. We expected every minute to
+see her dash on the top of it, and then she passed out of sight once
+more, her light-hearted passengers no doubt completely unconscious
+that they had been in any danger at all.
+
+The last port of call was Henley, or Château, where formerly the
+British had placed a fort to defend it against the French. We had
+carried round with us a prospective bridegroom, and we were privileged
+to witness the wedding, a simple but very picturesque proceeding. A
+parson had been fetched from thirty miles away, and every kind of
+hospitality provided for the festive event. But in spite of the warmth
+of the occasion the weather turned bitterly cold, the harbour "caught
+over," and for a week we were prisoners. When at last the young ice
+broke up again, we made an attempt to cross the Straits, but sea and
+wind caught us halfway and forced us to run back, this time in the
+thick fog. The Straits' current had carried us a few miles in the
+meanwhile--which way we did not know--and the land, hard to make out
+as it was in the fog, was white with snow. However, with the storm
+increasing and the long dark night ahead, we took a sporting chance,
+and ran direct in on the cliffs. How we escaped shipwreck I do not
+know now. We suddenly saw a rock on our bow and a sheer precipice
+ahead, twisted round on our heel, shot between the two, and we knew
+where we were, as that is the only rock on a coast-line of twenty
+miles of beach--but there really is no room between it and the cliff.
+
+All along the coast that year we noticed a change of attitude toward
+professional medical aid. Confidence in the wise woman, in the seventh
+son and his "wonderful" power, in the use of charms like green
+worsted, haddock fins, or scrolls of prayer tied round the neck, had
+begun to waver. The world talks still of a blind man made to see
+nineteen hundred years ago; but the coast had recently been more
+thrilled by the tale of a blind man made to see by "these yere
+doctors." One was a man who for seventeen years had given up all hope;
+and two others, old men, parted for years, and whose first occasion of
+seeing again had revealed to them the fact that they were brothers.
+
+Some lame had also been made to walk--persons who had abandoned hope
+quite as much as he who lay for forty years by the Pool of Siloam, or
+for a similar period at the Golden Gate.
+
+One of my first operations had been rendered absolutely inescapable by
+the great pain caused by a tumour in the leg. The patient had insisted
+on having five men sit on her while the operation proceeded, as she
+did not believe it was right to be put to sleep, and, moreover, she
+secretly feared that she might not wake up again. But now the
+conversion of the coast had proceeded so far that many were pleading
+for a winter doctor. At first we did not think it feasible, but my
+colleague, Dr. Willway, finally volunteered to stay at Battle Harbour.
+We loaded him up with all our spare assets against the experiment, the
+hospital being but very ill-equipped for an Arctic winter. When the
+following summer we approached the coast, it was with real
+trepidation that I scanned the land for signs of my derelict friend.
+We felt that he would be gravely altered at least, possibly having
+grown hair all over his face. When an alert, tanned, athletic figure,
+neatly tonsured and barbered, at last leaped over our rail, all our
+sympathy vanished and gave way to jealousy.
+
+One detail, however, had gone wrong. We had anchored our beautiful Sir
+Donald in his care in a harbour off the long bay on the shores of
+which he was wintering. He had seen her once or twice in her ice
+prison, but when he came to look for her in the spring, she had
+mysteriously disappeared. The ice was there still. There wasn't a
+vestige of wreckage. She must have sunk, and the hole frozen up. Yet
+an extended period of "creeping" the bottom with drags and grapples
+had revealed nothing, and, anyhow, the water not being deep, her masts
+should have been easily visible. It was not till some time later that
+we heard from the South that our trusty craft had been picked up some
+three hundred miles to the southward and westward, well out in a heavy
+ice-pack, and right in amongst a big patch of seals, away off on the
+Atlantic. The whole of the bay ice had evidently gone out together,
+taking the ship with it, and the bay had then neatly frozen over
+again. The seal hunters laughingly assured me that they found a patch
+of old "swiles" having tea in the cabin. As the hull of the Sir Donald
+was old, and the size of the boat made good medical work aboard
+impossible, we decided to sell her and try and raise the funds for a
+more seaworthy and capable craft.
+
+Years of experience have subsequently emphasized the fact that if you
+are reasonably resistant, and want to get tough and young again, you
+can do far worse than come and winter on "the lonely Labrador."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE SEAL FISHERY
+
+
+Returning South in the fall of 1895, business necessitated my
+remaining for some time in St. John's, where as previously the
+Governor, Sir Terence O'Brien, very kindly entertained me. It proved
+to be a most exciting time. There were only two banks in the Colony,
+called respectively the Union and the Commercial. These issued all the
+notes used in the country and except for the savings bank had all the
+deposits of the fishermen and people. Suddenly one day I was told,
+though with extreme secrecy, that the two banks were unsound and would
+not again open after Monday morning. This was early on Saturday.
+Business went on as usual, but among the leaders of the country
+consternation was beginning to spread. The banks closed at their usual
+hour--three o 'clock on Saturday, and so far as I knew no one profited
+by the secret knowledge, though later accusations were made against
+some people. The serious nature of the impending disaster never really
+dawned on me, not being either personally concerned in either bank or
+having any experience of finance. When the collection came around at
+the cathedral on Sunday my friend whispered to me, "That silver will
+be valuable to-morrow." It so happened that on Sunday I was dining
+with the Prime Minister, who had befriended all our efforts, and his
+tremendously serious view of the position of the Colony sent me to bed
+full of alarms for my new friends. We were to have sailed for England
+next day and I went down after breakfast to buy my ticket. The agent
+sold it, but remarked, "I am not sure if Newfoundland money is good
+any longer. It is a speculation selling you this ticket." Before we
+sailed the vessel was held up by the Government, as only a few of the
+ships were taking notes at face value. Those of the Commercial Bank
+were only fetching twenty cents. Besides the banks quite a number of
+commercial firms also closed. The directors of the banks were all
+local merchants, and many were heavily indebted to them for supplies
+given out to their "planters," as they call the fishermen whom they
+supply with goods in advance to catch fish for them. It was a sorry
+mix-up, and business was very difficult to carry on because we had no
+medium of exchange. Even the Governor to pay his gardener had to give
+I.O.U. orders on shops--there simply being no currency available.
+
+Matters have long since adjusted themselves, though neither bank ever
+reopened. Larger banks of good standing came in from Canada, and no
+one can find anything of which to complain in the financial affairs of
+the "oldest Colony," even in these days of war.
+
+Newfoundland has a large seal as well as cod fishery. The great
+sealing captains are all aristocrats of the fishermen and certainly
+are an unusually fine set of men. The work calls for peculiar training
+in the hardest of schools, for great self-reliance and resource,
+besides skill in handling men and ships. In those days the doyen of
+the fleet was Captain Samuel Blandford. He fired me with tales of the
+hardships to be encountered and the opportunities and needs for a
+doctor among three hundred men hundreds of miles from anywhere. The
+result was a decision to return early from my lecture tour and go out
+with the seal hunters of the good ship Neptune.
+
+I look back on this as one of the great treats of my life; though I
+believe it to be an industry seriously detrimental to the welfare of
+the people of the Colony and the outside world. For no mammal bringing
+forth but one young a year can stand, when their young are just born
+and are entirely helpless, being attacked by huge steel-protected
+steamers carrying hundreds of men with modern rifles or even clubs.
+Advantage is also taken of the maternal instinct to get the mothers as
+well as the young "fat," if the latter is not obtainable in sufficient
+quantities. Meanwhile the poor scattered people of the northern shores
+of Newfoundland are being absolutely ruined and driven out. They need
+the seals for clothing, boots, fresh food, and fats. They use every
+portion of the few animals which each catches, while the big steamers
+lose thousands which they have killed, by not carrying them at once to
+the ship and leaving them in piles to be picked up later. Moreover, in
+the latter case all the good proteid food of their carcasses is left
+to the sharks and gulls.
+
+At twelve o'clock of March 10, 1896, the good ship Neptune hauled out
+into the stream at St. John's Harbour, Newfoundland, preparatory to
+weighing anchor for the seal fishery. The law allows no vessels to
+sail before 2 P.M. on that day, under a penalty of four thousand
+dollars fine--nor may any seals be killed from the steamers until
+March 14, and at no time on Sundays. The whole city of St. John's
+seemed to be engrossed in the one absorbing topic of the seal fishery.
+It meant if successful some fifty thousand pounds sterling at least to
+the Colony--it meant bread for thousands of people--it meant for days
+and even weeks past that men from far-away outports had been slowly
+collecting at the capital, till the main street was peopled all day
+with anxious-looking crowds, and all the wharves where there was any
+chance of a "berth" to the ice were fairly in a state of siege.
+
+Now let us go down to the dock and visit the ship before she starts.
+She is a large barque-rigged vessel, with auxiliary steam, or rather
+one should say a steamer with auxiliary sails. The first point that
+strikes one is her massive build, her veritable bulldog look as she
+sits on the water. Her sides are some eighteen inches thick, and
+sheathed and resheathed with "greenheart" to help her in battering the
+ice. Inside she is ceiled with English oak and beech, so that her
+portholes look like the arrow slits of the windows of an old feudal
+castle. Her bow is double-stemmed--shot with a broad band of iron, and
+the space of some seventeen feet between the two stems solid with the
+choicest hardwoods. Below decks every corner is adapted to some use.
+There are bags of flour, hard bread, and food for the crew of three
+hundred and twenty men; five hundred tons of coal for the hungry
+engine in her battle with the ice-floe. The vessel carries only about
+eighteen hundred gallons of water and the men use five hundred in a
+day. This, however, is of little consequence, for a party each day
+brings back plenty of ice, which is excellent drinking after being
+boiled. This ice is of very different qualities. Now it is "slob"
+mixed with snow born on the Newfoundland coast. This is called "dirty
+ice" by the sealers. Even it at times packs very thick and is hard to
+get through. Then there is the clearer, heavy Arctic ice with here and
+there huge icebergs frozen in; and again the smoother, whiter variety
+known as "whelping ice"--that is, the Arctic shore ice, born probably
+in Labrador, on which the seals give birth to their pups.
+
+The masters of watches are also called "scunners"--they go up night
+and day in the forebarrel to "scun" the ship--that is, to find the
+way or leads through the ice. This word comes from "con" of the
+conning tower on a man-of-war.
+
+When the morning of the 10th arrives, all is excitement. Fortunately
+this year a southwest wind had blown the ice a mile or so offshore.
+Now all the men are on board. The vessels are in the stream. The flags
+are up; the whistles are blowing. The hour of two approaches at last,
+and a loud cheering, renewed again and again, intimates that the first
+vessel is off, and the S.S. Aurora comes up the harbour. Cheers from
+the ships, the wharves, and the town answer her whistle, and closely
+followed by the S.S. Neptune and S.S. Windsor, she gallantly goes out,
+the leader of the sealing fleet for the year.
+
+There have been two or three great disasters at the seal fishery,
+where numbers of men astray from their vessels in heavy snow blizzards
+on the ice have perished miserably. Sixteen fishermen were once out
+hunting for seals on the frozen ice of Trinity Bay when the wind
+changed and drove the ice offshore. When night came on they realized
+their terrible position and that, with a gale of wind blowing, they
+could not hope to reach land in their small boats. Nothing but an
+awful death stared them in the face, for in order to hunt over the ice
+men must be lightly clad, so as to run and jump from piece to piece.
+Without fire, without food, without sufficient clothing, exposed to
+the pitiless storm on the frozen sea, they endured thirty-six hours
+without losing a life. Finally, they dragged their boats ten miles
+over the ice to the land, where they arrived at last more dead than
+alive.
+
+It is the physical excitement of travelling over broken loose ice on
+the bosom of the mighty ocean, and the skill and athletic qualities
+which the work demands, that makes one love the voyage. Jumping from
+the side of the ship as she goes along, skurrying and leaping from
+ice-pan to ice-pan, and then having killed, "sculped," and "pelted"
+the seal, the exciting return to the vessel! But it has its tragic
+side, for it takes its regular tribute of fine human life.
+
+A Mr. Thomas Green, of Greenspond, while a boy, with his father and
+another man and a 'prentice lad, was tending his seal nets when a
+"dwey" or snowstorm came on, and the boat became unmanageable and
+drifted off to sea. They struck a small island, but drifted off again.
+That night the father and the 'prentice lad died, and next morning the
+other man also. The son dressed himself in all the clothes of the
+other three, whose bodies he kept in the boat. He ate the flesh of an
+old harp seal they had caught in their net. On the third day by
+wonderful luck he gaffed an old seal in the slob ice. This he hauled
+in and drank the warm blood. On the fifth day he killed a white-coat,
+and thinking that he saw a ship he walked five miles over the floe,
+leaving his boat behind. The phantom ship proved to be an island of
+ice, and in the night he had to tramp back to his open punt. On the
+seventh day he was really beginning to give up hope when a vessel, the
+Flora, suddenly hove in sight. He shouted loudly as it was dark,
+whereupon she immediately tacked as if to leave him. Again he shouted,
+"For God's sake, don't leave me with my dead father here!" The words
+were plainly heard on board, and the vessel hove to. The watch had
+thought that his previous shouting was of supernatural origin. He and
+his boat with its pitiful load were picked up and sent back home by a
+passing vessel.
+
+On this particular voyage we were lucky enough to come early into the
+seals. From the Conner's barrel, in which I spent a great deal of
+time, we saw one morning black dots spread away in thousands all over
+the ice-floes through which we were butting, ramming, and fighting our
+way. All hands were over the side at once, and very soon patients
+began needing a doctor. Here a cut, there a wrench or sprain, and
+later came thirty or forty at a time with snow-blindness or
+conjunctivitis--very painful and disabling, though not fatal to sight.
+
+One morning we had been kept late relieving these various slight
+ailments, and the men being mostly out on the ice made me think that
+they were among the seals; so I started out alone as soon as I could
+slip over the side to join them. This, however, I failed to do till
+late in the afternoon, when the strong wind, which had kept the loose
+ice packed together, dropped, and in less than no time it was all
+"running abroad." The result naturally is that one cannot get along
+except by floating on one piece to another, and that is a slow process
+without oars. It came on dark and a dozen of us who had got together
+decided to make for a large pan not far distant; but were obliged to
+give it up, and wait for the ship which had long gone out of sight. To
+keep warm we played "leap-frog," "caps," and "hop, skip, and jump"--at
+which some were very proficient. We ate our sugar and oatmeal, mixed
+with some nice clear snow; and then, shaving our wooden seal bat
+handles, and dipping them into the fat of the animals which we had
+killed, we made a big blaze periodically to attract the attention of
+the ship.
+
+It was well into the night before we were picked up; and no sooner had
+we climbed over the rail than the skipper came and gave us the best or
+worst "blowing-up" I ever received since my father spanked me. He told
+me afterwards that his good heart was really so relieved by our safe
+return that he was scarcely conscious of what he said. Indeed, any
+words which might have been considered as unparliamentary he asked me
+to construe as gratitude to God.
+
+Our captain was a passenger on and prospective captain of the S.S.
+Tigris when she picked up those members of the ill-fated Polaris
+expedition who had been five months on the ice-pans. He had gone below
+from his watch and daylight was just breaking when the next watch came
+and reported a boat and some people on a large pan, with the American
+flag flying. A kayak came off and Hans, an Eskimo, came alongside and
+said, "Ship lost. Captain gone." Boats were immediately lowered and
+nineteen persons, including two women and one baby, born on the
+ice-pan, came aboard amidst cheers renewed again and again. They had
+to be washed and fed, cleaned and clothed. The two officers were
+invited to live aft and the remainder of the rescued party being
+pestered to death by the sealing crew in the forecastle, it was
+decided to abandon the sealing trip, and the brave explorers were
+carried to St. John's, the American people eventually indemnifying the
+owners of the Tigris.
+
+In hunting my patients I started round with a book and pencil
+accompanied by the steward carrying a candle and matches. The invalids
+were distributed in the four holds--the after, the main, forecastle,
+and foretop-gallant-forecastle. I never went round without a bottle of
+cocaine solution in my pocket for the snow-blind men, who suffered the
+most excruciating pain, often rolling about and moaning as if in a
+kind of frenzy, and to whom the cocaine gave wonderful relief. Very
+often I found that I must miss one or even both holds on my first
+rounds, for the ladders were gone and seals and coals were exchanging
+places in them during the first part of the day. Once down, however,
+one shouts out, "Is there any one here?" No answer. Louder still, "Is
+there any one here?" Perhaps a distant cough answers from some dark
+recess, and the steward and I begin a search. Then we go round
+systematically, climbing over on the barrels, searching under sacks,
+and poking into recesses, and after all occasionally missing one or
+two in our search. It seems a peculiarity about the men, that though
+they will lie up, they will not always say anything about it. The
+holds were very damp and dirty, but the men seemed to improve in
+health and fattened like the young seals. It must have been the pork,
+doughs, and excellent fresh meat of the seal. We had boiled or fried
+seal quite often with onions, and I must say that it was excellent
+eating--far more palatable than the dried codfish, which, when one has
+any ice work, creates an intolerable thirst.
+
+The rats were making a huge noise one night and a barrel man gave it
+as his opinion that we should have a gale before long; but a glorious
+sunshine came streaming down upon us next morning, and we decided
+perforce the rats were evidently a little previous.
+
+On Sunday I had a good chance to watch the seals. They came up, simply
+stared at the ship; now from sheer fat rolling on their backs, and
+lying for a few seconds tail and flippers beating the air helpless.
+These baby seals resemble on the ice nothing so much as the South Sea
+parrot fish--that is, a complete round head, with somewhere in the
+sphere two huge black dots for eyes and a similar one for a nose.
+These three form the corners of a small triangle, and except for the
+tail one could not easily tell which was the back and which the belly
+of a young white-coat--especially in stormy weather. For it is a
+well-ascertained fact that Nature makes the marvellous provision that
+in storm and snow they grow fattest and fastest. I have marvelled
+greatly how it is possible for any hot-blooded creature to enjoy so
+immensely this terribly cold water as do these old seals. They paddle
+about, throw themselves on their backs, float and puff out their
+breasts, flapping their flippers like paws over their chests.
+
+Sunday morning we were lying off Fogo Island when some men came aboard
+and reported the wreck of the S.S. Wolf in the ice. She got round the
+island, a wind offshore having cleared the ice from the land. Three
+other vessels were behind her. Hardly, however, had she got round when
+the northerly wind brought the ice back. The doomed ship now lay
+between the main or fixed frozen shore ice and the immense floe which
+was impelled by the north wind acting on its whole irregular surface.
+The force was irresistible. The Wolf backed and butted and got twenty
+yards into a nook in the main ice, and lay there helpless as an
+infant. On then swept the floe, crashed into the fixed ice, shattered
+its edge, rose up out of water over it, which is called "rafting,"
+forced itself on the unfortunate ship, rose over her bulwarks, crushed
+in her sides, and only by nipping her tightly avoided sinking her
+immediately. Seeing that all was lost, Captain Kean got the men and
+boats onto the pans, took all they could save of food and clothes, but
+before he had saved his own clothing, the ice parted enough to let her
+through and she sank like a stone, her masts catching and breaking in
+pieces as she went. A sorrowful march for the shore now began over the
+ice, as the three hundred men started for home, carrying as much as
+they could on their backs. Many would have to face empty cupboards and
+hard times; all would have days of walking and rowing and camping
+before they could get home. One hundred miles would be the least, two
+and even three hundred for some, before they could reach their own
+villages. Some of these poor fellows had walked nearly two hundred
+miles to get a chance of going on the lost ship, impelled by hunger
+and necessity. Alas, we felt very sad for them and for Captain Kean,
+who had to face almost absolute ruin on account of this great loss.
+
+The heaving of the great pans, like battering-rams against the sides
+of the Neptune, made a woesome noise below decks. I was often glad of
+her thirty-six inches of hardwood covering. Every now and then she
+steamed ahead a little and pressed into the ice to prevent this. I
+tried to climb on one of the many icebergs, but the heavy swell made
+it dangerous. At every swell it rolled over and back some eight feet,
+and as I watched it I understood how an iceberg goes to wind. For it
+acted exactly like a steam plough, crashing down onto one large pan as
+it rolled, and then, as it rolled back, lifting up another and
+smashing it from beneath. A regular battle seemed to be going on, with
+weird sounds of blows and groanings of the large masses of ice.
+Sometimes as pieces fell off the water would rush up high on the side
+of the berg. For some reason or other the berg had red-and-white
+streaks, and looked much like an ornamental pudding.
+
+At latitude 50.18, about Funk Island, is one of the last refuges of
+the great auk. A few years ago, the earth, such as there is on these
+lonely rocks, was sifted for the bones of that extinct bird, and I
+think three perfect skeletons, worth a hundred pounds sterling each,
+were put together from the remnants discovered. One day the captain
+told me that he held on there in a furious gale for some time. Masses
+of ice, weighing thirty or forty tons, were hurled high up and lodged
+on the top of the island. Some men went out to "pan" seals on a large
+pan. Seven hundred of the animals had been placed on one of them, and
+the men had just left it, when a furious breaking sea took hold of
+the pan and threw it completely upside down.
+
+I am never likely to forget the last lovely Sunday. We had nearly "got
+our voyage"; at least no one was anxious now for the credit of the
+ship. The sunshine was blazing hot as it came from above and below at
+the same time, and the blue sky over the apparently boundless field of
+heaving "floe" on which we lay made a contrast which must be seen to
+be appreciated. I had brought along a number of pocket hymn-books and
+in the afternoon we lay out on the high fore-deck and sang and talked,
+unworried by callers and the thousand interruptions of the land. Then
+we had evening prayers together, Catholic and Protestant alike; and
+for my part I felt the nearness of God's presence as really as I have
+felt it in the mysterious environment of the most magnificent
+cathedral. Eternal life seemed so close, as if it lay just over that
+horizon of ice, in the eternal blue beyond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THREE YEARS' WORK IN THE BRITISH ISLES
+
+
+In the spring of 1897 I was asked by the Council to sail to Iceland
+with a view to opening work there, in response to a petition sent in
+to the Board by the Hearn longliners and trawlers, who were just
+beginning their vast fishery in those waters from Hull and Grimsby.
+
+Having chosen a smaller vessel, so as to leave the hospital ship free
+for work among the fleets, we set sail for Iceland in June. The fight
+with the liquor traffic which the Mission had been waging had now been
+successful in driving the sale of intoxicants from the North Sea by
+international agreement; but the proverbial whiskey still continued
+its filibustering work in the Scotch seaports. As our men at times had
+to frequent these ports we were anxious to make it easier for them to
+walk straight while they were ashore.
+
+We therefore called at Aberdeen on the way and anchored off the first
+dock. The beautiful Seaman's Home there was on the wrong side of the
+harbour for the vessels, and was not offering exactly what was needed.
+So we obtained leave to put a hull in the basin, with a first-aid
+equipment, refreshments, lounge and writing-rooms, and with simple
+services on Sunday. This boat commenced then and there, and was run
+for some years under Captain Skiff; till she made way for the present
+homely little Fishermen's Institute exactly across the road from the
+docks before you came to the saloons.
+
+I shall not soon forget our first view of the cliffs of the southern
+coast of Iceland. We had called at Thorshaven in the Faroë group to
+see what we could learn of the boats fishing near Rockall; but none
+were there at the time. As we had no chronometers on our own boat we
+were quite unable to tell our longitude--a very much-needed bit of
+information, for we had had fog for some days, and anyhow none of us
+knew anything about the coast.
+
+We brought up under the shadow of the mighty cliffs and were debating
+our whereabouts, when we saw an English sailing trawler about our own
+size, with his nets out close in under the land. So we threw out our
+boat and boarded him for information. He proved to be a Grimsby
+skipper, and we received the usual warm reception which these
+Yorkshire people know so well how to give. But to my amazement he was
+unable to afford us the one thing which we really desired. "I've been
+coming this way, man and boy, for forty years," he assured me. "But I
+can't read the chart, and I knows no more of the lay of the land than
+you does yourself. I don't use no chart beyond what's in my head."
+
+With this we were naturally not content, so we sent back to the boat
+for our own sheet chart to try and get more satisfactory information.
+But when it lay on the table in this old shellback's cabin all he did
+was to put down on it a huge and horny thumb that was nearly large
+enough to cover the whole historic island, and "guess we were
+somewhere just about here."
+
+Our cruise carried us all round the island--the larger part of our
+time being spent off the Vestmann Islands and the mouth of Brede Bugt,
+the large bay in which Reikyavik lies. It was off these islands that
+Eric the Red threw his flaming sticks into the sea. The first brand
+which alighted on the land directed him where to locate his new
+headquarters. Reikyavik means "smoking village," so called from the
+vapours of the hot streams which come out of the ground near by.
+
+There is no night on the coast in summer; and even though we were a
+Mission ship we found it a real difficulty to keep tab of Sundays. The
+first afternoon that I went visiting aboard a large trawler, the
+extraordinary number of fish and the specimens of unfamiliar varieties
+kept me so interested that I lost all count of time, and when at last
+hunger prompted me to look at my watch I found that it was exactly
+1.30 A.M.
+
+At that time so many plaice and flatfish were caught at every haul,
+and they were so much more valuable than cod and haddock, that it was
+customary not to burden the vessel on her long five days' journey to
+market with round fish at all. These were, however, hauled up so
+rapidly to the surface from great depths that they had no time to
+accommodate the tension in their swimming bladders to the diminished
+pressure, with the result that when thrown overboard they were all
+left swimming upside down. A pathetic wake of white-bellied fish would
+stretch away for half a mile behind the vessel, over which countless
+screaming gulls and other birds were fighting. A sympathy for their
+horribly unprotected helplessness always left an uneasy sinking
+feeling at the pit of my own stomach. The waste has, however, righted
+itself in the course of years by the simple process of an increasing
+scarcity of the species, making it pay to save all haddock, cod, hake,
+ling, and other fish good for food, formerly so ruthlessly cast away.
+
+One had many interesting experiences in this voyage, some of which
+have been of no small value subsequently. But the best lesson was the
+optimism and contentment of one's fellows, who had apparently so few
+of the things that only tyrannize the lives of those who live for
+them. They were a simple, kindly, helpful people, living in a country
+barren and frigid beyond all others, with no trees except in one
+extreme corner of the island. The cows were literally fed on salt
+codfish and the tails of whales, and the goats grazed on the roofs of
+the houses, where existed the only available grass. There were dry,
+hard, and almost larval deposits over the whole surface of the land
+which is not occupied by perpetual snow and ice. The hot springs which
+abound in some regions only suggest a forlorn effort on the part of
+Nature at the last moment to save the situation. The one asset of the
+country is its fisheries, and of these the whale and seal fisheries
+were practically handed over to Norwegians; while large French and
+English boats fell like wolves on the fish, which the poor natives had
+no adequate means of securing for themselves.
+
+We were fishing one day in Seyde Fjord on the east coast, when
+suddenly with much speed and excitement the great net was hauled, and
+we started with several other trawlers to dash pell-mell for the open
+sea. The alarm of masts and smoke together on the horizon had been
+given--the sign manual of the one poor Danish gunboat which was
+supposed to control the whole swarm of far smarter little pirates,
+which lived like mosquitoes by sucking their sustenance from others.
+The water was as a general rule too deep outside the three-mile limit
+for legitimate fishing.
+
+The mention of Iceland brings to every one's mind the name of Pierre
+Loti. We saw many of the "pêcheurs d'islande" whom he so effectively
+portrays; and often felt sorry enough for them, fishing as they still
+were from old square-rigged wind-jammers. On some of these which had
+been months on the voyage, enough green weed had grown "to feed a
+cow"--as the mate put it.
+
+On our return home we reported the need of a Mission vessel on the
+coast, but the difficulty of her being where she was wanted at the
+right time, over such an extended fishery ground, was very
+considerable. We decided that only a steam hospital trawler would be
+of any real value--unless a small cottage hospital could be started in
+Seyde Fjord, to which the sick and injured could be taken.
+
+It was now thought wise that I should take a holiday, and thus through
+the kindness of my former chief, Sir Frederick Treves, then surgeon to
+the King, whose life he had been the means of saving, I found myself
+for a time his guest on the Scilly Islands. There we could divert our
+minds from our different occupations, conjuring up visions of heroes
+like Sir Cloudesley Shovel, who lost his life here, and of the scenes
+of daring and of death that these beautiful isles out in the Atlantic
+have witnessed. Nor did we need Charles Kingsley to paint for us again
+the visit of Angus Lee and Salvation Yeo, for Sir Frederick, as his
+book, "The Cradle of the Deep," shows, is a past-master in buccaneer
+lore. Besides that we had with us his nephew, the famous novel writer,
+A.E.W. Mason.
+
+Treves, with his usual insatiable energy, had organized a grand
+regatta to be held at St. Mary's, at which the Governor of the island,
+the Duke of Wellington, and a host of visiting big-wigs were to be
+present. One event advertised as a special attraction was a
+life-saving exhibition to be given by local experts from the judges'
+stage opposite the grand stand on the pier. This, Mason and I, being
+little more than ornaments in the other events, decided to try and
+improve upon. Dressed as a somewhat antiquated lady, just at the
+psychological moment Mason fell off the pier head with a loud
+scream--when, disguised as an aged clergyman, wildly gesticulating,
+and cramming my large beaver hat hard down on my head, I dived in to
+rescue him. A real scene ensued. We were dragged out with such energy
+that the lady lost her skirt, and on reaching the pier fled for the
+boat-house clad only in a bonnet and bodice over a bathing-suit.
+Although the local press wrote up the affair as genuine, the secret
+somehow leaked out, and we had to make our bow at the prize
+distribution the following evening.
+
+Only parts of the winter seasons could be devoted to raising money.
+The general Mission budget had to be taken care of as well as the
+special funds; besides which one had to superintend the North Sea
+work. Thus the summer of 1897 was spent in Iceland as above described,
+and some of the winter in the North Sea. The spring, summer, and part
+of the fall of 1898 were occupied by the long Irish trip, which
+established work among the spring herring and mackerel men from
+Crookhaven.
+
+On leaving England for one of these North Sea trips I was delayed and
+missed the hospital ship, so that later I was obliged to transfer to
+her on the high seas from the little cutter which had kindly carried
+me out to the fishing grounds. Friends had been good enough to give me
+several little delicacies on my departure, and I had, moreover, some
+especially cherished personal possessions which I desired to have with
+me on the voyage. These choice treasures consisted of some eggs, a
+kayak, a kodak, a chronometer, and a leg of mutton! After I was safely
+aboard the Mission hospital ship I found to my chagrin that in my
+anxiety to transfer the eggs, the kayak, the kodak, the chronometer,
+and especially the leg of mutton to the Albert, I had forgotten my
+personal clothing. I appreciated the fact that a soaking meant a
+serious matter, as I had to stay in bed till my things, which were
+drenched during my passage in the small boat, were dry again.
+
+It was on this same voyage that a man, badly damaged, sent off for a
+doctor. It was a dirty dark morning, "thick o' rain," and a nasty sea
+was running, but we were really glad of a chance of doing anything to
+relieve the monotony. So we booted and oil-skinned, sou'-westered and
+life-jacketed, till we looked like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and felt
+much as I expect a German student does when he is bandaged and padded
+till he can hardly move, preparatory to his first duel. The boat was
+launched and eagerly announcing the fact by banging loudly and
+persistently on the Albert's side. Our two lads, Topsy and Sam, were
+soon in the boat, adopting the usual North Sea recipe for transit: (1)
+Lie on the rail full length so as not to get your legs and hands
+jammed. (2) Wait till the boat bounces in somewhere below you. (3) Let
+go! It is not such a painful process as one might imagine, especially
+when one is be-padded as we were. The stretcher was now handed in, and
+a bag of splints and bandages. "All gone!" shouted simultaneously the
+mate and crew, who had risked a shower bath on deck to see us off; and
+after a vicious little crack from the Albert's quarter as we dropped
+astern, we found ourselves rushing away before the rolling waters,
+experiencing about the same sensation one can imagine a young sea-gull
+feels when he begins to fly.
+
+While the skipper was at work in the tobacco locker one morning he
+heard a fisherman say that he had taken poison.
+
+"Where did you get it?"
+
+"I got it from the Albert."
+
+"Who gave it to you?"
+
+"Skipper ----" mentioning the skipper's name.
+
+At this the skipper came out trembling, wondering what he had done
+wrong now.
+
+"Well, you see it was this way. Our skipper had a bad leg, so as I was
+going aboard for some corf mixture, he just arst me to get him a drop
+of something to rub in. Well, the skipper here gives me a bottle of
+red liniment for our skipper's leg, and a big bottle of corf mixture
+for me, but by mistake I drinks the liniment and gave the corf mixture
+to our skipper to rub in his leg. I only found out that there
+yesterday, so I knew I were poisoned, and I've been lying up ever
+since."
+
+"How long ago did you get the medicine?"
+
+"About a fortnight."
+
+This man had got it into his head that he was poisoned, and nothing on
+earth would persuade him to the contrary, so he was put to bed in the
+hospital. For three meals he had nothing but water and a dose of
+castor oil. By the next time dinner came round the patient really
+began to think he was on the mend, and remarked that "he began to feel
+real hungry like." It was just marvellous how much better he was
+before tea. He went home to his old smack, cured, and greatly
+impressed with the capacity of the medical profession.
+
+The first piece of news that reached us in the spring was that the Sir
+Donald had been found frozen in the floe ice far out on the Atlantic.
+No one was on board her, and there was little of any kind in her, but
+even the hardy crew of Newfoundland sealers who found her, as they
+wandered over the floating ice-fields in search of seals, did not fail
+to appreciate the weird and romantic suggestions of a derelict Mission
+steamer, keeping her lonely watch on that awful, deathlike waste. She
+had been left at Assizes Harbour, usually an absolutely safe haven of
+rest. But she was not destined to end her chequered career so
+peacefully, for the Arctic ice came surging in and froze fast to her
+devoted sides, then bore her bodily into the open sea, as if to give
+her a fitting burial. The sealing ship Ranger passed her a friendly
+rope, and she at length felt the joyful life of the rolling ocean
+beneath her once more, and soon lay safely ensconced in the harbour at
+St. John's. Here she was sold by auction, and part of the proceeds
+divided as her ransom to her plucky salvors.
+
+The money which could be especially devoted to the new steamer for
+Labrador, over and above the general expenses, was not forthcoming
+until 1899, when the contract for building the ship was given to a
+firm at Dartmouth in Devon. The chief donor of the new boat was again
+Lord Strathcona, after whom she was subsequently named.
+
+On June 27, 1899, the Strathcona was launched, and christened by Lady
+Curzon-Howe. When the word was given to let go, without the slightest
+hitch or roll the ship slid steadily down the ways into the water. The
+band played "Eternal Father," "God save the Queen," and "Life on the
+Ocean Wave." Lord Curzon-Howe was formerly commodore upon the station
+embracing the Newfoundland and Labrador coast. Lord Strathcona
+regretted his enforced absence and sent "Godspeed" to the new steamer.
+
+She arrived at Gorleston July 18, proving an excellent sea-boat, with
+light coal consumption. She is larger than the vessel in which Drake
+sailed round the world, or Dampier raided the Spanish Main, or than
+the Speedy, which Earl Dundonald made the terror of the French and
+Spanish.
+
+In the fall of 1899 the hull of the Strathcona was completely
+finished, and I brought her round, an empty shell, to fit her up at
+our Yarmouth wharf; after which, in company with a young Oxford
+friend, Alfred Beattie, we left for the Labrador, crossing to Tilt
+Cove, Newfoundland, direct from Swansea in an empty copper ore tanker,
+the Kilmorack. On this I was rated as purser at twenty-five cents for
+the trip. Most tramps can roll, but an empty tanker going west against
+prevailing winds in the "roaring forties" can certainly give points to
+the others. Her slippery iron decks and the involuntary sideways
+excursions into the scuppers still spring into my mind when a certain
+Psalm comes round in the Church calendar, with its "that thy footsteps
+slip not." We were a little delayed by what is known as wind-jamming,
+and we used to kill time by playing tennis in the huge empty hold.
+This occupation, under the circumstances, supplied every kind of
+diversion.
+
+The mine at Tilt Cove is situated in a hole in the huge headland which
+juts out far into the Atlantic, in the northern end of Newfoundland.
+Communication in these days was very meagre. No vessel would be
+available for us to get North for a fortnight. It so happened,
+however, that the Company's doctor had long been waiting a chance to
+get married, but his contract never allowed him to leave the mine
+without a medical man while it was working. I therefore found myself
+welcomed with open arms, and incidentally practising in his place the
+very next day--he having skipped in a boat after his bride. The
+exchange had been ratified by the captain of the mine on the assurance
+that I would not leave before he returned. It was absolutely essential
+that I should not let the next north-bound steamer go by. The season
+was already far advanced; and yet when the day on which she was due
+arrived, there was no sign of the doctor and his wife. It was a kind
+of Damon and Pythias experience--only Pythias got back late by a few
+hours in spite of all his efforts, and Damon would have had to pay the
+piper if the captain of the mine had not permitted me to proceed.
+
+   [Illustration: THE STRATHCONA]
+
+The narrow road around the cavernous basin in the cliffs leaves only
+just room for the line of houses between the lake in the middle and
+the precipice behind. Only a few years later an avalanche overwhelmed
+the house of Captain Williams, and he and his family perished in it.
+During the days I was at the mine the news travelled by grapevine
+telegraph that the Mission doctor from England had come to the
+village, and every one took advantage of it. The plan there was to pay
+so much per month, well or ill, for the doctor. The work was easy at
+first, but by the time I left every living being seemed to me to have
+contracted some disease. For each succeeding day my surgery got
+fuller, until on the last morning even the yard and road contained
+waiting patients. Whose fault it was has always been a problem to me;
+but it added a fresh reason for wishing to leave punctually, so that
+one might not risk outliving one's reputation.
+
+In October, 1899, I wrote to my mother: "We have just steamed into
+Battle Harbour and guns and flags gave us a welcome after our three
+years' absence. The hospital was full and looked splendid. What a
+change from the day, now seven years ago, that we first landed and had
+only a partially finished house! What an oasis for patients from the
+bleak rocks outside! I never thought to remain so long in this
+country."
+
+Here we boarded the little Mission steamer, but no human agency is
+perfect, and even the Julia Sheriden had her faults. Her gait on this
+fall voyage was suggestive of inebriety, and at times gave rise to the
+anxious sensations one experiences when one sees a poor victim of the
+saloon returning home along a pavement near much traffic.
+
+While in England we had received letters from the north coast of
+Newfoundland, begging us to again include their shores in our visits,
+and especially to establish a definite winter station at St. Anthony.
+The people claimed, and rightly, to be very poor. One man with a large
+family, whom I knew well, as he had acted guide for me on hunting
+expeditions, wrote: "Come and start a station here if you can. My
+family and I are starving." Dr. Aspland wrote that every one was
+strongly in favour of our taking up a Mission hospital in North
+Newfoundland. We felt that we should certainly reach a very large
+number of people whom we now failed to touch, and that careful
+inquiries should be made.
+
+Life on the French shore has been a struggle with too many families to
+keep off actual starvation. For instance, one winter at St. Anthony a
+man with a large family, and a fine, capable, self-respecting fellow,
+was nine days without tasting any flour or bread, or anything besides
+roast seal meat. Others were even worse off, for this man was a keen
+hunter, and with his rickety old single-barrel, boy's muzzle-loading
+gun used to wander alone far out over the frozen sea, with an empty
+stomach as well, trying to get a seal or a bird for his family. At
+last he shot a square flipper seal and dragged it home. The rumour of
+his having killed it preceded his arrival, and even while skinning it
+a crowd of hungry men were waiting for their share of the fat. Not
+that any was due to them, but here there is a delightful
+semi-community of goods.
+
+Fish was then only fetching two or three dollars a hundredweight,
+salted and dried. The price of necessities depended on the conscience
+of the individual supplier and the ignorance of the people. The truck
+system was universal; thrift at a discount--and the sin of Ananias an
+all too common one; that is, taking supplies from one man and
+returning to him only part of the catch. The people in the north end
+of Newfoundland and Labrador were very largely illiterate; the
+sectarian schools split up the grants for teachers--as they still most
+unfortunately do--and miserable salaries, permitting teachers only for
+a few months at a time, were the rule.
+
+I had once spent a fortnight at St. Anthony, having taken refuge there
+in the Princess May when I was supposed to be lost by those who were
+cut off from communication with us. I had also looked in there each
+summer to see a few patients. My original idea was to get a winter
+place established for our Indian Harbour staff, and I proposed opening
+up there each October when Indian Harbour closed, and closing in June
+when navigation was reopened, Battle Harbour again accessible, and
+when the man-of-war doctors are more on this section of the coast.
+
+The snow was deep on the ground long before our voyage ended. There is
+always a romantic charm about cruising in the fall of the year on the
+Labrador. The long nights and the heavy gales add to the interest of
+the day's work. The shelter of the islands becomes a positive joy; the
+sense of safety in the harbours and fjords is as real a pleasure as
+the artificial attractions of civilization. The tang of the air, the
+young ice that makes every night, the fantastic midnight dances of the
+November auroras in the winter sky, all make one forget the petty
+worries of the daily round.
+
+As Beattie agreed to stay with me it was with real keenness to sample
+a sub-arctic winter that in November we disembarked from the Julia
+Sheriden. We made only the simplest preparations, renting a couple of
+rooms in the chief trader's house and hiring my former guide as
+dog-driver.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+FIRST WINTER AT ST. ANTHONY
+
+
+Not one of the many who have wintered with us in the North has failed
+to love our frozen season. To me it was one long delight. The
+dog-driving, the intimate relationships with the people on whom one
+was so often absolutely dependent, the opportunity to use to the real
+help of good people in distress the thousand and one small things
+which we had learned--all these made the knowledge that we were shut
+off from the outside world rather a pleasure than a cause for regret.
+
+Calls for the doctor were constant. I spent but three Sundays at home
+the whole time, and my records showed fifteen hundred miles covered
+with dogs.
+
+The Eskimo dog is so strong and enduring that he is the doyen of
+traction power in the North, when long distances and staying qualities
+are required. But for short, sharp dashes of twenty to thirty miles
+the lighter built and more vivacious Straits dog is the speedier and
+certainly the less wolfish. We have attempted crossbreeding our
+somewhat squat-legged Eskimo dogs with Kentucky wolf hounds, to
+combine speed with endurance. The mail-carrier from Fullerton to
+Winnipeg found that combination very desirable. With us, however, it
+did not succeed. The pups were lank and weedy and not nearly so
+capable as the ordinary Straits breed.
+
+The real Labrador dog is a very slightly modified wolf. A good
+specimen stands two feet six inches, or even two feet eight inches
+high at the shoulder, measures over six feet six inches from the tip
+of the nose to the tip of the tail, and will scale a hundred pounds.
+The hair is thick and straight; the ears are pointed and stand
+directly up. The large, bushy tail curves completely over on to the
+back, and is always carried erect. The colour is generally tawny, like
+that of a gray wolf, with no distinctive markings. The general
+resemblance to wolves is so great that at Davis Inlet, where wolves
+come out frequently in winter, the factor has seen his team mixed with
+a pack of wolves on the beach in front of the door, and yet could not
+shoot, being unable to distinguish one from the other. The Eskimo dog
+never barks, but howls exactly like a wolf, in sitting posture with
+the head upturned. The Labrador wolf has never been known to kill a
+man, but during the years I have spent in that country I have known
+the dogs to kill two children and one man, and to eat the body of
+another. Our dogs have little or no fear, and unlike the wolves, will
+unhesitatingly attack even the largest polar bear.
+
+No amount of dry cold seems to affect the dogs. At 50° F. below zero,
+a dog will lie out on the ice and sleep without danger of frost-bite.
+He may climb out of the sea with ice forming all over his fur, but he
+seems not to mind one iota. I have seen his breath freeze so over his
+face that he had to rub the coating off his eyes with his paws to
+enable him to see the track.
+
+The dogs have a wonderful instinct for finding their way under almost
+insurmountable difficulties, and they have oftentimes been the means
+of saving the lives of their masters. Once I was driving a distance of
+seventy miles across country. The path was untravelled for the winter,
+and was only a direction, not being cut or blazed. The leading dog had
+been once across the previous year with the doctor. The "going" had
+then been very bad; with snow and fog the journey had taken three
+days. A large part of the way lay across wide frozen lakes, and
+then through woods. As I had never been that way before I had to leave
+it to the dog. Without a single fault, as far as we knew, he took us
+across, and we accomplished the whole journey in twelve hours,
+including one and a half hours for rest and lunch.
+
+   [Illustration: THREE OF THE DOCTOR'S DOGS]
+
+The distance travelled and the average speed attained depends largely
+on other factors than the dog power. We have covered seventy-five
+miles in a day with comfort; we have done five with difficulty.
+Ordinary speed would be six miles an hour, but I once did twenty-one
+miles in two hours and a quarter over level ice. Sails can sometimes
+be used with advantage on the komatik as an adjunct. The whole charm
+of dog-team driving lies in its infinite variety of experiences, the
+personal study of each dog, and the need for one's strength, courage,
+and resourcefulness.
+
+South and north of the little village of St. Anthony where we had
+settled were other similar villages; and we decided that we could make
+a round tour every second month at least. We soon found, however, a
+great difficulty in getting started, because we always had some
+patients in houses near about, whom we felt that we could not leave.
+So we selected a motherly woman, whom we had learned that we could
+trust to obey orders and not act on her own initiative and judgment,
+and trained her as best we could to deal with some of these sick
+people. Then, having borrowed and outfitted a couple of rooms in a
+friend's house, we left our serious cases under her care, and started
+for a month's travel with all the optimism of youth.
+
+Weight on your komatik is a vital question, and not knowing for what
+you may be called upon, makes the outfitting an art. I give the
+experience of years. The sledge should be eleven feet long. Its
+runners should be constructed of black spruce grown in the Far North
+where wood grows slowly and is very tough, and yet quite light. The
+runners should be an inch thick, eleven inches high, and about
+twenty-six inches apart, the bottoms rising at the back half an inch,
+as well as at the front toward the horns. The laths are fastened on
+with alternate diagonal lashings, are two inches wide, and close
+together. Such a komatik will "work" like a snake, adapting itself to
+the inequalities of the ground, and will not spread or "buckle." Long
+nails are driven up right through the runners, and clinched on the top
+to prevent splitting. The runners should be shod with spring steel,
+one inch wide; and a second runner, two and a half inches wide, may be
+put between the lower one and the wood, to hold up the sledge when the
+snow is soft. Thus one has on both a skate and a snowshoe at once. The
+dogs' traces should be of skin and fastened with toggles or buttons to
+the bowline. Dog food must be distributed along the komatik trail in
+summer--though the people will make great sacrifices to feed "the
+Doctor's team."
+
+Clothing must be light; to perspire in cold weather is unpardonable,
+for it will freeze inside your clothes at night. Fortunately warmth
+depends only on keeping heat in; and we find an impervious, light,
+dressed canvas best. The kossak should be made with, so to speak, no
+neck through which the heat which one produces can leak out. The
+headpiece must be attached to the tunic, which also clips tight round
+the wrists and round the waist to retain the heat. The edges may be
+bound with fur, especially about the hood, so as to be soft and tight
+about the face, and to keep the air out. The Eskimo cuts his own hair
+so as to fill that function. Light sealskin boots are best for all
+weathers, but in very cold, dry seasons, deerskin dressed very soft
+is warmer. The skin boot should be sewn with sinew which swells in
+water and thus keeps the stitches water-tight. These skin boots are
+made by the Eskimo women who chew the edges of the skin to make them
+soft before sewing them with deer sinew. The little Eskimo girls on
+the North Labrador coast are proficient in the art of chewing, as they
+are brought up from childhood to help their mothers in this way, the
+women having invariably lost their teeth at a very early age.
+
+A light rifle should always be lashed on the komatik, as a rabbit, a
+partridge, or a deer gives often a light to the eyes with the fresh
+proteids they afford, like Jonathan's wild honey. In these
+temperatures, with the muscular exercise required, my strictest of
+vegetarian friends should permit us to bow in the House of Rimmon. One
+day while crossing a bay I noticed some seals popping up their heads
+out of the water beyond the ice edge. I had a fine leading dog bearing
+the unromantic name of Podge, and pure white in colour. But he was an
+excellent water dog, trained not only to go for birds, but to dive
+under water for sunken seals. Owing to their increasing fat in winter,
+seals as a rule float, though they invariably sink in summer. On this
+particular occasion, having hitched up the team we crept out to the
+ice edge, Podge following at my heels. Lying still on the ice, and
+just occasionally lifting and waggling one's leg when the seal put up
+his head, he mistook one for a basking brother, and being a very
+curious animal, he again dived, and came up a few feet away. We shot
+two, both of which Podge dived after and retrieved, to the unbounded
+joy both of ourselves and his four-footed chums, who more than gladly
+shared the carcasses with him later.
+
+A friend, returning from an island, was jogging quietly along on the
+bay ice, when his team suddenly went wild. A bear had crossed close
+ahead, and before he could unlash his rifle the komatik had dashed
+right onto the animal, who, instead of running, stood up and showed
+fight. The team were all around him, rapidly snarling themselves up in
+their own traces. He had just time to draw his hunting knife across
+the traces and so save the dogs, caring much more for them than he did
+for the prey. Whilst his dogs held the attention of the bear, he was
+able, though only a few feet away, to unlash his rifle at his leisure,
+and very soon ended the conflict.
+
+A gun, however, is a temptation, even to a doctor, and nearly cost one
+of my colleagues his life. He was crossing a big divide, or neck of
+land, between bays, and was twenty miles from anywhere, when his dogs
+took the trail of some deer, which were evidently not far off. Being
+short of fresh food, he hitched up his team, and also his pilot's
+team, leaving only his boy driver in charge, while the men pursued the
+caribou. He enjoined the boy very strictly not to move on any account.
+By an odd freak a sudden snowstorm swept out of a clear sky just after
+they left. They missed their way, and two days later, starving and
+tired out, they found their first refuge, a small house many miles
+from the spot where they had left the sledges. When, however, they
+sent a relief team to find the komatiks, they discovered the boy still
+"standing by" his charge.
+
+When crossing wide stretches of country we are often obliged to camp
+if it comes on dark. It is quite impossible to navigate rough country
+when one cannot see stumps, windfalls, or snags; and I have more than
+once, while caught in a forest looking for our tilt, been obliged
+to walk ahead with a light, and even to search the snow for tracks
+with the help of matches, when one's torch has carelessly been left at
+home. On one occasion, having stopped our team in deep snow at
+nightfall, we left it in the woods to walk out to a village, only five
+or six miles distant, on our snowshoes. We entirely lost our way, and
+ended up at the foot of some steep cliffs which we had climbed down,
+thinking that our destination lay at their feet. The storm of the day
+had broken the sea ice from the land, and we could not get round the
+base of the cliffs, though we could see the village lights twinkling
+away, only a mile or two across the bay. Climbing steep hills through
+dense woods in deep snow in the dark calls for some endurance,
+especially as a white snow-bank looks like an open space through the
+dark trees. I have actually stuck my face into a perpendicular bluff,
+thinking that I was just coming out into the open. Oddly enough, when
+after much struggling we had mounted the hill, we heard voices, and
+suddenly met two men, who had also been astray all day, but now knew
+the way home. They were "all in" for want of food, and preferred
+camping for the night. A good fire and some chunks of sweet cake so
+greatly restored them, however, that we got under way again in a
+couple of hours, further stimulated to do so by the bitter cold,
+against which, in the dark, we could not make adequate shelter.
+Moreover, we had perspired with the violent exercise and our clothes
+were freezing from the inside out.
+
+   [Illustration: A Hilly Trail
+   A KOMATIK JOURNEY]
+
+   [Illustration: Crossing a Brook
+   A KOMATIK JOURNEY]
+
+You must always carry an axe, not only for firewood, but for getting
+water--unless you wish to boil snow, which is a slow process, and apt
+to burn your kettle. Also when you have either lost the trail or there
+is none, you must have an axe to clear a track as you march ahead of
+your dogs. Then there is, of course, the unfortunate question of food.
+Buns baked with chopped pork in them give one fine energy-producing
+material, and do not freeze. A sweet hard biscuit is made on the coast
+which is excellent in one's pocket. Cocoa, cooked pork fat, stick
+chocolate, are all good to have. Our sealers carry dry oatmeal and
+sugar in their "nonny bags," which, mixed with snow, assuage their
+thirst and hunger as well. Pork and beans in tins are good, but they
+freeze badly. I have boiled a tin in our kettle for fifteen minutes,
+and then found a lump of ice in the middle of the substance when it
+was turned out into the dish.
+
+Winter travelling on this coast oftentimes involves considerable
+hardships, as when once our doctor lost the track and he and his men
+had to spend several nights in the woods. They were so reduced by
+hunger that they were obliged to chew pieces of green sealskin which
+they cut from their boots and to broil their skin gloves over a fire
+which they had kindled.
+
+One great joy which comes with the work is the sympathy one gets with
+the really poor, whether in intelligence, physical make-up, or worldly
+assets. One learns how simple needs and simple lives preserve simple
+virtues that get lost in the crush of advancing civilization. Many and
+many a time have the poor people by the wayside refused a penny for
+their trouble. On one occasion I came in the middle of the night to a
+poor man's house. He was in bed and the lights out, and it was bitter
+cold. He got out of bed in a trice and went down to his stage carrying
+an old hurricane lantern to feed my dogs, while his wife, after he had
+lit a fire in the freezing cold room, busied herself making me some
+cocoa. Milk and sugar were provided, and not till long afterwards did
+I know that it was a special little hoard kept for visitors. Later I
+was sent to bed--quite unaware that the good folk had spent the first
+part of the night in it, and were now themselves on the neighbouring
+floor. Nor would a sou's return be asked. "It's the way of t' coast,"
+the good fellow assured me.
+
+Another time my host for the night had gone when I rose for breakfast.
+I found that he had taken the road which I was intending to travel to
+the next village, some fourteen miles distant, just to break and mark
+a trail for us as we did not know the way; and secondly to carry some
+milk and sugar to "save the face" of my prospective host for the next
+day, who had "made a bad voyage" that year. Still another time no less
+than forty men from Conche marched ahead on a twenty-mile track to
+make it possible for our team to travel quickly to a neighbouring
+settlement.
+
+Often I have thought how many of these things would I do for my poorer
+friends. We who speak glibly of the need of love for our neighbours as
+being before that for ourselves, would we share a bed, a room, or give
+hospitality to strangers even in our kitchens, after they had awakened
+us in the middle of the night by slinging snowballs at our bedroom
+windows?
+
+One day that winter a father of eight children sent in from a
+neighbouring island for immediate help. His gun had gone off while his
+hand was on the muzzle, and practically blown it to pieces. To treat
+him ten miles away on that island was impossible, so we brought him in
+for operation. To stop the bleeding he had plunged his hand into a
+flour barrel and then tied it up in a bag, and as a result the wounded
+arm was poisoned way up above the elbow. He preferred death to losing
+his right arm. Day and night for weeks our nurse tended him, as he
+hovered between life and death with general blood poisoning. Slowly
+his fine constitution brought him through, and at last a secondary
+operation for repair became possible. We took chances on bone-grafting
+to form a hand; and he was left with a flipper like a seal's, able,
+however, to oppose one long index finger and "nip a line" when he
+fished. But there was no skin for it. So Dr. Beattie and I shared the
+honours of supplying some. Pat--for that was his name--has been a
+veritable apostle of the hospital ever since, and has undoubtedly been
+the means of enabling others to risk the danger of our suspected
+proselytizing. For though he had English Episcopal skin on the palm of
+his hand and Scotch Presbyterian skin on the back, the rest of him
+still remained a devout Roman Catholic.
+
+Another somewhat parallel case occurred the following year, when a
+dear old Catholic lady was hauled fifty miles over the snow by her two
+stalwart sons, to have her leg removed for tubercular disease of the
+ankle. She did exceedingly well, and the only puzzle which we could
+not solve was where to raise the necessary hundred dollars for a new
+leg--for her disposition, even more than her necessity, compelled her
+to move about. While lecturing that winter in America, I asked friends
+to donate to me any of their old legs which they no longer needed, and
+soon I found myself the happy possessor of two good wooden limbs, one
+of which exactly suited my requirements. A departed Methodist had left
+it, and the wife's clergyman, a Congregationalist, had handed it to
+me, an Episcopalian, and I had the joy of seeing it a real blessing to
+as good a Roman Catholic as I know. As the priest says, there is now
+at least one Protestant leg established in his parish.
+
+We once reached a house at midnight, found a boy with a broken thigh,
+and had to begin work by thawing out frozen board in order to plane
+it for splints, then pad and fix it, and finally give chloroform on
+the kitchen table. On another occasion we had to knock down a
+partition in a tiny cottage, make a full-length wooden bath, pitching
+the seams to make it water-tight, in order to treat a severe
+cellulitis. Now it would be a maternity case, now a dental one, now a
+gunshot wound or an axe cut with severed tendons to adjust, now
+pneumonia, when often in solitary and unlearned homes, we would
+ourselves do the nursing and especially the cooking, as that art for
+the sick is entirely uncultivated on the coast.
+
+The following winter I lectured in England and then crossed in the
+early spring to the United States and lectured both there and in
+Canada, receiving great kindness and much help for the work.
+
+As I have stated in the previous chapter we had raised, largely
+through the generosity of Lord Strathcona, the money for a suitable
+little hospital steamer, and she had been built to our design in
+England. I had steamed her round to our fitting yard at Great
+Yarmouth, and had her fitted for our work before sailing. While I was
+in America, my old Newfoundland crew went across and fetched her over,
+so that June found us once more cruising the Labrador coast.
+
+While working with the large fleet of schooners, which at that time
+fished in August and September from Cape Mugford to Hudson Bay
+Straits, I visited as usual the five stations of the Moravian
+Brethren. They were looking for a new place to put a station, and at
+their request I took their representative to Cape Chidley in the
+Strathcona.
+
+This northern end of Labrador is extremely interesting to cruise. The
+great Appalachian Mountain Range runs out here right to the water
+edge, and forms a marvellous sea-front of embattled cliffs from two
+thousand to three thousand feet in height. The narrow passages which
+here and there run far into the mountains, and represent old valleys
+scooped out by ice action, are dominated all along by frowning peaks,
+whose pointed summits betray the fact that they overtopped the ice
+stream in the glacial age. The sharp precipices and weather-worn sides
+are picked out by coloured lichens, and tiny cold-proof Arctic plants,
+and these, with the deep blue water and unknown vistas that keep
+constantly opening up as one steams along the almost fathomless
+fjords, afford a fascination beyond measure.
+
+Once before in the Sir Donald we had tried to navigate the narrow run
+that cuts off the island on which Cape Chidley stands from the
+mainland of Labrador, but had missed the way among the many openings,
+and only noted from a hilltop the course we should have taken, by the
+boiling current which we saw below, whose vicious whirlpools like
+miniature maelstroms poured like a dashing torrent from Ungava Bay
+into the Atlantic.
+
+It was, however, with our hearts somewhere near our mouths that we
+made an attempt to get through this year, for we knew nothing of the
+depth, except that the Eskimos had told us that large icebergs drove
+through at times. We could steam nine knots, and we essayed to cover
+the tide, which we found against us, as we neared the narrowest part,
+which is scarcely one hundred yards wide. The current carried us
+bodily astern, however, and glad enough we were to drive stern
+foremost into a cove on one side and find thirteen fathoms of water to
+hold on in till the tide should turn. When at last it did turn, and
+got under way, it fairly took us in its teeth, and we shot through, an
+impotent plaything on the heaving bosom of the resistless waters. We
+returned safely, with a site selected and a fair chart of the "Tickle"
+(Grenfell Tickle).
+
+When winter closed in, I arranged for an old friend, a clerk of the
+Hudson Bay Company, to stay with me at St. Anthony, and once more we
+settled down in rooms hired in a cottage. We had a driver, a team of
+dogs, and an arrangement with a paternal Government to help out by
+making an allowance of twenty-five cents for medicine for such
+patients as could not themselves pay that amount, and in those days
+the number was quite large.
+
+When early spring came the hospital question revived. An expedition
+into the woods was arranged, and with a hundred men and thrice as many
+dogs, we camped in the trees, and at the end of the fortnight came
+home hauling behind us the material for a thirty-six by thirty-six
+hospital. Being entirely new to us it proved a very happy experience.
+We were quartermasters and general providers. Our kitchen was dug down
+in thick woods through six feet of snow, and our main reliance was on
+boiled "doughboys"--the "sinkers" among which, with a slice of fat
+pork or a basin of bird soup, were as popular as lobster à la Newburg
+at Delmonico's or Sherry's.
+
+The next summer we had trouble with a form of selfishness which I have
+always heartily hated--the liquor traffic. Suppose we do allow that a
+man has a right to degrade his body with swallowing alcohol, he
+certainly has no more right to lure others to their destruction for
+money than a filibuster has a right to spend his money in gunpowder
+and shoot his fellow countrymen. To our great chagrin we found that an
+important neighbour near one of our hospitals was selling intoxicants
+to the people--girls and men. One girl found drunk on the hillside
+brought home to me the cost of this man's right to "do as he liked."
+We promptly declared war, and I thanked God who had made "my hands to
+war, and my fingers to fight"--when that is the only way to resist the
+Devil successfully and to hasten the kingdom of peace.
+
+This man and I had had several disagreements, and I had been warned
+not to land on the premises on pain of being "chucked into the sea."
+But when I tested the matter out by landing quite alone from a
+row-boat, after a "few wor-r-r-ds" his coast-born hospitality overcame
+him, and as his bell sounded the dinner call, he promptly invited me
+to dine with him. I knew that he would not poison the food, and soon
+we were glowering at one another over his own table--where his painful
+efforts to convince me that he was right absolutely demonstrated the
+exact opposite.
+
+My chance came that summer. We were steaming to our Northern hospital
+from the deep bay which runs in a hundred and fifty miles. About
+twenty miles from the mouth a boat hailed us out of the darkness, and
+we stopped and took aboard a wrecked crew of three men. They had
+struck our friend's well-insured old steam launch on a shoal and she
+had sunk under them. We took them aboard, boat and all, wrote down
+carefully their tale of woe, and then put the steamer about, pushed as
+near the wreck as we dared and anchored. Her skipper came forward and
+asked me what I intended doing, and I told him I was going to survey
+the wreck. A little later he again came to ask permission to go aboard
+the wreck to look for something he had forgotten. I told him certainly
+not. Just before sunrise the watch called me and said that the wrecked
+crew had launched their boat, and were rowing toward the steamer.
+"Launch ours at once, and drive them back" was an order which our boys
+obeyed with alacrity and zest. It was a very uneasy three men who
+faced me when they returned. They were full of bluff at what they
+would do for having their liberties thus interfered with, but
+obviously uneasy at heart.
+
+With some labour we discovered that the water only entered the wreck
+at low tide and forward; so by buoying her with casks, tearing up her
+ballast deck, and using our own pumps as well as buckets--at which all
+hands of my crew worked with a good will, we at last found the hole.
+It was round. There were no splinters on the inside. We made a huge
+bung from a stick of wood, plugged the opening, finished pumping her
+out, and before dark had her floating alongside us. Late that night we
+were once more anchored--this time opposite the dwelling-house of my
+friend the owner. We immediately went ashore and woke him up. There is
+a great deal in doing things at the psychological moment; and by
+midnight I had a deed duly drawn up, signed and sealed, selling me the
+steamer for fifty cents. I still see the look in his eyes as he gave
+me fifty cents change from a dollar. He was a self-made man, had
+acquired considerable money, and was keen as a ferret at business. The
+deed was to me a confession that he was in the plot for barratry, to
+murder the boat for her insurance.
+
+On our trip South we picked up the small steamer, and towing her to a
+Hudson Bay Company's Post we put her "on the hard," photographed the
+hole, with all the splintering on the outside, and had a proper survey
+of the hull made by the Company's shipwright. The unanimous verdict
+was "wilful murder." In the fall as her own best witness, we tried to
+tow her to St. John's, but in a heavy breeze of wind and thick snow
+we lost her at sea--and with her our own case as well. The law decided
+that there was no evidence, and my friend, making out that he had lost
+the boat and the insurance, threatened to sue me for the value.
+
+The sequel of the story may as well be told here. A year or so later I
+had just returned from Labrador. It used to be said always that our
+boat "brought up the keel of the Labrador"; but this year our friend
+had remained until every one else had gone. Just as we were about to
+leave for England, the papers in St. John's published the news of the
+loss of a large foreign-going vessel, laden with fish for the
+Mediterranean, near the very spot where our friend lived. On a visit a
+little later to the shipping office I found the event described in the
+graphic words of the skipper and mate. Our friend the consignee had
+himself been on board at the time the "accident" occurred. After
+prodigies of valour they had been forced to leave the ship, condemn
+her, and put her up for sale. Our friend, the only buyer at such a
+time on the coast, had bought her in for eighty dollars.
+
+It was the end of November, and already a great deal of ice had made.
+The place was six hundred miles north. The expense of trying to save
+the ship would be great. But was she really lost? The heroics sounded
+too good to be true. All life is a venture. Why not take one in the
+cause of righteousness? That night in a chartered steam trawler, with
+a trusty diver, we steamed out of the harbour, steering north. Our
+skipper was the sea rival of the famous Captain Blandford; and the way
+he drove his little craft, with the ice inches thick from the driving
+spray all over the bridge and blocking the chart-room windows, made
+one glad to know that the good sea genius of the English was still so
+well preserved.
+
+When our distance was run down we hauled in for the land, but had to
+lay "hove to" (with the ship sugared like a Christmas cake), as we
+were unable to recognize our position in the drifting snow. At length
+we located the islands, and never shall I forget as we drew near
+hearing the watch call out, "A ship's topmasts over the land." It was
+the wreck we were looking for.
+
+It took some hours to cut through the ice in which she lay, before
+ever we could get aboard; and even the old skipper showed excitement
+when at last we stood on her deck. Needless to say, she was not upside
+down, nor was she damaged in any way, though she was completely
+stripped of all running gear. The diver reported no damage to her
+bottom, while the mate reported the fish in her hold dry, and the
+hatches still tightly clewed, never having been stirred.
+
+With much hearty good-will our crew jettisoned fish enough into our
+own vessel to float the craft. Fearing that so late in the year we
+might fail to tow her safely so far, and remembering the outcome of
+our losing the launch, we opened the stores on the island, and finding
+both block and sails, neatly labelled and stowed away, we soon had our
+prize not only refitted for sea, but also stocked with food, water,
+chart, and compass and all essentials for a voyage across the
+Atlantic, if she were to break loose and we to lose her. The last
+orders were to the mate, who was put on board her with a crew, "If not
+St. John's then Liverpool."
+
+No such expedient, however, proved necessary. Though we had sixty
+fathoms of anchor chain on each of our wire cables to the ship, we
+broke one in a seaway and had to haul under the lee of some cliffs and
+repair damages. Often for hours together the vessel by day and her
+lights by night would disappear, and our hearts would jump into our
+mouths for fear we might yet fail. But at last, with all our bunting
+up, and both ships dressed as if for a holiday, we proudly entered the
+Narrows of St. John's, the cynosure of all eyes. The skipper and our
+friend had gone to England, so the Government had them extradited. The
+captain, who was ill with a fatal disease, made a full confession, and
+both men were sent to prison.
+
+That was how we "went dry" in our section of Labrador.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE COÖPERATIVE MOVEMENT
+
+
+Being a professional and not a business man, and having no
+acquaintance with the ways of trade, the importance of a new economic
+system as one of the most permanent messages of helpfulness to the
+coast was not at first obvious to me. But the ubiquitous barter
+system, which always left the poor men the worst end of the bargain,
+is as subtle a danger as can face a community--subtle because it
+impoverishes and enslaves the victims, and then makes them love their
+chains.
+
+As a magistrate I once heard a case where a poor man paid one hundred
+dollars in cash to his trader in the fall to get him a new net. The
+trader could not procure the twine, and when spring arrived the man
+came to get on credit his usual advance of "tings." From the bill for
+these the trader deducted the hundred dollars cash, upon which the man
+actually came to me as a justice of the peace to have him punished!
+
+Lord Strathcona told me that in his day on this coast, when a man had
+made so good a hunt that he had purchased all he could think of, he
+would go round to the store again asking how much money was still due
+him. He would then take up purchases to exceed it by a moderate
+margin, saying that he liked to keep his name on the Company's books.
+In those days the people felt that they had the best part of the
+bargain if they were always a little in debt. The tendency to thrift
+was thus annihilated. The fishermen simply turned in all their catch
+to the merchant, and took what was coming to them as a matter of
+course. Many even were afraid to ask for certain supplies. This fact
+often became evident when we were trying to order special diets--the
+patient would reply, "Our trader won't give out that." Naturally the
+whole system horrified us, as being the nearest possible approach to
+English slavery, for the poor man was in constant fear that the
+merchant "will turn me off." On the other hand, the traders took
+precautions that their "dealers" should not be able to leave them,
+such as not selling them traps outright for furring, or nets for
+fishing, but only loaning them, and having them periodically returned.
+This method insured their securing all the fur caught, because legally
+a share of the catch belonged to them in return for the loan of the
+trap. They thus completely minimized the chance for competition, which
+is "the life of trade."
+
+Soon after my arrival on the coast I saw the old Hudson Bay Company's
+plan of paying in bone counters of various colours; and a large lumber
+company paying its wages in tin money, stamped "Only valuable at our
+store." If, to counteract this handicap, the men sold fish or fur for
+cash to outsiders, and their suppliers found it out, they would punish
+them severely.
+
+On another occasion, sitting by me on a gunning point where we were
+shooting ducks as they flew by on their fall migration, was a friend
+who had given me much help in building one of our hospitals. I
+suddenly noticed that he did not fire at a wonderful flock of eiders
+which went right over our heads. "What's the matter, Jim?" I asked. "I
+settled with the merchant to-day," he replied, "and he won't give me
+nothing for powder. A duck or two won't matter. 'Tis the children I'm
+minding." The fishery had been poor, and not having enough to meet his
+advances, he had sold a few quintals of fish for cash, so as to get
+things like milk which he would not be allowed on winter credit, and
+had been caught doing so. He was a grown man and the father of four
+children. We went to his trader to find out how much he was in debt.
+The man's account on the books was shown us, and it read over three
+thousand dollars against our friend. It had been carried on for many
+years. A year or two later when the merchant himself went bankrupt
+with a debt of $686,000 to the bank of which he was a director, the
+people of that village, some four hundred and eleven souls in all,
+owed his firm $64,000, an asset returned as value nil. The whole thing
+seemed a nightmare to any one who cared about these people.
+
+In Labrador no cereals are grown and the summer frosts make potato and
+turnip crops precarious, so that the tops of the latter are
+practically all the green food to which we can aspire--except for the
+few families who remain at the heads of the long bays all summer, far
+removed from the polar current. Furthermore, until some one invents a
+way to extract the fishy taste from our fish oils, we must import our
+edible fats; for the Labrador dogs will not permit cows or even goats
+to live near them. I have heard only this week that a process has just
+been discovered in California for making a pleasant tasting butter out
+of fish oil. Our "sweetness" must all be imported, for none of our
+native berries are naturally sweet, and we can grow no cultivated
+fruits. The same fact applies to cotton and wool. Thus nearly all our
+necessities of life have to be brought to us. Firewood, lumber, fish
+and game, boots or clothing of skins, are all that we can provide for
+ourselves. On the other hand, we must export our codfish, salmon,
+trout, whales, oil, fur, and in fact practically all our products. An
+exchange medium is therefore imperative; and we must have some gauge
+like cash by which to measure, or else we shall lose on all
+transactions; for all the prices of both exports and imports fluctuate
+very rapidly, and besides this, we had then practically no way to find
+out what prices were maintaining in our markets.
+
+Government relief had failed to stop the evils of the barter system.
+In the opinion of thinking men it only made matters worse. We were
+therefore from every point of view encouraged to start the coöperative
+plan which had proved so successful in England. I still believe that
+the people are honest, and that the laziness of indolence, from the
+stigma of which it is often impossible to clear them, is due to
+despair and inability to work properly owing to imperfect nourishment.
+
+Things went from bad to worse as the years went by. The fact of the
+sealing steamers killing the young seals before they could swim
+greatly impoverished the Labrador inshore seal fishery. The prices of
+fish were so low that a man could scarcely catch enough to pay for his
+summer expenses out of it.
+
+With us the matter came to a head in a little fishing village called
+Red Bay, on the north side of the Straits of Belle Isle. When we ran
+in there on our last visit one fall, we found some of our good friends
+packed up and waiting on their stages to see if we would remove them
+from the coast. A meeting was called that night to consider the
+problem, and it was decided that the people must try to be their own
+merchants, accepting the risks and sharing the profits. The
+fisherman's and trapper's life is a gamble, and naturally, therefore,
+they like credit advances, for it makes the other man carry the risks.
+We then and there decided, however, to venture a coöperative store,
+hiring a schooner to bring our freight and carry our produce straight
+to market; and if necessary eat grass for a year or so. Alas, after
+a year's saving the seventeen families could raise only eighty-five
+dollars among them for capital, and we had to loan them sufficient to
+obtain the first cargo. A young fisherman was chosen as secretary, and
+the store worked well from the beginning. That was in 1905. He is
+still secretary, and to-day in 1918 the five-dollar shares are worth
+one hundred and four dollars each, by the simple process of
+accumulation of profits. The loan has been repaid years ago. Not a
+barrow load of fish leaves the harbour except through the coöperative
+store. Due to it, the people have been able to tide over a series of
+bad fisheries; and every family is free of debt.
+
+   [Illustration: THE FIRST COÖPERATIVE STORE]
+
+At the time of the formation one most significant fact was that every
+shareholder insisted that his name must not be registered, for fear
+some one might find out that he owned cash. They were even opposed to
+a label on the building to signify that it was a store. However, I
+chalked all over its face "Red Bay Coöperative Store."
+
+The whole effort met with very severe criticism, not to say hostility,
+at the hands of the smaller traders, but the larger merchants were
+most generous in their attitude, and though doubtful of the
+possibility of realizing a cash basis, were without exception
+favourable to the attempt. This store has been an unqualified success,
+only limited in its blessings by its lack of larger capital. It has
+enabled its members to live independently, free of debt and without
+want; while similar villages, both south and east and west, have been
+gradually deleted by the people being forced to leave through
+inability to meet their needs.
+
+During my first winter at St. Anthony, the young minister of the
+little church on more than one occasion happened to be visiting on his
+rounds in the very house where we were staying on ours, and the
+subject of coöperation was frequently discussed over the evening pipe
+with the friends in the place. He had himself been trading, and had so
+disliked the methods that he had retired. He would certainly help us
+to organize a store on the Newfoundland side of the Straits.
+
+At last the day arrived for the initial meeting. We gave notice
+everywhere. The chosen rendezvous was in a village fourteen miles
+north. The evening before, however, the minister sent word that he
+could not be present, as he had to go to a place twenty miles to the
+northwest to hold service. Knowing for how much his opinion counted in
+the minds of some of the people, this was a heavy blow, especially as
+the traders had notified me that they would all be on hand.
+Fortunately an ingenious suggestion was made--"He doesn't know the
+way. Persuade his driver, after starting out, to gradually work round
+and end up at the coöperative meeting." This was actually done, and
+our friend was present willy-nilly. He proved a broken reed, however,
+for in the face of the traders he went back on coöperation.
+
+As fortune would have it, our own komatik fell through the ice in
+taking a short cut across a bay, and we arrived late, having had to
+borrow some dry clothing from a fisherman on the way. Our trader
+friends had already appeared on the scene, and were joking the parson
+for being tricked, saying that evidently we had made a mistake and
+were really at Cape Norman, the place to which he had intended to go.
+
+It was a dark evening, crisp and cold, and hundreds of dogs that had
+hauled people from all over the countryside to the meeting made night
+dismal outside. We began our meeting with prayer for guidance, wisdom,
+and good temper, for we knew that we should need them all--and then
+we came down to statistics, prices, debts, possibilities, and the
+story of coöperation elsewhere.
+
+The little house was crammed to overflowing. But the fear of the old
+régime was heavy on the meeting. The traders occupied the whole time
+for speaking. Only one old fisherman spoke at all. He had been an
+overseas sailor in his early days, and he surprised himself by turning
+orator. His effort elicited great applause. "Doctor--I means Mr.
+Chairman--if this here copper store buys a bar'l of flour in St.
+John's for five dollars, be it going to sell it to we fer ten? That's
+what us wants to know."
+
+Outside, after the meeting, Babel was let loose. The general opinion
+was that there must be something to it or the traders would not have
+so much to say against the project. The upshot of the matter was that
+for a long time no one could be found who would take the managership;
+but at length the best-beloved fisherman on the shore stepped into the
+breach. He was not a scholar--in fact could scarcely read, write, and
+figure--but his pluck, optimism, and unselfishness carried him
+through.
+
+That little store has been preaching its vital truths ever since. It is
+a still small text, but it has had vast influences for good. There has
+proved to be one difficulty. It is the custom on the coast to give all
+meals to travellers free, both men and dogs, and lodging to boot.
+Customers came from so far away that they had to stay overnight at
+least, and of course it was always Harry's house to which they went. The
+profit on a twenty-five cent purchase was slender under these
+circumstances, and as cash was scarce in those days, a twenty-five-cent
+purchase was not so rare as might be supposed. We therefore printed,
+mounted, framed, and sent to our friend the legend, "No more free meals.
+Each meal will cost ten cents." Later we received a most grateful reply
+from him in his merry way, saying that he had hung up the card in his
+parlour, but begging us not to defer visits if we had not the requisite
+amount, as he was permitted to give credit to that extent. But when next
+we suddenly "blew in" to Harry's house, the legend was hanging with its
+face to the wall.
+
+Our third store was seventy-five miles to the westward at a place
+called Flowers Cove. Here the parson came in with a will. Being a
+Church of England man, he was a more permanent resident, and, as he
+said, "he was a poor man, but he would sell his extra pair of boots to
+be able to put one more share in the store." What was infinitely more
+important he put in his brains. Every one in that vicinity who had
+felt the slavery of the old system joined the venture. One poor
+Irishman walked several miles around the coast to catch me on my next
+visit, and secretly give me five dollars. "'Tis all I has in the
+world, Doctor, saving a bunch of children, but if it was ten times as
+large, you should have every cent of it for the store." "Thanks,
+Paddy, that's the talking that tells." For some years afterwards,
+every time that he knew I was making a visit to that part of the
+coast, he would come around seeking a private interview, and inquire
+after the health of "the copper store"; till he triumphantly brought
+another five dollars for a second share "out of my profits, Doctor."
+
+That store is now a limited liability company with a capital of ten
+thousand dollars owned entirely by the fishermen, it has paid
+consistently a ten per cent dividend every year, and is located in
+fine premises which it bought and owns outright.
+
+A fourth store followed near the lumber mill which we started to give
+winter labour at logging; but owing to bad management and lack of
+ability to say "no" to men seeking credit, it fell into debt and we
+closed it up. Number five almost shared the same fate. Unable to get
+local talent to manage it, we hired a Canadian whose pretensions
+proved unequal to his responsibility. He was, however, found out in
+time to reorganize the store; but the loss which he had caused was
+heavy, and it was his notice of leaving for Canada which alone
+betrayed the truth to us. The most serious aspect of the matter was
+that many of the local fishermen lost confidence in the ability of the
+store to succeed, and returning to the credit system, they found it
+modified enough to appear to them a lamb instead of a wolf. However,
+number five is growing all the time again and will yet be a factor in
+the people's deliverance.
+
+Numbers six and seven were in poor and remote parts of Labrador, very
+small, and with insufficient capital and brains. One has closed
+permanently. They were simply small stores under the care of one
+settler, who guaranteed to charge the people only a fixed percentage
+over St. John's prices for goods, as the return for his
+responsibility. Number eight was the result of a night spent in a
+miserable shack on a lonely promontory called Adlavik.
+
+God forbid that I should judge traders or doctors or lawyers or
+priests by their profession or their intellectual attitude. There are
+noble men in all walks of life. Alas, some are more liable than others
+to yield to temptation, and the temptations to which they are exposed
+are more insistent.
+
+Number nine was on the extreme northern edge of the white settlers at
+Ford's Harbour. The story of it is too long to relate, but the trade
+there, in spite of many difficulties, still continues to preach a
+gospel and spell much blessing to poor people. To help out, we have
+sent north to this station three of our boys from the orphanage, as
+they grew old enough to go out into the world for themselves.
+
+One disaster, in the form of a shipwreck, overtook the fine fellow in
+charge of this most northerly venture. For the first time in his life
+he came south, to seek a wife, his former wife having succumbed to
+tuberculosis. He brought with him his year's products of fur and skin
+boots. The mail steamer on which he was travelling struck a rock off
+Battle Harbour, and most of his goods were lost uninsured, he himself
+gladly enough escaping with his life.
+
+It remained for our tenth venture to bring the hardest battle, and in
+a sense the greatest measure of success. Spurred by the benefits of
+the Red Bay store, the people of a little village about forty miles
+away determined to combine also. The result was a fine store near our
+hospital at Battle Harbour--which during the first year did sixty
+thousand dollars' worth of business. This served to put a match to the
+explosive wrath of those whose opposition hitherto had been that of
+rats behind a wainscot. They secured from their friends a Government
+commission appointed to inquire into the work of the Mission as "a
+menace to honest trade." The leading petitioner had been the best of
+helpers to the first venture. When the traders affected by it had
+first boycotted the fish, he had sent his steamer and purchased it
+from the company. Now the boot was on the other leg. The Commission
+and even the lawyers have all told me that they were prejudiced
+against the whole Mission by hearsay and misinterpretations, before
+they even began their exhaustive inquiry. Their findings, however,
+were a complete refutation of all charges, and the best advertisement
+possible.
+
+It would not be the time to say that the whole coöperative venture has
+been an unqualified success; but the causes of failure in each case
+have been perfectly obvious, and no fault of the system. Lack of
+business ability has been the main trouble, and the lack of courage
+and unity which everywhere characterizes mankind, but is perhaps more
+emphasized on a coast where failure means starvation, and where the
+coöperative spirit has been rendered very difficult to arouse owing to
+mistrust born of religious sectarianism and denominational schools.
+These all militate very strongly against that unity which alone can
+enable labour to come to its own without productive ability.
+
+There is one aspect for which we are particularly grateful. Politics,
+at any rate, has not been permitted to intrude, and the stress laid on
+the need of brotherliness, forbearance, and self-development--if ever
+these producers are to reap the rewards of being their own
+traders--has been very marked. Only thus can they share in the balance
+of profit which makes the difference between plenty and poverty on
+this isolated coast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE MILL AND THE FOX FARM
+
+
+The argument for coöperation had been that life on the coast was not
+worth living under the credit system. A short feast and a long famine
+was the local epigram. If our profits could be maintained on the
+coast, and spent on the coast, then the next-to-nature life had enough
+to offer in character as well as in maintenance to attract a permanent
+population, especially with the furring in winter. For the actual
+figures showed that good hunters made from a thousand to fifteen
+hundred dollars in a season, besides the salmon and cod fishery. There
+was, moreover, game for food, free firewood, water, homes, and no
+taxation except indirect in duties on their goods.
+
+These same conditions prevailed on the long, narrow slice of land
+known as the "French shore" in northern Newfoundland. There the people
+were more densely settled, the hinterland was small, and many
+therefore could not go furring. Moreover, the polar current, entering
+the mouth of the Straits of Belle Isle, makes this section of land
+more liable to summer frosts, with a far worse climate than the
+Labrador bays, and gardening is less remunerative. We puzzled our
+brains for some way to add to our earning capacities, some coöperative
+productive as well as distributive enterprise.
+
+The poverty which I had witnessed in Canada Bay in North Newfoundland,
+some sixty miles south of St. Anthony Hospital, had left me very keen
+to do something for that district which might really offer a solution
+of the problem. I had been told that there was plenty of timber to
+justify running a mill in the bay; but that no sawmills paid in
+Newfoundland. This was emphasized in St. John's by my friends who
+still own the only venture out of the eleven which have operated in
+that city that has been able to continue. They have succeeded by
+adopting modern methods and erecting a factory for making furniture,
+so as to supply finished articles direct to their customers. We knew
+that in our case labour would be cheaper than ordinarily, for our
+labour in winter had generally to go begging. It was mainly this fact
+which finally induced us to make the attempt.
+
+   [Illustration: ST. ANTHONY]
+
+Having talked the matter over with the people we secured from the
+Government a special grant, as the venture, if it succeeded, would
+relieve them of the necessity of having poor-relief bills. The whole
+expense of the enterprise fell upon myself, for the Mission Board
+considered it outside their sphere; and already we had built St.
+Anthony Hospital in spite of the fact that they thought that we were
+undertaking more than they would be able to handle, and had
+discouraged it from the first.
+
+The people had no money to start a mill, and the circumstances
+prohibited my asking aid from outside, so it was with considerable
+anxiety that we ordered a mill, as if it were a pound of chocolates,
+and arranged with two young friends to come out from England as
+volunteers, except for their expenses, to help us through with the new
+effort. At the same time there was three hundred dollars to pay for
+the necessary survey and line cutting, and supplies of food for the
+loggers for the winter. Houses must also be erected and furnished.
+
+Ignorance undoubtedly supplied us with the courage to begin.
+Personally I knew nothing whatever of mills, having never even seen
+one. Nor had I seen the grant of land, or selected a site for the
+building. This was left entirely to the people themselves; and as none
+of them had ever seen a mill either, we all felt a bit uneasy about
+our capacities. I had left orders with the captain of the Coöperator
+(our schooner) to fetch the mill and put it where the people told him;
+but when I heard that there was one piece which included the boiler
+which weighed three tons, it seemed to me that they could never handle
+it. We had no wharf ready to receive it and no boat capable of
+carrying it. I woke many times that summer wondering if it had not
+gone to the bottom while they were attempting the landing. There was
+no communication whatever with them as we were six hundred miles
+farther north on our summer cruise; and we had not the slightest
+control over the circumstances in which we might become involved.
+
+It was late in the season and the snow was already deep on the ground
+when eventually we were piloted to the spot selected. It was nine
+miles up the bay on a well-wooded promontory of a side inlet. The
+water was deep to the shore and the harbour as safe as a house. The
+boys from England had arrived, and a small cottage had been erected,
+tucked away in the trees. It was very small, and very damp, the inside
+of the walls being white with frost in the morning until the fire had
+been under way for some time. But it was a merry crowd, emerging from
+various little hutlets around among the trees, which greeted the
+Strathcona.
+
+The big boiler, the "bugaboo" of my dreams all summer, lay on the
+bank. "How did you get it there?" was my first query. "We warped the
+vessel close to the land, and then hove her close ashore and put skids
+from the rocks off to her. On these we slid the boiler, all hands
+hauling it up with our tackles."
+
+Having left the few supplies which we had with us, for the Strathcona
+has no hold or carrying space, we returned to the hospital, mighty
+grateful for the successful opening of the venture. The survey had
+been completed and accepted by the Government, and though
+unfortunately it was but very poorly marked, and we have had lots of
+trouble since,--as we have never been able to say exactly where our
+boundaries lie, nor even to find marks enough to follow over the
+original survey again,--yet it enabled us to get to work, which was
+all that we wanted at the moment.
+
+The fresh problems at the hospital, and the constant demands on our
+energies, made Christmas and New Year go by with our minds quite
+alienated from the cares of the new enterprise. But when after
+Christmas the dogs had safely carried us over many miles of
+snow-covered wastes, and our immediate patients gave us a chance to
+look farther afield, I began to wonder if we might not pay the mill a
+visit. By land it was only fifty miles distant to the southward,
+possibly sixty if we had to go round the bays. The only difficulty
+about the trip was that there were no trails, and most of the way led
+through virgin forest, where windfalls and stumps and dense
+undergrowth mixed with snow made the ordinary obstacle race a sprint
+in the open in comparison. We knew what it meant, because in our
+eagerness to begin our dog-driving when the first snow came, we had
+wandered over small trees crusted with snow, fallen through, and
+literally floundered about under the crust, unable to climb to the top
+again. It was the nearest thing to the sensations of a man who cannot
+swim struggling under the surface of the water. Moreover, on a tramp
+with the minister, he had gone through his snow racquets and actually
+lost the bows later, smashing them all up as he repeatedly fell
+through between logs and tree-trunks and "tuckamore." His summons for
+help and the idea that there were still eight miles to go still
+haunted me. On that occasion we had cut down some spruce boughs and
+improvised some huge webbed feet for ourselves, which had saved the
+situation; but whether they would have served for twenty or thirty
+miles, we could not tell. Not so long before a man named Casey,
+bringing his komatik down the steep hill at Conche, missed his footing
+and fell headlong by a bush into the snow. The heavy, loaded sledge
+ran over him and pressed him still farther into the bank. Struggling
+only made him sink the deeper, and an hour later the poor fellow was
+discovered smothered to death.
+
+No one knew the way. We could not hear of a single man who had ever
+gone across in winter, though some said that an old fellow who had
+lived farther south had once carried the mails that way. At length we
+could stand it no longer, and arranging with four men and two extra
+teams, we started off. We hoped to reach the mill in two days, but at
+the end of that time we were still trying to push through the tangle
+of these close-grown forests. To steer by compass sounded easy, but
+the wretched instrument seemed persistently to point to precipitous
+cliffs or impenetrable thickets. There were no barren hilltops after
+the first twenty miles. Occasionally we would stop, climb a tree, and
+try to get a view. But climbing a conifer whose boughs are heavily
+laden with ice and snow is no joke, and gave very meagre returns. At
+last, however, we struck a high divide, and from an island in the
+centre of a lake, occupied only by two lone fir trees, we got a view
+both ways, showing the Cloudy Hills which towered over the south side
+of the bay in which the mill stood.
+
+A very high, densely wooded hill lay, however, directly in our path;
+and which way to get round it best none of us knew. We "tossed up"
+and went to the eastward--the wrong side, of course. We soon struck a
+river, and at once surmised that if we followed it, it must bring us
+to the head of the bay, which meant only three miles of salt water ice
+to cover. Alas, the stream proved very torrential. It leaped here and
+there over so many rapid falls that great canyons were left in the
+ice, and instead of being able to dash along as when first we struck
+it, we had painfully to pick our way between heavy ice-blocks, which
+sorely tangled up our traces, and our dogs ran great danger of being
+injured. Nor could we leave the river, for the banks were precipitous
+and utterly impassable with undergrowth. At length when we came to a
+gorge where the boiling torrent was not even frozen, and as prospects
+of being washed under the ice became only too vivid, we were forced to
+cut our way out on the sloping sides. The task was great fun, but an
+exceedingly slow process.
+
+It was altogether an exciting and delightful trip. Now we have a good
+trail cut and blazed, which after some years of experience we have
+gradually straightened out, with two tilts by the roadside when the
+weather makes camping imperative, or when delay is caused by having
+helpless patients to haul, till now it is only a "joy-ride" to go
+through that beautiful country "on dogs." There is always a challenge,
+however, left in that trail--just enough to lend tang to the toil of
+it. Once, having missed the way in a blizzard, we had to camp on the
+snow with the thermometer standing at twenty below zero. The problem
+was all the more interesting as we struck only "taunt" timberwoods
+with no undergrowth to halt the wind. On another occasion we attempted
+to cross Hare Bay, and one of the dogs fell through the ice. There was
+a biting wind blowing, and it was ten degrees below zero. When we
+were a mile off the land I got off the sledge to try the ice edge,
+when suddenly it gave way, and in I fell. It did not take me long to
+get out--the best advice being to "keep cool." I had as hard a mile's
+running as ever I experienced, for my clothing was fast becoming like
+the armour of an ancient knight; and though in my youth I had been
+accustomed to break the ice in the morning to bathe, I had never run
+in a coat of mail.
+
+Never shall I forget dragging ourselves in among those big trees with
+our axes, and tumbling to sleep in a grave in the snow, in spite of
+the elements. In this hole in a sleeping-bag, protected by the light
+drift which blew in, one rested as comfortably as in a more
+conventional type of feather bed. Nor, when I think of De Quincey's
+idea of supreme happiness before the glowing logs, can I forget that
+gorgeous blaze which the watch kept up by felling trees full length
+into the fire, so that our Yule logs were twenty feet long, and the
+ruddy glow and crackling warmth went smashing through the hurtling
+snowdrift. True, it was cold taking off our dripping clothing, which
+as it froze on us made progress as difficult as if we were encased in
+armour. But dancing up and down before a huge fire in the crisp open
+air under God's blue sky gave as pleasing a reaction as doing the same
+thing in the dusty, germ-laden atmosphere of a ballroom in the small
+hours of the night, when one would better be in bed, if the joys of
+efficiency and accomplishment are the durable pleasure of life.
+
+It was a real picnic which we had at the mill. Our visit was as
+welcome as it was unexpected, and we celebrated it by the whole day
+off, when all hands went "rabbiting." When at the end, hot and tired,
+we gathered round a huge log fire in the woods and discussed boiling
+cocoa and pork buns, we all agreed that it had been a day worth
+living for.
+
+Logging had progressed favourably. Logs were close at hand; and the
+whole enterprise spelled cash coming in that the people had never
+earned before. The time had also arrived to prepare the machinery for
+cutting the timber; boxes were being unpacked, and weird iron "parts"
+revealed to us, that had all the interest of a Chinese puzzle, with
+the added pleasure of knowing that they stood for much if we solved
+the problems rightly.
+
+When next we saw the mill it was spring, and the puffing smoke and
+white heaps of lumber that graced the point and met our vision as we
+rounded Breakheart Point will not soon be forgotten. Only one trouble
+had proved insurmountable. The log-hauler would not deliver the goods
+to the rotary saw. Later, with the knowledge that the whole apparatus
+was upside down, it did not seem so surprising after all. One accident
+also marred the year's record. While a party of children had been
+crossing the ice in the harbour to school, a treacherous rapid had
+caused it to give way and leave a number of them in the water. One of
+my English volunteers, being a first-class athlete, had by swimming
+saved five lives, but two had been lost, and the young fellow himself
+so badly chilled that it had taken the hot body of one of the fathers
+of the rescued children, wrapped up in bed with him in lieu of a
+hot-water bottle, to restore his circulation.
+
+The second fall was our hardest period. The bills for our lumber sold
+had not been paid in time for us to purchase the absolutely essential
+stock of food for the winter; and if we could not get a store of food,
+we knew that our men could not go logging. It was food, not cash,
+which they needed in the months when their own slender stock of
+provisions gave out, and when all communication was cut off by the
+frozen sea.
+
+For a venture which seemed to us problematical in its outcome, we did
+not dare to borrow money or to induce friends to invest; and of course
+Mission funds were not available. For the day has not yet arrived when
+all those who seek by their gifts to hasten the coming of the Kingdom
+of God on earth recognize that to give the opportunity to men to
+provide decently for their families and homes is as effective work for
+the Master, whose first attribute was love, as patching up the
+unfortunate victims of semi-starvation. The inculcation of the
+particular intellectual conception which the donor may hold of
+religion, or as to how, after death, the soul can get into heaven, is,
+as the result of the Church teaching, still considered far the most
+important line of effort. The emphasis on hospitals is second, partly
+at least because, so it has seemed to me as a doctor of medicine, the
+more obvious personal benefit thereby conferred renders the recipients
+more impressionable to the views considered desirable to promulgate.
+Yet only to-day, as I came home from our busy operating-room, I felt
+how little real gain the additional time on earth often is either to
+the world outside or even to the poor sufferers themselves. In order
+to have one's early teachings on these matters profoundly shaken, one
+has only to work as a surgeon in a country where tuberculosis,
+beri-beri, and other preventable diseases, and especially the chronic
+malnutrition of poverty fills your clinic with suffering children, who
+at least are victims and not responsible spiritually for their
+"punishment." Of course, the magnitude of service to the world of
+every act of unselfishness, and much more of whole lives of devotion,
+such as that of Miss Sullivan, the teacher of Miss Helen Keller, can
+never be rightly estimated by any purely material conception of human
+life.
+
+Love is dangerously near to sentimentality when we actually prefer
+remedial to prophylactic charity--and I personally feel that it is
+false economy even from the point of view of mission funds. The
+industrial mission, the educational mission, and the orphanage work at
+least rank with and should go hand in hand with hospitals in any true
+interpretation of a gospel of love.
+
+In subsequent years the nearest attempt to finance such commonly
+called "side issues of the work" has been with us through the medium
+of a discretionary fund. Into this are put sums of money specially
+given by personal friends, who are content to leave the allocation of
+their expenditure in the hands of the worker on the actual field. This
+fund is, of course, paid out in the same way as other mission funds,
+and is as strictly supervised by the auditors. While it leaves
+possibly more responsibility than some of us are worthy of, it enables
+individuality to play that part in mission business which every one
+recognizes to be all-important in the ordinary business of the world.
+No money, however, from this fund has ever gone into the mill or in
+assisting the coöperative stores.
+
+Sorry as one feels to confess it, I have seen money wasted and lost
+through red tape in the mission business. And after all is not mission
+business part of the world's business, and must not the measure of
+success depend largely on the same factors in the one case as in the
+other? Has one man more than another the right to be called
+"missionary," for of what use is any man in the world if he has no
+mission in it? Christ's life is one long emphasis on the point that in
+the last analysis, when something has to be done, it is the individual
+who has to do it. It is, we believe, a fact of paramount importance
+for efficiency and economy; and the loyalty of God in committing such
+trust to us, when He presumably knows exactly how unworthy we are of
+it, is the explanation of life's enigma.
+
+When at last our food and freight were purchased for the loggers for
+the winter and landed by the mail steamer nine miles from the mill,
+the whole bay was frozen and five miles of ice already over six inches
+thick. The hull of the Strathcona was three eighths of an inch soft
+steel; but there was no other way to transport the goods but on her,
+excepting by sledges--a very painful and impracticable method.
+
+It was decided that as we could not possibly butt through the ice, we
+must butt over it. The whole company of some thirty men helped us to
+move everything, including chains and anchors, to the after end of the
+ship, and to pile up the barrels of pork, flour, sugar, molasses,
+etc., together with boats and all heavy weights, so that her fore foot
+came above the water level and she looked as if she were sinking by
+the stern. We then proceeded to crash into the ice. Up onto it we ran,
+and then broke through, doing no damage whatever to her hull. The only
+trouble was that sometimes she would get caught fast in the trough,
+and it was exceedingly hard to back her astern for a second drive. To
+counteract this all hands stood on one rail, each carrying a weight,
+and then rushed over to the other side, backward and forward at the
+word of command, thus causing the steamer to roll. It was a very slow
+process, but we got there, though in true Biblical fashion, literally
+"reeling to and fro like drunken men."
+
+While the mill was in its cradle, we in the Strathcona were cruising
+the northern Labrador waters. We witnessed that year, off the mighty
+Kaumajets, the most remarkable storm of lightning that I have ever
+seen in those parts. Inky masses hid the hoary heads of those
+tremendous cliffs. Away to the northwest, over the high land called
+Saeglek, a lurid light just marked the sharp outline of the mills.
+Ahead, where we were trying to make the entrance to Hebron Bay, an
+apparently impenetrable wall persisted. Seaward night had already
+obscured the horizon; but the moon, hidden behind the curtain of the
+storm, now and again fitfully illuminated some icebergs lazily heaving
+on the ocean swell. Almost every second a vivid flash, now on one
+side, now on the other, would show us a glimpse of the land looming
+darkly ahead. The powers of darkness seemed at play; while the sea,
+the ice, the craggy cliffs, and the flashing heavens were advertising
+man's puny power.
+
+An amusing incident took place in one isolated harbour. A patient came
+on board for medicine, and after examining him I went below to make it
+up. When I came on deck again I gave the medicine to one I took to be
+my man, and then sent him ashore to get the twenty-five cent fee for
+the Mission which he had forgotten. No sooner had he gone than another
+man came and asked if his medicine was ready. I had to explain to him
+that the man just climbing over the rail had it. The odd thing was
+that the latter, having paid for it, positively refused to give it up.
+True, he had not said that he was ill, but the medicine looked good
+(Heaven save the mark!) and he "guessed that it would suit his
+complaint all right."
+
+At the mill we found that quite a large part of the timberland was
+over limestone, while near our first dam there was some very white
+marble. We fully intended to erect a kiln, using our refuse for fuel,
+for the land is loaded with humic acid, and only plants like
+blueberries, conifers, and a very limited flora flourish on it. Some
+friends in England, however, hearing of marble in the bay, which it
+was later discovered formed an entire mountain, commenced a marble
+mine near the entrance. The material there is said to be excellent for
+statuary. Even this small discovery of natural resources encouraged
+us. For having neither road, telegraph, nor mail service to the mill,
+we hoped that the development of these things might help in our own
+enterprise.
+
+For ten years the little mill has run, giving work to the locality,
+better houses, a new church and school, and indeed created a new
+village.
+
+The only trouble with this North country's own peculiar winter work,
+fur-hunting, is that its very nature limits its supply. In my early
+days in the country, fur in Labrador was very cheap. Seldom did even a
+silver fox fetch a hundred dollars. Beaver, lynx, wolverine, wolves,
+bears, and other skins were priced proportionately. Still, some men
+lived very well out of furring. We came to the conclusion that the
+only way to improve conditions in this line was to breed some of the
+animals in captivity. We did not then know of any enterprise of that
+kind, but I remembered in the zoölogical gardens at Washington seeing
+a healthy batch of young fox pups born in captivity.
+
+Life is short. Things have to be crowded into it. So we started that
+year an experimental fox farm at St. Anthony. A few uprights from the
+woods and some rolls of wire are a fox farm. We put it close by the
+hospital, thinking that it would be less trouble. The idea, we rejoice
+to know, was perfectly right; but we had neither time, study, nor
+experience to teach us how to manage the animals. Very soon we had a
+dozen couples, red, white, patch, and one silver pair. Some of the
+young fox pups were very tame, for I find an old record written by a
+professor of Harvard University, while he was on board the Strathcona
+on one trip when we were bringing some of the little creatures to St.
+Anthony. He describes the state of affairs as follows: "Dr. Grenfell
+at one time had fifteen little foxes aboard which he was carrying to
+St. Anthony to start a fox farm there. Some of these little animals
+had been brought aboard in blubber casks, and their coats were very
+sticky. After a few days they were very tame and played with the dogs;
+were all over the deck, fell down the companionway, were always having
+their tails and feet stepped on, and yelping for pain, when not
+yelling for food. The long-suffering seaman who took care of them
+said, 'I been cleaned out that fox box. It do be shockin'. I been in a
+courageous turmoil my time, but dis be the head smell ever I
+witnessed.'"
+
+When the farm was erected, every schooner entering the harbour was
+interested in it, and a deep-cut pathway soon developed as the crews
+went up to see the animals. The reds and one patch were very tame, and
+always came out to greet us. One of the reds loved nothing better than
+to be caught and hugged, and squealed with delight like a child when
+you took notice of it. The whites, and still more the silvers, were
+always very shy; and though we never reared a single pup, there were
+some born and destroyed by the old ones.
+
+As the years passed we decided to close up the little farm,
+particularly after a certain kind of sickness which resembled
+strychnine poisoning had attacked and destroyed three of the animals
+which were especial pets. We then converted the farm into a garden
+with a glass house for our seedling vegetables.
+
+Meanwhile the industry had been developed by a Mr. Beetz in Quebec
+Labrador with very marked economic success; and in Prince Edward
+Island with such tremendous profit that it soon became the most
+important industry in the Province. Enormous prices were paid for
+stock. I remembered a schooner in the days of our farm (1907) bringing
+me in four live young silvers, and asking two hundred dollars for the
+lot. We had enough animals and refused to buy them. In 1914 one of our
+distant neighbours, who had caught a live slut in pup, sold her with
+her little brood for ten thousand dollars. We at once started an
+agitation to encourage the industry locally, and the Government passed
+regulations that only foxes bred in the Colony could be exported
+alive. The last wild one sold was for twenty-five dollars to a buyer,
+and resold for something like a thousand dollars by him. A large
+number of farms grew up and met with more or less success, one big one
+especially in Labrador, which is still running. We saw there this
+present year some delightful little broods, also some mink and marten
+(sables), the prettiest little animals to watch possible. For some
+reason the success of this farm so far has not been what was hoped for
+it. Indeed, even in Prince Edward Island the furor has somewhat died
+down owing to the war; though at the close of the war it is
+anticipated that the industry will go on steadily and profitably. Are
+not sheep, angora goats, oxen, and other animals just the result of
+similar efforts? If fox-farming some day should actually supersede the
+use of the present sharp-toothed leg trap, no small gain would have
+been effected. A fox now trapped in those horrible teeth remains
+imprisoned generally till he perishes of cold, exhaustion, or fear.
+Though the fur trapper as a rule is a most gentle creature, the
+"quality of mercy is not strained" in furring.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE CHILDREN'S HOME
+
+
+"What's that schooner bound South at this time of year for?" I asked
+the skipper of a fishing vessel who had come aboard for treatment the
+second summer I was on the coast.
+
+"I guess, Doctor, that that's the Yankee what's been down North for a
+load of Huskeymaws. What do they want with them when they gets them?"
+
+"They'll put them in a cage and show them at ten cents a head. They're
+taking them to the World's Fair in Chicago."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+People of every sort crowded to see the popular Eskimo Encampment on
+the Midway. The most taking attraction among the groups displayed was
+a little boy, son of a Northern Chieftain, Kaiachououk by name; and
+many a nickel was thrown into the ring that little Prince Pomiuk might
+show his dexterity with the thirty-foot lash of his dog whip.
+
+One man alone of all who came to stare at the little people from
+far-off Labrador took a real interest in the child. It was the Rev.
+C.C. Carpenter, who had spent many years of his life as a clergyman on
+the Labrador coast. But one day Mr. Carpenter missed his little
+friend. Pomiuk was found on a bed of sickness in his dark hut. An
+injury to his thigh had led to the onset of an insidious hip disease.
+
+The Exhibition closed soon after, and the Eskimos went north. But
+Pomiuk was not forgotten, and Mr. Carpenter sent him letter after
+letter, though he never received an answer. The first year the band
+of Eskimos reached as far north as Ramah, but Pomiuk's increasing
+sufferings made it impossible for them to take him farther that
+season.
+
+Meanwhile in June, 1895, we again steamed out through the Narrows of
+St. John's Harbour, determined to push as far north as the farthest
+white family. A dark foggy night in August found us at the entrance of
+that marvellous gorge called Nakvak. We pushed our way cautiously in
+some twenty miles from the entrance. Suddenly the watch sang out,
+"Light on the starboard bow!" and the sound of our steamer whistle
+echoed and reëchoed in endless cadences between those mighty cliffs.
+Three rifle shots answered us, soon a boat bumped our side, and a
+hearty Englishman sprang over the rail.
+
+It was George Ford, factor of the Hudson Bay Company at that post.
+During the evening's talk he told me of a group of Eskimos still
+farther up the fjord having with them a dying boy. Next day I had my
+first glimpse of little Prince Pomiuk. We found him naked and haggard,
+lying on the rocks beside the tiny "tubik."
+
+The Eskimos were only too glad to be rid of the responsibility of the
+sick lad, and, furthermore, he was "no good fishing." So the next day
+saw us steaming south again, carrying with us the boy and his one
+treasured possession--a letter from a clergyman at Andover,
+Massachusetts. It contained a photograph, and when I showed it to
+Pomiuk he said, "Me even love him."
+
+A letter was sent to the address given, and some weeks later came back
+an answer. "Keep him," it said. "He must never know cold and
+loneliness again. I write for a certain magazine, and the children in
+'The Corner' will become his guardians." Thus the "Corner Cot" was
+founded, and occupied by the little Eskimo Prince for the brief
+remainder of his life.
+
+On my return the following summer the child's joyful laughter greeted
+me as he said, "Me Gabriel Pomiuk now." A good Moravian Brother had
+come along during the winter and christened the child by the name of
+the angel of comfort.
+
+In a sheltered corner of a little graveyard on the Labrador coast
+rests the tiny body of this true prince. When he died the doctor in
+charge of the hospital wrote me that the building seemed desolate
+without his smiling, happy face and unselfish presence. The night that
+he was buried the mysterious aurora lit up the vault of heaven. The
+Innuits, children of the Northland, call it "the spirits of the dead
+at play." But it seemed to us a shining symbol of the joy in the City
+of the King that another young soldier had won his way home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Roman Catholic Church is undoubtedly correct in stating that the
+first seven years of his life makes the child. Missions have always
+emphasized the importance of the children from a purely propaganda
+point of view. But our Children's Home was not begun for any such
+reason. Like Topsy, "it just grow'd." I had been summoned to a lonely
+headland, fifty miles from our hospital at Indian Harbour, to see a
+very sick family. Among the spruce trees in a small hut lived a Scotch
+salmon fisher, his wife and five little children. When we anchored off
+the promontory we were surprised to receive no signs of welcome. When
+we landed and entered the house we found the mother dead on the bed
+and the father lying on the floor dying. Next morning we improvised
+two coffins, contributed from the wardrobes of all hands enough black
+material for a "seemly" funeral, and later, steaming up the bay to a
+sandy stretch of land, buried the two parents with all the ceremonies
+of the Church--and found ourselves left with five little mortals in
+black sitting on the grave mound. We thought that we had done all that
+could be expected of a doctor, but we now found the difference. It
+looked as if God expected more. An uncle volunteered to assume one
+little boy and we sailed away with the remainder of the children.
+Having no place to keep them, we wrote to a friendly newspaper in New
+England and advertised for foster parents. One person responded. A
+young farmer's wife wrote: "I am just married to a farmer in the
+country, and miss the chance to teach children in Sunday-School, or
+even to get to church, it is so far away. I think that I can feed two
+children for the Lord's sake. If you will send them along, I will see
+that they do not want for anything." We shipped two, and began what
+developed into our Children's Home with the balance of the stock.
+
+We had everything to learn in the rearing of children, having had only
+the hygienic side of their development to attend to previously. One of
+the two which we kept turned out very well, becoming a fully trained
+nurse. The other failed. Both of those who went to New England did
+well, the superior discipline of their foster mother being no doubt
+responsible. The following fall I made a special journey to see the
+latter. It was a small farm on which they lived, and a little baby had
+just arrived. Only high ideals could have persuaded the woman to
+accept the added responsibility. The children were as bright and jolly
+as possible.
+
+Among the other functions which have fallen to my lot to perform is
+the ungrateful task of unpaid magistrate, or justice of the peace. In
+this capacity a little later I was called on to try a mother, who in a
+Labrador village had become a widow and later married a man with six
+children who refused to accept her three-year-old little girl. When I
+happened along, the baby was living alone in the mother's old shack, a
+mud-walled hut, and she or the neighbours went in and tended it as
+they could. None of the few neighbours wanted permanently to assume
+the added expense of the child, so dared not accept it temporarily. It
+was sitting happily on the floor playing with a broken saucer when I
+came in. It showed no fear of a stranger; indeed, it made most
+friendly overtures. I had no right to send the new husband to jail. I
+could not fine him, for he had no money. There was no jail in
+Labrador, anyhow. My special constable was a very stout fisherman, a
+family man, who proposed to nurse the child till I could get it to
+some place where it could be properly looked after. When we steamed
+away, we had the baby lashed into a swing cot. It became very rough,
+and the baby, of course, crawled out and was found in the scuppers. It
+did everything that it ought not to do, but which we knew that it
+would. But we got it to the hospital at last and the nurse received it
+right to her heart.
+
+In various ways my family grew at an alarming rate, once the general
+principle was established. On my early summer voyage to the east coast
+of Labrador I found at Indian Harbour Hospital a little girl of four.
+In the absence of her father, who was hunting, and while her mother
+lay sick in bed, she had crawled out of the house and when found in
+the snow had both legs badly frozen. They became gangrenous halfway to
+the knee, and her father had been obliged to chop them both off. An
+operation gave her good stumps; but what use was she in Labrador with
+no legs? So she joined our family, and we gave her such good new limbs
+that when I brought her into Government House at Halifax, where one
+of our nurses had taken her to school temporarily, and she ran into
+the room with two other little girls, the Governor could scarcely tell
+which was our little cripple Kirkina.
+
+The following fall as we left for the South our good friend, the chief
+factor of the Hudson Bay Company, told me that on an island in the
+large inlet known to us as Eskimo Bay a native family, both hungry and
+naked, were living literally under the open sky. We promised to try
+and find them and help them with some warm clothing.
+
+Having steamed round the island and seen no signs of life, we were on
+the point of leaving when a tiny smoke column betrayed the presence of
+human life--and with my family-man mate we landed as a search party.
+Against the face of a sheer rock a single sheet of light cotton duck
+covered the abode of a woman with a nursing baby. They were the only
+persons at home. The three boys and a father comprised the remainder
+of the family. We soon found the two small boys. They were practically
+stark naked, but fat as curlews, being full of wild berries with which
+their bodies were stained bright blues and reds. They were a jolly
+little couple, as unconcerned about their environment as Robinson
+Crusoe after five years on his island. Soon the father came home. I
+can see him still--the vacant brown face of a very feeble-minded
+half-breed, ragged and tattered and almost bootless. He was carrying
+an aged single-barrelled boy's gun in one hand and a belated sea-gull
+in the other, which bird was destined for the entire evening meal of
+the family. A half-wild-looking hobbledehoy boy of fifteen years also
+joined the group.
+
+It was just beginning to snow, a wet sleet. Eight months of winter
+lay ahead. Yet not one of the family seemed to think a whit about that
+which was vivid enough to the minds of the mate and myself. We sat
+down for a regular pow-wow beside the fire sputtering in the open
+room, from which thick smoke crept up the face of the rock, and hung
+over us in a material but symbolic cloud. It was naturally cold. The
+man began with a plea for some "clodin." We began with a plea for some
+children. How many would he swap for a start in clothing and "tings
+for his winter"? He picked out and gave us Jimmie. The soft-hearted
+mate, on whose cheeks the tears were literally standing, grabbed
+Jimmie--as the latter did his share of the gull. But we were not
+satisfied. We had to have Willie. It was only when a breaking of
+diplomatic relations altogether was threatened that Willie was
+sacrificed on the altar of "tings." I forget the price, but I think
+that we threw in an axe, which was one of the trifles which the father
+lacked--and in this of all countries! The word was no sooner spoken
+than our shellback again excelled himself. He pounced on Willie like a
+hawk on its prey, and before the treaty was really concluded he was
+off to our dory with a naked boy kicking violently in the vice of each
+of his powerful arms. The grasping strength of our men, reared from
+childhood to haul heavy strains and ponderous anchors, is phenomenal.
+
+Whatever sins Labrador has been guilty of, Malthusianism is not in the
+category. Nowhere are there larger families. Those of Quebec Labrador,
+which is better known, are of almost world-wide fame. God is, to
+Labrador thinking, the Giver of all children. Man's responsibility is
+merely to do the best he can to find food and clothing for them. A man
+can accomplish only so much. If these "gifts of God" suffer and are a
+burden to others that is kismet. It is the animal philosophy and
+makes women's lives on this coast terribly hard. The opportunity for
+service along child-welfare lines is therefore not surprising from
+this angle also.
+
+One day, passing a group of islands, we anchored in a bight known as
+Rogues' Roost. It so happened that a man who many years before had
+shot off his right arm, and had followed up his incapacity with a
+large family of dependants, had just died. Life cannot be expected to
+last long in Labrador under those conditions. There were four
+children, one being a big boy who could help out. The rest were
+offered as a contribution to the Mission. A splendid Newfoundland
+fisherman and his wife had a summer fishing station here, and with
+that generous open-heartedness which is characteristic of our
+seafarers, they were only too anxious to help. "Of course, she would
+make clothing while I was North"--out of such odd garments as a
+general collection produced. "She wouldn't think of letting them wear
+it till I came along South, not she." She would "put them in the tub
+as soon as she heard our whistle." When after the long summer's work
+we landed and went up to her little house, three shining, red, naked
+children were drying before a large stove, in which the last vestige
+of connection with their past was contributing its quota of calories
+toward the send-off. A few minutes later we were off to the ship with
+as sweet a batch of jolly, black-haired, dark-eyed kiddies as one
+could wish for. Our good friend could not keep back the tears as she
+kissed them good-bye on deck. The boy has already put in three years
+on the Western Front. The girls have both been educated, the elder
+having had two years finishing at the Pratt Institute in New York.
+
+A grimy note saying, "Please call in to Bird Island as you pass and
+see the sick," brought me our next donation. "There be something wrong
+with Mrs. B's twins, Doctor," greeted me on landing. "Seems as if they
+was like kittens, and couldn't see yet a wink." It was only too true.
+The little twin girls were born blind in both eyes. What could they do
+in Labrador? Two more for our family without any question. After
+leaving our Orphanage, these two went through the beautiful school for
+the blind at Halifax, and are now able to make their own living in the
+world.
+
+So the roll swelled. Some came because they were orphans; some because
+they were not. Thus, poor Sammy. The home from which he came was past
+description. From the outside it looked like a tumble-down shed.
+Inside there appeared to be but one room, which measured six by twelve
+feet, and a small lean-to. The family consisted of father and mother
+and three children. The eldest boy was about twelve, then came Sam,
+and lastly a wee girl of five, with pretty curly fair hair, but very
+thin and delicate-looking. She seemed to be half-starved and
+thoroughly neglected. The father was a ne'er-do-well and the mother an
+imbecile who has since died of tuberculosis. The filth inside was
+awful. The house was built of logs, and the spaces in between them
+were partly filled in with old rags and moss. The roof leaked. The
+room seemed to be alive with vermin, as were also the whole family.
+The two boys were simply clothed in a pair of men's trousers apiece
+and a dilapidated pair of boots between them. The trousers they found
+very hard to keep on and had to give them frequent hoists up. They
+were both practically destitute of underclothing. To hide all
+deficiencies, they each wore a woman's long jacket of the oldest style
+possible and green with age, which reached down to their heels. Round
+their waists they each wore a skin strap. They were stripped of their
+rags, and made to scrub themselves in the stream and then indoors
+before putting on their new clean clothes. Sammy and the little sister
+joined the family.
+
+One of our boys is from Cape Chidley itself; others come from as far
+south and west as Bay of Islands in South Newfoundland. So many
+erroneous opinions seem to persist regarding the difference between
+Newfoundland and Labrador that I am constantly asked: "But why do you
+have a Children's Home in Newfoundland? Can't the Newfoundlanders look
+out for themselves and their dependent children?" As I have tried to
+make clear in a previous chapter North and South Newfoundland should
+be sharply differentiated as to wealth, education, climate, and
+opportunity. Though for purposes of efficiency and economy the actual
+building of the Home is situated in the north end of the northern
+peninsula of Newfoundland, the children who make up the family are
+drawn almost entirely from the Labrador side of the Straits; unless,
+as is often the case, the poverty and destitution of a so-called
+Newfoundland family on the south side of Belle Isle makes it
+impossible to leave children under such conditions.
+
+It is obvious that something had to be built to accommodate the
+galaxy; and some one secured who understood the problem of running the
+Home. She--how often it is "she"--was found in England, a volunteer by
+the name of Miss Eleanor Storr. She was a true Christian lady and a
+trained worker as well. The building during the years grew with the
+family, so that it is really a wonder of odds and patches. The
+generosity of one of our volunteers, Mr. Francis Sayre, the son-in-law
+of President Wilson, doubled its capacity. But buildings that are made
+of green wood, and grow like Topsy, are apt to end like
+Topsy--turvy. Now we are straining every nerve to obtain a suitable
+accommodation for the children. We sorely need a brick building,
+economically laid out and easily kept warm, with separate wings for
+girls and boys and a crêche for babies. Miss Storr was obliged to
+leave us, and now for over six years a splendid and unselfish English
+lady, Miss Katie Spalding, has been helping to solve this most
+important of all problems--the preparation of the next generation to
+make their land and the world a more fit place in which to live. Miss
+Spalding's contribution to this country has lain not only in her
+influence on the children and her unceasing care of them, but she has
+given her counsel and assistance in other problems of the Mission,
+where also her judgment, experience, and wisdom have proven
+invaluable.
+
+   [Illustration: INSIDE THE ORPHANAGE]
+
+There is yet another side of the orphanage problem. We have been
+obliged, due to the lack of any boarding-school, to accept bright
+children from isolated homes so as to give them a chance in life. It
+has been the truest of love messages to several. The children always
+repay, whether the parents pay anything or not; and as so much of the
+care of them is volunteer, and friends have assumed the expenses of a
+number of the children, the budget has never been unduly heavy. They
+do all their own work, and thanks to the inestimably valuable help of
+the Needlework Guild of America through its Labrador branch, the
+clothing item has been made possible. In summer we use neither boots
+nor stockings for the children unless absolutely necessary. Our
+harbour people still look on that practice askance; but ours are the
+healthiest lot of children on the coast, and their brown bare legs and
+tough, well-shaped feet are a great asset to their resistance to
+tuberculosis, their arch-enemy, and no small addition to the
+attraction of their merry faces and hatless heads.
+
+Even though Gabriel, Prince Pomiuk, never lived within its walls, the
+real beginning of the idea of our Children's Home was due to him; and
+one feels sure that his spirit loves to visit the other little ones
+who claim this lonely coast as their homeland also.
+
+The one test for surgery which we allow in these days is its "end
+results." Patients must not be advertised as cured till they have
+survived the treatment many years. Surely that is man's as well as
+God's test. Certainly it is the gauge of the outlay in child life.
+What is the good of it all? Does it pay? In the gift of increasing joy
+to us, in its obvious humanity and in its continuous inspiration, it
+certainly does make the work of life here in every branch the better.
+
+The solution of the problem of inducing the peace of God and the
+Kingdom of God into our "parish" is most likely to be solved by wise
+and persevering work among the children. For in them lies the hope of
+the future of this country, and their true education and upbringing to
+fit them for wise citizenship have been cruelly neglected in this
+"outpost of Empire."
+
+Another menace to the future welfare of the coast has been the lack of
+careful instruction and suitable opportunities for the development,
+physical, mental, and spiritual, of its girls. Without an educated and
+enlightened womanhood, no country, no matter how favored by material
+prosperity, can hope to take its place as a factor in the progress of
+the world. In our orphanage and educational work we have tried to keep
+these two ideas constantly before us, and to offer incentives to and
+opportunities for useful life-work in whatever branch, from the
+humblest to the highest, a child showed aptitude.
+
+Through the vision, ability, and devotion of Miss Storr, Miss
+Spalding, and their helpers, in training the characters as well as the
+bodies of the children at the Home, and by the generous support of
+friends of children elsewhere, we have been able to turn out each year
+from its walls young men and women better fitted to cope with the
+difficult problems of this environment, and to offer to its service
+that best of all gifts--useful and consecrated personalities.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION
+
+
+Every child should be washed. Every child should be educated. The only
+question is how to get there. The "why's" of life interest chiefly the
+academic mind. The "how's" interest every one. It is a pleasure
+sometimes to be out in dirty weather on a lee shore; it permits you to
+devote all your energies to accomplishing something. When secretary
+for our hospital rowing club on the Thames, a fine cup was given for
+competition by Sir Frederick Treves on terms symbolic of his attitude
+to life. The race was to be in ordinary punts with a coxswain "in
+order that every ounce of energy should be devoted to the progress of
+the boat."
+
+That is the whole trouble with the Newfoundland Labrador. All moneys
+granted for education are handed to the churches for sectarian
+schools. It is almost writing ourselves down as still living in the
+Middle Ages, when the Clergy had a monopoly of polite learning. In
+more densely populated countries this division of grants need not be
+so disastrous. Here it means that one often finds a Roman Catholic, a
+Church of England, a Methodist, and a Salvation Army school, all in
+one little village--and no school whatever in the adjoining place.
+
+The denominational spirit, fostered by these sectarian schools and
+societies, is so emphasized that Catholic and Protestant have little
+in common. Some preferred to let their children or themselves suffer
+pain and inefficiency, rather than come for relief to a hospital where
+the doctors were Protestant. This has in some measure passed away, but
+it was painfully real at first--so much so that once a rickety,
+crippled child, easily cured, though he actually came to the harbour,
+was forbidden to land and returned home to be a cripple for life.
+
+The salaries available offer no attraction to enter the teaching
+profession in this island; and there is no compulsory education law to
+assist those who with lofty motives remain loyal to the profession
+when "better chances" come along. Gauged rightly, there is no such
+thing as a better chance for fulfilling life's purposes than an
+education; and modern conditions concede the right of a decent living
+wage to all who render service to the world in whatever line.
+
+In the little village where are our headquarters there was already a
+Church of England and a Methodist school when we came there, and a
+Salvation Army one has since been added. Threats of still another
+"institution of learning" menaced us at one time--almost like a new
+Egyptian plague, with more permanency of results thrown in.
+
+If the motor power of the school boat is dissipated in sectarian
+religious education, not to say focussed on it, the arrival of the
+cargo must be seriously handicapped. The statistical returns may show
+a majority of our fishermen as "able to read and write"; but as a
+matter of fact the illiteracy and ignorance of North Newfoundland and
+Labrador is the greatest handicap in the lives of the people.
+
+My first scholar came from North Labrador, long before we aspired to a
+school of our own. He was a lad of Scotch extraction and name, and
+came aboard the hospital ship one night, as she lay at anchor among
+some northern islands, with the request that we would take him up with
+us to some place where he could get an hour's schooling a day. He
+offered to work all the rest of the time in return for his food and
+clothing. To-day he holds a Pratt certificate, is head of our machine
+shop, has a sheet-metal working factory of his own which fills a most
+valuable purpose on the shore, is general consultant for the coast in
+matters of engineering, as well as being the Government surveyor for
+his district. He is also chief musician for the church, having fitted
+himself for both those latter posts in his "spare time." The
+inspiration which his life has been is in itself an education to many
+of us--a reflex result which is the really highest value of all life.
+
+As each transferred individual has come back North for service, desire
+has at once manifested itself for similar privileges in young people
+who had not previously shown even interest enough to attend our winter
+night schools. This is the best evidence that inroads are being made
+into that natural apathy which is content with mediocrity or even
+inferiority. This is everywhere the world's most subtle enemy. Even if
+selfishness or envy has been the motive, the fact remains that they
+have often kindled that discontent with the past which Charles
+Kingsley preached as necessary to all progress. Nowhere could the
+pathology of the matter be more easily traced than in these concrete
+examples carrying the infection which could come from no other quarter
+into our isolation. It has been in very humble life an example of the
+return of the "Yankee to the Court of King Arthur."
+
+There was a time when Lord Haldane proposed that every English child,
+who in the Board schools had proved his ability to profit by it,
+should be given a college or university education at the expense of
+the State--as a remunerative outlay for the nation. This proposal was
+turned down as being too costly, though the expenditure for a single
+day's running of this war would have gone a long way to provide such
+a fund. We now know that it can be done and must be done as a sign
+manual of real freedom, which is not the leaving of parents or
+forbears, incompetent for any reason, free to damn their country with
+a stream of stunted intellects.
+
+America has already honoured herself forever by being a pioneer in
+this movement for the higher education of the people. Religion surely
+need not fear mental enlightenment. The dangers of life lie in
+ignorance, and after all is not true religion a thing of the intellect
+as well as of the heart? Can that really be inculcated in "two periods
+of forty minutes each week devoted to sectarian teaching," which was
+one of the concessions demanded of us in our fight for a free public
+or common school at St. Anthony? My own mental picture of myself at
+the age of seven sitting on a bench for forty minutes twice every week
+learning to be "religious" made me sympathize with Scrooge when the
+Ghost of the Past was paying him a visit.
+
+One thing was certain. The young lives entrusted to us were having as
+good medical care for their bodies as we could provide; and if we
+could compass it, we were going to have that paralleled for their
+minds. The parents of the village children could do as they liked with
+those committed to them--and they did it. There is nothing so
+thoroughly reactionary that I know of as religious prejudice well
+ground in. As regards the treatment of physical ailments the
+prejudices of what Dr. Holmes called "Homoeopathy and Kindred
+Delusions" always are strong in proportion as they are impregnated
+with some religious bias.
+
+Our efforts to combine the local schools having failed, we had to
+provide a building of our own. This we felt must be planned for the
+future. For some day the halcyon days of peace on earth shall be
+permitted in our community, and the true loyalty of efficient service
+to our brothers will, it is to be hoped, become actually the paramount
+object of our Christian religion. Perhaps this terrible war will have
+convinced the world that the loftiest aspirations of mankind are no
+more to save yourself hereafter than here. Is it not as true as ever
+that if we are not ourselves possessors of Christ's spirit, ourselves
+we cannot save?
+
+The only schoolhouse available, anyhow, was not nearly so good a
+building as that which we have since provided for the accommodation of
+our pigs! Fat pork is considered an absolute essential "down North";
+and it was cheaper and safer, according to Upton Sinclair, to raise
+pigs than buy the salted or tinned article. So we had instituted what
+we deemed a missionary enterprise in that line. (_Pace_ our vegetarian
+friends.)
+
+As soon as a sum of three thousand dollars had been raised, architect
+friends at the Pratt Institute sent down to us competitive designs,
+and one of our Labrador boys, who had studied there, erected the
+building. Having at the beginning no funds whatever for current
+expenses, we had to look for volunteer teachers. One denomination
+helped with part of its harbour grant, but the Government would not
+make any special donation toward the union school project. Even the
+caput grant, to which we had hoped that we were entitled for our own
+orphanage children, had by law to go to the denomination to which
+their parents had belonged. This was not always easy to decide
+correctly. On the occasion of taking the last census in Labrador, a
+well-dressed stranger suddenly visited one of our settlements on the
+east coast. It so happened that a very poor man with a large and
+growing family of eight children under ten years, who resided there,
+was not so loyal to his church as we are taught we ought to be. When
+the stranger entered his tilt a vision of material favours to be
+obtained was the dominant idea in the fisherman's mind. He was
+therefore on tenterhooks all the while that the questioning was going
+on lest some blunder of his might alienate the sympathy on which he
+was banking for "getting his share." At length it came to the
+momentous point of "What denomination do you belong to?"--a very vital
+matter when it comes to sympathy and sharing up. In some hesitation he
+gazed at the row of his eight unwashed and but half-clad offspring,
+whose treacly faces gaped open-mouthed at the visitor. Then with
+sudden inspiration he decided to play for safety, and replied, "Half
+of them is Church of England, and half is Methodist!"
+
+Being an unrecognized school, and so far off, some years went by
+before the innovation of bringing up scholars from our northern
+district entered our heads. We realized at length, however, that we
+should close one channel of criticism to the enemy if we proved that
+we could justify our school by their standard of annual examinations.
+Our teachers, being mostly volunteers, had to come from outside the
+Colony. Having no funds to purchase books and other supplies, we made
+use of books also sent us from outside. The real value of the local
+examination becomes questionable as a standard of success when far
+more highly educated teachers, and at least as cleverly laid-out study
+books, prevented the children in our school from passing them.
+
+Moreover, further to waken their faculties, we had included in our
+facilities a large upper hall of the school building and a library of
+some thousands of books collected from all quarters. The former
+afforded the stimulus which entertainments given by the children
+could carry, and also space for physical drill; the latter, that
+greatest incentive of all, access to books which lure people to wish
+to read them. In summer the parents and older children are busy with
+the fisheries day and night, and the little children run more or less
+wild, so this form of occupation was doubly desirable.
+
+The generous help of summer volunteers, especially a trained
+kindergartner, Miss Olive Lesley, gave us a regular summer school. All
+the expensive outfit needed was also donated. Eye and hand were
+enlisted in the service of brain evolution; while a piano, which it is
+true had seen better days, pressed the ear and the imagination into
+the service as well.
+
+One of the great gaps in child development in Labrador had been the
+almost entire lack of games. The very first year of our coming the
+absence of dolls had so impressed itself upon us that the second
+season we had brought out a trunkful. Even then we found later that
+the dolls were perched high up on the walls as ornaments, just out of
+reach of the children. In one little house I found a lad playing with
+some marbles. For lack of better these were three-quarter-inch bullets
+which "Dad had given him," while the alley was a full-inch round ball,
+which belonged to what my host was pleased to call "the little
+darlint"--a hoary blunderbuss over six feet in length. The skipper
+informed me that he had plenty of "fresh" for the winter, largely as a
+result of the successful efforts of the "darlint"; though it appeared
+to have exploded with the same fatal effect this year as the season
+previous. "I hear that you made a good shot, the other day, Uncle
+Joe," I remarked. "Nothing to speak on," he answered. "I only got
+forty-three, though I think there was a few more if I could have found
+them on the ice."
+
+The pathos of the lack of toys and games appealed especially to the
+Anglo-Saxon, who believes that if he has any advantage over
+competitors, it is not merely in racial attributes, but in the
+reaction of those attributes which develop in him the ineradicable
+love of athletics and sport. The fact that he dubs the classmate whom
+he admires most "a good sport," shows that he thinks so, anyway.
+
+So organized play was carefully introduced on the coast. It caught
+like wildfire among the children, and it was delightful to see groups
+of them naïvely memorizing by the roadside school lessons in the form
+of "Ring-of-Roses," "Looby-Loo," "All on the Train for Boston." To our
+dismay in the minds of the local people the very success of this
+effort gave further evidence of our incompetence.
+
+Our people have well-defined, though often singular, ideas as to what
+Almighty God does and does not allow; and among the pursuits which are
+irrevocably condemned by local oracles is dancing. The laxity of
+"foreigners" on this article of the Creed is proverbial. At the time
+there were two ministers in the place, and realizing that the people
+considered that our kindergarten was introducing the thin edge of the
+wedge, and that our whole effort might meet with disaster unless the
+rumours were checked, I went in search of them without delay. Three
+o'clock found us knocking at the kindergarten door. The teacher and
+source of the reputed scandal seemed in no way disconcerted by the
+visitation. The first game was irreproachable--every child was sitting
+on the floor. But next the children, were choosing partners, and
+though the boys had chosen boys, and the girls girls, the suspicions
+of the vigilance committee were aroused. No danger, however, to the
+three R's transpired, and we were next successfully piloted clear of
+condemnation through a game entitled "Piggie-wig and Piggie-wee." Our
+circulation was just beginning to operate once more in its normal
+fashion when we were told that the whole company would now "join hands
+and move around in a circle" to music. The entire jury sensed that the
+crucial moment had come. We saw boys and girls alternating, hand held
+in hand--and all to the undeniably secular libretto of "Looby-Loo." It
+was, moreover, noted with inward pain that many of the little feet
+actually left the ground. We adjourned to an adjacent fish stage to
+discuss the matter. I need not dilate on the vicissitudes of the
+session. It was clear that all but "Looby-Loo" could obviously be
+excluded from the group of "questionables"--but the last game was of a
+different calibre and must be put to vote. My readers will be relieved
+to learn that the resultant ballot was unanimously in favour of
+non-interference, and that from the pulpit the following Sunday the
+clergy gave to the kindergarten the official sanction of the Church.
+
+Other outsiders now began telling the people that we could not pass
+the Colony's examinations because we wasted our efforts on teaching
+"foolishness"; and the denomination which had hitherto lent us aid
+withdrew it, and tried again to run a midget sectarian school right
+alongside. The first occasion, however, on which this institution came
+seriously to my attention was when the minister and another young man
+came to call during the early weeks of our winter school session. The
+stranger was their special teacher. He was undoubtedly a smart lad; he
+had passed the preliminary examination. But he was only sixteen, and
+in temperament a very young sixteen at that. He was engaged at a more
+generous salary than usual, and was perfectly prepared to
+revolutionize our records. But, alas, not only was their little
+building practically unfit for habitation, but after a week's waiting
+not one single scholar had come to his school. The contrast between
+the two opportunities was too great--except for frothing criticism.
+Gladly, to help our neighbours out of a difficulty, we divided a big
+classroom into two parts, added a third teacher to our school, and
+were thus able to make an intermediate grade.
+
+The great majority of the whole reconstruction and work of the school
+was made possible by the generous and loving interest of a lady in
+Chicago. Added to the other anxieties of meeting our annual budget, we
+did not feel able to bear the additional burden for which this venture
+called. One cannot work at one's best at any time with an anxious
+mind. The lady, however, was generous enough to give sufficient
+endowment to secure two teachers among other things, though she
+absolutely refused to let even her name be known in connection with
+the school. Our consolation is that we know that she has vision enough
+to realize the value of her gift and to accept that as a more than
+sufficient return.
+
+Seeing that some of our older scholars were able to find really useful
+and remunerative employment in teaching, and as only for those who
+held certificates of having passed the local examinations were
+augmentation grants available, we decided to make special efforts to
+have our scholars pass by the local standards. We, therefore, thanks
+to the endowment, engaged teachers trained in the country, and
+instituted the curriculum of the Colony. These teachers told us that
+our school was better than almost any outside St. John's. Four
+scholars have passed this year; and now we have as head mistress a
+delightful lady who holds the best percentage record for passing
+children through the requirements of the local examinations of any in
+the country.
+
+So much more deeply, however, do idle words sink into some natures
+than even deeds, that one family preferred to keep their children at
+home to risk sending them to our undenominational school; and there is
+no law to compel better wisdom with us here in the North.
+
+On the other hand, we had already obtained a scale of our own for
+grading success. For a number of our most promising boys and girls we
+had raised the money for them to get outside the country what they
+could never get in it, namely, the technical training which is so much
+needed on a coast where we have to do everything for ourselves, and
+the breadth of view which contact with a more progressive civilization
+alone can give them. The faculty of Pratt Institute gave us a
+scholarship, and later two of them; and with no little fear as to
+their ability to keep up, we sent two young men there. The newness of
+our school forced us to select at the beginning boys who had only
+received teaching after their working hours. Both boys and girls have
+always had to earn something to help them on their way through. But
+they have stood the test of efficiency so well that we look forward
+with confidence to the future. A girl who took the Domestic Economy
+course at the Nasson Institute told me only to-day, "It gave me a new
+life altogether, Doctor"; and she is making a splendid return in
+service to her own people here.
+
+The real test of education is its communal effect; and no education is
+complete which leaves the individual ignorant of the things that
+concern his larger relationship to his country, any more than he is
+anything beyond a learned animal if he knows nothing of his
+opportunities and responsibilities as a son of God. But though
+example is a more impelling factor than precept, undoubtedly the most
+permanent contributions conferred on the coast by the many college
+students, who come as volunteers every summer to help us in the
+various branches of our work, is just this gift of their own
+personalities. Strangely enough, quite a number of these helpers who
+have to spend considerable money coming and returning, just to give us
+what they can for the sole return of what that means to their own
+lives, have not been the sons of the wealthy, but those working their
+way through the colleges. These men are just splendid to hold up as
+inspirational to our own.
+
+The access to books, as well as to sermons, may not be neglected. Our
+faculties, like our jaws, atrophy if we do not use them to bite with.
+The Carnegie libraries have emphasized a fact that is to education and
+the colleges what social work is to medicine and the hospitals. We
+were running south some years ago on our long northern trip before a
+fine leading wind, when suddenly we noticed a small boat with an
+improvised flag hoisted, standing right out across our bows. Thinking
+that it was at least some serious surgical case, we at once ordered
+"Down sail and heave her to," annoying though it was to have the
+trouble and delay. When at last she was alongside, a solitary,
+white-haired old man climbed with much difficulty over our rail.
+"Good-day. What's the trouble? We are in a hurry." The old man most
+courteously doffed his cap, and stood holding it in his hand. "I
+wanted to ask you, Doctor," he said slowly, "if you had any books
+which you could lend me. We can't get anything to read here." An angry
+reply almost escaped my lips for delaying a steamer for such a
+purpose. But a strange feeling of humiliation replaced it almost
+immediately. Which is really charity--skilfully to remove his injured
+leg, if he had one, or to afford him the pleasure and profit of a good
+book? Both services were just as far from his reach without our help.
+
+"Haven't you got any books?"
+
+"Yes, Doctor, I've got two, but I've read them through and through
+long ago."
+
+"What kind are they?"
+
+"One is the 'Works of Josephus,'" he answered, "and the other is
+'Plutarch's Lives.'"
+
+I thought that I had discovered the first man who could honestly and
+truthfully say that he would prefer for his own library the "best
+hundred books," selected by Mr. Ruskin and Dr. Eliot, without even so
+much as a sigh for the "ten best sellers."
+
+He was soon bounding away over the seas in his little craft, the happy
+possessor of one of our moving libraries, containing some fifty books,
+ranging from Henty's stories to discarded tomes from theological
+libraries.
+
+Each year the hospital ship moves these library boxes one more stage
+along the coast. As there are some seventy-five of them, they thus
+last the natural life of books, since we have only rarely enjoyed the
+help of a trained librarian enabling us to make the most use of these
+always welcome assets for our work. Later, some librarian friends from
+Brooklyn, chief among whom was Miss Marion Cutter, came down to help
+us; but our inability to have continuity when the ladies cannot afford
+to give their valuable services, has seriously handicapped the
+efficiency of this branch of the work. This, however, only spells
+opportunity, and when this war releases the new appreciation of
+service, we feel confident that somehow we shall be able to fill the
+gap, and some one will be found to come and help us again to meet this
+great need.
+
+The coöperation of teachers and librarians more than doubles the
+capacity of each alone, and we believe sincerely that they do that of
+doctors, as they unquestionably do that of the clergy. All the world's
+workers have infinitely more to gain by coöperation than they often
+suspect. And indeed we who are apostles of coöperation, as essential
+for economy in distribution and efficiency in production, realize that
+groups of workers pulling together always increase by geometrical
+progression the result obtained.
+
+None of our methods, however, tackled the smallest settlements, hidden
+away here and there in these fjords, especially those unreached by the
+mail steamers and devoid of means of transportation. Mahomet just
+could not come to the mountain, so it had to go to him. A lady and a
+Doctor of Philosophy, Miss Ethel Gordon Muir, whose life had been
+spent in teaching, and who would have been excused for discontinuing
+that function during her long vacations, came down at her own cost and
+charges to carry the light to one of these lonely settlements. She has
+with loyal devotion continued to carry on and enlarge that work ever
+since, till finally she has built up a work that the clergyman of the
+main section of coast affected, and also the Superintendent of
+Education, have declared is the most effective branch of our Mission.
+Her band of teachers are volunteers. They come down to these little
+hamlets for the duration of their summer vacations. They live with the
+fishermen in their cottages and gather their pupils daily wherever
+seems best. Lack of proper accommodation and pioneer conditions
+throughout in no way deter them. We expected that their criticism
+would be, "It is not worth while." That has never been the case.
+Before the war they came again and again, as a testimony to their
+belief in the value of the effort. Some have given promising children
+a chance for a complete education in the States. Indeed, one such lad,
+taken down some years ago by one of the students, entered Amherst
+College last year; while several were fighting with the American boys
+"Over There."
+
+The only real joy of possession is the power which it confers for a
+larger life of service. Has it been the reader's good fortune ever to
+save a human life? A cousin of mine, an officer in the submarine
+service of the Royal Engineers, told me a year or two before the war
+that he was never quite happy because he had spent all his life
+acquiring special capacities which he never in the least expected to
+be able to put to practical use. This war has given to him, at least,
+what possessions could never have offered.
+
+It almost requires the fabulous Jack to overcome the hoary giants of
+prejudice and custom, or the irrepressible energy of the Gorgon. It
+has been helpful to remember away "down North" the stand which
+Archbishop Ireland took for public schools. When the Episcopal
+clergyman for Labrador, whom we had been influential in bringing out
+from England, decided to start an undenominational boarding-school on
+his section of the coast, we began to hope that we might yet live to
+see our sporadic effort become a policy. Laymen in St. John's, led by
+the Rev. Dr. Edgar Jones, a most progressive clergyman, sympathized in
+dollars, and we were able to back the effort. A splendid volunteer
+head teacher will arrive in the spring to begin work. The effort still
+needs much help; but I am persuaded that a chain of undenominational
+schools can be started that will react on the whole country. Already a
+scheme for a similar uplift for the west coast is being promulgated.
+
+In a letter written to my wife some years ago I find that my
+convictions on the subject of education were no less firm than they
+are to-day. One came to the conclusion that "ignorance is the worst
+cause of suffering on our coast, and our 'religion' is fostering it.
+True, it has denominational schools, but these are to bolster up
+special ecclesiastical bodies, and are not half so good as Government
+schools would be. The 'goods delivered' in the schools are not
+educational in the best sense, and are all too often inefficiently
+offered. Instead of making the children ambitious to go on learning
+through life, they make them tired. There is no effort to stimulate
+the play side; and in our north end of the Colony's territory there
+are no trades taught, no new ideas, no manual training--it is all
+so-called 'arts' and Creeds."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+"WHO HATH DESIRED THE SEA?"
+
+
+We are somewhat superstitious down here still, and not a few believe
+that shoals and submerged rocks are like sirens which charm vessels to
+their doom.
+
+On one occasion, as late in the fall we were creeping up the Straits
+of Belle Isle in the only motor boat then in use there, our new toy
+broke down, and with a strong onshore wind we gradually drifted in
+toward the high cliffs. It was a heavy boat, and though we rowed our
+best we realized that we must soon be on the rocks, where a strong
+surf was breaking. So we lashed all our lines together and cast over
+our anchors, hoping to find bottom. Alas, the water was too deep.
+Darkness came on and the prospect of a long, weary night struggling
+for safety made us thrill with excitement. Suddenly a schooner's
+lights, utterly unexpected, loomed up, coming head on toward us. Like
+Saul and his asses, we no longer cared about our craft so long as we
+escaped. At once we lashed the hurricane light on the boat-hook and
+waved it to and fro on high to make sure of attracting attention. To
+our dismay the schooner, now almost in hail, incontinently tacked,
+and, making for the open sea, soon left us far astern. We fired our
+guns, we shouted in unison, we lit flares. All to no purpose. Surely
+it must have been a phantom vessel sent to mock us. Suddenly our
+amateur engineer, who had all the time been working away at the
+scrap-heap of parts into which he had dismembered the motor, got a
+faint kick out of one cylinder--a second--a third, then two, three,
+and then a solitary one again. It was exactly like a case of blocked
+heart. But it was enough with our oars to make us move slowly ahead.
+By much stimulating and watchful nursing we limped along on the one
+cylinder, and about midnight found ourselves alongside the phantom
+ship, which we had followed into the harbour "afar off." Angry enough
+at their desertion of us in distress, we went aboard just to tell them
+what we thought of their behaviour. But their explanation entirely
+disarmed us. "Them cliffs is haunted," said the skipper. "More'n one
+light's been seen there than ever any man lit. When us saw you'se
+light flashing round right in on the cliffs, us knowed it was no place
+for Christian men that time o' night. Us guessed it was just fairies
+or devils trying to toll us in."
+
+We had no lighthouses on Labrador in those days, and though hundreds
+of vessels, crowded often with women and children, had to pass up and
+down the coast each spring and fall, still not a single island,
+harbour, cape, or reef had any light to mark it, and many boats were
+unnecessarily lost as a result.
+
+Most of the schooners of this large fleet are small. Many are old and
+poorly "found" in running gear. Their decks are so crowded with boats,
+barrels, gear, wood, and other impedimenta, that to reef or handle
+sails on a dark night is almost impossible; while below they were
+often so crowded with women and children going North with their men
+for the summer fishing on the Labrador shore, that I have had to crawl
+on my knees to get at a patient, after climbing down through the main
+hatch. These craft are quite unfitted for a rough night at sea,
+especially as there always are icebergs or big pans about, which if
+touched would each spell another "vessel missing." So the craft all
+creep North and South in the spring and fall along the land, darting
+into harbours before dark, and leaving before dawn if the night
+proves "civil." Yet many a time I have seen these little vessels with
+their precious cargoes becalmed, or with wind ahead, just unable to
+make anchorage, and often on moonless nights when the barometer has
+been low and the sky threatening. As there were no lights on the land,
+it would have been madness to try and make harbours after sundown.
+
+I have known the cruel, long anxiety of heart which the dilemma
+involved. It has been our great pleasure sometimes to run out and tow
+vessels in out of their distress. I can still feel the grip of one
+fine skipper, who came aboard when the sea eased down. The only
+harbour available for us had been very small, and the water too deep
+for his poor gear. So when he started to drift, we had given him a
+line and let him hold on to us through the night, with his own stern
+only a few yards from the cliffs under his lee, and all his loved
+ones, as well as his freighters, a good deal nearer heaven than he
+wished them to be.
+
+We had frequently written to the Government of this neglect of lights
+for the coast. But Labrador has no representative in the Newfoundland
+Parliament, and legislators who never visited Labrador had
+unimaginative minds. Year after year went by and nothing was done. So
+I spoke to many friends of the dire need for a light near Battle
+Harbour Hospital. Practically every one of the Northern craft ran
+right by us many times as they fished first in the Gulf and later on
+the east coast, and so had to go past that corner of land. I have seen
+a hundred vessels come and anchor near by in a single evening. When
+the money was donated, our architect designed the building, and a
+friend promised to endow the effort, so that the salary of the
+light-keeper might be permanent. The material was cut and sent North,
+when we were politely told that the Government could not permit
+private ownership of lights--a very proper decision, too. They told us
+that the year before money had been voted by the House for lights, and
+the first would be erected near Battle Harbour. This was done, and the
+Double Island Light has been a veritable Godsend to me as well as to
+thousands of others many times since that day.
+
+   [Illustration: FISH ON THE FLAKES]
+
+   [Illustration: DRYING THE SEINES]
+
+One hundred miles north of Indian Tickle, a place also directly in the
+run of all the fishing schooners, a light was much needed. On a
+certain voyage coming South with the fleet in the fall, we had all
+tried to make the harbour, but it shut down suddenly before nightfall
+with a blanket of fog which you could almost cut with a knife, and
+being inside many reefs, and unable to make the open, we were all
+forced to anchor. Where we were exactly none of us knew, for we had
+all pushed on for the harbour as much as we dared. There were eleven
+riding-lights visible around us when a rift came in the fog. We hoped
+against hope that we had made the harbour. A fierce northeaster
+gathered strength as night fell, and a mighty sea began to heave in.
+Soon we strained at our anchors in the big seas, and heavy water swept
+down our decks from bow to stern. Our patients were dressed and our
+boats gotten ready, though it all had only a psychological value.
+Gradually we missed first one and then another of the riding-lights,
+and it was not difficult to guess what had happened. When daylight
+broke, only one boat was left--a large vessel called the Yosemite, and
+she was drifting right down toward us. Suddenly she touched a reef,
+turned on her side, and we saw the seas carry her over the breakers,
+the crew hanging on to her bilge. Steaming to our anchors had saved
+us. All the vessels that went ashore became matchwood. But before we
+could get our anchors or slip them, our main steam pipe gave out and
+we had to blow down our boilers. It was now a race between the
+engineers trying to repair the damage and the shortening hours of
+daylight. On the result depended quite possibly the lives of us all. I
+cannot remember one sweeter sound than the raucous voice of the
+engineer just in the nick of time calling out, "Right for'ard," and
+then the signal of the engine-room bell in the tell-tale in our little
+wheel-house. The Government has since put a fine little light in
+summer on White Point, the point off which we lay.
+
+Farther north, right by our hospital at Indian Harbour, is a narrow
+tickle known as the "White Cockade." Through this most of the fleet
+pass, and here also we had planned for a lighthouse. When we were
+forbidden to put our material at Battle Harbour, we suggested moving
+to this almost equally important point. But it fell under the same
+category, and soon after the Government put a good light there also.
+The fishermen, therefore, suggested that we should offer our
+peripatetic, would-be lighthouse to the Government for some new place
+each year.
+
+We have not much now to complain of so far as the needs of our present
+stage of evolution goes. We have wireless stations, quite a number of
+lights, not a few landmarks, and a ten times better mail and transport
+service than the much wealthier and more able Dominion of Canada could
+and ought to give to her long shore from Quebec to the eastern
+"Newfoundland" boundary on the Straits Labrador.
+
+He is not a great legislator who only makes provision for certainties.
+True, the West has shown such riches and capacity that it has paid
+better to develop it first. But there is no excuse now whatever for
+neglecting the East. The Dominion would have been well advised,
+indeed, had she years ago built a railway to the east coast,
+shortening the steamer communication with England to only two nights
+at sea, and saving twenty-four hours for the mails between London and
+Toronto. The war has shown how easily she could have afforded it. Most
+ardently I had hoped that she might have turned some of her German
+prisoner labour in so invaluable a direction.
+
+Had the reindeer installation been handled by the Newfoundland
+Government years ago as it should have been, Labrador would have
+yielded to our boys in France a very material assistance in meat and
+furs. Canada now could and should, if only in the interest of her
+native population, begin on this problem as soon as peace is declared.
+
+The fact that a thing possesses vitality is a guarantee that it will
+grow if it can. Each new focus will expand, and caterpillar-like cast
+off its old clothing for better. The first necessity for economy and
+efficiency in our work has been to get our patients quickly to us or
+to be able to get to them. Experience has shown us that while boats
+entirely dependent on motors are cheapest, it is not always safe to do
+open-sea work in such launches without a secondary and more reliable
+means of progression. The stories of a doctor's work in these launches
+would fill a volume by themselves. The first Northern Messenger, a
+small "hot-head" boat, was replaced and sold to pay part of the cost
+of Northern Messenger number two. This in its turn was wrecked on an
+uncharted shoal with Dr. West on board, and her insurance used to help
+to procure Northern Messenger number three--which is the beautiful
+boat which now serves Harrington, our most westerly hospital. We are
+largely indebted for her to Mr. William Bowditch, of Milton,
+Massachusetts.
+
+Dr. Hare, our first doctor at that station, never wrote his own
+experiences, but one of the Yale volunteers who worked under him wrote
+a story founded on fact, from which the following incident is
+suggestive.
+
+Once, running home before a wind in the Gulf, the doctor suddenly
+missed his little son Pat, and looking round saw him struggling in the
+water, already many yards astern. Dr. Hare, who was at the tiller at
+the time, instantly jumped over after him. The child was finally
+disappearing when he reached him at last and held his head above
+water. Meanwhile the engineer, who had been below, jumped on deck to
+find the sails flapping in the wind and the boat head to sea. With the
+intuitive quickness of our people in matters pertaining to the sea, he
+took in the situation in a second, and though entirely alone
+manoeuvred the boat so cleverly as to pick them both up before they
+perished in these frigid waters. Pat's young life was saved, only to
+be given a short few years later in France for the same fight for the
+kingdom of righteousness which his home life had made his familiar
+ideal.
+
+The forty-five-foot, "hot-head" yawl Daryl, given us by the Dutch
+Reformed friends in New York, was sold to the Hudson Bay Company. At
+first she was naturally called the Flying Dutchman, and was most
+useful; but here we have learned when a better instrument is available
+that it is the truest economy to scrap-heap the old. We were to give
+delivery of the boat in Baffin's Land. There were plenty of volunteers
+for the task, for the tough jobs are the very ones which appeal to
+real men. It would be well if the churches realized this fact and that
+therein lies the real secret of Christianity. The impression that
+being a Christian is a soft job inevitably brings our religion into
+contempt. I had been in England that spring, and had been able to
+arrange that the mail steamer bound for Montreal on which I took
+passage should stop and drop me off Belle Isle if the crusaders who
+were to take this launch on her long voyage North would stand out
+across our pathway. Mr. Marconi personally took an interest in the
+venture. The launch was to wait at our most easterly Labrador station,
+and we were to keep telling her our position. The boat was in charge
+of Mr. John Rowland and Mr. Robert English, both of Yale. It created
+quite a furor among the passengers on our great ship, when she stopped
+in mid-ocean, as it appeared to them, and lowered an erratic doctor
+over the side on to a midget, whose mast-tops one looked down upon
+from the liner's rail. The sensation was all the more marked as we
+disappeared over the rail clinging to two large pots of geraniums--an
+importation which we regarded as very much worth while.
+
+With an old Hudson Bay man, Mr. George Ford, to act as interpreter,
+and a Harvard colleague, who to his infinite chagrin was recalled by a
+wireless from his parents almost before starting, the little ship and
+her crew of three disappeared "over the edge" beyond communication. I
+should mention that the Company had promised an engineer for the
+launch, but he had begged off when he understood the nature of the
+projected expedition; so Yale decided that they were men enough to do
+without any outside help.
+
+September had nearly gone, and no news had come from the boys. I owe
+some one an infinite debt for a temperament which does not go halfway
+to meet troubles; but even I was a little worried when unkind rumours
+that we had sold a boat that was not safe were capped by a father's
+letter to say that he "had heard the reports"! Fortunately, two days
+later, as the Strathcona lay taking on whale meat for winter dog food
+at the northernmost factory, the Northern mail steamer came in. On
+board were our returned wanderers, and papa, who had gone down as far
+as the Labrador steamer runs to look for them, as proud and happy as a
+man has a right to be over sons who do things. The boys had not only
+reached Baffin's Land, but had explored over a hundred miles of its
+uncharted coast-line, crossed to Cape Wolstenholme, navigated
+Stupart's Bay--northeast of Ungava--and finally returned to Baffin's
+Land, coming back to Cartwright on the Hudson Bay Company's steamer
+Pelican. It was a splendid record, especially when we remember the
+fierce currents and tremendous rise and fall of tides in that distant
+land. This latter was so great that having anchored one night in three
+fathoms of water in what appeared to be a good harbour, they had
+awakened in the morning to the fact that they were in a pond a full
+mile in the country, left stranded by the retiring tide.
+
+Our last "hot-head," the Pomiuk, in a heavy gale of wind was smashed
+to atoms on a terrible reef of rocks off Domino Point a mile from
+land--fortunately with no one aboard. Yet another of our fine yawls,
+the Andrew McCosh, given us by the students of Princeton, was driven
+from her anchors on to the dangerous Point Amour, where years ago,
+H.M.S. Lily was lost, and whose bones still lie bleaching on the rocky
+foreshore at the foot of the cliffs. Much as I love the sea, it made
+one rather "sore" that it should serve us such a turn as wrecking the
+McCosh. I have been on the sea for over thirty years and never lost a
+vessel while aboard her, but to look on while the waves destroyed so
+beautiful a handmaid almost reconciled me to the statement that in
+heaven there shall "be no more sea."
+
+It was near this same spot that in November, 1905, a very old vessel,
+while trying to cross the Straits in a breeze, suddenly sprung a leak
+which sent her to the bottom in spite of all the pumping which could
+be done. The six men aboard were able to keep afloat at that time of
+year in the open Atlantic out of sight of land for five days and
+nights. They had nothing to eat but dry bread, and no covering of any
+kind. The winds were heavy and the seas high all the while. By
+patiently keeping their little boat's head to the wind with the oars,
+for they had not any sails, day after day and night after night, and
+backing her astern when a breaker threatened to overwhelm them, they
+eventually reached land safe and sound.
+
+The special interest about the launches has always been the pleasant
+connection which they have enabled us to maintain with the
+universities. Yale crews, Harvard crews, Princeton crews, Johns
+Hopkins crews, College of Physicians and Surgeons crews, and combined
+crews of many others, have in succeeding years thus become interested.
+Occasionally these men have taken back some of their Labrador
+shipmates to the United States for a year's education, and in that and
+other ways, so they say, have they themselves received much real joy
+and inspiration.
+
+In order to maintain the interest which Canada had taken in our work,
+it had in some way to be organized. We had volunteer honorary
+secretaries in a few cities, but no way of keeping them informed of
+our needs and our progress. In New England a most loyal friend, Miss
+Emma White, who ever since has been secretary and devoted helper of
+the Labrador work there, had started a regular association with a
+board of directors and had taken an office in Beacon Street, Boston.
+This association now and again published little brochures of our work,
+or ordered out a few copies of the English magazine called "The
+Toilers of the Deep." It was suggested that we might with advantage
+publish a quarterly pamphlet of our own. This was made possible by the
+generous help of the late Miss Julia Greenshields, of Toronto, who
+undertook not only to edit, but also personally to finance any loss on
+a little magazine to be entitled "Among the Deep-Sea Fishers." This
+has been maintained ever since, and has been responsible for helping
+to raise many of the funds to enable us to "carry on."
+
+We had also begun to get friends in New York. Dr. Charles Parkhurst,
+famous especially for his plucky exposure of the former rottenness of
+the police force of that city, had asked me to give an illustrated
+lecture at his mission in the Bowery. After my talk a gentleman
+present, to my blank astonishment, gave me a cheque for five hundred
+dollars. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship with one who
+has, for all the succeeding years, given far more than money, namely,
+the constant inspiration of his own attitude to life and his wise
+counsel--to say nothing of the value of the endorsation of his name.
+His eldest son, one of the ablest of the rising New York architects,
+became chairman of the Grenfell Association of America, and gave us
+both of his time and talent--he being responsible, as voluntary
+architect, for many of our present buildings, including the Institute
+at St. John's, Newfoundland.
+
+This spread of interest in the United States greatly increased our
+correspondence, with an odd result. Americans apparently all believed
+that this Colony was part of Canada, and that the postage was two
+cents as to the Dominion. This mistake left us six cents to pay on
+every letter, and sixteen on any which were overweight. On one
+occasion the postmaster offered me so many taxable letters that I
+decided to accept only one, and let the others go back. That one
+contained a cheque for a hundred dollars for the Mission. I naturally
+took the rest, and found every one of them to be bills, gossip, or
+from autograph-hunters.
+
+On inquiry, our Postmaster-General informed me that it was not
+possible to arrange a two-cent postal rate with America. It had been
+tried and abandoned, because Canada wanted a share for carrying the
+letters through her territory. He told me, however, that he would
+agree gladly if the United States offered it. On my visit to
+Washington I had the honour of dining with Lord Bryce, our Ambassador
+there and an old friend of my father's, and I mentioned the matter to
+him. He could not, however, commend my efforts to the Government, as I
+had no credentials as a special delegate. There was nothing to do but
+take my place in the queue of importunates waiting to interview the
+Postmaster-General. When at length I had been moved to the top of the
+bench, I was called in, and very soon explained my mission. I received
+a most cordial hearing, but merely the information that a note would
+be made of my request and filed.
+
+It suddenly flashed upon me that Americans had equal fishing rights with
+ourselves on the Labrador coast, and that quite a number visited there
+every year. Possibly the grant of a two-cent postage would be a welcome
+little "sop" to them. Mr. Meyer, who was the Postmaster-General at the
+time, said that it made all the difference if the reduced rate would in
+any way encourage the American mercantile marine. He bade me draw a
+careful list of reasons in favour of my proposal, and promised to give
+it careful attention.
+
+It so happened that a few days later I mentioned the matter to Colonel
+McCook at whose home I was staying in New York. Colonel McCook, known
+as "Fighting McCook," from the fact that he was the only one of nine
+brothers not killed in the Civil War, at once took up the cudgels in
+my behalf, left for Washington the following day, and wired me on the
+next morning, "All arranged. Congratulations"--and I had the pleasure
+of telegraphing the Postmaster-General in St. John's that I had
+arranged the two-cent postage rate with the United States and
+Newfoundland. A few days later I received a marked copy of a
+Newfoundland paper saying how capable a Government they possessed,
+seeing that now they had so successfully put through the two-cent post
+for the Colony--and that was all the notice ever taken of my only
+little political intrigue; except that a year or two later, meeting
+Mr. Meyer in Cambridge, he whispered in my ear, "We were going out of
+office in four days, or you would never have got that two-cent post
+law of yours through so easily."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the spring of 1907 I was in England, and before I left, my old
+University was good enough to offer me an honorary degree of Doctor of
+Medicine of Oxford. As it was the first occasion that that respectable
+old University had ever given that particular degree to any one, I was
+naturally not a little gratified. The day of the conferring of it will
+ever live in my memory. My cousin, the Professor of Paleontology, half
+of whose life was spent in the desert of Egypt digging for papyri in
+old dust-heaps, was considered the most appropriate person to stand
+sponsor for me--a would-be pioneer of a new civilization in the
+sub-arctic.
+
+The words with which the Public Orator introduced me to the
+Vice-Chancellor, being in Latin, seem to me interesting as a relic
+rather than as a statement of fact:
+
+"Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie vosque egregii Procuratores: Adest
+civis Britannicus, hujus academiæ olim alumnus, nunc Novum Orbem
+incolentibus quam nostratibus notus. Hic ille est qui quindecim abhinc
+annos in litus Labradorium profectus est, ut solivagis in mari Boreali
+piscatoribus ope medica succurreret; quo in munere obeundo Oceani
+pericula, quæ ibi formidosissima sunt, contempsit dum miseris et
+mærentibus solatium ac lumen afferret. Nunc quantum homini licet, in
+ipsius Christi vestigiis, si fas est dicere, insistere videtur, vir
+vere Christianus. Jure igitur eum laudamus cujus laudibus non ipse
+solum sed etiam Academia nostra ornatur.
+
+"Præsenta ad vos Wilfredum Thomassum Grenfell, ut admittatur ad gradum
+Doctoris in Medicina Honoris Causa."
+
+As we, the only two Doctors Grenfell extant, marched solemnly back
+down the aisle side by side, the antithesis of what doctorates called
+for struck my sense of humour most forcibly. I had hired the gorgeous
+robes of scarlet box cloth and carmine silk for the occasion, never
+expecting to wear them again. But some years later, when yet another
+honorary Doctorate, of Laws, was most generously conferred upon me by
+a University of our American cousins, I felt it incumbent on me to
+uphold if possible the British end of the ritual. A cable brought me
+just in time the box-cloth surtout. Commencement ceremonies in the
+United States are in June; and the latitude was that of Rome. For
+years I had spent the hot months always in the sub-arctic. The
+assembly hall was small and crowded to bursting--not even all the
+graduating class could get in, much less all their friends. The
+temperature was in three figures. The scarlet box cloth got hotter and
+hotter as we paraded in and about the campus. My face outrivalled the
+gown in colour. I have made many lobster men out of the boiled limbs
+of those admirable adjuncts of a Northern diet, but I had never
+expected to pose as one in the flesh. The most lasting impression
+which the ceremony left on my mind is of my volunteer summer
+secretary, who stood almost on my toes as he delivered the valedictory
+address of his class. I still see his gradually wilting, boiled
+collar, and the tiny rivulet which trickled down his neck as he warmed
+to his subject. We were the best of friends, but I felt that glow of
+semi-satisfaction that comes to the man who finds that he is no longer
+the only one seasick on board.
+
+About this time King Edward most graciously presented me, as one of
+his birthday honours, with a Companionship in the Order of St. Michael
+and St. George--most useful persons for any man to have as companions,
+especially in a work like ours, both being famous for downing dragons
+and devils. My American friends immediately knighted me. The papers
+and magazines knighted me in both the United States and Canada. But
+that got me into trouble, for only kings can make pawns into knights,
+and I had to appeal several times to the Associated Press to save
+myself being dubbed _poseur_. I have protested at meetings when the
+chairman has knighted me; at banquets, when the master of ceremonies
+has knighted me. I gave it up lest accusation should arise against me,
+when at a semi-religious meeting I uttered a feeble protest against
+the title to which I have no right, and my introducer merely repeated
+it the more firmly, informing the audience meanwhile that I was "too
+modest to use it."
+
+There was attached to the conferring of the Order one elective
+latitude--it could either be sent out or wait till I returned to
+England and attended a levee with the other recipients. I had a great
+desire to see the King, and, though it meant a year's waiting, I
+requested to be allowed to do so. This not only was most courteously
+granted, but also the permission to let my presence in England be
+known to the Hereditary Grand Chamberlain, and the King would give me
+a private audience. When the day arrived, I repaired to Buckingham
+Palace, where I waited for an hour in the reception room in company
+with a small, stout clergyman who was very affable. I learned later
+that he was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was carrying a fat Bible
+from Boston, England, I believe, to be presented to the United States
+of America.
+
+At last Sir Frederick Treves, who kindly acted as my introducer, took
+me up to the King's study--that King whose life his skill had saved.
+There a most courteous gentleman made me perfectly at home, and talked
+of Labrador and North Newfoundland and our work as if he had lived
+there. He asked especially about the American helpers and interest,
+and laughed heartily when I told him how many freeborn Americans had
+gladly taken the oath of loyalty to His Majesty, when called up to act
+as special constables for me in his oldest Colony. He left the
+impression on my mind that he was a real Englishman in spirit, though
+he had spoken with what I took to be a slight German accent. The
+sports and games of the Colony I had noticed interested him very much,
+and all references to the splendid seafaring genius of the people also
+found an appreciative echo in his heart. When at last he handed me a
+long box with a gorgeous medal and ribbon, and bade me good-bye, I
+vowed I could sing "God save the King" louder than ever if I could do
+so without harrowing the feelings of my more tuneful neighbours.
+
+When later, as a major in an American surgical unit in France, I was
+serving the R.A.M.C., the ribbon of the Order was actually of real
+service to me. It undoubtedly opened some closed doors, though it
+proved a puzzle to every A.D.M.S. to whom I had to explain the anomaly
+of my position when I had to go and worry him for permission to cross
+the road or some new imaginary line. In England, and even in America,
+I found that the fact that the King had recognized one's work was a
+real material asset. It was a credential--only on a larger scale--like
+that from our Minister to the Colonies, the Marquis of Ripon, who
+kindly had given me his blessing in writing when first I visited
+Canada.
+
+How far signs of superiority are permissible is to my mind an open
+question. Hereditary human superiority does not necessarily exist,
+because selective precautions are not taken, and the environment of
+the superior is very apt to enfeeble the physical machine, anyhow. The
+question of the hereditary superiority of a man's soul, being outside
+my sphere, I leave to the theologians. History, which is the school of
+experience, belies the theory, whatever current science may say. As
+for the giving of hereditary titles, it is significant that they do
+not as a rule go to scholars or even scientific men, but to physical
+fighters, being physical rewards for material services. When these are
+in the possession of offspring no longer capable of rendering such
+services, it appears ridiculous that they should sail under false
+colours.
+
+To make a man a hereditary duke for being humble and modest, or
+hereditary marquis for being unselfish and generous, or an earl for
+being a man of peace, and a benefactor in the things which make for
+peace, such as a good husband and father and comrade, has, so far as I
+know, never been tried. Some of the so-called lesser honours, such as
+knighthood, are reserved for these. However, an order of knightly
+citizens, so long as they are real knights, is, after all, little
+more than the gold key of the Phi Beta Kappa, or the red triangle of
+the Y.M.C.A. worker, or the Red Cross badge of the nurse. We are
+human, anyhow, and such concessions, seeing that they do have an
+undoubted stimulating value in the present stage of our development,
+to an Englishman seem permissible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE REINDEER EXPERIMENT
+
+
+Labrador will never be a "vineland," a land of corn and wine, or a
+country where fenced cities will be needed to keep out the milk and
+honey. But though there may be other sections of the Empire that can
+produce more dollars, Labrador will, like Norway and Sweden, produce
+Vikings, and it is said that the man behind the gun is still of some
+moment.
+
+In past years we have made quite extensive experiments in trying to
+adapt possible food supplies to this climate. I had seventeen bags of
+the hardiest cereal seeds known sent me. They consisted of barley from
+Lapland, from Russia, from Abyssinia, Mansbury barley and Finnish
+oats. All the seeds came from the experimental station at Rampart,
+Alaska, and were grown in latitude 63° 30', which is two degrees north
+of Cape Chidley.
+
+I find in the notes of one of my earliest voyages my satisfaction at
+the fact that a storm with lightning and thunder had just passed over
+the boat and freshened up some rhubarb which I was growing in a box.
+It had been presented to me by the Governor to carry down to Battle
+Harbour, and I was very eager that it, my first agricultural venture,
+should not fail.
+
+Everywhere along the coast the inability to get a proper diet, owing
+to the difficulties of successful farming even on ever so small a
+scale, had aroused my mind to the necessity of doing something along
+that line. In one small cottage I saw a poor woman zealously guarding
+an aged rooster.
+
+"Have you got a hen?" I asked her.
+
+"No, Doctor; I had one, but she died last year."
+
+"Then why ever do you keep that rooster?"
+
+"Oh! I hopes some day to get a hen. I've had him five years. The last
+manager of the mill gave him to me, but you'se sees he can't never go
+out and walk around because of the dogs, so I just keeps he under that
+settle."
+
+Pathetic as were her efforts at stock farming, I must admit that my
+sympathies were all with the incarcerated rooster.
+
+The problem of the dogs seemed an insurmountable one. The Moravians'
+records abound in stories of their destructiveness. Mr. Hesketh
+Pritchard writes: "Dr. Grenfell records two children and one man
+killed by the dogs. This is fortunately a much less terrible record
+than that shown farther north by the Moravian Missions. The savage
+dogs did great harm at those stations one winter." Among other
+accidents, a boy of thirteen, strong and well, was coming home from
+his father's kayak to his mother. After some time, as he did not
+arrive, they went to search for him and found that the dogs had
+already killed and eaten a good part of him. A full-grown man, driving
+to Battle Harbour Hospital, was killed by his dogs almost at our
+doors.
+
+The wolves of the country only pack when deer are about. As a contrast
+to our dogs, wolves have never been known to kill a man in Labrador,
+so it would be more correct to speak of a doggish wolf than a wolfish
+dog. It is an odd thing and a fortunate one that in this country,
+where it is very common to have been bitten by a dog, we never have
+been able to find any trace of hydrophobia.
+
+A visitor returning to New York after a summer on the coast wrote as
+follows: "One of my lasting remembrances of Battle Harbour will be the
+dreadful dogs. The Mission team were on an island far removed, but
+there were a number of settlers' dogs which delighted in making the
+nights hideous. Never before have I seen dogs stand up like men and
+grapple with each other in a fight, and when made to move on, renew
+the battle round the corner."
+
+Our efforts at agriculture had taught us not to expect too much of the
+country. A New Zealand cousin, Martyn Spencer, a graduate of Macdonald
+College of Agriculture, gave us two years' work. His experience showed
+that while dogs continued to be in common use, cattle-raising was
+impossible. Of a flock of forty Herdwick sheep given by Dr. Wakefield,
+the dogs killed twenty-seven at one time. Angora goats, which we had
+imported, perished in the winter for lack of proper food. Our land
+cost so much to reclaim for hay, being soaked in humic acid, that we
+had always to import that commodity at a cost which made more cows
+than absolutely essential very inadvisable. Weasels, rats, hawks, and
+vermin needed a man's whole time if our chickens were to be properly
+guarded and repay keeping at all. An alfalfa sent us from Washington
+did well, and potatoes also gave a fair return, though our summer
+frosts often destroyed whole patches of the latter. Our imported plum
+and crabapple trees were ringed by mice beneath the snow in winter. At
+a farm which we cleared nine miles up a bay, so as to have it removed
+from the polar current, our oats never ripened, and our turnips and
+cabbage did not flourish in every case. We could not plant early
+enough, owing to the ground being frozen till July some years.
+
+On the other hand, when we looked at the hundreds of thousands of
+square miles on which caribou could live and increase without any help
+from man, and indeed in spite of all his machinations, our attention
+was naturally turned to reindeer farming, and I went to Washington to
+consult Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the Presbyterian missionary from Alaska.
+It was he who had pioneered the introduction by the United States
+Government of domestic reindeer into Alaska. At Washington we received
+nothing but encouragement. Reindeer could make our wilderness smile.
+They would cost only the protection necessary. They multiply steadily,
+breeding every year for eight or ten years after their second season.
+A selected herd should double itself every three years.
+
+The skins are very valuable--there is no better nonconductor of heat.
+The centre of the hair is not a hollow cylinder, but a series of air
+bubbles which do not soak water, and therefore can be used with
+advantage for life-saving cushions. The skins are splendid also for
+motor robes, and now invaluable in the air service. The meat is tender
+and appetizing, and sold as a game delicacy in New York. The deer
+fatten well on the abundant mosses of a country such as ours.
+
+Sir William MacGregor, the Governor of Newfoundland at the time, had
+samples of the mosses collected around the coast and sent to Kew
+Botanical Gardens for positive identification. The Cladonia
+Rangiferina, or Iceland moss, proved very abundant. It was claimed,
+however, that the reindeer would eat any of such plants and shrubs as
+our coast offers in summer.
+
+As long ago as the year 1903 my interest in the domestication of deer
+had led me to experiment with a young caribou. We had him on the
+Strathcona nearly all one summer. He was a great pet on board, and
+demonstrated how easily trained these animals are. He followed me
+about like a dog, and called after me as I left the ship's side in a
+boat if we did not take him with us. He was as inquisitive as a monkey
+or as the black bear which we had had two years before. We twice
+caught him in the chart-room chewing up white paper, for on his first
+raid there he had found an apple just magnanimously sent us from the
+shore as a delicacy.
+
+Friends, inspired by Mr. William Howell Reed, of Boston, collected the
+money for a consignment of reindeer, and we accordingly sent to
+Lapland to purchase as many of the animals as we could afford. The
+expense was not so much in the cost of the deer as in the transport.
+They could not be shipped till they had themselves hauled down to the
+beach enough moss to feed them on their passage across the Atlantic.
+Between two hundred and fifty and three hundred were purchased, and
+three Lapp families hired to teach some of our local people how to
+herd them. When at last snow enough fell for the sledges to haul the
+moss down to the landwash, it was dark all day around the North Cape.
+
+Fifty years hence in all probability the Lapps will be an extinct
+race, as even within the past twelve or fifteen years, districts in
+which thousands of domesticated reindeer grazed, now possess but a few
+hundreds.
+
+The good ship Anita, which conveyed the herd to us, steamed in for
+southern Newfoundland and then worked her way North as far as the ice
+would permit. At St. Anthony everything was frozen up, and the men
+walked out of the harbour mouth on the sea ice to meet the steamer
+bringing the deer. The whole three hundred were landed on the ice in
+Crémaillière, some three miles to the southward of St. Anthony
+Hospital, and though many fell through into the sea, they proved hardy
+and resourceful enough to reach the land, where they gathered around
+the tinkling bells of the old deer without a single loss from land to
+land.
+
+One of our workers at St. Anthony that winter wrote that "the most
+exciting moment was when the woman was lowered in her own sledge over
+the steamer's side on to the ice, drawn to the shore, and transferred
+to one of Dr. Grenfell's komatiks, as she had hurt her leg on the
+voyage. The sight of all the strange men surrounding her frightened
+her, but she was finally reassured, threw aside her coverings, and
+clutched her frying-pan, which she had hidden under a sheepskin. When
+she had it safely in her arms she allowed the men to lift her and put
+her on the komatik." When the doctor at the hospital advised that her
+leg would best be treated by operation, the man said, "She is a pretty
+old woman, and doesn't need a very good leg much longer." She was
+thirty-five!
+
+An Irish friend had volunteered to come out and watch the experiment
+in our interest--and this he did most efficiently. The deer flourished
+and increased rapidly. Unfortunately the Lapps did not like our
+country. They complained that North Newfoundland was too cold for them
+and they wanted to return home. One family left after the first year.
+A rise in salary kept three of the men, but the following season they
+wanted more than we had funds to meet, and we were forced to decide,
+wrongly, I fear, to let them go. The old herder warned me, "No Lapps,
+no deer"; but I thought too much in terms of Mission finances, the
+Government having withdrawn their grant toward the herders' salaries.
+Trusting to the confidence in their own ability of the locally trained
+men, I therefore let the Lapp herders go home. The love of the Lapps
+for their deer is like a fisherman's for his vessel, and seems a
+master passion. They appeared even to grudge our having any deer
+tethered away from their care.
+
+To us it seemed strange that these Lapps always contended that the
+work was too hard, and that the only reason that they were always gone
+from camp was that there were no wolves to keep the herd together.
+They claimed that we must have a big fence or the deer would go off
+into the country. They, of course, both when with us and in Lapland as
+well, lived and slept where the herd was. They told us that the deer
+no longer obeyed the warning summons of the old does' bells, having no
+natural enemy to fear; and one told me, "Money no good, Doctor, if
+herd no increase." Reindeer seemed to be the complement of their
+souls.
+
+Meanwhile the Alaskan experiment was realizing all of Dr. Jackson's
+happiest hopes; but it had a strong Government grant and backing and
+plenty of skilled superintendence. The lack of those were our
+weaknesses. Our deer thrived splendidly and multiplied as we had
+predicted. We went thirty miles in a day with them with ease. We
+hauled our firewood out, using half a dozen hauling teams every day.
+Every fortnight during the rush of patients at the hospital in summer
+we could afford to kill a deer. The milk was excellent in quality and
+sweet, and preserved perfectly well in rubber-capped bottles. The
+cheese was nourishing and a welcome addition to the local diet. At the
+close of the fourth year we had a thousand deer.
+
+A paper of the serious standing of the "Wall Street Journal," writing
+at about that time, under the title "Reindeer Venison from Alaska,"
+had this to say: "At different times in the past twenty years the
+Government imported reindeer into Alaska--about twelve hundred in
+all--in hopes to provide food for the natives in the future. The plan
+caused some amusement and some criticism at the time. Subsequent
+developments, however, have justified the attempt. The herds have now
+increased to about forty thousand animals, and are rapidly becoming
+still more numerous. The natives own about two thirds of the number.
+Shipments of meat have been made to the Pacific Coast cities. Last
+year the sales of venison and skins amounted to $25,000. It is claimed
+that the vast tundra, or treeless frozen plains of Alaska, will
+support at least ten million animals. The federal authorities in
+charge are so optimistic of the future outlook that the prediction is
+made that within twenty-five years the United States can draw a
+considerable part of its meat supply from Alaska." What can be done in
+Alaska can be done in Labrador, and with its better facilities for
+shipping and handling the product, the greater future ought to be the
+prize of the latter country.
+
+In the spring of 1912 there were five hundred fawns, and at one time
+we had gathered into our corral for tagging no less than twelve
+hundred and fifty reindeer. Of these we sold fifty to the Government
+of Canada for the Peace River District. There they were lost because
+they were placed in a flat country, densely wooded with alders, and
+not near the barren lands. We also sold a few to clubs, in order to
+try and introduce the deer. These sales would have done the experiment
+no injury, but with the fifty to Canada went my chief herder and two
+of my other herders from Labrador. This loss, from which we never
+recovered, coincided with an outbreak of hostility toward the deer
+among the resident population, who live entirely on the sea edge. Only
+long afterwards did we find out that it was partly because they feared
+that we would force deer upon them and do away with their dogs. The
+local Government official told me only the other day that the second
+generation from this would have very little good to say of the
+short-sightedness of these men who let such a valuable industry fail
+to succeed.
+
+With the increasing cares of the enlarging Mission, with Lieutenant
+Lindsay gone back to Ireland, and no one to superintend the herding,
+the successful handling of the deer imperceptibly declined. The tags
+on the ears were no longer put in; the bells were not replaced in the
+old localities. The herd was driven, not led as before--was paid for,
+not loved. These differences at the time were marked by increasing
+poaching on the herd by the people. Here and there at first they had
+killed a deer unknown to us; and finally we caught one hidden in a
+man's woodpile, and several offenders were sent to jail.
+
+We appealed to the Newfoundland Government for protection, as to be
+policeman and magistrate for the herd which one held in trust was an
+anomalous position. I was ordered by them to sit on the bench when
+these cases were up, as I did not own the deer. The section of land on
+which we had the animals is a peninsula of approximately one hundred
+and fifty square miles. It is cut off by a narrow, low neck about
+eight miles long. During all our years of acquaintance with the coast
+not a dozen caribou had been killed on it, for they do not cross the
+neck to the northward. But when we applied for a national preserve,
+that no deer at all might be killed on the peninsula, and so we might
+run a big fence across the neck with a couple of herders' houses along
+the line of it, a petition, signed by part of the "voters," went up to
+St. John's, against such permission being granted us. The petition
+stated that the deer destroyed the people's "gardens," that they were
+a danger to the lives of the settlers, whose dogs went wild when they
+crossed their path, and they claimed that the herd "led men into
+temptation," because if there were no reindeer to tempt men to kill
+them, there would be none killed. The deer thus were supposed to be
+the cause of making cattle-thieves out of honest men! The result was
+that a law was passed that no domestic reindeer might be shot north of
+the line of the neck for which we had applied, and which we
+intended to fence. This only made matters ten times worse, for if the
+deer either strayed or else were driven across the line, the killing
+of them was thus legalized.
+
+   [Illustration: A PART OF THE REINDEER HERD]
+
+   [Illustration: REINDEER TEAMS MEETING A DOG TEAM]
+
+The deer had cost us, landed, some fifty-one dollars apiece. Three
+years of herding under the adverse conditions of lack of support from
+either Government or people had not lessened the per caput expense
+very materially. If we had shot some one's fifty-dollar cow, our name
+would have been anathema--but we lost two hundred and fifty deer one
+winter. In addition to this, when we moved the deer to a spot near
+another village on a high bluff, over a hundred died in summer,
+either--according to the report of the herders--from falling over the
+cliffs driven by dogs, or of a sickness of which we could not discover
+the nature, though we thought that it resembled a kind of pneumonia.
+
+The poaching got so bad that we took every means in our power to catch
+the guilty parties. But it was a very difficult thing to do. A dead
+deer lies quiet, keeps for weeks where he falls in our winter climate,
+and can be surreptitiously removed by day or night. The little Lapp
+dogs occasionally scented them beneath the snow, and many tell-tale
+"paunches" showed where deer had been killed and carried off.
+
+I had been treating the hunchback boy and only child of a fisherman
+for whom I had very great respect. His was the home where the
+Methodist minister always boarded, and he was looked upon as a pillar
+of piety. After a straightening by frame treatment, the boy's spine
+had been ankylosed by an operation; and as every one felt sorry for
+the little fellow, we were often able to send him gifts. One day the
+father came to me, evidently in great trouble, to have what proved to
+be a most uncommon private talk. To my utter surprise he began:
+"Doctor, I can no longer live and keep the secret that I shot two of
+your reindeer. I have brought you ninety dollars, all the cash that I
+have, and I want to ask your forgiveness, after all you have done for
+me." Needless to say, it was freely given, but it made me feel more
+than ever that the deer must be moved to some other country.
+
+It was about this year that the Government for the first time granted
+us a resident policeman--previously we had had to be our own police.
+Fortunately the man sent was quite a smart fellow. A dozen or so deer
+had been killed along the section of our coast, and so skilfully that
+even though it was done under the noses of the herders no evidence to
+convict could be obtained. It so happened, however, that while one of
+the herders was eating a piece of one of the slaughtered animals which
+he had discovered, and that the thieves had not been able to carry
+off, his teeth met on a still well-formed rifle bullet of number 22
+calibre. This type of rifle we knew was scarcely ever used on our
+coast, and the policeman at once made a round to take every one. He
+returned with three, which was really the whole stock.
+
+A piece of meat was now placed at a reasonable distance, also some
+bags of snow, flour, etc., and a number of bullets fired into them.
+These bullets were then all privately marked, and shuffled up. Our own
+deductions were made, and a man from twenty miles away summoned,
+arrested, and brought up. He brought witnesses and friends, apparently
+to impress the court--one especially, who most vehemently protested
+that he knew the owner of the rifle, and that he was never out of his
+house at the time that the deer would have been killed. In court was a
+man, for twenty-seven years agent in Labrador for the Hudson Bay
+Company--a crack shot and a most expert hunter. He was called up,
+given the big pile of bullets, and told to try and sort them, by the
+groove marks, into those fired by the three different rifles. We then
+handed him the control bullet, and he put it instantly on one of the
+piles. It was the pile that had been fired from the rifle of the
+accused. This man, in testifying, in order to clear himself, had let
+out the fact that his rifle had not been kept in his house, but in the
+house of the vociferous witness--whom we now arrested, convicted, and
+condemned to jail for six months or two hundred dollars fine--the
+latter alternative being given only because we knew that he had not
+the necessary sum. Protesting as loudly as he had previously
+witnessed, he went to jail; but the rest let out threats that they
+were coming back with others to set him free. We had only a frame
+wooden jail, and a rheumatic jailer of over seventy years, hired to
+hobble around by day and see that the prisoners were fed and kept
+orderly. We announced, therefore, that our Hudson Bay friend, with his
+rifle loaded, would be night jailer.
+
+A few days passed by. The prisoner did not like improving the public
+thoroughfare for our benefit, while those "who were just as bad as he"
+went free. Our old jailer took good care that he should hear what good
+times they were having and laughing at him for being caught. Indeed,
+he liked it so little that he gave the whole plot away--at least what
+he called the whole. This landed four more of his friends in the same
+honest and public-spirited occupation which he was himself pursuing;
+though all escaped shortly afterwards by paying fines to the
+Government which aggregated some eight hundred dollars--which sum was
+largely paid by others for them.
+
+There was no way, however, definitely to stop the steady decrease in
+the numbers of the herd; and though we moved them to new pastures
+around the coast, and fenced them in such small mobile corrals as we
+could afford, they were not safe. On several occasions we found dead
+deer with buckshot in them, which had "fallen over the cliffs." Twice
+we discovered that deer had even been killed within our own corral.
+One had been successfully removed, and the other trussed-up carcass
+had been hidden until a good opportunity offered for it to follow
+suit. I do not wish to leave the impression on the minds of my readers
+that every man on this part of the coast is a poacher. Far from it.
+But the majority of the best men were against the reindeer experiment
+from the moment that the first trouble arose. A new obligation of
+social life was introduced. This implied restraint in such trifling
+things as their having to fence their tiny gardens, protect small
+stray hay-pooks, and discriminate into what they discharged their
+ubiquitous blunderbusses.
+
+Meanwhile the steadily increasing demand for meat, especially since
+the war began, caused outside interest in the experiment; and both the
+owners of Anticosti Island, and a firm in the West who were commencing
+reindeer farming on a commercial basis, opened negotiations with us
+for the purchase of our herd. In the original outlay, however, the
+Canadian Dominion Government had taken an interest to the amount of
+five thousand dollars, so it was necessary to get their opinion on the
+subject. Their Department of Indian Affairs happened to be looking for
+some satisfactory way of helping out their Labrador Indian population.
+They sent down and made inquiries, and came to the conclusion that
+they would themselves take the matter up, as they had done with
+buffalo, elk, and other animals in the West.
+
+In 1917 all preparations for transferring the deer were made, but war
+conditions called their steamer away and transport was delayed until
+1918. Again their steamer was called off, so we decided to take the
+deer across ourselves in our splendid three-masted schooner, the
+George B. Cluett. She, alas, was delayed in America by the submarine
+scare, and it was the end of September instead of June when she
+finally arrived. It was a poor season for our dangerous North coast
+and a very bad time for moving the deer, whose rutting season was just
+beginning. My herders, too, were now much reduced in numbers. Most of
+them had gone to the war, and as one had been sick all summer,
+practically only two were available. To add to the difficulty, many
+small herds of reindeer were loose in the country outside the corral.
+
+However, we felt that the venture must be attempted at all hazards,
+even if it delayed our beautiful ship taking a cargo of food to the
+Allies--as she was scheduled to do as soon as possible--and though it
+was a serious risk to remain anchored in the shallow open roadstead
+off the spot where the deer had to be taken aboard. The work was all
+new to us. The deer, instead of being tame as they had previously
+been, were wild at best, and wilder still from their breeding season.
+The days went by, and we succeeded in getting only a few aboard. We
+were all greenhorns with the lassoes and lariats which we improvised.
+A gale of wind came on and nothing could be done but lie up.
+
+Then followed a fine Sunday morning. It was intensely interesting to
+note the attitude which my crew could take toward my decision to work
+all day after morning prayers. We talked briefly over the emphasis
+laid by the four Evangelists on Christ's attitude toward the day of
+rest, and what it might mean, if we allowed a rare fine day to go by,
+to that long section of coast which we had not yet this year visited,
+and which might thus miss the opportunity of seeing a doctor before
+Christmas. As since this war has begun I have felt that the Christ
+whom I wanted to follow would be in France, so now I felt that the
+Christ of my ideal would go ashore and get those deer in spite of the
+great breach of convention which it would mean for a "Mission" doctor
+to work in any way, except in the many ways he has to work every
+Sunday of his life. The whole crew followed me when I went ashore,
+saying that they shared my view--all except the mate, who spent his
+Sunday in bed. Idleness is not rest to some natures, either to body or
+mind, and when at night we all turned in at ten o'clock, wet
+through--for it had rained in the evening--and tired out, we were able
+to say our prayers with just as light hearts, feeling that we had put
+sixty-eight deer aboard, as if we had enjoyed that foretaste of what
+some still believe to be the rest of heaven. Rest for our souls we
+certainly had, and to some of us that is the rest which God calls His
+own and intends shall be ours also. When later I spoke to some young
+men about this, it seemed to them a Chestertonian paradox, that we
+should actually hold a Sunday service and then go forth to render it.
+They thought that Sunday prayers had to do only with the escaping the
+consequences of one's sins.
+
+I still believe that we were absolutely right in our theory of the
+introduction of the deer into this North country, and that we shall be
+justified in it by posterity. That these thousands of miles, now
+useless to men, will be grazed over one day by countless herds of deer
+affording milk, meat, clothing, transport, and pleasure to the human
+race, is certain. They do not by any means destroy the land over which
+they rove. On the contrary, the deep ruts made by their feet, like the
+ponies' feet in Iceland, serve to drain the surface water and dry the
+land. The kicking and pawing of the moss-covered ground with their
+spade-like feet tear it up, level it, and cut off the dense moss and
+creeping plants, bring the sub-soil to the top, and over the whole the
+big herd spreads a good covering of manure.
+
+Reindeer-trodden barrens, after a short rest, yield more grass and
+cattle food than ever before. No domesticated animal can tolerate the
+cold of this country and find sustenance for itself as can the deer.
+It can live as far north as the musk-ox. Peary found reindeer in
+plenty on the shores of the polar sea. The great barren lands of
+Canada, from Hudson Bay north of Chesterfield Inlet away to the west,
+carry tens of thousands of wild caribou. Mr. J.B. Tyrrell's
+photographs show armies of them advancing; the stags with their lordly
+horns are seen passing close to the camera in serried ranks that seem
+to have no end.
+
+Our own experiment is far from being a failure. It has been a success,
+even if only the corpse is left in Newfoundland. We have proved
+conclusively that the deer can live, thrive, and multiply on the
+otherwise perfectly valueless areas of this North country, and furnish
+a rapidly increasing domesticated "raw material" for a food and
+clothing supply to its people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE ICE-PAN ADVENTURE
+
+
+On Easter Sunday, the 21st of April, 1908, it was still winter with us
+in northern Newfoundland. Everything was covered with snow and ice. I
+was returning to the hospital after morning service, when a boy came
+running over with the news that a large team of dogs had come from
+sixty miles to the southward to get a doctor to come at once on an
+urgent case. A fortnight before we had operated on a young man for
+acute bone disease of the thigh, but when he was sent home the people
+had allowed the wound to close, and poisoned matter had accumulated.
+As it seemed probable that we should have to remove the leg, there was
+no time to be lost, and I therefore started immediately, the
+messengers following me with their team.
+
+My dogs were especially good ones and had pulled me out of many a
+previous scrape by their sagacity and endurance. Moody, Watch, Spy,
+Doc, Brin, Jerry, Sue, and Jack were as beautiful beasts as ever
+hauled a komatik over our Northern barrens. The messengers had been
+anxious that their team should travel back with mine, for their
+animals were slow at best, and moreover were now tired from their long
+journey. My dogs, however, were so powerful that it was impossible to
+hold them back, and though I twice managed to wait for the following
+sledge, I had reached a village twenty miles to the south and had
+already fed my team when the others caught up.
+
+That night the wind came in from sea, bringing with it both fog and
+rain, softening the snow and making the travelling very difficult.
+Besides this a heavy sea began heaving into the bay on the shores
+of which lay the little hamlet where I spent my first night. Our
+journey the next day would be over forty miles, the first ten lying on
+an arm of the sea.
+
+   [Illustration: A SPRING SCENE AT ST. ANTHONY]
+
+   [Illustration: DOG RACE AT ST. ANTHONY]
+
+In order not to be separated too long from my friends I sent them
+ahead of me by two hours, appointing as a rendezvous the log tilt on
+the other side of the bay. As I started the first rain of the year
+began to fall, and I was obliged to keep on what we call the
+"ballicaters," or ice barricades, for a much longer distance up the
+bay than I had anticipated. The sea, rolling in during the previous
+night, had smashed the ponderous layer of surface ice right up to the
+landwash. Between the huge ice-pans were gaping chasms, while half a
+mile out all was clear water.
+
+Three miles from the shore is a small island situated in the middle of
+the bay. This had preserved an ice bridge, so that by crossing a few
+cracks I managed to get to it safely. From that point it was only four
+miles to the opposite shore, a saving of several miles if one could
+make it, instead of following the landwash round the bay. Although the
+ice looked rough, it seemed good, though one could see that it had
+been smashed up by the incoming sea and packed in tight again by the
+easterly wind. Therefore, without giving the matter a second thought,
+I flung myself on the komatik and the dogs started for the rocky
+promontory some four miles distant.
+
+All went well till we were within about a quarter of a mile of our
+objective point. Then the wind dropped suddenly, and I noticed
+simultaneously that we were travelling over "sish" ice. By stabbing
+down with my whip-handle I could drive it through the thin coating of
+young ice which had formed on the surface. "Sish" ice is made up of
+tiny bits formed by the pounding together of the large pans by the
+heavy seas. So quickly had the wind veered and come offshore, and so
+rapidly did the packed slob, relieved of the inward pressure of the
+easterly breeze, "run abroad," that already I could not see any pan
+larger than ten feet square. The whole field of ice was loosening so
+rapidly that no retreat was possible.
+
+There was not a moment to lose. I dragged off my oilskins and threw
+myself on my hands and knees beside the komatik so as to give a larger
+base to hold, shouting at the same time to my team to make a dash for
+the shore. We had not gone twenty yards when the dogs scented danger
+and hesitated, and the komatik sank instantly into the soft slob. Thus
+the dogs had to pull much harder, causing them to sink also.
+
+It flashed across my mind that earlier in the year a man had been
+drowned in this same way by his team tangling their traces around him
+in the slob. I loosened my sheath-knife, scrambled forward and cut the
+traces, retaining the leader's trace wound securely round my wrist.
+
+As I was in the water I could not discern anything that would bear us
+up, but I noticed that my leading dog was wallowing about near a piece
+of snow, packed and frozen together like a huge snowball, some
+twenty-five yards away. Upon this he had managed to scramble. He shook
+the ice and water from his shaggy coat and turned around to look for
+me. Perched up there out of the frigid water he seemed to think the
+situation the most natural in the world, and the weird black marking
+of his face made him appear to be grinning with satisfaction. The rest
+of us were bogged like flies in treacle.
+
+Gradually I succeeded in hauling myself along by the line which was
+still attached to my wrist, and was nearly up to the snow-raft, when
+the leader turned adroitly round, slipped out of his harness, and once
+more leered at me with his grinning face.
+
+There seemed nothing to be done, and I was beginning to feel drowsy
+with the cold, when I noticed the trace of another dog near by. He had
+fallen through close to the pan, and was now unable to force his way
+out. Along his line I hauled myself, using him as a kind of bow
+anchor--and I soon lay, with my dogs around me, on the little island
+of slob ice.
+
+The piece of frozen snow on which we lay was so small that it was
+evident we must all be drowned if we were forced to remain on it as it
+was driven seaward into open water. Twenty yards away was a larger and
+firmer pan floating in the sish, and if we could reach it I felt that
+we might postpone for a time the death which seemed inescapable. To my
+great satisfaction I now found that my hunting knife was still tied on
+to the back of one of the dogs, where I had attached it when we first
+fell through. Soon the sealskin traces hanging on the dogs' harnesses
+were cut and spliced together to form one long line. I divided this
+and fastened the ends to the backs of my two leaders, attaching the
+two other ends to my own wrists. My long sealskin boots, reaching to
+my hips, were full of ice and water, and I took them off and tied them
+separately on the dogs' backs. I had already lost my coat, cap,
+gloves, and overalls.
+
+Nothing seemed to be able to induce the dogs to move, even though I
+kept throwing them off the ice into the water. Perhaps it was only
+natural that they should struggle back, for once in the water they
+could see no other pan to which to swim. It flashed into my mind that
+my small black spaniel which was with me was as light as a feather and
+could get across with no difficulty. I showed him the direction and
+then flung a bit of ice toward the desired goal. Without a second's
+hesitation he made a dash and reached the pan safely, as the tough
+layer of sea ice easily carried his weight. As he lay on the white
+surface looking like a round black fuss ball, my leaders could plainly
+see him. They now understood what I wanted and fought their way
+bravely toward the little retriever, carrying with them the line that
+gave me yet another chance for my life. The other dogs followed them,
+and all but one succeeded in getting out on the new haven of refuge.
+
+Taking all the run that the length of my little pan would afford, I
+made a dive, slithering along the surface as far as possible before I
+once again fell through. This time I had taken the precaution to tie
+the harnesses under the dogs' bellies so that they could not slip them
+off, and after a long fight I was able to drag myself onto the new
+pan.
+
+Though we had been working all the while toward the shore, the
+offshore wind had driven us a hundred yards farther seaward. On closer
+examination I found that the pan on which we were resting was not ice
+at all, but snow-covered slob, frozen into a mass which would
+certainly eventually break up in the heavy sea, which was momentarily
+increasing as the ice drove offshore before the wind. The westerly
+wind kept on rising--a bitter blast with us in winter, coming as it
+does over the Gulf ice.
+
+Some yards away I could still see my komatik with my thermos bottle
+and warm clothing on it, as well as matches and wood. In the memory of
+the oldest inhabitant no one had ever been adrift on the ice in this
+bay, and unless the team which had gone ahead should happen to come
+back to look for me, there was not one chance in a thousand of my
+being seen.
+
+To protect myself from freezing I now cut down my long boots as far as
+the feet, and made a kind of jacket, which shielded my back from the
+rising wind.
+
+By midday I had passed the island to which I had crossed on the ice
+bridge. The bridge was gone, so that if I did succeed in reaching
+that island I should only be marooned there and die of starvation.
+Five miles away to the north side of the bay the immense pans of
+Arctic ice were surging to and fro in the ground seas and thundering
+against the cliffs. No boat could have lived through such surf, even
+if I had been seen from that quarter. Though it was hardly, safe to
+move about on my little pan, I saw that I must have the skins of some
+of my dogs, if I were to live the night out without freezing. With
+some difficulty I now succeeded in killing three of my dogs--and I
+envied those dead beasts whose troubles were over so quickly. I
+questioned if, once I passed into the open sea, it would not be better
+to use my trusty knife on myself than to die by inches.
+
+But the necessity for work saved me from undue philosophizing; and
+night found me ten miles on my seaward voyage, with the three dogs
+skinned and their fur wrapped around me as a coat. I also frayed a
+small piece of rope into oakum and mixed it with the fat from the
+intestines of my dogs. But, alas, I found that the matches in my box,
+which was always chained to me, were soaked to a pulp and quite
+useless. Had I been able to make a fire out there at sea, it would
+have looked so uncanny that I felt sure that the fishermen friends,
+whose tiny light I could just discern twinkling away in the bay, would
+see it. The carcasses of my dogs I piled up to make a windbreak, and
+at intervals I took off my clothes, wrung them out, swung them in the
+wind, and put on first one and then the other inside, hoping that the
+heat of my body would thus dry them. My feet gave me the most trouble,
+as the moccasins were so easily soaked through in the snow. But I
+remembered the way in which the Lapps who tended our reindeer carried
+grass with them, to use in their boots in place of dry socks. As soon
+as I could sit down I began to unravel the ropes from the dogs'
+harnesses, and although by this time my fingers were more or less
+frozen, I managed to stuff the oakum into my shoes.
+
+Shortly before I had opened a box containing some old football clothes
+which I had not seen for twenty years. I was wearing this costume at
+the time; and though my cap, coat, and gloves were gone, as I stood
+there in a pair of my old Oxford University running shorts, and red,
+yellow, and black Richmond football stockings, and a flannel shirt, I
+remembered involuntarily the little dying girl who asked to be dressed
+in her Sunday frock so that she might arrive in heaven properly
+attired.
+
+Forcing my biggest dog to lie down, I cuddled up close to him, drew
+the improvised dogskin rug over me, and proceeded to go to sleep. One
+hand being against the dog was warm, but the other was frozen, and
+about midnight I woke up shivering enough, so I thought, to shatter my
+frail pan to atoms. The moon was just rising, and the wind was
+steadily driving me toward the open sea. Suddenly what seemed a
+miracle happened, for the wind veered, then dropped away entirely
+leaving it flat calm. I turned over and fell asleep again. I was next
+awakened by the sudden and persistent thought that I must have a flag,
+and accordingly set to work to disarticulate the frozen legs of my
+dead dogs. Cold as it was I determined to sacrifice my shirt to top
+this rude flagpole as soon as the daylight came. When the legs were at
+last tied together with bits of old harness rope, they made the
+crookedest flagstaff that it has ever been my lot to see. Though with
+the rising of the sun the frost came out of the dogs' legs to some
+extent, and the friction of waving it made the odd pole almost tie
+itself in knots, I could raise it three or four feet above my head,
+which was very important.
+
+Once or twice I thought that I could distinguish men against the
+distant cliffs--for I had drifted out of the bay into the sea--but the
+objects turned out to be trees. Once also I thought that I saw a boat
+appearing and disappearing on the surface of the water, but it proved
+to be only a small piece of ice bobbing up and down. The rocking of my
+cradle on the waves had helped me to sleep, and I felt as well as I
+ever did in my life. I was confident that I could last another
+twenty-four hours if my boat would only hold out and not rot under the
+sun's rays. I could not help laughing at my position, standing hour
+after hour waving my shirt at those barren and lonely cliffs; but I
+can honestly say that from first to last not a single sensation of
+fear crossed my mind.
+
+My own faith in the mystery of immortality is so untroubled that it
+now seemed almost natural to be passing to the portal of death from an
+ice-pan. Quite unbidden, the words of the old hymn kept running
+through my head:
+
+    "My God, my Father, while I stray
+    Far from my home on life's rough way,
+    Oh, help me from my heart to say,
+      Thy will be done."
+
+I had laid my wooden matches out to dry and was searching about on the
+pan for a piece of transparent ice which I could use as a
+burning-glass. I thought that I could make smoke enough to be seen
+from the land if only I could get some sort of a light. All at once I
+seemed to see the glitter of an oar, but I gave up the idea because I
+remembered that it was not water which lay between me and the land,
+but slob ice, and even if people had seen me, I did not imagine that
+they could force a boat through. The next time that I went back to my
+flag-waving, however, the glitter was very distinct, but my
+snow-glasses having been lost, I was partially snow-blind and
+distrusted my vision. But at last, besides the glide of an oar I made
+out the black streak of a boat's hull, and knew that if the pan held
+out for another hour I should be all right. The boat drew nearer and
+nearer, and I could make out my rescuers frantically waving. When they
+got close by they shouted, "Don't get excited. Keep on the pan where
+you are." They were far more excited than I, and had they only known
+as I did the sensations of a bath in the icy water, without the chance
+of drying one's self afterwards, they would not have expected me to
+wish to follow the example of the Apostle Peter.
+
+As the first man leaped on my pan and grasped my hand, not a word was
+spoken, but I could see the emotions which he was trying to force
+back. A swallow of the hot tea which had been thoughtfully sent out in
+a bottle, the dogs hoisted on board, and we started for home, now
+forging along in open water, now pushing the pans apart with the oars,
+and now jumping out on the ice and hauling the boat over the pans.
+
+It seems that the night before four men had been out on the headland
+cutting up some seals which they had killed in the fall. As they were
+leaving for home, my ice-raft must have drifted clear of Hare Island,
+and one of them, with his keen fisherman's eyes, had detected
+something unusual on the ice. They at once returned to their village,
+saying that something living was adrift on the floe. The one man on
+that section of coast who owned a good spy-glass jumped up from his
+supper on hearing the news and hurried over to the lookout on the
+cliffs. Dusk though it was, he saw that a man was out on the ice, and
+noticed him every now and again waving his hands at the shore. He
+immediately surmised who it must be; so little as I thought it, when
+night was closing in the men at the village were trying to launch a
+boat. Miles of ice lay between them and me, and the angry sea was
+hurling great blocks against the land. While I had considered myself a
+laughing-stock, bowing with my flag at those unresponsive cliffs, many
+eyes were watching me.
+
+By daybreak a fine volunteer crew had been organized, and the boat,
+with such a force behind it, would, I believe, have gone through
+anything. After seeing the heavy breakers through which we were
+guided, as at last we ran in at the harbour mouth, I knew well what
+the wives of that crew had been thinking when they saw their loved
+ones depart on such an errand.
+
+Every soul in the village was waiting to shake hands as I landed; and
+even with the grip that one after another gave me, I did not find out
+that my hands were badly frostburnt--a fact which I have realized
+since, however. I must have looked a weird object as I stepped ashore,
+tied up in rags, stuffed out with oakum, and wrapped in the bloody
+dogskins.
+
+The news had gone over to the hospital that I was lost, so I at once
+started north for St. Anthony, though I must confess that I did not
+greatly enjoy the trip, as I had to be hauled like a log, my feet
+being so frozen that I could not walk. For a few days subsequently I
+had painful reminders of the adventure in my frozen hands and feet,
+which forced me to keep to my bed--an unwelcome and unusual interlude
+in my way of life.
+
+In our hallway stands a bronze tablet:
+
+    "To the Memory of
+    Three Noble Dogs
+    Moody
+    Watch
+    Spy
+    Whose lives were given
+    For mine on the ice
+    April 21st, 1908."
+
+The boy whose life I was intent on saving was brought to the hospital
+a day or so later in a boat, the ice having cleared off the coast
+temporarily; and he was soon on the highroad to recovery.
+
+We all love life, and I was glad to have a new lease of it before me.
+As I went to sleep that night there still rang through my ears the
+same verse of the old hymn which had been my companion on the ice-pan:
+
+    "Oh, help me from my heart to say,
+    Thy will be done."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THEY THAT DO BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS
+
+
+Contrary to her ungenerous reputation, even if vessels are lost on the
+Labrador, her almost unequalled series of harbours--so that from the
+Straits of Belle Isle to those of Hudson Bay there is not ten miles of
+coast anywhere without one--enables the crew to escape nearly every
+time.
+
+In 1883, in the North Sea in October, a hurricane destroyed
+twenty-five of our stout vessels on the Dogger Bank, cost us two
+hundred and seventy good lives, and left a hundred widows to mourn on
+the land. In 1889 a storm hit the north coast of Newfoundland, but too
+late in the season to injure much of the fishing fleet, which had for
+the most part gone South. But it caused immense damage to property and
+the loss of a few lives. As one of the testimonials to its fury, I saw
+the flooring and seats of the church in the mud of the harbour at St.
+Anthony at low tide even though that church had been founded entirely
+on a rock. We now concede that it is good economy on our coast to have
+wire stays to ringbolts leaded into rocky foundations, to anchor small
+buildings. Our storms are mostly cyclones with wide vortices, and
+coming largely from the southwest or northwest, are offshore, and
+therefore less felt.
+
+We were once running along at full speed in a very thick fog, framing
+a course to just clear some nasty shoals on our port bow. There was
+nothing outside us and we had seen no ice of late, so I went below for
+some lunch, telling the mate to report land as soon as he saw any, and
+instructing the man at the wheel, if he heard a shout, to port his
+helm hard. The soup was still on the table when a loud shouting made
+us leap on the deck to see the ship going full tilt into an enormous
+iceberg, which seemed right at the end of the bowsprit. This
+unexpected monster was on our starboard bow, and the order to avoid
+the shoal was putting us headfirst into it. Our only chance was full
+speed and a starboard helm, and we actually grazed along the side of
+the berg. It seemed almost ludicrous later to pick up a large island
+and run into a harbour with grassy, sloping sides, out of which the
+fog was shut like a wall, and then to go ashore and bargain over
+buying a couple of cows, which were being sold, as the settler was
+moving to the mainland.
+
+Among the records of events of importance to us I find in 1908 that of
+the second real hurricane which I have ever seen. It began on
+Saturday, July 28, the height of our summer, with flat calm and
+sunshine alternating with small, fierce squalls. Though we had a
+falling barometer, this deceived us, and we anchored that evening in a
+shallow and unsafe open roadstead about twenty miles from Indian
+Harbour Hospital. Fortunately our suspicions induced us to keep an
+anchor watch, and his warning made us get steam at midnight, and we
+brought up at daylight in the excellent narrow harbour in which the
+hospital stands. The holding ground there is deep mud in four fathoms
+of water, the best possible for us. Our only trouble was that the
+heavy tidal current would swing a ship uneasily broadside against an
+average wind force.
+
+It was blowing so strongly by this time that the hospital yawl Daryl
+had already been driven ashore from her anchors, but still we were
+able to keep ours in the water, and getting a line to her, to heave
+her astern of our vessel with our powerful winch. The fury of the
+breeze grew worse as the day went on. All the fishing boats in the
+harbour filled and sank with the driving water. With the increase of
+violence of the weather we got up steam and steamed to our anchors to
+ease if possible the strain on our two chains and shore lines--a web
+which we had been able to weave before it was too late. By Sunday the
+gale had blown itself entirely away, and Monday morning broke flat
+calm, with lovely sunshine, and only an enormous sullen ground sea.
+This is no uncommon game of Dame Nature's; she seemed to be only
+mocking at the destruction which she had wrought.
+
+Knowing that there must be many comrades in trouble, we were early
+away, and dancing like a bubble, we ran north, keeping as close
+inshore as we could, and watching the coast-line with our glasses. The
+coast was littered with remains. Forty-one vessels had been lost; in
+one uninhabited roadstead alone, some forty miles away from Indian
+Harbour, lay sixteen wrecks. The shore here was lined with rude
+shelters made from the wreckage of spars and sails, and the women were
+busy cooking meals and "tidying up" the shacks as if they had lived
+there always.
+
+We soon set to work hauling off such vessels as would float. One, a
+large hardwood, well-fastened hull, we determined to save. Her name
+was Pendragon. The owner was aboard--a young man with no experience
+who had never previously owned a vessel. He was so appalled at the
+disaster that he decided to have her sold piecemeal and broken up. We
+attended the auction on the beach and bought each piece as it came to
+the hammer. Getting her off was the trouble. We adopted tactics of our
+own invention. Mousing together the two mastheads with a bight of
+rope, we put on it a large whoop traveller, and to that fastened our
+stoutest and longest line. Then first backing down to her on the very
+top of high water, we went "full speed ahead." Over she fell on her
+side and bumped along on the mud and shingle for a few yards. By
+repeated jerks she was eventually ours, but leaking so like a basket
+that we feared we should yet lose her. Pumps inside fortunately kept
+her free till we passed her topsail under her, and after dropping in
+sods and peat, we let the pressure from the outside keep them in
+place. When night fell I was played out, and told the crew they must
+let her sink. My two volunteer helpers, Albert Gould, of Bowdoin, and
+Paul Matheson, of Brown, however, volunteered to pump all night.
+
+While hunting for a crew to take her South we came upon the wreck of a
+brand-new boat, only launched two months previously. She had been the
+pride of the skipper's life. He was an old friend of mine, and we felt
+so sorry for him that we not only got him to take our vessel, but we
+handed it over for him to work out at the cost which we had paid for
+the pieces. He made a good living out of her for several years, but
+later she was lost with all hands on some dangerous shoals near St.
+Anthony on a journey North.
+
+With fifty-odd people aboard, and a long trail of nineteen fishing
+boats we eventually got back to Indian Harbour, where every one joined
+in helping our friends in misfortune till the steamer came and took
+them South. They waved us farewell, and, quite undismayed, wished for
+better luck for themselves another season.
+
+The case of one skipper is well worth relating as showing their
+admirable optimism. He was sixty-seven years old, and had by hard
+saving earned his own schooner--a fine large vessel. He had arranged
+to sell her on his return trip and live quietly on the proceeds on his
+potato patch in southern Newfoundland. His vessel had driven on a
+submerged reef and turned turtle. The crew had jumped for their lives,
+not even saving their personal clothing, watches, or instruments. We
+photographed the remains of the capsized hull floating on the surf.
+Yet this man, in the four days during which he was my guest, never
+once uttered a word of complaint. He had done all he could, and he
+"'lowed that t' Lord knew better than he what was best."
+
+"But what will you do now, Skipper?" I asked.
+
+"Why, get another," he replied; "I think them'll trust me."
+
+One of our older vessels started a plank in a gale of wind in the
+Atlantic and went to the bottom without warning. In an open boat for
+six days with only a little dry bread and no covering of any sort, the
+crew fought rough seas and heavy breezes. But they handled her with
+the sea genius of our race; made land safely at last, and never said a
+word about the incident. On another occasion two men, who had been a
+fortnight adrift, had rowed one hundred and fifty miles, and had only
+the smallest modicum of food, came aboard our vessel. When I said,
+"You are hungry, aren't you?" they merely replied, "Well, not
+over-much"--and only laughed when I suggested that perhaps a month in
+the open boat might have given them a real appetite.
+
+One October, south of St. Anthony, we were lying in the arm of a bay
+with two anchors and two warps out, one to each side of the narrow
+channel. The wind piled up the waters, much as it did in Pharaoh's
+day. We were flung astern yard by yard on the top of the seas, and
+when it was obvious that we must go ashore, we reversed our engines,
+slipped our line, and drove up high and dry to escape the bumping on
+the beach which was inevitable. There we lay for days. Meanwhile I had
+taken our launch into the river-mouth and was marooned there. For the
+launch blew right up on the bank in among the trees, and strive as we
+would, for days we could not even move her out again.
+
+Another spring we had a very close squeak of losing the Strathcona.
+While we were trying one morning to get out of a harbour, a sudden
+gale of wind came down upon us and pinned us tight, so that we could
+not move an inch. The pressure of the ice became more severe moment by
+moment, and meanwhile the ice between us and the shore seemed to be
+imperceptibly melting away. Naturally we tried every expedient we
+could think of to keep enough ice between us and the shore rocks to
+save the vessel being swept over the rocky headland, toward which the
+irresistible tidal current was steadily forcing us. To make matters
+worse, we struck our propeller against a pan of ice and broke off one
+of the flanges close to the shaft. It became breathlessly exciting as
+the ship drew nearer and nearer to the rocks. We abandoned our boat
+when we saw that by trying to hold on to it any longer we should be
+jeopardizing the steamer. Twisting round helplessly as in a giant's
+arms, we were swept past the dangerous promontory and to our infinite
+joy carried out into the open Atlantic where there is room for all.
+Our boat was subsequently rescued from the shore, and we were able to
+screw on a new blade to the propeller.
+
+Just after the big gale in 1908 His Excellency, Sir William MacGregor,
+then Governor, was good enough to come and spend a short time
+surveying on our north coast. He was an expert in this line, as well
+as being a gold-medallist in medicine. Later he changed over from the
+Strathcona to the Government steamer Fiona. I acted as pilot among
+other capacities on that journey, and was unlucky enough to run her
+full tilt onto one of the only sandbanks on the coast in a narrow
+passage between some islands and the mainland! The little
+Strathcona, following behind, was in time to haul us off again, but
+the incident made the captain naturally distrust my ability, and as a
+result he would not approach the shore near enough for us to get the
+observations which we needed. Although we went round Cape Chidley into
+Ungava Bay I could not regain his confidence sufficiently to go
+through the straits which I had myself sounded and surveyed. So we
+accomplished it in a small boat, getting good observations. Our best
+work, however, was done when His Excellency was content to be our
+guest. The hospital on board was used for the necessary
+instruments--four chronometers, two theodolites, guns, telescopes,
+camp furniture, and piles of books and printed forms. Mr. Albert Gould
+of Bowdoin was my secretary on board that year, and was of very great
+value to us.
+
+   [Illustration: ICEBERGS]
+
+Though the work of an amateur, Sir William's surveying was accepted by
+the Admiralty and the Royal Geographical Society--his survey in
+Nigeria having proved to have not one single location a mile out of
+place when an official survey was run later.
+
+Many a time in the middle of a meal, some desired but unlucky star
+would cross the prime vertical, and all hands had to go up on deck and
+shiver while rows of figures were accumulated. Sir William told us
+that he would rather shoot a star any time than all the game ever
+hunted. One night my secretary, after sitting on a rock at a movable
+table from 5 P.M. till midnight, came in, his joints almost creaking
+with cold, and loaded with a pile of figures which he assured us would
+crush the life out of most men. My mate that year was a stout and very
+short, plethoric person. When he stated that he preferred surveying to
+fishing, as it was going to benefit others so much, and that he was
+familiar with the joys of service, he was taken promptly at his word.
+It was a hot summer. The theodolite was a nine-inch one and weighed
+many pounds. We had climbed the face of a very steep mountain called
+Cape Mugford, some three thousand feet high--every inch of which
+distance we had to mount from dead sea-level. When at last Israel
+arrived on the summit, he looked worried. He said that he had always
+thought surveying meant letting things drop down over the ship's side,
+and not carrying ballast up precipices. For his part he could now see
+that providing food for the world was good enough for him. He
+distinctly failed to grasp where the joy of this kind of service came
+in--and noting his condition as he lay on the ground and panted I
+decided to let it go at that.
+
+The Governor was a real MacGregor and a Presbyterian, and was
+therefore quite a believer in keeping Sunday as a day of rest. But
+after morning prayers on the first fine day, after nearly a week of
+fog, he decided that he had had physical rest enough, and to get good
+observations would bring him the recreation of spirit which he most
+needed. So he packed up for work, and happened to light on the unhappy
+Israel to row him a mile or so to the land. "Iz" was taken "all
+aback." He believed that you should not strain yourself ever--much
+less on Sundays. So from religious scruples he asked to be excused,
+though he offered to row any one ashore if he was only going to idle
+the hours away. After all, however, our Governor represented our King,
+and I was personally horrified, intending to correct Israel's position
+with a round turn, and show him that we are especially enjoined to
+obey "Governors and Rulers"--as better also than the sacrifice of
+loafing. But the Governor forbade it, quietly unpacked, put his things
+away, and stayed aboard. Israel subsequently cultivated the habit of
+remaining in bed on Sundays--thereby escaping being led into
+temptation, as even Governors would not be likely to go and tempt him
+in his bunk.
+
+I have had others refuse to help in really necessary work on Sunday.
+One skipper would not get the Strathcona under way in answer to a
+wireless appeal to come to a woman in danger of dying from hemorrhage
+forty miles distant. When we prepared to start without him, he told me
+that he would go, but that it would be at the price of his soul and we
+would have to be responsible for that loss. We went all the same.
+
+Our charts, such as they were, were subsequently accepted by the Royal
+Geographical Society of England, who generously invited me to lecture
+before them. They were later good enough to award me the Murchison
+Prize in 1911. Much of the work was really due to Sir William, and as
+much of it as I could put on him to the Sabbatarian "Iz."
+
+In connection with the scientific work on the coast I well remember
+the eclipse of October, 1905. All along the land it was perfectly
+visible. A break in the clouds occurred at exactly the right moment:
+one fisherman, to console the astronomers, said that he was very
+sorry, but that he supposed it did not much matter, as there would be
+another eclipse next week. The scientific explorer, who was devoting
+his attention to the effect on the earth's magnetism, spent the time
+of the eclipse in a dark cellar. Most wonderful magnetic disturbances
+had been occurring almost every night, and the night before the event
+a far from ordinary storm had upset his instruments, so that the
+effect of the eclipse on the magnetic indicators was scarcely
+distinguishable. He had just time after the thing was over to peep out
+and see the light returning. He had watched his thermometer and found
+that it fell three degrees during totality.
+
+The year 1908 at the mill we had built a new large schooner in honour
+of that devoted friend of Labrador, our secretary in Boston, and had
+named the vessel for her, the Emma E. White. She fetched Lloyd's full
+bounty for an A 1 ship. This was a feather in our caps, since she was
+designed and built by one of our own men, who was no "scholard,"
+having never learned to read or write. Will Hopkins can take an axe
+and a few tools into the green woods in the fall, and sail down the
+bay in a new schooner in the spring when the ice goes. To see him
+steaming the planking in the open in his own improvised boxes on the
+top of six feet of snow made me stand and take off my hat to him. He
+is no good at speech-making; he does not own a dress-suit, and he
+cannot dance a tango; but he is quite as useful a citizen as some who
+can, and his type of education is one which endears him to all. He
+gave me the great pleasure of having our friend come sailing into St.
+Anthony in the middle of a fine day, seated on the bow of her
+namesake, the beautiful and valuable product of his skill, just when
+we were all ready on the wharf to "sketch them both off," as our
+people call taking a photograph.
+
+Our increasing buildings being all of wood, and as the two largest
+were full of either helpless sick people or an ever-increasing batch
+of children, we wanted something safer than kerosene lamps to
+illuminate the rooms. The people here had never seen electric light
+"tamed," as it were, and to us it seemed almost too big a venture to
+install a plant of our own. Home outfits were not common in those days
+even in the States, and we feared in any case that we could not run it
+regularly enough. No one except the head of the machine shop, a
+Labrador boy and Pratt graduate, knew the first thing about
+electricity, and he would not always be available.
+
+However, with the help of friends we were able to purchase a hot-head
+vertical engine to generate our current; for our near-by streams
+freeze solid in winter. That engine has now been running for over ten
+years, and has given us electricity in St. Anthony Hospital for
+operating and X-ray work as well as all our lighting. Until he died,
+it was run the greater part of the time by an Eskimo boy whom we had
+brought down from the North Labrador, and who was convalescing from
+empyema. The installation was efficiently done by a volunteer student
+from the Pratt Institute, Mr. Hause.
+
+On my lecture trip the previous winter a gentleman at whose house I
+was a guest told me that when quite a youth he had fought in the Civil
+War, been invalided home, and advised to take a sea voyage for his
+health. He therefore took passage with some Gloucester fishermen and
+set sail for the Labrador. The crew proved to be Southern
+sympathizers, and one day, while my friend was ashore taking a walk,
+the skipper slipped out and left him marooned. He had with him neither
+money, spare clothing, nor anything else; and as British sympathies
+were also with the South, he had many doubts as to how the settlers
+would receive a penniless stranger and Northerner. So seeing his
+schooner bound in an easterly direction, he started literally to run
+along the shore, hoping that he might find where she went and catch
+her again. Mile after mile he went, tearing through the "tuckamore" or
+dense undergrowth of gnarled trees, climbing over high cliffs,
+swimming or wading the innumerable rivers, skirting bays, and now and
+again finding a short beach along which he could hurry. At night, wet,
+dirty, tired, hungry, penniless, he came to a fisherman's cottage and
+asked shelter and food. He explained that he was an American gentleman
+taking a holiday, but hadn't a penny of money. It spoke well for the
+people that they accepted his story. He told me that they both fed and
+clothed him, and one kind-hearted man actually the next day gave him
+some oilskin clothing and a sou'wester hat--costly articles "on
+Labrador" in those days. So on and on and on he went, till at last
+arriving at Red Bay he found his schooner at anchor calmly fishing. He
+went aboard at once as if nothing had happened, and stayed there
+(having enjoyed enough pedestrian exercise for the time being) and no
+one ever referred to his having been left behind. He was now, however,
+forty years later, anxious to do something for the people of that
+section of the shore, and he gave me a thousand dollars toward
+building a small cottage for a district nurse. Forteau was the village
+chosen, and Dennison Cottage erected as a nursing station and
+dispensary. The people at first each gave a week toward its upkeep;
+and even now every man gives three days annually. The house has a good
+garden, little wards for in-patients, and is the centre of much useful
+industrial work, especially the making of artificial flowers. For
+twelve years now, Miss Florence Bailey, a nurse from the Mildmay
+Institute in London, has presided over its destinies, endeared herself
+to the people, and done most unselfish and heroic work in that lonely
+station, which she has greatly enlarged and improved by her untiring
+efforts. It forms an admirable halfway house between Battle and
+Harrington Hospitals, each being about a hundred miles distant. A
+local trader once wrote me: "Sister Bailey did good work last year.
+That cottage hospital is a blessing to the people of this part of the
+shore. Who would think that by a little act of kindness done forty-odd
+years ago to an old soldier, we would now be reaping the benefit of
+such an act."
+
+Only one longer journey on foot on the Labrador coast is on record.
+The traveller started from Quebec and walked to Battle Harbour. There
+he turned north and walked to Nakvak Bay. The distance as the crow
+flies is about fourteen hundred miles. But the man had no boat of his
+own and only in one or two places accepted a passage. One bay on the
+east coast runs in for some hundred and fifty miles. Over this he got
+a boat fifty miles from the mouth. Round Kipokak and Makkovik, and the
+bays south of Hopedale, he walked most of the way, and these run in
+for forty miles. He carried practically nothing with him, and depended
+on what boots and clothing the people gave him, eating berries and
+whatever else he could find while he was in the country. Those who
+housed him told me that they did not see any signs of madness about
+him, except his avoidance of men and refusal to go in boats or mix
+with others if he could in any way avoid it. He carried no gun. No one
+knew who he was nor why he went on such a "cruise." Long before he
+reached the North the theory that he was a murderer fleeing from
+justice got started, and at some places a very careful watch was kept
+over him. Arrived at Nakvak, he went to the house of everyone's
+friend, George Ford. That is one of the most inaccessible places in
+the world. No mail steamer ever goes there, and no schooner ever
+anchors nearer than a few miles. It is at the bottom of a fjord
+twenty-five miles long, with very precipitous cliffs two thousand feet
+high on each side and bottomless water below. It was then thirty miles
+from the nearest house, with ranges of mountains between, and was the
+most northerly house on the Labrador. Here this phenomenon celebrated
+his arrival by climbing up onto the ridge of the house, when lo! most
+prosaic of accidents, he fell off and broke his neck. The puzzle has
+always been why he elected to carry an unbroken neck at such cost all
+that long distance.
+
+Many inexplicable things happen "on Labrador." Thus, one year while
+visiting at the head of Hamilton Inlet, a Scotch settler came aboard
+to ask my advice about a large animal that had appeared round his
+house. Though he had sat up night after night with his gun, he had
+never seen it. His children had seen it several times disappearing
+into the trees. The French agent of Révillon Frères, twenty miles
+away, had come over, and together they had tracked it, measured the
+footmarks in the mud, and even fenced some of them round. The stride
+was about eight feet, the marks as of the cloven hoofs of an ox. The
+children described the creature as looking like a huge hairy man; and
+several nights the dogs had been driven growling from the house into
+the water. Twice the whole family had heard the creature prowling
+around the cottage, and tapping at the doors and windows. The now
+grown-up children persist in saying that they saw this wild thing.
+Their house is twenty miles up the large Grand River, and a hundred
+and fifty miles from the coast.
+
+An old fellow called Harry Howell was one winter night missing from
+his home. He had been hunting, and only too late, after a blizzard set
+in, was it discovered that he was absent. In the morning the men
+gathered to make a search, but at that moment in walked "old Harry"!
+He told me later that he was coming home in the afternoon when the
+blizzard began. It was dirty, thick of snow, and cold. Suddenly he
+heard bells ringing, and knew that it was fairies bidding him follow
+them--because he had followed them before. So off he went, pushing his
+way through the driving snow. When at last he reached the foot of a
+gnarled old tree in the forest, the bells stopped, and he knew that
+was the place where he must stay for the night. So he laid some of the
+partridges which he had killed into a hole in the snow close to the
+trunk, crawled down and used them for a seat, and placed the rest of
+the frozen birds at his feet. Then he pulled up his dickey, or kossak,
+over his head, and with his back to the tree, went to sleep while the
+snow was still driving. There was no persuading that man that the
+ringing bells were in his own imagination.
+
+Many years ago a Norwegian captain on the Labrador told me the
+following story. One day the carpenter of his schooner, a man whom he
+had known for three voyages, and trusted thoroughly, was steering on
+the course which the mate had given him. All at once the mate came and
+found the man steering four points out. When he upbraided him, he
+answered, "He came and told me to." "Nobody did," replied the mate.
+"Go northwest."
+
+Three times the experience was repeated, and at last the mate reported
+the matter to the skipper. He immediately suggested, "Well, let us go
+on running in the direction he insists on taking for a while and see
+if anything happens." At the end of two hours they came upon a
+square-rigger with her decks just awash, and six men clinging to her
+rigging. As they came alongside the sinking vessel the carpenter
+pointed aghast to one of the rescued crew and cried out, "There's the
+man who came and told me the skipper said to change the course."
+
+In medicine, too, things happen which we professional men are just as
+unable to explain. A big-bodied, successful fisherman came aboard my
+steamer one day, saying that he had toothache. This was probable, for
+his jaw was swollen, his mouth hard to open, and the offending molar
+easily visible within. When I produced the forceps he protested most
+loudly that he would not have it touched for worlds.
+
+"Why, then, did you come to me?" I asked. "You are wasting my time."
+
+"I wanted you to charm her, Doctor," he answered, quite naturally.
+
+"But, my dear friend, I do not know how to charm, and don't think it
+would do the slightest good. Doctors are not allowed to do such
+things."
+
+He was evidently very much put out, and turning round to go, said, "I
+knows why you'se won't charm her. It's because I'm a Roman Catholic."
+
+"Nonsense. If you really think that it would do any good, come along.
+You'll have to pay twenty-five cents exactly as if you had it pulled
+out."
+
+"Gladly enough, Doctor. Please go ahead."
+
+He sat on the rail, a burly carcass, the incarnation of materialism,
+while the doctor, feeling the size of a sandflea, put one finger into
+his mouth and touched the molar, while he repeated the most mystic
+nonsense he could think of, "Abracadabra Tiddlywinkum Umslopoga"--and
+then jumped the finger out lest the patient might close his ponderous
+jaw. The fisherman took a turn around the deck, pulled out the
+quarter, and solemnly handed it to me, saying, "All the pain has gone.
+Many thanks, Doctor." I found myself standing alone in amazement,
+twiddling a miserable shilling, and wondering how I came to make such
+a fool of myself.
+
+A month later the patient again came to see me when we happened to be
+in his harbour. The swelling had gone, the molar was there. "Ne'er an
+ache out of her since," the patient laughed. I have not reported this
+end result to the committee of the American College of Surgeons,
+though much attention is now devoted to the follow-up and end-result
+department of surgery and medicine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+MARRIAGE
+
+
+It was now the fall of 1908, and the time had come for me to visit
+England again and try and arouse fresh interest in our work; and this
+motive was combined with the desire to see my old mother, who was now
+nearing her fourscore years. I decided to leave in November and return
+_via_ America in the spring to receive the honorary degree of LL.D.
+from Williams College and of M.A. from Harvard, which I had been
+generously offered.
+
+My lecture tour this winter was entrusted to an agency. Propaganda is
+a recognized necessity in human life, though it has little attraction
+for most men. To me having to ask personally for money even for other
+people was always a difficulty. Scores of times I have been blamed for
+not even stating in a lecture that we needed help. The distaste for
+beating the big drum, which lecturing for your own work always appears
+to be, makes me quite unable to see any virtue in not doing it, but
+just asking the Lord to do it. If I really were convinced that He
+would meet the expenses whether I worked or not, I should believe that
+neither would He let people suffer and die untended out here or
+anywhere else. Indeed, it would seem a work of supererogation to have
+to remind Him of the necessity that existed.
+
+The fact that we have to show pictures of the work which we are doing
+is tiresome and takes time, but it encourages us to have pictures
+worth taking and to do deeds which we are not ashamed to narrate. It
+also stimulates others to give themselves as well as their money to
+similar kinds of work at their own doorsteps, to see how much like
+themselves their almoners are. Only to-day my volunteer secretary told
+me that he honestly expected to meet "a bearded old fogey in
+spectacles," not a man who can shoot his own dinner from the wing or
+who enjoys the justifiable pleasures of life.
+
+The religion of Christ never permitted me to accept the idea that
+there is "nothing to do, only believe." Every man ought to earn his
+own bread and the means to support his family. Why, then, should you
+have only to ask the Lord to give unasked the wherewithal to feed
+other people's families?
+
+Lecturing for philanthropies, only another word for the means to help
+along the Kingdom of God on earth, is in England usually carried on
+through the ordinary missionary meetings; and in my previous
+experience they were not generally much credit to the splendid objects
+in view. The lectures were often patronized by small audiences largely
+composed of women and children.
+
+That particular winter in England I had the privilege of addressing
+all sorts of workmen's clubs and city lecture-course audiences, people
+who would have "the shivers" almost if one had asked them to attend a
+"missionary" lecture. The collection, or even the final monetary
+outcome, is far from being the test of the value of the address. To
+commend Christ's religion by minimizing in any way the prerogative He
+gave men of carrying on the work of His kingdom in their human efforts
+is to sap the very appeal that attracts manhood to Him. I never wanted
+to sing, "Oh! to be nothing, nothing." I always wished to sing, "Oh!
+make me something, something"--that shall leave some footprints on the
+sands of time, and have some record of talents gained to offer a
+Master whom we believe to be righteous.
+
+When spring came and the lectures were over, a new idea suddenly
+dawned upon me. If I were going to America to festive gatherings and
+to have some honours conferred, why leave the mother behind?
+Seventy-eight years is not old. She was born in India, had lived in
+England, and suppose anything did happen, why not sleep in
+America?--she would be just as near God there. The splendid Mauretania
+not only took us safely over, but gave me also that gift which I
+firmly believe God designed for me--a real partner to share in my joys
+and sorrows, to encourage and support in trouble and failures, to
+inspire and advise in a thousand ways, and in addition to bring into
+my distant field of work a personal comrade with the culture, wisdom,
+and enthusiasm of the American life and the training of one of the
+very best of its Universities.
+
+We met on board the second day out. She was travelling with a Scotch
+banker of Chicago and his wife, Mr. W.R. Stirling, whose daughter was
+her best friend. They were returning from a motor tour through Europe
+and Algeria. The Mauretania takes only four and a half days in
+crossing, and never before did I realize the drawbacks of "hustle,"
+and yet the extreme need of it on my part. The degrees of longitude
+slipped by so quickly that I felt personally aggrieved when one day we
+made over six hundred miles, and the captain told us in triumph that
+it was a new record. The ship seemed to be paying off some spite
+against me. My mother kept mostly to her cabin. Though constantly in
+to see her, I am afraid I did not unduly worry her to join me on the
+deck. When just on landing I told her that I had asked a fellow
+passenger to become my wife, I am sure had the opportunity arisen she
+would have tumbled down the Mauretania's staircase. When she had the
+joy of meeting the girl, her equanimity was so far upset as to let an
+unaccustomed tear roll down her cheek. That, at least, is one of the
+tears which I have cost her which brings no regrets. For she confesses
+that it often puzzles her to which of our lives the event has meant
+most.
+
+The constant little activities of my life had so filled every hour of
+time, and so engrossed my thoughts, that I had never thought to
+philosophize on the advisability of marriage, nor stopped to compare
+my life with those of my neighbors. There is no virtue in keeping the
+Ninth Commandment and not envying your neighbour's condition or goods
+when it never enters your head or heart to worry about them; and when
+you are getting what you care about no halo is due you for not falling
+victim to envy or jealousy of others. I have not been in the habit of
+praying for special personal providences like fine weather in my
+section of the earth, or for head wind for the schooners so as to give
+me a fair wind for my steamer, except so far as one prays for the
+recognition of God's good hand in everything.
+
+I can honestly protest that nothing in my life ever came more "out of
+the blue" than my marriage; and beyond that I am increasingly certain
+each day that it did come out of that blue where God dwells.
+
+I knew neither whence she came nor whither she was going. Indeed, I
+only found out when the proposition was really put that I did not even
+know her name--for it was down on the passenger list as one of the
+daughters of the friends with whom she was travelling. Fortunately it
+never entered my head that it mattered. For I doubt if I should have
+had the courage to question the chaperon, whose daughter she
+presumably was. It certainly was a "poser" to be told, "But you don't
+even know my name." Had I not been a bit of a seaman, and often
+compelled on the spur of the moment to act first and think
+afterwards, what the consequences might have been I cannot say.
+Fortunately, I remembered that it was not the matter at issue, and
+explained, without admitting the impeachment, that the only question
+that interested me in the least was what I hoped that it might become.
+Incidentally she mentioned that she had only once heard of me. It was
+the year previous when I had been speaking at Bryn Mawr and she had
+refused in no measured terms an invitation to attend, as sounding
+entirely too dull for her predilections. I have wondered whether this
+was not another "small providence."
+
+A pathological condition of one's internal workings is not unusual
+even in Britons who "go down to the sea in ships," but such genius as
+our family has displayed has, so history assures us, shone best on a
+quarter-deck; and on this occasion it pleased God ultimately to add
+another naval victory to our credit. It is generally admitted that an
+abnormal mentality accompanies this not uncommon experience of human
+life, and I found my lack of appreciation of the rapid voyage
+paralleled by a wicked satisfaction that my mother preferred the brass
+four-poster, so thoughtfully provided for her by the Cunard Company,
+to the risks of the unsteady promenade deck.
+
+When the girl's way and mine parted in that last word in material
+jostlings, the custom-house shed in Manhattan, after the liner
+arrived, I realized that it was rather an armistice than a permanent
+settlement which I had achieved. Though there was no father in the
+case, I learned that there was a mother and a home in Chicago. These
+were formidable strongholds for a homeless wanderer to assault, but
+rendered doubly so by the fact that there was neither brother nor
+sister to leave behind to mitigate the possible vacancy. The
+"everlasting yea" not having been forthcoming, under the
+circumstances it was no easy task for me to keep faith with the many
+appointments to lecture on Labrador which had been made for me. The
+inexorable schedule kept me week after week in the East. Fortunately
+the generous hospitality of many old friends who wanted the pleasure
+of meeting my mother kept my mind somewhat occupied. But I confess at
+the back of it the forthcoming venture loomed up more and more
+momentous as the fateful day drew near for me to start for Chicago.
+
+This visit to my wife's beautiful country home among the trees on the
+bluff of Lake Michigan in Lake Forest was one long dream. My mother
+and I were now made acquainted with the family and friends of my
+fiancée. Her father, Colonel MacClanahan, a man of six feet five
+inches in height, had been Judge Advocate General on the Staff of
+Braxton Bragg and had fought under General Robert E. Lee. He was a
+Southerner of Scotch extraction, having been born and brought up in
+Tennessee. A lawyer by training, after the war, when everything that
+belonged to him was destroyed in the "reconstruction period," and
+being still a very young man, he had gone North to Chicago and begun
+life again at his profession. There he met and married, in 1884, Miss
+Rosamond Hill, who was born in Burlington, Vermont, but who, since
+childhood and the death of her parents, had lived with her married
+sister, Mrs. Charles Durand, of Chicago. The MacClanahans had two
+children--the boy, Kinloch, dying at an early age as the result of an
+accident. Colonel MacClanahan himself died a few months later, leaving
+a widow and one child, Anna Elizabeth Caldwell MacClanahan. She and
+her mother had lived the greater part of the time with Mrs. Durand,
+who died something more than a year before our engagement.
+
+The friends with whom my fiancée had been travelling were almost
+next-door neighbours in Lake Forest. They made my short stay doubly
+happy by endless kindnesses; and all through the years, till his death
+in 1918, Mr. Stirling gave me not only a friendship which meant more
+to me than I can express, but his loving and invaluable aid and
+counsel in our work.
+
+In spite of my many years of sailor life, I found that I was expected
+among other things to ride a horse, my fiancée being devoted to that
+means of progression. The days when I had ridden to hounds in England
+as a boy in Cheshire stood me in some little stead, for like swimming,
+tennis, and other pastimes calling for coördination, riding is never
+quite forgotten. But remembering Mr. Winkle's experiences, it was not
+without some misgivings that I found a shellback like myself galloping
+behind my lady's charger. My last essay at horseback riding had been
+just eleven years previously in Iceland. Having to wait a few days at
+Reikkavik, I had hired a whole bevy of ponies with a guide to take
+myself and the young skipper of our vessel for a three days' ride to
+see the geysers. He had never been on the back of any animal before,
+and was nevertheless not surprised or daunted at falling off
+frequently, though an interlude of being dragged along with one foot
+in the stirrup over lava beds made no little impression upon him.
+Fodder of all kinds is very scarce in the volcanic tufa of which all
+that land consists, and any moment that one stopped was always devoted
+by our ponies to grubbing for blades of grass in the holes. On our
+return to the ship the crew could not help noticing that the skipper
+for many days ceased to patronize the lockers or any other seat, and
+soon they were rejoicing that for some reason he was unable to sit
+down at all. He explained it by saying that his ponies ate so much
+lava that it stuck out under their skins, and I myself recall feeling
+inclined to agree with him.
+
+The journey from Lake Forest to Labrador would have been a tedious
+one, but by good fortune a friend from New York had arranged to come
+and visit the coast in his steam yacht, the Enchantress, and was good
+enough to pick me up at Bras d'Or. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, who had
+previously shown me much kindness, permitted us to rendezvous at his
+house, and for a second time I enjoyed seeing some of the experiments
+of his most versatile brain. His aeroplanes, telephones, and other
+inventions were all intensely interesting, but among his other lines
+of work the effort to develop a race of sheep, which had litters just
+as pigs do, interested me most.
+
+Francis Sayre, whom I had heard win the prize at Williams with his
+valedictory speech, was again to be my summer secretary. On our
+arrival at St. Anthony we found a great deal going on. The fame as a
+surgeon of my colleague, Dr. John Mason Little, had spread so widely
+that St. Anthony Hospital would no longer hold the patients who sought
+assistance at it. Fifty would arrive on a single mail boat. They were
+dumped down on the little wharf, having been landed in small punts
+from the steamer, as in those days we had no proper dock to which the
+boats could come. The little waiting-room in the hospital at night
+resembled nothing so much as a newly opened sardine tin; and to cater
+for the waiting patients was a Sisyphean task without the Hercules.
+Through the instrumentality of Dr. Little's sister a fund of ten
+thousand dollars was raised to double the size of the hospital, and
+the work of building was begun on my return. Although the capacity was
+greatly increased thereby we have really been unable ever to make our
+building what it ought to be to meet the problem. The first part,
+constructed of green lumber hauled from the woods, and other wings
+added at different periods of growth, the endeavour to blast out
+suitable heating-plant accommodations--all this has left the hospital
+building more or less a thing of rags and patches, and most
+uneconomical to run. We are urgently in need of having it rebuilt
+entirely of either brick or stone, in order to resist the winter cold,
+to give more efficiency and comfort to patients and staff and to
+conserve our fuel, which is the most serious item of expense we have
+to meet.
+
+But at that time with all its capacity for service the new addition
+was rising, sounding yet one more note of praise in better ability to
+meet the demands upon us.
+
+And _pari passu_ came the beautiful offer of my friend, Mr. Sayre, to
+double the size of our orphanage, putting up the new wing in memory of
+his father. This meant that instead of twenty we might now accommodate
+forty children at a pinch. Life is so short that it is the depths of
+pathos to be hampered in doing one's work for the lack of a few
+dollars. Of great interest to my fiancée and myself was the selection
+of a piece of ground adjoining the Mission land, and the erection for
+ourselves of the home which we had planned and designed together
+before I had left Lake Forest. We chose some land up on the hillside
+and overlooking the sea and the harbour, where the view should be as
+comprehensive as possible. But we feared that even though our new
+house was very literally "founded upon a rock," the winds might some
+day remove it bodily from its abiding-place, and therefore we riveted
+the structure with heavy iron bolts to the solid bedrock.
+
+One excitement of that season was Admiral Peary's return from the
+North Pole. We were cruising near Indian Harbour when some visitors
+came aboard to make use of our wireless telegraph, which at that time
+we had installed on board. It proved to be Mr. Harry Whitney. It was
+the first intimation that we had had that Peary was returning that
+year. Whitney had met Cook coming back from the polar sea on the west
+side of the Gulf, where he had disappeared about eighteen months
+previously. I had met Dr. Cook several times myself, and indeed I had
+slept at his house in Brooklyn. He had visited Battle Harbour Hospital
+in 1893 when he was wrecked in the steamer in which he was conducting
+a party to visit Greenland. We had again seen him as he went North
+with Mr. Bradley in the yacht, and he had sent us back some Greenland
+dogs to mix their blood with our dogs, and so perhaps improve their
+breed and endurance. These, however, I had later felt it necessary to
+kill, for the Greenland dogs carry the dangerous tapeworm which is
+such a menace to man, and of which our Labrador dogs are entirely free
+so far.
+
+The picture of this meeting on the ice between Cook and Whitney gave
+us the impression of another Nansen and Jackson at Spitzbergen.
+Whitney had welcomed Cook warmly, had witnessed his troubles at Etah,
+and his departure by komatik, and had taken charge of his instruments
+and records to carry South with him when he came home. But his ship
+was delayed and delayed, and when Peary in the Roosevelt passed on his
+way South, fearing to be left another winter Whitney had accepted a
+passage on her at the cost of leaving Cook's material behind. He had
+met his own boat farther south and had transferred to her. He left the
+impression very firmly on all our minds that both he and Dr. Cook
+really believed that the latter had found the long-sought Pole.
+
+A little later, while cruising in thick weather in the Gulf of St.
+Lawrence, my wireless operator came in and said: "There can be no harm
+telling you, Doctor, that Peary is at Battle Harbour. He is wiring to
+Washington that he has found the Pole, and also he is asking his
+committee if he may present the Mission with his superfluous supplies,
+or whether he is to sell them to you." Seeing that it is not easy to
+know whence wireless messages come if the sender does not own up to
+his whereabouts, I at once ordered him to wireless to Peary at Battle
+the simple words: "Give it to them, of course," and sign it
+"Washington." I knew that the Commander would see the joke, and if the
+decision turned out later to be incorrect, it could easily be
+rectified by purchasing the goods. A tin of his brown bread now lies
+among my curios and one of his sledges is in my barn.
+
+   [Illustration: COMMODORE PEARY ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE POLE,
+   1909]
+
+On our arrival at Battle Harbour we found the Roosevelt lying at the
+wharf repainting and refitting. A whole host of newspaper men and
+other friends had come North to welcome the explorer home. Battle was
+quite a gay place; but it was living up to its name, for Peary not
+only claimed that he had found the Pole, but also that Cook had not;
+and he was realizing what a hard thing it is to prove a negative. We
+had a very delightful time with the party, and greatly enjoyed meeting
+all the members of the expedition. Among them was the ill-fated Borup,
+destined shortly to be drowned on a simple canoe trip, and the
+indomitable and athletic Macmillan who subsequently led the Crocker
+Land expedition, our own schooner George B. Cluett carrying them to
+Etah.
+
+My secretary, Mr. Sayre, was just about to leave for America, and at
+Peary's request he transferred to the Roosevelt with his typewriter,
+to help the Commander with a few of his many notes and records. I dare
+say that he got an inside view of the question then agitating the
+world from Washington to Copenhagen; but if so, he has remained
+forever silent about it. For our part we were glad that some one had
+found the Pole, for it has been a costly quest in both fine men and
+valuable time, energy, and money. It has caused lots of trouble and
+sorrow, and so far at least its practical issues have been few.
+
+Our wedding had been scheduled for November, and for the first time I
+had found a Labrador summer long. In the late fall I left for Chicago
+on a mission that had no flavour of the North Pole about it. We were
+married in Grace Episcopal Church, Chicago, on November 18, 1909. Our
+wedding was followed by a visit to the Hot Springs of Virginia; and
+then "heigho," and a flight for the North. We sailed from St. John's,
+Newfoundland, in January. I had assured my wife, who is an excellent
+sailor, that she would scarcely notice the motion of the ship on the
+coastal trip of three hundred miles. Instead of five days, it took
+nine; and we steamed straight out of the Narrows at St. John's into a
+head gale and a blizzard of snow. The driving spray froze onto every
+thing till the ship was sugared like a vast Christmas cake. It made
+the home which we had built at St. Anthony appear perfectly
+delightful. My wife had had her furniture sent North during the
+summer, so that now the "Lares and Penates" with which she had been
+familiar from childhood seemed to extend a mute but hearty welcome to
+us from their new setting.
+
+We have three children, all born at St. Anthony. Our elder son,
+Wilfred Thomason, was born in the fall of 1910; Kinloch Pascoe in the
+fall of 1912, two years almost to a day behind his brother; and lastly
+a daughter, Rosamond Loveday, who followed her brothers in 1917. In
+the case of the two latter children the honours of the name were
+divided between both sides of the family, Kinloch and Rosamond being
+old family names on my wife's side, while, on the other hand, there
+have been Pascoe and Loveday Grenfells from time immemorial.
+
+Nearly ten years have now rolled away since our marriage. The puzzle
+to me is how I ever got along before; and these last nine years have
+been so crowded with the activities and worries of the increasing
+cares of a growing work, that without the love and inspiration and
+intellectual help of a true comrade, I could never have stood up under
+them. Every side of life is developed and broadened by companionship.
+I admit of no separation of life into "secular" and "religious."
+Religion, if it means anything, means the life and activities of our
+divine spirit on earth in relation to our Father in heaven. I am
+convinced from experience of the supreme value to that of a happy
+marriage, and that "team work" is God's plan for us on this earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+NEW VENTURES
+
+
+No human life can be perfect, or even be lived without troubles. Clams
+have their troubles, I dare say. A queer sort of sinking feeling just
+like descending in a fast elevator comes over one, as if trouble and
+the abdominal viscera had a direct connection. Some one has said that
+it must be because that is where the average mind centres. Thus, when
+we lost the little steamer Swallow which we were towing, and with it
+the evidence of a crime and the road to the prevention of its
+repetition, it absolutely sickened me for two or three days, or, to be
+more exact, during two or three nights. It was all quite unnecessary,
+for we can see now that the matter worked out for the best. The fact
+that troubles hurt most when one is at rest and one's mind unoccupied,
+and in the night when one's vitality is lowest, is a great comfort,
+because that shows how it is something physical that is at fault, and
+no physical troubles are of very great importance.
+
+The summer of 1910 brought me a fine crop of personal worries, and
+probably deservedly so, for no one should leave his business affairs
+too much to another, without guarantees, occasionally renewed, that
+all is well. Few professional men are good at business, and personally
+I have no liking for it. This, combined with an over-readiness to
+accept as helpers men whose only qualifications have sometimes been of
+their own rating, was really spoiling for trouble--and mine came
+through the series of coöperative stores.
+
+To begin with, none of the stores were incorporated, and their
+liabilities were therefore unlimited. Though I had always felt it best
+not to accept a penny of interest, I had been obliged to loan them
+money, and their agent in St. John's, who was also mine, allowed them
+considerable latitude in credits. It was, indeed, a bolt from the blue
+when I was informed that the merchants in St. John's were owed by the
+stores the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, and that I was being
+held responsible for every cent of it--because on the strength of
+their faith in me, and their knowledge that I was interested in the
+stores, having brought them into being, they had been willing to let
+the credits mount up. Even then I still had all my work to carry on
+and little time to devote to money affairs. Had I accepted, on first
+entering the Mission, the salary offered me, which was that of my
+predecessor, I should have been able to meet these liabilities, and
+very gladly indeed would I have done so. As it was I had to find some
+way out. All the merchants interested were told of the facts, and
+asked to meet me at the office of one of them, go over the accounts
+with my agent, and try and find a plan to settle. One can have little
+heart in his work if he feels every one who looks at him really thinks
+that he is a defaulter. The outcome of the inquiry revealed that if
+the agent could not show which store owed each debt, neither could the
+merchants; some had made out their bills to separate stores, some all
+to one store, and some in a general way to myself, though not one
+single penny of the debt was a personal one of my own.
+
+The next discovery was that the manager of the St. Anthony store, who
+had been my summer secretary before, and was an exceedingly pious
+man--whose great zeal for cottage prayer meetings, and that form of
+religious work, had led me to think far too highly of him--had
+neglected his books. He had given credit to every one who came along
+(though it was a cardinal statute under his rules that no credit was
+to be allowed except at his own personal risk). The St. John's agent
+claimed that he had made a loss of twelve thousand dollars in a little
+over a year, in which he professed to have been able to pay ten per
+cent to shareholders and put by three hundred dollars to reserve.
+Besides this, the new local store secretary had mixed up affairs by
+both ordering supplies direct from Canada and sending produce there,
+which the St. John's agent claimed were owed to the merchants in that
+city.
+
+These two men, instead of pulling together, were, I found, bitter
+enemies; and it looked as if the whole pack of cards were tumbling
+about my ears. I cashed every available personal asset which I could.
+The beautiful schooner, Emma E. White, also a personal possession,
+arrived in St. John's while we were there with a full load of lumber,
+but it and she sailed straight into the melting-pot. The merchants,
+with one exception, were all as good about the matter as men can be.
+They were perfectly satisfied when they realized that I meant facing
+the debt squarely. One was nasty about it, saying that he would not
+wait--and oddly enough in ordinary life he was a man whom one would
+not expect to be ungenerous, for he too was a religious man. Whether
+he gained by it or not it is hard to say. He was paid first, anyhow.
+The standard of what is really remunerative in life is differently
+graded. The stores have dealt with him since, and his prices are fair
+and honest; but he was the only one among some twenty who even
+appeared to kick a man when he was down. I have nothing but gratitude
+to all the rest.
+
+I should add that the incident was not the fault of the people of the
+coast. Often I had been warned by the merchants that the coöperative
+stores would fail and that the people would rob me. It is true that
+there was trouble over the badly kept books, and a number of the
+fishermen disclaimed their debts charged against them; but with one
+exception no one came and said that he had had things which were not
+noted on the bills. I am confident, however, that they did not go back
+on me willingly, and when my merchant friends said, "I told you so," I
+honestly was able to state that it was the management, not the people
+or the system, that was at fault. Indeed, subsequent events have
+proved this. For five of the stores still run, and run splendidly, and
+pay handsomer dividends by far than any investment our people could
+possibly make elsewhere.
+
+With the sale of a few investments and some other available property,
+the liability was so far reduced that, with what the stores paid, only
+one merchant was not fully indemnified, and he generously told me not
+to worry about the balance.
+
+This same year, on the other hand, one of our most forward steps, so
+far as the Mission was concerned, was taken, through the generosity of
+the late Mr. George B. Cluett, of Troy, New York. He had built
+specially for our work a magnificent three-masted schooner, fitted
+with the best of gear including a motor launch. She was constructed of
+three-inch oak plank, sheathed with hardwood for work in the
+ice-fields. She was also fitted with an eighty horse-power Wolverine
+engine. The bronze tablet in her bore the inscription, "This vessel
+with full equipment was presented to Wilfred T. Grenfell by George B.
+Cluett." He had previously asked me if I would like any words from the
+Bible on the plate, and I had suggested, "The sea is His and He made
+it." The designer unfortunately put the text after the inscription; so
+that I have been frequently asked why and how I came to make it,
+seeing that it is believed by all good Christians that in heaven
+"there shall be no more sea."
+
+To help out with the expenses of getting her running, our loved friend
+from Chicago, Mr. W.R. Stirling, agreed to come North on the schooner
+the first season, bringing his two daughters and three friends. Even
+though he was renting her for a yachting trip, he offered to bring all
+the cargo free and make the Mission stations his ports of call.
+
+Mr. Cluett's idea was that, as we had big expenses carrying endless
+freight so far North, and as it got so broken and often lost in
+transit, and greatly damaged in the many changes involved from rail to
+steamer, and from steamer to steamer, if she carried our freight in
+summer, she could in winter earn enough to make it all free, and
+possibly provide a sinking fund for herself as well. There was also
+good accommodation in her for doctors, nurses, students, etc., who
+every summer come from the South to help in various ways in the work
+of the Mission.
+
+All our freight that year arrived promptly and in good condition,
+which had never happened before. Later the vessel was chartered to go
+to Greenland by the Smithsonian. On this occasion her engine, never
+satisfactory, gave out entirely, which so delayed her that she got
+frozen in near Etah and was held up a whole twelvemonth. Meanwhile the
+war had broken out, and when she at last sailed into Boston, we were
+able to sell her, by the generous permission of Mrs. Cluett, and use
+the money to purchase the George B. Cluett II.
+
+Illustrating the advantage of getting our freight direct, among the
+many instances which have occurred, that of the lost searchlight for
+the Strathcona comes to my mind. As she had often on dark nights to
+come to anchor among vessels, and to nose her way into unlit harbours,
+some friends, through the Professor of Geology at Harvard, who had
+himself cruised all along our coast in a schooner, presented me with a
+searchlight for the hospital ship and despatched it _via_ Sydney--the
+normal freight route. Month after month went by, and it never
+appeared. Year followed year, and still we searched for that
+searchlight. At length, after two and a half years, it suddenly
+arrived, having been "delayed on the way." Had it been provisions or
+clothing or drugs, or almost anything else, of course, it would have
+been useless. It has proved to us one of the almost _de luxe_
+additions to a Mission steamer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a long time I had felt the need of some place in St. John's where
+work for fishermen could be carried on, and which could be also
+utilized as a place of safety for girls coming to that city from other
+parts of the island. My attention was called one day to the fact that
+liquor was being sent to people in the outports C.O.D., by a barrel of
+flour which was being lowered over the side of the mail steamer rather
+too quickly on to the ice. As the hard bump came, the flour in the
+barrel jingled loudly and leaked rum profusely from the compound
+fracture. When our sober outport people went to St. John's, as they
+must every year for supplies, they had only the uncomfortable schooner
+or the street in which to pass the time. There is no "Foyer des
+Pêcheurs"; no one wanted fishermen straight from a fishing schooner in
+the home; and in those days there were no Camp Community Clubs. As one
+man said, "It is easy for the parson to tell us to be good, but it is
+hard on a wet cold night to be good in the open street" and nowhere to
+go, and harder still if you have to seek shelter in a brightly lighted
+room, where music was being played. The boarding-houses for the
+fishermen, where thousands of our young men flocked in the spring to
+try for a berth in the seal fishery, were ridiculous, not to say
+calamitous. Lastly, unsophisticated girls coming from the outports ran
+terrible risks in the city, having no friends to direct and assist
+them; and the Institute which we had in mind was to comprise also a
+girls' lodging department. No provision was made for the accommodation
+of crews wrecked by accident, and our Institute has already proved
+invaluable to many in such plights.
+
+Seeing the hundreds of craft and the thousands of fishermen, and the
+capital and interest vested against us as prohibitionists, it would
+have been obviously futile to put up a second-rate affair in a back
+street. It would only be sneered at as a proselytizing job. I had
+almost forgotten to mention that there was already an Old Seamen's
+Home, but it had gradually become a roost for boozers, and when with
+the trustees we made an inspection of it, it proved to be only worthy
+of immediate closure. This was promptly done, and the money realized
+from the sale of it, some ten thousand dollars, was kindly donated to
+the fund for our new building.
+
+After a few years of my collecting funds spasmodically, a number of
+our local friends got "cold feet." Reports started, not circulated by
+well-wishers, that it was all a piece of personal vanity, that no such
+thing was needed, and if built would prove a white elephant, to
+support which I would be going round with my hat in my hand worrying
+the merchants. We had at that time some ninety thousand dollars in
+hand. I laid the whole story before the Governor, Sir Ralph Williams,
+a man by no means prejudiced in favour of prohibition. He was,
+however, one who knew what the city needed, and realized that it was a
+big lack and required a big remedy.
+
+A letter which I published in all the St. John's papers, describing my
+passing fifteen drunken men on the streets before morning service on
+Christmas Day, brought forth angry denials of the actual facts, and my
+statement of the number of saloons in the city was also contradicted.
+But a saloon is not necessarily a place licensed by the Government or
+city to make men drunk--for the majority are unlicensed, and a couple
+of experiences which my men had in looking for sailors who had
+shipped, been given advances, and gone off and got drunk in shebeens,
+proved the number to be very much higher than even I had estimated it.
+
+Sir Ralph thought the matter over and called a public meeting in the
+ballroom of Government House. He had a remarkable personality and no
+fear of conventions. After thoroughly endorsing the plan for the
+Institute, and the need for it, he asked each of the many citizens who
+had responded to his invitation, "Will you personally stand by the
+larger scheme of a two hundred thousand dollar building, or will you
+stand by the sixty thousand dollar building with the thirty thousand
+dollar endowment fund, or will you do nothing at all?" It was proven
+that when it came to the point of going on record, practically all who
+really took the slightest interest in the matter were in favour of the
+larger plan--if I would undertake to raise the money. My own view,
+since more than justified, was that only so large a building could
+ever hope to meet the requirements and only such a comprehensive
+institution could expect to carry its own expenses. I preferred
+refunding the ninety thousand dollars to the various donors and
+dropping the whole business to embarking on the smaller scheme.
+
+That meeting did a world of good. It cleared the atmosphere; and it is
+only fresh air which most of these things really need--just as does a
+consumptive patient. The plan was now on the shoulders of the
+citizens; it was no longer one man's hobby. Enemies, like the Scribes
+and Pharisees of old, knew better than to tackle a crowd, and with the
+splendid gift of Messrs. Bowring Brothers of a site on the water-side
+on the main street, costing thirteen thousand dollars, and those of
+Job Brothers, Harvey and Company, and Macpherson Brothers of
+twenty-five hundred dollars each, the fund grew like Jonah's gourd;
+and in the year of 1911, with approximately one hundred and
+seventy-five thousand dollars in hand, we actually came to the time
+for laying the foundation stone. The hostility of enemies was not
+over. Such an institute is a fighting force, and involves contest and
+therefore enemies. So we decided to make this occasion as much of an
+event as we could. Through friends in England we obtained the promise
+of King George V that if we connected the foundation stone with
+Buckingham Palace by wire, he would, after the ceremony in Westminster
+Abbey on his Coronation Day, press a button at three in the afternoon
+and lay the stone across the Atlantic. The good services of friends in
+the Anglo-American Telegraph Company did the rest.
+
+On the fateful day His Excellency the Governor came down and made an
+appropriate and patriotic speech. Owing to the difference in time of
+about three hours and twenty minutes, it was shortly before twelve
+o'clock with us. The noonday gun signal from the Narrows was fired
+during His Excellency's address. Then followed a prayer of invocation
+by His Lordship the Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda--and then, a
+dead silence and pause. Every one was waiting for our newly crowned
+King to put that stone into place. Only a moment had passed, the
+Governor had just said, "We will wait for the King," when "Bing, bang,
+bang," went the gong signifying that His Majesty was at the other end
+of the wire. Up went the national flag, and slowly but surely the
+great stone began to move. A storm of cheering greeted the successful
+effort; and all that was left for our enemies to say was, "It was a
+fake." They claimed that we had laid the stone ourselves. Nor might
+they have been so far off the mark as they supposed, for we had a man
+with a knife under that platform to make that stone come down if
+anything happened that the wire device did not work. You cannot go
+back on your King whatever else you do, and to permit any grounds to
+exist for supposing that he had not been punctual was unthinkable. But
+fortunately for all concerned our subterfuge was unnecessary.
+
+I have omitted so far to state one of the main reasons why the
+Institute to our mind was so desirable. That was because no
+undenominational work is carried on practically in the whole country.
+Religion is tied up in bundles and its energies used to divide rather
+than to unite men. No Y.M.C.A. or Y.W.C.A. could exist in the Colony
+for that reason. The Boys' Brigade which we had originally started
+could not continue, any more than the Boy Scouts can now. Catholic
+Cadets, Church Lads Brigade, Methodist Guards, Presbyterian Highland
+Brigade--are all names symbolic of the dividing influences of
+"religion." In no place of which I know would a Y.M.C.A. be more
+desirable; and a large meeting held in the Institute this present
+spring decided that in no town anywhere was a Y.W.C.A. more needed.
+
+In another place in this book I have spoken of the problem of alcohol
+and fishermen. A man does not need alcohol and is far better without
+it. A man who sees two lights when there is only one is not wanted at
+the wheel. The people who sell alcohol know that just as well as we
+do, but for paltry gain they are unpatriotic enough to barter their
+earthly country as well as their heavenly one, and to be branded with
+the knowledge that they are cursing men and ruining families. The
+filibuster deserves the name no less because he does his destructive
+work secretly and slowly, and wears the emblems of respectability
+instead of operating in the open with "Long Toms" under the shadow of
+the "Jolly Roger."
+
+As a magistrate on this coast I have been obliged more than once to
+act as a policeman, and though one hated the ill-feeling which it
+stored up, and did not enjoy the evil-speaking to which it gave rise,
+I considered that it was really only like lancing a concealed
+infection--the ill-feeling and evil-speaking were better tapped and
+let out.
+
+On one occasion at one of our Labrador hospitals a beardless youth,
+one of the Methodist candidates for college who every year are sent
+down to look after the interests of that denomination on our North
+coast, came to inform me that the only other magistrate on the coast,
+the pillar of the Church of England, and shortly to be our
+stipendiary, who had many political friends of great influence in St.
+John's, was keeping a "blind tiger," while many even of his own people
+were being ruined body and soul by this temptation under their noses.
+
+"Well," I replied, "if you will come and give the evidence which will
+lead to conviction, I will do the rest."
+
+"I certainly will," he answered. And he did. So we got the little
+Strathcona under way, and after steaming some fifteen miles dropped
+into a small cove a mile or two from the place where our friend lived.
+In the King's name we constrained a couple of men to come along as
+special constables. Our visit was an unusual one. To divert suspicion
+we dressed our ship in bunting as if we were coming for a marriage
+license. When we anchored as near his stage as possible, we dropped
+our jolly-boat and made for the store. The door was, however, locked
+and our friend nowhere to be seen. "He is in the store" was the reply
+of his wife to our query. We knew then that there was no time to be
+lost, and even while we battered at the door, we could hear a
+suspicious gurgle and smell a curious odour. Rum was trickling down
+through the cracks of the store floor on to the astonished winkles
+below. But the door quickly gave way before our overtures, and we
+caught the magistrate _flagrante delicto_. We were threatened with all
+sorts of big folk in St. John's; but we held the trial on board
+straightaway just the same. When court was called, the defendant
+demanded the name of the prosecutor--and to his infinite surprise out
+popped the youthful aspirant to the Methodist ministry. When he
+learned that half of his fine of seventy dollars had to be paid to the
+prosecutor and would be applied toward the building of a Methodist
+school, his temper completely ran away with him; and we had to
+threaten auction on the spot of the goods in the store before we could
+collect the money. We left him breathing out threatenings and
+slaughter.
+
+   [Illustration: THE INSTITUTE]
+
+Only once was I really caught. Two mothers in a little village had
+appealed to me because liquor was being sold to their boys who had no
+money, while people were complaining simultaneously that fish was
+being stolen from their stages. No one would tell who was selling it,
+so we had a systematic search made of all the houses, and the guilty
+man was convicted on evidence discovered under the floor of his
+sitting-room. The fine of fifty dollars he paid without a murmur and
+it was promptly divided between the Government and the prosecutor. It
+so happened, however, that he had obtained from us for a close
+relative a new artificial leg, and there was fifty dollars owing to
+us on it. Unknown to us at the time, he had collected that fifty
+dollars from the said relative and with it paid his fine. To this day
+we never got a cent for our leg, and so really fined ourselves. Nor
+could we with any propriety distrain on one of a poor woman's legs!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+PROBLEMS ON LAND AND SEA
+
+
+The year 1912 was a busy season. The New Year found us in Florida with
+the donor of the ship George B. Cluett, consulting him concerning its
+progress and future. Lecturing then as we went west we reached
+Colorado, visited the Grand Canyon, and lectured all along the Pacific
+Coast from San Diego to Victoria--finding many old friends and making
+many new ones.
+
+At Berkeley I was asked to deliver the Earle Lectures at the
+University of California; and I also spoke to an immense audience in
+the open Greek theatre--a most novel experience. At Santa Barbara a
+special meeting had been arranged by our good friend Dr. Joseph
+Andrews, who every year travels all the way from California to St.
+Anthony at his own expense to afford the fishermen of our Northern
+waters the inestimable benefits of his skill as a consulting eye
+specialist. Many blind he has restored to sight who would otherwise be
+encumbrances to themselves and others. Only last year I received the
+following communication from an eager would-be patient: "Dear Dr.
+Grandfield, when is the eye spider coming to St. Anthony? I needs to
+see him bad."
+
+While we were at Tacoma a visitor, saying that he was an old
+acquaintance of mine, sent up his card to our room. He had driven over
+in a fine motor car, and was a great, broad-shouldered man. The grip
+which he gave me assured me that he had been brought up hard, but I
+utterly failed to place him. With a broad grin he relieved the
+situation by saying: "The last time that we met, Doctor, was on the
+deck of a fishing vessel in the North Sea. I was second hand aboard,
+sailing out from Grimsby." The tough surroundings of that life were
+such a contrast to his present apparently ample means that I could
+only say, "How on earth did you get out here?"
+
+"A friend," said he, "gave me a little book entitled 'One Hundred Ways
+to Rise in the World.' The first ninety-nine were no good to me, but
+the hundredth said, 'Go to Western America,' so I just cleared out and
+came here." He was exceedingly kind to us, even accompanying us to
+Seattle, and his story of pluck and enterprise was a splendid
+stimulus.
+
+Six weeks of lecturing nearly every single night in a new town in
+Canada gave me a real vision of Canadian Western life, and a sincere
+admiration for its people who are making a nation of which the world
+is proud.
+
+In April a large meeting was held in New York to reorganize the
+management of the Mission. The English Royal National Mission to
+Deep-Sea Fishermen was no longer able or willing to finance, much less
+to direct, affairs which had gone beyond their control, and was hoping
+to arrange an organization of an international character to which all
+the affairs of the enterprise could be turned over. This organization
+was formed at the house of Mr. Eugene Delano, the head of Brown
+Brothers, bankers, whose lifelong help has meant for Labrador more
+than he will ever know.
+
+The International Grenfell Association was incorporated to comprise
+the Labrador branches of the Royal National Mission to Deep-Sea
+Fishermen as its English component, the Grenfell Association of
+America and the New England Grenfell Association to represent the
+American interests, the Labrador Medical Mission as the Canadian name
+for its Society, and the Newfoundland Grenfell Association for the
+Newfoundland branch. Each one of these component societies has two
+members in the Central Council, and together they make up the Board of
+Directors of the International Grenfell Association. These directors
+ever since have generously been giving their time and interest in the
+wise and efficient administration of this work. To these unselfish men
+Labrador and northern Newfoundland, as well as I, owe a greater debt
+than can ever be repaid.
+
+On the 1st of May I was due to speak at the annual meeting of the
+English Mission in London, and the swift heels of the Mauretania once
+more stood us in good stead; for we reached England the evening before
+May 1, arrived in London at 2 A.M., and I spoke three times that day.
+After a day or so at my old home with my mother we ran about in a Ford
+car for a fortnight, lecturing every evening. The little motor saved
+endless energy otherwise lost in endeavouring to make connections, and
+gave us the opportunity to see numbers of old friends whom we must
+otherwise have missed. One day we would be at a meeting of miners at
+Redmuth in Cornwall, on another at Harrow or Rugby Schools. At the
+latter, an old college friend, who is now head master there, gave us a
+royal welcome. During the last fortnight at home a splendid chance was
+afforded me to visit daily the clinics of an old friend, Sir Robert
+Jones, England's famous orthopedic surgeon. He is one of the most
+wonderful and practical of men, and he opened our eyes to the
+possibility of medical mission work in the very heart of England--for
+if ever there was an apostle of hope for the deformed and paralyzed he
+certainly is the man. His Sunday morning free clinics crowded even the
+street opposite his office door with waiting patients of the poorest
+class. Equally beneficent also is the large and wonderful hospital
+built specially for derelict children on the heather-covered hills
+just above our home in Cheshire. But most unique of all was his
+Basschurch Hospital, constructed mostly of sheet iron, standing in the
+middle of a field in the country forty miles away from Liverpool.
+Every second Sunday, Sir Robert Jones used to motor over there and
+operate "in the field." No expedition have I ever enjoyed better in my
+life than when he was good enough to pick us up on his way, and we saw
+him tackle the motley collection of halt and lame, whom the lady of
+the hospital, herself a marvellous testimony to his skill, collected
+from the neighbouring town slums between his visits. The hospital was
+the nearest thing I know to our little "one-horse shows" scattered
+along the Labrador coast; and there was a homing feeling in one's
+heart all the time at these open-air clinics.
+
+As commander-in-chief of the orthopedic work of the British Army in
+the war, I am certain that Colonel Sir Robert Jones has found the
+experiences of his improvised clinics among the most valuable assets
+he could have had. One day he has promised that he will bring his
+magic wand to Labrador; for he is a sportsman in the best sense of the
+word as well as a healer of limbs.
+
+The quickest way back to St. John's being _via_ Canada, we returned by
+the Allan Line, and lectured in the Maritime Provinces as we passed
+North.
+
+It would appear that one must possess an insatiable love of lecturing.
+As a matter of fact, nothing is farther from the truth. But the
+brevity of life is an insistent fact in our existence, and the
+inability to do good work for lack of help that is so gladly given
+when the reasonableness of the expenditure is presented, makes one
+feel guilty if an evening is spent doing nothing. The lecturing is by
+far the most uncongenial task which I have been called upon to do in
+life, but in a mission like ours, which is not under any special
+church, the funds must be raised to a very great extent by voluntary
+donations, and in order to secure these friends must be kept informed
+of the progress of the work which their gifts are making possible.
+
+For the first seven years of my work I never spent the winters in the
+country--nor was it my intention ever to do so. Besides the general
+direction of the whole, my work as superintendent has meant the
+raising of the necessary funds, and my special charge on the actual
+coast has been the hospital ship Strathcona. Naturally, owing to our
+frozen winter sea this is only possible during open water. Since 1902
+it has been my custom when possible to spend every other winter as
+well as every summer in the North. The actual work and life there is a
+tremendous rest after the nervous and physical tax of a lecture tour.
+At first I used to wonder at the lack of imagination in those who
+would greet me, after some long, wearisome hours on the train or in a
+crowded lecture hall, with "What a lovely holiday you are having!" Now
+this oft-repeated comment only amuses me.
+
+It was just after the first of June when again we found ourselves
+heading North for St. Anthony, only once more to be caught in the jaws
+of winter. For the heavy Arctic ice blockaded the whole of the eastern
+French shore, and we had to be content to be held up in small
+ice-bound harbours as we pushed along through the inner edge of the
+floe, till strong westerly winds cleared the way.
+
+Having reached St. Anthony and looked into matters there, we once
+again ran south to St. John's to inspect the new venture of the
+Institute. To help out expenses we towed for the whole four hundred
+miles a schooner which had been wrecked on the Labrador coast, having
+run on the rocks, and knocked a hole in her bottom. She had a number
+of sacks of "hard bread" on board. These had been thrown into the
+breach and planking nailed on over them. The bread had swelled up
+between the two casings and become so hard again that the vessel
+leaked but little; and though the continual dirge of the pumps was
+somewhat dismal as we journeyed, we had no reason to fear that she
+would go to the bottom.
+
+Flour resists water in a marvellous way. On one occasion our own
+vessel in the North Sea was run into by another. The latter's cutwater
+went through her side and deck almost to the combing of the hatch, and
+the water began to pour in. By immediately putting the vessel on the
+other tack, the rent was largely lifted out of water. A heavy topsail
+was hastily thrown over her side, and eventually hauled under the
+keel--the inrushing water keeping it there. Then sacks of flour were
+rammed into the breach. The ship in this condition, favoured by the
+wind which enabled her to continue on that tack, reached home, two
+hundred miles distant, with her hand-pumps keeping her comparatively
+free, though there was the greatest difficulty to keep her afloat
+directly she was towed into the harbour and lay at the wharf.
+
+On another occasion when a Canadian steamer, loaded with provisions,
+ran into a cliff two hundred feet high in a fog on the northeast end
+of Belle Isle, and became a total wreck, her flour floated all up and
+down the Straits. I remember picking up a sack that had certainly been
+in the water some weeks; and yet only about a quarter of an inch of
+outside layer was even wet.
+
+The opening of the Institute was a great day. Dr. Henry van Dyke had
+come all the way from New York to give an address. Sir William
+Archibald, chairman of the Royal National Mission to Deep-Sea
+Fishermen, had travelled from England to bring a blessing from the
+old home country; and the merchants and friends in St. John's did
+their best to make it a red-letter day. Sir Edward Morris, the Prime
+Minister, and other politicians, the Mayor and civic functionaries
+were all good enough to come and add their quota to the launching of
+the new ship. There were still pessimistic and croaking individuals,
+however, as well as joyful hearts, when a few days later we again ran
+North.
+
+We started almost immediately for our Straits trip after reaching St.
+Anthony. On our way east from Harrington, our most westerly hospital,
+commenced in 1907, a telegram summoning me immediately to St. John's
+dropped upon me like a bolt from the blue. Without a moment's delay we
+headed yet again South, full of anxiety as to what could be the cause
+of this message.
+
+On arrival there we found that trouble had arisen concerning the funds
+of the Institute and a prosecution was to follow. It was the worst
+time of my life. Things were readjusted; the money was refunded,
+punishment meted out--but such damage is not made right by
+reconstruction. It left permanent scars and made the end of an
+otherwise splendid year anxious and sorrowful.
+
+The work on East Labrador was also extended this year. While walking
+down the street in New York with a young doctor friend who had once
+wintered with me, we met a colleague of his at the College of
+Physicians and Surgeons. In the conversation it was suggested that he
+should spend a summer in Labrador, and we would place him in a virgin
+field. As a result Dr. Wiltsie, now in China, came North, started in
+work with a little school, club, and dispensary, at a place called
+Spotted Islands, in a very barren group of islands about a hundred
+miles north of the Straits of Belle Isle. His work became permanent as
+the summer mission of the Y.M.C.A. of the College, which organization
+now carries all its expenses. It has a dwelling-house, school,
+dispensary, small operating room, and accommodation for a couple of
+patients, all under one roof, and owns a fast motor boat called the P.
+and S., which has made itself known as an angel of mercy, every summer
+since, over a hundred miles of coast and islands. It is only a summer
+work, and is mainly among a schooner population; but as a testimonial
+to the value of pluck and unselfishness I know of no better example.
+
+Among other ways to help Labrador we had always tried to induce
+tourists and yachtsmen to come and visit us. Mr. Rainey's Surf, Mr.
+McCready's Enchantress, Dr. Stimson's Fleur de Lys, Mr. Arthur James's
+Aloha, and a few other yachts had come part of the way, but no one had
+yet explored north of Hopedale--the latitude at which the fine
+Northern scenery may be said only to begin. The large power vessels or
+even the best type of yacht are by no means necessary for a visit to
+Labrador. For the innumerable fjords and islands make it much more
+interesting to be in a smaller boat, which allows one to go freely in
+and out of new by-ways, even when the survey is only that of your own
+making. The most sporting visits of that kind have been the honeymoon
+of a Philadelphia friend, who, with his wife, one man, and a canoe,
+went by river to James's Bay, then _via_ Hudson Bay to Richmond Gulf,
+then by portage and river to Ungava Bay, and thence home by way of the
+Hudson Bay Company's steamer; the canoe trips of Mr. Kennedy all along
+the outside eastern coast, and those of Mr. William Cabot on the
+section of the northeastern coast between Hopedale and Nain. In this
+year of 1912 a new little yacht appeared, the Sybil, brought down from
+Boston by her owner, Mr. George Williams. I had promised that if ever
+he would sail down to see us in his own boat, we would escort him up
+a salmon river for a fishing expedition--a luxury which we certainly
+never anticipated would materialize. But on arriving North, there was
+the beautiful little boat; and in it we sailed up into the fine salmon
+stream in the bay close to the hospital. Subsequently Mr. Williams
+came year after year, pushing farther North each time. The Sybil he
+eventually gave to the Mission, and built a large boat, the Jeanette,
+in which I had the pleasure later of exploring with him and roughly
+charting three hitherto unrecorded bays.
+
+One unusual feature of our magisterial work in 1912 was the settlement
+of a fisherman's strike "down North." It would at first seem difficult
+to understand how fishermen could engineer a strike, they are so
+good-natured and so long-suffering. But this time it was over the
+price of fish, naturally a matter of immense importance to the
+catcher. The planters, or men who give advances to come and fish
+around the mouth of Hamilton Inlet, were to ship their fish on a
+steamer coming direct from England and returning direct--thus saving
+delay and very great expense. But the price did not please the men,
+and they knew if they once put the fish on board at $3.50 per quintal,
+the amount offered, they would never recover the $5, which was the
+price for which fish was selling in St. John's that year. The more
+masterful men decided that not only would they not put the fish on
+board till they had cash orders or Révillon agreements for their
+price, but they would not allow any of the weaker brethren to do so
+either. There were but few hard words and no violent deeds, but when
+one blackleg was seen to go alongside the waiting steamer, which was
+costing a hundred dollars a day to the fish-carrying merchant, a crowd
+of boats dashed out from creeks and corners and pounced like a vulture
+on the big boat, fat with a fine load of fish, and not only towed her
+away and tied her up, but hauled her out of the water with the cargo
+and all in her, and dragged her so far up the side of a steep hill
+that the owner was utterly unable without assistance to get her down
+again.
+
+Each day we had a conference with one side or the other, the
+Government having asked us to remain and see things settled. While
+each side was fencing for an advantage, a good-sized schooner sailed
+into the harbour, brought up alongside the steamer, and was seen to
+begin unloading dry fish. A dash was made for her by the boats as
+before; only this time it was the attack of Lilliputians on Gulliver.
+We on the shore could not help laughing heartily when shortly we saw a
+string of over a dozen fishing boats harnessed tandem in one long line
+towing the interloper--as they had the blackleg--away up the inlet
+where they moored and guarded her. It appeared that the buyer had sent
+her to a far-off anchorage, and unknown to the strikers had had fish
+put into her there. The steamer might have followed and got away with
+the ruse. But the skipper underestimated the enemy, always a fatal
+mistake, and lost out.
+
+The agreement made a day or so later was perfectly peaceful, and
+perfectly satisfactory to both sides, for the fish turned out a good
+price, and the buyer did not lose anything on the transaction but the
+demurrage on his steamer and a little kudos, which I must confess he
+took in very good spirit. Even if he did have a grasping side to his
+character, he was fortunate in possessing a sense of humour also.
+
+The fall brought yet another call to go South to St. John's, and once
+more in the little Strathcona we ploughed our way through the long
+miles to the southward. This time it was for the reorganization of the
+Institute government, to form a council and to install the new
+manager from England. This was Mr. Walter Jones, a man whose wide
+experience among naval "Jackies" had been gained in a large institute
+of much the same kind. This gave him the credentials which we needed,
+for he had made it not only a social but an economic success. He has
+been much sought by the various churches in St. John's as a speaker to
+men, and his Sunday evening lantern services and lectures at the
+Institute are a real source of uplift and help to men of every
+religious denomination.
+
+The fall of the year was very busy. Dr. Seymour Armstrong, formerly
+surgical registrar at the Charing Cross Hospital in London, an able
+surgeon, and a man of independent means, joined me for that winter at
+St. Anthony. He had already wintered twice at our Labrador hospitals,
+and was fully expecting to give us much further help, but two years
+later the great war found him at the front, where he gladly laid down
+his life for his country.
+
+One sick call that winter lives in my memory. It was a case where a
+nurse was really more needed than a doctor. The way was long, the wind
+was cold, and the snow happened to be particularly deep. One of the
+nurses, however, volunteered for the journey, and I arranged to carry
+her on a second komatik, while my driver broke the path with our
+impedimenta. Things did not go altogether well. Since I have enjoyed
+the luxury of a driver, or a "carter" as we call them, my cunning in
+wriggling a komatik at full speed down steep mountain-sides through
+trees has somewhat waned. Comparatively early in the day we looped the
+loop--and we were both heavy weights. It was nearly dark when we
+reached the last lap--an enormous bay with a direct run of seven miles
+over sea ice. We should probably have made it all right, but suddenly
+fog drifted in from the Straits of Belle Isle, and steering with a
+small compass and no binnacle, while attending to hauling a heavy
+nurse over hummocky sea ice in the dark, satisfied all my ambition for
+problems. At length the nature of the ice indicated that we were
+approaching either land or the sea edge. We stopped the komatiks, and
+it fell to my lot to go ahead and explore. Finding nothing I called to
+the driver, and his voice returned out of the fog right ahead of me,
+and almost in my ear. I had told them not to move or we might miss our
+way, and I reminded him of that fact. "Haven't budged an inch" came
+the reply from the darkness. I had been describing a large circle. I
+can still hear that nurse laughing.
+
+At last we struck the huge blocks of ice, raised on the boulder rocks
+by the rise and fall of tide in shallow water, and we knew that we
+should make the land. The perversity of nature made us turn the wrong
+way for the village toward which we were aiming, and we found
+ourselves "tangled up" in the Boiling Brooks, a place where some
+underground springs keep holes open through the ice all winter.
+Suddenly, while marching ahead with the compass, seeking to avoid
+these springs, the ground being level enough for the nurse to act as
+her own helmsman, a tremendous "whurr! whurr!" under my feet restored
+sufficient leaping power to my weary legs to leave me head down and
+only my racquets out of the snow--all for a covey of white partridges
+on which I had nearly trodden. At length we made a tiny winter
+cottage. The nurse slept on the bench, the doctor on the floor, the
+driver on a shelf. Our generous host had almost to hang himself on a
+hook. The dogs went hungry. But as we boiled our kettle, all agreed
+that we would not have exchanged the experience for ten rides in a
+Pullman Car.
+
+Largely through the zeal of my colleague, Dr. Arthur Wakefield, of
+Kendal, England, and that of my cousin, Mr. Martyn Spencer, of New
+Zealand, a band of the Legion of Frontiersmen had been brought into
+being all along this section of coast, in spite of the scattered
+nature of the population. The idea was that having to depend so
+largely on the use of their guns, and being excellent shots with a
+bullet, the men would make good snipers and scouts if ever there were
+war. True, most of our people called it "playing soldiers," and no one
+took seriously that we were ever likely to be called upon to fight;
+but all Dr. Wakefield's hopes and fears were realized and our lads
+made both brave soldiers and excellent marksmen.
+
+   [Illustration: On the Way Home
+   DOG TRAVEL]
+
+   [Illustration: Carrying a Sick Dog
+   DOG TRAVEL]
+
+Dr. and Mrs. Wakefield have given several years of both medical and
+industrial work for the people of this coast, both in St. Anthony,
+Forteau, Mud Lake, and Battle Harbour.
+
+Alas, the functions of superintendent involved executive duties, and I
+had once again to run to St. John's, during the following summer, for
+a meeting of the Board of Directors. With true Christian unselfishness
+these men come all the way from Ottawa, New York, and Boston, to help
+with their counsel so relatively unimportant a work as ours. Sir
+Walter Davidson again lent his heartiest coöperation. The people owe
+him, Sir Herbert Murray, Sir Henry MacCallum, Sir William MacGregor,
+Sir Ralph Williams, Sir Alexander Harris, and all the long line of
+their Governors, more than most of them realize. They bring all the
+inspiration of the best type of educated, widely experienced, and
+travelled Englishmen to this Colony. They are specially trained and
+specially selected men, and can give their counsel and leadership
+absolutely untrammelled by any local prejudices.
+
+One excellent outcome of this particular meeting was the
+reorganization on a larger scale of the Girls' Committee for the
+Institute. The success of it has been phenomenal. Together with its
+protective work it has aimed at that most difficult task of creating
+in them sufficient ambition to make the girls receiving very small
+wages want to pay for a better environment. The committee has always
+been strictly interdenominational, with Mrs. W.C. Job and Mrs. W.E.
+Gosling as its presidents. It has made a "show place" of the Girls'
+Department of the Institute, and that department has become
+self-supporting--a most desirable goal for every philanthropy.
+
+The lumber mill and schooner building work were in slings. Our men,
+made far better off by the winter work thus provided, had acquired
+gear so much better for fishing than their former equipment that they
+could not resist engaging in the more remunerative work of the fishery
+in the summer months. For two years previous they had left before the
+drive was complete and the logs out of the woods. Now the local
+manager had also decided to fish during the three summer months--which
+is really the only time available for mill operations also. I was
+fortunate enough on my way North to persuade an expert lumber operator
+from Canada, and an entirely kindred spirit, Mr. Harry Crowe, to come
+down and help me out with the problem. We spent a few delightful days
+together, in which he taught me as many things that every mill man
+should know as he would have had to learn had he been dabbling in
+pills. Like myself, Mr. Crowe is an ardent believer in Confederation
+with Canada for this little country. Before Mr. Crowe's efforts on our
+behalf had materialized, a new friend, Mr. Walter Booth, of New York,
+well known in American football circles as one of the best of
+all-American forwards, came North and carried the mill for a year. The
+one and only fault of his régime was that it was too short. The field
+of work was one for which he was admirably equipped, but home reasons
+made him return after his time expired. He has often told me since,
+however, that he has fits of wishing that he could have put in a life
+with us in the North, rather than spending it in the more civilized
+circles of the New York Bar.
+
+Many invitations to speak, especially at universities in America, and
+through a lecture agency in England to numerous societies and clubs,
+led me to devote the winter of 1913-14 to a lecture tour. My wife
+induced me also to renew my youth by a holiday of a month on the
+Continent.
+
+A lecture tour includes some of the most delightful experiences of
+life, bringing one into direct personal contact with so many people
+whom it is a privilege to know. But it also has its anxieties and
+worries, and eternal vigilance is the price of avoiding a breakdown at
+this the most difficult of all my work. One's memory is taxed far
+beyond its capacity. To forget some things, and some people and some
+kindnesses, are unforgivable sins. A new host every night, a new home,
+a new city, a new audience, alone lead one into lamentable lapses. In
+a car full of people a man asked me one day how I liked Toledo. I
+replied that I had never been there. "Strange," he murmured, "because
+you spent the night at my house!" On another occasion at a crowded
+reception I was talking to a lady on one side and a gentleman on the
+other. I had been introduced to them, but caught neither name. They
+did not address each other, but only spoke to me. I felt that I must
+remedy matters by making them acquainted with each other, and
+therefore mumbled, "Pray let me present to you Mrs. M-m-m." "Oh! no
+need, Doctor," he replied. "We've been married for thirty years."
+Shortly after I noticed at a reception that every one wore his name
+pinned onto his breast, and I wondered if there were any connection.
+
+It is my invariable custom in the North to carry a water-tight box
+with matches and a compass chained to my belt. One night, being tired,
+I had turned into bed in a very large, strange room without noting the
+bearings of the doors or electric switches. My faithful belt had been
+abandoned for pyjama strings. It so happened that to catch a train I
+had to rise before daylight, and all my possessions were in a
+dressing-room. I soon gave up hunting for the electric light. It was
+somewhere in the air, I knew, but beating the air in the dark with the
+windows wide open in winter is no better fun in your nightclothes in
+New York than in Labrador. A tour of inspection discovered no less
+than five doors, none of which I felt entitled to enter in the dark in
+_déshabille_. The humour of the situation is, of course, apparent now,
+but even one's dog hates to be laughed at.
+
+An independent life has somehow left me with an instinctive dislike
+for asking casual acquaintances the way to any place that I am
+seeking. The aversion is more or less justified by the fact that
+outside the police force very exceptional persons can direct you,
+especially if they know the way themselves. On my first visit to New
+York I could see how easy a city it was to navigate, and returned to
+my host's house near Eighth Street in good time to dress for dinner
+after a long side trip near Columbia University and thence to the
+Bellevue Hospital. "How did you find your way?" my friend asked. "Why,
+there was sufficient sky visible to let me see the North Star," I
+answered. I felt almost hurt when he laughed. It is natural for a
+polar bear not to have to inquire the way home.
+
+The aphorism attributed to Dr. John Watson, of "Beside the Bonnie
+Briar Bush," suggests itself. "My fee is one hundred dollars if I go
+to a hotel, two hundred if I am entertained, because in the latter
+event one can only live half so long." I conclude that he made the
+choice of Achilles, for he died on a lecture tour. So far fate has
+been kinder to me.
+
+The greatest danger is the reporter, especially the emotional
+reporter, who has not attended your meeting. I owe such debts to the
+press that this statement seems the blackest of ingratitude. On the
+contrary, I must plead that doctors are privileged. My controversy
+with this class of reporters is their generosity, which puts into
+one's mouth statements that on final analysis may be cold facts, but
+which, remembering that one is lecturing on work among people whom one
+loves and respects, it would never occur to me to slur at a public
+meeting. No one who tries to alter conditions which exist can expect
+to escape making enemies. I have seen reports of what I have said at
+advertised meetings, that were subsequently cancelled. I have followed
+up rumours, and editors have expressed sorrow that they accepted them
+from men who had been too busy to be present. But "qui s'excuse,
+s'accuse"; and my conclusion is that the lecturer is practically
+defenceless.
+
+Since our marriage my wife has generously acted as my secretary,
+having specially learned shorthand and typewriting in order to free me
+from carrying such a burden, and has helped me enormously ever since
+on this line. But lecture tours used to make me despair of keeping
+abreast of correspondence. I sometimes was forced to treat letters as
+Henry Drummond did--who allowed them to answer themselves--if I wished
+free mornings in which to visit the hospitals, just at the time that
+all their professional work was in progress. These clinics are
+invaluable and almost unique experiences. They persuaded me more than
+ever how much depends in surgery as well as in medicine on "the man
+behind the gun"; and that mere mileage is not the real handicap on
+members of our profession whose fields of work lie away from the
+centres of learning. They also imbued me with the profoundest spirit
+of respect for the leaders of the healing art.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To no one but myself did it seem odd that a plain Englishman should be
+invited to perform the function of best man at the wedding of the
+daughter of the President of the United States of America at the White
+House. The matter was never even noticed either in the press or in
+conversation. The only citizen to whom I suggested the anomaly merely
+said, "Well, why not?"
+
+My long-time fellow worker and one of my best of friends, Francis B.
+Sayre, was to be married on November 25, 1913, to Miss Jessie Wilson.
+Her father, who, when first I had had the honour of his acquaintance,
+happened to be the President of Princeton University, was now the
+President of the United States. So we had all the fun of a White House
+wedding. Not less than fifty of our fishermen friends from Labrador
+and North Newfoundland were invited, and some members of our staff
+were present.
+
+We started the wedding procession upstairs, and came down to the
+fanfare of uniformed trumpeters. Our awkwardness in keeping step,
+though we had rehearsed the whole business several times, only
+relieved the tension that must exist at so important an event in life.
+
+Trying to dodge the reporters added heaps of fun, which I am sure that
+they shared, for they generally got the better of us; though the
+thrill of escape from the White House and Washington, so that the
+honeymoon rendezvous should not be known, was practically a victory
+for the wedding party. As it would never be safe to use the tactics
+again, I am permitted after the lapse of many years to give them away.
+As soon as dark fell, and while the guests were still revelling, the
+bride and groom were hustled into a secret elevator in the thickness
+of the wall, whisked up to the robing chambers, and completely
+disguised. Meanwhile a suitable camouflage of automobiles had arrived
+ostentatiously at the main entrance, to carry and escort the
+illustrious couple in fitting pomp to the great station. From the
+landing the couple were dropped direct to the basement to a
+prearranged oubliette. The password was the sound of the wheels of an
+ordinary cab at the kitchen entrance. The moments of suspense were not
+long. At the sound of the crush on the gravel a silent door was
+opened, two completely muffled figures crept out, and the conspirators
+drove slowly along round a few corners where a swift automobile lay
+panting to add _liberté_ to _égalité_ and _fraternité_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+A MONTH'S HOLIDAY IN ASIA MINOR
+
+
+After the fall spent in America in raising the necessary funds, it was
+the now famous Carmania which carried us to England. In spite of a few
+days' rest at my old home, and the stimulus of a Grenfell clan
+gathering in London, my wife and I were both in need of something
+which could direct our minds from our problems, and Boxing Day found
+us bound for Paris, Turin, Milan, and Rome.
+
+Just before Christmas I had had a meeting at the famous office of the
+Hudson Bay Company in London, and attended another of their
+interesting luncheons where their directors meet. My old friend Lord
+Strathcona presided. I could not help noting that after all the lapse
+of years since we first met at Hudson Bay House in Montreal, he still
+retained his abstemious habits. He was ninety-three, and still at his
+post as High Commissioner for a great people, as well as leading
+councillor of a dozen companies. His memory of Labrador and his days
+there, and his love for it, had not abated one whit. Hearing that the
+hospital steamer Strathcona needed a new boiler and considerable
+repairs, he ordered me to have the work undertaken at once and the
+bill sent to him. He, moreover, insisted that we should spend some
+days with him at his beautiful country house near London, an
+invitation which we accepted for our return, but which we were never
+fated to realize, for before the appointed date that able man had
+crossed the last bar.
+
+It is said to be better to be lucky than rich. We had expected in Rome
+to do only what the Romans of our pocket-book do. But we fell in with
+some old acquaintances whose pleasure it is to give pleasure, and New
+Year's night was made memorable by a concert given by the choir of the
+Sistine Chapel, to which we were taken by the editor of the
+"Churchman" and later of the "Constructive Quarterly," an old friend
+of ours, Dr. Silas McBee. A glimpse into the British Embassy gave us
+an insight into the problem of Roman modern politics and the factions
+of the Black and White.
+
+Rome is always delightful. One is glad to forget the future and live
+for the time in the past. Sitting in the Coliseum in the moonlight I
+could see the gladiators fighting to amuse the civilized man of that
+period, and gentle women and innocent men dying horrible deaths for
+truths that have made us what we are, but which we now sometimes
+regard so lightly.
+
+I confess that religious buildings, religious pictures, religious
+conventions of all kinds very soon pall on my particular temperament.
+It is possibly a defect in my development, like my inability to
+appreciate classical music. On the other hand, like Mark Twain, I
+enjoy an ancient mummy just because he is ancient; and were it not for
+the irritation of seeing so much religious display associated with
+such miserable social conditions in so beautiful a country, I should
+have more sympathy with those who would "see Rome and die." The
+sanitation of the one-time Mistress of the world suggests that it
+could not be difficult to accomplish that feat in the hot weather.
+
+Brindisi is a household word in almost every English home, especially
+one like ours with literally dozens of Anglo-Indian relatives. I was
+therefore glad to pass _via_ Brindisi on the road to Athens. Patras
+also had its interest to me as a distributing centre for our Labrador
+fish. We actually saw three forlorn-looking schooners, with cargoes
+from Newfoundland, lying in the harbour.
+
+One poignant impression left on my mind by Greece, as well as Rome,
+was its diminutive size. I almost resented the fact that a place
+civilized thousands of years ago, and which had loomed up on my
+imagination as the land of Socrates, of Plato, of Homer, of Achilles,
+of Spartan warriors, and immortal poets, all seemed so small. The
+sense of imposition on my youth worried me.
+
+In Athens one saw so many interesting relics within a few hundred
+yards that it left one with the feeling of having eaten a meal too
+fast. The scene of the battle of Salamis fascinated me. When we sat in
+Xerxes' seat and conjured up the whole picture again, and saw the
+meaning to the world of the great deed for which men so gladly gave
+their lives to defeat a tyrant seeking for world power, it made me
+love those old Greeks, not merely admire their art.
+
+On Mars Hill we stood on the spot where, to me, perhaps the greatest
+man in history, save one, pleaded with men to accept love as the only
+durable source of greatness and power. But every monument, every
+bas-relief, every tombstone showed that the fighting man was their
+ideal.
+
+The idea of sailing from the Piraeus reconciled us to the very mediocre
+vessel which carried us to Smyrna. Our visit to Asia Minor we had
+inadvertently timed to the opening of the International College at
+Paradise near Smyrna. This college is the gift of Mrs. John Kennedy of
+New York. Mr. Ralph Harlow, our host and a professor at the college,
+with Mr. Cass Reid and other friends, made it possible for us to enjoy
+intelligently our brief visit. It was just a dream of pleasure. Time
+forbids my describing the marvellous work of that and other colleges.
+Men of ambition, utterly irrespective of race, colour, creed, or sect,
+sit side by side as the alumni. The humanity, not the other-worldliness,
+of the leaders has made even the Turks, steeped in the blood of their
+innocent Christian subjects, recognize the untold value of these
+Christian universities, and kept them, their professors, and buildings,
+safe during the war.
+
+Dr. Bliss, of Beyrout, once told us a humorous story about himself. He
+had just been addressing a large audience in New York, when
+immediately after his speech the chairman rose and announced, "We will
+now sing the one hundred and fiftieth hymn, 'From the best bliss that
+earth imparts, we turn unfilled to Thee again.'"
+
+The preservation of Ephesus was a surprise to us, though of late the
+Turks have been carrying off its precious historic marble to burn for
+lime for their fields. One large marble font in an old Byzantine
+baptistry was broken up for that purpose while we were there. We stood
+on the very rostrum in the theatre where St. Paul and the coppersmith
+had trouble--while at the time of our visit, the only living
+inhabitant of that once great city was a hungry ass which we saw
+harboured in a dressing-room beneath the platform.
+
+The anachronism of buzzing along a Roman road, which had not been
+repaired since the days of the Cæsars, on our way to Pergamos, in the
+only Ford car in the country, was punctuated by having to get out and
+shove whenever we came to a cross-drain. These always went over
+instead of under the road--only on an exaggerated Baltimorian plan.
+One night at Soma, which is the end of the branch railroad in the
+direction of Pergamos, we were in the best hotel, which, however, was
+only half of it for humans. A detachment of Turkish soldiers were
+billeted below in the quarters for the other animals. Snow was on the
+ground, and it was bitterly cold. The poor soldiers slept literally on
+the stone floor. We were cold, and we felt so sorry for them, that
+after we had enjoyed a hot breakfast, in a fit of generosity we sent
+them a couple of baskets of Turkish specialties. Later in the day we
+noticed that wherever we went a Turkish soldier with a rifle followed
+us. So we turned off into a side street and walked out into the
+country. Sure enough the soldier came along behind. As guide to speak
+the many languages for us, we had a Greek graduate of International
+College, a very delightful young fellow, very proud of a newly
+acquired American citizenship. At last we stopped and bribed that
+soldier to tell us what the trouble was. "Our officer thought that you
+must be spies because you sent gifts to Turkish soldiers."
+
+At Pergamos, a Greek Christian--very well off--invited us to be his
+guests on Greek Christmas Eve. It was the occasion of a large family
+gathering. There were fine young men and handsome, dark-eyed girls,
+and all the accessories of a delightful Christian home. When the outer
+gates had been locked, and the inner doors bolted and blinds drawn
+down, and all possible loopholes examined for spies, the usual
+festivities were observed. These families of the conquered race have
+lived in bondage some four hundred years, but their patriotism has no
+more dimmed than that of ancient Israel under her oppressors. Before
+we left they danced for us the famous Souliet Dance--memorial to the
+brave Greek girls who, driven to their last stand on a rocky hilltop,
+jumped one by one over the precipice as the dance came round to each
+one, rather than submit to shame and slavery. From our friends at
+Smyrna we learned subsequently that when, a few months later, and just
+before the war, the German general visited the country, making
+overtures to the Turks, the blow fell on this family like many others,
+and they suffered the agony of deportation.
+
+At Constantinople the kindness of Mr. Morgenthau, the American
+Ambassador, and the optimism bred by Robert College and the Girls'
+School, left delightful memories of even the few days in winter that
+we spent there. The museum alone is worth the long journey to it, and
+when a teacher from the splendid Girls' School, herself a specialist
+on the Hittites, was good enough to show it to us, it was like a leap
+back into the long history of man. It seemed but a step to the
+Neanderthal skull and our Troglodyte forbears.
+
+Owing to shortage of time we returned to England through Bulgaria,
+passing through Serbia, and stopping for a day at Budapest and two at
+Vienna. We would have been glad to linger longer, for every hour was
+delightful.
+
+The month's holiday did me lots of good and sent me back to England a
+new man to begin lecturing again in the interests of the distant
+Labrador; and with the feeling that, after all, our coast was a very
+good place for one's life-work.
+
+We helped to lessen the tedium of the lectures by doing most of the
+travelling in an automobile of my brother's, in which we lived, moved,
+and had our meals by the roadside. The lectures took us everywhere
+from the drawing-room of a border castle on the line of the old Roman
+Wall--which Puck of Pook's Hill had made as fascinating for us as he
+did for the children--to the Embassy in Paris.
+
+Once more the Mauretania carried us to America. April was spent partly
+in lecturing and partly in attending surgical clinics--a very valuable
+experience being a week's work with Dr. W.R. MacAusland, of Boston, at
+his orthopedic clinics in and around that city. He and his brother
+"Andy" had passed a summer with us in Labrador. May found us in Canada
+visiting our helpers, and stimulating various branches by lectures.
+While loading the George B. Cluett in early June in St. John's,
+Newfoundland, we organized an education committee to work with the
+Institute Committee, to give regular educational lectures throughout
+the winter. Dr. Lloyd, our present Prime Minister, and Sir Patrick
+McGrath, always a stanch friend of the Mission, helped materially in
+this new activity.
+
+The Institute at the time was housing some of the crew of the
+Greenland, who had come through the terrible experiences at the seal
+fishery in the spring of 1914. Caught on the ice in a fearful
+blizzard, almost all had perished miserably. Some few had survived to
+lose limbs and functions from frostburns. The occasion gave the
+Institute one of the many opportunities for a service rather more
+dramatic than the routine, which did much to win it popularity.
+
+Midsummer's Day and the two following days we were stuck in a heavy
+ice-jam one hundred miles south of St. Anthony. My wife and boys had
+arrived in St. Anthony before me, and to find them in our own house,
+and the hospital full of opportunity for the line of help which I
+especially enjoy, afforded all that heart could wish.
+
+Early in July the Duke of Connaught, the Governor-General of Canada,
+paid us a long-promised visit. It was highly appreciated by all our
+people, who would possibly have paid him more undivided attention had
+he not been kind enough to send his band ashore--the first St. Anthony
+had ever heard. The resplendent uniforms of the members totally
+eclipsed that of the Duke, who was in "mufti"; but he readily
+understood that the division of attention was really not attributable
+to us. He proved to be a thorough good sport and a most democratic
+prince.
+
+The war having broken out in August, we had only one idea--economy on
+every side, that we might all be able to do what we could. We had not
+then begun to realize the seriousness of it sufficiently to dream that
+we should be welcome ourselves. We closed up all activities not
+entirely necessary, and even the hospital ship went into winter
+quarters so early that my fall trip was made from harbour to harbour
+in the people's own boats or by mail steamer or schooner, as
+opportunity offered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE WAR
+
+
+In the fall of 1915, I was urged by the Harvard Surgical Unit to make
+one of their number for their proposed term of service that winter at
+a base hospital in France. Having discussed the matter with my
+directors, we decided that it was justifiable to postpone the lecture
+tour which had been arranged for me, in view of this new need.
+
+We sailed for England on the Dutch liner New Amsterdam and landed at
+Falmouth, passing through a cordon of mine-sweepers and small patrols
+as we neared the English shores. My wife's offer to work in France not
+being accepted, since I held the rank of Major, we ran down to my old
+home, where she decided to spend most of her time. My uniform and kit
+were ready in a few days; and in spite of the multitudinous calls on
+the War Office officials, I can say in defence of red tape that my
+papers were made out very quickly. I was thus able to leave promptly
+for Boulogne, near which I joined the other members of my Unit, who
+had preceded me by a fortnight.
+
+It was Christmas and the snow was on the ground when I arrived in
+France. There was much talk of trench feet and the cold. Our life in
+the North had afforded experiences more like those at the front than
+most people's. We are forced to try and obtain warmth and mobility
+combined with economy, especially in food and clothing. At the request
+of the editor, I therefore sent to the "British Medical Journal" a
+summary of deductions from our Northern experiences. Clothes only keep
+heat in and damp out. Thickness, not even fur, will warm a statue, and
+our ideal has been to obtain light, wind-and water-proof material,
+and a pattern that prevents leakage of the body's heat from the neck,
+wrists, waist, knees, and ankles. Our skin boots, by being soft,
+water-tight, and roomy, remove the causes of trench feet. Later when I
+returned to England I was invited to the War Office to talk over the
+matter. The defects, either in wet and cold or in hot weather, of
+woolen khaki cloth are obvious, and when subsequently I visited the
+naval authorities in Washington about the same subject, I was
+delighted to be assured that on all small naval craft our patterns
+were being exclusively used. Who introduced them did not matter.
+
+I had also advocated a removable insert of sheet steel in a pocket on
+the breast of the tunic, this plate to be kept in the trenches and
+inserted on advancing; and a lobster-tail steel knee-piece in the
+knickers. Of this latter Sir Robert Jones, the British orthopedic
+chief, appreciated the value, knowing how many splendid men are put
+_hors de combat_ by tiny pieces of shell splinters infecting that
+joint. But the "Journal" censored all these references to armour. A
+wounded Frenchman at Berck presented me with a helmet heavily dented
+by shrapnel, and told me that he owed his life to it. Later at General
+Headquarters, General Sir Arthur Sloggett showed me a collection of a
+dozen experimental helmets, each of which stood for a saved life.
+
+One of the soldiers who came under my care had a bullet wound through
+the palm of his hand. I happened to ask him where his hand had been
+when hit. He said, "On my hip. We were mending a break in our barbed
+wire at night, and a fixed rifle got me, exactly where it got my chum
+just afterwards, but it went through him."
+
+"Where did your bullet go?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered.
+
+An examination of his trousers showed the bullet in his pocket. It
+was embedded in three pennies and two francs which he happened to be
+carrying there, and which his wounded hand had prevented his feeling
+for afterwards.
+
+Pathos and humour, like genius and madness, are close akin. One of the
+boys told me of a chum who was very "churchy," and always carried an
+Episcopal Prayer Book in his pocket--for which he was not a little
+chaffed. For a joke one day he was presented with a second that a
+messmate had received, but for which he had no use. His scruples about
+"wasting it" made him put it in his pocket with the other. Soon after
+this, in an advance, he was shot in the chest. The bullet passed right
+through the first Prayer Book and lodged in the second, where it was
+found on his arrival at hospital for another slight wound. He at least
+will long continue to swear by the Book of Common Prayer.
+
+One day, walking with other officers in the country, we stumbled
+across a tiny isolated farm. As usual the voice of the inevitable
+Tommy could be heard from within. They were tending cavalry horses,
+which filled every available nook and corner behind the lines at a
+period when cavalry was considered useless in action. Having learned
+that one of these men had been body servant to a cousin of mine, who
+was a V.C. at the time that he was killed, I asked him for the details
+of his death. The Germans had broken through on the left of his
+command, and it was instantly imperative to hold the morale while help
+from the right was summoned. Jumping on the parapet, my cousin had
+stood there encouraging the line amid volleys of bullets. At the same
+time he ordered his servant to carry word to the right at once.
+Suddenly a bullet passed through his body and he fell into the trench.
+Protesting that he was all right, he declared that he could hold out
+till the man should come back. On his return he found that my cousin
+was dead. But help came, the line held, and the German attack was a
+costly failure. His servant had collected and turned in all the little
+personal possessions of any value which he had found on the body.
+
+"I think that you should have got a Military Cross," I said.
+
+"I did get an M.C.," he answered.
+
+"I congratulate you," I replied.
+
+"It was a confinement to barracks. A bullet had smashed to pieces a
+little wrist watch which the captain always carried. It was quite
+valueless, and I had kept the remnants as a memento of a man whom
+every one loved. But a comrade got back at me by reporting it to
+headquarters, and they had to punish me, they said."
+
+It is true, "strafing" was at a low ebb at the time that I arrived in
+France; but even I was not a bit prepared for the amount of leisure
+time that our duties allowed us. There were in France hundreds of sick
+and wounded for every one in the lonely North; but in Labrador you are
+always on the go, being often the only available doctor. Our Unit had
+at the time only some five hundred beds and a very strong staff, both
+of doctors and nurses. In spite of lending one of our colonels and
+several of our staff to other hospitals, we still had not enough beds
+to keep us fully occupied. It gave me ample time to help out
+occasionally in Y.M.C.A. activities, and to do some visiting among the
+poor French families and refugees in Boulogne, close to which city our
+hospital was located. I could also visit other Units, and give lantern
+shows, which had, I thought, special value when psychic treatment was
+badly needed. Shell-shock was but very imperfectly understood at the
+beginning of the war. The football matches and athletic sports did not
+need the asset of being an antidote to shell-shock to attract my
+patronage. Never in my life had I realized quite so keenly what a
+saving trait the sporting instinct is in the Anglo-Saxon--a strain of
+it in the Teuton might have even averted this war.
+
+My stay in France enabled me to enjoy that which life on the Labrador
+largely denies one--the contact with many educated minds. It was the
+custom, if an officer needed a lift along the road, to hail any
+passing motor. While walking one day, I took advantage of this
+privilege, and found myself driving with Sir Bertrand Dawson, the
+King's physician, with whom I thus renewed a most valued
+acquaintanceship. On another occasion our host or guest might be Sir
+Almroth Wright, the famous pathologist, or Sir Robert Jones would pay
+us a visit, or Sir Frederick Treves. In fact, we had chances to meet
+many of the great leaders of our profession. Sir Arthur Lawley, the
+head of our Red Cross in France, gave me some delightful evenings.
+Unquestionably there is an intense pleasure in hearing and seeing
+personally the men who are doing things.
+
+Food grew perceptibly scarcer in Boulogne even during my stay. The
+_petits gâteaux_ got smaller, the hours during which officers might
+enter restaurants for afternoon tea became painfully shorter. But they
+were not a whit less enjoyable, reminding one as they did of the dear
+old days, long before the war was thought of, and before the war of
+life had taken me to Labrador. If one had hoped that a life in the
+wilds had succeeded in eradicating natural desires, those relapses in
+the midst of war-time completely destroyed any such delusion. Every
+day was full of excitement. Bombs fell on the city only twice while I
+was there, and, moreover, we were bitterly disappointed that we did
+not know it till we read the news in the morning paper. But every day
+flying machines of all sorts sailed overhead. My interest never
+failed to respond to the buzzing of some hurrying airship, or the
+sight of a seaplane dropping out of heaven into the water and swimming
+calmly ashore, waddling up the beach into its pen exactly like a great
+duck.
+
+One day it was the excitement of watching trawlers from the cliffs
+firing-up mines; another, hunting along the beach among the silent
+evidences of some tragedy at sea, or riding convalescent horses that
+needed exercise, flying along the sands to see some special sight,
+such as the carcass of a leviathan wrecked by butting into
+mine-fields.
+
+Close to us was a large Canadian Unit. They were changing their
+location, and for three months had been in the sorry company of those
+who have no work to do. The matron, however, told me that she found
+plenty to occupy her time--in such a beehive of officers, with
+seventy-five nurses to look after.
+
+When at the close of the period for which I had volunteered I had to
+decide whether to sign on again, my whole inclination was to stay just
+another term; but as my commandant, Colonel David Cheever, informed me
+that he and a number of the busier men felt that duty called them
+home, and that there were plenty of volunteers to take our places, my
+judgment convinced me that I was more needed in Labrador.
+
+I shall not say much of the Y.M.C.A. They need no encomium of mine,
+but I am prepared to stand by them to the last ditch. They were doing,
+not talking, and were wise enough to use even those agents whom they
+knew to be imperfect, as God Himself does when He uses us. The folly
+of judging for all cases by one standard is common and human, but it
+is not God's way. This conviction was brought home to me in a very odd
+manner. I had gone to lecture at an English Y.M.C.A. hut at the
+invitation of the efficient director, who knew me only for a "medical
+missionary." On my arrival he most hospitably took me to the cupboard
+which he called "his rooms." It was a raw, cold night, and among other
+efforts to show his gratitude for my help, to my amazement he offered
+me "a drop of Scotch." Astonishment so outran good-breeding that I
+unwittingly let him perceive it. "I am not a regular 'Y' man, Major,"
+he explained. "I'm an Australian, and was living on my little pile
+when the war began. They turned me down each place I volunteered on
+account of my age. But I was crazy to do my bit, and I offered to work
+with the Y.M.C.A. as a stopgap. The War Office has commandeered so
+many of their men that they had to take me to 'carry on.' I'm afraid
+I'm a poor apology, but I'm doing my best."
+
+The freedom from convention lent another peculiar charm to the life in
+France. The mess sergeant of a headquarters where I was dining one
+night, close behind the lines, presented the colonel with a
+beautifully illustrated monograph on a certain unmentionable and
+unwelcome member of war camps and trench life. The beautiful work and
+the evidences of scientific training led me to ask who the mess
+sergeant might have been in civil life. "Professor of Biology at the
+University of ----," was the reply.
+
+The most inspiring fact about the Channel ports at that time was the
+regularity with which steamers arrived, crowded with soldiers, and
+returned with wounded. We could see England on clear days from our
+quarters, and could follow the boats almost across. The number of
+trawlers at work all the year round, even in heavy gales that almost
+blew us off the cliffs, was enough to tell how vigilant a watch was
+being kept all the while. One morning only we woke to find a large
+stray steamer, that had entered the roads overnight, sunk across the
+harbour mouth, her decks awash at low water--torpedoed, we supposed.
+Another day a small patrol, literally cut in half by a mine, was towed
+in. But though both in the air and under the sea all the ingenuity of
+the enemy from as near by as Ostend was unceasingly directed against
+that living stream, not one single disaster happened the whole winter
+that I was out. Our mine-fields were constantly being changed. The
+different courses the traffic took from day to day suggested that. But
+who did it, and when, no one ever knew. The noise of occasional
+bomb-firing, once a mine rolling up on the shore, exploding and
+throwing some incredibly big fragments onto the golf links, the
+incessant tramp of endless soldiers in the street, the ever-present
+but silent motors hurrying to and fro, and the nightly arrival of
+convoys of wounded, were all that reminded us that any war was in
+progress. Had it been permitted, the beach would have been crowded as
+usual with invalids, nursemaids, and perambulators.
+
+The second marvel was that in spite of the enormous numbers of people
+coming and going, no secrets leaked out. We gave up looking for news
+almost as completely as in winter in Labrador. We seemed to be shut
+off entirely in an eddy of the stream, as we are in our Northern
+wastes.
+
+The spirit of humour in the wounded Briton was as invaluable as the
+love of sport when he is well. On one occasion a small party were
+going to relieve a section of the line. The Boches had the range of a
+piece of the road over which they had to pass, and the men made dashes
+singly or in small numbers across it. A lad, a well-known athlete, was
+caught by a shell and blown over a hedge into a field. When they
+reached him, his leg was gone and one arm badly smashed. He was
+sitting up smoking a cigarette, and all he said was, "Well, I fancy
+that's the end of my football days." One very undeveloped man, who had
+somehow leaked into Kitchener's Army, told me, "Well, you see, Major,
+I was a bit too weak for a labouring man, so I joined the army. I
+thought it might do my 'ealth good!" One of the English papers
+reported that when a small Gospel was sent by post to a prisoner in
+Germany the Teuton official stamped every page, "Passed by the
+Censor."
+
+The practice of listening to the yarns of the wounded was much
+discouraged, chiefly for one's own sake, for their knowledge was less
+accurate than our own, while shell-shock led them to imagine more. The
+censor had always good yarns to tell. The men showed generally much
+good-humour and a universal light-heartedness. Our wounded hardly ever
+"groused." They hid their troubles and cheered their families, seldom
+or never by pious sentiments. One man writing from a regimental camp
+close to Boulogne, after a painfully uneventful Channel crossing,
+announced, "Here we are in the enemies' country right under the
+muzzles of the guns. We got over quite safely, though three submarines
+chased us and shelled us all the way. Food here is very short. I
+haven't looked at a bun for weeks. A bit more of that cake of yours
+would do nicely, not to talk o' smokes. Your loving husband." Another
+letter was quoted in the "Daily Mail." It ran: "Dear Mother--This
+comes hoping that it may find you as it leaves me at present. I have a
+broken leg, and a bullet in my left lung. Your affectionate son."
+
+Yet the men were far from fatalists, and the psychic stimulus of being
+able to tell your patient that he was ordered to "Blighty" was
+demonstrable on his history chart. One poor fellow whose right arm was
+infected with gas bacillus was so anxious to save it that we left it
+on too long and general blood poisoning set in. He was on the dying
+list. The Government under these circumstances would pay the expenses
+of a wife or mother to come over and say the last good-bye. After the
+message went, it seemed that our friend could not last till their
+arrival, and the colonel decided as a last chance to try intra-venous
+injections of Eusol, the powerful antiseptic in use at that time in
+all the hospitals. On entering the ward the next morning the nurse
+told me with a smiling face, "B. is ever so much better. I think that
+he will pull through all right." "Then the Eusol injection has done
+good, I suppose?" "His wife and mother came last night and sat up with
+him"--and I saw a twinkle in the corner of her eye. Eusol injections
+are now considered inert.
+
+With so many patients who only remained so short a time, there was an
+inevitable tendency to relapse into treating men as "cases," not as
+brothers. To get through their exterior needed tact and experience.
+But if love is a force stronger than bayonets and guns, it certainly
+has its place in modern--and all time--surgery. I have a shrewd
+suspicion that it is better worth exhibiting than quite a number of
+the drugs still on the world's pharmacopoeias. Many of the nurses kept
+visitors' books, and in these their patients were asked to write their
+names or anything they liked. The little fact made them feel more at
+home, as if some person really cared for them. One could not help
+noticing how many of them broke out into verse, though most of them
+were labouring men at home. Although some was not original, it showed
+that they liked poetry. Some was extempore, as the following:
+
+    "Good-bye, dear mother, sister, brother,
+    Drive away those bitter tears.
+    For England's in no danger
+    While there are bomb throwers in the Tenth Royal Fusiliers."
+
+The following effusion I think was doubtless evolved gradually. It
+runs:
+
+    "There's a little dug-out in a trench,
+    Which the rainstorms continually drench.
+    With the sky overhead, and a stone for a bed,
+    And another that acts for a bench.
+
+    "It's hard bread and cold bully we chew;
+    It is months since we've tasted a stew;
+    And the Jack Johnsons flare through the cold wintry air,
+    O'er my little wet home in the trench.
+
+    "So hurrah for the mud and the clay,
+    Which leads to 'der Tag,' that's the day
+    When we enter Berlin, that city of sin,
+    And make the fat Berliners pay."
+
+I have never been in any sense what is generally understood by the
+term "faith healer," but I am certain that you can make a new man out
+of an old one, can save a man who is losing ground, and turn the
+balance and help him to win out through psychic agencies when all our
+chemical stimulants are only doing harm. That seemed especially true
+in those put _hors de combat_ by the almost superhuman horrors of this
+war. It seemed to me to pay especially to get the confidence of one's
+patients. Thus one man would be drawn out by the gift of a few
+flowers, a little fruit, cigarettes, as so many of the kindly visitors
+discovered. One man with shrapnel splinters in his abdomen expressed a
+craving for Worcester sauce. It appeared to him so unobtainable in a
+hospital in France. From the point of view of his recovery I am
+convinced that the bottle which we procured in Boulogne was a good
+investment.
+
+We eagerly awaited the illustrated papers each week for the same
+reason. But personal interest shown in themselves, by the time spared
+for chatting, was far the most appreciated. We had been very rightly
+warned against listening to the wounded men. It was with them in the
+base hospitals that the story of the angels of Mons originated. I
+never met any one personally who saw anything nearer the supernatural
+than that marvellous fight itself--the pluck and endurance of our
+"contemptible little army." But some claimed to have seen a spirit but
+visible army, such as Elijah at Dothan showed to his servant, or
+Castor and Pollux at Lake Regillus, fighting in front of our lines. A
+Canadian in command of the C.A.M.C. contingent, who treated thousands
+of the wounded as they came back from the front, told me that early in
+the day he heard the rumour, and ordered his men to ask as many as
+possible if they had seen any such phenomenon. Not one claimed to have
+done so. Yet a few days later from the base he heard a great many of
+these same men had declared that they had seen the "angels." He
+considered that the whole matter arose originally through some
+hysterical woman, and then was augmented by the suggestion of the
+question which he himself had put to them, made to men shell-shocked
+and in abnormal mental conditions.
+
+Among other deductions from voluminous notes I judged that the Saxons
+really did not want to fight, the impression coming from so many
+different sources. Some said that they let us know, shouting across
+"No Man's Land," that they did not wish to fight, that they were
+Christians, had wives and children of their own, that they did not
+want to kill any one, and would fire in the air when forced to fire,
+were keen to renew the Christmas "pour-parlers." Our men claimed that
+it was comparative peace when the Saxons were in the trenches
+opposite, and they made friendly overtures as often as they dared.
+They were capable of attributing honour to others, and those who came
+over into our lines asserted that hundreds were anxious to do so, only
+they were so watched from behind. Moreover, the outrages committed by
+the Prussians under flags of truce had made it impossible for our men
+to allow any one to approach. To sit opposite a Saxon regiment for a
+month and not exchange shots appeared to be not uncommon. One man told
+me that they poked up a notice on their bayonets saying, "We are not
+going to fight"; and another said that once when "strafing" somehow
+commenced, they shouted from the opposite trenches: "Save your
+bullets. You'll need them to-night when the Prussian Guard relieves
+us"--which proved perfectly true. One day an elderly man crawled out
+of their trench, came to our barbed wire, and called out for bread. We
+threw him a loaf. He wrapped up something in his cap and threw it
+over. We tossed it back with more bread, but when he went back he left
+the watch behind.
+
+After an especially brutal piece of treachery, our men were too
+maddened to give quarter, and one said, "A Saxon might have had a
+chance with us even then, but a Prussian would have had about as
+little as a beetle at a woodpecker's prayer meeting!" The Saxons, on
+the other hand, displayed the individual courage of the Anglo-Saxon
+that helped to lessen our losses by enabling us to attack in open
+formation. Every animal will fight when forced to do so. The cowardly
+wolf will attack only in packs; and one of the main reasons for the
+wholesale holocausts of mass attacks seems to have been that same lack
+of real courage in the boastful and militarist element. He dare not
+advance alone.
+
+A colonel in command at the first battle of the Aisne described to me
+an incident that I at least did not hear elsewhere. He said that the
+Germans opposite him came on sixteen abreast, arm in arm, rifles at
+the trail or held anyhow. They were singing wildly, and literally
+jumping up and down, as if dancing. Fire was reserved till they came
+within a few hundred yards, when machine guns started to mow them
+down. Hay-pooks, or rather man-pooks, were immediately formed, and the
+advancing column, instead of coming straight on, went round and round
+the ever-increasing stacks. He believed that they had been filled with
+too much dope or too much doctored grog of some kind.
+
+It was my great desire before returning from France to see the
+conditions at the front. I was told that members of American Units
+were discouraged from visiting the trenches. Dr. Carrel had twice most
+kindly invited me to Compiègne to see his new work on wounds, but
+permission to accept had been denied me. Being a British subject and
+wearing a British decoration on an American uniform only seemed to
+worry the authorities. I had almost abandoned hope, when one day an
+automobile stopped at our headquarters, just at the close of my term
+of service, and a colonel, a distinguished scientist, jumped out. He
+told me if I could get to Medical Headquarters, then at St. Omer, he
+could arrange for me to visit each of the four armies I wished to see.
+I had no permission to leave the base, though my term of service
+expired the next day. I had no passes, and our British commandant
+would not on his own responsibility either give me leave or lend me
+the necessary outfit. He would only agree to look the other way if I
+went.
+
+Passing the sentries was not difficult, but once arrived in St. Omer,
+it was essential to have permission from Headquarters before one could
+enter any house or hotel. I was accordingly dumped in the dark streets
+of a strange town and told to be at that exact spot again in two
+hours, waiting my sponsor's return. Nor did he say where he was going,
+in case we failed to meet, for no one was allowed to mention the
+whereabouts of the G.H.Q. After two hours were over, I was at the
+appointed spot with that pleasurable sense of excitement that seldom
+comes after one has settled down in life. I could then understand
+better how a spy must feel. The town naturally was unlit for fear of
+aircraft, and yet there was a queer feeling that every one was looking
+at you as you walked up and down in the dark. My colonel friend was at
+the rendezvous with all the precision of a soldier, not only with the
+necessary papers and arrangements for the tour of inspection, but also
+a genial invitation to dine at Headquarters. General Sir Arthur
+Sloggett and his exceedingly able staff opened my eyes very
+considerably before the evening was out as to the methods of the
+R.A.M.C. in war-time. It was such a revelation to me that I felt it
+would be an infinite comfort to those with loved ones in the trenches
+to realize how marvellously efficient the provision for the care of
+the soldier's health had become. The main impression on my mind was
+the extraordinary developments since the days of the Lady of the Lamp.
+Formerly, so long as he was fit to fight, the soldier was always
+looked after. Now the soldier unfit to fight had exactly the same
+rights, just as after the war let us trust that the broken soldier
+will be "seen through" back into civil life. I was honestly surprised
+that he no longer depended on voluntary gifts to a charitable society
+for a bandage when he lay wounded or for a nurse if sickness overtook
+him. The marvellous system of the medical intelligence department,
+even the separate medical secret service, worked so efficiently that
+in spite of the awful conditions the health of the men in the line was
+twice as good as that when at home in civil life. Even disease
+approaching from the enemy's side was "spied," and as far as possible
+forestalled. All sanitary arrangements, all water supplies, and all
+public health matters from the North Sea to the Swiss border were
+handled by regular army officers. For the first time in history the
+medicals were considered so intimate a part of the fighting force that
+doctors held the same rank as executive officers. I was a major--no
+longer a surgeon major or just a sanitary official. Those in command
+were even trusted in advance with information as to what would likely
+be required of them on any part of the front by some manoeuvre or
+attack, though I do not think that even the general of the R.A.M.C.
+was admitted to the council of war.
+
+The chart-room of the G.H.Q. was another revelation. The walls from
+ceiling to floor were occupied with the usual large-scale maps, with
+flags on pins; while long, weird, crooked lines of all colours made
+elaborate tracings over the charts, like those used in hospitals.
+These flags and lines indicated the surgical and medical front, where
+battles with typhoid, trench feet, and wounds were being waged by the
+immense army of workers under General Sloggett's direction.
+Laboratories in motor cars, special surgeons and ambulances were
+racing here and there, new hospitals for emergencies were being pushed
+in different directions, so that though within range of the enemies'
+guns, men wounded in the chest or abdomen could be treated in time to
+give them a chance for their lives. Typhoid recurring in any section
+of the line might mean the reprimand of the medical officer there;
+trench feet became a misdemeanour, so excellent were the precautions
+devised and carried out by the N.C.O.'s.
+
+I ventured at table to say quite truthfully that I, a surgeon from a
+base hospital, where we saw endless Red Cross motor ambulances, and
+received so many kindnesses in supplies, and especially luxuries for
+our wounded from the Red Cross officials, had been under the
+impression that the R.A.M.C. was a sort of small tail to a very large
+Red Cross kite, owing to our little army and general unpreparedness
+when the war broke out. I could see that to my surprised hosts I
+appeared to be mentally deficient, but I was able to assure them that
+there were tens of thousands who knew even less than that, and thought
+that the chances still were that if their loved ones were hurt, they
+might be left to die because some one had not given their annual
+contribution to a society. It seemed a very serious omission that the
+public had not the information that would carry so much consolation
+with it. The British Red Cross has every one's love and support, but
+its function in war, as one officer said, must increasingly become, in
+relation to the R.A.M.C., that of a Sunday-school treat to the staff
+of the school.
+
+The officialdom of Germany and even of France had always contrasted
+very unfavourably in my mind with our English methods. I was surprised
+in America that so many hospitals were Government institutions, and
+yet worked so well.
+
+At Melville we turned aside to inspect what was apparently a second
+Valley of Hinnom. It was a series of furnaces, built out of clay and
+old cans, efficiently disposing of the garbage of a town and a large
+section of the line. At West Outre an officer found time to show us
+his ingenious improvised laundry. His share was to fight the enemy by
+keeping our boys decently clean; and for this purpose he collected
+their dirty linen into huge piles. He had diverted the only available
+brook so as to put a portable building over it. His battalion
+consisted of the whole female strength of the country-side, and had
+to be prepared to advance or retire _pari passu_ with the other
+fighters. The chattering, shouting crowd, almost invisible in the fog
+of steam as we walked through, made me realize how difficult a command
+this regiment of washerwomen constituted. The triumph was that they
+all appeared to be contented and fraternal.
+
+As every one knows one of the worst problems of the trenches was
+vermin. We entered a huge building used in peace-time for the purposes
+of dyeing. A Jack Johnson had only just exploded in the moat that
+brought the water to the tanks, but provision was made for trifles of
+this kind. When we peered over the edge of a steaming vat, it was to
+discover a platoon of Tommies enjoying the "time of their lives,"
+before they joined the line of naked beings, each scrubbing the now
+happy man ahead. An endless stream of garments advanced through
+electric superheaters in parallel columns. There seemed as much
+excitement about the chance of every man getting his own clothing back
+as there is in the bran pie at a children's Christmas party.
+
+While visiting the mud and squalor of a front trench in Flanders, only
+a few yards from the enemy's lines, the cheery occupants offered to
+brew some tea, exactly as we "boil our kettle" and have a good time in
+the safety of our Northern backwoods. One day I picked up some bright
+blue crystals. They proved to be "blue-stone," or sulphate of copper.
+When my pilot noticed that its presence puzzled me, he remarked
+casually, "There was a regimental dressing-station there a day or so
+ago. Probably that is the remains of it."
+
+On a siding at Calais station a veritable pyramid of filth met my
+eyes. On inspection it proved to be odd old boots dug from the mud of
+the battle-fields, and, sorted out from the other endless piles of
+débris, brought back as salvage. To attack one pair of such boots is
+depressing. Melancholia alone befitted the pile. Yet I saw close at
+hand, through a series of sheds, this polluted current entering and
+coming out at the other end new boots, at the rate of a thousand pairs
+a day--the talisman not being a Henry Ford of boot-making, but just a
+smiling English colonel in the sporting trousers of a mounted officer.
+
+The ground was still under snow, and we drove over much ice and
+through much slush as we returned to our base at Boulogne. My
+colleagues had gone back to America and it was a terribly lonely
+journey to London, though both steamer and train were crowded. The war
+was not yet won, and I could not help feeling an intense desire to
+remain and see it through with the brave, generous-hearted men who
+were giving their lives for our sakes. Loneliness scarcely describes
+my sensations; it felt more like desertion. One road to despair would
+be the awful realization that one is not wanted. The work looming
+ahead was the only comforting element, with the knowledge that the
+best of wives and partners was waiting in London to help me out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+FORWARD STEPS
+
+
+My return to the work after serving in France was embittered by a
+violent attack made upon me in a St. John's paper. It was called forth
+by a report of a lecture in Montreal where I had addressed the
+Canadian Club. The meeting was organized by Newfoundlanders at the
+Ritz Carlton Hotel, and the fact that a large number from the Colony
+were present and moved the vote of thanks at the end should have been
+sufficient guarantee of the _bona fides_ of my statements. But the
+over-enthusiastic account of a reporter who unfortunately was not
+present gave my critics the chance for which they were looking. It was
+at a time when any criticism whatever of a country that was responding
+so generously to the homeland's call for help would have been
+impolitic, even if true. It subsequently proved one factor, however,
+in obtaining the commission of inquiry from the Government, and so far
+was really a blessing to our work. In retrospect it is easy to see
+that all things work together for good, but at the time, oddly enough,
+even if such reports are absolutely false, they hurt more than the
+point of a good steel knife. Anonymous letters, on the contrary, with
+which form of correspondence I have a bowing acquaintance, only
+disturb the waste-paper basket.
+
+The Governor, the representatives of our Council, the Honourable
+Robert Watson and the Honourable W.C. Job, and my many other fast
+friends, however, soon made it possible for me to forget the matter.
+If protest breeds opposition, it in turn begets apposition, and a
+good line of demarcation--a "no man's land" between friend and
+foe--and gives a healthy atmosphere in so-called times of peace.
+
+In the year 1915 a large coöperative store was established at Cape
+Charles near Battle Harbour, which bred such opposition amongst
+certain merchants that it proved instrumental also in obtaining for us
+the Government commission of inquiry sent down a few months later.
+After a thorough investigation of St. Anthony, Battle Harbour, Cape
+Charles, Forteau, Red Bay, and Flowers Cove, summoning every possible
+witness and tracing all rumours to their source, the commissioners'
+findings were so favourable to the Mission that on their return to St.
+John's our still undaunted detractors could only attribute it to
+supernatural agencies.
+
+My colleague at Battle Harbour, Dr. John Grieve, who with his wife had
+already given us so many years' work there, and whose interest in the
+coöperative effort at Cape Charles was responsible for its initial
+success, had worked out a plan for a winter hospital station in Lewis
+Bay, and had surveyed the necessary land grant. Through the
+resignation of our business manager, Mr. Sheard, and the selection of
+Dr. Grieve by the directors as his successor, only that part of the
+Lewis Bay scheme which enables us to give work in winter providing
+wood supplies has so far materialized.
+
+In 1915 also, at a place called Northwest River, one hundred and
+thirty miles up Hamilton Inlet from Indian Harbour, a little cottage
+hospital and doctor's house combined was built, called the "Emily
+Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital." Thus the work of Dr. and Mrs.
+Paddon has been converted into a continuous service, for formerly when
+Indian Harbour Hospital was closed in the fall, they had no place in
+which they could efficiently carry on their work during the winter
+months. Before Dr. Paddon came to the coast, Dr. and Mrs. Norman
+Stewart gave us several years of valuable service, spending their
+summers at Indian Harbour and returning for the winter to St. Anthony,
+according to my original plan when I first built St. Anthony Hospital.
+
+An old friend and worker at St. Anthony, Mr. John Evans of
+Philadelphia, who had helped us with our deer and other problems,
+having married our head nurse, the first whom we had ever had from
+Newfoundland, found it essential to return and take up remunerative
+work at home.
+
+The increasing number of patients seeking help at St. Anthony made it
+necessary to provide proportionately increasing facilities. As I have
+stated elsewhere, the sister of my splendid colleague, Dr. Little, in
+1909 had raised the money for the new wing of the hospital for the
+accommodation of the summer accession of patients. The clinic which
+had now grown so tremendously, due to Dr. Little's magnificent work,
+was maintaining a permanent house surgeon, Dr. Louis Fallen, who had
+faithfully served the Mission at different times at other stations. We
+had also regular dental and eye departments.
+
+The summer of 1917 was saddened for us all by the loss to the work of
+my beloved and able colleague, Dr. John Mason Little, Jr., who had
+given ten years of most valuable labour to the people of this coast.
+He had married, some years before, our delightful and unselfish
+helper, Miss Ruth Keese, and they now had four little children growing
+up in St. Anthony. The education of his family and the call of other
+home ties made him feel that it had become essential for him to
+terminate his more intimate connection with the North, and he left us
+to take up medical work in Boston. The loss of them both was a very
+heavy one to the work and to us personally, and we are only thankful
+that we have been able to secure Dr. Little's invaluable assistance
+and advice on our Board of Directors in Boston. This coast and this
+hospital owe him a tremendous debt which can never be repaid, for it
+was he who put this clinic in a position to hold up its head among the
+best of medical work, and offer to this far-off people the grade of
+skilled assistance which we should wish for our loved ones if they
+were ill or in trouble. For Dr. Little offered not only his very
+exceptional skill as a surgeon, but also the gift of his inspiring and
+devoted personality.
+
+The winter of 1917-18 was extremely severe, not only in our North
+country, but in the United States and Canada also. I was lecturing
+during this winter in both these latter countries, though during the
+months of December and January travelling became very difficult owing
+to the continuous blizzards. I was held up for three days in Racine,
+Wisconsin, as neither trains, electric cars, or automobiles could make
+their way through the heavy drifts. Had I had my trusty dog team,
+however, I should not have missed three important lecture engagements.
+Life in the North has its compensations.
+
+At Toronto I was unfortunate enough to contract bronchitis and
+pleurisy, and I understand from competent observers that I was an
+"impossible patient." Be that as it may, so much pressure was brought
+to bear on me that at last I was forced to obey the doctors and leave
+for a month's rest in a warmer climate.
+
+Owing to ice and war conditions we did not arrive in St. Anthony until
+the first of July. In arriving late we were all spared a terrible
+shock. The previous day some of the boys from the Orphanage had gone
+fishing in the Devil's Pond, about a mile away, and a favourite
+resort with them. Unfortunately that afternoon they were seized
+with the brilliant idea of kindling a fire with which to cook their
+trout. Greatly to the astonishment of the would-be cooks, the fire
+quickly got beyond the one desired for culinary purposes, and,
+panic-stricken, they rushed home to give the alarm. Every man ashore
+and afloat came and worked, and the obliteration of the place was
+saved by a providential change in the wind and wide fire-breaks cut
+through few and ill-to-be-spared trees. Everything had been taken from
+our house--even furniture and linen--and dragged to the wharf head,
+where terrified children, fleeing patients, and heaps of furnishings
+from the orphanage and elsewhere were all piled up. Schooners had been
+hauled in to carry off what was possible, and the patients in the
+hospital were got ready to be carried away at a moment's notice. Only
+the most strenuous efforts saved the entire station. Now all our
+beautiful sky-line is blackened and charred. All day long the gravity
+of the debt was in our hearts, for if the wooden buildings had once
+had the clouds of fiery sparks settle upon them, the whole of those
+dependent upon us would have been homeless. Surely in a country like
+this, the incident of this fire puts an added emphasis upon our need
+of brick buildings. Gratitude for our safe return, for all God's
+mercies to us, and joy over the outcome of the at one time apparently
+inevitable disaster, made our first day of the season a
+never-to-be-forgotten event.
+
+   [Illustration: THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN WINTER]
+
+Mr. W.R. Stirling, our Chicago director, who had personally visited
+the hospitals, insisted that a water supply must at all costs be
+secured both for hospital and orphanage. This was not only to avert
+the reproach of typhoid epidemics, two of which had previously
+occurred, but also to better our protection for so many helpless lives
+in old dry wooden buildings, and to economize the great expense of
+hauling water by dogs every winter, when our little surface reservoir
+was frozen to the bottom. This water supply has only just been
+finished; and now we cannot understand how we ever existed without it.
+But it is an unromantic object to which to give money, and the total
+cost, even doing the work ourselves, amounted to just upon ten
+thousand dollars. According to the Government engineer's advice we had
+a stream to dam and a mile and a quarter of piping to lay six feet
+underground to prevent the water freezing. It is only in very few
+places that we boast six feet of soil at all on the rock that forms
+the frame of Mother Earth here. Hence there was much blasting to do.
+But the task was accomplished, and by our own boys, and has
+successfully weathered our bitter winter. The last lap was run by an
+intensely interesting experiment. The assistant at Emmanuel Church in
+Boston brought down a number of volunteer Boy Scouts to give their
+services on the commonplace task of digging the remainder of the
+trench necessary to complete the water supply. When they first
+arrived, our Northern outside man, after looking at their clothes of
+the Boston cut, remarked, "Hm. You'd better give that crowd some
+softer job than digging." But they did the work, and a whole lot more
+besides. For their grit and jollity, and above all their readiness to
+tackle and see through such side tasks as unloading and stowing away
+some three hundred tons of coal were real "missionary" lessons.
+
+The ever-growing demand for doctors as the war dragged on made it
+harder and harder to man our far-off stations. The draft in America
+was the last straw, doctors having already been forbidden to leave
+England or Canada. Dr. Charles Curtis had taken over Dr. Little's work
+at St. Anthony, and stood nobly by, getting special permission to do
+so. Dr. West, who had succeeded our colleague, Dr. Mather Hare, at
+Harrington, when his wife's breakdown had obliged him to leave us, had
+already given us a year over his scheduled time, for he had accepted
+work in India at the hands of those who had specially trained him for
+that purpose.
+
+We had been having considerable trouble in the accommodation of the
+heavy batches of patients that came by the mail boat. They were left
+on the wharf when she steamed away, and only the floors of our
+treatment and waiting-rooms were available for their reception. For
+all could not possibly go into the wards, where children, and often
+very sick patients, were being cared for. The people around always
+stretched their hospitality to the limit, but this was a very
+undesirable method of housing sick persons temporarily. Owing to the
+generosity of a lady in New Bedford and other friends, we were enabled
+to meet the problem by the erection of a rest house, with first and
+second class accommodation. This was built in the spring of 1917, and
+has been a Godsend to many besides patients. It makes people free to
+come to St. Anthony and stay and benefit by whatever it has to offer,
+without the feeling that they have no place to which they can go.
+Moreover, this hostel has been entirely self-supporting from the day
+that it opened, and every one who goes and comes has a good word for
+the rest house. It is run by one of our Labrador orphan boys, whose
+education was finished in America, and "Johnnie," as every one calls
+him, is already a feature in the life of the place.
+
+Among the advances of the year 1918 must also be noted that more
+subscribers and subscriptions from local friends have been received
+than ever before. Our X-ray department has been added to. We have been
+able also to improve the roads, a thing greatly to be desired.
+
+Look where we will, we have nothing but gratitude that in the last
+year of a long and exhausting war, here in this far-away section of
+the world, the keynote has been one of progress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE FUTURE OF THE MISSION
+
+
+What is the future of this Mission? I have once or twice been an
+unwilling listener to a discussion on this point. It has usually been
+in the smoking-room of a local mail steamer. The subtle humour of W.W.
+Jacobs has shown us that pessimism is an attribute of the village
+"pub" also. The alcoholic is always a prophet of doom; and the wish is
+often father to the thought.
+
+In our medical work in the wilds we have become a repository of some
+old instruments discarded on the death of their owners or cast aside
+by the advancing tide of knowledge. Seeing the ingenuity, time, and
+expense lavished on many of them, they would make a truly pathetic
+museum. Personally I prefer the habits of India to those of Egypt
+concerning the departed. If the Pharaoh of the Persecution could see
+his mummy being shown to tourists as a cheap side show, I am sure that
+he would vote for cremation if he had the choice over again.
+
+It sounds flippant in one who has devoted his life to this work to
+say, "Really I don't care what its future may be." I am content to
+leave the future with God. No true sportsman wants to linger on, a
+wretched handicap to the cause for which he once stood, like a fake
+hero with his peg leg and a black patch over one eye. The Christian
+choice is that of Achilles. Nature also teaches us that the paths of
+progress are marked by the discarded relics of what once were her
+corner-stones. The original Moses had the spirit of Christ when he
+said, "If Thou wilt, forgive their sin--and if not, I pray Thee, blot
+me out of Thy book." The heroic Paul was willing to be eliminated for
+the Kingdom of God. It seems to me that that attitude is the only
+credential which any Christian mission can give for its existence. If
+I felt that my work had accomplished all it could, I would "lay it
+down with a will."
+
+As in India and China the missionaries of the various societies are
+uniting to build up a native, national Church which would wish to
+assume the responsibility of caring for its own problems, so when the
+Government of this country is willing and able to take over the
+maintenance of the medical work, this Mission would have justified its
+existence by its elimination. All lines along which the Mission works
+should one day become self-eliminating. Until that time arrives I am
+satisfied that the Mission has great opportunities before it. I am an
+optimist, and feel certain that God will provide the means to continue
+as long as the need exists.
+
+Some believe that the future of this population depends solely on the
+attention paid to the development of the resources of the coast. Not
+only are its raw products more needed than ever, but even supposing
+that unscientific handling of them has depleted the supply, still
+there is ample to maintain a larger population than at present. This
+can only be when science and capital are introduced here, combined
+with an educated manhood fired by the spirit of coöperation.
+
+In large parts of China a famine to wipe out surplus population is
+apparently a periodical necessity. An orphanage in India for similar
+reasons does not seem to be as rationally economic as one for the
+Labrador children. I never see a cliff face from which an avalanche
+has removed the supersoil and herbage without thinking in pity of the
+crowded sections of China, where tearing up even the roots of trees
+for fuel has permitted so much arable land to be denuded by rains
+that the food supply gets smaller while the population grows larger.
+
+The future of all medical work depends on whether people want it and
+can arrange to get it paid for. If all the world become Christian
+Scientists, scientific--which we believe to be also Christian--healing
+will everywhere die a natural death--and possibly the people also. But
+history suggests that the healing art is one of considerable vitality.
+My own belief is that in the apparently approaching socialistic age,
+medicine will be communized and provided by the State free to all. If
+education for the mind is, why not education for the body?
+
+Certain subtle and very vital psychic influences are probably the best
+stock in trade of the "Doctor of the old school." These qualities
+appear at present less likely to be "had for hire" in a Government
+official. The Chinese may yet return the missionary compliment by
+teaching us to adopt their method of paying the doctor only when and
+as long as the patient is cured.
+
+Out of the taxes, the major part of which is paid by the people of the
+outport districts in this Colony, the Government provides free medical
+aid in the Capital, presumably because those who have the spending of
+the money mostly reside there. The Mission provides it in the farthest
+off and poorest part of the country, Labrador and North Newfoundland,
+because there is no chance whatever at present for the poor people to
+obtain it otherwise. Our _pro rata_ share of the taxes, if judged by
+the paltry Government grant toward the work, would not provide
+anything worth having. The people here pay far better in proportion to
+their ability for hospital privileges than they do in Boston or
+London; the Government pays a little, and the rest comes from the
+loving gifts of those who desire nothing better, when they know of
+real need, than to make sacrifices to meet it.
+
+One feels that the Chinese and Japanese and all nations will be able
+some day to pay for their own doctors, whether they do it on
+individualistic or communistic principles. In the present state of the
+world I believe the missionary enterprise to be entirely desirable, or
+I would not be where I am. But being a Christian with a little faith,
+I hope that it may not be so forever. If anything will stimulate to
+better methods, it is example, not precept, and perhaps the best work
+of this and all missions will be their reflex influences on
+Governments through the governed.
+
+To carry on the bare essentials of this work an endowment of at least
+a million dollars is necessary. Toward this a hundred and sixty
+thousand dollars is all that has been contributed, and in addition we
+can count annually upon a small Government grant. Even if this million
+dollars were given, it would still leave several thousand dollars to
+be raised by voluntary subscription each year, a healthy thing for the
+life of any charitable work. On the other hand, the certainty of being
+able to meet the main bills is an economy in nerve energy, in time and
+in money.
+
+Among our patients brought in one season to St. Anthony Hospital was
+the mother of ten children on whom an emergency operation for
+appendicitis had to be done--the first time in her life that a doctor
+had ever tended her. She came from a very poor home, for besides her
+large family her husband had been all his life handicapped by a
+serious deformity of one leg caused by a fall. She reminded me of how
+some years before a traveller had left her the rug from his dog
+sledge, as, without any bedclothes, she was again about to give birth
+to a child; how she had actually been unable at times to turn over in
+bed, because her personal clothing had frozen solid to the wall of the
+one-roomed hut in which she lived.
+
+In April, 1906, in northern Newfoundland I found a young mother near
+St. Anthony. She was twenty-six years old, suffering from acute
+rheumatic fever, lying in a fireless loft, on a rickety bedstead with
+no bedclothes. She had only one shoddy black dress to her name, and no
+underwear to keep her warm in bed in a house like that. The floor was
+littered with débris, including a number of hard buns which she could
+not now eat, but which some charitable neighbour had sent her. She had
+a wizened baby of seven months, which every now and then she was
+trying to feed by raising herself on one elbow and forcing bread and
+water pap, moistened with the merest suspicion of condensed milk, down
+its throat. None of her four previous children had lived so long. She
+had been under my care three years before for sailor's scurvy. Her
+present illness lasted only a week, and in spite of all that we could
+do, she died.
+
+The desire of the people to be mutually helpful is undoubted, whether
+it is to each other or to some "outsider" like ourselves. I question
+if in the so-called centres of civilization the following incident can
+be surpassed as evidencing this aspect of their character.
+
+In a little Labrador village called Deep Water Creek I was called in
+one day to see a patient: an old Englishman, who was reported to have
+had "a bad place this twelvemonth." As I was taken into the tiny
+cottage, a bright-faced, black-bearded man greeted me. Three children
+were playing on the hearth with a younger man, evidently their father.
+"No, Doctor, they aren't ours," replied my host, in answer to my
+question. "But us took Sam as our own when he was born, and his mother
+lay dead. These be his little ones. You remember Kate, his wife, what
+died in hospital."
+
+After the cup of hot tea so thoughtfully provided, I said, "Skipper
+John, let's get out and see the old Englishman."
+
+"No need, Doctor. He's upstairs in bed."
+
+Upstairs was the triangular space between the roof and the ceiling of
+the ground floor. At each end was a tiny window, and the whole area,
+windows included, had been divided longitudinally by a single
+thickness of hand-sawn lumber. Both windows were open, a cool breeze
+was blowing through, and a bright paper pasted on the wall gave a
+cheerful impression. One corner was shut off by a screen of cheap
+cheesecloth. Sitting bolt upright on a low bench, and leaning against
+the partition, was a very aged woman, staring fixedly ahead out of
+blind eyes, and ceaselessly monotoning what was meant for a hymn. No
+head was visible among the rude collection of bedclothes.
+
+"Uncle Solomon, it's the Doctor," I called. The mass of clothes moved,
+and a trembling old hand came out to meet mine.
+
+"No pain, Uncle Solomon, I hope?"
+
+"No pain, Doctor, thank the good Lord, and Skipper John. He took us in
+when the old lady and I were starving."
+
+The terrible cancer had so extended its ravages that the reason for
+the veiled corner was obvious, and also for the effective ventilation.
+
+"He suffers a lot, Doctor, though he won't own it," now chimed in the
+old woman.
+
+When the interview was over, I was left standing in a brown study till
+I heard Skipper John's voice calling me. As I descended the ladder he
+said: "We're so grateful you comed, Doctor. The poor old creatures
+won't last long. But thanks aren't dollars. I haven't a cent in the
+world now. The old people have taken what little we had put by. But
+if I gets a skin t' winter, I'll try and pay you for your visit
+anyhow."
+
+"Skipper John, what relation are those people to you?"
+
+"Well, no relation 'zactly."
+
+"Do they pay nothing at all?"
+
+"Them has nothing," he replied.
+
+"What made you take them in?"
+
+"They was homeless, and the old lady was already blind."
+
+"How long have they been with you?"
+
+"Just twelve months come Saturday."
+
+I found myself standing in speechless admiration in the presence of
+this man. I thought then, and I still think, that I had received one
+of my largest fees.
+
+Ours is primarily a medical mission, and nothing that may have been
+stated in this book with reference to other branches of the work is
+meant in any way to detract from what to us as doctors is the basic
+reason for our being here, though we mean ours to be prophylactic as
+well as remedial medicine.
+
+St. Anthony having so indisputably become the headquarters of the
+hospital stations, there can be but one answer to the question of the
+advisability of its closing its doors summer or winter in the days to
+come. For not only is our largest hospital located there--its scope
+due in great measure to the reputation gained for it by Dr. Little's
+splendid services, and continued by Dr. Curtis--but also the
+Children's Home, our school, machine shop, the headquarters of various
+industrial enterprises, and lastly a large storehouse to be used in
+future as a distributing centre for the supplies of the general
+Mission. Moreover, the population of the environs of St. Anthony,
+owing to their numbers and the fact that they can profit by the
+employment given by the Mission, should be able increasingly to
+assist in the maintenance of this hospital, though a large number of
+its clinic is drawn from distant parts. These patients come not only
+from Labrador, the Straits of Belle Isle, and southern Newfoundland,
+but we have had under our care Syrians, Russians, Scandinavians,
+Frenchmen, and naturally Americans and Canadians, seamen from
+schooners engaged in the Labrador fishery.
+
+Harrington Hospital, located on the Canadian Labrador, must for many
+years to come depend on outside support. I am Lloyd Georgian enough to
+feel that taxation should presuppose the obligation to look after the
+bodies of the taxed. The Quebec Government gives neither vote,
+representation, adequate mail service, nor any public health grant for
+the long section of the coast which it claims to govern, that lies
+west of the Point des Eskimo. It is to my mind a severe stricture on
+their qualifications as legislators. That hospital should, we believe,
+be adequately subsidized and kept open summer and winter. At present
+we have to thank the Labrador Medical Mission, which is the Canadian
+branch of the International Grenfell Association, for their generous
+and continued support of this station.
+
+Battle Harbour and Indian Harbour Hospitals can never be anything but
+summer stations, owing to their geographical positions on islands in
+frozen seas, on which islands there is practically no population
+during the winter months. But gifts and grants sufficient to maintain
+a doctor at Northwest River Cottage Hospital, and one if possible in
+Lewis Bay, winter supplements to these summer hospitals, are to my
+thinking more than justifiable.
+
+As to the future of our hospital stations at Pilley's Islands, Spotted
+Islands, and Forteau, that will depend upon the changing demands of
+local conditions. That the need of medical assistance exists is
+unquestionable, as is evidenced from the many appeals which I receive
+to start hospitals or supply doctors in districts at present utterly
+incapable of obtaining such help.
+
+   [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO ST. ANTHONY HARBOUR]
+
+One still indispensable requisite in our scattered field of work is a
+hospital steamer. In fact, not a few of us think that the Strathcona
+is the keystone of the Mission. She reaches those who need our help
+most and at times when they cannot afford to leave home and seek it.
+Her functions are innumerable. She is our eyepiece to keep us
+cognizant of our opportunities. She both treats and carries the sick
+and feeds the hospitals. She enables us to distribute our charity
+efficiently. The invaluable gifts of clothing which the Labrador
+Needlework Guild and other friends send us could never be used at all
+as love would wish, unless the Strathcona were available to enlarge
+the area reached. In spite of all this, those who would quibble over
+trifles claim that she is the only craft on record that rolls at
+dry-dock! Her functions are certainly varied, but perhaps the oddest
+which I have ever been asked to perform was an incident which I have
+often told. One day, after a long stream of patients had been treated,
+a young man with a great air of secrecy said that he wanted to see me
+very privately.
+
+"I wants to get married, Doctor," he confided when we were alone.
+
+"Well, that's something in which I can't help you. Won't any of the
+girls round here have you?"
+
+"Oh! it isn't that. There's a girl down North I fancies, but I'm
+shipped to a man here for the summer, and can't get away. Wouldn't you
+just propose to her for me, and bring her along as you comes South?"
+
+The library would touch a very limited field if it were not for the
+hospital ship. She carries half a hundred travelling libraries each
+year. She finds out the derelict children and brings them home. She is
+often a court of law, trying to dispense justice and help right
+against might. She has enabled us to serve not only men, but their
+ships as well; and many a helping hand she has been able to lend to
+men in distress when hearts were anxious and hopes growing faint. In a
+thousand little ways she is just as important a factor in preaching
+the message of love. To-day she is actually loaned for her final trip,
+before going into winter quarters, to a number of heads of families,
+who are thus enabled to bring out fuel for their winter fires from the
+long bay just south of the hospital.
+
+Her plates are getting thin. They were never anything but
+three-eighths-inch steel, and we took a thousand pounds of rust out of
+her after cabin alone this spring. She leaks a little--and no iron
+ship should. It will cost two thousand dollars to put her into repair
+again for future use. Money is short now, but when asked about the
+future of the Mission I feel that whatever else will be needed for
+many years to come, the hospital ship at least cannot possibly be
+dispensed with.
+
+The child is potential energy, the father of the future man, and the
+future state; and the children of this country are integral,
+determining factors in the future of this Mission. The children who
+are turned out to order by institutions seem sadly deficient, both in
+ability to cope with life and in the humanities. The "home" system, as
+at Quarrier's in Scotland, is a striking contrast, and personally I
+shall vote for the management of orphanages on home lines every time.
+This is not a concession to Dickens, whose pictures of Bumble I hope
+and believe apply only to the dark ages in which Dickens lived; but
+historically they are not yet far enough removed for me to advocate
+Government orphanages, though our Government schools are an advance
+on Dotheboys Hall.
+
+The human body is the result of physical causes; breeding tells as
+surely as it does in dogs or cows, and the probability of defects in
+the offspring of poverty and of lust is necessarily greater than in
+well-bred, well-fed, well-environed children. The proportion of
+mentally and morally deficient children that come to us absolutely
+demonstrates this fact; and the love needed to see such children
+through to the end is more comprehensive than the mere sentiment of
+having a child in the home, and infinitely more than the desire to
+have the help which he can bring.
+
+The Government allows us fifty-two dollars a year toward the expense
+of a child whose father is dead; nothing if the mother is dead, or if
+the father is alive but had better be dead. It would be wiser if each
+case could be judged on its merits by competent officials. But we
+believe it is a blessing to a community to have the opportunity of
+finding the balance.
+
+Tested by its output and the returns to the country, our orphanage has
+amply justified itself. One new life resultant from the outlay of a
+few dollars would class the investment as gilt-edged if graded merely
+in cash. The community which sows a neglected childhood reaps a
+whirlwind in defective manhood.
+
+In view of these facts--to leave out of consideration my earnest
+personal desire--there can never be any question in my mind as to the
+imperative necessity of the Mission's continuance of the work for
+derelict children. This conclusion seems to me safeguarded by the fact
+that all nations are placing increasing emphasis on "the child in the
+midst of them."
+
+When Solomon chose wisdom as the gift which he most desired, the Bible
+tells us that it was pleasing to God. St. Paul holds out the hope
+that one day we shall know as we are known. But there is a vast
+difference between knowledge and being wise. In fact, from the New
+Testament itself we are led to believe that the devils knew far more
+than even the Disciples.
+
+The school is an essential part of the orphanage. Seeing that the
+village children needed education just as much as those for whom we
+were more directly responsible, and realizing the value to both of the
+coöperation, and that the denominational system which still persists
+in the country is a factor for division and not for unity, it became
+obviously desirable for us to provide such a bond. Friends made the
+building possible. The generosity of a lady in Chicago in practically
+endowing it has, we feel, secured its future. We have now a proper
+building, three teachers, a graded school, modern appliances for
+teaching, and vastly superior results. In these days when the
+expenditure of every penny seems a widow's mite, one welcomes the
+encouragement of facts such as these to enable one to "carry on."
+
+Modern pedagogy has brought to the attention of even the man in the
+street the realization that education consists not merely in its
+accepted scholastic aspect, but also that training of the eye and hand
+which in turn fosters the larger development of the mind. In the
+latter sense our people are far from uneducated. Taking this aptitude
+of theirs as a starting-point, some twelve years ago we began our
+industrial department, first by giving out skin work in the North, and
+later started other branches under Miss Jessie Luther, who
+subsequently gave many years of service to the coast.
+
+The coöperative movement is the same question seen from another angle,
+and is almost contemporaneous with our earliest hospitals.
+
+It is not unnatural that man, realizing that he is himself like "the
+grass that to-morrow is cast into the oven," should worry over the
+permanency of the things on which he has spent himself. Though Christ
+especially warns us against this anxiety, religious people have been
+the greatest sinners in laying more emphasis upon to-morrow than
+to-day. The element which makes most for longevity is always
+interesting, even if longevity is often a mistake. Almost every old
+parish church in England maintains some skeleton of bygone efforts
+which once met real needs and were tokens of real love.
+
+The future is a long way off--that future when Christ's Kingdom comes
+on earth in the consecrated hearts and wills of all mankind, when all
+the superimposed efforts will be unnecessary. But love builds for a
+future, however remote; and at present we see no other way than to
+work for it, and know of no better means than to insure the permanency
+of the hospitals, orphanage, school, and the industrial and
+coöperative enterprises, thus to hasten, however little, the coming of
+Christ in Labrador.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+MY RELIGIOUS LIFE
+
+
+No one can write his real religious life with pen or pencil. It is
+written only in actions, and its seal is our character, not our
+orthodoxy. Whether we, our neighbour, or God is the judge, absolutely
+the only value of our "religious" life to ourselves or to any one is
+what it fits us for and enables us to do. Creeds, when expressed only
+in words, clothes, or abnormal lives, are daily growing less
+acceptable as passports to Paradise. What my particular intellect can
+accept cannot commend me to God. His "well done" is only spoken to the
+man who "wills to do His will."
+
+We map the world out into black and white patches for "heathen" and
+"Christian"--as if those who made the charts believed that one section
+possessed a monopoly of God's sonship. Europe was marked white, which
+is to-day comment enough on this division. A black friend of mine used
+often to remind me that in his country the Devil was white.
+
+My own religious experiences divide my life into three periods. As a
+boy at school, and as a young man at hospital, the truth or untruth of
+Christianity as taught by the churches did not interest me enough to
+devote a thought to it. It was neither a disturbing nor a vital
+influence in my life. My mother was my ideal of goodness. I have never
+known her speak an angry or unkind word. Sitting here looking back on
+over fifty years of life, I cannot pick out one thing to criticize in
+my mother.
+
+What did interest me was athletics. Like most English boys I almost
+worshipped physical accomplishments. I had the supremest contempt for
+clothes except those designed for action or comfort. Since no saint
+apparently ever wore trousers, or appeared to care about football
+knickers, I never supposed that they could be the same flesh as myself.
+It was always a barrier between me and the parsons and religious persons
+generally that they affected clothing which dubbed my ideals "worldly."
+It was even a barrier between myself and the Christ that I could not
+think of Him in flannels or a gymnasium suit. At that time I should have
+considered such an idea blasphemous--whatever that meant. As soon as
+religious services ceased to be compulsory for me, I only attended them
+as a concession to others. The prime object of the prayers and lessons
+did not appear to be that they might be understood. So far as I could
+see, common sense and plain natural feelings were at a discount. A long
+heritage of an eager, restless spirit left me uninterested in
+"homilies," and aided by the "dim religious light," I was enabled to
+sleep through both long prayers and sermons. Justice forces me to add
+that the two endless hours of "prep" lessons after tea had very much the
+same effect upon me.
+
+At the request of my mother I once went to take a class at the Sunday
+School. These were for the "poor only" in England in those days.
+Little effort was expended on making them attractive. I recall nothing
+but disgust at the dirty urchins with whom I had to associate for half
+an hour. An incident which happened on the death of one of the boys at
+my father's school interested me temporarily in religion. The boy's
+father happened to be a dissenter, and our vicar refused to allow the
+gates of the parish churchyard to be opened to enable the funeral
+cortège to enter. My chum had only a legal right to be buried in the
+yard. The coffin had therefore to be lifted over the wall and as the
+church was locked, father conducted the service in the open air. His
+words at the grave-side gave a touch of reality to religion, and still
+more so did his walking down the aisle out of church the following
+Sunday when the vicar referred to the destructive influence of
+anything that lent colour to dissent. Later when father threw up the
+school for the far more onerous and less remunerative task of chaplain
+at the London Hospital, even I realized that religion meant something.
+Indeed, it was that tax on his sensitive, nervous brain that brought
+his life to its early close. No man ever had a more generous and
+soft-hearted father. He never refused us any reasonable request, and
+very few unreasonable ones, and allowed us an amount of
+self-determination enjoyed by few. How deeply and how often have I
+regretted that I did not understand him better. His brilliant
+scholarship, and the friends that it brought around him, his ability
+literally to speak Greek and Latin as he could German and French, his
+exceptionally developed mental as compared with his physical gifts,
+were undoubtedly the reasons that a very ordinary English boy could
+not appreciate him.
+
+At fourteen years of age, at Marlborough School, I was asked if I
+wished to be confirmed. Every boy of that age was. It permitted one to
+remain when "the kids went out after first service." It added dignity,
+like a football cap or a mustache. All I remember about it was
+bitterly resenting having to "swat up" the Catechism out of school
+hours. I counted, however, on the examiner being easy, and he was. I
+am an absolute believer in boys making a definite decision to follow
+the Christ; and that in the hands of a really keen Christian man the
+rite of confirmation is very valuable. The call which gets home to a
+boy's heart is the call to do things. If only a boy can be led to see
+that the following of Christ demands a real knighthood, and that true
+chivalry is Christ's service, he will want all the rites and
+ceremonies that either proclaim his allegiance or promise him help and
+strength to live up to it.
+
+What I now believe that D.L. Moody did for me was just to show that
+under all the shams and externals of religion was a vital call in the
+world for things that I could do. This marks the beginning of the
+second period of my religious development. He helped me to see myself
+as God sees the "unprofitable servant," and to be ashamed. He started
+me working for all I was worth, and made religion real fun--a new
+field brimming with opportunities. With me the pendulum swung very
+far. The evangelical to my mind had a monopoly of infallible truth. A
+Roman Catholic I regarded as a relic of mediævalism; while almost a
+rigour went down my spine when a man told me that he was a "Unitarian
+Christian." Hyphenation was loyalty compared to that. I mention this
+only because it shows how I can now understand intolerance and
+dogmatism in others. Yes, I must have been "very impossible," for then
+I honestly thought that I knew it all.
+
+About this time I began to be interested in reading my Bible, and I
+learned to appreciate my father's expositions of it. At prayers he
+always translated into the vernacular from the original of either the
+Old or the New Testament. To me he seemed to know every sense of every
+Greek word in any setting. Ever since I have been satisfied to use an
+English version, knowing that I cannot improve on the words chosen by
+the various learned translators.
+
+Because I owed so much to evangelical teachers, it worried me for a
+long while that I could not bring myself to argue with my boys about
+their intellectual attitude to Christ. My Sunday class contained
+several Jews whom I loved. I respected them more because they made no
+verbal professions. I have seen Turkish religionists dancing and
+whirling in Asia Minor at their prayers. I have seen much emotional
+Christianity, and I fully realize the value of approaching men on
+their emotional side. A demonstrative preacher impresses large crowds
+of people at once. But all the same, I have learned from many
+disillusionments to be afraid of overdoing emotionalism in religion.
+Summing up the evidence of men's Christlikeness by their characters,
+as I look back down my long list of loved and honoured helpers and
+friends, I am certainly safe in saying that I at least should judge
+that no section of Christ's Church has any monopoly of Christ's
+spirit; and that I should like infinitely less to be examined on my
+own dogmatic theology than I should thirty-five years ago. Combined
+with this goes the fact that though I know the days of my stay on
+earth are greatly reduced, I seem to be less rather than more anxious
+about "the morrow." For though time has rounded off the corners of my
+conceit, experience of God's dealing with such an unworthy midget as
+myself has so strengthened the foundations on which faith stood, that
+Christ now means more to me as a living Presence than when I laid more
+emphasis on the dogmas concerning Him.
+
+This chapter would not be complete without an endeavour to face the
+task of trying to answer the questions so often asked: "What is your
+position now? Do you still believe as you did when you first decided
+to serve Christ?" I am still a communicant member "in good standing"
+of the Episcopal Church. One hopes that one's religious ideas grow
+like the rest of one's life. It is fools who are said to rush in where
+angels fear to tread. The most powerful Christian churches in the
+world, the Greek and the Roman, recognizing the great dangers
+threatening, have countered by stereotyping the answer for all time,
+assuming all responsibility, and permitting no individual freedom in
+the matter. The numbers of their adherents testify to how vast a
+proportion of mankind the course appeals. And yet we are sons of
+God--and at our best value freedom in every department of our
+being--spirit as well as mind and body. George Adam Smith says: "The
+great causes of God and humanity are not defeated by the hot assaults
+of the Devil, but by the slow, crushing, glacier-like mass of
+thousands and thousands of indifferent nobodies. God's causes are
+never destroyed by being blown up, but by being sat upon. It is not
+the violent and anarchical whom we have to fear in the war for human
+progress, but the slow, the staid, the respectable; and the danger of
+these lies in their real skepticism. Though it would abhor
+articulately confessing that God does nothing, it virtually means so
+by refusing to share manifest opportunities for serving Him."
+
+Feeble and devious as my own footsteps have been since my decision to
+follow Jesus Christ, I believe more than ever that this is the only
+real adventure of life. No step in life do I even compare with that
+one in permanent satisfaction. I deeply regret that I did not take it
+sooner. I do not feel that it mattered much whether I chose medicine
+for an occupation, or law, or education, or commerce, or any other way
+to justify my existence by working for a living as every honest man
+should. But if there is one thing about which I never have any
+question, it is that the decision and endeavour to follow the Christ
+does for men what nothing else on earth can. Without stultifying our
+reason, it develops all that makes men godlike. Christ claimed that it
+was the only way to find out truth.
+
+To me, enforced asceticism, vows of celibacy, denunciation of
+pleasures innocent in themselves, intellectual monopoly of
+interpretation of things past or present, written or unwritten, are
+travesties of common sense, which is to me the Voice within. Not being
+a philosopher, I do not classify it, but I listen to it, because I
+believe it to be the Voice of God. That is the first point which I
+have no fear in putting on record.
+
+The extraordinary revelations of some Power outside ourselves leading
+and guiding and helping and chastening are, I am certain, really the
+ordinary experiences of every man who is willing to accept the fact
+that we are sons of God. Only a child, however, who submits to his
+father can expect to enjoy or understand his dealings. If we look into
+our everyday life we cannot fail to see that God not only allows but
+seeks our coöperation in the establishment of His Kingdom. So the
+second fundamental by which I stand is the certainty of a possible
+real and close relationship between man and God. Not one qualm assails
+my intellect or my intuition when I say that I know absolutely that
+God is my Father. To live "as seeing Him who is invisible" is my one
+ideal which embraces all the lesser ideals of my life.
+
+It has been my lot in life to have to stand by many death-beds, and to
+be called in to dying men and women almost as a routine in my
+profession. Yet I am increasingly convinced that their spirits never
+die at all. I am sure that there is no real death. Death is no
+argument against, but rather for, life. Eternal life is the complement
+of all my unsatisfied ideals; and experience teaches me that the
+belief in it is a greater incentive to be useful and good than any
+other I know.
+
+I have read "Raymond" with great interest. I am neither capable nor
+willing to criticize those who, with the deductive ability of such
+men as Sir Oliver Lodge, are brave enough and unselfish enough to
+devote their talents to pioneering in a field that certainly needs and
+merits more scientific investigation, seeing that it has possibilities
+of such great moment to mankind.
+
+The experiences on which rest one's own convictions of continuing life
+are of an entirely different nature. Even though the first and
+personal reason may seem foolish, it is because I desire it so much.
+This is a natural passion, common to all human beings. Experience
+convinces me that such longings are purposeful and do not go
+unsatisfied.
+
+No, we do not know everything yet; and perhaps the critic is a
+shallower fool than he judges to be the patient delvers into the
+unknown beyond. The evidence on which our deductions have been based
+through the ages may suddenly be proven fallible after all. It may be
+that there is no such thing as matter. Chemists and physicists now
+admit that is possible. The spiritual may be far more real than the
+material, in spite of the cocksure conceit of the current science of
+1918. Immortality may be the complement of mortality, as water becomes
+steam, and steam becomes power, and power becomes heat, and heat
+becomes light. The conclusion that life beyond is the conservation of
+energy of life here may be as scientific as that great natural law for
+material things. I see knowledge become service, service become joy. I
+see fear prohibit glands from secreting, hope bring back colour to the
+face and tone to the blood. I see something not material make Jekyl
+into Hyde; and thank God, make Hyde over into Jekyl again, when birch
+rods and iron bars have no effect whatever. I have seen love do
+physical things which the mere intellectual convictions cannot--make
+hearts beat and eyes sparkle, that would not respond even to
+digitalis and strychnine. I claim that the boy is justified in saying
+that his kite exists in the heaven, even though it is out of sight and
+the string leads round the corner, on no other presumption than that
+he feels it tugging. I prefer to stand with Moses in his belief in the
+Promised Land, and that we can reach it, than to believe that the
+Celestial City is a mirage.
+
+This attempted analysis of my religious life has revealed to me two
+great changes in my position toward its intellectual or dogmatic
+demands, and both of them are reflections of the ever rightly changing
+attitude of the defenders of our Christian faith. "Tempora mutantur et
+nos mutamus in illis." Christians should not fret because they cannot
+escape adapting themselves to the environment of 1918--which is no
+longer that of 918, or 18. The one and only hope for any force,
+Christianity no less than others, is its ability to adapt itself to
+all time.
+
+I still study my Bible in the morning and scribble on the margin the
+lessons which I get out of the portion. I can only do it by using a
+new copy each time I finish, because it brings new thoughts according
+to the peculiar experiences, tasks, needs, and environments of the
+day. I change I know. It does not--and yet it does--for we see the old
+truths in new lights. That to me is the glory of the Scriptures.
+Somehow it suits itself always to my developing needs. Christ did not
+teach as did other teachers. He taught for all time. We find out that
+our attitude to everything changes, to the things that give us
+pleasure and to those that give us pain. It is but a sign of healthy
+evolution (in this chapter, I suppose I should call it "grace") that
+the great churches have ceased to condemn their leaders who are
+unsound on points which once spelt fagot and stake. To-day
+predestination no longer involves the same reaction, even if dropped
+into a conference of selected "Wee Frees." The American section of the
+Episcopal Church has omitted to insist on our publicly and
+periodically declaring that we must have a correct view of three
+Incomprehensibles, or be damned, as is still the case in our Church of
+England.
+
+I am writing of my religion. The churches are now teaching that
+religion is action, not diction. There was a time when I could work
+with only one section of the Church of God. Thank God, it was a very
+brief period, but I weep for it just the same. Now I can not only work
+with any section, but worship with them also. If there is error in
+their intellectual attitudes, it is to God they stand, not to me.
+Doubtless there is just as much error in mine. To me, he is the best
+Christian who "judges not." To claim a monopoly of Christian religion
+for any church, looked at from the point of view of following Jesus
+Christ, is ridiculous. So I find that I have changed, changed in the
+importance which I place on what others think and upon what I myself
+think.
+
+Unless a Christian is a witness in his life, his opinions do not
+matter two pins to God or man. Of course, to-day _we_ should not burn
+Savonarola, any more than we should actually crucify that brave old
+fisherman, Peter, or ridicule a Gordon or a Livingstone, or
+assassinate a Lincoln or a Phillips Brooks, even with our tongues,
+though they differed from us in their view of what the Christian
+religion really needs. Oh, of course we shouldn't!
+
+Perhaps my change spells more and not less faith in the Saviour of the
+world. As I love the facts of life more, I care less for fusty
+commentators. As I see more of Christ's living with us all the days, I
+care less for arguments about His death. I have no more doubt that He
+lives in His world to-day than that I do. Why should I blame myself
+because more and more my mind emphasizes the fact that it is because
+He lives, and only so far as He lives in me, that I shall live also?
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Agriculture, in Labrador, unsuccessful, 217, 290.
+
+Alaska, reindeer experiment in, 291, 294-295.
+
+Albert, the, hospital ship of Dr. Grenfell, 125, 188, 189.
+
+_Among the Deep-Sea Fishers_, magazine, 280.
+
+Andrews, Dr. Joseph, eye-specialist, 357.
+
+Archibald, Sir William, chairman of the Royal National Mission to
+  Deep-Sea Fishermen, 362.
+
+Armstrong, Dr. Seymour, his work at St. Anthony, 367.
+
+Arnold, Thomas, of Rugby, 14.
+
+Athletics, Grenfell's fondness of, 21, 32, 44, 50, 51, 53, 81, 424.
+
+
+Bailey, Florence, nurse, 326.
+
+Barnett, Samuel, of Mile End, head of Toynbee House, 83.
+
+Barter system, the evils of, 131, 132, 133-138, 215-217.
+
+Bartlett, Captain, father of "Captain Bob," 136.
+
+Battle Harbour, Newfoundland, site of hospital, 126, 162, 165, 169, 193.
+
+Beattie, Arthur, 192.
+
+Beetz, Mr., 239.
+
+Begbie, Harold, _Twice-Born Men_, 101.
+
+Bell, Dr. Alexander Graham, 338.
+
+Belle Isle, the Straits of, Labrador, 126, 127, 140, 250.
+
+Besant, Mrs. Annie, associated with Charles Bradlaugh, 81, 82.
+
+Blandford, Captain Samuel, 159, 172.
+
+Bobardt, Dr. Arthur, 126, 159-162.
+
+Booth, Walter, of New York, 370, 371.
+
+Bowditch, William, 275.
+
+Boys' Brigade, the, 101, 353.
+
+Bradlaugh, Charles, religious radical, 81-82.
+
+
+Cabot, John, 120.
+
+Carpenter, Rev. C.C., 241, 242.
+
+Carrel, Dr. Alexis, in France, 397.
+
+Cartier, Jacques, 158.
+
+Cartwright, George, 158.
+
+Catholic Cadet Corps, the, 159, 353.
+
+Cattle-raising in Labrador unsuccessful, 290.
+
+Cawardine, Miss, nurse, 126.
+
+Charity, prophylactic, more important than remedial, 235.
+
+Cheever, Colonel David, 389.
+
+Chester, England, birthplace of Grenfell, 1, 2.
+
+Chidley, Cape, Labrador, 164, 207, 208.
+
+Children's Home, the, 244-253.
+
+Church Lads Brigade, the, 159, 353.
+
+Clark, Sir Andrew, doctor, 65.
+
+Cluett, George B., of Troy, N.Y., 347, 348.
+
+Cook, Captain, 128, 340, 341.
+
+Coöperative system, the, 215-225.
+
+_Corner_, the, magazine, 242.
+
+Crookhaven, seat of a dispensary and social centre, 107.
+
+Crowe, Harry, lumber operator, 370.
+
+Curtis, Dr. Charles, 408.
+
+Curtis, Lieutenant Roger, quoted, 158.
+
+Curwen, Dr. Elliott, 126.
+
+Curzon-Howe, Lady, 191.
+
+Curzon-Howe, Lord, 191.
+
+Cutter, Marion, librarian, 266.
+
+
+Daly, Professor Reginald, head of Department of Geology at Harvard
+  University, quoted, 157, 158.
+
+Dampier, William, 191.
+
+Davis Inlet, Labrador, 154, 155.
+
+Dawson, Sir Betrand, 388.
+
+Dee, the River, 2, 4.
+
+Delano, Eugene, head of Brown Brothers, bankers, 358.
+
+Denominationalism, evils of, 264, 269, 353.
+
+Dogs, Labrador, ferocity of, 198, 289, 290.
+
+Domino Run, Labrador, natural harbour, 120.
+
+Drake, Sir Francis, 191.
+
+Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada, 382.
+
+Durand, Mrs. Charles, aunt of Mrs. Grenfell, 336.
+
+
+Education in Labrador: schools denominational, 254, 269;
+  Grenfell's school, 257-264;
+  moving libraries, 266;
+  founding of undenominational boarding school, 268.
+
+Edward VII, King, Grenfell's private audience with, 284, 285.
+
+Edwards, Antiguan lecturer of the Christian Evidence Society, 82, 84, 85.
+
+Emily Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital, 404.
+
+English, Robert, of Yale College, 277, 278.
+
+Eskimos, the, Grenfell's work with, 129-136;
+  original natives of Labrador, 140, 141;
+  Valentine, king of, 155;
+  suffering of, 155.
+
+Evans, John, worker at St. Anthony, 405.
+
+
+Fallon, Dr. Louis, 405.
+
+Faroë Islands, the, 184.
+
+Fenwick, Harry, 69.
+
+"Fisher Lads' Letter-Writing Association," 97.
+
+Fishermen's Institute, 183.
+
+Ford, George, factor of Hudson Bay Company, 141, 155, 242, 277, 327.
+
+Fox Farm, at St. Anthony, 238-240.
+
+
+George V, King, 352, 353.
+
+Gladstone, W.E., 106.
+
+Gosling, Mrs. W.E., 370.
+
+Gould, Albert, volunteer helper of Grenfell, 318, 321.
+
+Great Cop, the, 4.
+
+Greenshields, Julia, editor of _Among the Deep-Sea Fishers_, 280.
+
+Grenfell, Algernon, brother of W.T.G., 7, 8, 9, 10.
+
+Grenfell, Algernon Sydney, father of W.T.G., 8, 9, 11, 12.
+
+Grenfell, Cecil, brother of W.T.G., 7.
+
+Grenfell, Kinloch Pascoe, son of W.T.G., 342.
+
+Grenfell, Maurice, brother of W.T.G., 7.
+
+Grenfell, Pascoe, of Bank of England, 161.
+
+Grenfell, Rosamond Loveday, daughter of W.T.G., 342.
+
+Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, birth, 1;
+  ancestry, 1, 2;
+  early days, 2-14;
+  school life, 15-36;
+  study of natural objects, 34-36;
+  choice of medical profession, 37-39;
+  college life, 41-44;
+  interest in athletics, 44;
+  religious awakening, 44-46;
+  Sunday-school class and slum work, 46-53;
+  summer cruises, 53-57;
+  camping with boys, 57-63;
+  germination of democratic tendencies, 63;
+  interne in London Hospital, 64-87;
+  father's death, 73;
+  humanitarian ideals, 78, 79;
+  hatred of liquor traffic, 79;
+  association with religious radicals in East London, 81-86;
+  cosmopolitan life, 85;
+  member of College of Physicians and Royal College of Surgeons of
+    England, 87;
+  first work in fisheries of North Sea, 88-98;
+  his religion intensely social, 99-101;
+  medical officer in boys' summer-camps, 102, 103;
+  development of work in North Sea and off Irish coast, 104-114;
+  preparation and departure for America, 113-118;
+  first summer in Labrador, 119-125;
+  success in Labrador, 125;
+  return to England, 126;
+  second voyage to Labrador, 126;
+  founding of cottage hospitals, 126;
+  visits to Moravian Brethren and work among Eskimos, 128-138;
+  lecturing and soliciting in southern Newfoundland and Canada, 159-162;
+  cruising north, 163-170;
+  experience with seal fishery, 173-182;
+  trip to Iceland, 183-187;
+  holiday with Treves on Scilly Islands, 187, 188;
+  third voyage to Newfoundland, 192, 193;
+  requested to establish a winter station at St. Anthony, 194;
+  winter at St. Anthony, 197-214;
+  institution of coöperative system, 218-225;
+  institution of saw-mill in North Newfoundland, 226-238;
+  fox farm at St. Anthony, 238, 239;
+  founding of The Children's Home, 244;
+  founding of common school, 257-265;
+  moving libraries, 266;
+  arrangement of two-cent postal rate, 281, 282;
+  awarded honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine of Oxford, 282;
+  received honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in America, 283;
+  received Companionship in the Order of St. Michael and St. George, 284;
+  reindeer experiment, 288-303;
+  propaganda lecturing in England, 331, 332;
+  courtship, 333-337;
+  enlargement of St. Anthony Hospital, 338, 339;
+  marriage and family, 342, 343;
+  assumption of coöperative store debt, 344-347;
+  founding of Institute at St. John's, 349-353;
+  lecture tour in U.S. and England, 357-361;
+  lecture tour again, 371-374;
+  holiday in Asia Minor, 376-382;
+  winter at base hospital in France (1915), 384-402;
+  attacked by a St. John's newspaper, 403;
+  growth and development of Mission, 404-410;
+  religious life, 424-434.
+
+Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Jr., 342.
+
+Grenfell Association of America, the, 280.
+
+Grenfell Town, 161.
+
+Grieve, Dr. John, 404.
+
+
+Haldane, Lord, 256.
+
+Halifax, visited by Grenfell, 159.
+
+Hare, Dr. Mather, work at Harrington, 275-276, 409.
+
+Harrington Hospital, Canadian Labrador, 418.
+
+Hause, Mr., of Pratt Institute, volunteer student helper, 325.
+
+Hearn longliners and trawlers, 183.
+
+Heligoland, visited by Grenfell, 90.
+
+Henley, or Château, Labrador, 168.
+
+Henson, Dr. Hensley, Bishop of Hereford, 83, 84.
+
+Home, the Children's, 244-253.
+
+Hopedale, Labrador, 128, 131.
+
+Horsley, Sir Victor, doctor, 72.
+
+Hot-heads, launches used in open sea, 275-279.
+
+Hudson Bay Company, the, 133, 216, 276, 376.
+
+Huxley, Professor, his criticism of English public school teaching, 40.
+
+Hyères, France, 24.
+
+
+Iceland, 183-187.
+
+Illiteracy, in Newfoundland and Labrador, 255.
+
+Indian Harbour, site of one of Grenfell's hospitals, 126.
+
+Indian Tickle, Labrador, site of a church built by Labrador Mission, 165.
+
+Ingram, Rt. Rev. A.F. Winnington, Bishop of London, 83, 84.
+
+International Grenfell Association the, formation of, 358-359.
+
+Ireland, Archbishop, 268.
+
+Irish Poor-Relief Board, 109.
+
+Irving, Sir Henry, 80.
+
+
+Jackson, Rev. Dr. Sheldon, Presbyterian missionary in Alaska, 290.
+
+Job, the Honourable W.C., 403.
+
+Job, Mrs. W.C., 370.
+
+Jones, Rev. Dr. Edgar, 268.
+
+Jones, Sir Robert, orthopedic surgeon. 359, 360, 385, 388.
+
+Jones, Mr. Walter, manager of Institute at St. John's, 367.
+
+Julia Sheriden, the, Mission steamer, 193, 196.
+
+
+Kean, Captain, of the S.S. Wolf, 180, 181.
+
+Keese, Ruth (Mrs. John Mason Little, Jr.), 405.
+
+Kingsley, Charles, 2, 103, 187, 256.
+
+Komatik, description of a, 202, 203.
+
+
+_Labrador, the Country and the People_, 139.
+
+Labrador, inhabitants of, 139, 140;
+  climate of, 140, 141;
+  fishing industry, 141, 142;
+  poverty of people, 142, 148-153;
+  superstition of people, 142-145;
+  natural characteristics of, 156-158.
+
+Lake Forest, on Lake Michigan, Mrs. Grenfell's home, 336.
+
+Lapps, 292-294.
+
+Leacock, Stephen, his essay, _How to Become a Doctor_, 144, 145.
+
+Leslie, Olive, kindergartner, 260.
+
+Lewis Bay, Labrador, winter hospital station at, 404.
+
+Lighthouses, at Battle Harbour, 273;
+  at White Point, 274;
+  at Indian Harbour, 274.
+
+Liquor traffic, the, Grenfell's hatred of, 79;
+  his suppression of, at St. Anthony, 209-214;
+  at St. John's, 353-356.
+
+Lister, Sir Joseph, 70.
+
+Little, Dr. John Mason, 338, 404, 406, 417.
+
+Lloyd, Dr., Prime Minister of Newfoundland, 382.
+
+Lodge, Sir Oliver, 430, 431.
+
+London Hospital and University, Grenfell's father chaplain of, 37;
+  Grenfell's alma mater, 39.
+
+Loti, Pierre, 186.
+
+Luther, Jessie, 422.
+
+
+MacAusland, Dr. W.R., of Boston, 381.
+
+MacClanahan, Anna Elizabeth Caldwell (Mrs. W.T. Grenfell), 336.
+
+MacClanahan, Colonel, father-in-law of Grenfell, 336.
+
+MacGregor, Sir William, Governor of Newfoundland, 291, 320-323.
+
+Mackenzie, Sir Stephen, 66.
+
+Marlborough School, 15-24, 27, 30-33.
+
+Marquis of Ripon, Minister to the Colonies, 286.
+
+Mason, A.E.W., novelist, 187.
+
+Matheson, Paul, volunteer helper of Grenfell, 318.
+
+McCook, Colonel Anson G., 281, 282.
+
+McGrath, Sir Patrick, 382.
+
+Methodist guards, the, 159, 353.
+
+Meyer, Hon. George von L., Postmaster-General, 281, 282.
+
+Mill, the, on the "French Shore," Newfoundland, 326-238.
+
+Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen, 90.
+
+Montreal, visited by Grenfell, 160, 161.
+
+Moody, Dwight L., evangelist, 45, 427.
+
+Moravian Brethren, the, their work with the Eskimos, 128, 129, 130,
+ 132, 140, 156, 207.
+
+Moravian Mission, 129-132.
+
+Muir, Ethel Gordon, teacher, 267.
+
+Murchison Prize, awarded Grenfell by the Royal Geographical Society,
+  in 1911, 323.
+
+
+Nain, Labrador, 130, 132.
+
+Nakvak, Labrador, 141;
+  remains of Tunits there, 155.
+
+Napatuliarasok Island, Labrador, noted for its Labradorite, 156.
+
+Nasson Institute, 264.
+
+Needlework Guild of America, the, 251, 419.
+
+Newfoundland, independent colony of England, 139;
+  Labrador owned by, 139;
+  difference between North and South Newfoundland, 250.
+
+Nielsen, Adolph, Superintendent of Fisheries off Labrador, 117.
+
+
+O'Brien, Sir Terence, governor at St. John's, 117, 171.
+
+
+Paddon, Dr. and Mrs., 404, 405.
+
+Parkhurst, Dr. Charles H., of New York, 280.
+
+Peary, Admiral, return of from North Pole, 339-342.
+
+Pomiuk, Prince, Eskimo, 241-243.
+
+Pratt Institute, 256, 258, 264.
+
+Presbyterian Highland Brigade, the, 353.
+
+Prince Edward Island, 240.
+
+Princess May, the midget steam launch, 127, 128.
+
+Public School Camps, 101.
+
+
+R.A.M.C., efficiency of in France, 398-400.
+
+_Raymond_, Sir Oliver Lodge, 430, 431.
+
+Red Bay, Labrador, 218.
+
+Red Bay Coöperative Store, 219.
+
+Reed, William Howell, of Boston, 292.
+
+Reikyavik, capital of Iceland, 184.
+
+Reindeer experiment, the, 290-303.
+
+Ripon, Marquis of, 159.
+
+Rivington, Sir Walter, surgeon, 70.
+
+Roddick, Sir Thomas, 162.
+
+Roosevelt, the, Peary's ship, 340, 341.
+
+Rowland, John, of Yale College, 277, 278.
+
+
+St. Anthony, Newfoundland, 141;
+  poverty of people, 194, 195;
+  Grenfell's first winter in, 197-214;
+  Grenfell's fight against liquor traffic, 209-214;
+  headquarters of hospital stations, 417.
+
+St. John's, burning of, 115, 116;
+  seat of Newfoundland government, 139.
+
+Sands of Dee, the, 1-7.
+
+Sayre, Francis B., secretary of Grenfell, 250, 338, 339, 341, 342,
+  374, 375.
+
+Scilly Islands, 187.
+
+Seal Fishery, the, 172-182.
+
+Seyde Fjord, Iceland, visited by Grenfell, 186, 187.
+
+Sheard, Mr., 404.
+
+Sir Donald, the, mission steamer, 161, 190, 191, 208.
+
+Skiff, Captain, 183.
+
+Sloggett, Sir Arthur, general, 385, 398, 399.
+
+Smith, George Adam, quoted, 429.
+
+Southborough, Lord (Mr. Francis Hopwood), 113.
+
+Spalding, Katie, of The Children's Home, 251, 253.
+
+Spencer, Martyn, 290, 370.
+
+Stewart, Dr. and Mrs. Norman, 405.
+
+Stirling, W.R., 333, 337, 348, 407.
+
+Storr, Eleanor, of The Children's Home, 250, 253.
+
+Strathcona, Lord (Donald Smith), patron of Labrador Mission, 160, 161;
+  donor of the Strathcona, 191, 376.
+
+Studd, J.E. and C.T., 45.
+
+Sutton, Dr., London Hospital, 69.
+
+
+Terschelling, visited by Grenfell, 90.
+
+Tickle, the Grenfell, 209.
+
+Tigris, the S.S., of the Polaris expedition, 178.
+
+Tilt Cove, Newfoundland, 192, 193.
+
+_Toilers of the Deep, The_, magazine, 280.
+
+Tralee, on Kerry coast, seat of a dispensary, 107.
+
+Treves, Sir Frederick, lecturer in anatomy and surgery in London
+Hospital and University, 43, 67-69, 88, 187, 254, 285, 388;
+  _The Cradle of the Deep_, 187.
+
+Trevize, skipper, 114.
+
+Truck Acts, 96.
+
+
+Ungava Bay, Labrador, 164, 208.
+
+
+Van Dyke, Dr. Henry, 362.
+
+Vestmann Islands, Iceland, visited by Grenfell, 184.
+
+Victoria, Queen, 104
+
+Victoria Park, London, 81-82.
+
+
+Wakefield, Dr. Arthur, of England, 368, 369.
+
+_Wall Street Journal_, quoted, 294, 295.
+
+Watson, the Honourable Robert, 403.
+
+Wellington, Duke of, 187.
+
+West, Dr., 275, 409.
+
+White, Emma E., secretary of Labrador Mission in Boston, 279, 324.
+
+White Bay, Labrador, 148.
+
+Whitechapel Road, site of London Hospital, 40.
+
+Whitney, Harry, 340.
+
+Williams, Miss, nurse, 126.
+
+Williams, George, 364, 365.
+
+Williams, Sir Ralph, governor of Newfoundland, 350-352.
+
+Willway, Dr., colleague of Grenfell, 169.
+
+Wilson, Jessie, daughter of President Wilson, 374, 375.
+
+Wiltsie, Dr., his work in Labrador, 363, 364.
+
+Wolf, the S.S., wreck of, 180, 181.
+
+
+Yarmouth, institute for fishermen ashore, and dispensary vessel, 105.
+
+Y.M.C.A. in St. John's, 353;
+  in France, 389, 390.
+
+
+
+
+The Riverside Press
+CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS
+U . S . A
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  13: comimg replaced with coming                     |
+    | Page  96: vicitms replaced with victims                   |
+    | Page 162: sudddenly replaced with suddenly                |
+    | Page 256: runnng replaced with running                    |
+    | Page 303: Reinder replaced with Reindeer                  |
+    | Page 332: aften replaced with often                       |
+    | Page 441: Slogget replaced with Sloggett                  |
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+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
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+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Labrador Doctor, by Wilfred Thomason
+Grenfell</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: A Labrador Doctor</p>
+<p>       The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell</p>
+<p>Author: Wilfred Thomason Grenfell</p>
+<p>Release Date: August 22, 2007  [eBook #22372]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LABRADOR DOCTOR***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Roger Frank, Jeannie Howse,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p>
+<p class="noin">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.<br />
+For a complete list, please see the <a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</p>
+<p class="noin">Click on the images to see a larger version.</p>
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="ad">
+<h3>By Wilfred T. Grenfell</h3>
+<p class="hang2">A LABRADOR DOCTOR. The Autobiography of
+Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. Illustrated.</p>
+<p class="hang2">LABRADOR DAYS. Tales of the Sea Toilers.
+With frontispiece.</p>
+<p class="hang2">TALES OF THE LABRADOR. With frontispiece.</p>
+<p class="hang2">THE ADVENTURE OF LIFE.</p>
+<p class="hang2">ADRIFT ON AN ICE-PAN. Illustrated.</p>
+<br />
+<p class="cen">HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</p>
+<p class="cen sc">Boston and New York</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h2>A LABRADOR DOCTOR</h2>
+
+<h2>THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF<br />
+WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL</h2>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="img"><a name="frontis" id="frontis"></a>
+<a href="images/frontis.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/frontis.jpg" width="45%" alt="Wilfred Grenfell" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">&nbsp;<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<h1>A LABRADOR DOCTOR</h1>
+
+<h3>THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF<br />
+WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL<br />
+M.D. (OXON.), C.M.G.</h3>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS</h4>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="img">
+<img border="0" src="images/deco.png" alt="Riverside Press logo" />
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h5>BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br />
+HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br />
+The Riverside Press Cambridge</h5>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h5>COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY WILFRED T. GRENFELL<br />
+ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</h5>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<h3>PREFACE</h3>
+<br />
+
+<p>I have long been resisting the strong pressure from friends that would
+force me to risk having to live alongside my own autobiography. It
+seems still an open question whether it is advisable, or even whether
+it is right&mdash;seeing that it calls for confessions. In the eyes of God
+the only alternative is a book of lies. Moreover, sitting down to write
+one's own life story has always loomed up before my imagination as an
+admission that one was passing the post which marks the last lap; and
+though it was a justly celebrated physician who told us that we might
+profitably crawl upon the shelf at half a century, that added no
+attraction for me to the effort, when I passed that goal.</p>
+
+<p>Thirty-two years spent in work for deep-sea fishermen, twenty-seven of
+which years have been passed in Labrador and northern Newfoundland,
+have necessarily given me some experiences which may be helpful to
+others. I feel that this alone justifies the writing of this story.</p>
+
+<p>To the many helpers who have co&ouml;perated with me at one time or another
+throughout these years, I owe a debt of gratitude which will never be
+forgotten, though it has been impossible to mention each one by name.
+Without them this work could never have been.</p>
+
+<p>To my wife, who was willing to leave all the best the civilized world
+can offer to share my life on this lonely coast, I want to dedicate
+this book. Truth forces me to own that it would never have come into
+being without her, and her greater share in the work of its production
+declares her courage to face the consequences.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp" width="10%">I.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc" width="70%"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Early Days</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="20%">1</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">II.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">School Life</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">15</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">III.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Early Work in London</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">37</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">IV.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">At the London Hospital</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">64</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">V.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">North Sea Work</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">99</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">VI.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">The Lure of the Labrador</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">119</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">VII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">The People of Labrador</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">139</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">VIII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Lecturing and Cruising</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">159</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">IX.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">The Seal Fishery</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">171</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">X.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Three Years' Work in the British Isles</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">183</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XI.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">First Winter at St. Anthony</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">197</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">The Co&ouml;perative Movement</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">215</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XIII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">The Mill and the Fox Farm</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">226</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XIV.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">The Children's Home</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">241</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XV.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">Problems of Education</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">254</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XVI.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">"Who hath desired the Sea?"</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">270</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XVII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">The Reindeer Experiment</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">288</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XVIII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">The Ice-Pan Adventure</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">304</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XIX.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">They that do Business in Great Waters</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">315</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XX.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">Marriage</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">331</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XXI.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">New Ventures</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">344</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XXII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">Problems on Land and Sea</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">357</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XXIII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">A Month's Holiday in Asia Minor</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">376</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XXIV.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">The War</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">384</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XXV.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">Forward Steps</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">403</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XXVI.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">The Future of the Mission</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">411</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">XXVII.</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">My Religious Life</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">424</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdrp">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#INDEX">Index</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">435</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="toi" id="toi"></a><hr />
+<br />
+
+<h3>ILLUSTRATIONS</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="80%" summary="List of Illustrations">
+  <tr>
+  <td width="80%" class="tdlsc"><a href="#frontis">Wilfred Thomason Grenfell</a></td>
+  <td width="20%" class="tdr"><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep002">View from Mostyn House, the Author's Birthplace, Parkgate, Cheshire</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">2</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep044">Oxford University Rugby Union Football Team</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">44</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep120">The Labrador Coast</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">120</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep128a">Eskimo Woman and Baby</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">128</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep128b">Eskimo Man</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">128</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep132">Eskimo Girls</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">132</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep140">Battle Harbour</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">140</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep156">A Labrador Burial</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">156</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep164">The Labrador Doctor in Summer</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">164</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep192">The Strathcona</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">192</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep198">Three of the Doctor's Dogs</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">198</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep202">A Komatik Journey</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">202</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep218">The First Co&ouml;perative Store</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">218</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep226">St. Anthony</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">226</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep250">Inside the Orphanage</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">250</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep272a">Fish on the Flakes</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">272</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep272b">Drying the Seines</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">272</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep296a">A Part of the Reindeer Herd</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">296</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep296b">Reindeer Teams meeting a Dog Team</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">296</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep304a">A Spring Scene at St. Anthony</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">304</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep304b">Dog Race at St. Anthony</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">304</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep320">Icebergs</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">320</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep340">Commodore Peary on his Way back from the Pole, 1909</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">340</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep354">The Institute, St. John's</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">354</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep368">Dog Travel</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">368</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep406">The Labrador Doctor in Winter</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">406</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlsc"><a href="#imagep418">Entrance To St. Anthony Harbour</a></td>
+  <td class="tdr">418</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></span><br />
+
+<h1>A LABRADOR DOCTOR</h1>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>EARLY DAYS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>To be born on the 28th of February is not altogether without its
+compensations. It affords a subject of conversation when you are asked
+to put your name in birthday books. It is evident that many people
+suppose it to be almost an intrusion to appear on that day. However, it
+was perfectly satisfactory to me so long as it was not the 29th. As a
+boy, that was all for which I cared. Still, I used at times to be
+oppressed by the danger, so narrowly missed, of growing up with undue
+deliberation.</p>
+
+<p>The event occurred in 1865 in Parkgate, near Chester, England, whither
+my parents had moved to enable my father to take over the school of his
+uncle. I was always told that what might be called boisterous weather
+signalled my arrival. Experience has since shown me that that need not
+be considered a particularly ominous portent in the winter season on
+the Sands of Dee.</p>
+
+<p>It is fortunate that the selection of our birthplace is not left to
+ourselves. It would most certainly be one of those small decisions
+which would later add to the things over which we worry. I can see how
+it would have acted in my own case. For my paternal forbears are really
+of Cornish extraction&mdash;a corner of our little Island to which attaches
+all the romantic aroma of the men, who, in defence of England, "swept
+the Spanish Main," and so long successfully singed the Bang of Spain's
+beard, men whose exploits never fail to stir the best blood of
+Englishmen, and among whom my direct ancestors had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>the privilege of
+playing no undistinguished part. On the other hand, my visits thither
+have&mdash;romance aside&mdash;convinced me that the restricted foreshore and the
+precipitous cliffs are a handicap to the development of youth, compared
+with the broad expanses of tempting sands, which are after all
+associated with another kinsman, whose songs have helped to make them
+famous, Charles Kingsley.</p>
+
+<p>My mother was born in India, her father being a colonel of many
+campaigns, and her brother an engineer officer in charge during the
+siege of Lucknow till relieved by Sir Henry Havelock. At the first
+Delhi Durbar no less than forty-eight of my cousins met, all being
+officers either of the Indian military or civil service.</p>
+
+<p>To the modern progressive mind the wide sands are a stumbling-block.
+Silting up with the years, they have closed the river to navigation,
+and converted our once famous Roman city of Chester into a sleepy,
+second-rate market-town. The great flood of commerce from the New World
+sweeps contemptuously past our estuary, and finds its clearing-house
+under the eternal, assertive smoke clouds which camouflage the miles of
+throbbing docks and slums called Liverpool&mdash;little more than a dozen
+miles distant. But the heather-clad hills of Heswall, and the old red
+sandstone ridge, which form the ancient borough of the "Hundred of
+Wirral," afford an efficient shelter from the insistent taint of
+out-of-the-worldness.</p>
+
+<p>Every inch of the Sands of Dee were dear to me. I learned to know their
+every bank and gutter. Away beyond them there was a mystery in the blue
+hills of the Welsh shore, only cut off from us children in reality by
+the narrow, rapid water of the channel we called the Deep. Yet they
+seemed so high and so far away. The people there spoke a different
+language from ours, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>all their instincts seemed diverse. Our
+humble neighbours lived by the seafaring genius which we ourselves
+loved so much. They made their living from the fisheries of the river
+mouth; and scores of times we children would slip away, and spend the
+day and night with them in their boats.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep002" id="imagep002"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep002.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep002.jpg" width="95%" alt="View From Mostyn House, The Author's Birthplace, Parkgate, Cheshire" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">VIEW FROM MOSTYN HOUSE, THE AUTHOR'S BIRTHPLACE, PARKGATE, CHESHIRE<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>While I was still quite a small boy, a terrible blizzard struck the
+estuary while the boats were out, and for twenty-four hours one of the
+fishing craft was missing. Only a lad of sixteen was in charge of
+her&mdash;a boy whom we knew, and with whom we had often sailed. All my
+family were away from home at the time except myself; and I can still
+remember the thrill I experienced when, as representative of the "Big
+House," I was taken to see the poor lad, who had been brought home at
+last, frozen to death.</p>
+
+<p>The men of the opposite shores were shopkeepers and miners. Somehow we
+knew that they couldn't help it. The nursery rhyme about "Taffy was a
+Welshman; Taffy was a thief," because familiar, had not led us to hold
+any unduly inflated estimate of the Welsh character. One of my old
+nurses did much to redeem it, however. She had undertaken the burden of
+my brother and myself during a long vacation, and carried us off bodily
+to her home in Wales. Her clean little cottage stood by the side of a
+road leading to the village school of the State Mining District of
+Festiniog. We soon learned that the local boys resented the intrusion
+of the two English lads, and they so frequently chased us off the
+village green, which was the only playground offered us, that we at
+last decided to give battle. We had stored up a pile of slates behind
+our garden wall, and luring the enemy to the gates by the simple method
+of retiring before their advance, we saluted them with artillery fire
+from a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>comparatively safe entrenchment. To my horror, one of the first
+missiles struck a medium-sized boy right over the eye, and I saw the
+blood flow instantly. The awful comparison of David and Goliath flashed
+across my terror-stricken mind, and I fled incontinently to my nurse's
+protection. Subsequently by her adroit diplomacy, we were not only
+delivered from justice, but gained the freedom of the green as well.</p>
+
+<p>Far away up the river came the great salt-water marshes which seemed so
+endless to our tiny selves. There was also the Great Cop, an embankment
+miles long, intended to reach "from England to Wales," but which was
+never finished because the quicksand swallowed up all that the workmen
+could pour into it. Many a time I have stood on the broken end, where
+the discouraged labourers had left their very shovels and picks and
+trucks and had apparently fled in dismay, as if convicted of the
+impiousness of trying to fill the Bottomless Pit. To my childish
+imagination the upturned wheelbarrows and wasted trucks and rails
+always suggested the banks of the Red Sea after the awful disaster had
+swept over Pharoah and his host. How the returning tide used to sweep
+through that to us fathomless gulch! It made the old river seem ever so
+much more wonderful, and ever so much more filled with adventure.</p>
+
+<p>Many a time, just to dare it, I would dive into the very cauldron, and
+let the swirling current carry me to the grassy sward beyond&mdash;along
+which I would run till the narrowing channel permitted my crossing to
+the Great Cop again. I would be drying myself in the sunshine as I
+went, and all ready for my scanty garments when I reached my clothing
+once more.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the great days when the heavy nor'westers howled over the
+Sands&mdash;our sea-front was exposed to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>all the power of the sea right
+away to the Point of Ayr&mdash;the days when they came in with big spring
+tides, when we saw the fishermen doubling their anchors, and carefully
+overhauling the holding gear of their boats, before the flooding tide
+drove them ashore, powerless to do more than watch them battling at
+their moorings like living things&mdash;the possessions upon which their
+very bread depended. And then this one would sink, and another would
+part her cable and come hurtling before the gale, until she crashed
+right into the great upright blocks of sandstone which, riveted with
+iron bands to their copings, were relied upon to hold the main road
+from destruction. Sometimes in fragments, and sometimes almost entire,
+the craft would be slung clean over the torturing battlements, and be
+left stranded high and dry on our one village street, a menace to
+traffic, but a huge joy to us children.</p>
+
+<p>The fascination of the Sands was greatly enhanced by the numerous birds
+which at all times frequented them, in search of the abundant food
+which lay buried along the edges of the muddy gutters. There were
+thousands of sandpipers in enormous flocks, mixed with king plovers,
+dunlins, and turnstones, which followed the ebb tides, and returned
+again in whirling clouds before the oncoming floods. Black-and-white
+oyster-catchers were always to be found chattering over the great
+mussel patches at low water. With their reddish bills, what a trophy a
+bunch of them made as we bore them proudly home over our shoulders!
+Then there were the big long-billed curlews. What a triumph when one
+outwitted them! One of my clearest recollections is discovering a place
+to which they were flighting at night by the water's edge; how, having
+no dog, I swam out for bird after bird as they fell to my gun&mdash;shooting
+some before I had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>even time to put on my shirt again; and my
+consequent blue-black shoulder, which had to be carefully hidden next
+day. There were wild ducks, too, to be surprised in the pools of the
+big salt marshes.</p>
+
+<p>From daylight to dark I would wander, quite alone, over endless miles,
+entirely satisfied to come back with a single bird, and not in the
+least disheartened if I got none. All sense of time used to be lost,
+and often enough the sandwich and biscuit for lunch forgotten, so that
+I would be forced occasionally to resort to a solitary public house
+near a colliery on our side of the water, for "tea-biscuits," all that
+they offered, except endless beer for the miners. I can even remember,
+when very hard driven, crossing to the Welsh side for bread and cheese.</p>
+
+<p>These expeditions were made barefoot as long as the cold was not too
+great. A diary that I assayed to keep in my eighth year reminds me that
+on my birthday, five miles from home in the marshes, I fell head over
+heels into a deep hole, while wading out, gun in hand, after some
+oyster-catchers which I had shot. The snow was still deep on the
+countryside, and the long trot home has never been quite forgotten. My
+grief, however, was all for the gun. There was always the joy of
+venture in those dear old Sands. The channels cut in them by the
+flowing tides ran deep, and often intersected. Moreover, they changed
+with the varying storms. The rapidly rising tide, which sent a bore up
+the main channel as far as Chester, twelve miles above us, filled first
+of all these treacherous waterways, quite silently, and often
+unobserved. To us, taught to be as much at home in the water as on the
+land, they only added spice to our wanderings. They were nowhere very
+wide, so by keeping one's head, and being able to swim, only our
+clothes suffered by it, and they, being built for that purpose, did not
+complain.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>One day, however, I remember great excitement. The tide had risen
+rapidly in the channel along the parade front, and the shrimp
+fishermen, who used push-nets in the channels at low tide, had returned
+without noticing that one of their number was missing. Word got about
+just too late, and already there was half a mile of water, beyond
+which, through our telescopes, we could see the poor fellow making
+frantic signals to the shore. There was no boat out there, and a big
+bank intervening, there seemed no way to get to him. Watching through
+our glasses, we saw him drive the long handle of his net deep into the
+sand, and cling to it, while the tide rose speedily around him.
+Meanwhile a whole bevy of his mates had rowed out to the bank, and were
+literally carrying over its treacherous surface one of their clumsy and
+heavy fishing punts. It was a veritable race for life; and never have I
+watched one with keener excitement. We actually saw his post give way,
+and wash downstream with him clinging to it, just before his friends
+got near. Fortunately, drifting with the spar, he again found bottom,
+and was eventually rescued, half full of salt water. I remember how he
+fell in my estimation as a seaman&mdash;though I was only a boy at the time.</p>
+
+<p>There were four of us boys in all, of whom I was the second. My next
+brother Maurice died when he was only seven, and the fourth, Cecil,
+being five years younger than I, left my brother Algernon and myself as
+the only real companions for each other. Moreover, an untoward
+accident, of which I was the unwitting cause, left my younger brother
+unable to share our play for many years. Having no sisters, and
+scarcely any boy friends, in the holidays, when all the boys in the
+school went home, it might be supposed that my elder brother and I were
+much thrown together. But as a matter of fact <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>such was not the case,
+for our temperaments being entirely different, and neither of us having
+any idea of giving way to the other, we seldom or ever found our
+pleasures together. And yet most of the worst scrapes into which we
+fell were co&ouml;perative affairs. Though I am only anxious to shoulder my
+share of the responsibility in the escapades, as well as in every other
+line of life, my brother Algernon possessed any genius to which the
+family could lay claim, in that as in every other line. He was my
+father over again, while I was a second edition of my mother. Father
+was waiting to get into the sixth form at Rugby when he was only
+thirteen years old. He was a brilliant scholar at Balliol, but had been
+compelled to give up study and leave the University temporarily owing
+to brain trouble. He never published anything, but would reel off
+brilliant short poems or essays for friends at a moment's notice. I
+used always to remark that in whatever company he was, he was always
+deferred to as an authority in anything approaching classics. He could
+read and quote Greek and Latin like English, spoke German and French
+fluently, while he was an excellent geologist, and Fellow of the
+Geographical Society. Here is quite a pretty little effusion of his
+written at eight years of age:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">O, Glorious Sun, in thy palace of light,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To behold thee methinks is a beautiful sight.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">O, Glorious Sun, come out of thy cloud,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">No longer thy brightness in darkness shroud.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Let thy glorious beams like a golden Flood<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Pour over the hills and the valleys and wood.<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">See! Mountains of light around him rise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">While he in a golden ocean lies:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">O, Glorious Sun, in thy Palace of Light<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To behold thee methinks is a beautiful sight.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">Algernon Sydney Grenfell<br /></span>
+<span class="i8">Aged eight years<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>Some of my brother's poems and hymns have been published in the school
+magazine, or printed privately; but he, too, has only published a
+Spanish grammar, a Greek lexicon, and a few articles in the papers.
+While at Oxford he ran daily, with some friends, during one "eights
+week" a cynical comic paper called "The Rattle," to boost some theories
+he held, and which he wished to enforce, and also to "score" a few of
+the dons to whom he objected. This would have resulted in his being
+asked to retire for a season from the seat of learning at the request
+of his enemies, had not our beloved provost routed the special cause of
+the whole trouble, who was himself contributing to a London society
+paper, by replying that it was not to be wondered at if the scurrilous
+rags of London found an echo in Oxford. Moreover, a set of "The Rattle"
+was ordered to be bound and placed in the college archives, where it
+may still be seen.</p>
+
+<p>My father having a very great deal of responsibility and worry during
+the long school terms, as he was not only head master, but owned the
+school as well, which he had purchased from his great-uncle, used to
+leave almost the day the holidays began and travel abroad with my
+mother. This partly accounts for the very unusual latitude allowed to
+us boys in coming and going from the house&mdash;no one being anxious if now
+and again we did not return at night. The school matron was left in
+charge of the vast empty barracks, and we had the run of play-field,
+gymnasium, and everything else we wanted. To outwit the matron was
+always considered fair play by us boys, and on many occasions we were
+more than successful.</p>
+
+<p>One time, when we had been acquiring some new lines of thought from
+some trashy boys' books of the period, we became fired with the desire
+to enjoy the ruling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>passion of the professional burglar. Though never
+kept short of anything, we decided that one night we would raid the
+large school storeroom while the matron slept. As always, the planning
+was entrusted to my brother. It was, of course, a perfectly easy
+affair, but we played the whole game "according to Cavendish." We let
+ourselves out of the window at midnight, glued brown paper to the
+window panes, cut out the putty, forced the catch, and stole sugar,
+currants, biscuits, and I am ashamed to say port wine&mdash;which we mulled
+in a tin can over the renovated fire in the matron's own sanctum. In
+the morning the remainder was turned over to fishermen friends who were
+passing along shore on their way to catch the early tide.</p>
+
+<p>I had no share in two other of my brother's famous escapades, though at
+the time it was a source of keen regret, for we were sent to different
+public schools, as being, I suppose, incompatible. But we heard with
+pride how he had extracted phosphorus from the chemical laboratory and
+while drawing luminous ghosts on the wall for the benefit of the
+timorous, had set fire to the large dormitory and the boys'
+underclothing neatly laid out on the beds, besides burning himself
+badly. Later he pleaded guilty to beeswaxing the seat of the boys in
+front of him in chapel, much to the detriment of their trousers and the
+destruction of the dignity of Sunday worship.</p>
+
+<p>During the time that my parents were away we never found a moment in
+which to be lonely, but on one occasion it occurred to us that the
+company of some friends would add to our enjoyment. Why we waited till
+my father and mother departed I do not know, but I recall that
+immediately they had gone we spent a much-valued sixpence in
+telegraphing to a cousin in London to come down to us for the holidays.
+Our message read: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>"Dear Sid. Come down and stay the holidays. Father
+has gone to Aix." We were somewhat chagrined to receive the following
+day an answer, also by wire: "Not gone yet. Father." It appeared that
+my father and mother had stayed the night in London in the very house
+to which we had wired, and Sid. having to ask his father's permission
+in order to get his railway fare, our uncle had shown the invitation to
+my father. It was characteristic of my parents that Sid. came duly
+along, but they could not keep from sharing the joke with my uncle.</p>
+
+<p>During term-time some of our grown-up relatives would occasionally
+visit us. But alas, it was only their idiosyncrasies which used to make
+any impression upon us. One, a great-uncle, and a very distinguished
+person, being Professor of Political Economy at Oxford, and a great
+friend of the famous Dr. Jowett, the chancellor, was the only man we
+knew who ever, at any time, stood up long to my father in argument. It
+was only on rare occasions that we ever witnessed such a contest, but I
+shall never forget one which took place in the evening in our
+drawing-room. My great-uncle was a small man, rather stout and pink,
+and almost bald-headed. He got so absorbed in his arguments, which he
+always delivered walking up and down, that on this occasion, coming to
+an old-fashioned sofa, he stepped right up onto the seat, climbed over
+the back, and went on all the time with his remarks, as if only
+punctuating them thereby.</p>
+
+<p>Whether some of our pranks were suggested by those of which we heard, I
+do not remember. One of my father's yarns, however, always stuck in my
+memory. For once, being in a very good humour, he told us how when some
+distinguished old lady had come to call on his father&mdash;a house master
+with Arnold at Rugby&mdash;he had been especially warned not to interrupt
+this important person, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>who had come to see about her son's entering my
+grandfather's "House." It so happened that quite unconsciously the lady
+in question had seated herself on an old cane-bottomed armchair in
+which father had been playing, thus depriving him temporarily of a toy
+with which he desired to amuse himself. He never, even in later life,
+was noted for undue patience, and after endeavouring in vain to await
+her departure, he somehow secured a long pin. With this he crawled from
+behind under the seat, and by discreetly probing upwards, succeeded
+suddenly in dislodging his enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Our devotions on Sunday were carried out in the parish church of the
+village of Neston, there being no place of worship of the Established
+Church in our little village. In term-time we were obliged to go
+morning and evening to the long services, which never made any
+concessions to youthful capacities. So in holiday-time, though it was
+essential that we should go in the morning to represent the house, we
+were permitted to stay home in the evening. But even the mornings were
+a time of great weariness, and oft-recurrent sermons on the terrible
+fate which awaited those who never went to church, and the still more
+untoward end which was in store for frequenters of dissenting
+meeting-houses, failed to awaken in us the respect due to the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>On the way to church we had generally to pass by those who dared even
+the awful fate of the latter. It was our idea that to tantalize us they
+wore especially gorgeous apparel while we had to wear black Etons and a
+top hat&mdash;which, by the way, greatly annoyed us. One waistcoat
+especially excited our animosity, and from it we conceived the title
+"specklebelly," by which we ever afterwards designated the whole "genus
+nonconformist." The entrance to the chapel (ours was the Church!) was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>through a door in a high wall, over which we could not see; and my
+youthful brain used to conjure up unrighteous and strange orgies which
+we felt must take place in those precincts which we were never
+permitted to enter. Our Sunday Scripture lessons had grounded us very
+familiarly with the perverse habits of that section of the Chosen
+People who <i>would</i> serve Baal and Moloch, when it obviously paid so
+much better not to do so. But although we counted the numbers which we
+saw going in, and sometimes met them coming out, they seemed never to
+lessen perceptibly. On this account our minds, with the merciless logic
+of childhood, gradually discounted the threatened calamities.</p>
+
+<p>This must have accounted for the lapse in our own conduct, and a sort
+of comfortable satisfaction that the Almighty contented Himself in
+merely counting noses in the pews. For even though it was my brother
+who got into trouble, I shall never forget the harangue on impiety that
+awaited us when a most unchristian sexton reported to our father that
+the pew in front of ours had been found chalked on the back, so as to
+make its occupants the object of undisguised attention from the rest of
+the congregation. As circumstantial evidence also against us, he
+offered some tell-tale squares of silver paper, on which we had been
+cooking chocolates on the steam pipes during the sermon.</p>
+
+<p>In all my childhood I can only remember one single punishment, among
+not a few which I received, which I resented&mdash;and for years I never
+quite forgot it. Some one had robbed a very favourite apple tree in our
+orchard&mdash;an escapade of which I was perfectly capable, but in this
+instance had not had the satisfaction of sharing. Some evidence had
+been lodged against me, of which I was not informed, and I therefore
+had no opportunity <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>to challenge it. I was asked before a whole class
+of my schoolmates if I had committed the act, and at once denied it.
+Without any hearing I was adjudged guilty, and promptly subjected to
+the punishment of the day&mdash;a good birching. On every occasion on which
+we were offered the alternative of detention, we invariably "plumped"
+for the rod, and got it over quickly, and, as we considered,
+creditably&mdash;taking it smiling as long as we could. But that one act of
+injustice, the disgrace which it carried of making me a liar before my
+friends, seared my very soul. I vowed I would get even whatever it
+cost, and I regret to say that I hadn't long to wait the opportunity.
+For I scored both the apples and the lie against the punishment before
+many months. Nor was I satisfied then. It rankled in my mind both by
+day and by night; and it taught me an invaluable lesson&mdash;never to
+suspect or condemn rashly. It was one of Dr. Arnold's boys at Rugby, I
+believe, who summed up his master's character by saying, "The head was
+a beast, but he was always a just beast."</p>
+
+<p>At fourteen years of age my brother was sent to Repton, to the house of
+an uncle by marriage&mdash;an arrangement which has persuaded me never to
+send boys to their relatives for training. My brother's pranks were
+undoubtedly many, but they were all boyish and legitimate ones. After a
+time, however, he was removed at his own request, and sent to Clifton,
+where he was head of the school, and the school house also, under Dr.
+Percival, the late Bishop of Hereford. From there he took an open
+scholarship for Oxford.</p>
+
+<p>It was most wisely decided to send us to separate schools, and
+therefore at fourteen I found myself at Marlborough&mdash;a school of nearly
+six hundred resident boys, on entering which I had won a scholarship.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SCHOOL LIFE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Marlborough "College," as we say in England for a large University
+preparatory school, is situated in Wiltshire, in a perfectly beautiful
+country, close to the Savernake Forest&mdash;one of the finest in all
+England. As everything and everybody was strange to me on my arrival,
+had I been brought up to be less self-reliant the events of my first
+day or two would probably have impressed themselves more deeply on my
+memory than is the case. Some Good Samaritan, hearing that I was bound
+for a certain house, allowed me to follow him from the station to the
+inn&mdash;for a veritable old inn it was. It was one of those lovely old
+wayside hostels along the main road to the west, which, with the
+decline of coaching days, found its way into the market, and had fallen
+to the hammer for the education of youth. Exactly how the adaptation
+had been accomplished I never quite understood. The building formed the
+end of a long avenue of trees and was approached through high gates
+from the main road. It was flanked on the east side by other houses,
+which fitted in somewhat inharmoniously, but served as school-rooms,
+dining-hall, chapel, racquets and fives courts, studies, and other
+dwelling-houses. The whole was entirely enclosed so that no one could
+pass in or out, after the gates were shut, without ringing up the
+porter from his lodge, and having one's name taken as being out after
+hours. At least it was supposed that no one could, though we boys soon
+found that there were more ways than one leading to Rome.</p>
+
+<p>The separate dwelling-houses were named A, B, and C. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>I was detailed to
+C House, the old inn itself. Each house was again divided into three,
+with its own house master, and its own special colour and badges. Our
+three were at the time "Sharps," "Upcutts," and "Bakers." Our
+particular one occupied the second floor, and was reached by great oak
+staircases, which, if you were smart, you could ascend at about six
+steps at a time. This was often a singular desideratum, because until
+you reached the fifth form, according to law you ascended by the less
+direct back stairway.</p>
+
+<p>Our colours were white and maroon, and our sign a bishop's mitre&mdash;which
+effigy I still find scribbled all over the few book relics which I have
+retained, and which emblem, when borne subsequently on my velvet
+football cap, proved to be the nearest I ever was to approach to that
+dignified insignia.</p>
+
+<p>My benefactor, on the night of my arrival, having done more for me than
+a new boy could expect of an old one, was whirled off in the stream of
+his returning chums long before I had found my resting-place for the
+night. The dormitory to which I at last found myself assigned contained
+no less than twenty-five beds, and seemed to me a veritable wilderness.
+If the coaches which used to stop here could have ascended the stairs,
+it might have accommodated several. What useful purpose it could have
+served in those far-off days I never succeeded in deciding. The room
+most nearly like it which I can recall is the old dining-hall of a
+great manor, into which the knights in armour rode on horseback to
+meals, that being far less trouble than removing one's armour, and
+quite as picturesque. More or less amicably I obtained possession of a
+bed in a good location, under a big window which looked out over the
+beautiful gardens below. I cannot remember that I experienced any of
+those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>heart-searchings or forebodings which sentiment deplores as the
+inevitable lot of the unprotected innocent.</p>
+
+<p>One informal battle during the first week with a boy possessed of the
+sanctity of having come up from the lower school, and therefore being
+an "old boy," achieved for me more privileges than the actual decision
+perhaps entitled one to enjoy, namely, being left alone. I subsequently
+became known as the "Beast," owing to my belligerent nature and the
+undue copiousness of my hair.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that I was placed in the upper fourth form condemned me to do
+my "prep" in the intolerable barrack called "Big School"&mdash;a veritable
+bear-garden to which about three hundred small boys were relegated to
+study. Order was kept by a master and a few monitors, who wandered to
+and fro from end to end of the building, while we were supposed to
+work. For my part, I never tried it, partly because the work came very
+easy to me, while the "repetition" was more readily learned from a
+loose page at odd times like dinner and chapel, and partly because,
+winning a scholarship during the term, I was transferred to a building
+reserved for twenty-eight such privileged individuals until they gained
+the further distinction of a place in the house class-room, by getting
+their transfer into the fifth form.</p>
+
+<p>Besides those who lived in the big quad there were several houses
+outside the gates, known as "Out-Houses." The boys there fared a good
+deal better than we who lived in college, and I presume paid more
+highly for it. Our meals were served in "Big Hall," where the whole
+four hundred of us were fed. The meals were exceptionally poor; so much
+so that we boys at the beginning of term formed what we called brewing
+companies&mdash;which provided as far as possible breakfasts <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>and suppers
+for ourselves all term. As a protection against early bankruptcy, it
+was our custom to deposit our money with a rotund but popular school
+official, known always by a corruption of his name as "the Slug." Every
+Saturday night he would dole out to you your deposit made on return
+from the holidays, divided into equal portions by the number of weeks
+in the term. Once one was in the fifth form, brewing became easy, for
+one had a right to a place on the class-room fire for one's kettle or
+saucepan. Till then the space over gas stoves in Big School being
+strictly limited, the right was only acquired "vi et armis." Moreover,
+most of the fourth form boys and the "Shells," a class between them and
+the fifth, if they had to work after evening chapel, had to sit behind
+desks around the house class-room facing the centre, in which as a rule
+the fifth form boys were lazily cooking and devouring their suppers.
+Certain parts of those repasts, like sausages, we would import ready
+cooked from the "Tuck Shop," and hence they only needed warming up.
+Breakfast in Big School was no comfort to one, and personally I seldom
+attended it. But at dinner and tea one had to appear, and remain till
+the doors were opened again. It was a kind of roll-call; and the
+penalty for being late was fifty lines to be written out. As my own
+habits were never as regular as they should have been, whenever I was
+able to keep ahead, I possessed pages of such lines, neatly written out
+during school hours and ready for emergencies. On other occasions I
+somewhat shamefacedly recall that I employed other boys, who devoted
+less time to athletics than was my wont, to help me out&mdash;their only
+remuneration being the "joy of service."</p>
+
+<p>The great desire of every boy who could hope to do so was to excel in
+athletics. This fact has much to commend <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>it in such an educational
+system, for it undoubtedly kept its devotees from innumerable worse
+troubles and dangers. All athletics were compulsory, unless one had
+obtained permanent exemption from the medical officer. If one was not
+chosen to play on any team during the afternoon, each boy had to go to
+gymnasium for drill and exercises, or to "flannel" and run round the
+Aylesbury Arms, an old public house three quarters of a mile distant.
+Any breach of this law was severely punished by the boys themselves. It
+involved a "fives batting," that is, a "birching" carried out with a
+hardwood fives bat, after chapel in the presence of the house. As a
+breach of patriotism, it carried great disgrace with it, and was very,
+very seldom necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Experience would make me a firm believer in
+self-government&mdash;determination is the popular term now, I believe. No
+punishments ever touched the boys one tenth part as much as those
+administered by themselves. On one occasion two of the Big School
+monitors, who were themselves notorious far more for their constant
+breaches of school law than for their observance of it, decided to make
+capital at the expense of the sixth form. One day, just as the
+dinner-bell rang, they locked the sixth form door, while a conclave was
+being held inside. Though everyone was intended to know to whom the
+credit belonged, it was understood that no one would dream of giving
+evidence against them. But it so happened that their voices had been
+recognized from within by one of the sixth form boys&mdash;and "bullies" and
+unpopular though the culprits were, they wouldn't deny their guilt.
+Their condign punishment was to be "fives-batted" publicly in Big
+School&mdash;in which, however, they regained very considerable popularity
+by the way they took a "spanking" without turning a hair, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>though it
+cost no less than a dozen bats before it was over.</p>
+
+<p>The publicity of Big School was the only redemption of such a
+bear-garden, but that was a good feature. It served to make us toe the
+line. After tea, it was the custom to have what we called "Upper School
+Boxing." A big ring was formed, boxing-gloves provided, and any
+differences which one might have to settle could be arranged there.
+There was more energy than science about the few occasions on which I
+appeared personally in the ring, but it was an excellent safety-valve
+and quite an evolutionary experience.</p>
+
+<p>The exigency of having to play our games immediately after noon dinner
+had naturally taught the boys at the head of athletic affairs that it
+was not wise to eat too much. Dinner was the one solid meal which the
+college provided, and most of us wanted it badly enough when it came
+along, especially the suet puddings which went by the name of "bollies"
+and were particularly satisfying. But whenever any game of importance
+was scheduled, a remorseless card used to be passed round the table
+just after the meat stage, bearing the ominous legend "No bolly
+to-day." To make sure that there were no truants, all hands were forced
+to "Hooverize." Oddly enough, beer in large blue china jugs was freely
+served at every dinner. We called it "swipes," and boys, however small,
+helped themselves to as much as they liked. Moreover, as soon as the
+game was over, all who had their house colours might come in and get
+"swipes" served to them freely through the buttery window. Both
+practices, I believe, have long since fortunately fallen into
+desuetude.</p>
+
+<p>To encourage the budding athlete there was an excellent custom of
+classifying not only the players who attained the first team; but
+beyond them there were "the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>Forty" who wore velvet caps with tassels,
+"the Sixty" who wore velvet caps with silver braid, "the Eighty," and
+even "the Hundred"&mdash;all of whom were posted from time to time, and so
+stimulated their members to try for the next grade.</p>
+
+<p>Like every other school there were bounds beyond which one might not
+go, and therefore beyond which one always wanted to go. Compulsory
+games limited the temptation in that direction very considerably; and
+my own breaches were practically always to get an extra swim. We had an
+excellent open-air swimming pool, made out of a branch of the river
+Kenneth, and were allowed one bathe a day, besides the dip before
+morning chapel, which only the few took, and which did not count as a
+bathe. The punishment for breaking the rule was severe, involving a
+week off for a first offence. But one was not easily caught, for even a
+sixth-former found hundreds of naked boys very much alike in the water,
+and the fact of any one having transgressed the limit was very hard to
+detect. Nor were we bound to incriminate ourselves by replying to
+leading questions.</p>
+
+<p>"Late for Gates" was a more serious crime, involving detention from
+beloved games&mdash;and many were the expedients to which we resorted to
+avoid such an untoward contingency. I remember well waiting for an hour
+outside the porter's view, hoping for some delivery wagon to give me a
+chance to get inside. For it was far too light to venture to climb the
+lofty railings before "prep" time. Good fortune ordained, however, that
+a four-wheel cab should come along in time, containing the parents of a
+"hopeful" in the sick-room. It seemed a desperate venture, for to "run"
+the gate was a worse offence than being late and owning up. But we
+succeeded by standing on the off step, unquestioned by the person
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>inside, who guessed at once what the trouble was, and who proved to be
+sport enough to engage the porter while we got clear. Later on a
+scapegrace who had more reason to require some by-way than myself,
+revealed to me a way which involved a long d&eacute;tour and a climb over the
+laundry roof. Of this, on another occasion, I was sincerely glad to
+avail myself. One of the older boys, I remember, made a much bolder
+venture. He waited till dusk, and then boldly walked in through the
+masters' garden. As luck would have it, he met our form master, whom we
+will call Jones, walking the other way. It so happened he possessed a
+voice which he knew was much like that of another master, so simply
+sprinting a little he called out, "Night, night, Jones," and got by
+without discovery.</p>
+
+<p>Our chapel in those days was not a thing of beauty; but since then it
+has been rebuilt (out of our stomachs, the boys used to say) and is a
+model work of art. Attendance at chapel was compulsory, and no "cuts"
+were allowed. Moreover, once late, you were given lines, besides losing
+your chapel half-holiday. So the extraordinary zeal exhibited to be
+marked off as present should not be attributed to religious fervour.
+The chapel was entered from quad by two iron gates, with the same lofty
+railings which guarded the entrance on each side. The bell tolled for
+five minutes, then was silent one minute, and then a single toll was
+given, called "stroke." At that instant the two masters who stood by
+the pillars guarding each gate, jumped across, closing the gates if
+they could, and every one outside was late. Those inside the open
+walk&mdash;the length of the chapel that led to the doors at the far
+end&mdash;then continued to march in.</p>
+
+<p>During prayers each form master sat opposite his form, all of which
+faced the central aisle, and marked off those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>present. Almost every
+morning half-dressed boys, with shirts open and collars unbuttoned,
+boots unlaced, and jumping into coats and waistcoats as they dashed
+along, could be seen rushing towards the gate during the ominous minute
+of silence. There was always time to get straight before the mass of
+boys inside had emptied into chapel; and I never remember a gate master
+stopping a boy before "stroke" for insufficiency of coverings. Many
+were the subterfuges employed to get excused, and naturally some form
+masters were themselves less regular than others, though you never
+could absolutely count on any particular one being absent. Twice in my
+time gates were rushed&mdash;that is, when "stroke" went such crowds of
+flying boys were just at the gate that the masters were unable to stop
+the onslaught, and were themselves brushed aside or knocked down under
+the seething mass of panic-stricken would-be worshippers. On one of
+these occasions we were forgiven&mdash;"stroke" was ten seconds early; on
+the other a half-holiday was stopped, as one of the masters had been
+injured. To trip one's self up, and get a bloody nose, and possibly a
+face scratched on the gravel, and then a "sick cut" from the kindly old
+school doctor, was one of the more common ways boys discovered of
+saving their chapel half&mdash;when it was a very close call.</p>
+
+<p>The school surgery was presided over in my day by a much-beloved old
+physician of the old school, named Fergus, which the boys had so long
+ago corrupted into "Fungi" that many a lad was caught mistakenly
+addressing the old gentleman as Dr. Fungi&mdash;an error I always fancied to
+be rather appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>By going to surgery you could very frequently escape evening chapel&mdash;a
+very desirable event if you had a "big brew" coming off in class-room,
+for you could get <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>things cooked and have plenty of room on the fire
+before the others were out. But one always had to pay for the
+advantage, the old doctor being very much addicted to potions. I never
+shall forget the horrible tap in the corner, out of which "cough
+mixture" flowed as "a healing for the nations," but which, nasty as it
+was, was the cheapest price at which one could purchase the cut. Some
+boys, anxious to cut lessons, found that by putting a little soap in
+one's eye, that organ would become red and watery. This they practised
+so successfully that sometimes for weeks they would be forbidden to do
+lessons on account of "eye-strain." They had to use lotions,
+eye-shades, and every spectacle possible was tried, but all to no
+avail. Sometimes they used so much soap that I was sure the doctor
+would suspect the bubbles.</p>
+
+<p>I had two periods in sick-room with a worrying cough, where the time
+was always made so pleasant that one was not tempted to hasten
+recovery. Diagnosis, moreover, was not so accurate in those days as it
+might have been, and the dear old doctor took no risks. So at the age
+of sixteen I was sent off for a winter to the South of France, with the
+diagnosis of congestion of the lungs.</p>
+
+<p>One of my aunts, a Miss Hutchinson, living at Hy&egrave;res in the South of
+France, was delighted to receive me. With a widowed friend and two
+charming and athletic daughters, she had a very pretty villa on the
+hills overlooking the sea. My orders&mdash;to live out of doors&mdash;were very
+literally obeyed. In light flannel costumes we roamed the hills after
+moths and butterflies, early and late. We kept the frogs in miniature
+ponds in boxes covered with netting, providing them with bamboo ladders
+to climb, and so tell us when it was going to be wet weather. We had
+also enclosures in which we kept banks of trap-door spiders, which used
+to afford us intense interest with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>their clever artifices. To these we
+added the breeding of the more beautiful butterflies and moths, and so,
+without knowing that we were learning, we were taught many and valuable
+truths of life. There were horses to ride also, and a beautiful "plage"
+to bathe upon. It was always sunny and warm, and I invariably look back
+on that winter as spent in paradise. I was permitted to go over with a
+young friend to the Carnival at Nice, where, disguised as a clown, and
+then as a priest, with the <i>abandon</i> of boys, we enjoyed every moment
+of the time&mdash;the world was so big and wonderful. The French that I had
+very quickly learned, as we always spoke it at our villa, stood me on
+this occasion in good stead. But better still, I happened, when
+climbing into one of the flower-bedecked carriages parading in the
+"bataille de fleurs"&mdash;which, being in costume, was quite the right
+thing to do&mdash;to find that the owner was an old friend of my family, one
+Sir William Hut. He at once carried me to his home for the rest of the
+Carnival, and, of course, made it doubly enjoyable.</p>
+
+<p>A beautiful expedition, made later in that region which lives in my
+memory, was to the gardens at La Mortola, over the Italian line, made
+famous by the frequent visits of Queen Victoria to them. They were
+owned by Sir Thomas Hanbury, whose wife was my aunt's great friend.</p>
+
+<p>The quaintness of the memories which persist longest in one's mind
+often amuse me. We used, as good Episcopalians, to go every Sunday to
+the little English Church on the rue des Palmiers. Alas, I can remember
+only one thing about those services. The clergyman had a peculiar
+impediment in his speech which made him say his <i>h</i>'s and <i>s</i>'s, both
+as <i>sh</i>. Thus he always said <i>sh</i>uman for <i>h</i>uman, and invariably
+prayed that God might be pleased <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>to "shave the Queen." He nearly got
+me into trouble once or twice through it.</p>
+
+<p>About the middle of the winter I realized that I had made a mistake. In
+writing home I had so enthusiastically assured my father that the place
+was suiting my health, that he wrote back that he thought in that case
+I might stand a little tutoring, and forthwith I was despatched every
+morning to a Mr. B., an Englishman, whose house, called the
+"Hermitage," was in a thick wood. I soon discovered that Mr. B. was
+obliged to live abroad for his health, and that the coaching of small
+boys was only a means to that end. He was a good instructor in
+mathematics, a study which I always loved, but he insisted on my taking
+Latin and French literature, for neither of which I had the slightest
+taste. I consequently made no effort whatever to improve my mind, a
+fact which did not in the least disturb his equanimity. The great
+interest of those journeys to the Hermitage were the fables of La
+Fontaine&mdash;which I learned as repetition and enjoyed&mdash;and the enormous
+number of lizards on the walls, which could disappear with lightning
+rapidity when seen, though they would stay almost motionless, waiting
+for a fly to come near, which they then swallowed alive. They were so
+like the stones one could almost rub one's nose against them without
+seeing them. Each time I started, I used to cut a little switch for
+myself and try to switch them off their ledges before they vanished.
+The attraction to the act lay in that it was almost impossible to
+accomplish. But if you did they scored a bull's-eye by incontinently
+discarding their tails, which made them much harder to catch next time,
+and seemed in no way to incommode them, though it served to excuse my
+conscience of cruelty. At the same time I have no wish to pose as a
+protector of flies.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>Returning to Marlborough School the following summer, I found that my
+father, who knew perfectly the thorough groundwork I had received in
+Greek and Latin, had insisted on my being given a remove into the lower
+fifth form "in absentia." Both he and I were aware that I could do the
+work easily; but the form master resented it, and had already protested
+in vain. I believe he was a very good man in his way, and much liked by
+those whom he liked. But alas, I was not one of them; and never once,
+during the whole time I was in his form, did I get one single word of
+encouragement out of him. My mathematical master, and "stinks," or
+chemical master, I was very fond of, and in both those departments I
+made good progress.</p>
+
+<p>The task of keeping order in a chemistry class of boys is never easy.
+The necessary experiments divert the master's eye from the class, and
+always give opportunity for fooling. Added to this was the fact that
+our "stinks" master, like many scientific teachers, was far too
+good-natured, and half-enjoyed himself the diversion which his
+experiments gave. When obliged to punish a boy caught "flagrante
+delicto," he invariably looked out for some way to make it up to him
+later. It was the odd way he did it which endeared him to us, as if
+apologizing for the kindness. Thus, on one occasion, suddenly in most
+righteous anger, just as if a parenthesis to the remark he was making,
+he interposed, "Come and be caned, boy. My study, twelve o'clock." When
+the boy was leaving, very unrepentant after keeping the appointment, in
+the same parenthetical way the master remarked, "Go away, boy. Cake and
+wine, my room, five o'clock"&mdash;which proved eventually the most
+effective part of the correction.</p>
+
+<p>To children there always appears a gap between them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>and "grown-ups" as
+impassable as that which Abraham is made to describe as so great that
+they who would pass to and fro cannot. As we grow older, we cease to
+see it, but it exists all the same. As I write, five children are
+romping through this old wood on broom-handle horses. One has just
+fallen. A girl of twelve at once retorts, "Do get up, Willy, your horse
+is always throwing you off." The joys of life lie in us, not in things;
+and in childhood imagination is so big, its joys so entirely uncloyed.
+Sometimes grown-ups are apt to grudge the time and trouble put into
+apparently transient pleasures. A trivial strawberry feast, given to
+children on our dear old lawn under the jasmine and rose-bushes,
+something after the order of a New England clam-bake, still looms as a
+happy memory of my parents' love for children, punctuated by the fact
+that though by continuing a game in spite of warning I broke a window
+early in the afternoon, and was banished to the nursery "as advised,"
+my father forgave me an hour later, and himself fetched me down again
+to the party.</p>
+
+<p>To teach us independence, my father put us on an allowance at a very
+early age, with a small bank account, to which every birthday he added
+five pounds on our behalf. We had no pony at that time, indeed had not
+yet learned to ride, so our deposits always went by the name of "pony
+money." This was an excellent plan, for we didn't yet value money for
+itself, and were better able to appreciate the joy of giving because it
+seemed to postpone the advent of our pony. However, when we were
+thought to have learned to value so sentient a companion and to be
+likely to treat him properly, a Good Samaritan was permitted to present
+us with one of our most cherished friends. To us, she was an
+unparalleled beauty. How many times we fell over her head, and over
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>her tail, no one can record. She always waited for you to remount, so
+it didn't much matter; and we were taught that great lesson in life,
+not to be afraid of falling, but to learn how to take a fall. My own
+bent, however, was never for the things of the land, and though gallops
+on the Dee Sands, and races with our cousins, who owned a broncho and
+generally beat us, had their fascination, boats were the things which
+appealed most to me.</p>
+
+<p>Having funds at our disposal, we were allowed to purchase material, and
+under the supervision of a local carpenter, to build a boat ourselves.
+To this purpose our old back nursery was forthwith allocated. The craft
+which we desired was a canoe that would enable us to paddle or drift
+along the deep channels of the river, and allow us to steal upon the
+flocks of birds feeding at the edges. Often in memory I enjoy those
+days again&mdash;the planning, the modelling, the fitting, the setting-up,
+and at last, the visit of inspection of our parents. Alas, stiff-necked
+in our generation, we had insisted on straight lines and a square
+stern. Never shall I forget the indignation aroused in me by a cousin's
+remark, "It looks awful like a coffin." The resemblance had not
+previously struck either of us, and father had felt that the joke was
+too dangerous a one to make, and had said nothing. But the pathos of it
+was that we now saw it all too clearly. My brother explained that the
+barque was intended to be not "seen." Ugliness was almost desirable. It
+might help us if we called it the "Reptile," and painted it red&mdash;all of
+which suggestions were followed. But still I remember feeling a little
+crestfallen, when after launching it through the window, it lay
+offensively resplendent against the vivid green of the grass. It
+served, however, for a time, ending its days honourably by capsizing a
+friend and me, guns and all, into the half-frozen water of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>lower
+estuary while we were stalking some curlew. I had to run home dripping.
+My friend's gun, moreover, having been surreptitiously borrowed from my
+cousin's father, was recovered the following day, to our unutterable
+relief. Out of the balance of the money spent on the boat, we purchased
+a pin-fire, breech-loading gun, the pride of my life for many days. I
+was being kept back from school at the time on account of a cold, but I
+was not surprised to find myself next day sitting in a train, bound for
+Marlborough, and "referred once more to my studies."</p>
+
+<p>A little later my father, not being satisfied, took me away to read
+with a tutor for the London matriculation, in which without any
+trouble, I received a first class.</p>
+
+<p>A large boarding-school in England is like a miniature world. One makes
+many acquaintances, who change as one gets pushed into new classes, so
+at that stage one makes few lasting friends. Those who remain till they
+attain the sixth form, and make the school teams, probably form more
+permanent friendships. I at least think of that period as one when
+one's bristles were generally up, and though many happy memories
+linger, and I have found that to be an old Marlburian is a bond of
+friendship all the world over, it is the little oddities which one
+remembers best.</p>
+
+<p>A new scholarship boy had one day been assigned to the closed
+corporation of our particular class-room. To me he had many
+attractions, for he was a genius both in mathematics and chemistry. We
+used to love talking over the problems that were set us as voluntary
+tasks for our spare time; and our united excursions in those directions
+were so successful that we earned our class more than one "hour off,"
+as rewards for the required number of stars given for good pieces of
+work. My friend <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>had, however, no use whatever for athletics. He had
+never been from home before, had no brothers, and five sisters, was the
+pet of his parents, and naturally somewhat of a square plug in a round
+hole in our school life. He hated all conventions, and was always in
+trouble with the boys, for he entirely neglected his personal
+appearance, while his fingers were always discoloured with chemicals,
+and he would not even feign an interest in the things for which they
+cared. I can remember him sitting on the foot of my bed, talking me to
+sleep more than once with some new plan he had devised for a
+self-steering torpedo or an absolutely reliable flying machine. He had
+received the sobriquet of "Mad G.," and there was some justice in it
+from the opposition point of view. I had not realized, however, that he
+was being bullied&mdash;on such a subject he would never say a
+syllable&mdash;till one day as he left class-room I saw a large lump of coal
+hit him square on the head, and a rush of blood follow it that made me
+hustle him off to surgery. Scalp wounds are not so dangerous as they
+are bloody to heads as thick as ours. His explanation that he had
+fallen down was too obvious a distortion of truth to deceive even our
+kindly old doctor. But he asked no further question, seeing that it was
+a point of honour. The matter, however, forced an estrangement between
+myself and some of my fellows that I realized afterwards was excellent
+for me. Forthwith we moved my friend's desk into my corner of the room
+which was always safe when I was around, though later some practices of
+the others to which I took exception led to a combination which I
+thought of then as that made by the Jews to catch Paul, and which I
+foiled in a similar way, watchfully eluding them when they were in
+numbers together, but always ready to meet one or two at a time. The
+fact that I had just taken up "racquets" <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>impressed it on my memory,
+for considering the class-room temporarily unsafe for "prep" work, I
+used that building as a convenient refuge for necessary study. It would
+have been far better to have fought it out and taken, if unavoidable,
+whatever came to me&mdash;had it been anywhere else I should probably have
+done so. But the class-room was a close corporation for Foundation
+scholars, and not one of my chums had access to it to see fair play.</p>
+
+<p>My friendship for "Mad G." was largely tempered by my own love for
+anything athletic, and eccentricities paid a very heavy price among all
+boys. Thus, though I was glad to lend my protection to my friend, we
+never went about together&mdash;as such boys as he always lived the life of
+hermits in the midst of the crowd. I well remember one other boy, made
+eccentric by his peculiar face and an unfortunate impediment of speech.
+No such boy should have been sent to an English public school as it was
+in my day. His stutter was no ordinary one, for it consisted, not in
+repeating the first letter or syllable, but in blowing out both cheeks
+like a balloon, and making noises which resembled a back-firing motor
+engine. It was the custom of our form master to make us say our
+repetition by each boy taking one line, the last round being always
+"expressed"&mdash;that is, unless you started instantly the boy above you
+finished, the next boy began, and took your place. I can still see and
+hear the unfortunate J. getting up steam for his line four or five boys
+ahead of time, so that he might explode at the right moment, which
+desirable end, however, he but very rarely accomplished, and never
+catching up, he used, like the man in the parable, always to "begin
+with shame to take the lowest place." Sometimes the master in a
+merciful mood allowed us to write the line; but that was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>risky, for it
+was considered no disgrace to circumvent him, and under those
+circumstances it was very easy for the next boy to write his own and
+then yours, and pass it along if he saw you were in trouble.</p>
+
+<p>There was, and I think with some reason, a pride among the boys on
+their appearance on certain occasions. It went by the name of "good
+form." Thus on Sundays at morning chapel, we always wore a button-hole
+flower if we could. My dear mother used to post me along a little box
+of flowers every week&mdash;nor was it by any means wasted energy, for not
+only did the love for flowers become a hobby and a custom with many of
+us through life, and a help to steer clear of sloppiness in appearance,
+but it was a habit quite likely to spread to the soul. But beyond that,
+the picture of my dear mother, with the thousand worries of a large
+school of small boys on her hands, finding time to gather, pack,
+address, and post each week with her own hands so fleeting and
+inessential a token of her love, has a thousand times arisen to my
+memory, and led me to consider some apparently quite unnecessary little
+labour of love as being well worth the time and trouble. It is these
+deeds of love&mdash;not words, however touching&mdash;that never fade from the
+soul, and to the last make their appeal to the wandering boy to "arise"
+and do things.</p>
+
+<p>Like everything else this fastidiousness can be overdone, and I
+remember once a boy's legal guardian showing me a bill for a hundred
+pounds sterling that his ward had incurred in a single term for cut
+flowers. Yet "form" is a part of the life of all English schools, and
+the boys think much more of it than sin. At Harrow you may not walk in
+the middle of the road as a freshman; and in American schools and
+universities, such regulations as the "Fence" laws at Yale show that
+they have emulated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>and even surpassed us in these. It was, however, a
+very potent influence, and we were always ridiculously sensitive about
+breaches of it. Thus, on a certain prize day my friend "Mad G.," having
+singularly distinguished himself in his studies, his parents came all
+the way from their home, at great expense to themselves, to see their
+beloved and only son honoured. I presume that, though wild horses would
+not drag anything out of the boy at school, he had communicated to them
+the details of some little service rendered. For to my horror I was
+stopped by his mother, whom I subsequently learned to love and honour
+above most people, and actually kissed while walking in the open
+quad&mdash;strutting like a peacock, I suppose, for I remember feeling as if
+the bottom had suddenly fallen out of the earth. The sequel, however,
+was an invitation to visit their home in North Wales for the Christmas
+holidays, where there was rough shooting,&mdash;the only kind I really cared
+for,&mdash;boating, rock-climbing, bathing, and the companionship of as
+lively a family as it was possible to meet anywhere. Many a holiday
+afterwards we shared together, and the kindness showered upon me I
+shall never be able to forget, or, alas, return; for my dear friend
+"Mad G." has long ago gone to his rest, and so have both his parents,
+whom I loved almost as my own.</p>
+
+<p>Another thing for which I have much to thank my parents is the interest
+which they encouraged me to take in the collecting and study of natural
+objects. We were taught that the only excuse that made the taking of
+animal life honourable was for some useful purpose, like food or study
+or self-preservation. Several cases of birds stuffed and set up when we
+were fourteen and sixteen years of age still adorn the old house. Every
+bit had to be done by ourselves, my brother making the cases, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>I
+the rock work and taxidermy. The hammering-up of sandstone and granite;
+to cover the glue-soaked brown paper that we moulded into rocks,
+satisfied my keenest instinct for making messes, and only the patience
+of the old-time domestics would have "stood for it." My brother
+specialized in birds' eggs, and I in butterflies and moths. Later we
+added seaweeds, shells, and flowers. Some of our collections have been
+dissipated; and though we have not a really scientific acquaintance
+with either of these kingdoms, we acquired a "hail-fellow-well-met"
+familiarity with all of them, which has enlivened many a day in many
+parts of the world as we have journeyed through life. Moreover, though
+purchased pictures have other values, the old cases set on the walls of
+one's den bring back memories that are the joy and solace of many idle
+moments later in life&mdash;each rarer egg, each extra butterfly picturing
+some day or place of keen triumph, otherwise long since forgotten.
+Here, for instance, is a convolvulus hawk father found killed on a
+mountain in Switzerland; there an Apollo I caught in the Pyrenees; here
+a "red burnet" with "five eyes" captured as we raced through the
+bracken on Clifton Downs; and there are "purple emperors" wired down to
+"meat" baits on the Surrey Downs.</p>
+
+<p>Many a night at school have I stolen into the great forest, my
+butterfly net under my coat, to try and add a new specimen to my hoard.
+We were always supplied with good "key-books," so that we should be
+able to identify our specimens, and also to search for others more
+intelligently. One value of my own specialty was that for the moths it
+demanded going out in the night, and the thrills of out of doors in the
+beautiful summer evenings, when others were "fugging" in the house or
+had gone to bed, used actually to make me dance around <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>on the grass.
+The dark lantern, the sugaring of the tree stems with intoxicating
+potions, and the subsequent excitement of searching for specimens,
+fascinated me utterly. Our breeding from the egg, through the
+caterpillar stage, taught us many things without our knowing that we
+were learning.</p>
+
+<p>One of our holidays was memorable, because as soon as our parents left
+we invited my friend and two sisters as well to come and stay with us.
+They came, fully expecting that mother had asked them, but were good
+enough sports to stay when they found it was only us two boys. They
+greatly added to the enjoyment of the days, and if they had not been
+such inveterate home letter-writers&mdash;a habit of which we were very
+contemptuous&mdash;it would have saved us boys much good-humoured teasing
+afterwards, for the matron would have been mum and no one the wiser.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>EARLY WORK IN LONDON</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In 1883 my father became anxious to give up teaching boys and to
+confine himself more exclusively to the work of a clergyman. With this
+in view he contemplated moving to London where he had been offered the
+chaplaincy of the huge London Hospital. I remember his talking it over
+with me, and then asking if I had any idea what I wanted to do in life.
+It came to me as a new conundrum. It had never occurred to me to look
+forward to a profession; except that I knew that the heads of tigers,
+deer, and all sorts of trophies of the chase which adorned our house
+came from soldier uncles and others who hunted them in India, and I had
+always thought that their occupation would suit my taste admirably. It
+never dawned on me that I would have to earn my bread and butter&mdash;that
+had always come along. Moreover, I had never seen real poverty in
+others, for all the fisher-folk in our village seemed to have enough. I
+hated dress and frills, and envied no one. At school, and on the
+Riviera, and even in Wales, I had never noticed any want. It is true
+that a number of dear old ladies from the village came in the winter
+months to our house once or twice a week to get soup. They used to sit
+in the back hall, each with a round tin can with a bucket handle. These
+were filled with hot broth, and the old ladies were given a repast as
+well before leaving. As a matter of fact I very seldom actually saw
+them, for that part of the house was cut off entirely by large double
+green-baize covered doors. But I often knew that they must have been
+there, because our Skye terrier, though fed to overflowing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>usually
+attended these s&eacute;ances, and I presume, while the old ladies were
+occupied with lunch, sampled the cans of soup that stood in rows along
+the floor. He used to come along with dripping whiskers which betrayed
+his excursion, and the look of a connoisseur in his large round
+eyes&mdash;as if he were certifying that justice had been done once more in
+the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>While I was in France the mother of my best chum in school had been
+passing through Marseilles on her way home from India, and had most
+kindly taken me on a jolly trip to Arles, Avignon, and other historical
+places. She was the wife of a famous missionary in India. She spoke
+eight languages fluently, including Arabic, and was a perfect "vade
+mecum" of interesting information which she well knew how to impart.
+She had known my mother's family all her life, they being Anglo-Indians
+in the army service.</p>
+
+<p>About the time of my father's question, my friend's mother was staying
+in Chester with her brother-in-law, the Lord Lieutenant of
+Denbighshire. It was decided that as she was a citizeness of the world,
+no one could suggest better for what profession my peculiar talents
+fitted me. The interview I have long ago forgotten, but I recall coming
+home with a confused idea that tiger hunting would not support me, and
+that she thought I ought to become a clergyman, though it had no
+attraction for me, and I decided against it.</p>
+
+<p>None of our family on either side, so far as I can find out, had ever
+practised medicine. My own experience of doctors had been rather a
+chequered one, but at my father's suggestion I gladly went up and
+discussed the matter with our country family doctor. He was a fine man,
+and we boys were very fond of him and his family, his daughter being
+our best girl friend near by. He had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>an enormous practice, in which he
+was eminently successful. The number of horses he kept, and the miles
+he covered with them, were phenomenal in my mind. He had always a kind
+word for every one, and never gave us boys away, though he must have
+known many of our pranks played in our parents' absence. The only
+remaining memory of that visit was that the old doctor brought down
+from one of his shelves a large jar, out of which he produced a pickled
+human brain. I was thrilled with entirely new emotions. I had never
+thought of man's body as a machine. That this weird, white, puckered-up
+mass could be the producer or transmitter of all that made man, that it
+controlled our physical strength and growth, and our responses to life,
+that it made one into "Mad G." and another into me&mdash;why, it was
+absolutely marvellous. It attracted me as did the gramophone, the
+camera, the automobile.</p>
+
+<p>My father saw at once on my return that I had found my real interest,
+and put before me two alternative plans, one to go to Oxford, where my
+brother had just entered, or to join him in London and take up work in
+the London Hospital and University, preparatory to going in for
+medicine. I chose the latter at once&mdash;a decision I have never
+regretted. I ought to say that business as a career was not suggested.
+In England, especially in those days, these things were more or less
+hereditary. My forbears were all fighters or educators, except for an
+occasional statesman or banker. Probably there is some advantage in
+this plan.</p>
+
+<p>The school had been leased for a period of seven years to a very
+delightful successor, it being rightly supposed that after that time my
+brother would wish to assume the responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the subjects for the London matriculation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>were quite new to
+me, especially "English." But with the fresh incentive and new vision
+of responsibility I set to work with a will, and soon had mastered the
+ten required subjects sufficiently to pass the examination with credit.
+But I must say here that Professor Huxley's criticisms of English
+public school teaching of that period were none too stringent. I wish
+with all my heart that others had spoken out as bravely, for in those
+days that wonderful man was held up to our scorn as an atheist and
+iconoclast. He was, however, perfectly right. We spent years of life
+and heaps of money on our education, and came out knowing nothing to
+fit us for life, except that which we picked up incidentally.</p>
+
+<p>I now followed my father to London, and found every subject except my
+chemistry entirely new. I was not familiar with one word of botany,
+zo&ouml;logy, physics, physiology, or comparative anatomy. About the
+universe which I inhabited I knew as little as I did about cuneiform
+writings. Except for my mathematics and a mere modicum of chemistry I
+had nothing on which to base my new work; and students coming from
+Government free schools, or almost anywhere, had a great advantage over
+men of my previous education; I did not even know how to study wisely.
+Again, as Huxley showed, medical education in London was so divided,
+there being no teaching university, that the curriculum was
+ridiculously inadequate. There were still being foisted upon the world
+far too many medical men of the type of Bob Sawyer.</p>
+
+<p>There were fourteen hospitals in London to which medical schools were
+attached. Our hospital was the largest in the British Isles, and in the
+midst of the poorest population in England, being located in the famous
+Whitechapel Road, and surrounded by all the purlieus of the East End of
+the great city. Patients came from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>Tilbury Docks to Billingsgate
+Market, and all the river haunts between; from Shadwell, Deptford,
+Wapping, Poplar, from Petticoat Lane and Radcliffe Highway, made famous
+by crime and by Charles Dickens. They came from Bethnal Green, where
+once queens had their courts, now the squalid and crowded home of
+poverty; from Stratford and Bow, and a hundred other slums.</p>
+
+<p>The hospital had some nine hundred beds, which were always so full that
+the last surgeon admitting to his wards constantly found himself with
+extra beds poked in between the regulation number through sheer
+necessity. It afforded an unrivalled field for clinical experience and
+practical teaching. In my day, however, owing to its position in
+London, and the fact that its school was only just emerging from
+primeval chaos, it attracted very few indeed of the medical students
+from Oxford and Cambridge, who are obliged to come to London for their
+last two or three years' hospital work&mdash;the scope in those small
+university towns being decidedly limited.</p>
+
+<p>Looking back I am grateful to my alma mater, and have that real
+affection for her that every loyal son should have. But even that does
+not conceal from me how poor a teaching establishment it was. Those who
+had natural genius, and the advantages of previous scientific training,
+who were sons of medical men, or had served apprenticeships to them,
+need not have suffered so much through its utter inefficiency. But men
+in my position suffered quite unconsciously a terrible handicap, and it
+was only the influences for which I had nothing whatever to thank the
+hospital that saved me from the catastrophes which overtook so many who
+started with me.</p>
+
+<p>To begin with, there was no supervision of our lives whatever. We were
+flung into a coarse and evil <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>environment, among men who too often took
+pride in their shame, just to sink or swim. Not one soul cared which
+you did. I can still remember numerous cases where it simply meant that
+men paid quite large sums for the privilege of sending the sons they
+loved direct to the devil. I recall one lad whom I had known at school.
+His father lavished money upon him, and sincerely believed that his son
+was doing him credit and would soon return to share his large practice,
+and bring to it all the many new advances he had learned. The reports
+of examinations successfully passed he fully accepted; and the
+non-return of his son at vacation times he put down to professional
+zeal. It was not till the time came for the boy to get his degree and
+return that the father discovered that he had lived exactly the life of
+the prodigal in the parable, and had neither attended college nor
+attempted a single examination of any kind whatever. It broke the
+father's heart and he died.</p>
+
+<p>Examinations for degrees were held by the London University, or the
+Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, never by the hospital
+schools. These were practically race committees; they did no teaching,
+but when you had done certain things, they allowed you to come up and
+be examined, and if you got through a written and "viva voce"
+examination you were inflicted on an unsuspecting public "qualified to
+kill"&mdash;often only too literally so.</p>
+
+<p>It is obvious on the face of it that this could be no proper criterion
+for so important a decision as to qualifications; special crammers
+studied the examiners, their questions, and their teachings, and luck
+had a great deal to do with success. While some men never did
+themselves justice in examinations, others were exactly the reverse.
+Thus I can remember one resident accoucheur <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>being "ploughed," as we
+called it, in his special subject, obstetrics&mdash;and men to whom you
+wouldn't trust your cat getting through with flying colours.</p>
+
+<p>Of the things to be done: First you had to be signed up for attending
+courses of lectures on certain subjects. This was simply a matter of
+tipping the beadle, who marked you off. I personally attended only two
+botany lectures during the whole course. At the first some practical
+joker had spilled a solution of carbon bisulphide all over the
+professor's platform, and the smell was so intolerable that the lecture
+was prorogued. At the second, some wag let loose a couple of pigeons,
+whereupon every one started either to capture them or stir them up with
+pea-shooters. The professor said, "Gentlemen, if you do not wish to
+learn, you are at liberty to leave." The entire class walked out. The
+insignificant sum of two and sixpence secured me my sign-up for the
+remainder of the course.</p>
+
+<p>Materia medica was almost identical; and while we had better fortune
+with physiology, no experience and no apparatus for verifying its
+teachings were ever shown us.</p>
+
+<p>Our chemistry professor was a very clever man, but extremely eccentric,
+and his class was pandemonium. I have seen him so frequently pelted
+with peas, when his head was turned, as to force him to leave the
+amphitheatre in despair. I well remember also an unpopular student
+being pushed down from the top row almost on to the experiment table.</p>
+
+<p>There was practically no histology taught, and little or no pathology.
+Almost every bit of the microscope which I did was learned on my own
+instrument at home. Anatomy, however, we were well taught in the
+dissecting-room, where we could easily obtain all the work we needed.
+But not till Sir Frederick Treves became our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>lecturer in anatomy and
+surgery was it worth while doing more than pay the necessary sum to get
+signed up.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place we had to attend in the dispensary, actually to
+handle drugs and learn about them&mdash;an admirable rule. Personally I went
+once, fooled around making egg-nogg, and arranged with a considerate
+druggist to do the rest that was necessary. Yet I satisfied the
+examiners at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, those of the
+London University at the examinations for Bachelor of Medicine&mdash;the
+only ones which they gave which carried questions in any of these
+subjects.</p>
+
+<p>In the athletic life of the University, however, I took great interest,
+and was secretary in succession of the cricket, football, and rowing
+clubs. I helped remove the latter from the old river Lea to the Thames,
+to raise the inter-hospital rowing championship and start the united
+hospitals' rowing club. I found time to row in the inter-hospital race
+for two years and to play on the football team in the two years of
+which we won the inter-hospital football cup. A few times I played with
+the united hospitals' team; but I found that their ways were not mine,
+as I had been taught to despise alcohol as a beverage and to respect
+all kinds of womanhood. For three years I played regularly for
+Richmond&mdash;the best of the London clubs at the time&mdash;and subsequently
+for Oxford, being put on the team the only term I was in residence. I
+also threw the hammer for the hospital in the united hospitals' sports,
+winning second place for two years. Indeed, athletics in some form
+occupied every moment of my spare time.</p>
+
+<p>It was in my second year, 1885, that returning from an out-patient case
+one night, I turned into a large tent erected in a purlieu of Shadwell,
+the district to which I happened to have been called. It proved to be
+an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>evangelistic meeting of the then famous Moody and Sankey. It was
+so new to me that when a tedious prayer-bore began with a long oration,
+I started to leave. Suddenly the leader, whom I learned afterwards was
+D.L. Moody, called out to the audience, "Let us sing a hymn while our
+brother finishes his prayer." His practicality interested me, and I
+stayed the service out. When eventually I left, it was with a
+determination either to make religion a real effort to do as I thought
+Christ would do in my place as a doctor, or frankly abandon it. That
+could only have one issue while I still lived with a mother like mine.
+For she had always been my ideal of unselfish love. So I decided to
+make the attempt, and later went down to hear the brothers J.E. and
+C.T. Studd speak at some subsidiary meeting of the Moody campaign. They
+were natural athletes, and I felt that I could listen to them. I could
+not have listened to a sensuous-looking man, a man who was not a master
+of his own body, any more than I could to a precentor, who coming to
+sing the prayers at college chapel dedication, I saw get drunk on
+sherry which he abstracted from the banquet table just before the
+service. Never shall I forget, at the meeting of the Studd brothers,
+the audience being asked to stand up if they intended to try and follow
+Christ. It appeared a very sensible question to me, but I was amazed
+how hard I found it to stand up. At last one boy, out of a hundred or
+more in sailor rig, from an industrial or reformatory ship on the
+Thames, suddenly rose. It seemed to me such a wonderfully courageous
+act&mdash;for I knew perfectly what it would mean to him&mdash;that I immediately
+found myself on my feet, and went out feeling that I had crossed the
+Rubicon, and must do something to prove it.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep044" id="imagep044"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep044.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep044.jpg" width="95%" alt="Oxford University Rugby Union Football Team" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">OXFORD UNIVERSITY RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL TEAM<br />W.T. Grenfell at left of bottom row<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We were Church of England people, and I always <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>attended service with
+my mother at an Episcopal church of the evangelical type. At her
+suggestion I asked the minister if I could in any way help. He offered
+me a class of small boys in his Sunday School, which I accepted with
+much hesitation. The boys, derived from houses in the neighbourhood,
+were as smart as any I have known. With every faculty sharpened by the
+competition of the street, they so tried my patience with their pranks
+that I often wondered what strange attraction induced them to come at
+all. The school and church were the property of a society known by the
+uninviting title of the "Episcopal Society for the promotion of
+Christianity among the Jews." It owned a large court, shut off from the
+road by high gates, around which stood about a dozen houses&mdash;with the
+church facing the gates at one end of a pretty avenue of trees. It was
+an oasis in the desert of that dismal region. It possessed also an
+industrial institution for helping its converts to make a living, when
+driven out of their own homes; and its main work was carried on for the
+most part by superannuated missionaries. One was from Bagdad, I
+remember, and one from Palestine, both themselves Jews by extraction.
+These missionaries were paid such miserable salaries that in their old
+age they were always left very poor.</p>
+
+<p>One instance of a baptism I have never forgotten. I was then living in
+the court, having hired a nice separate house under the trees after my
+father had died and my mother had moved to Hampstead. In such a
+district the house was a Godsend. One Sunday I was strolling in the
+court when the clergyman came rushing out of the church and called to
+me in great excitement, "The church is full of Jews. They are going to
+carry off Abraham. Can't you go in and help while I fetch the police?"
+My friend and I therefore rushed in as directed to a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>narrow alleyway
+between high box pews which led into the vestry, into which "Abraham"
+had been spirited. The door being shut and our backs put to it, it was
+a very easy matter to hold back the crowd, who probably supposed at
+first that we were leading the abduction party. There being only room
+for two to come on at once, "those behind cried forward, and those in
+front back," till after very little blood spilt, we heard the police in
+the church, and the crowd at once took to flight. I regret to say that
+we expedited the rear-guard by football rather than strictly Christian
+methods. His friends then charged Abraham with theft, expecting to get
+him out of his place of refuge and then trap him, as we were told they
+had a previous convert. We therefore accompanied him personally through
+the mean streets, both to and fro, spoiling for more fun. But they
+displayed more discretion than valour, and to the best of my belief he
+escaped their machinations.</p>
+
+<p>My Sunday-School efforts did not satisfy me. The boys were few, and I
+failed to see any progress. But I had resolved that I would do no work
+on Sundays except for others, so I joined a young Australian of my
+class in hospital in holding services on Sunday nights in half a dozen
+of the underground lodging-houses along the Radcliffe Highway. He was a
+good musician, so he purchased a fine little portable harmonium, and
+whatever else the lodgers thought of us, they always liked the music.
+We used to meet for evening tea at a place in the famous Highway known
+as "The Stranger's Rest," outside of which an open-air service was
+always held for the sailors wandering up and down the docks. At these a
+number of ladies would sing; and after the meetings a certain number of
+the sailors were asked to come in and have refreshments. There were
+always some who had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>spent their money on drink, or been robbed, or
+were out of ships, and many of them were very fine men. Some were
+foreigners&mdash;so much so that a bit farther down the road a Norwegian
+lady carried on another similar work, especially for Scandinavians.</p>
+
+<p>A single story will illustrate the good points which some of these men
+displayed. My hospital chief, Sir Frederick Treves, had operated on a
+great big Norwegian, and the man had left the hospital cured. As a rule
+such patients do not even know the name of their surgeon. Some three
+weeks later, however, this man called at Sir Frederick Treves's house
+late one dark night. Having asked if he were the surgeon who had
+operated on him and getting a reply in the affirmative, he said he had
+come to return thanks, that since he left hospital he had been
+wandering about without a penny to his name, waiting for a ship, but
+had secured a place on that day. He proceeded to cut out from the upper
+edge of his trousers a gold Norwegian five-kronen piece which his wife
+had sewed in there to be his stand-by in case of absolute need. He had
+been so hungry that he had been tempted to use it, but now had come to
+present it as a token of gratitude&mdash;upon which he bowed and
+disappeared. Sir Frederick said that he was so utterly taken aback that
+he found himself standing in the hall, holding the coin, and bowing his
+visitor out. He said he could no more return it than you could offer
+your teacher a "tip," and he has preserved it as a much-prized
+possession.</p>
+
+<p>The underground lodging-house work did me lots of good. It brought me
+into touch with real poverty&mdash;a very graveyard of life I had never
+surmised. The denizens of those miserable haunts were men from almost
+every rank of life. They were shipwrecks from the ocean of humanity,
+drifted up on the last beach. There were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>large open fireplaces in the
+dens, over which those who had any food cooked it. Often while the
+other doctor or I was holding services, one of us would have to sit
+down on some drunken man to keep him from making the proceedings
+impossible; but there was always a modicum who gathered around and
+really enjoyed the singing.</p>
+
+<p>We soon found that there were no depths of contemptible treachery which
+some among these new acquaintances would not attempt. We became
+gradually hardened to the piteous tales of ill luck, of malignant
+persecution, and of purely temporary embarrassments, and learned soon
+to leave behind us purses, and watches, and anything else of value, and
+to keep some specially worn clothing for this service.</p>
+
+<p>There was always a narrow passage from the front door to the staircase
+which led down into those huge underground basements. The guardians had
+a room inside the door, with a ticket window, where they took five or
+possibly eight cents from the boarders for their night's lodging. At
+about eleven o'clock a "chucker out" would go down and clear out all
+the gentlemen who had not paid in advance for the night. This was
+always a very melancholy period of the evening, and in spite of our
+hardened hearts, we always had a score against us there. That, however,
+had to be given in person, for there were plenty among our audiences
+who had taken special courses in imitative calligraphy. I.O.U.'s on odd
+bits of paper were a menace to our banking accounts till we sorrowfully
+abandoned that convenient way of helping often a really deserving case.</p>
+
+<p>In those houses, somewhat to my astonishment, we never once received
+any physical opposition. We knew that some considered us harmless and
+gullible imbeciles; but the great majority were still able to see that
+it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>an attempt, however poor, to help them. Drink, of course, was
+the chief cause of the downfall of most; but as I have already said,
+there were cases of genuine, undeserved poverty&mdash;like our sailor
+friend, overtaken with sickness in a foreign port. We induced some to
+sign the pledge and to keep it, if only temporarily, but I think that
+we ourselves got most out of the work, both in pleasure and uplift. I
+recall one clergyman, one doctor, and many men from the business world
+and clerk's life in the flotsam and jetsam.</p>
+
+<p>One poor creature, in the last stage of poverty and dirt, proved to be
+an honours man in Oxford. We looked up his record in the University. He
+assured us that he intended to begin again a new life, and we agreed to
+help start him. We took him to a respectable, temperance lodging-house,
+paid for a bed, a bath, and a supper, and purchased a good second-hand
+outfit of clothing for him. We were wise enough only to give this to
+him after we had taken away his own while he was having a bath in the
+tub. We did not give him a penny of money, fearing his lack of control.
+Next morning, however, when we went for him, he was gone&mdash;no one knew
+where. We had the neighbouring saloons searched, and soon got track of
+him. Some "friend" in the temperance house had given him sixpence. The
+barman offered him the whiskey; his hands trembled so that he could not
+lift the glass to his mouth, and the barman kindly poured it down his
+throat. We never saw him again.</p>
+
+<p>In this lodging-house work a friend, now a well-known artist and
+successful business man, often joined us two doctors.</p>
+
+<p>My growing experience had shown me that there was a better way to the
+hearts of my Sunday-School boys than merely talking to them. Like
+myself, they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>worshipped the athlete, whether he were a prize-fighter
+or a big football player. There were no Y.M.C.A.'s or other places for
+them to get any physical culture, so we arranged to clear our
+dining-room every Saturday evening, and give boxing lessons and
+parallel-bar work: the ceiling was too low for the horizontal. The
+transformation of the room was easily accomplished. The furniture was
+very primitive, largely our own construction, and we could throw out
+through the window every scrap of it except the table, which was soon
+"adapted." We also put up a quoit pitch in our garden.</p>
+
+<p>This is no place to discuss the spiritual influences of the "noble art
+of boxing." Personally I have always believed in its value; and my
+Sunday-School class soon learned the graces of fair play, how to take
+defeat and to be generous in victory. They began at once bringing
+"pals" whom my exegesis on Scripture would never have lured within my
+reach. We ourselves began to look forward to Saturday night and Sunday
+afternoon with an entirely new joy. We all learned to respect and so to
+love one another more&mdash;indeed, lifelong friendships were developed and
+that irrespective of our hereditary credal affiliations. The
+well-meaning clergyman, however, could not see the situation in that
+light, and declining all invitations to come and sample an evening's
+fun instead of condemning it unheard, or I should say, unseen, he
+delivered an ultimatum which I accepted&mdash;and resigned from his school.</p>
+
+<p>My Australian friend was at that time wrestling with a real ragged
+school on the Highway on Sunday afternoons. The poor children there
+were street waifs and as wild as untamed animals. So, being temporarily
+out of a Sunday job, I consented to join him.</p>
+
+<p>Our school-room this time owed no allegiance to any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>one but ourselves,
+and the work certainly proved a real labour of love. If the boys were
+allowed in a minute before there was a force to cope with them, the
+room would be wrecked. Everything movable was stolen immediately
+opportunity arose. Boys turned out or locked out during session would
+climb to the windows, and triumphantly wave stolen articles. On one
+occasion when I had "chucked out" a specially obstreperous youth, I was
+met with a shower of mud and stones as I passed through a narrow alley
+on my return home. The police were always at war with the boys, who
+annoyed them in similar and many other ways. I remember two scholars
+whose eyes were blacked and badly beaten by a "cop" who happened to
+catch them in our doorway, as they declared, "only waiting for Sunday
+School to open." Old scores were paid off by both parties whenever
+possible. My own boys did not stay in the old school long after I left,
+but came and asked me to keep a class on Sunday in our dining-room&mdash;an
+arrangement in which I gladly acquiesced, though it involved my
+eventually abandoning the ragged school, which was at least two miles
+distant.</p>
+
+<p>With the night work at the lodging-houses, we used to combine a very
+aggressive total abstinence campaign. The saloon-keepers as a rule
+looked upon us as harmless cranks, and I have no doubt were grateful
+for the leaflets we used to distribute to their customers. These served
+admirably for kindling purposes. At times, however, they got ugly, and
+once my friend, who was in a saloon talking to a customer, was trapped
+and whiskey poured into his mouth. On another occasion I noticed that
+the outer doors were shut and a couple of men backed up against them
+while I was talking to the bartender over the counter, and that a few
+other customers were closing in to repeat the same experiment on me.
+However, they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>greatly overrated their own stock of fitness and equally
+underrated my good training, for the scrimmage went all my own way in a
+very short time.</p>
+
+<p>If ever I told my football chums (for in those days I was playing hard)
+of these adventures in a nether world, they always wanted to come and
+co&ouml;perate; but I have always felt that reliance on physical strength
+alone is only a menace when the odds are so universally in favour of
+our friend the enemy. At this time also at St. Andrew's Church, just
+across the Whitechapel Road from the hospital, the clergyman was a fine
+athlete and good boxer. He was a brother of Lord Wenlock, and was one
+night returning from a mission service in the Highway when he was set
+upon by footpads and robbed of everything, including the boots off his
+feet. Meantime "Jack the Ripper" was also giving our residential
+section a most unsavoury reputation.</p>
+
+<p>My long vacations at this time were always taken on the sea. My brother
+and I used to hire an old fishing smack called the "Oyster," which we
+rechristened the "Roysterer." This we fitted out, provisioned, and put
+to sea in with an entirely untrained crew, and without even the
+convention of caring where we were bound so long as the winds bore us
+cheerily along. My brother was always cook&mdash;and never was there a
+better. We believed that he would have made a mark in the world as a
+chef, from his ability to satisfy our appetites and cater to our
+desires out of so ill-supplied a galley. We always took our departure
+from the north coast of Anglesea&mdash;a beautiful spot, and to us
+especially attractive as being so entirely out of the run of traffic
+that we could do exactly as we pleased. We invariably took our fishing
+gear with us, and thus never wanted for fresh food. We could replenish
+our bread, milk, butter, and egg supply at the numerous <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>small ports at
+which we called. The first year the crew consisted of my brother and
+me&mdash;skipper, mate, and cook between us&mdash;and an Oxford boating friend as
+second mate. For a deckhand we had a young East London parson, whom we
+always knew as "the Puffin," because he so closely resembled that
+particular bird when he had his vestments on. We sailed first for
+Ireland, but the wind coming ahead we ran instead for the Isle of Man.
+The first night at sea the very tall undergraduate as second mate had
+the 12 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> to 4 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> night watch. The tiller handle
+was very low, and when I gave him his course at midnight before turning
+in myself, he asked me if it would be a breach of nautical etiquette to
+sit down to steer, as that was the only alternative to directing the
+ship's course with his ankles. No land was in sight, and the wind had
+died out when I came on deck for my 4 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span> to 8 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>
+watch. I found the second mate sitting up rubbing his eyes as I emerged
+from the companion hatch.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, where are we now? How is her head? What's my course?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't worry about such commonplace details," he replied. "I have made
+an original discovery about these parts that I have never seen
+mentioned before."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" I asked innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he replied, "when I sat down to steer the course you gave
+brought a bright star right over the topmast head and that's what I
+started to steer by. It's a perfect marvel what a game these heavenly
+bodies play. We must be in some place like Alice in Wonderland. I just
+shut my eyes for a second and when next I opened them the sun was
+exactly where I had left that star&mdash;" and he fled for shelter.</p>
+
+<p>It is a wonder that we ever got anywhere, for we had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>not so much as a
+chronometer watch, and so in spite of a decrepit sextant even our
+latitude was often an uncertain quantity. However, we made the port of
+Douglas, whence we visited quite a part of the historic island. As our
+parson was called home from there, we wired for and secured another
+chum to share our labours. Our generally unconventional attire in
+fashionable summer resorts was at times quite embarrassing. Barelegged,
+bareheaded, and "tanned to a chip," I was carrying my friend's bag
+along the fashionable pier to see him off on his homeward journey, when
+a lady stopped me and asked me if I were an Eskimo, offering me a job
+if I needed one. I have wondered sometimes if it were a seat in a
+sideshow which she had designed for me.</p>
+
+<p>We spent that holiday cruising around the island. It included getting
+ashore off the north point of land and nearly losing the craft; and
+also in Ramsey Harbour a fracas with the harbour authorities. We had
+run that night on top of the full spring tide. Not knowing the harbour,
+we had tied up to the first bollard, and gone incontinently to sleep.
+We were awakened by the sound of water thundering on top of us, and
+rushing up found to our dismay that we were lying in the mud, and a
+large sewer was discharging right on to our decks. Before we had time
+to get away or clean up, the harbour master, coming alongside, called
+on us to pay harbour duties. We stoutly protested that as a pleasure
+yacht we were not liable and intended to resist to the death any such
+insult being put upon us. He was really able to see at once that we
+were just young fellows out for a holiday, but he had the last word
+before a crowd of sight-seers who had gathered on the quay above us.</p>
+
+<p>"Pleasure yacht, pleasure yacht, indeed!" he shouted as he rode away,
+"I can prove to any man with half an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>eye that you are nothing but one
+of them old coal or mud barges."</p>
+
+<p>The following year the wind suited better the other way. We were
+practically all young doctors this time, the cook being a very athletic
+chum in whose rooms were collected as trophies, in almost every branch
+of athletics, over seventy of what we called silver "pots." As a cook
+he proved a failure except in zeal. It didn't really interest him,
+especially when the weather was lively. On one occasion I reported to
+the galley, though I was the skipper that year, in search of the
+rice-pudding for dinner&mdash;Dennis, our cook, being temporarily
+indisposed. Such a sight as met my view! Had I been superstitious I
+should have fled. A great black column the circumference of the boiler
+had risen not less than a foot above the top rim, and was wearing the
+iron cover jauntily on one side as a helmet. It proved to be rice. He
+had filled the saucepan with dry rice, crowded in a little water,
+forced the lid on very tight and left it to its own devices!</p>
+
+<p>Nor, in his subsequent capacity as deckhand, did he redeem in our eyes
+the high qualities of seamanship which we had anticipated from him.</p>
+
+<p>Our tour took us this time through the Menai Straits, <i>via</i> Carnarvon
+and the Welsh coast, down the Irish Channel to Milford Haven. In the
+region of very heavy tides and dangerous rocks near the south Welsh
+coast, we doubled our watch at night. One night the wind fell very
+light, and we had stood close inshore in order to pass inside the
+Bishop Rocks. The wind died out at that very moment, and the heavy
+current driving us down on the rocky islands threatened prematurely to
+terminate our cruise. The cook was asleep, as usual when called, and at
+last aroused to the nature of the alarm, was found leaning forward over
+the ship's bows with a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>lighted candle. When asked what he was doing,
+he explained, "Why, looking for those bishops, of course."</p>
+
+<p>No holiday anywhere could be better sport than those cruises. There was
+responsibility, yet rest, mutual dependence, and a charming,
+unconventional way of getting acquainted with one's own country. We
+visited Carnarvon, Harlech, and other castles, lost our boat in a
+breeze of wind off Dynllyn, climbed Snowden from Pwllheli Harbour, and
+visited a dozen little out-of-the-world harbours that one would
+otherwise never see. Fishing and shooting for the pot, bathing and
+rowing, and every kind of healthy out-of-doors pleasure was indulged in
+along the road of travel. Moreover, it was all made to cost just as
+much or as little as you liked.</p>
+
+<p>Another amusing memory which still remains with me was at one little
+seaport where a very small man not over five feet high had married a
+woman considerably over six. He was an idle, drunken little rascal, and
+I met her one day striding down the street with her intoxicated little
+spouse wrapped up in her apron and feebly protesting.</p>
+
+<p>One result of these holidays was that I told my London boys about them,
+using one's experiences as illustrations; till suddenly it struck me
+that this was shabby Christianity. Why shouldn't these town cagelings
+share our holidays? Thirteen accompanied me the following summer. We
+had three tents, an old deserted factory, and an uninhabited gorge by
+the sea, all to ourselves on the Anglesea coast, among people who spoke
+only Welsh. Thus we had all the joys of foreign travel at very little
+cost.</p>
+
+<p>Among the many tricks the boys "got away with" was one at the big
+railway junction at Bangor, where we had an hour to wait. They
+apparently got into the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>baggage-room and stole a varied assortment of
+labels, which they industriously pasted over those on a large pile of
+luggage stacked on the platform. The subsequent tangle of destinations
+can better be imagined than described.</p>
+
+<p>Camp rules were simple&mdash;no clothing allowed except short blue knickers
+and gray flannel shirts, no shoes, stockings, or caps except on
+Sundays. The uniform was provided and was as a rule the amateur
+production of numerous friends, for our finances were strictly limited.
+The knickers were not particularly successful, the legs frequently
+being carried so high up that there was no space into which the body
+could be inserted. Every one had to bathe in the sea before he got any
+breakfast. I can still see ravenous boys staving off the evil hour till
+as near midday as possible. No one was allowed in the boats who
+couldn't swim, an art which they all quickly acquired. There was, of
+course, a regular fatigue party each day for the household duties. We
+had no beds&mdash;sleeping on long, burlap bags stuffed with hay. A very
+favourite pastime was afforded by our big lifeboat, an old one hired
+from the National Lifeboat Society. The tides flowed very strongly
+alongshore, east on the flood tide and west on the ebb. Food, fishing
+lines, and a skipper for the day being provided, the old boat would go
+off with the tide in the morning, the boys had a picnic somewhere
+during the slack-water interim, and came back with the return tide.</p>
+
+<p>When our numbers grew, as they did to thirty the second year, and
+nearly a hundred in subsequent seasons, thirty or more boys would be
+packed off daily in that way&mdash;and yet we never lost one of them. If
+they had not had as many lives as cats it would have been quite another
+story. The boat had sufficient sails to give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>the appearance to their
+unfamiliar eyes of being a sailing vessel, but the real work was done
+with twelve huge oars, two boys to an oar being the rule. At nights
+they used to come drifting homeward on the returning tides singing
+their dirges, like some historic barge of old. There was one familiar
+hymn called "Bringing in the Sheaves," which like everything else these
+rascals adapted for the use of the moment; and many a time the
+returning barge would be announced to us cooking supper in the old
+factory or in the silent gorge, by the ringing echoes of many voices
+beating with their oars as they came on to the words:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Pulling at the sweeps,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pulling at the sweeps;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Here we come rejoicing,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Pulling at the sweeps."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noin">As soon as the old boat's keel slid up upon the beach, there would be a
+rush of as appreciative a supper party as ever a cook had the pleasure
+of catering for.</p>
+
+<p>An annual expedition was to the top of Mount Snowdon, the highest in
+England or Wales. It was attempted by land and water. Half of us
+tramped overland in forced marches to the beautiful Menai Straits,
+crossed the suspension bridge, and were given splendid hospitality and
+good beds on the straw of the large stables at the beautiful country
+seat of a friend at Treborth. Here the boat section who came around the
+island were to meet us, anchoring their craft on the south side of the
+Straits. Our second year the naval division did not turn up, and some
+had qualms of conscience that evil might have overtaken them. Nor did
+they arrive until we by land had conquered the summit, travelling by
+Bethesda and the famous slate quarries, and returning for the second
+evening at Treborth. We then found that they had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>stranded on the
+sands in Red Wharf Bay, so far from shore that they could neither go
+forward nor back; had thus spent their first night in a somewhat chilly
+manner in old bathing machines by the land wash, and supped off the
+superfluous hard biscuit which they had been reserving for the return
+voyage. They were none the worse, however, our genial host making it up
+to them in an extra generous provision and a special evening
+entertainment. One of my smartest boys (a Jew by nationality, for we
+made no distinctions in election to our class), in recounting his
+adventures to me next day, said: "My! Doctor, I did have some fun
+kidding that waiter in the white choker. He took a liking to me so I
+let him pal up. I told him my name was Lord Shaftesbury when I was
+home, but I asked him not to let it out, and the old bloke promised he
+wouldn't." The "old bloke" happened to be our host, who was always in
+dress-clothes in the evening, the only time we were at his house.</p>
+
+<p>These holidays were the best lessons of love I could show my boys. It
+drew us very closely together; and to make the boys feel it less a
+charitable affair, every one was encouraged to save up his railway fare
+and as much more as possible. By special arrangement with the railway
+and other friends, and by very simple living, the per caput charges
+were so much reduced that many of the boys not only paid their own
+expenses, but even helped their friends. The start was always attended
+by a crowd of relatives, all helping with the baggage. The father of
+one of my boys was a costermonger, and had a horse that he had obtained
+very cheap because it had a disease of the legs. He always kept it in
+the downstairs portion of his house, which it entered by the front
+door. It was a great pleasure to him to come and cart our things free
+to the station. The boys used to load his cart <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>at our house, and I
+remember one time that they made him haul unconsciously all the way to
+the big London terminal at Euston half our furniture, including our
+coal boxes. His son, a most charming boy, made good in life in
+Australia and bought a nice house in one of the suburbs for his father
+and mother. I had the pleasure one night of meeting them all there. The
+father was terribly uneasy, for he said he just could not get
+accustomed to it. All his old "pals" were gone, and his neighbours'
+tastes and interests were a great gulf between them. I heard later that
+as soon as his son left England again the old man sold the house, and
+returned to the more congenial associations of a costermonger's life,
+where I believe he died in harness.</p>
+
+<p>The last two years of my stay in London being occupied with resident
+work at hospital, I could not find time for such far-off holidays, and
+at the suggestion of my chief, Sir Frederick Treves, himself a
+Dorsetshire man, we camped by permission of our friends, the owners, in
+the grounds of Lulworth Castle, close by the sea. The class had now
+developed into a semi-military organization. We had acquired real
+rifles&mdash;old-timers from the Tower of London&mdash;and our athletic clubs
+were portions of the Anglesey Boys' Brigade, which antedated the Boys'
+Brigade of Glasgow, forerunner of the Church Lads' Brigade, and the Boy
+Scouts.</p>
+
+<p>One of the great attractions of the new camping-ground was the
+exquisite country and the splendid coast, with chalk cliffs over which
+almost any one could fall with impunity. Lulworth Cove, one of the most
+picturesque in England, was the summer resort of my chief, and he being
+an expert mariner and swimmer used not only very often to join us at
+camp, but always gave the boys a fine regatta and picnic at his
+cottage. Our water <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>polo games were also a great feature here, the
+water being warm and enabling us easily to play out the games. There
+are also numerous beautiful castles and country houses all the way
+between Swanage and Weymouth, and we had such kindness extended to us
+wherever we went that every day was a dream of joy to the lads. Without
+any question they acquired new visions and ideals through these
+experiences.</p>
+
+<p>We always struck camp at the end of a fortnight, having sometimes
+arranged with other friends with classes of their own to step into our
+shoes. The present head master of Shrewsbury and many other
+distinguished persons shared with us some of the educative joys of
+those days. Among the many other more selfish portions of the holidays
+none stand out more clearly in my memory than the August days when
+partridge and grouse shooting used to open. Most of my shooting was
+done over the delightful highlands around Bishop's Castle in
+Shropshire, on the outskirts of the Welsh hills, in Clun Forest, and on
+the heather-covered Longmynds. How I loved those days, and the friends
+who made them possible&mdash;the sound of the beaters, the intelligent
+setters and retrievers, the keepers in velveteens, the lunches under
+the shade of the great hedges or in lovely cottages, where the ladies
+used to meet us at midday, and every one used to jolly you about not
+shooting straight, and you had to take refuge in a thousand "ifs."</p>
+
+<p>As one looks back on it all from Labrador, it breathes the aroma of an
+old civilization and ancient customs. Much of the shooting was over the
+old lands of the Walcotts of Walcott Hall, a family estate that had
+been bought up by Earl Clive on his return from India, and was now in
+the hands of his descendant, an old bachelor who shot very little,
+riding from one good stand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>to another on a steady old pony. There were
+many such estates, another close by being that of the Oakovers of
+Oakover, a family that has since sold their heritage.</p>
+
+<p>A thousand time-honoured old customs, only made acceptable by their
+hoary age, added, and still continue to add in the pleasures of memory,
+to the joys of those days, with which golf and tennis and all the
+wonderful luxury of the modern summer hotel seem never able to compete.
+It is right, however, that such eras should pass.</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful forest of Savernake, that in my school days I had loved
+so well, and which meant so much to us boys, spoke only too loudly of
+the evil heirloom of the laws of entail. Spendthrift and dissolute
+heirs had made it impossible for the land to be utilized for the
+benefit of the people, and yet kept it in the hands of utterly
+undeserving persons. Being of royal descent they still bore a royal
+name even in my day; but it was told of them that the last, who had
+been asked to withdraw from the school, on one occasion when, half
+drunk, he was defending himself from the gibes and jeers of grooms and
+'ostlers whom he had made his companions, rose with ill-assumed dignity
+and with an oath declared that he was their king by divine right if
+only he had his dues. Looking back it seems to me that the germs of
+democratic tendencies were sown in me by just those very incidents.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>I have never ceased to regret that there was not more corporate life in
+our medical school, but I believe that conditions have been greatly
+improved since my day. Here and there two or three classmates would
+"dig" together, but otherwise, except at lectures or in hospitals, we
+seldom met unless it was on the athletic teams. We had no playground of
+our own, and so, unable to get other hospitals to combine, when a now
+famous St. Thomas man and myself hired part of the justly celebrated
+London Rowing Club Headquarters at Putney for a united hospitals'
+headquarters, we used to take our blazers and more cherished
+possessions home with us at night for fear of distraint of rent.</p>
+
+<p>They were great days. Rowing on the Thames about Putney is not like
+that at Oxford on a mill-pond, or as at Cambridge on what we nicknamed
+a drain that should be roofed over. Its turgid waters were often rough
+enough to sink a rowing shell, and its busy traffic was a thing with
+which to reckon. But it offered associations with all kinds of
+interesting places, historical and otherwise, from the Star and Garter
+at Richmond and the famous Park away to Boulter's Lock and Cleveden
+Woods, to the bathing pools about Taplow Court, the seat of the senior
+branch of our family, and to Marlow and Goring where our annual club
+outings were held. Twice I rowed in the inter-hospital race from Putney
+to Mortlake, once as bow and again as stroke. During those early days
+the "London" frequently had the best boat on the river.</p>
+
+<p>Having now finished my second year at hospital and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>taken my
+preliminary examinations, including the scientific preliminary, and my
+first bachelor of medicine for the University of London degree, I had
+advanced to the dignity of "walking the hospitals," carried a large
+shining stethoscope, and spent much time following the famous
+physicians and surgeons around the wards.</p>
+
+<p>Our first appointment was clerking in the medical wards. We had each so
+many beds allotted to us, and it was our business to know everything
+about the patients who occupied them, to keep accurate "histories" of
+all developments, and to be ready to be quizzed and queried by our
+resident house physician, or our visiting consultant on the afternoon
+when he made his rounds, followed by larger or smaller crowds of
+students according to the value which was placed upon his teaching. I
+was lucky enough to work under the famous Sir Andrew Clark, Mr.
+Gladstone's great physician. He was a Scotchman greatly beloved, and
+always with a huge following to whom he imparted far more valuable
+truths than even the medical science of thirty years ago afforded. His
+constant message, repeated and repeated at the risk of wearying, was:
+"Gentlemen, you must observe for yourselves. It is your observation and
+not your memory which counts. It is the patient and not the disease
+whom you are treating."</p>
+
+<p>Compared with the methods of diagnosis to-day those then were very
+limited, but Sir Andrew's message was the more important, showing the
+greatness of the man, who, though at the very top of the tree, never
+for a moment tried to convey to his followers that his knowledge was
+final, but that any moment he stood ready to abandon his position for a
+better one. On one occasion, to illustrate this point, while he was in
+one of the largest of our wards (one with four divisions and twenty
+beds each) he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>was examining a lung case, while a huge class of fifty
+young doctors stood around.</p>
+
+<p>"What about the sputum, Mr. Jones?" he asked. "What have you observed
+coming from these lungs?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is not much quantity, sir. It is greenish in colour."</p>
+
+<p>"But what about the microscope, Mr. Jones? What does that show?"</p>
+
+<p>"No examination has been made, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Gentlemen," he said, "I will now go to the other ward, and you shall
+choose a specimen of the sputum of some of these cases. When I return
+we will examine it and see what we can learn."</p>
+
+<p>When he returned, four specimens awaited him, the history and diagnoses
+of the cases being known only to the class. The class never forgot how
+by dissolving and boiling, and with the microscope, he told us almost
+more from his examination of each case than we knew from all our other
+information. His was real teaching, and reminds one of the Glasgow
+professor who, in order to emphasize the same point of the value of
+observation, prepared a little cupful of kerosene, mustard, and castor
+oil, and calling the attention of his class to it, dipped a finger into
+the atrocious compound and then sucked his finger. He then passed the
+mixture around to the students who all did the same with most dire
+results. When the cup returned and he observed the faces of his
+students, he remarked: "Gentlemen, I am afraid you did not use your
+powers of obsairvation. The finger that I put into the cup was no the
+same one that I stuck in my mouth afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Stephen Mackenzie, who operated on the Emperor Frederick, was
+another excellent teacher under whom we had the good fortune to study.
+Indeed, whatever could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>be said against the teaching of our college, in
+this much more important field of learning, the London Hospital was
+most signally fortunate, and, moreover, was famed not only in London,
+but all the world over. Our "walking class" used to number men from the
+United States to Australia, insomuch that the crowds became so large
+that the teachers could not get room to pass along. It was this fact
+which led to the practice, now almost universal, of carrying the
+patient in his bed with a nurse in attendance into the theatre for
+observation as more comfortable and profitable for all concerned.</p>
+
+<p>On changing over to the surgical side in the hospital, we were employed
+in a very similar manner, only we were called "dressers," and under the
+house surgeon had all the care of a number of surgical patients. My
+good fortune now brought me under the chieftaincy of Sir Frederick
+Treves, the doyen of teachers. His great message was self-reliance. He
+taught dogmatically as one having authority, and always insisted that
+we should make up our minds, have a clear idea of what we were doing,
+and then do it. His ritual was always thought out, no detail being
+omitted, and each person had exactly his share of work and his share of
+responsibility. It used greatly to impress patients, and he never
+underestimated the psychical value of having their complete confidence.
+Thus, on one occasion asking a dresser for his diagnosis, the student
+replied:</p>
+
+<p>"It might be a fracture, sir, or it might be only sprained."</p>
+
+<p>"The patient is not interested to know that it might be measles, or it
+might be toothache. The patient wants to know what is the matter, and
+it is your business to tell it to him or he will go to a quack who will
+inform him at once."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>All his teachings were, like Mark Twain's, enhanced by such
+over-emphasis or exaggeration. He could make an article in the "British
+Medical Journal" on Cholecystenterostomy amusing to a general reader,
+and make an ordinary remark as cutting as an amputation knife. He never
+permitted laxity of any kind in personal appearance or dress, or any
+imposing on the patients. His habit of saying openly exactly what he
+meant made many people fear, as much as they respected, him. However,
+he was always, in spite of it, the most popular of all the chiefs
+because he was so worth while.</p>
+
+<p>One incident recurs to my mind which I must recount as an example when
+psychology failed. A Whitechapel "lady," suffering with a very violent
+form of delirium tremens, was lying screeching in a strait-jacket on
+the cushioned floor of the padded room. With the usual huge queue of
+students following, he had gone in to see her, as I had been unable to
+get the results desired with a reasonable quantity of sedatives and
+soporifics. It was a very rare occasion, for cases which did not
+involve active surgery he left strictly alone. After giving a talk on
+psychical influence he had the jacket removed as "a relic of
+barbarism," and in a very impressive way looking into her glaring eyes
+and shaking his forefinger at her, he said: "Now, you are comfortable,
+my good woman, and will sleep. You will make no more disturbance
+whatever." There was an unusual silence. The woman remained absolutely
+passive, and we all turned to follow the chief out. Suddenly the "lady"
+called out, "Hi, hi,"&mdash;and some perverse spirit induced Sir Frederick
+to return. Looking back with defiant eyes she screamed out, "You! You
+with a faice! You do think yerself &mdash;&mdash; &mdash;&mdash; clever, don't yer?" The
+strange situation was only relieved by his bursting into a genuine fit
+of laughter.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>Among other celebrated men who were admired and revered was Mr. Harry
+Fenwick on the surgical side, for whom I had the honour of illustrating
+in colours his prize Jacksonian essay. Any talent for sketching,
+especially in colours, is of great value to the student of medicine.
+Once you have sketched a case from nature, with the object of showing
+the peculiarity of the abnormality, it remains permanently in your
+mind. Besides this, it forces you to note small differences; in other
+words, it teaches you to "obsairve." Thus, in the skin department I was
+sent to reproduce a case of anthrax of the neck, a rare disease in
+England, though all men handling raw hides are liable to contract it.
+The area had to be immediately excised; yet one never could forget the
+picture on one's mind. On another occasion a case of genuine leprosy
+was brought in, with all the dreadful signs of the disease. The macula
+rash was entirely unique so far as I knew, but a sketch greatly helped
+to fix it on one's memory. The poor patient proved to be one of the men
+who was handling the meat in London's greatest market at Smithfield. A
+tremendous hue and cry spread over London when somehow the news got
+into the paper, and vegetarianism received a temporary boost which in
+my opinion it still badly needs for the benefit of the popular welfare.</p>
+
+<p>Among the prophets of that day certainly should be numbered another of
+our teachers, Dr. Sutton, an author, and very much of a personality.
+For while being one of the consulting physicians of the largest of
+London hospitals, he was naturally scientific and strictly
+professional. He was very far, however, from being the conventionalist
+of those days, and the younger students used to look greatly askance at
+him. His message always was: "Drugs are very little use whatever.
+Nature is the source of healing. Give her a chance." Thus, a careful
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>history would be read over to him; all the certain signs of typhoid
+would be noted&mdash;and his comment almost always was: "This case won't
+benefit by drugs. We will have the bed wheeled out into the sunshine."
+The next case would be acute lobar pneumonia and the same treatment
+would be adopted. "This patient needs air, gentlemen. We must wheel him
+out into the sunshine"&mdash;and so on. How near we are coming to his
+teaching in these days is already impressing itself upon our minds.
+Unfortunately the fact that the doctors realize that medicines are not
+so potent as our forbears thought has not left the public with the
+increased confidence in the profession which the infinitely more
+rational treatment of to-day justifies, and valuable time is wasted and
+fatal delays incurred, by a return of the more impressionable public to
+quacks with high-sounding titles, or to cults where faith is almost
+credulity.</p>
+
+<p>Truly one has lived through wonderful days in the history of the
+healing art. The first operations which I saw performed at our
+hospitals were before Lord Lister's teaching was practised; though even
+in my boyhood I remember getting leave to run up from Marlborough to
+London to see my brother, on whom Sir Joseph Lister had operated for
+osteomyelitis of the leg. Our most famous surgeon in 1880 was Sir
+Walter Rivington; and to-day there rises in memory the picture of him
+removing a leg at the thigh, clad in a blood-stained, black velvet
+coat, and without any attempt at or idea of asepsis. The main thing was
+speed, although the patient was under ether, and in quickly turning
+round the tip of the sword-like amputation knife, he made a gash in the
+patient's other leg. The whole thing seemed horrible enough to us
+students, but the surgeon smiled, saying, "Fortunately it is of no
+importance, gentlemen. The man will not live."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>The day came when every one worked under clouds of carbolic steam which
+fizzed and spouted from large brass boilers over everything; and then
+the time when every one was criticizing the new, young surgeon, Treves,
+who was daring to discard it, and getting as good results by scrupulous
+cleanliness. His aphorism was, "Gentlemen, the secret of surgery is the
+nailbrush." Now with blood examinations, germ cultures, sera tests,
+X-rays, and a hundred added improvements, one can say to a fisherman in
+far-off Labrador arriving on a mail steamer, and to whom every hour
+lost in the fishing season spells calamity, "Yes, brother, you can be
+operated on and the wound will be healed and you will be ready to go
+back by the next steamer, unless some utterly unforeseen circumstance
+arises."</p>
+
+<p>The fallibility of diagnosis was at this very impressionable time fixed
+upon my mind&mdash;a fact that has since served me in good stead. For what
+can be more reactionary in human life than the man who thinks he knows
+it all, whether it be in science, philosophy, or religion?</p>
+
+<p>During my Christmas vacation I was asked to go north and visit my
+father's brother, a well-known captain in Her Majesty's Navy, who was
+also an inventor in gun machinery and sighting apparatus, and who had
+been appointed the naval head of Lord Armstrong's great works at
+Yarrow-on-the-Tyne. All that I was told was that he had been taken with
+such severe pains in the back that he needed some one with him, and my
+new-fledged dignity of "walking the hospitals" was supposed to qualify
+me especially for the post. Already my uncle had seen many doctors in
+London and had been ordered to the Continent for rest. After some
+months, not a bit improved, he had again returned to London. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>This time
+the doctor told his wife that it was a mental trouble, and that he
+should be sent to an asylum. This she most indignantly denied, and yet
+desired my company as the only medical Grenfell, who at such a crisis
+could stay in the house without being looked upon as a warder or
+keeper. Meantime they had consulted Sir C.P., who had told my uncle
+that he had an aneurism of his aorta, and that he must be prepared to
+have it break and kill him any minute. His preparations were
+accordingly all made, and personally I fully anticipated that he would
+fall dead before I left. He put up a wonderful fight against
+excruciating pain, of which I was frequently a witness. But the days
+went by and nothing happened, so I returned to town and another young
+doctor took my place. He also got tired of waiting and suggested it
+might be some spinal trouble. He induced them once more to visit London
+and see Sir Victor Horsley, whose work on the brains of animals and men
+had marked an epoch in our knowledge of the central nervous system.
+Some new symptoms had now supervened, and the famous neurologist at
+once diagnosed a tumour in the spinal canal. Such a case had never
+previously been operated on successfully, but there was no alternative.
+The operation was brilliantly performed and a wonderful success
+obtained. The case was quoted in the next edition of our surgical
+textbooks.</p>
+
+<p>A little later my father's health began to fail in London, the worries
+and troubles of a clergyman's work among the poor creatures who were
+constantly passing under his care utterly overwhelming him. We had
+agreed that a long change of thought was necessary and he and I started
+for a fishing and sight-seeing tour in Norway. Our steamer was to sail
+from the Tyne, and we went up to Newcastle to catch it. There some evil
+fiend persuaded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>my father to go and consult a doctor about his
+illness, for Newcastle has produced some well-known names in medicine.
+Thus, while I waited at the hotel to start, my father became persuaded
+that he had some occult disease of the liver, and must remain in
+Newcastle for treatment. I, however, happened to be treasurer of the
+voyage, and for the first time asserting my professional powers,
+insisted that I was family physician for the time, and turned up in the
+evening with all our round-trip tickets and reservations taken and paid
+for. In the morning I had the trunks packed and conveyed aboard, and we
+sailed together for one of the most enjoyable holidays I ever spent. We
+travelled much afoot and in the little native carriages called
+"stolkj&aelig;rre," just jogging along, staying anywhere, fishing in streams,
+and living an open-air life which the increasing flood of tourists in
+after years have made much less possible. We both came back fitter in
+body and soul for our winter's work.</p>
+
+<p>My father's death a year later made a great difference to me, my mother
+removing to live with my grandmother at Hampstead, it being too lonely
+and not safe for her to live alone in East London. Twice our house had
+been broken into by burglars, though both times fruitlessly. The second
+occasion was in open daylight during the hour of evening service on a
+Sunday. Only a couple of maids would have been in the house had I not
+been suffering from two black eyes contracted during the Saturday's
+football game. Though I had accompanied the others out, decidedly my
+appearance might have led to misinterpretations in church, and I had
+returned unnoticed. The men escaped by some method which they had
+discovered of scaling a high fence, but I was close behind following
+them through the window by which they had entered. Shortly afterward I
+happened <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>to be giving evidence at the Old Bailey on one of the many
+cases of assault and even murder where the victims were brought into
+hospital as patients. London was ringing with the tale of a barefaced
+murder at Murray Hill in North London, where an exceedingly clever
+piece of detective work, an old lantern discovered in a pawnbroker's
+shop in Whitechapel&mdash;miles away from the scene of the crime&mdash;was the
+means of bringing to trial four of the most rascally looking villains I
+ever saw. The trial preceded ours and we had to witness it. One of the
+gang had turned "Queen's evidence" to save his own neck. So great was
+the hatred of the others for him and the desire for revenge that even
+in the court they were hand-cuffed and in separate stands. Fresh from
+my own little fracas I learned what a fool I had been, for in this case
+also the deed was done in open daylight, and the lawn had tight wires
+stretched across it. The young son, giving chase as I did, had been
+tripped up and shot through his abdomen for his pains. He had, however,
+crawled back, made his will, and was subsequently only saved by a big
+operation. He looked in terrible shape when giving evidence at the
+trial.</p>
+
+<p>The giving of expert evidence on such occasions was the only
+opportunity which the young sawbones had of earning money. True we only
+got a guinea a day and expenses, but there were no other movie shows in
+those days, and we learned a lot about medical jurisprudence, a subject
+which always greatly interested me. It was no uncommon sight either at
+the "London" or the "Poplar," at both of which I did interne work, to
+see a policeman always sitting behind the screen at the foot of the
+patient's bed. One man, quite a nice fellow when not occupied in crime,
+had when furiously drunk killed his wife and cut his own throat. By the
+curious custom of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>society all the skill and money that the hospital
+could offer to save a most valuable life was as usual devoted to
+restoring this man to health. He was weaned slowly back from the grave
+by special nurses and treatment, till it began to dawn upon him that he
+might have to stand his trial. He would ask me if I thought he would
+have to undergo a long term, for he had not been conscious of what he
+was doing. As he grew better, and the policeman arrived to watch him,
+he decided that it would probably be quite a long time. He had a little
+place of his own somewhere, and he used to have chickens and other
+presents sent up to fellow patients, and would have done so to the
+nurses, only they could not receive them. I was not personally present
+at his trial, but I felt really sorry to hear that they hanged him.</p>
+
+<p>Many of these poor fellows were only prevented from ending their own
+lives by our using extreme care. The case of one wretched man, driven
+to desperation, I still remember. "Patient male; age forty-five;
+domestic trouble&mdash;fired revolver into his mouth. Finding no phenomena
+of interest develop, fired a second chamber into his right ear. Still
+no symptoms worthy of notice. Patient threw away pistol and walked to
+hospital." Both bullets had lodged in the thick parts of his skull, and
+doing no damage were left there. A subsequent note read: "Patient
+to-day tried to cut his throat with a dinner-knife which he had hidden
+in his bed. Patient met with no success." Another of my cases which
+interested me considerably was that of a professional burglar who had
+been operated upon in almost every part of the kingdom, and was
+inclined to be communicative, as the job which had brought him to
+hospital had cost him a broken spine. Very little hope was held out to
+him that he would ever walk again. He was clear of murder, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>he said
+it was never his practice to carry firearms, being a nervous man and
+apt to use them if he had them and got alarmed when busy burglaring. He
+relied chiefly on his extraordinary agility and steady head to escape.
+His only yarn, however, was his last. He and a friend had been detailed
+by the gang to the job of plundering one of a row of houses. The plans
+of the house and of the enterprise were all in order, but some
+unexpected alarm was given and he fled upstairs, climbed through a
+skylight onto the roof, and ran along the gables of the tiles, not far
+ahead of the police, who were armed and firing at him. He could easily
+have gotten away, as he could run along the coping of the brick parapet
+without turning a hair, but he was brought up by a narrow side street
+on which he had not counted, not having anticipated, like cats, a
+battle on the tiles. It was only some twelve or fifteen feet across the
+gap, and the landing on the other side was a flat roof. Taking it all
+at a rush he cleared the street successfully, but the flat roof, black
+with ages of soot, proved to be a glass skylight, and he entered a
+house in a way new even to him. His falling on a stone floor many feet
+below accounted for his "unfortunate accident"! After many months in
+bed, the man took an unexpected turn, his back mended, and with only a
+slight leg paralysis he was able to return to the outside world. His
+long suffering and incarceration in hospital were accepted by the law
+as his punishment, and he assured me by all that he held sacred that he
+intended to retire into private life. Oddly enough, however, while on
+another case, I saw him again in the prisoner's dock and at once went
+over and spoke to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Drink this time, Doctor," he said. "I was down on my luck and the
+barkeeper went out and left his till open. I climbed over and got the
+cash, but there was so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>little space between the bar and the wall that
+with my stiff back I couldn't for the life of me get back. I was jammed
+like a stopper in a bottle."</p>
+
+<p>Among many interesting experiences, one especially I shall never
+forget. Like the others, it occurred during my service for Sir
+Frederick Treves as house-surgeon, and I believe he told the story. A
+very badly burned woman had been brought into hospital. Her dress had
+somehow got soaked in paraffin and had then taken fire. Her terribly
+extensive burns left no hope whatever of her recovery, and only the
+conventions of society kept us from giving the poor creature the relief
+of euthanasia, or some cup of laudanum negus. But the law was
+interested. A magistrate was brought to the bedside and the husband
+sent for. The nature of the evidence, the meaning of an oath, the
+importance of the poor creature acknowledging that her words were
+spoken "in hopeless fear of immediate death," were all duly impressed
+upon what remained of her mind. The police then brought in the savage,
+degraded-looking husband, and made him stand between two policemen at
+the foot of the bed, facing his mangled wife. The magistrate, after
+preliminary questions, asked her to make her dying statement as to how
+she came by her death. There was a terrible moment of silence. It
+seemed as if her spirit were no longer able to respond to the stimuli
+of life on earth. Then a sudden rebound appeared to take place, her
+eyes lit up with a flash of light, and even endeavouring to raise her
+piteous body, she said, "It was an accident, Judge. I upset the lamp
+myself, so help me God"; and just for one moment her eyes met those of
+her miserable husband. It was the last time she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>Tragedy and comedy ran hand in hand even in this work. St. Patrick's
+Day always made the hospital busy, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>just as Christmas was the season
+for burned children. Beer in an East London "pub" was generally served
+in pewter pots, as they were not easily broken. A common head injury
+was a circular scalp cut made by the heavy bottom rim, a wound which
+bled horribly. A woman was brought in on one St. Patrick's Day, her
+scalp turned forward over her face and her long hair a mass of clotted
+blood from such a stroke, made while she was on the ground. When the
+necessary readjustments had been made and she was leaving hospital
+cured, we asked her what had been the cause of the trouble. "'Twas just
+an accidint, yer know. Sure, me an' another loidy was just havin' a few
+words."</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion late at night, we were called out of bed by a
+cantankerous, half-drunken fellow whom the night porter could not
+pacify. "I'm a regular subscriber to this hospital, and I have never
+had my dues yet," he kept protesting. A new drug to produce immediate
+vomiting had just been put on the market, and as it was exactly the
+treatment he required, we gave him an injection. To our dismay, though
+the medicine is in common use to-day, either the poison which he had
+been drinking or the drug itself caused a collapse followed by head
+symptoms. He was admitted, his head shaved and icebags applied, with
+the result that next day he was quite well again. But when he left he
+had, instead of a superabundance of curly, auburn hair, a polished
+white knob oiled and shining like a State House at night. We debated
+whether his subscription would be as regular in future, though he
+professed to be profoundly grateful.</p>
+
+<p>I have digressed, but the intimacy which grew up between some of my
+patients and myself seemed worth while recounting, for they showed me
+what I never in any other way could have understood about the seamy
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>side of life in great cities, of its terrible tragedies and pathos, of
+how much good there is in the worst, and how much need of courage, and
+what vast opportunities lie before those who accept the service of man
+as their service to God. It proved to me how infinitely more needed are
+unselfish deeds than orthodox words, and how much the churches must
+learn from the Labour Party, the Socialist Party, the Trades-Union,
+before tens of thousands of our fellow beings, with all their hopes and
+fears, loves and aspirations, have a fair chance to make good. I
+learned also to hate the liquor traffic with a loathing of my soul. I
+met peers of the realm honoured with titles because they had grown rich
+on the degradation of my friends. I saw lives damned, cruelties of
+every kind perpetrated, jails and hospitals filled, misery, want,
+starvation, murder, all caused by men who fattened off the profits and
+posed as gentlemen and great people. I have seen men's mouths closed
+whose business in life it was to speak out against this accursed trade.
+I have seen men driven from the profession of priests of God, making
+the Church a stench in the nostrils of men who knew values just as well
+as those trained in the universities do, all through alcohol, alcohol,
+alcohol. This awful war has been dragging its weary course for over
+four years now, and yet England has not tackled this curse which is
+throttling her. We sing "God save the King," and pretend to believe in
+the prayer, and yet we will not face this glaring demon in our midst.
+Words may clothe ideas, but it takes deeds to realize them.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<p>My parents having gone, it became necessary for me to find
+lodgings&mdash;which I did, "unfurnished," in the house of a Portuguese
+widow. Her husband, who had a good family name, had gone down in the
+world, and had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>disappeared with another "lady." The eldest son, a
+mathematical genius, had been able to pay his way through Cambridge
+University by the scholarships and prizes which he had won. One
+beautiful little dark-eyed daughter of seven was playing in a West End
+Theatre as the dormouse in "Alice in Wonderland." She was second fiddle
+to Alice herself, also, and could sing all her songs. Her pay was some
+five pounds a week, poor enough for the attraction she proved, but more
+than all the rest of the family put together earned. At that time I
+never went to theatres. Acquaintances had persuaded me that so many of
+the girls were ruined on the stage that for a man taking any interest
+in Christian work whatever, it was wrong to attend. Moreover, among my
+acquaintances there were not a few theatre fans, and I had nothing in
+common with them. The "dormouse," however, used to come up and say her
+parts for my benefit, and that of occasional friends, and was so modest
+and winsome, and her earnings so invaluable to the family, that I
+entirely altered my opinion. Then and there I came to the conclusion
+that the drama was an essential part of art, and that those who were
+trying to elevate and cleanse it, like Sir Henry Irving, whose son I
+had met at Marlborough, must have the support of a public who demanded
+clean plays and good conditions both in front and behind the screen.
+When I came to London my father had asked me not to go to anything but
+Shakespearian or equally well-recognized plays until I was twenty-one.
+Only once did I enter a music hall and I had plenty to satisfy me in a
+very few minutes. Vaudevilles are better than in those days. The censor
+does good work, but it is still the demand which creates the supply,
+and whatever improvement has occurred has been largely due to the taste
+of the patrons. Medical students need all the open air <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>they can get in
+order to keep body and soul fit, and our contempt for the theatre fan
+was justifiable.</p>
+
+<p>My new lodgings being close to Victoria Park afforded the opportunity
+for training if one were unconventional. To practise throwing the
+sixteen-pound hammer requires rough ground and plenty of space, and as
+I was scheduled for that at the inter-hospital sports, it was necessary
+to work when not too many disinterested parties were around. Even an
+East-Ender's skull is not hammer-proof, as I had seen when a poor woman
+was brought into hospital with five circular holes in her head, the
+result of blows inflicted by her husband with a hammer. The only excuse
+which the ruffian offered for the murder was that she had forgotten to
+wake him, he had been late, and lost his job.</p>
+
+<p>A number of the boys in my class were learning to swim. There was only
+one bathing lake and once the waters were troubled we drew the line at
+going in to give lessons. So we used to meet at the gate at the hour of
+opening in the morning, and thus be going back before most folks were
+moving. Nor did we always wait for the park keeper, but often scaled
+the gates and so obtained an even more exclusive dip. Many an evening
+we would also "flannel," and train round and round the park, or Hackney
+Common, to improve one's wind before some big event. For diet at that
+time I used oatmeal, milk, and eggs, and very little or no meat. It was
+cheaper and seemed to give me more endurance; and the real value of
+money was dawning on me.</p>
+
+<p>Victoria Park is one of those open forums where every man with a sore
+spot goes out to air his grievance. On Sundays there were little groups
+around the trees where orators debated on everything from a patent
+medicine to the nature of God. Charles Bradlaugh and Mrs. Annie <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>Besant
+were associated together in iconoclastic efforts against orthodox
+religion, and there was so much truth in some of their contentions that
+they were making no little disturbance. Hanging on their skirts were a
+whole crowd of ignorant, dogmatic atheists, who published a paper
+called "The Freethinker," which, while it was a villainous and
+contemptible rag, appealed to the passions and prejudices of the
+partially educated. To answer the specious arguments of their
+propaganda an association known as the Christian Evidence Society used
+to send out lecturers. One of them became quite famous for his clever
+arguments and answers, his ready wit, and really extensive reading. He
+was an Antiguan, a black man named Edwards, and had been a sailor
+before the mast. I met him at the parish house of an Episcopal
+clergyman of a near-by church, who, under the caption of Christian
+socialism, ran all kinds of social agencies that really found their way
+to the hearts of the people. His messages were so much more in deeds
+than in words that he greatly appealed to me, and I transferred my
+allegiance to his church, which was always well filled. I particularly
+remember among his efforts the weekly parish dance. My religious
+acquaintances were apt to class all such simple amusements in a sort of
+general category as "works of the Devil," and turn deaf ears to every
+invitation to point out any evil results, being satisfied with their
+own statement that it was the "thin edge of the wedge." This good man,
+however, was very obviously driving a wedge into the hearts of many of
+his poor neighbours who in those days found no opportunity for relief
+in innocent pleasures from the sordid round of life in the drab
+purlieus of Bethnal Green. This clergyman was a forerunner of his
+neighbour, the famous Samuel Barnett of Mile End, who thought out,
+started, and for many years <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>presided over Toynbee House, the first big
+university settlement in East London. His workers preached their gospel
+through phrases and creeds which they accepted with mental
+reservations, but just exactly in such ways as they believed in
+absolutely. At first it used to send a shiver down my spine to find a
+church worker who didn't believe in the Creed, and stumbled over all
+our fundamentals. At first it amazed me that such men would pay their
+own expenses to live in a place like Whitechapel, only to work on drain
+committees, as delinquent landlord mentors, or just to give special
+educational chances to promising minds, or physical training to unfit
+bodies. Yet one saw in their efforts undeniable messages of real love.
+Personally I could only occasionally run up there to meet friends in
+residence or attend an art exhibition, but they taught me many lessons.</p>
+
+<p>Exactly opposite the hospital was Oxford House, only two minutes
+distant, which combined definite doctrinal religion with social work.
+Being an Oxford effort it had great attractions for me. Moreover, right
+alongside it in the middle of a disused sugar refinery I had hired the
+yard, converted it into a couple of lawn-tennis courts, and ran a small
+club. There I first met the famous Dr. Hensley Henson, now Bishop of
+Hereford, and also the present Bishop of London, Dr.
+Winnington-Ingram&mdash;a good all-round athlete. He used to visit in our
+wards, and as we had a couple of fives courts, a game which takes
+little tune and gives much exercise, we used to have an afternoon off
+together, once a week, when he came over to hospital. Neither of these
+splendid men were dignitaries in those days, or I am afraid they would
+have found us medicals much more stand-offish. I may as well admit that
+we had not then learned to have any respect for bishops or church
+magnates generally. We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>liked both of these men because they were
+unconventional and good sports, and especially in that they were not
+afraid to tackle the atheist's propaganda in the open. I have seen Dr.
+Henson in Whitechapel debating alone against a hall full of opponents
+and with a fairness and infinite restraint, convincing those open to
+reason that they were mistaken. Moreover, I have seen Dr. Ingram doing
+just the same thing standing on a stone in the open park. It may all
+sound very silly when one knows that by human minds, or to the human
+mind, the Infinite can never be demonstrated as a mathematical
+proposition. But the point was that these clergy were proving that they
+were real men&mdash;men who had courage as well as faith, who believed in
+themselves and their message, who deserved the living which they were
+supposed to make out of orthodoxy. This the audience knew was more than
+could be said of many of the opponents. Christ himself showed his
+superb manhood in just such speaking out.</p>
+
+<p>Indelibly impressed on my mind still is an occasion when one of the
+most blatant and vicious of these opponents of religion fell ill. A
+Salvation Army lass found him deserted and in poverty, nursed and
+looked after him and eventually made a new man of him.</p>
+
+<p>Far and away the most popular of the Park speakers was the Antiguan.
+His arguments were so clever it was obvious that he was well and widely
+read. His absolute understanding of the crowd and his witty repartee
+used frequently to cause his opponents to lose their tempers, and that
+was always their undoing. The crowd as a rule was very fair and could
+easily distinguish arguments from abuse. Thus, on one Sunday the debate
+was as to whether nature was God. The atheist representative was a very
+loud-voiced demagogue, who when angry betrayed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>his Hibernian origin
+very markedly. Having been completely worsted and the laugh turned
+against him by a clever correction of some one's, he used the few
+minutes given him to reply in violent abuse, ending up that "ladies and
+gentlemen did not come out on holidays to spend their time being taught
+English by a damned nigger."</p>
+
+<p>"Sir," Edwards answered from the crowd, "I am a British subject, born
+on the island of Antigua, and as much an Englishman as any Irishman in
+the country."</p>
+
+<p>Edwards possessed an inexhaustible stock of good-humour and his laugh
+could be heard halfway across the Park. As soon as his turn came to
+mount the stone, he got the crowd so good-natured that they became
+angry at the interruptions of the enemy, and when some one suggested
+that if nature were that man's God, the near-by duckpond was the
+natural place for him, there was a rush for him, and for several
+subsequent Sundays he was not in evidence. Edwards was a poor man, his
+small salary and incessant generosity left him nothing for holidays,
+and he was killing himself with overwork. So we asked him to join us in
+the new house which we were fitting up in Palestine Place. He most
+gladly did so and added enormously to our fun. Unfortunately
+tuberculosis long ago got its grip upon him, and removed a valuable
+life from East London.</p>
+
+<p>It was a queer little beehive in which we lived in those days, and a
+more cosmopolitan crowd could hardly have been found: one young doctor
+who has since made his name and fortune in Australia; another in whose
+rooms were nearly a hundred cups for prowess in nearly every form of
+athletics, and who also has "made good" in professional life, besides
+several others who for shorter or longer periods were allotted rooms in
+our house. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>Among the more unusual was the "C.M.," a Brahmin from
+India, a priest in his youth, who had been brought back to England by
+some society to be educated in medical missionary work, but whom for
+some reason they had dropped. For a short time a clever young Russian
+of Hebrew extraction who was studying for the Church helped to render
+our common-room social engagements almost international affairs.</p>
+
+<p>As I write this I am at Charleston, South Carolina, and I see how hard
+it will be for an American to understand the possibility of such a
+motley assembly being reasonable or even proper. It seems to me down
+here that there must have been odd feelings sometimes in those days. I
+can only say, however, that I never personally even thought of it. East
+London is so democratic that one's standards are simply those of the
+value of the man's soul as we saw it. If he had been yellow with pink
+stripes it honestly would not have mattered one iota to most of us.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that there was at that time in hospital under my care a
+patient known as "the elephant man." He had been starring under that
+title in a cheap vaudeville, had been seen by some of the students, and
+invited over to be shown to and studied by our best physicians. The
+poor fellow was really exceedingly sensitive about his most
+extraordinary appearance. The disease was called "leontiasis," and
+consisted of an enormous over-development of bone and skin on one side.
+His head and face were so deformed as really to resemble a big animal's
+head with a trunk. My arms would not reach around his hat. A special
+room in a yard was allotted to him, and several famous people came to
+see him&mdash;among them Queen Alexandra, then the Princess of Wales, who
+afterward sent him an autographed photograph of herself. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>He kept it in
+his room, which was known as the "elephant house," and it always
+suggested beauty and the beast. Only at night could the man venture out
+of doors, and it was no unusual thing in the dusk of nightfall to meet
+him walking up and down in the little courtyard. He used to talk freely
+of how he would look in a huge bottle of alcohol&mdash;an end to which in
+his imagination he was fated to come. He was of a very cheerful
+disposition and pathetically proud of his left side which was normal.
+Very suddenly one day he died&mdash;the reason assigned being that his head
+fell forward and choked him, being too heavy for him to lift up.</p>
+
+<p>In 1886 I passed my examinations and duly became a member of the
+College of Physicians and of the Royal College of Surgeons of England;
+and sought some field for change and rest, where also I could use my
+newly acquired license to my own, if to no one else's, benefit. Among
+the patients who came to the London Hospital, there were now and again
+fishermen from the large fishing fleets of the North Sea. They lived
+out, as it were, on floating villages, sending their fish to market
+every day by fast cutters. Every two or three months, as their turn
+came round, a vessel would leave for the home port on the east coast,
+being permitted, or supposed to be permitted, a day at home for each
+full week at sea. As the fleets kept the sea summer and winter and the
+boats were small, not averaging over sixty tons, it was a hazardous
+calling. The North Sea is nowhere deeper than thirty fathoms, much of
+it being under twenty, and in some places only five. Indeed, it is a
+recently sunken and still sinking portion of Europe, so much so that
+the coasts on both sides are constantly receding, and when Heligoland
+was handed over by the English to the Kaiser, it was said that he would
+have to keep jacking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>it up or soon there would be none left. Shallow
+waters exposed to the fierce gales which sweep the German Ocean make
+deep and dangerous seas, which readily break and wash the decks of
+craft with low freeboard, such as the North Sea vessels are obliged to
+have in order to get boats in and out to ferry their fish to the
+cutter.</p>
+
+<p>There being no skilled aid at hand, the quickest way to get help used
+to be to send an injured man to market with the fish. Often it was a
+long journey of many days, simple fractures became compound, and limbs
+and faculties were often thus lost. It so happened that Sir Frederick
+Treves had himself a love for navigating in small sailing craft. He had
+made it a practice to cross the English Channel to Calais in a sailing
+lugger every Boxing Day&mdash;that is, the day after Christmas. He was
+especially interested in those "that go down to the sea in ships" and
+had recently made a trip among the fishing fleets. He told me that a
+small body of men, interested in the religious and social welfare of
+the deep-sea fishermen, had chartered a small fishing smack, sent her
+out among the fishermen to hold religious services of a simple,
+unconventional type, in order to afford the men an alternative to the
+grog vessels when fishing was slack, and to carry first aid, the
+skipper of the vessel being taught ambulance work. They wanted,
+however, very much to get a young doctor to go out, who cared also for
+the spiritual side of the work, to see if they could use the additional
+attraction of proper medical aid to gain the men's sympathies. His
+advice to me was to go and have a look at it. "If you go in January you
+will see some fine seascapes, anyhow. Don't go in summer when all of
+the old ladies go for a rest."</p>
+
+<p>I therefore applied to go out the following January, and that fall,
+while working near the Great London <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>docks, I used often to look at the
+tall East Indiamen, thinking that I soon should be aboard just such a
+vessel in the North Sea. It was dark and raining when my train ran into
+Yarmouth, and a dripping, stout fisherman in a blue uniform met me at
+that then unattractive and ill-lighted terminus. He had brought a
+forlorn "growler" or four-wheeled cab. Climbing in we drove a mile or
+more along a deserted road, and drew up at last apparently at the back
+of beyond.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the ship?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, those are her topmasts," replied my guide, pointing to two posts
+projecting from the sand. "The tide is low and she is hidden by the
+quay."</p>
+
+<p>"Heavens!" I thought; "she's no tea clipper, anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>I climbed up the bank and peered down in the darkness at the hull of a
+small craft, a little larger than our old Roysterer. She was just
+discernible by the dim rays of the anchor light. I was hesitating as to
+whether I shouldn't drive back to Yarmouth and return to London when a
+cheery voice on deck called out a hearty welcome. What big things hang
+on a smile and a cheery word no man can ever say. But it broke the
+spell this time and I had my cabby unload my bags on the bank and bade
+him good-night. As his wheels rumbled away into the rain and dark, I
+felt that my cables were cut beyond recall. Too late to save me, the
+cheery voice shouted, "Mind the rigging, it's just tarred and greased."
+I was already sliding down and sticking to it as I went. Small as the
+vessel was she was absolutely spotless. Her steward, who cooked for all
+hands, was smart and in a snow-white suit. The contrast between-decks
+and that above was very comforting, though my quarters were small. The
+crew were all stocky, good-humoured, and independent. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>Democratic as
+East London had made me, they impressed me very favourably, and I began
+to look forward to the venture with real pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>Drink was the worst enemy of these men. The quaysides of the
+fisherman's quarters teemed with low saloons. Wages were even paid off
+in them or their annexes, and grog vessels, luring the men aboard with
+cheap tobacco and low literature, plied their nefarious calling with
+the fleets, and were the death, body and soul, of many of these fine
+specimens of manhood.</p>
+
+<p>There was never any question as to the real object of the Mission to
+Deep-Sea Fishermen. The words "Heal the sick" carved in large letters
+adorned the starboard bow. "Preach the Word" was on the port, and
+around the brass rim of the wheel ran the legend, "Jesus said, Follow
+me and I will make you fishers of men." Thirty years ago we were more
+conventional than to-day, and I was much surprised to learn from our
+skipper that we were bound to Ostend to ship four tons of tobacco, sent
+over from England for us in bond, as he might not take it out consigned
+to the high seas. In Belgium, however, no duty was paid. The only
+trouble was that our vessel, to help pay its expenses, carried fishing
+gear, and as a fishing vessel could not get a clearance in Belgium. Our
+nets and beams, therefore, had to go out to the fishing grounds in a
+friendly trawler while we passed as a mercantile marine during the time
+we took on our cargo.</p>
+
+<p>So bitter was the cold that in the harbour we got frozen in and were
+able to skate up the canals. We had eventually to get a steamer to go
+around us and smash our ice bonds when we were again ready for sea.
+During the next two months we saw no land except Heligoland and
+Terschelling&mdash;or Skilling, as the fishermen called <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>it&mdash;far away in the
+offing. Nor was our deck once clear of ice and snow during all the
+time.</p>
+
+<p>Our duty was to visit as many fleets as we could, and arrange with some
+reliable vessel to take a stock of tobacco for the use of their special
+fleet. The ship was to carry about six feet of blue bunting on her
+foretopmast stay, a couple of fathoms above her bowsprit end, so that
+all the fleet might know her. She was to sell the tobacco at a fixed
+price that just covered the cost, and undersold the "coper" by fifty
+per cent. She was to hoist her flag for business every morning, while
+the small boats were out boarding fish on the carrier, and was to lie
+as far to leeward of the coper as possible so that the men could not go
+to both. Nineteen such floating depots were eventually arranged for,
+with the precaution that if any one of them had to return to port, he
+should bring no tobacco home, but hand over his stock and accounts to a
+reliable friend.</p>
+
+<p>These deep-sea fisheries were a revelation to me, and every hour of the
+long trip I enjoyed. It was amazing to me to find over twenty thousand
+men and boys afloat&mdash;the merriest, cheerfullest lot which I had ever
+met. They were hail-fellow-well-met with every one, and never thought
+of deprivation or danger. Clothing, food, customs, were all
+subordinated to utility. They were the nearest possible thing to a
+community of big boys, only needing a leader. In efficiency and for
+their daring resourcefulness in physical difficulties and dangers, they
+were absolutely in a class by themselves, embodying all the traits of
+character which make men love to read the stories of the buccaneers and
+other seamen of the sixteenth-century period.</p>
+
+<p>Each fleet had its admiral and vice-admiral, appointed partly by the
+owner, and partly by the skippers of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>vessels. The devil-may-care
+spirit was always a great factor with the men. The admiral directed
+operations by flags in the daytime and by rockets at night, thus
+indicating what the fleet was to do and where they were to fish.
+Generally he had the fastest boat, and the cutters, hunting for the
+fleet always lay just astern of the admiral, the morning after their
+arrival. Hundreds of men would come for letters, packages, to load
+fish, to get the news of what their last assignment fetched in market.
+Moreover, a kind of Parliament was held aboard to consider policies and
+hear complaints.</p>
+
+<p>At first it was a great surprise to me how these men knew where they
+were, for we never saw anything but sky and sea, and not even the
+admirals carried a chronometer or could work out a longitude; and only
+a small percentage of the skippers could read or write. They all,
+however, carried a sextant and could by rule of thumb find a latitude
+roughly. But that was only done at a pinch. The armed lead was the
+fisherman's friend. It was a heavy lead with a cup on the bottom filled
+fresh each time with sticky grease. When used, the depth was always
+called out by the watch, and the kind of sand, mud, or rock which stuck
+to the grease shown to the skipper. "Fifteen fathoms and coffee
+grounds&mdash;must be on the tail end of the Dogger. Put her a bit more to
+the westward, boy," he would remark, and think no more about it, though
+he might have been three or four days looking for his fleet, and not
+spoken to a soul since he left land. I remember one skipper used to
+have the lead brought down below, and he could tell by the grit between
+his teeth after a couple of soundings which way to steer. It sounds
+strange even now, but it was so universal, being just second-nature to
+the men, who from boyhood had lived on the sea, that we soon ceased to
+marvel at it. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>Skippers were only just being obliged to have
+certificates. These they obtained by <i>viva voce</i> examinations. You
+would sometimes hear an aspiring student, a great black-bearded pirate
+over forty-seven inches around the chest, and possibly the father of
+eight or ten children, as he stamped about in his watch keeping warm,
+repeating the courses&mdash;"East end of the Dogger to Horn S.E. by E. &frac12;
+and W. point of the island [Heligoland] to Barkum S. &frac12; W. Ower Light
+to Hazebrough N.N.W."&mdash;and so on. Their memories were not burdened by a
+vast range of facts, but in these things they were the nearest
+imaginable to Blind Tom, the famous slave musician.</p>
+
+<p>Our long round only occupied us about a month, and after that we
+settled down with the fleet known as the Great Northerners. Others were
+the Short Blues, the Rashers (because they were streaked like a piece
+of bacon), the Columbia, the Red Cross, and so on. Sometimes during the
+night while we were fishing into the west, a hundred sail or more of
+vessels, we would pass through another big fleet coming the other way,
+and some of our long trawls and warps would tangle with theirs. Beyond
+the beautiful spectacle of the myriads of lights bobbing up and down
+often enough on mighty rough seas&mdash;for it needed good breezes to haul
+our trawls&mdash;would be the rockets and flares of the entangled boats, and
+often enough also rockets and flares from friends, and from cutters.
+One soon became so friendly with the men that one would not return at
+night to the ship, but visit around and rejoin the Mission ship
+boarding fish next day, to see patients coming for aid. Though it was
+strictly against sea rules for skippers to be off their vessels all
+night, that was a rule, like all others on the North Sea, as often
+marked in the breach as in the observance. A goodly company would get
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>together yarning and often singing and playing games until it was time
+to haul the trawl and light enough to find their own vessel and signal
+for the boat.</p>
+
+<p>The relation of my new friends to religion was a very characteristic
+one. Whatever they did, they did hard. Thus one of the admirals, being
+a thirsty soul, and the grog vessels having been adrift for a longer
+while than he fancied, conceived the fine idea of holding up the
+Heligoland saloons. So one bright morning he "hove his fleet to" under
+the lee of the island and a number of boats went ashore, presumably to
+sell fish. Altogether they landed some five hundred men, who held up
+the few saloons for two or three days. As a result subsequently only
+one crew selling fish to the island was allowed ashore at one time. The
+very gamble of their occupation made them do things hard. Thus it was a
+dangerous task to throw out a small boat in half a gale of wind, fill
+her up with heavy boxes of fish, and send her to put these over the
+rail of a steamer wallowing in the trough of a mountainous sea.</p>
+
+<p>But it was on these very days when less fish was sent to market that
+the best prices were realized, and so there were always a number of
+dare-devils, who did not care if lives were lost so long as good prices
+were obtained and their record stood high on the weekly list of sales
+which was forwarded to both owners and men. I have known as many as
+fourteen men upset in one morning out of these boats; and the annual
+loss of some three hundred and fifty men was mostly from this cause.
+Conditions were subsequently improved by the Board of Trade, who made
+it manslaughter against the skipper if any man was drowned boarding
+fish, unless the admiral had shown his flags to give the fleet
+permission to do so. In those days, however, I often saw twenty to
+thirty boats all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>tied up alongside the cutter at one time, the heavy
+seas every now and again rolling the cutter's sail right under water,
+and when she righted again it might come up under the keels of some of
+the boats and tip them upside down. Thus any one in them was caught
+like a mouse under a trap or knocked to pieces trying to swim among the
+rushing, tossing boats.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule we hauled at midnight, and it was always a fresh source of
+wonder, for the trawl was catholic in its embrace and brought up
+anything that came in its way. To emphasize how comparatively recently
+the Channel had been dry land, many teeth and tusks of mammoths who
+used to roam its now buried forests were given up to the trawls by the
+ever-shifting sands. Old wreckage of every description, ancient
+crockery, and even a water-logged, old square-rigger that must have
+sunk years before were brought one day as far as the surface by the
+stout wire warp. After the loss of a large steamer called the Elbe many
+of the passengers who had been drowned were hauled up in this way; and
+on one occasion great excitement was caused in Hull by a fisher lad
+from that port being picked up with his hands tied behind his back and
+a heavy weight on his feet. The defence was that the boy had died, and
+was thus buried to save breaking the voyage&mdash;supported by the fact that
+another vessel had also picked up the boy and thrown him overboard
+again for the same reason. But those who were a bit superstitious
+thought otherwise, and more especially as cruelty to these boys was not
+unknown.</p>
+
+<p>These lads were apprenticed to the fishery masters largely from
+industrial or reformatory schools, had no relations to look after them,
+and often no doubt gave the limit of trouble and irritation. On the
+whole, however, the system worked well, and a most excellent class of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>capable seamen was developed. At times, however, they were badly
+exploited. During their apprenticeship years they were not entitled to
+pay, only to pocket money, and yet sometimes the whole crew including
+the skipper were apprentices and under twenty-one years of age. Even
+after that they were fitted for no other calling but to follow the sea,
+and had to accept the master's terms. There were no fishermen's unions,
+and the men being very largely illiterate were often left victims of a
+peonage system in spite of the Truck Acts. The master of a vessel has
+to keep discipline, especially in a fleet, and the best of boys have
+faults and need punishing while on land. These skippers themselves were
+brought up in a rough school, and those who fell victims to drink and
+made the acquaintance of the remedial measures of our penal system of
+that day were only further brutalized by it. Religion scarcely touched
+the majority; for their brief periods of leave ashore were not
+unnaturally spent in having a good time. To those poisoned by the
+villainous beverages sold on the sordid grog vessels no excess was too
+great. Owners were in sympathy with the Mission in trying to oust the
+coper, because their property, in the form of fish, nets, stores, and
+even sails, were sometimes bartered on the high seas for liquor. On one
+occasion during a drunken quarrel in the coper's cabin one skipper
+threw the kerosene lamp over another lying intoxicated on the floor.
+His heavy wool jersey soaked in kerosene caught fire. He rushed for the
+deck, and then, a dancing mass of flames, leaped overboard and
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally skippers devised punishments with a view to remedying the
+defects of character. Thus one lad, who through carelessness had on
+more than one occasion cooked the "duff" for dinner badly, was made to
+take his cinders on deck when it was his time to turn <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>in, and go
+forward to the fore-rigging. Then he had to take one cinder, go up to
+the cross-tree, and throw it over into the sea, come down the opposite
+rigging and repeat the act until he had emptied his scuttle. Another
+who had failed to clean the cabin properly had one night, instead of
+going to bed, to take a bucketful of sea water and empty it with a
+teaspoon into another, and so to and fro until morning. On one occasion
+a poor boy was put under the ballast deck, that is, the cabin floor,
+and forgotten. He was subsequently found dead, drowned in the bilge
+water. It was easy to hide the results of cruelty, for being washed
+overboard was by no means an uncommon way of disappearing from vessels
+with low freeboards in the shallow water of the North Sea.</p>
+
+<p>A very practical outcome in the mission work was the organization of
+the Fisher Lads' Letter-Writing Association. The members accepted so
+many names of orphan lads at sea and pledged themselves to write
+regularly to them. Also, if possible, they were to look them up when
+they returned to land, and indeed do for them much as the War Camp
+Community League members are to-day trying to accomplish for our
+soldiers and sailors. As every practical exposition of love must, it
+met with a very real response, and brought, moreover, new interests and
+joys into many selfish lives.</p>
+
+<p>I remember one lady whose whole care in life had been her own health.
+She had nursed it, and worried over it, and enjoyed ill health so long,
+that only the constant recourse to the most refined stimulants
+postponed the end which would have been a merciful relief&mdash;to others.
+The effort of letter-writing remade her. Doctors were forgotten,
+stimulants were tabooed, the insignia of invalidism banished, and to my
+intense surprise I ran across her at a fishing port surrounded by a
+bevy of blue-jerseyed lads, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>who were some of those whom she was being
+blessed by helping.</p>
+
+<p>The best of efforts, however, sometimes "gang aft agley." One day I
+received a letter, evidently written in great consternation, from an
+elderly spinster of singularly aristocratic connections and an
+irreproachableness of life which was almost painful. The name sent to
+her by one of our skippers as a correspondent who needed help and
+encouragement was one of those which would be characterized as
+common&mdash;let us say John Jones. By some perverse fate the wrong ship was
+given as an address, and the skipper of it happened to have exactly the
+same name. It appeared that lack of experience in just such work had
+made her letter possibly more affectionate than she would have wished
+for under the circumstances which developed. For in writing to me she
+enclosed a ferocious letter from a lady of Billingsgate threatening,
+not death, but mutilation, if she continued making overtures to "her
+John."</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>NORTH SEA WORK</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>I have dwelt at length upon the experiences of the North Sea, because
+trivial as they appear on the surface, they concern the biggest problem
+of human life&mdash;the belief that man is not of the earth, but only a
+temporary sojourner upon it. This belief, that he is destined to go on
+living elsewhere, makes a vast difference to one's estimate of values.
+Life becomes a school instead of a mere stage, the object of which is
+that our capacities for usefulness should develop through using them
+until we reach graduation. What life gives to us can only be of
+permanent importance as it develops our souls, thus enabling us to give
+more back to it, and leaves us better prepared for any opportunities
+than may lie beyond this world. The most valuable asset for this
+assumption is love for the people among whom one lives.</p>
+
+<p>The best teachers in life are far from being those who know most, or
+who think themselves wisest. Show me a schoolmaster who does not love
+his boys and you show me one who is of no use. Our faith in our sonship
+of God is immensely strengthened by the puzzling fact that even God
+cannot force goodness into us, His sons, because we share His nature.</p>
+
+<p>These convictions, anyhow, were the mental assets with which I had to
+begin work, and no others. A scientific training had impressed upon me
+that big and little are very relative terms; that one piece of work
+becomes unexpectedly permanent and big, while that which appears to be
+great, but is merely diffuse, will be temporary and ineffective.
+Experience has taught me that one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>human life has its limits of direct
+impetus, but that its most lasting value is its indirect influence. The
+greatest Life ever lived was no smaller for being in a carpenter's
+shop, and largely spent among a few ignorant fishermen. The Scarabee
+had a valid <i>apologia pro vita sua</i> in spite of Dr. Holmes. Tolstoy on
+his farm, Milton without his sight, Bunyan in his prison, Pasteur in
+his laboratory, all did great things for the world.</p>
+
+<p>There is so much that is manly about the lives of those who follow the
+sea, so much less artificiality than in many other callings, and with
+our fishermen so many fewer of what we call loosely "chances in life,"
+that to sympathize with them was easy&mdash;and sympathy is a long step
+toward love. Life at sea also gives time and opportunity for really
+knowing a man. It breaks down conventional barriers, and indeed almost
+compels fellowship and thus an intelligent understanding of the
+difficulties and tragedies of the soul of our neighbour. That rare
+faculty of imagination which is the inspiration of all great lovers of
+men is not alone indispensable. Hand in hand with this inevitably goes
+the vision of one's own opportunity to help and not to hinder others,
+even though it be through the unattractive medium of the collection
+box&mdash;for that gives satisfaction only in proportion to the sacrifice
+which we make.</p>
+
+<p>In plain words the field of work offered me was attractive. It seemed
+to promise me the most remunerative returns for my abilities, or, to
+put it in another way, it aroused my ambitions sufficiently to make me
+believe that my special capacities and training could be used to make
+new men as well as new bodies. Any idea of sacrifice was balanced by
+the fact that I never cared very much for the frills of life so long as
+the necessities were forthcoming.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>The attention that Harold Begbie's book "Twice-Born Men" received, was
+to me later in life a source of surprise. One forgets that the various
+religions and sects which aimed at the healing of men's souls have
+concerned themselves more with intellectual creeds than material,
+Christ-like ends. At first it was not so. Paul rejoiced that he was a
+new man. There can be no question but that the Gospels show us truly
+that the change in Christ's first followers was from men, the slaves of
+every ordinary human passion, into men who were self-mastered&mdash;that
+Christ taught by what he was and did rather than by insistence on
+creeds and words. It has been seeing these changes in men's lives, not
+only in their surroundings, though those improve immediately, that
+reconcile one to our environment, and has induced me to live a
+life-time in the wilds.</p>
+
+<p>Another movement that was just starting at this time also interested me
+considerably. A number of keen young men from Oxford and Cambridge,
+having experienced the dangers that beset boys from big English public
+schools who enter the universities without any definite help as to
+their attitude toward the spiritual relationships of life, got together
+to discuss the question. They recognized that the formation of the
+Boys' Brigade in our conservative social life only touched the youth of
+the poorer classes. Like our English Y.M.C.A., it was not then
+aristocratic enough for gentlemen. They saw, however, that athletic
+attainments carried great weight, and that all outdoor accomplishments
+had a strong attraction for boys from every class. Thus it happened
+that an organization called the Public School Camps came into being.
+Its ideal was the uplift of character, and the movement has grown with
+immense strides on both sides of the Atlantic.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>An integral part of my summer holidays during these years was spent as
+medical officer at one of these camps. For many reasons it was wise in
+England to run them on military lines, for besides the added dignity,
+it insured the ability to maintain order and discipline. Some
+well-known commandant was chosen who was a soldier also in the good
+fight of faith. Special sites were selected, generally on the grounds
+of some big country seat which were loaned by the interested lord of
+the manor, and every kind of outdoor attraction was provided which
+could be secured. Besides organized competitive games, there was
+usually a yacht, good bathing, always a gymkhana, and numerous
+expeditions and "hikes." Not a moment was left unoccupied. All of the
+work of the camp was done by the boys, who served in turn on orderly
+duty. The officers were always, if possible, prominent athletes, to
+whom the boys could look up as being capable in physical as well as
+spiritual fields. There was a brief address each night before "taps" in
+the big marquee used for mess; and one night was always a straight talk
+on the problems of sex by the medical officers, whom the boys were
+advised to consult in their perplexities. These camps were among the
+happiest memories of my life, and many of the men to-day gratefully
+acknowledge that the camps were the turning-point of their whole lives.
+The secret was unconventionality and absolute naturalness with no
+"shibboleths." The boys were allowed to be boys absolutely in an
+atmosphere of sincere if not omniscient fervour. On one occasion when
+breaking up camp, a curly-headed young rascal in my tent, being late on
+the last morning&mdash;unknown to any one&mdash;went to the train in his pajamas,
+hidden only by his raincoat. At a small wayside station over a hundred
+miles from London, whither he was bound, leaving his coat in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>carriage, he ventured into the refreshment stall of the waiting-room.
+Unfortunately, however, he came out only to find his train departed and
+himself in his nightclothes on the platform without a penny, a ticket,
+or a friend. Eluding the authorities he reached the huge Liverpool
+terminus by night to find a faithful friend waiting on the platform for
+him with the sorely needed overgarment.</p>
+
+<p>No one was ever ashamed to be a Christian, or of what Christ was, or
+what he did and stood for. However, to ignore the fact that the mere
+word "missionary" aroused suspicion in the average English
+unconventional mind&mdash;such as those of these clean, natural-minded
+boys&mdash;would be a great mistake. Unquestionably, as in the case of
+Dickens, a missionary was unpractical if not hypocritical, and mildly
+incompetent if not secretly vicious. I found myself always fighting
+against the idea that I was termed a missionary. The men I loved and
+admired, especially such men as those on our athletic teams, felt
+really strongly about it. Henry Martyn&mdash;as a scholar&mdash;was a hero to
+those who read of him, though few did. Moreover, who does not love
+Charles Kingsley? Even as boys, we want to be "a man," though Kingsley
+was a "Parson Lot." It always seemed that a missionary was naturally
+discounted until he had proved his right to be received as an ordinary
+being. Once after being the guest of a bank president, he told me that
+my stay was followed by that of their bishop, who was a person of great
+importance. When the bishop had gone, he asked his two boys one day.
+"Well, which do you like best, the bishop or the doctor?" "Ach," was
+the reply, "the bishop can't stand on his head." On another occasion
+during a visit&mdash;while lecturing on behalf of the fishermen&mdash;and doing
+my usual evening physical <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>drill in my bedroom, by a great mischance I
+missed a straight-arm-balance on a chair, fell over, and nearly brought
+the chandelier of the drawing-room down on the heads of some guests.
+That a so-called "missionary" should be so worldly as to wish to keep
+his body fit seemed so unusual that I heard of that trifle a hundred
+times.</p>
+
+<p>The Church of Christ that is coming will be interested in the forces
+that make for peace and righteousness in this world rather than in
+academic theories as to how to get rewards in another. That will be a
+real stimulus to fitness and capacity all round instead of a dope for
+failures. It is that element in missions to-day, such as the up-to-date
+work of the Rockefeller Institute and other medical missions in China
+and India, which alone holds the respect of the mass of the people. The
+value of going out merely to make men of different races think as we
+think is being proportionately discounted with the increase of
+education.</p>
+
+<p>Our North Sea work grew apace. Vessel after vessel was added to the
+fleet. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, became interested, and besides
+subscribing personally toward the first hospital boat, permitted it to
+be named in her honour. According to custom the builders had a
+beautiful little model made which Her Majesty agreed to accept. It was
+decided that it should be presented to her in Buckingham Palace by the
+two senior mission captains.</p>
+
+<p>The journey to them was a far more serious undertaking than a winter
+voyage on the Dogger Bank. However, arrayed in smart blue suits and new
+guernseys and polished to the last degree, they set out on the eventful
+expedition. On their return every one was as anxious to know "how the
+voyage had turned out" as if they had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>been exploring new fishing
+grounds around the North Cape in the White Sea. "Nothing to complain
+of, boys, till just as we had her in the wind's eye to shoot the gear,"
+said the senior skipper. "A big swell in knee-breeches opened the door
+and called out our names, when I was brought up all standing, for I saw
+that the peak halliard was fast on the port side. The blame thing was
+too small for me to shift over, so I had to leave it. But, believe me,
+she never said a word about it. That's what I call something of a
+lady."</p>
+
+<p>At this time we had begun two new ventures, an institute at Yarmouth
+for fishermen ashore and a dispensary vessel to be sent out each spring
+among the thousands of Scotch, Manx, Irish, and French fishermen, who
+carried on the herring and mackerel fishery off the south and west
+coast of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>The south Irish spring fishery is wonderfully interesting. Herring and
+mackerel are in huge shoals anywhere from five to forty miles off the
+land, and the vessels run in and out each day bringing back the catch
+of the night. Each vessel shoots out about two miles of net, while some
+French ones will shoot out five miles. Thus the aggregate of nets used
+would with ease stretch from Ireland to New York and back. Yet the
+undaunted herring return year after year to the disastrous rendezvous.
+The vessels come from all parts. Many are the large tan-sailed luggers
+from the Scottish coasts, their sails and hulls marked "B.F." for
+Banff, "M.E." for Montrose, "C.N." for Campbelltown, etc. With these
+come the plucky little Ulster boats from Belfast and Larne, Loch Swilly
+and Loch Foyle; and not a few of the hereditary seafaring men from
+Cornwall, Devon, and Dorset. Others also come from Falmouth, Penzance,
+and Exmouth. Besides these are the Irish boats&mdash;few <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>enough, alas, for
+Paddy is not a sailor. A good priest had tried to induce his people to
+share this rich harvest by starting a fishery school for boys at
+Baltimore, where net-making and every other branch of the industry was
+taught. It was to little purpose, for I have met men hungry on the west
+coast, who were trying to live on potato-raising on that bog land who
+were graduates of Father D.'s school.</p>
+
+<p>There was one year when we ourselves were trying out the trawling in
+Clew Bay and Blacksod, and getting marvellous catches; so much so that
+I remember one small trawler from Grimsby on the east coast of England
+making two thousand dollars in two days' work, while the Countess of Z.
+fund was distributing charity to the poverty-stricken men who lived
+around the bay itself. The Government of Ireland also made serious
+efforts to make its people take up the fishery business. About one
+million dollars obtained out of the escheated funds of the Church of
+England in Ireland, when that organization was disestablished by Mr.
+Gladstone, was used as a loan fund which was available for fishermen,
+resident six months, at two per cent interest. They were permitted to
+purchase their own boat and gear for the fishery out of the money thus
+provided.</p>
+
+<p>While we lay in Durham Harbour at the entrance to Waterford Harbour, we
+met many Cornishmen who were temporarily resident there, having come
+over from Cornwall to qualify for borrowing the money to get boats and
+outfit. During one week in which we were working from that port, there
+were so many saints' days on which the Irish crews would not go out
+fishing, but were having good times on the land, that the skippers, who
+were Cornishmen, had to form a crew out of their own numbers and take
+one of their boats to sea.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>One day we had landed on the Arran Islands, and I was hunting ferns in
+the rock crevices, for owing to the warmth of the Gulf current the
+growth is luxuriant. On the top of the cliffs about three hundred feet
+high, I fell in with two Irishmen smoking their pipes and sprawling on
+the edge of the precipice. The water below was very deep and they were
+fishing. I had the fun of seeing dangling codfish hauled leisurely up
+all that long distance, and if one fell off on the passage, it was
+amusing to note the absolute insouciance of the fishermen, who assured
+me that there were plenty more in the sea.</p>
+
+<p>It has always been a puzzle to me why so few tourists and yachtsmen
+visit the south and west coast of Ireland. Its marvellous wild, rock
+scenery, its exquisite bays,&mdash;no other words describe them,&mdash;its
+emerald verdure, and its interesting and hospitable people have given
+me, during the spring fishing seasons that I spent on that coast, some
+of the happiest memories of my life. On the contrary, most of the
+yachts hang around the Solent, and the piers of Ryde, Cowes, and
+Southampton, instead of the magnificent coast from Queenstown to
+Donegal Cliffs, and from there all along West Scotland to the Hebrides.</p>
+
+<p>About this time our work established a dispensary and social centre at
+Crookhaven, just inside the Fastnet Lighthouse, and another in Tralee
+on the Kerry coast, north of Cape Clear. Gatherings for worship and
+singing were also held on Sundays on the boats, for on that day neither
+Scotch, Manx, nor English went fishing. The men loved the music, the
+singing of hymns, and the conversational addresses. Many would take
+some part in the service, and my memories of those gatherings are still
+very pleasant ones.</p>
+
+<p>On this wild coast calls for help frequently came from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>the poor
+settlers as well as from the seafarers. A summons coming in one day
+from the Fastnet Light, we rowed out in a small boat to that lovely
+rock in the Atlantic. A heavy sea, however, making landing impossible,
+we caught hold of a buoy, anchored off from the rock, and then rowing
+in almost to the surf, caught a line from the high overhanging crane. A
+few moments later one was picked out of the tumbling, tossing boat like
+a winkle out of a shell, by a noose at the end of a line from a crane a
+hundred and fifty feet above, swung perpendicularly up into the air,
+and then round and into a trap-door in the side of the lighthouse. On
+leaving one was swung out again in the same fashion, and dangled over
+the tumbling boat until caught and pulled in by the oarsmen.</p>
+
+<p>Another day we rowed out nine miles in an Irish craft to visit the
+Skerry Islands, famous for the old Beehive Monastery, and the countless
+nests of gannets and other large sea-birds. The cliffs rise to a great
+height almost precipitously, and the ceaseless thunder of the Atlantic
+swell jealously guards any landing. There being no davit or crane, we
+had just to fling ourselves into the sea, and climb up as best we
+could, carrying a line to haul up our clothing from the boat and other
+apparatus after landing, while the oarsmen kept her outside the surf.
+To hold on to the slippery rock we needed but little clothing, anyhow,
+for it was a slow matter, and the clinging power of one's bare toes was
+essential. The innumerable gannets sitting on their nests gave the
+island the appearance of a snowdrift; and we soon had all the eggs that
+we needed lowered by a line. But some of the gulls, of whose eggs we
+wanted specimens also, built so cleverly onto the actual faces of the
+cliffs, that we had to adopt the old plan of hanging over the edge and
+raising the eggs on the back of one's foot, which is an exploit not
+devoid of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>excitement. The chief difficulty was, however, with one of
+our number, who literally stuck on the top, being unable to descend, at
+least in a way compatible with comfort or safety. The upshot was that
+he had to be blindfolded and helped.</p>
+
+<p>One of our Council, being connected at this time with the Irish
+Poor-Relief Board and greatly interested in the Government efforts to
+relieve distress in Ireland, arranged that we should make a voyage
+around the entire island in one of our vessels, trying the trawling
+grounds everywhere, and also the local markets available for making our
+catch remunerative. There has been considerable activity in these
+waters of late years, but it was practically pioneer work in those
+days, the fishery being almost entirely composed of drift nets and long
+lines. It was supposed that the water was too deep and the bottom too
+uneven and rocky to make trawling possible. We had only a sailing
+vessel of about sixty tons, and the old heavy beam trawl, for the other
+trawl and steam fishing boats were then quite in their infancy. The
+quantity and variety of victims that came to our net were prodigious,
+and the cruise has remained as a dream in my memory, combined as it was
+with so many chances of helping out one of the most interesting and
+amiable&mdash;if not educated&mdash;peoples in the world. It happened to be a
+year of potato scarcity; as one friend pointed out, there was a surplus
+of Murphys in the kitchen and a scarcity of Murphys in the
+cellar&mdash;"Murphys" being another name for that vegetable which is so
+large a factor in Irish economic life. As mentioned before, a fund,
+called the Countess of Z.'s fund, had been established to relieve the
+consequent distress, and while we were fishing in Black Sod Bay, the
+natives around the shore were accepting all that they could secure. Yet
+one steam trawler <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>cleared four hundred pounds within a week; and our
+own fine catches, taken in so short a while, made it seem a veritable
+fishermen's paradise for us, who were accustomed to toil over the long
+combers and stormy banks of the North Sea. The variety of fish taken
+alone made the voyage of absorbing interest, numbering cod, haddock,
+ling, hake, turbot, soles, plaice, halibut, whiting, crayfish, shark,
+dog-fish, and many quaint monsters unmarketable then, but perfectly
+edible. Among those taken in was the big angler fish, which lives at
+the bottom with his enormous mouth open, dangling an attractive-looking
+bait formed by a long rod growing out from his nose, which lures small
+victims into the cavern, whence, as he possesses row upon row of spiky
+teeth which providentially point down his throat, there is seldom any
+returning.</p>
+
+<p>Among the many memories of that coast which gave me a vision of the
+land question as it affected the people in those days, one in
+particular has always remained with me. We had made a big catch in a
+certain bay, a perfectly beautiful inlet. To see if the local fishermen
+could find a market within reach of these fishing grounds, with one of
+the crew, and the fish packed in boxes, we sailed up the inlet to the
+market town of Bell Mullet. Being Saturday, we found a market day in
+progress, and buyers, who, encouraged by one of the new Government
+light railways, were able to purchase our fish. That evening, however,
+when halfway home, a squall suddenly struck our own lightened boat,
+which was rigged with one large lugsail, and capsized her. By swimming
+and man&oelig;uvring the boat, we made land on the low, muddy flats. No
+house was in sight, and it was not until long after dark that we two
+shivering masses of mud reached an isolated cabin in the middle of a
+patch of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>redeemed ground right in the centre of a large bog. A
+miserably clad woman greeted us with a warm Irish welcome. The house
+had only one room and accommodated the live-stock as well as the
+family. A fine cow stood in one corner; a donkey tied to the foot of
+the bed was patiently looking down into the face of the baby. Father
+was in England harvesting. A couple of pigs lay under the bed, and the
+floor space was still further encroached upon by a goodly number of
+chickens, which were encouraged by the warmth of the peat fire. They
+not only thought it their duty to emphasize our welcome, but&mdash;misled by
+the firelight&mdash;were saluting the still far-off dawn. The resultant
+emotions which we experienced during the night led us to suggest that
+we might assist toward the erection of a cattle pen. Before leaving,
+however, we were told, "Shure t' rint would be raised in the fall," if
+such signs of prosperity as farm buildings greeted the land agent's
+arrival.</p>
+
+<p>The mouth of Loch Foyle, one of the most beautiful bays in Ireland,
+gave us a fine return in fish. Especially I remember the magnificent
+turbot which we took off the wild shore between the frowning basalt
+cliffs of the Giant's Causeway, and the rough headlands of Loch Swilly.
+We sold our fish in the historic town of Londonderry, where we saw the
+old gun Mons Meg, which once so successfully roared for King William,
+still in its place on the old battlements. By a packet steamer plying
+to Glasgow, we despatched some of the catch to that greedy market. At
+Loch Foyle there is a good expanse of sandy and mud bottom which nurses
+quite a harvest of the sea, though&mdash;oddly enough&mdash;close by off Rathlin
+Island is the only water over one hundred fathoms deep until the
+Atlantic Basin is reached. The Irish Sea like the North Sea is all
+shallow water. Crossing to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>Isle of Man, we delayed there only a
+short while, for those grounds are well known to the Fleetwood
+trawlers, who supply so much fish to the dense population of North
+Central England. We found little opportunity of trawling off the west
+of Scotland, the ocean's bottom being in no way suited to it. On
+reaching the Western Hebrides, however, we were once more among many
+old friends. From Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis alone some nine
+hundred drifters were pursuing the retreating armies of herring.</p>
+
+<p>The German hordes have taught us to think of life in large numbers, but
+were the herring to elect a Kaiser, he would dominate in reality an
+absolutely indestructible host. For hundreds of years fishermen of all
+countries have without cessation been pursuing these friends of
+mankind. For centuries these inexhaustible hordes have followed their
+long pathways of the sea, swimming by some strange instinct always more
+or less over the same courses&mdash;ever with their tireless enemies, both
+in and out of the water, hot foot on their tracks. Sharks, dog-fish,
+wolf-fish, cod, and every fish large enough to swallow them, gulls,
+divers, auks, and almost every bird of the air, to say nothing of the
+nets set now from steam-propelled ships, might well threaten their
+speedy extermination. This is especially true when we remember that
+even their eggs are preyed upon in almost incalculable bulk as soon as
+they are deposited. But ph&oelig;nix-like they continue to reappear in
+such vast quantities that they are still the cheapest food on the
+market. Such huge numbers are caught at one time that they have now and
+again to be used for fertilizer, or dumped overboard into the sea. The
+great bay of Stornaway Harbour was so deeply covered in oil from the
+fish while we lay there, that the sailing boats raced to and fro before
+fine breezes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>and yet the wind could not even ripple the surface of the
+sea, as if at last millennial conditions had materialized. Many times
+we saw nets which had caught such quantities of fish at once that they
+had sunk to the bottom. They were only rescued with great difficulty,
+and then the fish were so swollen by being drowned in the net that it
+took hours of hard work and delay to shake their now distended bodies
+out again.</p>
+
+<p>The opportunities for both holding simple religious services and
+rendering medical help from our dispensary were numerous, and we
+thought sufficiently needed to call for some sort of permanent effort;
+so later the Society established a small mission room in the harbour.</p>
+
+<p>Alcohol has always been a menace to Scotch life, though their fishermen
+were singularly free from rioting and drunkenness. Indeed, their
+home-born piety was continually a protest to the indulgence of the
+mixed crowd which at that time followed King Henry. Scores of times
+have I seen a humble crew of poor fishermen, who themselves owned their
+small craft, observing the Sunday as if they were in their homes, while
+the skippers of large vessels belonging to others fished all the week
+round at the beck of their absent owners, thinking they made more money
+in that way.</p>
+
+<p>In 1891 the present Lord Southborough, then Mr. Francis Hopwood, and a
+member of the Mission Board, returned from a visit to Canada and
+Newfoundland. He brought before the Council the opportunities for
+service among the fishermen of the northwest Atlantic, and the
+suggestion was handed on to me in the form of a query. Would I consider
+crossing the Atlantic in one of our small sailing vessels, and make an
+inquiry into the problem?</p>
+
+<p>Some of my older friends have thought that my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>decision to go was made
+under strong religious excitement, and in response to some deep-seated
+conviction that material sacrifices or physical discomforts commended
+one to God. I must, however, disclaim all such lofty motives. I have
+always believed that the Good Samaritan went across the road to the
+wounded man just because he wanted to. I do not believe that he felt
+any sacrifice or fear in the matter. If he did, I know very well that I
+did not. On the contrary, there is everything about such a venture to
+attract my type of mind, and making preparations for the long voyage
+was an unmitigated delight.</p>
+
+<p>The boat which I selected was ketch-rigged&mdash;much like a yawl, but more
+comfortable for lying-to in heavy weather, the sail area being more
+evenly distributed. Her freeboard being only three feet, we replaced
+her wooden hatches, which were too large for handling patients, by iron
+ones; and also sheathed her forward along the water-line with
+greenheart to protect her planking in ice. For running in high seas we
+put a large square sail forward, tripping the yard along the foremast,
+much like a spinnaker boom. Having a screw steering gear which took two
+men to handle quickly enough when she yawed and threatened to jibe in a
+big swell, it proved very useful.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until the spring of 1892 that we were ready to start. We had
+secured a master with a certificate, for though I was myself a master
+mariner, and my mate had been in charge of our vessel in the North Sea
+for many years, we had neither of us been across the Atlantic before.
+The skipper was a Cornishman, Trevize by name, and a martinet on
+discipline&mdash;an entirely new experience to a crew of North Sea
+fishermen. He was so particular about everything being just so that
+quite a few days were lost in starting, though well spent as far as
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>preparedness went. Nothing was wanting when at last, in the second week
+of June, the tugboat let us go, and crowds of friends waved us good-bye
+from the pier-head as we passed out with our bunting standing. We had
+not intended to touch land again until it should rise out of the
+western horizon, but off the south coast of Ireland we met with heavy
+seas and head winds, so we ran into Crookhaven to visit our colleagues
+who worked at that station. Our old patients in that lonely corner were
+almost as interested as ourselves in the new venture, and many were the
+good eggs and "meals of greens" which they brought down to the ship as
+parting tokens. Indeed, we shrewdly guessed that our "dry" principles
+alone robbed us of more than "one drop o' potheen" whose birth the
+light of the moon had witnessed.</p>
+
+<p>As we were not fortunate in encountering fair winds, it was not until
+the twelfth day that we saw our first iceberg, almost running into it
+in a heavy fog. The fall in the temperature of the sea surface had
+warned us that we were in the cold current, and three or four days of
+dense fog emphasized the fact. As it was midsummer, we felt the change
+keenly, when suddenly on the seventeenth day the fog lifted, and a high
+evergreen-crowned coast-line greeted our delighted eyes. A lofty
+lighthouse on a rocky headland enabled us almost immediately to
+discover our exact position. We were just a little north of St. John's
+Harbour, which, being my first landfall across the Atlantic, impressed
+me as a really marvellous feat; but what was our surprise as we
+approached the high cliffs which guard the entrance to see dense
+columns of smoke arising, and to feel the offshore wind grow hotter and
+hotter as the pilot tug towed us between the headlands. For the third
+time in its history the city of St. John's was in flames.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>The heat was fierce when we at last anchored, and had the height of the
+blaze not passed, we should certainly have been glad to seek again the
+cool of our icy friends outside. Some ships had even been burned at
+their anchors. We could count thirteen fiercely raging fires in various
+parts of the city, which looked like one vast funeral pyre. Only the
+brick chimneys of the houses remained standing blackened and charred.
+Smoke and occasional flame would burst out here and there as the fickle
+eddies of wind, influenced, no doubt, by the heat, whirled around as if
+in sport over the scene of man's discomfitures. On the hillside stood a
+solitary house almost untouched, which, had there been any reason for
+its being held sacred, might well have served as a demonstration of
+Heaven's special intervention in its behalf. As it was, it seemed to
+mock the still smouldering wreck of the beautiful stone cathedral just
+beside it. Among the ruins in this valley of desolation little groups
+of men darted hither and thither, resembling from the harbour nothing
+so much as tiny black imps gloating over a congenial environment. I
+hope never again to see the sight that might well have suggested
+Gehenna to a less active imagination than Dante's.</p>
+
+<p>Huts had been erected in open places to shelter the homeless; long
+queues of hungry human beings defiled before temporary booths which
+served out soup and other rations. Every nook and corner of house-room
+left was crowded to overflowing with derelict persons and their
+belongings. The roads to the country, like those now in the environs of
+the towns in northern France, were dotted with exiles and belated
+vehicles, hauling in every direction the remnants of household goods.
+The feeling as of a rudely disturbed antheap dominated one's mind, and
+yet, in spite of it all, the hospitality and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>welcome which we as
+strangers received was as wonderful as if we had been a relief ship
+laden with supplies to replace the immense amount destroyed in the
+ships and stores of the city. Moreover, the cheerfulness of the town
+was amazing. Scarcely a "peep" or "squeal" did we hear, and not a
+single diatribe against the authorities. Every one had suffered
+together. Nor was it due to any one's fault. True, the town
+water-supply had been temporarily out of commission, some stranger was
+said to have been smoking in the hay loft, Providence had not specially
+intervened to save property, and hence this result. Thus to our relief
+it was a city of hope, not of despair, and to our amazement they were
+able to show most kindly interest in problems such as ours which seemed
+so remote at the moment. None of us will ever forget their kindness,
+from the Governor Sir Terence O'Brien, and the Prime Minister, Sir
+William Whiteway, to the humblest stevedore on the wharves.</p>
+
+<p>I had expected to spend the greater part of our time cruising among the
+fishing schooners out of sight of land on the big Banks as we did in
+the North Sea; but I was advised that owing to fog and isolation, each
+vessel working separately and bringing its own catch to market, it
+would be a much more profitable outlay of time, if we were to follow
+the large fleet of over one hundred schooners, with some thirty
+thousand fishermen, women, and children which had just sailed North for
+summer work along the coast of Labrador. To better aid us the
+Government provided a pilot free of expense, and their splendid
+Superintendent of Fisheries, Mr. Adolph Nielsen, also accepted the
+invitation to accompany us, to make our experiment more exhaustive and
+valuable by a special scientific inquiry into the habits and manner of
+the fish as well as of the fishermen. Naturally a good <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>deal of delay
+had occurred owing to the unusual congestion of business which needed
+immediate attention and the unfortunate temporary lack of facilities;
+but we got under way at last, and sailing "down North" some four
+hundred miles and well outside the land, eventually ran in on a
+parallel and made the Labrador coast on the 4th of August.</p>
+
+<p>The exhilarating memory of that day is one which will die only when we
+do. A glorious sun shone over an oily ocean of cerulean blue, over a
+hundred towering icebergs of every fantastic shape, and flashing all of
+the colours of the rainbow from their gleaming pinnacles as they rolled
+on the long and lazy swell. Birds familiar and strange left the dense
+shoals of rippling fish, over which great flocks were hovering and
+quarrelling in noisy enjoyment, to wave us welcome as they swept in
+joyous circles overhead.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE LURE OF THE LABRADOR</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Twenty years have passed away since that day, and a thousand more
+important affairs which have occurred in the meantime have faded from
+my memory; but still its events stand out clear and sharp. The large
+and lofty island, its top covered with green verdure, so wonderful a
+landmark from the sea, its peaks capped with the fleecy mist of early
+morning, rose in a setting of the purest azure blue. For the first time
+I saw the faces of its ruddy cliffs, their ledges picked out with the
+homes of myriad birds. Its feet were bathed in the dark, rich green of
+the Atlantic water, edged by the line of pure white breakers, where the
+gigantic swell lazily hurled immeasurable mountains of water against
+its titanic bastions, evoking peals of sound like thunder from its
+cavernous recesses&mdash;a very riot of magnificence. The great schools of
+whales, noisily slapping the calm surface of the sea with their huge
+tails as in an <i>abandon</i> of joy, dived and rose, and at times threw the
+whole of their mighty carcasses right out of water for a bath in the
+glorious morning sunshine. The shoals of fish everywhere breaching the
+water, and the silver streaks which flashed beneath our bows as we
+lazed along, suggested that the whole vast ocean was too small to hold
+its riches.</p>
+
+<p>When we realized that practically no man had ever lived there, and few
+had even seen it, it seemed to overwhelm us, coming as we did from the
+crowded Island of our birth, where notices not to trespass haunted even
+the dreams of the average man.</p>
+
+<p>A serried rank of range upon range of hills, reaching <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>north and south
+as far as the eye could see from the masthead, was rising above our
+horizon behind a very surfeit of islands, bewildering the minds of men
+accustomed to our English and North Sea coast-lines.</p>
+
+<p>In a ship just the size of the famous Matthew, we had gone west,
+following almost the exact footsteps of the great John Cabot when just
+four hundred years before he had fared forth on his famous venture of
+discovery. We seemed now almost able to share the exhilaration which
+only such experiences can afford the human soul, and the vast potential
+resources for the blessing of humanity of this great land still
+practically untouched.</p>
+
+<p>At last we came to anchor among many schooners in a wonderful natural
+harbour called Domino Run, so named because the Northern fleets all
+pass through it on their way North and South. Had we been painted
+scarlet, and flown the Black Jack instead of the Red Ensign, we could
+not have attracted more attention. Flags of greeting were run up to all
+mastheads, and boats from all sides were soon aboard inquiring into the
+strange phenomenon. Our object explained, we soon had calls for a
+doctor, and it has been the experience of almost every visitor to the
+coast from that day to this that he is expected to have a knowledge of
+medicine.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep120" id="imagep120"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep120a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep120a.jpg" width="60%" alt="The Labrador Coast: Cape Uivuk" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Cape Uivuk</p>
+
+<a href="images/imagep120b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep120b.jpg" width="60%" alt="The Labrador Coast: The Tickle Anchorage" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">The Tickle Anchorage</p>
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE LABRADOR COAST<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>One impression made on my mind that day undoubtedly influenced all my
+subsequent actions. Late in the evening, when the rush of visitors was
+largely over, I noticed a miserable bunch of boards, serving as a boat,
+with only a dab of tar along its seams, lying motionless a little way
+from us. In it, sitting silent, was a half-clad, brown-haired,
+brown-faced figure. After long hesitation, during which time I had been
+watching him from the rail, he suddenly asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Be you a real doctor?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>"That's what I call myself," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Us hasn't got no money," he fenced, "but there's a very sick man
+ashore, if so be you'd come and see him."</p>
+
+<p>A little later he led me to a tiny sod-covered hovel, compared with
+which the Irish cabins were palaces. It had one window of odd fragments
+of glass. The floor was of pebbles from the beach; the earth walls were
+damp and chilly. There were half a dozen rude wooden bunks built in
+tiers around the single room, and a group of some six neglected
+children, frightened by our arrival, were huddled together in one
+corner. A very sick man was coughing his soul out in the darkness of a
+lower bunk, while a pitiably covered woman gave him cold water to sip
+out of a spoon. There was no furniture except a small stove with an
+iron pipe leading through a hole in the roof.</p>
+
+<p>My heart sank as I thought of the little I could do for the sufferer in
+such surroundings. He had pneumonia, a high fever, and was probably
+tubercular. The thought of our attractive little hospital on board at
+once rose to my mind; but how could one sail away with this husband and
+father, probably never to bring him back. Advice, medicine, a few
+packages of food were only temporizing. The poor mother could never
+nurse him and tend the family. Furthermore, their earning season,
+"while the fish were in," was slipping away. To pray for the man, and
+with the family, was easy, but scarcely satisfying. A hospital and a
+trained nurse was the only chance for this bread-winner&mdash;and neither
+was available.</p>
+
+<p>I called in a couple of months later as we came South before the
+approach of winter. Snow was already on the ground. The man was dead
+and buried; there was no provision whatever for the family, who were
+destitute, except for the hollow mockery of a widow's grant of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>twenty
+dollars a year. This, moreover, had to be taken up in goods at a truck
+store, less debts <i>if</i> she owed any.</p>
+
+<p>Among the nine hundred patients that still show on the records of that
+long-ago voyage, some stand out more than others for their peculiar
+pathos and their utter helplessness. I shall never forget one poor
+Eskimo. In firing a cannon to salute the arrival of the Moravian
+Mission ship, the gun exploded prematurely, blowing off both the man's
+arms below the elbows. He had been lying on his back for a fortnight,
+the pathetic stumps covered only with far from sterile rags dipped in
+cold water. We remained some days, and did all we could for his
+benefit; but he too joined the great host that is forever "going west,"
+for want of what the world fails to give them.</p>
+
+<p>It is not given to every member of our profession to enjoy the
+knowledge that he alone stands between the helpless and suffering or
+death, for in civilization modern amenities have almost annihilated
+space and time, and the sensations of the Yankee at the Court of King
+Arthur are destroyed by the realization of competitors, "just as good,"
+even if it often does leave one conscious of limitations. The
+successful removal of a molar which has given torture for weeks in a
+dentistless country, gains one as much gratitude as the amputation of a
+limb. One mere boy came to me with necrosis of one side of his lower
+jaw due to nothing but neglected toothache. It had to be dug out from
+the new covering of bone which had grown up all around it. The
+whimsical expression of his lop-sided face still haunts me.</p>
+
+<p>Deformities went untreated. The crippled and blind halted through life,
+victims of what "the blessed Lord saw best for them." The torture of an
+ingrowing toe-nail, which could be relieved in a few minutes, had
+incapacitated one poor father for years. Tuberculosis and rickets
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>carried on their evil work unchecked. Preventable poverty was the
+efficient handmaid of these two latter diseases.</p>
+
+<p>There was also much social work to be done in connection with the
+medical. Education in every one of its branches&mdash;especially public
+health&mdash;was almost nonexistent&mdash;as were many simple social amenities
+which might have been so easily induced.</p>
+
+<p>At one village a woman with five children asked us if we could marry
+her to her husband. They had never been together when a parson happened
+along, and they now lived in a lonely cove three miles away. This
+seemed a genuine case of distress; and as it happened a parson was
+taking a passage with us, we sent two of our crew over in a boat to
+round up the groom. Apparently he was not at all anxious, but being a
+very small man and she a large woman, he discreetly acquiesced. The
+wedding was held on board our ship, every one entering into the spirit
+of the unusual occasion. The main hold was crammed with guests, bells
+were rung and flags flown, guns fired, and at night distress rockets
+were sent up. We kept in touch with the happy couple for years, till
+once more they moved away to try their luck elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>Obviously the coast offered us work that would not be done unless we
+did it. Here was real need along any line on which one could labour, in
+a section of our own Empire, where the people embodied all our best sea
+traditions. They exhibited many of the attractive characteristics
+which, even when buried beneath habits and customs the outcome of their
+environment, always endear men of the sea to the genuine Anglo-Saxon.
+They were uncomplaining, optimistic, splendidly resourceful, cheerful
+and generous&mdash;and after all in one sense soap and water only makes the
+outside of the platter clean.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>I confess that we had greatly enjoyed the adventure <i>qua</i> adventure.
+Mysterious fjords which wound out of sight into the fastnesses of
+unknown mountains, and which were entirely uncharted, fairly shouted an
+invitation to enter and discover what was round the next corner.
+Islands by the hundred, hitherto never placed on any map, challenged
+one's hydrographic skill. Families of strange birds, which came
+swinging seaward as the season advanced, suggested a virgin field for
+hunting. Berries and flowering plants, as excellent as they were
+unfamiliar, appealed for exploration. Great boulders perched on
+perilous peaks, torn and twisted strata, with here and there raised
+beaches, and great outcrops of black trap-rock piercing through red
+granite cliffs in giant vertical seams&mdash;all piqued one's curiosity to
+know the geology of this unknown land. Some stone arrow-heads and
+knives, brought to me by a fisherman, together with the memories that
+the Norse Vikings and their competitors on the scroll of discovery made
+their first landfall on this the nearest section of the American coast
+to Europe, excited one's curiosity to know more of these shores. The
+dense growth of evergreen trees abounding in every river valley, and
+the exquisite streams with trout and salmon and seals attracted one
+whose familiarity with sport and forests was inseparably connected with
+notices to trespassers.</p>
+
+<p>It only wanted an adventure such as we had one day while sailing up a
+fjord on a prosaic professional call, when we upset our cutter and had
+to camp for the night, to give spice to our other experiences, and made
+us wish to return another year, better equipped, and with a more
+competent staff.</p>
+
+<p>I am far from being the only person from the outside world who has
+experienced what Wallace describes as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>"the Lure of the Labrador." It
+was a genuine surprise to me one morning to find ice on deck&mdash;a scale
+of sparkling crystals most beautifully picking out the water-line of
+our little craft. It was only then that I realized that October had
+come. The days, so full of incident, had passed away like ships in the
+night. Whither away was the question? We could not stay even though we
+felt the urgent call to remain. So "Heigho for the southward bar" and a
+visit to St. John's to try and arouse interest in the new-discovered
+problems, before we should once more let go our stern lines and be
+bowling homeward before the fall nor'westers to dear old England.</p>
+
+<p>Home-going craft had generously carried our story before us to the city
+of St. John's. The Board of Trade commended our effort. The papers had
+written of the new phenomenon; the politicians had not refrained from
+commendation. His Excellency the Governor made our path plain by
+calling a meeting in Government House, where the following resolution
+was passed:</p>
+
+<p>"That this meeting, representing the principal merchants and traders
+carrying on the fisheries, especially on the Labrador coast, and others
+interested in the welfare of this colony, desires to tender its warmest
+thanks to the directors of the Deep-Sea Mission for sending their
+hospital ship Albert to visit the settlement on the Labrador coast.</p>
+
+<p>"Much of our fishing industry is carried on in regions beyond the
+ordinary reach of medical aid, or of charity, and it is with the
+deepest sense of gratitude that this meeting learns of the amount of
+medical and surgical work done....</p>
+
+<p>"This meeting also desires to express the hope that the directors may
+see their way to continue the work thus begun, and should they do so,
+they may be assured <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>of the earnest co&ouml;peration of all classes of this
+community."</p>
+
+<p>When at last we said good-bye on our homeward voyage, our cabins were
+loaded with generous souvenirs for the journey, and no king on his
+throne was happier than every man of the crew of the good ship Albert.</p>
+
+<p>Our report to the Council in London, followed by the resolution sent by
+the Newfoundland Committee, induced the Society to repeat the
+experiment on a larger scale the following spring. Thus, with two young
+doctors, Elliott Curwen of Cambridge and Arthur Bobardt from Australia,
+and two nurses, Miss Cawardine and Miss Williams, we again set out the
+following June.</p>
+
+<p>The voyage was uneventful except that I was nearly left behind in
+mid-Atlantic. While playing cricket on deck our last ball went over the
+side, and I after it, shouting to the helmsman to tack back. This he
+did, but I failed to cut him off the first time, as he got a bit
+rattled. However, we rescued the ball.</p>
+
+<p>We had chosen two islands two hundred miles apart for cottage
+hospitals, one at Battle Harbour, on the north side of the entrance of
+the St. Lawrence (Straits of Belle Isle), and the other at Indian
+Harbour, out in the Atlantic at the mouth of the great Hamilton Inlet.
+Both places were the centres of large fisheries, and were the
+"bring-ups" for numberless schooners of the Labrador fleet on their way
+North and South. The first, a building already half finished, was
+donated by a local fishery firm by the name of Baine, Johnston and
+Company. This was quickly made habitable, and patients were admitted
+under Dr. Bobardt's care. The second building, assembled at St. John's,
+was shipped by the donors, who were the owners of the Indian Harbour
+fishery, Job Brothers and Company. Owing to difficulties in landing,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>this building was not completed and ready for use until the following
+year, so Dr. Curwen took charge of the hospital ship Albert, and I
+cruised as far north as Okkak (lat. 57&deg;) in the Princess May, a midget
+steam launch, eight feet wide, with a cook and an engineer. As there
+was no coal obtainable in the North, we used wood, and her fire-box
+being small the amount of cutting entailed left a permanent impression
+on our biceps.</p>
+
+<p>A friend from Ireland had presented this little boat, which I found
+lying up on the Chester Race-Course, near our home on the Sands of Dee.
+We had repaired her and steamed her through the canal into the Mersey,
+where, somewhat to our humiliation, she had been slung up onto the deck
+of an Allan liner for her trans-Atlantic passage, as if she were
+nothing but an extra hand satchel. Nor was our pride restored when on
+her arrival it was found that her funnel was missing among the general
+baggage in the hold. We had to wait in St. John's for a new one before
+starting on our trip North. The close of the voyage proved a fitting
+corollary. In crossing the Straits of Belle Isle, the last boat to
+leave the Labrador, we ran short of fuel, and had to burn our cabin-top
+to make the French shore, having also lost our compass overboard. Here
+we delayed repairing and refitting so long that the authorities in St.
+John's became alarmed and despatched their mail steamer in search of
+us. I still remember my astonishment, when, on boarding the steamer,
+the lively skipper, a very tender-hearted father of a family, threw
+both arms around me with a mighty hug and exclaimed, "Thank God, we all
+thought you were gone. A schooner picked up your flagpole at sea." Poor
+fellow, he was a fine Christian seaman, but only a year or two later he
+perished with his large steamer while I still rove this rugged coast.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>That summer we visited the stations of the Moravian Brethren, who were
+kindness personified to us. Their stations, five in number, dated back
+over a hundred and thirty years, yet they had never had a doctor among
+them. It would scarcely be modest for me to protest that they were the
+worse off for that circumstance. Each station was well armed with
+hom&oelig;opathic pills, and at least those do no harm; while one old
+German house-father had really performed with complete success
+craniotomy and delivery of a child <i>en morcellement</i>, in the case of a
+colleague's wife. During our stay they gave us plenty of work among
+their Eskimos, and were good enough to report most favourably of our
+work to their home Committee.</p>
+
+<p>As there was no chart of any use for the coast north of Hopedale, few
+if any corrections having been made in the topographic efforts of the
+long late Captain Cook, of around-the-world reputation, one of the
+Brethren, Mr. Christopher Schmidt, joined the Princess May to help me
+find their northern stations among the plethora of islands which fringe
+the coast in that vicinity. Never in my life had I expected any journey
+half so wonderful. We travelled through endless calm fjords, runs,
+tickles, bays, and straits without ever seeing the open sea, and with
+hardly a ripple on the surface. We passed high mountains and lofty
+cliffs, crossed the mouths of large rivers, left groves of spruce and
+fir and larches on both sides of us, and saw endless birds, among them
+the Canada goose, eider duck, surf scoters, and many commoner sea-fowl.
+As it was both impossible and dangerous to proceed after dark, when no
+longer able to run we would go ashore and gather specimens of the
+abundant and beautiful sub-arctic flora, and occasionally capture a
+bird or a dish of trout to help out our diminutive larder.</p>
+
+<div class="imgl" style="width: 45%;"><a name="imagep128a" id="imagep128a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep128a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep128a.jpg" width="88%" alt="Eskimo Woman and Baby" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ESKIMO WOMAN AND BABY</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="imgr" style="width: 45%;"><a name="imagep128b" id="imagep128b"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep128b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep128b.jpg" width="95%" alt="Eskimo Man" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ESKIMO MAN<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p style="clear: both;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>Among the Eskimos I found a great deal of tuberculosis and much eye
+trouble. Around the Moravian Mission stations wooden houses had largely
+replaced the former "tubiks," or skin tents, which were moved as
+occasion required and so provided for sanitation. These wooden huts
+were undrained, dark and dirty to a remarkable degree. No water supply
+was provided, and the spaces between the houses were simply
+indescribable garbage heaps, presided over by innumerable dogs. The
+average life was very short and infant mortality high. The best for
+which we could hope in the way of morals among these people was that a
+natural unmorality was some offset to the existing conditions. The
+features of the native life which appealed most to us were the
+universal optimism, the laughing good-nature and contentment, and the
+Sunday cleanliness of the entire congregation which swarmed into the
+chapel service, a welcome respite from the perennial dirt of the week
+days. Moreover, nearly all had been taught to read and write in Eskimo,
+though there is no literature in that language to read, except such
+books as have been translated by the Moravian Brethren. At that time a
+strict policy of teaching no English had been adopted. Words lacking in
+the language, like "God," "love," etc., were substituted by German
+words. Nearly every Eskimo counted "ein, zwei, drei." In one of my
+lectures, on returning to England, I mentioned that as the Eskimos had
+never seen a lamb or a sheep either alive or in a picture, the
+Moravians, in order to offer them an intelligible and appealing simile,
+had most wisely substituted the kotik, or white seal, for the phrase
+"the Lamb of God." One old lady in my audience must have felt that the
+good Brethren were tampering unjustifiably with Holy Writ, for the
+following summer, from the barrels of clothing sent out to the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>Labrador, was extracted a dirty, distorted, and much-mangled and wholly
+sorry-looking woolly toy lamb. Its <i>raison d'&ecirc;tre</i> was a mystery until
+we read the legend carefully pinned to one dislocated leg, "Sent in
+order that the heathen may know better."</p>
+
+<p>Their love for music and ability to do part-playing and singing also
+greatly impressed us, and we spent many evenings enjoying their brass
+bands and their Easter and Christmas carols. We made some records of
+these on our Edison phonograph, and they were overpowered with joy when
+they heard their own voices coming back to them from the machine. The
+magic lantern also proved exceedingly popular, and several tried to
+touch the pictures and see if they could not hold them. We were also
+able to show some hastily made lantern slides of themselves, and I
+shall never forget their joyful excitement. The following season, in
+giving them some lantern views, we chanced to show a slide of an old
+Eskimo woman who had died during the winter. The subsequent commotion
+caused among the "little people" was unintelligible to us until one of
+the Moravian Brethren explained that they thought her spirit had taken
+visible form and returned to her own haunts.</p>
+
+<p>I happened to be in the gardens at Nain when a northerly air made it
+feel chilly and the thermometer stood only a little above freezing. A
+troop of Eskimo women came out to cover up the potatoes. Every row of
+potatoes is covered with arched sticks and long strips of canvas along
+them. A huge roll of sacking is kept near each row and the whole is
+drawn over and the potatoes are tucked in bed for the night. I could
+not resist the temptation to lift the bedclothes and shake hands and
+say good-night to one of the nearest plants, whereat the merry little
+people went off into convulsions of laughter.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>At Hopedale there was a large Danish ship with over six hundred tons of
+cargo for the new Moravian buildings. The Brethren do not build as we
+are doing from coast material. In order to save time and also to have
+more substantial buildings, they are cut out and built in Germany,
+photographed, and each piece marked. Then they are taken to pieces,
+shipped, and sent out here for erection.</p>
+
+<p>Some years ago in Germany, when the Socialists were wearing beards and
+mustaches, all respectable people used to shave. Therefore the
+missionaries being Germans insisted on the Eskimos shaving as they did.
+The result is that at one store at least a stock of ancient razors are
+left on hand, for now neither missionary nor Eskimo shaves in the
+inhospitable climate of this country. A small stock of these razors
+was, therefore, left on my account in some graves from which one or two
+Eskimos were good enough to go and get us a few ancient stone
+implements. It is a marvellous thing how superstition still clings
+around the very best of native Christian communities.</p>
+
+<p>The Moravian Mission is a trading mission. This trading policy in some
+aspects is in its favour. It is unquestionably part of a message of
+real love to a brother to put within his reach at reasonable rates
+those adjuncts of civilized life that help to make less onerous his
+hard lot. Trade, however, is always a difficult form of charity, and
+the barter system, common to this coast, being in vogue at the Moravian
+Mission stations also, practically every Eskimo was in debt to them. In
+reality this caused a vicious circle, for it encouraged directly the
+outstanding fault of the Eskimo, his readiness to leave the morrow to
+care for itself so long as he does not starve to-day. Like a race of
+children, they need the stimulus of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>necessity to make them get out and
+do their best while the opportunity exists. In the past twenty-six
+years I have made many voyages to one and another of the stations of
+the Brethren, and have learned to love them all very sincerely as
+individuals, though their mission policies are their own and not mine.</p>
+
+<p>I remember once in Nain the slob ice had already made ballicaters and
+the biting cold of winter so far north had set in with all its vigour.
+There was a heavy sea and a gale of wind. One of two boats which had
+been out all day had not come in. The sea was so rough and the wind so
+strong that the occupants of the first boat could not face it, and so
+had run in under the land and walked all the way round, towing their
+boat by a long line from the shore. Night came on and the second boat
+had not appeared. Next morning the Nain folk knew that some accident
+must have happened. Some men reported that the evening before they had
+seen through a glass the boat trying to beat against the storm, and
+then disappear. The Eskimos gathered together to see what could be done
+and then decided that it was kismet&mdash;and went their way. The following
+evening a tiny light was seen on the far shore of the bay&mdash;some one
+must be alive there. There was no food or shelter there, and it was
+obvious that help was needed. The gale was still blowing in fury and
+the sea was as rough as ever, and Eskimos and missionaries decided that
+in their unseaworthy boats they could do nothing. There was one
+dissentient voice&mdash;Brother Schmidt; and he went and rescued them. One
+was nearly spent. When their boat had capsized, one man, a woman, and a
+lad had been drowned, but two men had succeeded in getting into their
+kajaks and floated off when the disaster happened.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep132" id="imagep132"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep132a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep132a.jpg" width="70%" alt="Eskimo Girls 1" /></a><br />
+
+<a href="images/imagep132b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep132b.jpg" width="70%" alt="Eskimo Girls 2" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ESKIMO GIRLS<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>With October came the necessity for returning South, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>and the long dark
+nights spent at the little fishing stations as we journeyed from place
+to place proved all too short. The gatherings for lantern meetings, for
+simple services, for spinning yarns, together with medicine and such
+surgery as we could accomplish under the circumstances, made every
+moment busy and enjoyable. One outstanding feature, however, everywhere
+impressed an Englishman&mdash;the absolute necessity for some standard
+medium of exchange. Till one has seen the truck system at work, its
+evil effects in enslaving and demoralizing the poor are impossible to
+realize.</p>
+
+<p>All the length and breadth of the coast, the poorer people would show
+me their "settling up" as they called their account, though many never
+got as far as having any "settling up" given them&mdash;so they lived and
+died in debt to their merchant. They never knew the independence of a
+dollar in their pockets and the consequent incentive and value of
+thrift.</p>
+
+<p>It was incredible to me that even large concerns like the Hudson Bay
+Company would not pay in cash for valuable furs, and that so many
+dealers in the necessities of life should be still able to hold free
+men in economic bondage. It seemed a veritable chapter from "Through
+the Looking Glass," to hear the "grocer" and "haberdasher" talking of
+"my people," meaning their patrons, and holding over them the whip of
+refusal to sell them necessities in their hour of need if at any time
+they dealt with outsiders, however much to their advantage such a
+course might be.</p>
+
+<p>This fact was first impressed upon me in an odd way. Early in the
+summer an Eskimo had come aboard the hospital ship with a bear skin and
+a few other furs to sell. We had not only been delighted with the
+chance to buy them, but had spread them all around the cabin and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>taken
+a picture of him in the middle. Later in the season, while showing my
+photograph album to a trader, he had suddenly remarked, "Why, what's
+&mdash;&mdash; doing here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Selling me some beautiful furs," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! was he?" said the man. "I'll make him sing for selling the furs
+for which I supplied him."</p>
+
+<p>It was no salve to his fretfulness when I assured him that I had paid
+in good English gold, and that his "dealer" would be as honest with the
+money as the system had made him. But the trader knew that the truck
+system creates slippery, tricky men; and the fisherman openly declares
+war on the merchant, making the most of his few opportunities to outwit
+his opponent.</p>
+
+<p>A few years later a man brought a silver fox skin aboard my ship, just
+such a one as I had been requested by an English lady to secure for
+her. As fulfilling such a request would involve me in hostilities
+(which, however, I do not think were useless), I asked the man, who was
+wretchedly poor, if he owed the skin to the trader.</p>
+
+<p>"I am in debt," he replied, "but they will only allow me eight dollars
+off my account for this skin, and I want to buy some food."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," I answered. "If you will promise to go at once and pay
+eight dollars off your debt, I will give you eight gold sovereigns for
+this skin."</p>
+
+<p>To this he agreed, and faithfully carried out the agreement&mdash;while the
+English lady scored a bargain, and I a very black mark in the books of
+my friend the trader.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion my little steamer had temporarily broken down, and
+to save time I had journeyed on in the jolly-boat, leaving the cook to
+steer the vessel after me. I wanted to visit a very poor family, one of
+whose eight children I had taken to hospital for bone tuberculosis the
+previous year, and to whom the Mission had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>made a liberal grant of
+warm clothing. As the steamer had not come along by night, I had to
+sleep in the tiny one-roomed shack which served as a home. True, since
+it stood on the edge of the forest, there was little excuse that it was
+no larger; but the father, a most excellent, honest, and faithful
+worker, was obviously discouraged. He had not nearly enough proper food
+for his family; clothing was even more at a discount; tools with which
+to work were almost as lacking as in a cave man's dwelling; the whole
+family was going to pieces from sheer discouragement. The previous
+winter on the opposite bank of the same river, called Big River, a
+neighbour had in desperation sent his wife and eldest boy out of the
+house, killed his young family, and then shot himself.</p>
+
+<p>When night came five of the children huddled together for warmth in one
+bed, and the parents and balance of the family in the other. I slept on
+the floor near the door in my sleeping-bag, with my nose glued to the
+crack to get a breath of God's cold air, in spite of the need for
+warmth&mdash;for not a blanket did the house possess. When I asked, a little
+hurt, where were the blankets which we had sent last year, the mother
+somewhat indignantly pointed to various trousers and coats which
+betrayed their final resting-place, and remarked, "If you'se had five
+lads all trying to get under one covering to onct, Doctor, you'd soon
+know what would happen to that blanket."</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning I made a boiling of cocoa, and took the two elder
+boys out for a seal hunt while waiting for my steamer. I was just in
+time to see one boy carefully upset his mug of cocoa, when he thought I
+was not looking, and replace it with cold spring water. "I 'lows I'se
+not accustomed to no sweetness" was his simple explanation. It was raw
+and damp as we rowed into the estuary at sunrise in search of the
+seals. I was chilly even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>in a well-lined leather coat. But the two
+shock-headed boys, clad in ancient cotton shirts, and with what had
+once been only cotton overall jackets, were as jolly as crickets, and
+apparently almost unduly warm. The Labrador has taught me one truth,
+which as a physician I never forget, that is, coddling is the terrible
+menace of civilization, and "to endure hardness" is the best
+preparation for a "good soldier." On leaving, I promised to send to
+those boys, whose contentment and cheerfulness greatly endeared them to
+me, a dozen good fox traps in order to give them a chance for the
+coming winter. Such a gift as those old iron rat traps seemed in their
+eyes! When at last they arrived, and were really their own possessions,
+no prince could have been prouder than they. The next summer as I
+steamed North, we called in at D&mdash;&mdash; B&mdash;&mdash;'s house. The same famine in
+the land seemed to prevail; the same lack of apparently everything
+which I should have wanted. But the old infective smile was still
+presented with an almost religious ceremonial, and my friend produced
+from his box a real silver fox skin. "I kept it for you'se, Doctor," he
+said, "though us hadn't ne'er a bit in t' house. I know'd you'd do
+better 'n we with he."</p>
+
+<p>I promised to try, and on my way called in at some northern islands
+where my friend, Captain Bartlett, father of the celebrated "Captain
+Bob" of North Pole fame, carried on a summer trade and fishery. He
+himself was a great seal and cod fisherman, and a man known for his
+generous sympathy for others.</p>
+
+<p>"Do your best for me, Captain Will," I asked as I handed over the
+skin&mdash;and on coming South I found a complete winter diet laid out for
+me to take to D&mdash;&mdash; B&mdash;&mdash;'s little house. It was a veritable full load
+for the small carrying capacity of my little craft.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>When we arrived at the house on the promontory, however, it was locked
+up and the family gone. They were off fishing on the outer islands, so
+all we could do was to break in the door, pile up the things inside,
+bar it up again, affixing a notice warning off bears, dogs, and all
+poachers, and advising Dick that it was the price of his pelt. In the
+note we also told him to put all the fur he caught the following winter
+in a barrel and "sit on it" till we came along, if he wanted a chance
+to get ahead. This he did almost literally. We ourselves took his
+barrel to the nearest cash buyer, and ordered for him goods for cash in
+St. John's to the full amount realized. The fur brought more than his
+needs, and he was able to help out neighbours by reselling at cash
+prices. This he did till the day of his death, when he left me, as his
+executor, with a couple of hundred good dollars in cash to divide among
+his children.</p>
+
+<p>It was experiments like this which led me in later years to start the
+small co&ouml;perative distributive stores, in spite of the knowledge of the
+opposition and criticism it would involve. How can one preach the
+gospel of love to a hungry people by sermons, or a gospel of healing to
+underfed children by pills, while one feels that practical teaching in
+home economics is what one would most wish if in their position? The
+more broad-minded critics themselves privately acknowledged this to me.
+One day a Northern furrier, an excellent and more intelligent man than
+ordinary, came to me as a magistrate to insist that a trading company
+keep its bargain by paying him in cash for a valuable fox skin. They
+were trying to compel him to take flour and supplies from them at
+prices far in excess of those at which he could purchase the goods in
+St. John's, <i>via</i> the mail steamer.</p>
+
+<p>When asked to act as a justice of the peace for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>Colony, I had
+thought it my duty to accept the responsibility. Already it had led me
+into a good deal of trouble. But that I should be forced to seize the
+large store of a company, and threaten an auction of goods for payment,
+without even a policeman to back me up, had never entered my mind. It
+was, however, exactly what I now felt called upon to do. To my intense
+surprise and satisfaction the trader immediately turned round and said:
+"You are quite right. The money shall be paid at once. The truck system
+is a mistaken policy, and loses us many customers." It was Saturday
+night. We had decided to have a service for the fishermen the next day,
+but had no place in which to gather. Therefore, after we had settled
+the business I took my pluck in my hands, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"It's Sunday to-morrow. Would you lend us your big room for prayers in
+the morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, certainly," he replied; and he was present himself and sang as
+heartily as any man in the meeting. Nor did he lose a good customer on
+account of his open-mindedness.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE PEOPLE OF LABRADOR</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Since the publication of the book "Labrador, the Country and the
+People," the means of transportation to the coast have been so improved
+that each year brings us an increasing number of visitors to enjoy the
+attractions of this sub-arctic land. So many misconceptions have
+arisen, however, as to the country and its inhabitants, and one is so
+often misrepresented as distorting conditions, that it seems wise at
+this point to try and answer a few questions which are so familiar to
+us who live on the coast as to appear almost negligible.</p>
+
+<p>The east coast of Labrador belongs to Newfoundland, and is not part of
+the territory of Canada, although the ill-defined boundary between the
+two possessions has given rise to many misunderstandings. Newfoundland
+is an autonomous government, having its own Governor sent out from
+England, Prime Minister, and Houses of Parliament in the city of St.
+John's. Instead of being a province of Canada, as is often supposed,
+and an arrangement which some of us firmly believe would result in the
+ultimate good of the Newfoundlanders, it stands in the same
+relationship to England as does the great Dominion herself. Labrador is
+owned by Newfoundland, so that legally the Labradormen are
+Newfoundlanders, though they have no representation in the Newfoundland
+Government. At Blanc Sablon, on the north coast in the Straits of Belle
+Isle, the Canadian Labrador begins, so far as the coast-line is
+concerned. The hinterland of the Province of Ungava is also a Canadian
+possession.</p>
+
+<p>The original natives of the Labrador were Eskimos <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>and bands of roving
+Indians. The ethnologist would find fruitful opportunities in the
+country. The Eskimos, one of the most interesting of primitive races,
+have still a firm foothold in the North&mdash;chiefly around the five
+stations of the Moravian Brethren, upon whose heroic work I need not
+now dilate. The Montagnais Indians roam the interior. They are a branch
+of the ancient Algonquin race who held North America as far west as the
+Rockies. They are the hereditary foes of the Eskimos, whole settlements
+of whom they have more than once exterminated. Gradually, with the
+influx of white settlers from Devon and Dorset, from Scotland and
+France, the "Innuits" were driven farther and farther north, until
+there are only some fifteen hundred of them remaining to-day. Among
+them the Moravians have been working for the past hundred and
+thirty-five years. A few bands of Indians still continue to rove the
+interior, occasionally coming out to the coast to dispose of their
+furs, and obtain such meagre supplies as their mode of life requires.
+The balance of the inhabitants of the country are white men of our own
+blood and religion&mdash;men of the sea and dear to the Anglo-Saxon heart.</p>
+
+<p>During the past years it has been the experience of many of my
+colleagues, as well as myself, that as soon as one mentions the fact
+that part of our work is done on the north shore of Newfoundland, one's
+audience loses interest, and there arises the question: "But
+Newfoundland is a prosperous island. Why is it necessary to carry on a
+charitable enterprise there?"</p>
+
+<p>There is a sharp demarcation between main or southern Newfoundland and
+the long finger of land jutting northward, which at Cape Bauld splits
+the polar current, so that the shores of the narrow peninsula are
+continuously bathed in icy waters. The country is swept by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>biting
+winds, and often for weeks enveloped in a chilly and dripping blanket
+of fog. The climate at the north end of the northward-pointing finger
+is more severe than on the Labrador side of the Straits. Indeed, my
+friend, Mr. George Ford, for twenty-seven years factor of the Hudson
+Bay Company at Nakvak, told me that even in the extreme north of
+Labrador he never really knew what cold was until he underwent the
+penetrating experience of a winter at St. Anthony. The Lapp reindeer
+herders whom we brought over from Lapland, a country lying well north
+of the Arctic Circle, after spending a winter near St. Anthony, told me
+that they had never felt anything like that kind of cold, and that they
+really could not put up with it! The climate of the actual Labrador is
+clear, cold, and still, with a greater proportion of sunshine than the
+northern peninsula of Newfoundland. As a matter of fact, our station at
+St. Anthony is farther north and farther east than two of our hospitals
+on the Labrador side of the Straits of Belle Isle. Along that north
+side the gardens of the people are so good that their produce affords a
+valuable addition to the diet&mdash;but not so here.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep140" id="imagep140"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep140.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep140.jpg" width="95%" alt="Battle Harbour" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">BATTLE HARBOUR<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The dominant industry of the whole Colony is its fisheries&mdash;the
+ever-recurrent pursuit of the luckless cod, salmon, herring, halibut,
+and lobster in summer, and the seal fishery in the month of March. It
+is increasingly difficult to overestimate the importance, not merely to
+the British Empire, but to the entire world, of the invaluable
+food-supply procured by the hardy fishermen of these northern waters.
+Only the other day the captain of a patrol boat told me that he had
+just come over from service on the North Sea, and in his opinion it
+would be years before those waters could again be fished, owing to the
+immense numbers of still active mines which would render such an
+attempt disproportionately hazardous. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>From this point of view, if from
+no other more disinterested angle, we owe a great and continuous debt
+to the splendid people of Britain's oldest colony. It was among these
+white fishermen that I came out to work primarily, the floating
+population which every summer, some twenty thousand strong, visits the
+coasts of Labrador; and later including the white resident settlers of
+the Labrador and North Newfoundland coasts as well.</p>
+
+<p>The conditions prevailing among some of the people at the north end of
+Newfoundland and of Labrador itself should not be confused with those
+of their neighbours to the southward. Chronic poverty is, however, very
+far from being universally prevalent in the northern district. Some of
+the fishermen lead a comfortable, happy, and prosperous life; but my
+old diaries, as well as my present observations, furnish all too many
+instances in which families exist well within the danger-line of
+poverty, ignorance, and starvation.</p>
+
+<p>The privations which the inhabitants of the French or Treaty shore and
+of Labrador have had to undergo, and their isolation from so many of
+the benefits of civilization, have had varying effects on the residents
+of the coast to-day. While a resourceful and kindly, hardy and
+hospitable people have been developed, yet one sometimes wonders
+exactly into what era an inhabitant of say the planet Mars would place
+our section of the North Country if he were to alight here some crisp
+morning in one of his unearthly machines. For we are a reactionary
+people in matters of religion and education; and our very "speech
+betrays us," belonging as so many of its expressions do to the days
+when the Pilgrims went up to Canterbury, or a certain Tinker wrote of
+another and more distant pilgrimage to the City of Zion.</p>
+
+<p>The people are, naturally, Christians of a devout and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>simple faith.
+The superstitions still found among them are attributable to the
+remoteness of the country from the current of the world's thought, the
+natural tendency of all seafaring people, and the fact that the days
+when the forbears of these fishermen left "Merrie England" to seek a
+living by the harvest of the sea, and finally settled on these rocky
+shores, were those when witches and hobgoblins and charms and amulets
+were accepted beliefs.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, to-day as a medical man one is startled to see a fox's or
+wolf's head suspended by a cord from the centre, and to learn that it
+will always twist the way from which the wind is going to blow. One man
+had a barometer of this kind hanging from his roof, and explained that
+the peculiar fact was due to the nature of the animals, which in life
+always went to windward of others; but if you had a seal's head
+similarly suspended, it would turn from the wind, owing to the timid
+character of that creature. Moreover, it surprises one to be assured,
+on the irrefutable and quite unquestioned authority of "old Aunt Anne
+Sweetapple," that aged cats always become playful before a gale of wind
+comes on.</p>
+
+<p>"I never gets sea boils," one old chap told me the other day.</p>
+
+<p>"How is that?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I always cuts my nails on a Monday, so I never has any."</p>
+
+<p>There is a great belief in fairies on the coast. A man came to me once
+to cure what he was determined to believe was a balsam on his baby's
+nose. The birthmark to him resembled that tree. More than one had given
+currency if not credence to the belief that the reason why the
+bull's-eye was so hard to hit in one of our running deer rifle matches
+was that we had previously charmed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>it. If a woman sees a hare without
+cutting out and keeping a portion of the dress she is then wearing, her
+child will be born with a hare-lip.</p>
+
+<p>When stripping a patient for examination, I noticed that he removed
+from his neck what appeared to be a very large scapular. I asked him
+what it could be. It was a haddock's fin-bone&mdash;a charm against
+rheumatism. The peculiarity of the fin consists in the fact that the
+fish must be taken from the water and the fin cut out before the animal
+touches anything whatever, especially the boat. Any one who has seen a
+trawl hauled knows how difficult a task this would be, with the
+jumping, squirming fish to cope with.</p>
+
+<p>Protestant and Catholic alike often sew up bits of paper, with prayers
+written on them, in little sacks that are worn around the neck as an
+amulet; and green worsted tied around the wrist is reported to be a
+never-failing cure for hemorrhage.</p>
+
+<p>Every summer some twenty thousand fishermen travel "down North" in
+schooners, as soon as ever the ice breaks sufficiently to allow them to
+get along. They are the "Labrador fishermen," and they come from South
+Newfoundland, from Nova Scotia, from Gloucester, and even Boston. Some
+Newfoundlanders take their families down and leave them in summer tilts
+on the land near the fishing grounds during the season. When fall comes
+they pick them up again and start for their winter homes "in the
+South," leaving only a few hundreds of scattered "Liveyeres" in
+possession of the Labrador.</p>
+
+<p>We were much surprised one day to notice a family moving their house in
+the middle of the fishing season, especially when we learned that the
+reason was that a spirit had appropriated their dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen Leacock would have obtained much valuable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>data for his essay
+on "How to Become a Doctor" if he had ever chanced to sail along "the
+lonely Labrador." In a certain village one is confidently told of a
+cure for asthma, as simple as it is infallible. It consists merely of
+taking the tips of all one's finger-nails, carefully allowed to grow
+long, and cutting them off with sharp scissors. In another section a
+powder known as "Dragon's Blood" is very generally used as a plaster.
+It appears quite inert and harmless. A little farther south along the
+coast is a baby suffering from ophthalmia. The doctor has only been
+called in because blowing sugar in its eyes has failed to cure it.</p>
+
+<p>A colleague of mine was visiting on his winter rounds in a delightful
+village some forty miles south of St. Anthony Hospital. The "swiles"
+(seals) had struck in, and all hands were out on the ice, eager to
+capture their share of these valuable animals. But snow-blindness had
+incontinently attacked the men, and had rendered them utterly unable to
+profit by their good fortune. The doctor's clinic was long and busy
+that night. The following morning he was, however, amazed to see many
+of his erstwhile patients wending their way seawards, each with one eye
+treated on his prescription, but the other (for safety's sake) doctored
+after the long-accepted methods of the talent of the village&mdash;tansy
+poultices and sugar being the acknowledged favourites. The consensus of
+opinion obviously was that the stakes were too high for a man to offer
+up both eyes on the altar of modern medicine.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of many years' practice the methods for the treatment and
+extraction of offending molars which have come to my attention are
+numerous, but none can claim a more prompt result than the following:
+First you attach a stout, fine fish-line firmly to the tooth. Next <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>you
+lash the other end to the latch of the door&mdash;we do not use knobs in
+this country. You then make the patient stand back till there is a nice
+tension on the line, when suddenly you make a feint as if to strike him
+in the eye. Forgetful of the line, he leaps back to avoid the blow.
+Result, painless extraction of the tooth, which should be found hanging
+to the latch.</p>
+
+<p>Although there have been clergyman of the Church of England and
+Methodist denominations on the coast for many years past&mdash;devoted and
+self-sacrificing men who have done most unselfish work&mdash;still, their
+visits must be infrequent. One of them told me in North Newfoundland
+that once, when he happened to pass through a little village with his
+dog team on his way South, the man of one house ran out and asked him
+to come in. "Sorry I have no time," he replied. "Well, just come in at
+the front door and out at the back, so we can say that a minister has
+been in the house," the fisherman answered.</p>
+
+<p>Even to-day, to the least fastidious, the conditions of travel leave
+much to be desired. The coastal steamers are packed far beyond their
+sleeping or sitting capacity. On the upper deck of the best of these
+boats I recall that there are two benches, each to accommodate four
+people. The steamer often carries three hundred in the crowded season
+of the fall of the year. One retires at night under the misapprehension
+that the following morning will find these seats still available. On
+ascending the companionway, however, one's gaze is met by a
+heterogeneous collection of impedimenta. The benches are buried as
+irretrievably as if they "had been carried into the midst of the sea."
+Almost anything may have been piled on them, from bales of hay&mdash;among
+which my wife once sat for two days&mdash;to the nucleus of a chicken farm,
+destined, let us say, for the Rogues' Roost Bight.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>As the sturdy little steamer noses her way into some picturesque
+harbour and blows a lusty warning of her approach, small boats are seen
+putting off from the shore and rowing or sculling toward her with
+almost indecorous rapidity. Lean over the rail for a minute with me,
+and watch the freight being unloaded into one of these bobbing little
+craft. The hatch of the steamer is opened, a most unmusical winch
+commences operations&mdash;and a sewing machine emerges <i>de profundis</i>. This
+is swung giddily out over the sea by the crane and dropped on the
+thwarts of the waiting punt. One shudders to think of the probably
+fatal shock received by the vertebr&aelig; of that machine. One's sympathies,
+however, are almost immediately enlisted in the interest and fortunes
+of a young and voiceful pig, which, poised in the blue, unwillingly
+experiences for the moment the fate of the coffin of the Prophet. Great
+shouting ensues as a baby is carried down the ship's ladder and
+deposited in the rocking boat. A bag of beans, of the variety known as
+"haricot," is the next candidate. A small hole has been torn in a
+corner of the burlap sack, out of which trickles a white and ominous
+stream. The last article to join the galaxy is a tub of butter. By a
+slight mischance the tub has "burst abroad," and the butter, a golden
+and gleaming mass,&mdash;with unexpected consideration having escaped the
+ministrations of the winch,&mdash;is passed from one pair of fishy hands to
+another, till it finds a resting-place by the side of the now quiescent
+pig.</p>
+
+<p>We pass out into the open again, bound for the next port of call. If
+the weather chances to be "dirty," the sufferers from <i>mal-de-mer</i> lie
+about on every available spot, be it floor or bench, and over these
+prostrate forms must one jump as one descends to the dining-saloon for
+lunch. It may be merely due to the special keenness of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>my professional
+sense, but the apparent proportion of the halt, lame, and blind who
+frequent these steamers appears out of all relation to the total
+population of the coast. Across the table is a man with an enormous
+white rag swathing his thumb. The woman next him looks out on a blue
+and altered world from behind a bandaged eye. Beside one sits a young
+fisherman, tenderly nursing his left lower jaw, his enjoyment of the
+fact that his appetite is unimpaired by the vagaries of the North
+Atlantic tempered by an unremitting toothache.</p>
+
+<p>But the cheerful kindliness and capability of the captain, the crew,
+and the passengers, on whatever boat you may chance to travel, pervades
+the whole ship like an atmosphere, and makes one forget any slight
+discomfort in a justifiable pride that as an Anglo-Saxon one can claim
+kinship to these "Vikings of to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Life is hard in White Bay. An outsider visiting there in the spring of
+the year would come to the conclusion that if nothing further can be
+done for these people to make a more generous living, they should be
+encouraged to go elsewhere. The number of cases of tubercle, an&aelig;mia,
+and dyspepsia, of beri-beri and scurvy, all largely attributable to
+poverty of diet, is very great; and the relative poverty, even compared
+with that of the countries which I have been privileged to visit, is
+piteous. The solution of such a problem does not, however, lie in
+removing a people from their environment, but in trying to make the
+environment more fit for human habitation.</p>
+
+<p>The hospitality of the people is unstinted and beautiful. They will
+turn out of their beds at any time to make a stranger comfortable, and
+offer him their last crust into the bargain, without ever expecting or
+asking a penny of recompense. But here, as all the world over, the
+sublime and the ridiculous go hand in hand. On one of my dog <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>trips the
+first winter which I spent at St. Anthony, the bench on which I slept
+was the top of the box used for hens. This would have made little
+difference to me, but unfortunately it contained a youthful and
+vigorous rooster, which, mistaking the arrival of so many visitors for
+some strange herald of morning, proceeded every half-hour to salute it
+with premature and misdirected zeal, utterly incompatible with unbroken
+repose just above his head. It was possible, without moving one's limbs
+much, to reach through the bars and suggest better things to him; but
+owing to the inequality which exists in most things, one invariably
+captured a drowsy hen, while the more active offender eluded one with
+ease. Lighting matches to differentiate species under such exceptional
+circumstances in the pursuit of knowledge was quite out of the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>A visit to one house on the French shore I shall not easily forget. The
+poor lad of sixteen years had hip disease, and lay dying. The
+indescribable dirt I cannot here picture. The bed, the house, and
+everything in it were full of vermin, and the poor boy had not been
+washed since he took to bed three or four months before. With the help
+of a clergyman who was travelling with me at the time, the lad was
+chloroformed and washed. We then ordered the bedding to be burned,
+provided him with fresh garments, and put him into a clean bed. The
+people's explanation was that he was in too much pain to be touched,
+and so they could do nothing. We cleansed and drained his wounds and
+left what we could for him. Had he not been so far gone, we should have
+taken him to the hospital, but I feared that he would not survive the
+journey.</p>
+
+<p>Although at the time it often seemed an unnecessary expenditure of
+effort in an already overcrowded day, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>one now values the records of
+the early days of one's life on the coast. In my notebook for 1895 I
+find the following: "The desolation of Labrador at this time is easy to
+understand. No Newfoundlanders were left north of us; not a vessel in
+sight anywhere. The ground was all under snow, and everything caught
+over with ice except the sea. I think that I must describe one house,
+for it seems a marvel that any man could live in it all winter, much
+less women and children. It was ten feet by twenty, one storey high,
+made of mud and boards, with half a partition to divide bedroom from
+the sitting-room kitchen. If one adds a small porch filled with dirty,
+half-starved dogs, and refuse of every kind, an ancient and dilapidated
+stove in the sitting part of the house, two wooden benches against the
+walls, a fixed rude table, some shelves nailed to the wall, and two
+boarded-up beds, one has a fairly accurate description of the
+furnishings. Inside were fourteen persons, sleeping there, at any rate
+for a night or two. The ordinary regular family of a man and wife and
+four girls was to be increased this winter by the man's brother, his
+wife, and four boys from twelve months to seven years of age. His
+brother had 'handy enough flour,' but no tea or molasses. The owner was
+looking after Newfoundland Rooms, for which he got flour, tea,
+molasses, and firewood for the winter. The people assure me that one
+man, who was aboard us last fall just as we were going South, starved
+to death, and many more were just able to hold out till spring. The
+man, they tell me, ate his only dog as his last resource."</p>
+
+<p>I sent one day a barrel of flour and some molasses to a poor widow with
+seven children at Stag Islands. She was starving even in summer. She
+was just eating fish, which she and her eldest girl caught, and
+drinking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>water&mdash;no flour, no tea, nothing. Two winters before she and
+her eldest girl sawed up three thousand feet of planking to keep the
+wolf from the little ones. The girl managed the boat and fished in
+summer, drove the dogs and komatik and did the shooting for which they
+could afford powder in winter.</p>
+
+<p>A man, having failed to catch a single salmon beyond what he was forced
+to eat, left in his little boat to row down to the Inlet to try for
+codfish. To get a meal&mdash;breakfast&mdash;and a little flour to sustain life
+on the way, he had to sell his anchor before he left.</p>
+
+<p>The life of the sea, with all its attractions, is at best a hazardous
+calling, and it speaks loud in the praise of the capacity and simple
+faith of our people that in the midst of a trying and often perilous
+environment, they retain so quiet and kindly a temper of mind. During
+my voyage to the seal fishery I recall that one day at three o'clock
+the men were all called in. Four were missing. We did not find them
+till we had been steaming for an hour and a half. They were caught on
+pans some mile or so apart in couples, and were in prison. We were a
+little anxious about them, but the only remark which I heard, when at
+last they came aboard, was, "Leave the key of your box the next time,
+Ned."</p>
+
+<p>To those who claim that Labrador is a land of plenty I would offer the
+following incident in refutation. At Holton on a certain Sunday morning
+the leader of the church services came aboard the hospital steamer and
+asked me for a Bible. Some sacrilegious pigs which had been brought
+down to fatten on the fish, driven to the verge of starvation by the
+scarcity of that article, had broken into the church illicitly one
+night, and not only destroyed the cloth, but had actually torn up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>and
+eaten the Bible. In reply to inquiry I gave it as my opinion that it
+would be no sin to eat the pork of the erring quadrupeds.</p>
+
+<p>Once when I was cruising on the North Labrador coast I anchored one day
+between two desolate islands some distance out in the Atlantic, a
+locality which in those days was frequented by many fishing craft. My
+anchors were scarcely down when a boat from a small Welsh brigantine
+came aboard, and asked me to go at once and see a dying girl. She
+proved to be the only woman among a host of men, and was servant in one
+of the tiny summer fishing huts, cooking and mending for the men, and
+helping with the fish when required. I found her in a rude bunk in a
+dark corner of the shack. She was almost eighteen, and even by the dim
+light of my lantern and in contrast with the sordid surroundings, I
+could see that she was very pretty. A brief examination convinced me
+that she was dying. The tender-hearted old captain, whose aid had been
+called in as the only man with a doctor's box and therefore felt to be
+better qualified to use it than others, was heart-broken. He had
+pronounced the case to be typhoid, to be dangerous and contagious, and
+had wisely ordered the fishermen, who were handling food for human
+consumption, to leave him to deal with the case alone. He told me at
+once that he had limited his attentions to feeding her, and that though
+helpless for over a fortnight, and at times unconscious, the patient
+had not once been washed or the bed changed. The result, even with my
+experience, appalled me. But while there is life in a young patient
+there is always hope, and we at once set to work on our Augean task. By
+the strangest coincidence it was an inky dark night outside, with a low
+fog hanging over the water, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>and the big trap boat, with a crew of some
+six men, among them the skipper's sons, had been missing since morning.
+The skipper had stayed home out of sympathy for his servant girl, and
+his mind was torn asunder by the anxiety for the girl and his fear for
+his boys.</p>
+
+<p>When night fell, the old captain and I were through with the hardest
+part of our work. We had new bedding on the bed and the patient clean
+and sleeping quietly. Still the boat and its precious complement did
+not come. Every few minutes the skipper would go out and listen, and
+stare into the darkness. The girl's heart suddenly failed, and about
+midnight her spirit left this world. The captain and I decided that the
+best thing to do was to burn everything&mdash;and in order to avoid
+publicity to do it at once. So having laboriously carried it all out
+onto the edge of the cliff, we set a light to the pile and were
+rewarded with a bonfire which would have made many a Guy Fawkes
+celebration. Quite unintentionally we were sending out great streams of
+light into the darkness over the waters away down below us, and
+actually giving the longed-for signal to the missing boat. Her crew
+worked their way in the fog to life and safety by means of the blazing
+and poor discarded "properties" of the soul preceding us to our last
+port.</p>
+
+<p>Although our work has lain almost entirely among the white population
+of the Labrador and North Newfoundland coasts, still it has been our
+privilege occasionally to come in contact with the native races, and to
+render them such services, medical or otherwise, as lay within our
+power. Our doctor at Harrington on the Canadian Labrador is appointed
+by the Canadian Government as Indian Agent.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>Once, when my own boat was anchored in Davis Inlet, a band of roving
+Indians had come to the post for barter and supplies. Our steamer was a
+source of great interest to them. Our steam whistle they would gladly
+have purchased, after they had mastered their first fears. At night we
+showed them some distress rockets and some red and blue port flares.
+The way those Indians fled from the port flares was really amusing, and
+no one enjoyed it more than they did, for the shouting and laughter,
+after they had picked themselves out of the scuppers where they had
+been rolling on top of one another, wakened the very hills with their
+echoes. Next morning one lonely-looking brave came on board, and
+explained to me by signs and grunts that during the entertainment a
+white counter, or Hudson Bay dollar, had rolled out of the lining of
+his hat into our woodpile. An elaborate search failed to reveal its
+whereabouts, but as there was no reason to doubt him, I decided to make
+up the loss to him out of our clothes-bag. Fortunately a gorgeous
+purple rowing blazer came readily to hand, and with this and a helmet,
+both of which he put on at once, the poor fellow was more than
+satisfied. Indeed, on the wharf he was the envy of the whole band.</p>
+
+<p>At night they slept in the bunkhouse, and they presented a sight which
+one is not likely to forget&mdash;especially one lying on his back on the
+table, with his arms extended and his head hanging listlessly over the
+edge. One felt sorely tempted to put a pin into him to see if he really
+were alive, but we decided to abstain for prudential reasons.</p>
+
+<p>We had among the garments on board three not exactly suited to the
+white settlers, so I told the agent to let the Indians have a rifle
+shooting match for them. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>They were a fox huntsman's red broadcloth
+tail-coat, with all the glory of gilt buttons, a rather dilapidated red
+golf blazer, and a white, cavalryman's Eton coat, with silver buttons,
+and the coat-of-arms on. Words fail me to paint the elation of the
+winner of the fox hunting coat; while the wearer of the cavalry mess
+jacket was not the least bit daunted by the fact that when he got it on
+he could hardly breathe. I must say that he wore it over a deerskin
+kossak, which is not the custom of cavalrymen, I am led to believe.</p>
+
+<p>The coast-line from Ramah to Cape Chidley is just under one hundred
+miles, and on it live a few scattered Eskimo hunters. Mr. Ford knew
+every one of them personally, having lived there twenty-seven years. It
+appears that a larger race of Eskimos called "Tunits," to whom the
+present race were slaves, used to be on this section of the coast. At
+Nakvak there are remains of them. In Hebron, the same year that we met
+the Indians at Davis Inlet, we saw Pomiuk's mother. Her name is Regina,
+and she is now married to Valentine, the king of the Eskimos there. I
+have an excellent photograph of a royal dinner party, a thing which I
+never possessed before. The king and queen and a solitary courtier are
+seated on the rocks, gnawing contentedly raw walrus bones&mdash;"ivik" they
+call it.</p>
+
+<p>The Eskimos one year suffered very heavily from an epidemic of
+influenza&mdash;the germ doubtless imported by some schooner from the South.
+Like all primitive peoples, they had no immunity to the disease, and
+the suffering and mortality were very high. It was a pathetic sight as
+the lighter received its load of rude coffins from the wharf, with all
+the kindly little people gathered to tow them to their last
+resting-place in the shallow sand at the end of the inlet. The ten
+coffins in one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>grave seemed more the sequence of a battle than of a
+summer sickness in Labrador. Certainly the hospital move on the part of
+the Moravians deserved every commendation; though I understand that at
+their little hospital in Okkak they have not always been able to have a
+qualified medical man in residence.</p>
+
+<p>One old man, a patient on whose hip I had operated, came and insisted
+that I should examine the scars. Oddly enough during the operation the
+Eskimo, who was the only available person whom I had been able to find
+to hold the light, had fainted, and left me in darkness. I had
+previously had no idea that their sensibilities were so akin to ours.</p>
+
+<p>At Napatuliarasok Island are some lovely specimens of blue and green
+and golden Labradorite, a striated feldspar with a glorious sheen.
+Nothing has ever really been done with this from a commercial point of
+view; moreover, the samples of gold-bearing quartz, of which such good
+hopes have been entertained, have so far been found wanting also. In my
+opinion this is merely due to lack of persevering investigation&mdash;for
+one cannot believe that this vast area of land can be utterly
+unremunerative.</p>
+
+<p>On one of the old maps of Labrador this terse description is written by
+the cartographer: "Labrador was discovered by the English. There is
+nothing in it of any value"; and another historian enlarges on the
+theme in this fashion: "God made the world in five days, made Labrador
+on the sixth, and spent the seventh throwing stones at it." It is so
+near and yet so far, so large a section of the British Empire and yet
+so little known, and so romantic for its wild grandeur, and many
+fastnesses still untrodden by the foot of man! The polar current steals
+from the unknown <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>North its ice treasures, and lends them with no
+niggard hand to this seaboard. There is a never-wearying charm in these
+countless icebergs, so stately in size and so fantastic in shape and
+colouring.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep156" id="imagep156"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep156.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep156.jpg" width="95%" alt="A Labrador Burial" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">A LABRADOR BURIAL<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The fauna and flora of the country are so varied and exquisite that one
+wonders why the world of science has so largely passed us by. Perhaps
+with the advent of hydroplanes, Labrador will come to its own among the
+countries of the world. Not only the ethnologist and botanist, but the
+arch&aelig;ologist as well reaps a rich harvest for his labours here. Many
+relics of a recent stone age still exist. I have had brought to me
+stone saucepans, lamps, knives, arrow-heads, etc., taken from old
+graves. It is the Eskimo custom to entomb with the dead man all and
+every possession which he might want hereafter, the idea being that the
+spirit of the implement accompanies the man's spirit. Relics of ancient
+whaling establishments, possibly early Basque, are found in plenty at
+one village, while even to-day the trapper there needing a runner for
+his komatik can always hook up a whale's jaw or rib from the mud of the
+harbour. Relics of rovers of the sea, who sought shelter on this
+uncharted coast with its million islands, are still to be found. A
+friend of mine was one day looking from his boat into the deep, narrow
+channel in front of his house, when he perceived some strange object in
+the mud. With help he raised it, and found a long brass "Long Tom"
+cannon, which now stands on the rocks at that place. Remains of the
+ancient French occupation should also be procurable near the seat of
+their deserted capital near Bradore.</p>
+
+<p>My friend, Professor Reginald Daly, head of the Department of Geology
+at Harvard University, after having spent a summer with me on the
+coast, wrote as follows:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>"We crossed the Straits of Belle Isle once more, homeward bound. Old
+Jacques Cartier, searching for an Eldorado, found Labrador, and in
+disgust called it the 'Land of Cain.' A century and a half afterward
+Lieutenant Roger Curtis wrote of it as a 'country formed of frightful
+mountains, and unfruitful valleys, a prodigious heap of barren rock';
+and George Cartwright, in his gossipy journal, summed up his
+impressions after five and twenty years on the coast. He said, 'God
+created this country last of all, and threw together there the refuse
+of his materials as of no use to mankind.'</p>
+
+<p>"We have learned at last the vital fact that Nature has set apart her
+own picture galleries where men may resort if for a time they would
+forget human contrivances. Such a wilderness is Labrador, a kind of
+mental and moral sanitarium. The beautiful is but the visible splendor
+of the true. The enjoyment of a visit to the coast may consist not
+alone in the impressions of the scenery; there may be added the deeper
+pleasure of reading out the history of noble landscapes, the sculptured
+monuments of elemental strife and revolutions of distant ages."</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>LECTURING AND CRUISING</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>We had now been coming for some two years to the coast, and the problem
+was assuming larger proportions than I felt the Society at home ought
+to be called on to finance. It seemed advisable, therefore, to try and
+raise money in southern Newfoundland and Canada. So under the wing of
+the most famous seal and fish killer, Captain Samuel Blandford, I next
+visited and lectured in St. John's, Harbour Grace, and Carbonear.</p>
+
+<p>The towns in Newfoundland are not large. Its sectarian schools and the
+strong denominational feeling between the churches so greatly divide
+the people that united efforts for the Kingdom of God were extremely
+rare before the war. Even now there is no Y.M.C.A. or Y.W.C.A. in the
+Colony. The Boys' Brigade, which we initiated our first year, divided
+as it grew in importance, into the Church Lads Brigade, the Catholic
+Cadet Corps, and the Methodist Guards.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Bobardt, my young Australian colleague, and I now decided to cross
+over to Halifax. We had only a certain amount of money for the venture;
+it was our first visit to Canada, and we knew no one. We carried
+credentials, however, from the Marquis of Ripon and other reputable
+persons. If we had had experience as commercial travellers, this would
+have been child's play. But our education had been in an English school
+and university; and when finally we sat at breakfast at the Halifax
+hotel we felt like fish out of water. Such success as we obtained
+subsequently I attribute entirely to what then seemed to me my
+colleague's colonial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>"cheek." He insisted that we should call on the
+most prominent persons at once, the Prime Minister, the General in
+charge of the garrison, the Presidents of the Board of Trade and
+University, the Governor of the Province, and all the leading
+clergymen. There have been times when I have hesitated about getting my
+anchors for sea, when the barometer was falling, the wind in, and a
+fog-bank on the horizon&mdash;but now, years after, I still recall my
+reluctance to face that ordeal. But like most things, the obstacles
+were largely in one's own mind, and the kindness which we received left
+me entirely overwhelmed. Friends formed a regular committee to keep a
+couple of cots going in our hospital, to collect supplies, and sent us
+to Montreal with introductions and endorsements. Some of these people
+have since been lifelong helpers of the Labrador Mission.</p>
+
+<p>By the time we reached Montreal, our funds were getting low, but Dr.
+Bobardt insisted that we must engage the best accommodations, even if
+it prevented our travelling farther west. The result was that reporters
+insisted on interviewing him as to the purpose of an Australian coming
+to Montreal; and I was startled to see a long account which he had
+jokingly given them published in the morning papers, stating that his
+purpose was to materialize the All Red Line and arrange closer
+relations between Australia and Canada. According to his report my
+object was to inspect my ranch in Alberta. Life to him, whether on the
+Labrador Coast, in an English school, or in his Australian home, was
+one perpetual picnic.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, our most important interview was with Lord Strathcona. He
+was President of the Hudson Bay Company, the Canadian Pacific Railroad,
+and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>Bank of Montreal. As a poor Scotch lad named Donald Smith he
+had lived for thirteen years of his early life in Labrador. There he
+had found a wife and there his daughter was born. From the very first
+he was thoroughly interested in our work, and all through the years
+until his death in 1914 his support was maintained, so that at the very
+time he died we were actually due to visit him the following month at
+Knelsworth.</p>
+
+<p>We hired the best hall and advertised Sir Donald as our chairman. To
+save expense Dr. Bobardt acted in the ticket-box. When Sir Donald came
+along, not having seen him previously, he insisted on collecting fifty
+cents from him as from the rest. When Sir Donald strongly protested
+that he was our chairman, the shrewd young doctor merely replied that
+several others before him had made the same remark. Every one in the
+city knew Sir Donald; and when the matter was explained to him in the
+greenroom, he was thoroughly pleased with the business-like attitude of
+the Mission. As we had never seen Canada he insisted that we must take
+a holiday and visit as far west as British Columbia. All of this he not
+only arranged freely for us, but even saw to such details as that we
+should ride on the engine through the Rocky Mountains, and be
+entertained at his home called "Silver Heights" while in Winnipeg. It
+was during this trip that I visited "Grenfell Town," a queer little
+place called after Pascoe Grenfell, of the Bank of England. The marvel
+of the place to me was the thousands and thousands of acres of splendid
+farmland on which no one lived. I promised that I would send the
+hotel-keeper the Grenfell crest.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Strathcona later presented the Mission with a fine little steamer,
+the Sir Donald, purchased and equipped at his expense through the
+Committee in Montreal.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>We went back to England very well satisfied with our work. Dr. Bobardt
+left me and entered the Navy, while I returned the following year and
+steamed the new boat from Montreal down the St. Lawrence River and the
+Straits to Battle Harbour. There the Albert, which had sailed again
+from England with doctors, nurses, and supplies, was to meet me. We had
+made a fine voyage, visiting all along the coast as we journeyed, and
+had turned in from sea through the last "run," or passage between
+islands. We had polished our brass-work, cleaned up our decks, hoisted
+our flags, all that we might make a triumphant entry on our arrival a
+few minutes later&mdash;when suddenly, <i>Buff&mdash;Bur-r&mdash;Buff</i>, we rose,
+staggered, and fell over on a horrible submerged shoal. Our side was
+gored, our propeller and shaft gone, our keel badly splintered, and the
+ship left high and dry. When we realized our mistake and the dreadful
+position into which we had put ourselves, we rowed ashore to the
+nearest island, walked three or four miles over hill and bog, and from
+there got a fisherman with a boat to put us over to Battle Harbour
+Island. The good ship Albert lay at anchor in the harbour. Our new
+colleagues and old friends were all impatiently waiting to see our fine
+new steamer speed in with all her flags up&mdash;when, instead, two
+bedraggled-looking tramps, crestfallen almost to weeping, literally
+crept aboard.</p>
+
+<p>Sympathy took the form of deeds and a crowd at once went round in boats
+with a museum of implements. Soon they had her off, and our plucky
+schooner took her in tow all the three hundred miles to the nearest
+dry-dock at St. John's.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Sir Thomas Roddick, of Montreal, an old Newfoundlander, had
+presented us with a splendid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>twenty-foot jolly-boat, rigged with
+lug-sail and centre-boom. In this I cruised north to Eskimo Bay,
+harbouring at nights if possible, getting a local pilot when I could,
+and once being taken bodily on board, craft and all, by a big friendly
+fishing schooner. It proved a most profitable summer. I was so
+dependent on the settlers and fishermen for food and hospitality that I
+learned to know them as would otherwise have been impossible. Far the
+best road to a seaman's heart is to let him do something for you. Our
+impressions of a landscape, like our estimates of character, all depend
+on our viewpoint. Fresh from the more momentous problems of great
+cities, the interests and misunderstandings of small isolated places
+bias the mind and make one censorious and resentful. But from the
+position of a tight corner, that of needing help and hospitality from
+entire strangers, one learns how large are the hearts and homes of
+those who live next to Nature. If I knew the Labrador people before
+(and among such I include the Hudson Bay traders and the Newfoundland
+fishermen), that summer made me love them. I could not help feeling how
+much more they gladly and freely did for me than I should have dreamed
+of doing for them had they come along to my house in London. I have
+sailed the seas in ocean greyhounds and in floating palaces and in
+steam yachts, but better than any other I love to dwell on the memories
+of that summer, cruising the Labrador in a twenty-footer.</p>
+
+<p>That year I was late returning South. Progress is slow in the fall of
+the year along the Labrador in a boat of that capacity. I was
+weather-bound, with the snow already on the ground in Square Island
+Harbour. The fishery of the settlers had been very poor. The traders
+coming South had passed them by. There were eight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>months of winter
+ahead, and practically no supplies for the dozen families of the little
+village. I shall never forget the confidence of the patriarch of the
+settlement, Uncle Jim, whose guest I was. The fact that we were without
+butter, and that "sweetness" (molasses) was low, was scarcely even
+noticed. I remember as if it were yesterday the stimulating tang of the
+frosty air and the racy problem of the open sea yet to be covered. The
+bag of birds which we had captured when we had driven in for shelter
+from the storm made our dry-diet supper sweeter than any Delmonico
+ten-course dinner, because we had wrested it ourselves from the
+reluctant environment. Then last of all came the general meeting in
+Uncle Jim's house at night to ask the Lord to open the windows of
+heaven for the benefit of the pathetic little group on the island. Next
+morning the first thing on which our eyes lighted was the belated
+trader, actually driven north again by the storm, anchored right in the
+harbour. Of course Uncle Jim knew that it would be there. Personally, I
+did not expect her, so can claim no credit for the telepathy; but if
+faith ever did work wonders it was on that occasion. There were
+laughing faces and happy hearts as we said good-bye, when my dainty
+little lady spread her wings to a fair breeze a day or so later.</p>
+
+<p>The gallant little Sir Donald did herself every credit the following
+year, and we not only visited the coast as far north as Cape Chidley,
+but explored the narrow channel which runs through the land into Ungava
+Bay, and places Cape Chidley itself on a detached island.</p>
+
+<p>There were a great many fishing schooners far north that season, and
+the keen pleasures of exploring a truly marvellous coast, practically
+uncharted and unknown, were redeemed from the reproach of selfishness
+by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>numerous opportunities for service to one's fellow men.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep164" id="imagep164"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep164.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep164.jpg" width="47%" alt="The Labrador Doctor in Summer" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN SUMMER<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Once that summer we were eleven days stuck in the ice, and while there
+the huge mail steamer broke her propeller, and a boat was sent up to us
+through the ice to ask for our help. The truck on my mastheads was just
+up to her deck. The ice was a lot of trouble, but we got her into
+safety. On board were the superintendent of the Moravian Missions and
+his wife. They were awfully grateful. The great tub rolled about so in
+the Atlantic swell that the big ice-pans nearly came on deck. My dainty
+little lady took no notice of anything and picked her way among the
+pans like Agag "treading delicately." We had five hours' good push,
+however, to get into Battle Harbour. It was calm in the ice-field, only
+the heavy tide made it run and the little "alive" steamer with human
+skill beat the massive mountains of ice into a cocked hat.</p>
+
+<p>At Indian Tickle there is a nice little church which was built by
+subscription and free labour the second year we came on the coast.
+There is one especially charming feature about this building. It stands
+in such a position that you can see it as you come from the north miles
+away from the harbour entrance, and it is so situated that it leads
+directly into the safe anchorage. There are no lights to guide sailors
+on this coast at all, and yet during September, October, and November,
+three of the most dangerous months in the year, hundreds of schooners
+and thousands of men, women, and children are coming into or passing
+through this harbour on their way to the southward. By a nice
+arrangement the little east window points to the north&mdash;if that is not
+Irish&mdash;and two large bracket lamps can be turned on a pivot, so that
+the lamps and their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>reflectors throw a light out to sea. The good
+planter, at his own expense, often maintains a light here on stormy or
+dark nights, and "steering straight for it" brings one to safety.</p>
+
+<p>While cruising near Cape Chidley, a schooner signalling with flag at
+half-mast attracted our attention. On going aboard we found a young man
+with the globe of one eye ruptured by a gun accident, in great pain,
+and in danger of losing the other eye sympathetically. Having excised
+the globe, we allowed him to go back to his vessel, intensely grateful,
+but full of apprehension as to how his girl would regard him on his
+return South. It so happened that we had had a gift of false eyes, and
+we therefore told him to call in at hospital on his way home and take
+his chance on getting a blue one. While walking over the hill near the
+hospital that fall I ran into a crowd of young fishermen, whose
+schooner was wind-bound in the harbour, and who had been into the
+country for an hour's trouting. One asked me to look at his eye, as
+something was wrong with it. Being in a hurry, I simply remarked, "Come
+to hospital, and I'll examine it for you"; whereupon he burst out into
+a merry laugh, "Why, Doctor, I'm the boy whose eye you removed. This is
+the glass one you promised. Do you think it will suit her?"</p>
+
+<p>Another time I was called to a large schooner in the same region. There
+were two young girls on board doing the cooking and cleaning, as was
+the wont in Newfoundland vessels. One, alas, was seriously ill, having
+given birth to a premature child, and having lain absolutely helpless,
+with only a crew of kind but strange men anywhere near. Rolling her up
+in blankets, we transferred her to the Sir Donald, and steamed for the
+nearest Moravian station. Here the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>necessary treatment was possible,
+and when we left for the South a Moravian's good wife accompanied us as
+nurse. The girl, however, had no wish to live. "I want to die, Doctor;
+I can never go home again." Her physical troubles had abated, but her
+mind was made up to die, and this, in spite of all our care, she did a
+few days later. The pathos of the scene as we rowed the poor child's
+body ashore for interment on a rocky and lonely headland, looking out
+over the great Atlantic, wrapped simply in the flag of her country,
+will never be forgotten by any of us&mdash;the silent but unanswerable
+reproach on man's utter selfishness. Many such scenes must rise to the
+memory of the general practitioner; at times, thank God, affording
+those opportunities of doing more for the patients than simply patching
+up their bodies&mdash;opportunities which are the real reward for the "art
+of healing." Some years later I revisited the grave of this poor girl,
+marked by the simple wooden cross which we had then put up, and bearing
+the simple inscription:</p>
+
+<div class="block" style="padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .5em;">
+<p class="cen">Suzanne<br />
+"Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee."</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The fall trip lasted till late into November, without our even
+realizing the fact that snow was on the ground. Indeed the ponds were
+all frozen and we enjoyed drives with dog teams on the land before we
+had finished our work and could think of leaving. We had scarcely left
+Flowers Cove and were just burying our little steamer&mdash;loaded to the
+utmost with wood, cut in return for winter clothing&mdash;in the dense fog
+which almost universally maintains in the Straits, and were rounding
+the hidden ledges of rock which lie half a mile offshore, when we
+discovered a huge trans-Atlantic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>liner racing up in our wake. We
+instantly put down our helm and scuttled out of the way to avoid the
+wash, and almost held our breath as the great steamer dashed by at
+twenty miles an hour, between us and the hidden shoal. She altered her
+helm as she did so, no doubt catching her first sight of the lighthouse
+as she emerged from the fog-bank, but as it was, she must have passed
+within an ace of the shoal. We expected every minute to see her dash on
+the top of it, and then she passed out of sight once more, her
+light-hearted passengers no doubt completely unconscious that they had
+been in any danger at all.</p>
+
+<p>The last port of call was Henley, or Ch&acirc;teau, where formerly the
+British had placed a fort to defend it against the French. We had
+carried round with us a prospective bridegroom, and we were privileged
+to witness the wedding, a simple but very picturesque proceeding. A
+parson had been fetched from thirty miles away, and every kind of
+hospitality provided for the festive event. But in spite of the warmth
+of the occasion the weather turned bitterly cold, the harbour "caught
+over," and for a week we were prisoners. When at last the young ice
+broke up again, we made an attempt to cross the Straits, but sea and
+wind caught us halfway and forced us to run back, this time in the
+thick fog. The Straits' current had carried us a few miles in the
+meanwhile&mdash;which way we did not know&mdash;and the land, hard to make out as
+it was in the fog, was white with snow. However, with the storm
+increasing and the long dark night ahead, we took a sporting chance,
+and ran direct in on the cliffs. How we escaped shipwreck I do not know
+now. We suddenly saw a rock on our bow and a sheer precipice ahead,
+twisted round on our heel, shot between the two, and we knew where we
+were, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>as that is the only rock on a coast-line of twenty miles of
+beach&mdash;but there really is no room between it and the cliff.</p>
+
+<p>All along the coast that year we noticed a change of attitude toward
+professional medical aid. Confidence in the wise woman, in the seventh
+son and his "wonderful" power, in the use of charms like green worsted,
+haddock fins, or scrolls of prayer tied round the neck, had begun to
+waver. The world talks still of a blind man made to see nineteen
+hundred years ago; but the coast had recently been more thrilled by the
+tale of a blind man made to see by "these yere doctors." One was a man
+who for seventeen years had given up all hope; and two others, old men,
+parted for years, and whose first occasion of seeing again had revealed
+to them the fact that they were brothers.</p>
+
+<p>Some lame had also been made to walk&mdash;persons who had abandoned hope
+quite as much as he who lay for forty years by the Pool of Siloam, or
+for a similar period at the Golden Gate.</p>
+
+<p>One of my first operations had been rendered absolutely inescapable by
+the great pain caused by a tumour in the leg. The patient had insisted
+on having five men sit on her while the operation proceeded, as she did
+not believe it was right to be put to sleep, and, moreover, she
+secretly feared that she might not wake up again. But now the
+conversion of the coast had proceeded so far that many were pleading
+for a winter doctor. At first we did not think it feasible, but my
+colleague, Dr. Willway, finally volunteered to stay at Battle Harbour.
+We loaded him up with all our spare assets against the experiment, the
+hospital being but very ill-equipped for an Arctic winter. When the
+following summer we approached the coast, it was with real <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>trepidation
+that I scanned the land for signs of my derelict friend. We felt that
+he would be gravely altered at least, possibly having grown hair all
+over his face. When an alert, tanned, athletic figure, neatly tonsured
+and barbered, at last leaped over our rail, all our sympathy vanished
+and gave way to jealousy.</p>
+
+<p>One detail, however, had gone wrong. We had anchored our beautiful Sir
+Donald in his care in a harbour off the long bay on the shores of which
+he was wintering. He had seen her once or twice in her ice prison, but
+when he came to look for her in the spring, she had mysteriously
+disappeared. The ice was there still. There wasn't a vestige of
+wreckage. She must have sunk, and the hole frozen up. Yet an extended
+period of "creeping" the bottom with drags and grapples had revealed
+nothing, and, anyhow, the water not being deep, her masts should have
+been easily visible. It was not till some time later that we heard from
+the South that our trusty craft had been picked up some three hundred
+miles to the southward and westward, well out in a heavy ice-pack, and
+right in amongst a big patch of seals, away off on the Atlantic. The
+whole of the bay ice had evidently gone out together, taking the ship
+with it, and the bay had then neatly frozen over again. The seal
+hunters laughingly assured me that they found a patch of old "swiles"
+having tea in the cabin. As the hull of the Sir Donald was old, and the
+size of the boat made good medical work aboard impossible, we decided
+to sell her and try and raise the funds for a more seaworthy and
+capable craft.</p>
+
+<p>Years of experience have subsequently emphasized the fact that if you
+are reasonably resistant, and want to get tough and young again, you
+can do far worse than come and winter on "the lonely Labrador."</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE SEAL FISHERY</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Returning South in the fall of 1895, business necessitated my remaining
+for some time in St. John's, where as previously the Governor, Sir
+Terence O'Brien, very kindly entertained me. It proved to be a most
+exciting time. There were only two banks in the Colony, called
+respectively the Union and the Commercial. These issued all the notes
+used in the country and except for the savings bank had all the
+deposits of the fishermen and people. Suddenly one day I was told,
+though with extreme secrecy, that the two banks were unsound and would
+not again open after Monday morning. This was early on Saturday.
+Business went on as usual, but among the leaders of the country
+consternation was beginning to spread. The banks closed at their usual
+hour&mdash;three o 'clock on Saturday, and so far as I knew no one profited
+by the secret knowledge, though later accusations were made against
+some people. The serious nature of the impending disaster never really
+dawned on me, not being either personally concerned in either bank or
+having any experience of finance. When the collection came around at
+the cathedral on Sunday my friend whispered to me, "That silver will be
+valuable to-morrow." It so happened that on Sunday I was dining with
+the Prime Minister, who had befriended all our efforts, and his
+tremendously serious view of the position of the Colony sent me to bed
+full of alarms for my new friends. We were to have sailed for England
+next day and I went down after breakfast to buy my ticket. The agent
+sold it, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>but remarked, "I am not sure if Newfoundland money is good
+any longer. It is a speculation selling you this ticket." Before we
+sailed the vessel was held up by the Government, as only a few of the
+ships were taking notes at face value. Those of the Commercial Bank
+were only fetching twenty cents. Besides the banks quite a number of
+commercial firms also closed. The directors of the banks were all local
+merchants, and many were heavily indebted to them for supplies given
+out to their "planters," as they call the fishermen whom they supply
+with goods in advance to catch fish for them. It was a sorry mix-up,
+and business was very difficult to carry on because we had no medium of
+exchange. Even the Governor to pay his gardener had to give I.O.U.
+orders on shops&mdash;there simply being no currency available.</p>
+
+<p>Matters have long since adjusted themselves, though neither bank ever
+reopened. Larger banks of good standing came in from Canada, and no one
+can find anything of which to complain in the financial affairs of the
+"oldest Colony," even in these days of war.</p>
+
+<p>Newfoundland has a large seal as well as cod fishery. The great sealing
+captains are all aristocrats of the fishermen and certainly are an
+unusually fine set of men. The work calls for peculiar training in the
+hardest of schools, for great self-reliance and resource, besides skill
+in handling men and ships. In those days the doyen of the fleet was
+Captain Samuel Blandford. He fired me with tales of the hardships to be
+encountered and the opportunities and needs for a doctor among three
+hundred men hundreds of miles from anywhere. The result was a decision
+to return early from my lecture tour and go out with the seal hunters
+of the good ship Neptune.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>I look back on this as one of the great treats of my life; though I
+believe it to be an industry seriously detrimental to the welfare of
+the people of the Colony and the outside world. For no mammal bringing
+forth but one young a year can stand, when their young are just born
+and are entirely helpless, being attacked by huge steel-protected
+steamers carrying hundreds of men with modern rifles or even clubs.
+Advantage is also taken of the maternal instinct to get the mothers as
+well as the young "fat," if the latter is not obtainable in sufficient
+quantities. Meanwhile the poor scattered people of the northern shores
+of Newfoundland are being absolutely ruined and driven out. They need
+the seals for clothing, boots, fresh food, and fats. They use every
+portion of the few animals which each catches, while the big steamers
+lose thousands which they have killed, by not carrying them at once to
+the ship and leaving them in piles to be picked up later. Moreover, in
+the latter case all the good proteid food of their carcasses is left to
+the sharks and gulls.</p>
+
+<p>At twelve o'clock of March 10, 1896, the good ship Neptune hauled out
+into the stream at St. John's Harbour, Newfoundland, preparatory to
+weighing anchor for the seal fishery. The law allows no vessels to sail
+before 2 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> on that day, under a penalty of four thousand
+dollars fine&mdash;nor may any seals be killed from the steamers until March
+14, and at no time on Sundays. The whole city of St. John's seemed to
+be engrossed in the one absorbing topic of the seal fishery. It meant
+if successful some fifty thousand pounds sterling at least to the
+Colony&mdash;it meant bread for thousands of people&mdash;it meant for days and
+even weeks past that men from far-away outports had been slowly
+collecting at the capital, till the main street was peopled all day
+with anxious-looking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>crowds, and all the wharves where there was any
+chance of a "berth" to the ice were fairly in a state of siege.</p>
+
+<p>Now let us go down to the dock and visit the ship before she starts.
+She is a large barque-rigged vessel, with auxiliary steam, or rather
+one should say a steamer with auxiliary sails. The first point that
+strikes one is her massive build, her veritable bulldog look as she
+sits on the water. Her sides are some eighteen inches thick, and
+sheathed and resheathed with "greenheart" to help her in battering the
+ice. Inside she is ceiled with English oak and beech, so that her
+portholes look like the arrow slits of the windows of an old feudal
+castle. Her bow is double-stemmed&mdash;shot with a broad band of iron, and
+the space of some seventeen feet between the two stems solid with the
+choicest hardwoods. Below decks every corner is adapted to some use.
+There are bags of flour, hard bread, and food for the crew of three
+hundred and twenty men; five hundred tons of coal for the hungry engine
+in her battle with the ice-floe. The vessel carries only about eighteen
+hundred gallons of water and the men use five hundred in a day. This,
+however, is of little consequence, for a party each day brings back
+plenty of ice, which is excellent drinking after being boiled. This ice
+is of very different qualities. Now it is "slob" mixed with snow born
+on the Newfoundland coast. This is called "dirty ice" by the sealers.
+Even it at times packs very thick and is hard to get through. Then
+there is the clearer, heavy Arctic ice with here and there huge
+icebergs frozen in; and again the smoother, whiter variety known as
+"whelping ice"&mdash;that is, the Arctic shore ice, born probably in
+Labrador, on which the seals give birth to their pups.</p>
+
+<p>The masters of watches are also called "scunners"&mdash;they go up night and
+day in the forebarrel to "scun" the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>ship&mdash;that is, to find the way or
+leads through the ice. This word comes from "con" of the conning tower
+on a man-of-war.</p>
+
+<p>When the morning of the 10th arrives, all is excitement. Fortunately
+this year a southwest wind had blown the ice a mile or so offshore. Now
+all the men are on board. The vessels are in the stream. The flags are
+up; the whistles are blowing. The hour of two approaches at last, and a
+loud cheering, renewed again and again, intimates that the first vessel
+is off, and the S.S. Aurora comes up the harbour. Cheers from the
+ships, the wharves, and the town answer her whistle, and closely
+followed by the S.S. Neptune and S.S. Windsor, she gallantly goes out,
+the leader of the sealing fleet for the year.</p>
+
+<p>There have been two or three great disasters at the seal fishery, where
+numbers of men astray from their vessels in heavy snow blizzards on the
+ice have perished miserably. Sixteen fishermen were once out hunting
+for seals on the frozen ice of Trinity Bay when the wind changed and
+drove the ice offshore. When night came on they realized their terrible
+position and that, with a gale of wind blowing, they could not hope to
+reach land in their small boats. Nothing but an awful death stared them
+in the face, for in order to hunt over the ice men must be lightly
+clad, so as to run and jump from piece to piece. Without fire, without
+food, without sufficient clothing, exposed to the pitiless storm on the
+frozen sea, they endured thirty-six hours without losing a life.
+Finally, they dragged their boats ten miles over the ice to the land,
+where they arrived at last more dead than alive.</p>
+
+<p>It is the physical excitement of travelling over broken loose ice on
+the bosom of the mighty ocean, and the skill and athletic qualities
+which the work demands, that makes one love the voyage. Jumping from
+the side of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>ship as she goes along, skurrying and leaping from
+ice-pan to ice-pan, and then having killed, "sculped," and "pelted" the
+seal, the exciting return to the vessel! But it has its tragic side,
+for it takes its regular tribute of fine human life.</p>
+
+<p>A Mr. Thomas Green, of Greenspond, while a boy, with his father and
+another man and a 'prentice lad, was tending his seal nets when a
+"dwey" or snowstorm came on, and the boat became unmanageable and
+drifted off to sea. They struck a small island, but drifted off again.
+That night the father and the 'prentice lad died, and next morning the
+other man also. The son dressed himself in all the clothes of the other
+three, whose bodies he kept in the boat. He ate the flesh of an old
+harp seal they had caught in their net. On the third day by wonderful
+luck he gaffed an old seal in the slob ice. This he hauled in and drank
+the warm blood. On the fifth day he killed a white-coat, and thinking
+that he saw a ship he walked five miles over the floe, leaving his boat
+behind. The phantom ship proved to be an island of ice, and in the
+night he had to tramp back to his open punt. On the seventh day he was
+really beginning to give up hope when a vessel, the Flora, suddenly
+hove in sight. He shouted loudly as it was dark, whereupon she
+immediately tacked as if to leave him. Again he shouted, "For God's
+sake, don't leave me with my dead father here!" The words were plainly
+heard on board, and the vessel hove to. The watch had thought that his
+previous shouting was of supernatural origin. He and his boat with its
+pitiful load were picked up and sent back home by a passing vessel.</p>
+
+<p>On this particular voyage we were lucky enough to come early into the
+seals. From the Conner's barrel, in which I spent a great deal of time,
+we saw one morning <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>black dots spread away in thousands all over the
+ice-floes through which we were butting, ramming, and fighting our way.
+All hands were over the side at once, and very soon patients began
+needing a doctor. Here a cut, there a wrench or sprain, and later came
+thirty or forty at a time with snow-blindness or conjunctivitis&mdash;very
+painful and disabling, though not fatal to sight.</p>
+
+<p>One morning we had been kept late relieving these various slight
+ailments, and the men being mostly out on the ice made me think that
+they were among the seals; so I started out alone as soon as I could
+slip over the side to join them. This, however, I failed to do till
+late in the afternoon, when the strong wind, which had kept the loose
+ice packed together, dropped, and in less than no time it was all
+"running abroad." The result naturally is that one cannot get along
+except by floating on one piece to another, and that is a slow process
+without oars. It came on dark and a dozen of us who had got together
+decided to make for a large pan not far distant; but were obliged to
+give it up, and wait for the ship which had long gone out of sight. To
+keep warm we played "leap-frog," "caps," and "hop, skip, and jump"&mdash;at
+which some were very proficient. We ate our sugar and oatmeal, mixed
+with some nice clear snow; and then, shaving our wooden seal bat
+handles, and dipping them into the fat of the animals which we had
+killed, we made a big blaze periodically to attract the attention of
+the ship.</p>
+
+<p>It was well into the night before we were picked up; and no sooner had
+we climbed over the rail than the skipper came and gave us the best or
+worst "blowing-up" I ever received since my father spanked me. He told
+me afterwards that his good heart was really so relieved by our safe
+return that he was scarcely conscious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>of what he said. Indeed, any
+words which might have been considered as unparliamentary he asked me
+to construe as gratitude to God.</p>
+
+<p>Our captain was a passenger on and prospective captain of the S.S.
+Tigris when she picked up those members of the ill-fated Polaris
+expedition who had been five months on the ice-pans. He had gone below
+from his watch and daylight was just breaking when the next watch came
+and reported a boat and some people on a large pan, with the American
+flag flying. A kayak came off and Hans, an Eskimo, came alongside and
+said, "Ship lost. Captain gone." Boats were immediately lowered and
+nineteen persons, including two women and one baby, born on the
+ice-pan, came aboard amidst cheers renewed again and again. They had to
+be washed and fed, cleaned and clothed. The two officers were invited
+to live aft and the remainder of the rescued party being pestered to
+death by the sealing crew in the forecastle, it was decided to abandon
+the sealing trip, and the brave explorers were carried to St. John's,
+the American people eventually indemnifying the owners of the Tigris.</p>
+
+<p>In hunting my patients I started round with a book and pencil
+accompanied by the steward carrying a candle and matches. The invalids
+were distributed in the four holds&mdash;the after, the main, forecastle,
+and foretop-gallant-forecastle. I never went round without a bottle of
+cocaine solution in my pocket for the snow-blind men, who suffered the
+most excruciating pain, often rolling about and moaning as if in a kind
+of frenzy, and to whom the cocaine gave wonderful relief. Very often I
+found that I must miss one or even both holds on my first rounds, for
+the ladders were gone and seals and coals were exchanging places in
+them during the first part of the day. Once down, however, one shouts
+out, "Is there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>any one here?" No answer. Louder still, "Is there any
+one here?" Perhaps a distant cough answers from some dark recess, and
+the steward and I begin a search. Then we go round systematically,
+climbing over on the barrels, searching under sacks, and poking into
+recesses, and after all occasionally missing one or two in our search.
+It seems a peculiarity about the men, that though they will lie up,
+they will not always say anything about it. The holds were very damp
+and dirty, but the men seemed to improve in health and fattened like
+the young seals. It must have been the pork, doughs, and excellent
+fresh meat of the seal. We had boiled or fried seal quite often with
+onions, and I must say that it was excellent eating&mdash;far more palatable
+than the dried codfish, which, when one has any ice work, creates an
+intolerable thirst.</p>
+
+<p>The rats were making a huge noise one night and a barrel man gave it as
+his opinion that we should have a gale before long; but a glorious
+sunshine came streaming down upon us next morning, and we decided
+perforce the rats were evidently a little previous.</p>
+
+<p>On Sunday I had a good chance to watch the seals. They came up, simply
+stared at the ship; now from sheer fat rolling on their backs, and
+lying for a few seconds tail and flippers beating the air helpless.
+These baby seals resemble on the ice nothing so much as the South Sea
+parrot fish&mdash;that is, a complete round head, with somewhere in the
+sphere two huge black dots for eyes and a similar one for a nose. These
+three form the corners of a small triangle, and except for the tail one
+could not easily tell which was the back and which the belly of a young
+white-coat&mdash;especially in stormy weather. For it is a well-ascertained
+fact that Nature makes the marvellous provision that in storm and snow
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>they grow fattest and fastest. I have marvelled greatly how it is
+possible for any hot-blooded creature to enjoy so immensely this
+terribly cold water as do these old seals. They paddle about, throw
+themselves on their backs, float and puff out their breasts, flapping
+their flippers like paws over their chests.</p>
+
+<p>Sunday morning we were lying off Fogo Island when some men came aboard
+and reported the wreck of the S.S. Wolf in the ice. She got round the
+island, a wind offshore having cleared the ice from the land. Three
+other vessels were behind her. Hardly, however, had she got round when
+the northerly wind brought the ice back. The doomed ship now lay
+between the main or fixed frozen shore ice and the immense floe which
+was impelled by the north wind acting on its whole irregular surface.
+The force was irresistible. The Wolf backed and butted and got twenty
+yards into a nook in the main ice, and lay there helpless as an infant.
+On then swept the floe, crashed into the fixed ice, shattered its edge,
+rose up out of water over it, which is called "rafting," forced itself
+on the unfortunate ship, rose over her bulwarks, crushed in her sides,
+and only by nipping her tightly avoided sinking her immediately. Seeing
+that all was lost, Captain Kean got the men and boats onto the pans,
+took all they could save of food and clothes, but before he had saved
+his own clothing, the ice parted enough to let her through and she sank
+like a stone, her masts catching and breaking in pieces as she went. A
+sorrowful march for the shore now began over the ice, as the three
+hundred men started for home, carrying as much as they could on their
+backs. Many would have to face empty cupboards and hard times; all
+would have days of walking and rowing and camping before they could get
+home. One hundred miles would be the least, two and even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>three hundred
+for some, before they could reach their own villages. Some of these
+poor fellows had walked nearly two hundred miles to get a chance of
+going on the lost ship, impelled by hunger and necessity. Alas, we felt
+very sad for them and for Captain Kean, who had to face almost absolute
+ruin on account of this great loss.</p>
+
+<p>The heaving of the great pans, like battering-rams against the sides of
+the Neptune, made a woesome noise below decks. I was often glad of her
+thirty-six inches of hardwood covering. Every now and then she steamed
+ahead a little and pressed into the ice to prevent this. I tried to
+climb on one of the many icebergs, but the heavy swell made it
+dangerous. At every swell it rolled over and back some eight feet, and
+as I watched it I understood how an iceberg goes to wind. For it acted
+exactly like a steam plough, crashing down onto one large pan as it
+rolled, and then, as it rolled back, lifting up another and smashing it
+from beneath. A regular battle seemed to be going on, with weird sounds
+of blows and groanings of the large masses of ice. Sometimes as pieces
+fell off the water would rush up high on the side of the berg. For some
+reason or other the berg had red-and-white streaks, and looked much
+like an ornamental pudding.</p>
+
+<p>At latitude 50.18, about Funk Island, is one of the last refuges of the
+great auk. A few years ago, the earth, such as there is on these lonely
+rocks, was sifted for the bones of that extinct bird, and I think three
+perfect skeletons, worth a hundred pounds sterling each, were put
+together from the remnants discovered. One day the captain told me that
+he held on there in a furious gale for some time. Masses of ice,
+weighing thirty or forty tons, were hurled high up and lodged on the
+top of the island. Some men went out to "pan" seals on a large pan.
+Seven hundred of the animals had been placed on one of them, and the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>men had just left it, when a furious breaking sea took hold of the pan
+and threw it completely upside down.</p>
+
+<p>I am never likely to forget the last lovely Sunday. We had nearly "got
+our voyage"; at least no one was anxious now for the credit of the
+ship. The sunshine was blazing hot as it came from above and below at
+the same time, and the blue sky over the apparently boundless field of
+heaving "floe" on which we lay made a contrast which must be seen to be
+appreciated. I had brought along a number of pocket hymn-books and in
+the afternoon we lay out on the high fore-deck and sang and talked,
+unworried by callers and the thousand interruptions of the land. Then
+we had evening prayers together, Catholic and Protestant alike; and for
+my part I felt the nearness of God's presence as really as I have felt
+it in the mysterious environment of the most magnificent cathedral.
+Eternal life seemed so close, as if it lay just over that horizon of
+ice, in the eternal blue beyond.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THREE YEARS' WORK IN THE BRITISH ISLES</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In the spring of 1897 I was asked by the Council to sail to Iceland
+with a view to opening work there, in response to a petition sent in to
+the Board by the Hearn longliners and trawlers, who were just beginning
+their vast fishery in those waters from Hull and Grimsby.</p>
+
+<p>Having chosen a smaller vessel, so as to leave the hospital ship free
+for work among the fleets, we set sail for Iceland in June. The fight
+with the liquor traffic which the Mission had been waging had now been
+successful in driving the sale of intoxicants from the North Sea by
+international agreement; but the proverbial whiskey still continued its
+filibustering work in the Scotch seaports. As our men at times had to
+frequent these ports we were anxious to make it easier for them to walk
+straight while they were ashore.</p>
+
+<p>We therefore called at Aberdeen on the way and anchored off the first
+dock. The beautiful Seaman's Home there was on the wrong side of the
+harbour for the vessels, and was not offering exactly what was needed.
+So we obtained leave to put a hull in the basin, with a first-aid
+equipment, refreshments, lounge and writing-rooms, and with simple
+services on Sunday. This boat commenced then and there, and was run for
+some years under Captain Skiff; till she made way for the present
+homely little Fishermen's Institute exactly across the road from the
+docks before you came to the saloons.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not soon forget our first view of the cliffs of the southern
+coast of Iceland. We had called at Thorshaven <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>in the Faro&euml; group to
+see what we could learn of the boats fishing near Rockall; but none
+were there at the time. As we had no chronometers on our own boat we
+were quite unable to tell our longitude&mdash;a very much-needed bit of
+information, for we had had fog for some days, and anyhow none of us
+knew anything about the coast.</p>
+
+<p>We brought up under the shadow of the mighty cliffs and were debating
+our whereabouts, when we saw an English sailing trawler about our own
+size, with his nets out close in under the land. So we threw out our
+boat and boarded him for information. He proved to be a Grimsby
+skipper, and we received the usual warm reception which these Yorkshire
+people know so well how to give. But to my amazement he was unable to
+afford us the one thing which we really desired. "I've been coming this
+way, man and boy, for forty years," he assured me. "But I can't read
+the chart, and I knows no more of the lay of the land than you does
+yourself. I don't use no chart beyond what's in my head."</p>
+
+<p>With this we were naturally not content, so we sent back to the boat
+for our own sheet chart to try and get more satisfactory information.
+But when it lay on the table in this old shellback's cabin all he did
+was to put down on it a huge and horny thumb that was nearly large
+enough to cover the whole historic island, and "guess we were somewhere
+just about here."</p>
+
+<p>Our cruise carried us all round the island&mdash;the larger part of our time
+being spent off the Vestmann Islands and the mouth of Brede Bugt, the
+large bay in which Reikyavik lies. It was off these islands that Eric
+the Red threw his flaming sticks into the sea. The first brand which
+alighted on the land directed him where to locate his new headquarters.
+Reikyavik means "smoking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>village," so called from the vapours of the
+hot streams which come out of the ground near by.</p>
+
+<p>There is no night on the coast in summer; and even though we were a
+Mission ship we found it a real difficulty to keep tab of Sundays. The
+first afternoon that I went visiting aboard a large trawler, the
+extraordinary number of fish and the specimens of unfamiliar varieties
+kept me so interested that I lost all count of time, and when at last
+hunger prompted me to look at my watch I found that it was exactly 1.30
+<span class="fakesc">A.M.</span></p>
+
+<p>At that time so many plaice and flatfish were caught at every haul, and
+they were so much more valuable than cod and haddock, that it was
+customary not to burden the vessel on her long five days' journey to
+market with round fish at all. These were, however, hauled up so
+rapidly to the surface from great depths that they had no time to
+accommodate the tension in their swimming bladders to the diminished
+pressure, with the result that when thrown overboard they were all left
+swimming upside down. A pathetic wake of white-bellied fish would
+stretch away for half a mile behind the vessel, over which countless
+screaming gulls and other birds were fighting. A sympathy for their
+horribly unprotected helplessness always left an uneasy sinking feeling
+at the pit of my own stomach. The waste has, however, righted itself in
+the course of years by the simple process of an increasing scarcity of
+the species, making it pay to save all haddock, cod, hake, ling, and
+other fish good for food, formerly so ruthlessly cast away.</p>
+
+<p>One had many interesting experiences in this voyage, some of which have
+been of no small value subsequently. But the best lesson was the
+optimism and contentment of one's fellows, who had apparently so few of
+the things that only tyrannize the lives of those who live for them.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>They were a simple, kindly, helpful people, living in a country barren
+and frigid beyond all others, with no trees except in one extreme
+corner of the island. The cows were literally fed on salt codfish and
+the tails of whales, and the goats grazed on the roofs of the houses,
+where existed the only available grass. There were dry, hard, and
+almost larval deposits over the whole surface of the land which is not
+occupied by perpetual snow and ice. The hot springs which abound in
+some regions only suggest a forlorn effort on the part of Nature at the
+last moment to save the situation. The one asset of the country is its
+fisheries, and of these the whale and seal fisheries were practically
+handed over to Norwegians; while large French and English boats fell
+like wolves on the fish, which the poor natives had no adequate means
+of securing for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>We were fishing one day in Seyde Fjord on the east coast, when suddenly
+with much speed and excitement the great net was hauled, and we started
+with several other trawlers to dash pell-mell for the open sea. The
+alarm of masts and smoke together on the horizon had been given&mdash;the
+sign manual of the one poor Danish gunboat which was supposed to
+control the whole swarm of far smarter little pirates, which lived like
+mosquitoes by sucking their sustenance from others. The water was as a
+general rule too deep outside the three-mile limit for legitimate
+fishing.</p>
+
+<p>The mention of Iceland brings to every one's mind the name of Pierre
+Loti. We saw many of the "p&ecirc;cheurs d'islande" whom he so effectively
+portrays; and often felt sorry enough for them, fishing as they still
+were from old square-rigged wind-jammers. On some of these which had
+been months on the voyage, enough green weed had grown "to feed a
+cow"&mdash;as the mate put it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>On our return home we reported the need of a Mission vessel on the
+coast, but the difficulty of her being where she was wanted at the
+right time, over such an extended fishery ground, was very
+considerable. We decided that only a steam hospital trawler would be of
+any real value&mdash;unless a small cottage hospital could be started in
+Seyde Fjord, to which the sick and injured could be taken.</p>
+
+<p>It was now thought wise that I should take a holiday, and thus through
+the kindness of my former chief, Sir Frederick Treves, then surgeon to
+the King, whose life he had been the means of saving, I found myself
+for a time his guest on the Scilly Islands. There we could divert our
+minds from our different occupations, conjuring up visions of heroes
+like Sir Cloudesley Shovel, who lost his life here, and of the scenes
+of daring and of death that these beautiful isles out in the Atlantic
+have witnessed. Nor did we need Charles Kingsley to paint for us again
+the visit of Angus Lee and Salvation Yeo, for Sir Frederick, as his
+book, "The Cradle of the Deep," shows, is a past-master in buccaneer
+lore. Besides that we had with us his nephew, the famous novel writer,
+A.E.W. Mason.</p>
+
+<p>Treves, with his usual insatiable energy, had organized a grand regatta
+to be held at St. Mary's, at which the Governor of the island, the Duke
+of Wellington, and a host of visiting big-wigs were to be present. One
+event advertised as a special attraction was a life-saving exhibition
+to be given by local experts from the judges' stage opposite the grand
+stand on the pier. This, Mason and I, being little more than ornaments
+in the other events, decided to try and improve upon. Dressed as a
+somewhat antiquated lady, just at the psychological moment Mason fell
+off the pier head with a loud <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>scream&mdash;when, disguised as an aged
+clergyman, wildly gesticulating, and cramming my large beaver hat hard
+down on my head, I dived in to rescue him. A real scene ensued. We were
+dragged out with such energy that the lady lost her skirt, and on
+reaching the pier fled for the boat-house clad only in a bonnet and
+bodice over a bathing-suit. Although the local press wrote up the
+affair as genuine, the secret somehow leaked out, and we had to make
+our bow at the prize distribution the following evening.</p>
+
+<p>Only parts of the winter seasons could be devoted to raising money. The
+general Mission budget had to be taken care of as well as the special
+funds; besides which one had to superintend the North Sea work. Thus
+the summer of 1897 was spent in Iceland as above described, and some of
+the winter in the North Sea. The spring, summer, and part of the fall
+of 1898 were occupied by the long Irish trip, which established work
+among the spring herring and mackerel men from Crookhaven.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving England for one of these North Sea trips I was delayed and
+missed the hospital ship, so that later I was obliged to transfer to
+her on the high seas from the little cutter which had kindly carried me
+out to the fishing grounds. Friends had been good enough to give me
+several little delicacies on my departure, and I had, moreover, some
+especially cherished personal possessions which I desired to have with
+me on the voyage. These choice treasures consisted of some eggs, a
+kayak, a kodak, a chronometer, and a leg of mutton! After I was safely
+aboard the Mission hospital ship I found to my chagrin that in my
+anxiety to transfer the eggs, the kayak, the kodak, the chronometer,
+and especially the leg of mutton to the Albert, I had forgotten my
+personal clothing. I appreciated the fact that a soaking meant a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>serious matter, as I had to stay in bed till my things, which were
+drenched during my passage in the small boat, were dry again.</p>
+
+<p>It was on this same voyage that a man, badly damaged, sent off for a
+doctor. It was a dirty dark morning, "thick o' rain," and a nasty sea
+was running, but we were really glad of a chance of doing anything to
+relieve the monotony. So we booted and oil-skinned, sou'-westered and
+life-jacketed, till we looked like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and felt
+much as I expect a German student does when he is bandaged and padded
+till he can hardly move, preparatory to his first duel. The boat was
+launched and eagerly announcing the fact by banging loudly and
+persistently on the Albert's side. Our two lads, Topsy and Sam, were
+soon in the boat, adopting the usual North Sea recipe for transit: (1)
+Lie on the rail full length so as not to get your legs and hands
+jammed. (2) Wait till the boat bounces in somewhere below you. (3) Let
+go! It is not such a painful process as one might imagine, especially
+when one is be-padded as we were. The stretcher was now handed in, and
+a bag of splints and bandages. "All gone!" shouted simultaneously the
+mate and crew, who had risked a shower bath on deck to see us off; and
+after a vicious little crack from the Albert's quarter as we dropped
+astern, we found ourselves rushing away before the rolling waters,
+experiencing about the same sensation one can imagine a young sea-gull
+feels when he begins to fly.</p>
+
+<p>While the skipper was at work in the tobacco locker one morning he
+heard a fisherman say that he had taken poison.</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you get it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I got it from the Albert."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>"Who gave it to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Skipper &mdash;&mdash;" mentioning the skipper's name.</p>
+
+<p>At this the skipper came out trembling, wondering what he had done
+wrong now.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see it was this way. Our skipper had a bad leg, so as I was
+going aboard for some corf mixture, he just arst me to get him a drop
+of something to rub in. Well, the skipper here gives me a bottle of red
+liniment for our skipper's leg, and a big bottle of corf mixture for
+me, but by mistake I drinks the liniment and gave the corf mixture to
+our skipper to rub in his leg. I only found out that there yesterday,
+so I knew I were poisoned, and I've been lying up ever since."</p>
+
+<p>"How long ago did you get the medicine?"</p>
+
+<p>"About a fortnight."</p>
+
+<p>This man had got it into his head that he was poisoned, and nothing on
+earth would persuade him to the contrary, so he was put to bed in the
+hospital. For three meals he had nothing but water and a dose of castor
+oil. By the next time dinner came round the patient really began to
+think he was on the mend, and remarked that "he began to feel real
+hungry like." It was just marvellous how much better he was before tea.
+He went home to his old smack, cured, and greatly impressed with the
+capacity of the medical profession.</p>
+
+<p>The first piece of news that reached us in the spring was that the Sir
+Donald had been found frozen in the floe ice far out on the Atlantic.
+No one was on board her, and there was little of any kind in her, but
+even the hardy crew of Newfoundland sealers who found her, as they
+wandered over the floating ice-fields in search of seals, did not fail
+to appreciate the weird and romantic suggestions of a derelict Mission
+steamer, keeping her lonely watch on that awful, deathlike waste. She
+had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>been left at Assizes Harbour, usually an absolutely safe haven of
+rest. But she was not destined to end her chequered career so
+peacefully, for the Arctic ice came surging in and froze fast to her
+devoted sides, then bore her bodily into the open sea, as if to give
+her a fitting burial. The sealing ship Ranger passed her a friendly
+rope, and she at length felt the joyful life of the rolling ocean
+beneath her once more, and soon lay safely ensconced in the harbour at
+St. John's. Here she was sold by auction, and part of the proceeds
+divided as her ransom to her plucky salvors.</p>
+
+<p>The money which could be especially devoted to the new steamer for
+Labrador, over and above the general expenses, was not forthcoming
+until 1899, when the contract for building the ship was given to a firm
+at Dartmouth in Devon. The chief donor of the new boat was again Lord
+Strathcona, after whom she was subsequently named.</p>
+
+<p>On June 27, 1899, the Strathcona was launched, and christened by Lady
+Curzon-Howe. When the word was given to let go, without the slightest
+hitch or roll the ship slid steadily down the ways into the water. The
+band played "Eternal Father," "God save the Queen," and "Life on the
+Ocean Wave." Lord Curzon-Howe was formerly commodore upon the station
+embracing the Newfoundland and Labrador coast. Lord Strathcona
+regretted his enforced absence and sent "Godspeed" to the new steamer.</p>
+
+<p>She arrived at Gorleston July 18, proving an excellent sea-boat, with
+light coal consumption. She is larger than the vessel in which Drake
+sailed round the world, or Dampier raided the Spanish Main, or than the
+Speedy, which Earl Dundonald made the terror of the French and
+Spanish.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>In the fall of 1899 the hull of the Strathcona was completely finished,
+and I brought her round, an empty shell, to fit her up at our Yarmouth
+wharf; after which, in company with a young Oxford friend, Alfred
+Beattie, we left for the Labrador, crossing to Tilt Cove, Newfoundland,
+direct from Swansea in an empty copper ore tanker, the Kilmorack. On
+this I was rated as purser at twenty-five cents for the trip. Most
+tramps can roll, but an empty tanker going west against prevailing
+winds in the "roaring forties" can certainly give points to the others.
+Her slippery iron decks and the involuntary sideways excursions into
+the scuppers still spring into my mind when a certain Psalm comes round
+in the Church calendar, with its "that thy footsteps slip not." We were
+a little delayed by what is known as wind-jamming, and we used to kill
+time by playing tennis in the huge empty hold. This occupation, under
+the circumstances, supplied every kind of diversion.</p>
+
+<p>The mine at Tilt Cove is situated in a hole in the huge headland which
+juts out far into the Atlantic, in the northern end of Newfoundland.
+Communication in these days was very meagre. No vessel would be
+available for us to get North for a fortnight. It so happened, however,
+that the Company's doctor had long been waiting a chance to get
+married, but his contract never allowed him to leave the mine without a
+medical man while it was working. I therefore found myself welcomed
+with open arms, and incidentally practising in his place the very next
+day&mdash;he having skipped in a boat after his bride. The exchange had been
+ratified by the captain of the mine on the assurance that I would not
+leave before he returned. It was absolutely essential that I should not
+let the next north-bound steamer go by. The season was already far
+advanced; and yet when the day on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>which she was due arrived, there
+was no sign of the doctor and his wife. It was a kind of Damon and
+Pythias experience&mdash;only Pythias got back late by a few hours in spite
+of all his efforts, and Damon would have had to pay the piper if the
+captain of the mine had not permitted me to proceed.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep192" id="imagep192"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep192.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep192.jpg" width="95%" alt="The Strathcona" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE STRATHCONA<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The narrow road around the cavernous basin in the cliffs leaves only
+just room for the line of houses between the lake in the middle and the
+precipice behind. Only a few years later an avalanche overwhelmed the
+house of Captain Williams, and he and his family perished in it. During
+the days I was at the mine the news travelled by grapevine telegraph
+that the Mission doctor from England had come to the village, and every
+one took advantage of it. The plan there was to pay so much per month,
+well or ill, for the doctor. The work was easy at first, but by the
+time I left every living being seemed to me to have contracted some
+disease. For each succeeding day my surgery got fuller, until on the
+last morning even the yard and road contained waiting patients. Whose
+fault it was has always been a problem to me; but it added a fresh
+reason for wishing to leave punctually, so that one might not risk
+outliving one's reputation.</p>
+
+<p>In October, 1899, I wrote to my mother: "We have just steamed into
+Battle Harbour and guns and flags gave us a welcome after our three
+years' absence. The hospital was full and looked splendid. What a
+change from the day, now seven years ago, that we first landed and had
+only a partially finished house! What an oasis for patients from the
+bleak rocks outside! I never thought to remain so long in this
+country."</p>
+
+<p>Here we boarded the little Mission steamer, but no human agency is
+perfect, and even the Julia Sheriden <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>had her faults. Her gait on this
+fall voyage was suggestive of inebriety, and at times gave rise to the
+anxious sensations one experiences when one sees a poor victim of the
+saloon returning home along a pavement near much traffic.</p>
+
+<p>While in England we had received letters from the north coast of
+Newfoundland, begging us to again include their shores in our visits,
+and especially to establish a definite winter station at St. Anthony.
+The people claimed, and rightly, to be very poor. One man with a large
+family, whom I knew well, as he had acted guide for me on hunting
+expeditions, wrote: "Come and start a station here if you can. My
+family and I are starving." Dr. Aspland wrote that every one was
+strongly in favour of our taking up a Mission hospital in North
+Newfoundland. We felt that we should certainly reach a very large
+number of people whom we now failed to touch, and that careful
+inquiries should be made.</p>
+
+<p>Life on the French shore has been a struggle with too many families to
+keep off actual starvation. For instance, one winter at St. Anthony a
+man with a large family, and a fine, capable, self-respecting fellow,
+was nine days without tasting any flour or bread, or anything besides
+roast seal meat. Others were even worse off, for this man was a keen
+hunter, and with his rickety old single-barrel, boy's muzzle-loading
+gun used to wander alone far out over the frozen sea, with an empty
+stomach as well, trying to get a seal or a bird for his family. At last
+he shot a square flipper seal and dragged it home. The rumour of his
+having killed it preceded his arrival, and even while skinning it a
+crowd of hungry men were waiting for their share of the fat. Not that
+any was due to them, but here there is a delightful semi-community of
+goods.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>Fish was then only fetching two or three dollars a hundredweight,
+salted and dried. The price of necessities depended on the conscience
+of the individual supplier and the ignorance of the people. The truck
+system was universal; thrift at a discount&mdash;and the sin of Ananias an
+all too common one; that is, taking supplies from one man and returning
+to him only part of the catch. The people in the north end of
+Newfoundland and Labrador were very largely illiterate; the sectarian
+schools split up the grants for teachers&mdash;as they still most
+unfortunately do&mdash;and miserable salaries, permitting teachers only for
+a few months at a time, were the rule.</p>
+
+<p>I had once spent a fortnight at St. Anthony, having taken refuge there
+in the Princess May when I was supposed to be lost by those who were
+cut off from communication with us. I had also looked in there each
+summer to see a few patients. My original idea was to get a winter
+place established for our Indian Harbour staff, and I proposed opening
+up there each October when Indian Harbour closed, and closing in June
+when navigation was reopened, Battle Harbour again accessible, and when
+the man-of-war doctors are more on this section of the coast.</p>
+
+<p>The snow was deep on the ground long before our voyage ended. There is
+always a romantic charm about cruising in the fall of the year on the
+Labrador. The long nights and the heavy gales add to the interest of
+the day's work. The shelter of the islands becomes a positive joy; the
+sense of safety in the harbours and fjords is as real a pleasure as the
+artificial attractions of civilization. The tang of the air, the young
+ice that makes every night, the fantastic midnight dances of the
+November auroras in the winter sky, all make one forget the petty
+worries of the daily round.</p>
+
+<p>As Beattie agreed to stay with me it was with real <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>keenness to sample
+a sub-arctic winter that in November we disembarked from the Julia
+Sheriden. We made only the simplest preparations, renting a couple of
+rooms in the chief trader's house and hiring my former guide as
+dog-driver.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>FIRST WINTER AT ST. ANTHONY</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Not one of the many who have wintered with us in the North has failed
+to love our frozen season. To me it was one long delight. The
+dog-driving, the intimate relationships with the people on whom one was
+so often absolutely dependent, the opportunity to use to the real help
+of good people in distress the thousand and one small things which we
+had learned&mdash;all these made the knowledge that we were shut off from
+the outside world rather a pleasure than a cause for regret.</p>
+
+<p>Calls for the doctor were constant. I spent but three Sundays at home
+the whole time, and my records showed fifteen hundred miles covered
+with dogs.</p>
+
+<p>The Eskimo dog is so strong and enduring that he is the doyen of
+traction power in the North, when long distances and staying qualities
+are required. But for short, sharp dashes of twenty to thirty miles the
+lighter built and more vivacious Straits dog is the speedier and
+certainly the less wolfish. We have attempted crossbreeding our
+somewhat squat-legged Eskimo dogs with Kentucky wolf hounds, to combine
+speed with endurance. The mail-carrier from Fullerton to Winnipeg found
+that combination very desirable. With us, however, it did not succeed.
+The pups were lank and weedy and not nearly so capable as the ordinary
+Straits breed.</p>
+
+<p>The real Labrador dog is a very slightly modified wolf. A good specimen
+stands two feet six inches, or even two feet eight inches high at the
+shoulder, measures over six feet six inches from the tip of the nose to
+the tip of the tail, and will scale a hundred pounds. The hair is
+thick <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>and straight; the ears are pointed and stand directly up. The
+large, bushy tail curves completely over on to the back, and is always
+carried erect. The colour is generally tawny, like that of a gray wolf,
+with no distinctive markings. The general resemblance to wolves is so
+great that at Davis Inlet, where wolves come out frequently in winter,
+the factor has seen his team mixed with a pack of wolves on the beach
+in front of the door, and yet could not shoot, being unable to
+distinguish one from the other. The Eskimo dog never barks, but howls
+exactly like a wolf, in sitting posture with the head upturned. The
+Labrador wolf has never been known to kill a man, but during the years
+I have spent in that country I have known the dogs to kill two children
+and one man, and to eat the body of another. Our dogs have little or no
+fear, and unlike the wolves, will unhesitatingly attack even the
+largest polar bear.</p>
+
+<p>No amount of dry cold seems to affect the dogs. At 50&deg; F. below zero, a
+dog will lie out on the ice and sleep without danger of frost-bite. He
+may climb out of the sea with ice forming all over his fur, but he
+seems not to mind one iota. I have seen his breath freeze so over his
+face that he had to rub the coating off his eyes with his paws to
+enable him to see the track.</p>
+
+<p>The dogs have a wonderful instinct for finding their way under almost
+insurmountable difficulties, and they have oftentimes been the means of
+saving the lives of their masters. Once I was driving a distance of
+seventy miles across country. The path was untravelled for the winter,
+and was only a direction, not being cut or blazed. The leading dog had
+been once across the previous year with the doctor. The "going" had
+then been very bad; with snow and fog the journey had taken three days.
+A large part of the way lay across <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>wide frozen lakes, and then
+through woods. As I had never been that way before I had to leave it to
+the dog. Without a single fault, as far as we knew, he took us across,
+and we accomplished the whole journey in twelve hours, including one
+and a half hours for rest and lunch.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep198" id="imagep198"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep198.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep198.jpg" width="95%" alt="Three of the Doctor's Dogs" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THREE OF THE DOCTOR'S DOGS<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The distance travelled and the average speed attained depends largely
+on other factors than the dog power. We have covered seventy-five miles
+in a day with comfort; we have done five with difficulty. Ordinary
+speed would be six miles an hour, but I once did twenty-one miles in
+two hours and a quarter over level ice. Sails can sometimes be used
+with advantage on the komatik as an adjunct. The whole charm of
+dog-team driving lies in its infinite variety of experiences, the
+personal study of each dog, and the need for one's strength, courage,
+and resourcefulness.</p>
+
+<p>South and north of the little village of St. Anthony where we had
+settled were other similar villages; and we decided that we could make
+a round tour every second month at least. We soon found, however, a
+great difficulty in getting started, because we always had some
+patients in houses near about, whom we felt that we could not leave. So
+we selected a motherly woman, whom we had learned that we could trust
+to obey orders and not act on her own initiative and judgment, and
+trained her as best we could to deal with some of these sick people.
+Then, having borrowed and outfitted a couple of rooms in a friend's
+house, we left our serious cases under her care, and started for a
+month's travel with all the optimism of youth.</p>
+
+<p>Weight on your komatik is a vital question, and not knowing for what
+you may be called upon, makes the outfitting an art. I give the
+experience of years. The sledge should be eleven feet long. Its runners
+should be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>constructed of black spruce grown in the Far North where
+wood grows slowly and is very tough, and yet quite light. The runners
+should be an inch thick, eleven inches high, and about twenty-six
+inches apart, the bottoms rising at the back half an inch, as well as
+at the front toward the horns. The laths are fastened on with alternate
+diagonal lashings, are two inches wide, and close together. Such a
+komatik will "work" like a snake, adapting itself to the inequalities
+of the ground, and will not spread or "buckle." Long nails are driven
+up right through the runners, and clinched on the top to prevent
+splitting. The runners should be shod with spring steel, one inch wide;
+and a second runner, two and a half inches wide, may be put between the
+lower one and the wood, to hold up the sledge when the snow is soft.
+Thus one has on both a skate and a snowshoe at once. The dogs' traces
+should be of skin and fastened with toggles or buttons to the bowline.
+Dog food must be distributed along the komatik trail in summer&mdash;though
+the people will make great sacrifices to feed "the Doctor's team."</p>
+
+<p>Clothing must be light; to perspire in cold weather is unpardonable,
+for it will freeze inside your clothes at night. Fortunately warmth
+depends only on keeping heat in; and we find an impervious, light,
+dressed canvas best. The kossak should be made with, so to speak, no
+neck through which the heat which one produces can leak out. The
+headpiece must be attached to the tunic, which also clips tight round
+the wrists and round the waist to retain the heat. The edges may be
+bound with fur, especially about the hood, so as to be soft and tight
+about the face, and to keep the air out. The Eskimo cuts his own hair
+so as to fill that function. Light sealskin boots are best for all
+weathers, but in very cold, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>dry seasons, deerskin dressed very soft is
+warmer. The skin boot should be sewn with sinew which swells in water
+and thus keeps the stitches water-tight. These skin boots are made by
+the Eskimo women who chew the edges of the skin to make them soft
+before sewing them with deer sinew. The little Eskimo girls on the
+North Labrador coast are proficient in the art of chewing, as they are
+brought up from childhood to help their mothers in this way, the women
+having invariably lost their teeth at a very early age.</p>
+
+<p>A light rifle should always be lashed on the komatik, as a rabbit, a
+partridge, or a deer gives often a light to the eyes with the fresh
+proteids they afford, like Jonathan's wild honey. In these
+temperatures, with the muscular exercise required, my strictest of
+vegetarian friends should permit us to bow in the House of Rimmon. One
+day while crossing a bay I noticed some seals popping up their heads
+out of the water beyond the ice edge. I had a fine leading dog bearing
+the unromantic name of Podge, and pure white in colour. But he was an
+excellent water dog, trained not only to go for birds, but to dive
+under water for sunken seals. Owing to their increasing fat in winter,
+seals as a rule float, though they invariably sink in summer. On this
+particular occasion, having hitched up the team we crept out to the ice
+edge, Podge following at my heels. Lying still on the ice, and just
+occasionally lifting and waggling one's leg when the seal put up his
+head, he mistook one for a basking brother, and being a very curious
+animal, he again dived, and came up a few feet away. We shot two, both
+of which Podge dived after and retrieved, to the unbounded joy both of
+ourselves and his four-footed chums, who more than gladly shared the
+carcasses with him later.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>A friend, returning from an island, was jogging quietly along on the
+bay ice, when his team suddenly went wild. A bear had crossed close
+ahead, and before he could unlash his rifle the komatik had dashed
+right onto the animal, who, instead of running, stood up and showed
+fight. The team were all around him, rapidly snarling themselves up in
+their own traces. He had just time to draw his hunting knife across the
+traces and so save the dogs, caring much more for them than he did for
+the prey. Whilst his dogs held the attention of the bear, he was able,
+though only a few feet away, to unlash his rifle at his leisure, and
+very soon ended the conflict.</p>
+
+<p>A gun, however, is a temptation, even to a doctor, and nearly cost one
+of my colleagues his life. He was crossing a big divide, or neck of
+land, between bays, and was twenty miles from anywhere, when his dogs
+took the trail of some deer, which were evidently not far off. Being
+short of fresh food, he hitched up his team, and also his pilot's team,
+leaving only his boy driver in charge, while the men pursued the
+caribou. He enjoined the boy very strictly not to move on any account.
+By an odd freak a sudden snowstorm swept out of a clear sky just after
+they left. They missed their way, and two days later, starving and
+tired out, they found their first refuge, a small house many miles from
+the spot where they had left the sledges. When, however, they sent a
+relief team to find the komatiks, they discovered the boy still
+"standing by" his charge.</p>
+
+<p>When crossing wide stretches of country we are often obliged to camp if
+it comes on dark. It is quite impossible to navigate rough country when
+one cannot see stumps, windfalls, or snags; and I have more than once,
+while caught in a forest looking for our tilt, been obliged to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>walk
+ahead with a light, and even to search the snow for tracks with the
+help of matches, when one's torch has carelessly been left at home. On
+one occasion, having stopped our team in deep snow at nightfall, we
+left it in the woods to walk out to a village, only five or six miles
+distant, on our snowshoes. We entirely lost our way, and ended up at
+the foot of some steep cliffs which we had climbed down, thinking that
+our destination lay at their feet. The storm of the day had broken the
+sea ice from the land, and we could not get round the base of the
+cliffs, though we could see the village lights twinkling away, only a
+mile or two across the bay. Climbing steep hills through dense woods in
+deep snow in the dark calls for some endurance, especially as a white
+snow-bank looks like an open space through the dark trees. I have
+actually stuck my face into a perpendicular bluff, thinking that I was
+just coming out into the open. Oddly enough, when after much struggling
+we had mounted the hill, we heard voices, and suddenly met two men, who
+had also been astray all day, but now knew the way home. They were "all
+in" for want of food, and preferred camping for the night. A good fire
+and some chunks of sweet cake so greatly restored them, however, that
+we got under way again in a couple of hours, further stimulated to do
+so by the bitter cold, against which, in the dark, we could not make
+adequate shelter. Moreover, we had perspired with the violent exercise
+and our clothes were freezing from the inside out.</p>
+
+<div style="padding-bottom: .5em;">
+<div class="imgl" style="width: 46%;"><a name="imagep202" id="imagep202"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep202a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep202a.jpg" width="95%" alt="A Hilly Trail: A Komatik Journey" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;">A Hilly Trail</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="imgr" style="width: 46%;">
+<a href="images/imagep202b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep202b.jpg" width="92%" alt="Crossing A Brook: A Komatik Journey" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-bottom: .2em;">Crossing a Brook</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: -1em; clear: both;">A KOMATIK JOURNEY<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>You must always carry an axe, not only for firewood, but for getting
+water&mdash;unless you wish to boil snow, which is a slow process, and apt
+to burn your kettle. Also when you have either lost the trail or there
+is none, you must have an axe to clear a track as you march <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>ahead of
+your dogs. Then there is, of course, the unfortunate question of food.
+Buns baked with chopped pork in them give one fine energy-producing
+material, and do not freeze. A sweet hard biscuit is made on the coast
+which is excellent in one's pocket. Cocoa, cooked pork fat, stick
+chocolate, are all good to have. Our sealers carry dry oatmeal and
+sugar in their "nonny bags," which, mixed with snow, assuage their
+thirst and hunger as well. Pork and beans in tins are good, but they
+freeze badly. I have boiled a tin in our kettle for fifteen minutes,
+and then found a lump of ice in the middle of the substance when it was
+turned out into the dish.</p>
+
+<p>Winter travelling on this coast oftentimes involves considerable
+hardships, as when once our doctor lost the track and he and his men
+had to spend several nights in the woods. They were so reduced by
+hunger that they were obliged to chew pieces of green sealskin which
+they cut from their boots and to broil their skin gloves over a fire
+which they had kindled.</p>
+
+<p>One great joy which comes with the work is the sympathy one gets with
+the really poor, whether in intelligence, physical make-up, or worldly
+assets. One learns how simple needs and simple lives preserve simple
+virtues that get lost in the crush of advancing civilization. Many and
+many a time have the poor people by the wayside refused a penny for
+their trouble. On one occasion I came in the middle of the night to a
+poor man's house. He was in bed and the lights out, and it was bitter
+cold. He got out of bed in a trice and went down to his stage carrying
+an old hurricane lantern to feed my dogs, while his wife, after he had
+lit a fire in the freezing cold room, busied herself making me some
+cocoa. Milk and sugar were provided, and not till long afterwards did I
+know that it was a special little hoard kept for visitors. Later <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>I was
+sent to bed&mdash;quite unaware that the good folk had spent the first part
+of the night in it, and were now themselves on the neighbouring floor.
+Nor would a sou's return be asked. "It's the way of t' coast," the good
+fellow assured me.</p>
+
+<p>Another time my host for the night had gone when I rose for breakfast.
+I found that he had taken the road which I was intending to travel to
+the next village, some fourteen miles distant, just to break and mark a
+trail for us as we did not know the way; and secondly to carry some
+milk and sugar to "save the face" of my prospective host for the next
+day, who had "made a bad voyage" that year. Still another time no less
+than forty men from Conche marched ahead on a twenty-mile track to make
+it possible for our team to travel quickly to a neighbouring
+settlement.</p>
+
+<p>Often I have thought how many of these things would I do for my poorer
+friends. We who speak glibly of the need of love for our neighbours as
+being before that for ourselves, would we share a bed, a room, or give
+hospitality to strangers even in our kitchens, after they had awakened
+us in the middle of the night by slinging snowballs at our bedroom
+windows?</p>
+
+<p>One day that winter a father of eight children sent in from a
+neighbouring island for immediate help. His gun had gone off while his
+hand was on the muzzle, and practically blown it to pieces. To treat
+him ten miles away on that island was impossible, so we brought him in
+for operation. To stop the bleeding he had plunged his hand into a
+flour barrel and then tied it up in a bag, and as a result the wounded
+arm was poisoned way up above the elbow. He preferred death to losing
+his right arm. Day and night for weeks our nurse tended him, as he
+hovered between life and death with general blood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>poisoning. Slowly
+his fine constitution brought him through, and at last a secondary
+operation for repair became possible. We took chances on bone-grafting
+to form a hand; and he was left with a flipper like a seal's, able,
+however, to oppose one long index finger and "nip a line" when he
+fished. But there was no skin for it. So Dr. Beattie and I shared the
+honours of supplying some. Pat&mdash;for that was his name&mdash;has been a
+veritable apostle of the hospital ever since, and has undoubtedly been
+the means of enabling others to risk the danger of our suspected
+proselytizing. For though he had English Episcopal skin on the palm of
+his hand and Scotch Presbyterian skin on the back, the rest of him
+still remained a devout Roman Catholic.</p>
+
+<p>Another somewhat parallel case occurred the following year, when a dear
+old Catholic lady was hauled fifty miles over the snow by her two
+stalwart sons, to have her leg removed for tubercular disease of the
+ankle. She did exceedingly well, and the only puzzle which we could not
+solve was where to raise the necessary hundred dollars for a new
+leg&mdash;for her disposition, even more than her necessity, compelled her
+to move about. While lecturing that winter in America, I asked friends
+to donate to me any of their old legs which they no longer needed, and
+soon I found myself the happy possessor of two good wooden limbs, one
+of which exactly suited my requirements. A departed Methodist had left
+it, and the wife's clergyman, a Congregationalist, had handed it to me,
+an Episcopalian, and I had the joy of seeing it a real blessing to as
+good a Roman Catholic as I know. As the priest says, there is now at
+least one Protestant leg established in his parish.</p>
+
+<p>We once reached a house at midnight, found a boy with a broken thigh,
+and had to begin work by thawing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>out frozen board in order to plane it
+for splints, then pad and fix it, and finally give chloroform on the
+kitchen table. On another occasion we had to knock down a partition in
+a tiny cottage, make a full-length wooden bath, pitching the seams to
+make it water-tight, in order to treat a severe cellulitis. Now it
+would be a maternity case, now a dental one, now a gunshot wound or an
+axe cut with severed tendons to adjust, now pneumonia, when often in
+solitary and unlearned homes, we would ourselves do the nursing and
+especially the cooking, as that art for the sick is entirely
+uncultivated on the coast.</p>
+
+<p>The following winter I lectured in England and then crossed in the
+early spring to the United States and lectured both there and in
+Canada, receiving great kindness and much help for the work.</p>
+
+<p>As I have stated in the previous chapter we had raised, largely through
+the generosity of Lord Strathcona, the money for a suitable little
+hospital steamer, and she had been built to our design in England. I
+had steamed her round to our fitting yard at Great Yarmouth, and had
+her fitted for our work before sailing. While I was in America, my old
+Newfoundland crew went across and fetched her over, so that June found
+us once more cruising the Labrador coast.</p>
+
+<p>While working with the large fleet of schooners, which at that time
+fished in August and September from Cape Mugford to Hudson Bay Straits,
+I visited as usual the five stations of the Moravian Brethren. They
+were looking for a new place to put a station, and at their request I
+took their representative to Cape Chidley in the Strathcona.</p>
+
+<p>This northern end of Labrador is extremely interesting to cruise. The
+great Appalachian Mountain Range runs <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>out here right to the water
+edge, and forms a marvellous sea-front of embattled cliffs from two
+thousand to three thousand feet in height. The narrow passages which
+here and there run far into the mountains, and represent old valleys
+scooped out by ice action, are dominated all along by frowning peaks,
+whose pointed summits betray the fact that they overtopped the ice
+stream in the glacial age. The sharp precipices and weather-worn sides
+are picked out by coloured lichens, and tiny cold-proof Arctic plants,
+and these, with the deep blue water and unknown vistas that keep
+constantly opening up as one steams along the almost fathomless fjords,
+afford a fascination beyond measure.</p>
+
+<p>Once before in the Sir Donald we had tried to navigate the narrow run
+that cuts off the island on which Cape Chidley stands from the mainland
+of Labrador, but had missed the way among the many openings, and only
+noted from a hilltop the course we should have taken, by the boiling
+current which we saw below, whose vicious whirlpools like miniature
+maelstroms poured like a dashing torrent from Ungava Bay into the
+Atlantic.</p>
+
+<p>It was, however, with our hearts somewhere near our mouths that we made
+an attempt to get through this year, for we knew nothing of the depth,
+except that the Eskimos had told us that large icebergs drove through
+at times. We could steam nine knots, and we essayed to cover the tide,
+which we found against us, as we neared the narrowest part, which is
+scarcely one hundred yards wide. The current carried us bodily astern,
+however, and glad enough we were to drive stern foremost into a cove on
+one side and find thirteen fathoms of water to hold on in till the tide
+should turn. When at last it did turn, and got under way, it fairly
+took us in its teeth, and we shot through, an impotent plaything <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>on
+the heaving bosom of the resistless waters. We returned safely, with a
+site selected and a fair chart of the "Tickle" (Grenfell Tickle).</p>
+
+<p>When winter closed in, I arranged for an old friend, a clerk of the
+Hudson Bay Company, to stay with me at St. Anthony, and once more we
+settled down in rooms hired in a cottage. We had a driver, a team of
+dogs, and an arrangement with a paternal Government to help out by
+making an allowance of twenty-five cents for medicine for such patients
+as could not themselves pay that amount, and in those days the number
+was quite large.</p>
+
+<p>When early spring came the hospital question revived. An expedition
+into the woods was arranged, and with a hundred men and thrice as many
+dogs, we camped in the trees, and at the end of the fortnight came home
+hauling behind us the material for a thirty-six by thirty-six hospital.
+Being entirely new to us it proved a very happy experience. We were
+quartermasters and general providers. Our kitchen was dug down in thick
+woods through six feet of snow, and our main reliance was on boiled
+"doughboys"&mdash;the "sinkers" among which, with a slice of fat pork or a
+basin of bird soup, were as popular as lobster &agrave; la Newburg at
+Delmonico's or Sherry's.</p>
+
+<p>The next summer we had trouble with a form of selfishness which I have
+always heartily hated&mdash;the liquor traffic. Suppose we do allow that a
+man has a right to degrade his body with swallowing alcohol, he
+certainly has no more right to lure others to their destruction for
+money than a filibuster has a right to spend his money in gunpowder and
+shoot his fellow countrymen. To our great chagrin we found that an
+important neighbour near one of our hospitals was selling intoxicants
+to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>people&mdash;girls and men. One girl found drunk on the hillside
+brought home to me the cost of this man's right to "do as he liked." We
+promptly declared war, and I thanked God who had made "my hands to war,
+and my fingers to fight"&mdash;when that is the only way to resist the Devil
+successfully and to hasten the kingdom of peace.</p>
+
+<p>This man and I had had several disagreements, and I had been warned not
+to land on the premises on pain of being "chucked into the sea." But
+when I tested the matter out by landing quite alone from a row-boat,
+after a "few wor-r-r-ds" his coast-born hospitality overcame him, and
+as his bell sounded the dinner call, he promptly invited me to dine
+with him. I knew that he would not poison the food, and soon we were
+glowering at one another over his own table&mdash;where his painful efforts
+to convince me that he was right absolutely demonstrated the exact
+opposite.</p>
+
+<p>My chance came that summer. We were steaming to our Northern hospital
+from the deep bay which runs in a hundred and fifty miles. About twenty
+miles from the mouth a boat hailed us out of the darkness, and we
+stopped and took aboard a wrecked crew of three men. They had struck
+our friend's well-insured old steam launch on a shoal and she had sunk
+under them. We took them aboard, boat and all, wrote down carefully
+their tale of woe, and then put the steamer about, pushed as near the
+wreck as we dared and anchored. Her skipper came forward and asked me
+what I intended doing, and I told him I was going to survey the wreck.
+A little later he again came to ask permission to go aboard the wreck
+to look for something he had forgotten. I told him certainly not. Just
+before sunrise the watch called me and said that the wrecked crew had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>launched their boat, and were rowing toward the steamer. "Launch ours
+at once, and drive them back" was an order which our boys obeyed with
+alacrity and zest. It was a very uneasy three men who faced me when
+they returned. They were full of bluff at what they would do for having
+their liberties thus interfered with, but obviously uneasy at heart.</p>
+
+<p>With some labour we discovered that the water only entered the wreck at
+low tide and forward; so by buoying her with casks, tearing up her
+ballast deck, and using our own pumps as well as buckets&mdash;at which all
+hands of my crew worked with a good will, we at last found the hole. It
+was round. There were no splinters on the inside. We made a huge bung
+from a stick of wood, plugged the opening, finished pumping her out,
+and before dark had her floating alongside us. Late that night we were
+once more anchored&mdash;this time opposite the dwelling-house of my friend
+the owner. We immediately went ashore and woke him up. There is a great
+deal in doing things at the psychological moment; and by midnight I had
+a deed duly drawn up, signed and sealed, selling me the steamer for
+fifty cents. I still see the look in his eyes as he gave me fifty cents
+change from a dollar. He was a self-made man, had acquired considerable
+money, and was keen as a ferret at business. The deed was to me a
+confession that he was in the plot for barratry, to murder the boat for
+her insurance.</p>
+
+<p>On our trip South we picked up the small steamer, and towing her to a
+Hudson Bay Company's Post we put her "on the hard," photographed the
+hole, with all the splintering on the outside, and had a proper survey
+of the hull made by the Company's shipwright. The unanimous verdict was
+"wilful murder." In the fall as her own best witness, we tried to tow
+her to St. John's, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>but in a heavy breeze of wind and thick snow we
+lost her at sea&mdash;and with her our own case as well. The law decided
+that there was no evidence, and my friend, making out that he had lost
+the boat and the insurance, threatened to sue me for the value.</p>
+
+<p>The sequel of the story may as well be told here. A year or so later I
+had just returned from Labrador. It used to be said always that our
+boat "brought up the keel of the Labrador"; but this year our friend
+had remained until every one else had gone. Just as we were about to
+leave for England, the papers in St. John's published the news of the
+loss of a large foreign-going vessel, laden with fish for the
+Mediterranean, near the very spot where our friend lived. On a visit a
+little later to the shipping office I found the event described in the
+graphic words of the skipper and mate. Our friend the consignee had
+himself been on board at the time the "accident" occurred. After
+prodigies of valour they had been forced to leave the ship, condemn
+her, and put her up for sale. Our friend, the only buyer at such a time
+on the coast, had bought her in for eighty dollars.</p>
+
+<p>It was the end of November, and already a great deal of ice had made.
+The place was six hundred miles north. The expense of trying to save
+the ship would be great. But was she really lost? The heroics sounded
+too good to be true. All life is a venture. Why not take one in the
+cause of righteousness? That night in a chartered steam trawler, with a
+trusty diver, we steamed out of the harbour, steering north. Our
+skipper was the sea rival of the famous Captain Blandford; and the way
+he drove his little craft, with the ice inches thick from the driving
+spray all over the bridge and blocking the chart-room windows, made one
+glad to know that the good sea genius of the English was still so well
+preserved.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>When our distance was run down we hauled in for the land, but had to
+lay "hove to" (with the ship sugared like a Christmas cake), as we were
+unable to recognize our position in the drifting snow. At length we
+located the islands, and never shall I forget as we drew near hearing
+the watch call out, "A ship's topmasts over the land." It was the wreck
+we were looking for.</p>
+
+<p>It took some hours to cut through the ice in which she lay, before ever
+we could get aboard; and even the old skipper showed excitement when at
+last we stood on her deck. Needless to say, she was not upside down,
+nor was she damaged in any way, though she was completely stripped of
+all running gear. The diver reported no damage to her bottom, while the
+mate reported the fish in her hold dry, and the hatches still tightly
+clewed, never having been stirred.</p>
+
+<p>With much hearty good-will our crew jettisoned fish enough into our own
+vessel to float the craft. Fearing that so late in the year we might
+fail to tow her safely so far, and remembering the outcome of our
+losing the launch, we opened the stores on the island, and finding both
+block and sails, neatly labelled and stowed away, we soon had our prize
+not only refitted for sea, but also stocked with food, water, chart,
+and compass and all essentials for a voyage across the Atlantic, if she
+were to break loose and we to lose her. The last orders were to the
+mate, who was put on board her with a crew, "If not St. John's then
+Liverpool."</p>
+
+<p>No such expedient, however, proved necessary. Though we had sixty
+fathoms of anchor chain on each of our wire cables to the ship, we
+broke one in a seaway and had to haul under the lee of some cliffs and
+repair damages. Often for hours together the vessel by day <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>and her
+lights by night would disappear, and our hearts would jump into our
+mouths for fear we might yet fail. But at last, with all our bunting
+up, and both ships dressed as if for a holiday, we proudly entered the
+Narrows of St. John's, the cynosure of all eyes. The skipper and our
+friend had gone to England, so the Government had them extradited. The
+captain, who was ill with a fatal disease, made a full confession, and
+both men were sent to prison.</p>
+
+<p>That was how we "went dry" in our section of Labrador.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE CO&Ouml;PERATIVE MOVEMENT</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Being a professional and not a business man, and having no acquaintance
+with the ways of trade, the importance of a new economic system as one
+of the most permanent messages of helpfulness to the coast was not at
+first obvious to me. But the ubiquitous barter system, which always
+left the poor men the worst end of the bargain, is as subtle a danger
+as can face a community&mdash;subtle because it impoverishes and enslaves
+the victims, and then makes them love their chains.</p>
+
+<p>As a magistrate I once heard a case where a poor man paid one hundred
+dollars in cash to his trader in the fall to get him a new net. The
+trader could not procure the twine, and when spring arrived the man
+came to get on credit his usual advance of "tings." From the bill for
+these the trader deducted the hundred dollars cash, upon which the man
+actually came to me as a justice of the peace to have him punished!</p>
+
+<p>Lord Strathcona told me that in his day on this coast, when a man had
+made so good a hunt that he had purchased all he could think of, he
+would go round to the store again asking how much money was still due
+him. He would then take up purchases to exceed it by a moderate margin,
+saying that he liked to keep his name on the Company's books. In those
+days the people felt that they had the best part of the bargain if they
+were always a little in debt. The tendency to thrift was thus
+annihilated. The fishermen simply turned in all their catch to the
+merchant, and took what was coming to them as a matter of course. Many
+even were afraid to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>ask for certain supplies. This fact often became
+evident when we were trying to order special diets&mdash;the patient would
+reply, "Our trader won't give out that." Naturally the whole system
+horrified us, as being the nearest possible approach to English
+slavery, for the poor man was in constant fear that the merchant "will
+turn me off." On the other hand, the traders took precautions that
+their "dealers" should not be able to leave them, such as not selling
+them traps outright for furring, or nets for fishing, but only loaning
+them, and having them periodically returned. This method insured their
+securing all the fur caught, because legally a share of the catch
+belonged to them in return for the loan of the trap. They thus
+completely minimized the chance for competition, which is "the life of
+trade."</p>
+
+<p>Soon after my arrival on the coast I saw the old Hudson Bay Company's
+plan of paying in bone counters of various colours; and a large lumber
+company paying its wages in tin money, stamped "Only valuable at our
+store." If, to counteract this handicap, the men sold fish or fur for
+cash to outsiders, and their suppliers found it out, they would punish
+them severely.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion, sitting by me on a gunning point where we were
+shooting ducks as they flew by on their fall migration, was a friend
+who had given me much help in building one of our hospitals. I suddenly
+noticed that he did not fire at a wonderful flock of eiders which went
+right over our heads. "What's the matter, Jim?" I asked. "I settled
+with the merchant to-day," he replied, "and he won't give me nothing
+for powder. A duck or two won't matter. 'Tis the children I'm minding."
+The fishery had been poor, and not having enough to meet his advances,
+he had sold a few quintals of fish for cash, so as to get things like
+milk which he would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>not be allowed on winter credit, and had been
+caught doing so. He was a grown man and the father of four children. We
+went to his trader to find out how much he was in debt. The man's
+account on the books was shown us, and it read over three thousand
+dollars against our friend. It had been carried on for many years. A
+year or two later when the merchant himself went bankrupt with a debt
+of $686,000 to the bank of which he was a director, the people of that
+village, some four hundred and eleven souls in all, owed his firm
+$64,000, an asset returned as value nil. The whole thing seemed a
+nightmare to any one who cared about these people.</p>
+
+<p>In Labrador no cereals are grown and the summer frosts make potato and
+turnip crops precarious, so that the tops of the latter are practically
+all the green food to which we can aspire&mdash;except for the few families
+who remain at the heads of the long bays all summer, far removed from
+the polar current. Furthermore, until some one invents a way to extract
+the fishy taste from our fish oils, we must import our edible fats; for
+the Labrador dogs will not permit cows or even goats to live near them.
+I have heard only this week that a process has just been discovered in
+California for making a pleasant tasting butter out of fish oil. Our
+"sweetness" must all be imported, for none of our native berries are
+naturally sweet, and we can grow no cultivated fruits. The same fact
+applies to cotton and wool. Thus nearly all our necessities of life
+have to be brought to us. Firewood, lumber, fish and game, boots or
+clothing of skins, are all that we can provide for ourselves. On the
+other hand, we must export our codfish, salmon, trout, whales, oil,
+fur, and in fact practically all our products. An exchange medium is
+therefore imperative; and we must have some gauge like cash by which to
+measure, or else <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>we shall lose on all transactions; for all the prices
+of both exports and imports fluctuate very rapidly, and besides this,
+we had then practically no way to find out what prices were maintaining
+in our markets.</p>
+
+<p>Government relief had failed to stop the evils of the barter system. In
+the opinion of thinking men it only made matters worse. We were
+therefore from every point of view encouraged to start the co&ouml;perative
+plan which had proved so successful in England. I still believe that
+the people are honest, and that the laziness of indolence, from the
+stigma of which it is often impossible to clear them, is due to despair
+and inability to work properly owing to imperfect nourishment.</p>
+
+<p>Things went from bad to worse as the years went by. The fact of the
+sealing steamers killing the young seals before they could swim greatly
+impoverished the Labrador inshore seal fishery. The prices of fish were
+so low that a man could scarcely catch enough to pay for his summer
+expenses out of it.</p>
+
+<p>With us the matter came to a head in a little fishing village called
+Red Bay, on the north side of the Straits of Belle Isle. When we ran in
+there on our last visit one fall, we found some of our good friends
+packed up and waiting on their stages to see if we would remove them
+from the coast. A meeting was called that night to consider the
+problem, and it was decided that the people must try to be their own
+merchants, accepting the risks and sharing the profits. The fisherman's
+and trapper's life is a gamble, and naturally, therefore, they like
+credit advances, for it makes the other man carry the risks. We then
+and there decided, however, to venture a co&ouml;perative store, hiring a
+schooner to bring our freight and carry our produce straight to market;
+and if necessary eat grass for a year or so. Alas, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>after a year's
+saving the seventeen families could raise only eighty-five dollars
+among them for capital, and we had to loan them sufficient to obtain
+the first cargo. A young fisherman was chosen as secretary, and the
+store worked well from the beginning. That was in 1905. He is still
+secretary, and to-day in 1918 the five-dollar shares are worth one
+hundred and four dollars each, by the simple process of accumulation of
+profits. The loan has been repaid years ago. Not a barrow load of fish
+leaves the harbour except through the co&ouml;perative store. Due to it, the
+people have been able to tide over a series of bad fisheries; and every
+family is free of debt.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep218" id="imagep218"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep218.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep218.jpg" width="95%" alt="The First Co&ouml;perative Store" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE FIRST CO&Ouml;PERATIVE STORE<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At the time of the formation one most significant fact was that every
+shareholder insisted that his name must not be registered, for fear
+some one might find out that he owned cash. They were even opposed to a
+label on the building to signify that it was a store. However, I
+chalked all over its face "Red Bay Co&ouml;perative Store."</p>
+
+<p>The whole effort met with very severe criticism, not to say hostility,
+at the hands of the smaller traders, but the larger merchants were most
+generous in their attitude, and though doubtful of the possibility of
+realizing a cash basis, were without exception favourable to the
+attempt. This store has been an unqualified success, only limited in
+its blessings by its lack of larger capital. It has enabled its members
+to live independently, free of debt and without want; while similar
+villages, both south and east and west, have been gradually deleted by
+the people being forced to leave through inability to meet their needs.</p>
+
+<p>During my first winter at St. Anthony, the young minister of the little
+church on more than one occasion happened to be visiting on his rounds
+in the very house <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>where we were staying on ours, and the subject of
+co&ouml;peration was frequently discussed over the evening pipe with the
+friends in the place. He had himself been trading, and had so disliked
+the methods that he had retired. He would certainly help us to organize
+a store on the Newfoundland side of the Straits.</p>
+
+<p>At last the day arrived for the initial meeting. We gave notice
+everywhere. The chosen rendezvous was in a village fourteen miles
+north. The evening before, however, the minister sent word that he
+could not be present, as he had to go to a place twenty miles to the
+northwest to hold service. Knowing for how much his opinion counted in
+the minds of some of the people, this was a heavy blow, especially as
+the traders had notified me that they would all be on hand. Fortunately
+an ingenious suggestion was made&mdash;"He doesn't know the way. Persuade
+his driver, after starting out, to gradually work round and end up at
+the co&ouml;perative meeting." This was actually done, and our friend was
+present willy-nilly. He proved a broken reed, however, for in the face
+of the traders he went back on co&ouml;peration.</p>
+
+<p>As fortune would have it, our own komatik fell through the ice in
+taking a short cut across a bay, and we arrived late, having had to
+borrow some dry clothing from a fisherman on the way. Our trader
+friends had already appeared on the scene, and were joking the parson
+for being tricked, saying that evidently we had made a mistake and were
+really at Cape Norman, the place to which he had intended to go.</p>
+
+<p>It was a dark evening, crisp and cold, and hundreds of dogs that had
+hauled people from all over the countryside to the meeting made night
+dismal outside. We began our meeting with prayer for guidance, wisdom,
+and good temper, for we knew that we should need them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>all&mdash;and then we
+came down to statistics, prices, debts, possibilities, and the story of
+co&ouml;peration elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>The little house was crammed to overflowing. But the fear of the old
+r&eacute;gime was heavy on the meeting. The traders occupied the whole time
+for speaking. Only one old fisherman spoke at all. He had been an
+overseas sailor in his early days, and he surprised himself by turning
+orator. His effort elicited great applause. "Doctor&mdash;I means Mr.
+Chairman&mdash;if this here copper store buys a bar'l of flour in St. John's
+for five dollars, be it going to sell it to we fer ten? That's what us
+wants to know."</p>
+
+<p>Outside, after the meeting, Babel was let loose. The general opinion
+was that there must be something to it or the traders would not have so
+much to say against the project. The upshot of the matter was that for
+a long time no one could be found who would take the managership; but
+at length the best-beloved fisherman on the shore stepped into the
+breach. He was not a scholar&mdash;in fact could scarcely read, write, and
+figure&mdash;but his pluck, optimism, and unselfishness carried him through.</p>
+
+<p>That little store has been preaching its vital truths ever since. It is
+a still small text, but it has had vast influences for good. There has
+proved to be one difficulty. It is the custom on the coast to give all
+meals to travellers free, both men and dogs, and lodging to boot.
+Customers came from so far away that they had to stay overnight at
+least, and of course it was always Harry's house to which they went.
+The profit on a twenty-five cent purchase was slender under these
+circumstances, and as cash was scarce in those days, a twenty-five-cent
+purchase was not so rare as might be supposed. We therefore printed,
+mounted, framed, and sent to our friend the legend, "No more free
+meals. Each meal will cost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>ten cents." Later we received a most
+grateful reply from him in his merry way, saying that he had hung up
+the card in his parlour, but begging us not to defer visits if we had
+not the requisite amount, as he was permitted to give credit to that
+extent. But when next we suddenly "blew in" to Harry's house, the
+legend was hanging with its face to the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Our third store was seventy-five miles to the westward at a place
+called Flowers Cove. Here the parson came in with a will. Being a
+Church of England man, he was a more permanent resident, and, as he
+said, "he was a poor man, but he would sell his extra pair of boots to
+be able to put one more share in the store." What was infinitely more
+important he put in his brains. Every one in that vicinity who had felt
+the slavery of the old system joined the venture. One poor Irishman
+walked several miles around the coast to catch me on my next visit, and
+secretly give me five dollars. "'Tis all I has in the world, Doctor,
+saving a bunch of children, but if it was ten times as large, you
+should have every cent of it for the store." "Thanks, Paddy, that's the
+talking that tells." For some years afterwards, every time that he knew
+I was making a visit to that part of the coast, he would come around
+seeking a private interview, and inquire after the health of "the
+copper store"; till he triumphantly brought another five dollars for a
+second share "out of my profits, Doctor."</p>
+
+<p>That store is now a limited liability company with a capital of ten
+thousand dollars owned entirely by the fishermen, it has paid
+consistently a ten per cent dividend every year, and is located in fine
+premises which it bought and owns outright.</p>
+
+<p>A fourth store followed near the lumber mill which we started to give
+winter labour at logging; but owing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>to bad management and lack of
+ability to say "no" to men seeking credit, it fell into debt and we
+closed it up. Number five almost shared the same fate. Unable to get
+local talent to manage it, we hired a Canadian whose pretensions proved
+unequal to his responsibility. He was, however, found out in time to
+reorganize the store; but the loss which he had caused was heavy, and
+it was his notice of leaving for Canada which alone betrayed the truth
+to us. The most serious aspect of the matter was that many of the local
+fishermen lost confidence in the ability of the store to succeed, and
+returning to the credit system, they found it modified enough to appear
+to them a lamb instead of a wolf. However, number five is growing all
+the time again and will yet be a factor in the people's deliverance.</p>
+
+<p>Numbers six and seven were in poor and remote parts of Labrador, very
+small, and with insufficient capital and brains. One has closed
+permanently. They were simply small stores under the care of one
+settler, who guaranteed to charge the people only a fixed percentage
+over St. John's prices for goods, as the return for his responsibility.
+Number eight was the result of a night spent in a miserable shack on a
+lonely promontory called Adlavik.</p>
+
+<p>God forbid that I should judge traders or doctors or lawyers or priests
+by their profession or their intellectual attitude. There are noble men
+in all walks of life. Alas, some are more liable than others to yield
+to temptation, and the temptations to which they are exposed are more
+insistent.</p>
+
+<p>Number nine was on the extreme northern edge of the white settlers at
+Ford's Harbour. The story of it is too long to relate, but the trade
+there, in spite of many difficulties, still continues to preach a
+gospel and spell much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>blessing to poor people. To help out, we have
+sent north to this station three of our boys from the orphanage, as
+they grew old enough to go out into the world for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>One disaster, in the form of a shipwreck, overtook the fine fellow in
+charge of this most northerly venture. For the first time in his life
+he came south, to seek a wife, his former wife having succumbed to
+tuberculosis. He brought with him his year's products of fur and skin
+boots. The mail steamer on which he was travelling struck a rock off
+Battle Harbour, and most of his goods were lost uninsured, he himself
+gladly enough escaping with his life.</p>
+
+<p>It remained for our tenth venture to bring the hardest battle, and in a
+sense the greatest measure of success. Spurred by the benefits of the
+Red Bay store, the people of a little village about forty miles away
+determined to combine also. The result was a fine store near our
+hospital at Battle Harbour&mdash;which during the first year did sixty
+thousand dollars' worth of business. This served to put a match to the
+explosive wrath of those whose opposition hitherto had been that of
+rats behind a wainscot. They secured from their friends a Government
+commission appointed to inquire into the work of the Mission as "a
+menace to honest trade." The leading petitioner had been the best of
+helpers to the first venture. When the traders affected by it had first
+boycotted the fish, he had sent his steamer and purchased it from the
+company. Now the boot was on the other leg. The Commission and even the
+lawyers have all told me that they were prejudiced against the whole
+Mission by hearsay and misinterpretations, before they even began their
+exhaustive inquiry. Their findings, however, were a complete refutation
+of all charges, and the best advertisement possible.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>It would not be the time to say that the whole co&ouml;perative venture has
+been an unqualified success; but the causes of failure in each case
+have been perfectly obvious, and no fault of the system. Lack of
+business ability has been the main trouble, and the lack of courage and
+unity which everywhere characterizes mankind, but is perhaps more
+emphasized on a coast where failure means starvation, and where the
+co&ouml;perative spirit has been rendered very difficult to arouse owing to
+mistrust born of religious sectarianism and denominational schools.
+These all militate very strongly against that unity which alone can
+enable labour to come to its own without productive ability.</p>
+
+<p>There is one aspect for which we are particularly grateful. Politics,
+at any rate, has not been permitted to intrude, and the stress laid on
+the need of brotherliness, forbearance, and self-development&mdash;if ever
+these producers are to reap the rewards of being their own traders&mdash;has
+been very marked. Only thus can they share in the balance of profit
+which makes the difference between plenty and poverty on this isolated
+coast.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE MILL AND THE FOX FARM</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The argument for co&ouml;peration had been that life on the coast was not
+worth living under the credit system. A short feast and a long famine
+was the local epigram. If our profits could be maintained on the coast,
+and spent on the coast, then the next-to-nature life had enough to
+offer in character as well as in maintenance to attract a permanent
+population, especially with the furring in winter. For the actual
+figures showed that good hunters made from a thousand to fifteen
+hundred dollars in a season, besides the salmon and cod fishery. There
+was, moreover, game for food, free firewood, water, homes, and no
+taxation except indirect in duties on their goods.</p>
+
+<p>These same conditions prevailed on the long, narrow slice of land known
+as the "French shore" in northern Newfoundland. There the people were
+more densely settled, the hinterland was small, and many therefore
+could not go furring. Moreover, the polar current, entering the mouth
+of the Straits of Belle Isle, makes this section of land more liable to
+summer frosts, with a far worse climate than the Labrador bays, and
+gardening is less remunerative. We puzzled our brains for some way to
+add to our earning capacities, some co&ouml;perative productive as well as
+distributive enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>The poverty which I had witnessed in Canada Bay in North Newfoundland,
+some sixty miles south of St. Anthony Hospital, had left me very keen
+to do something for that district which might really offer a solution
+of the problem. I had been told that there was plenty of timber to
+justify running a mill in the bay; but that no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>sawmills paid in
+Newfoundland. This was emphasized in St. John's by my friends who still
+own the only venture out of the eleven which have operated in that city
+that has been able to continue. They have succeeded by adopting modern
+methods and erecting a factory for making furniture, so as to supply
+finished articles direct to their customers. We knew that in our case
+labour would be cheaper than ordinarily, for our labour in winter had
+generally to go begging. It was mainly this fact which finally induced
+us to make the attempt.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep226" id="imagep226"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep226.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep226.jpg" width="95%" alt="St. Anthony" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ST. ANTHONY<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Having talked the matter over with the people we secured from the
+Government a special grant, as the venture, if it succeeded, would
+relieve them of the necessity of having poor-relief bills. The whole
+expense of the enterprise fell upon myself, for the Mission Board
+considered it outside their sphere; and already we had built St.
+Anthony Hospital in spite of the fact that they thought that we were
+undertaking more than they would be able to handle, and had discouraged
+it from the first.</p>
+
+<p>The people had no money to start a mill, and the circumstances
+prohibited my asking aid from outside, so it was with considerable
+anxiety that we ordered a mill, as if it were a pound of chocolates,
+and arranged with two young friends to come out from England as
+volunteers, except for their expenses, to help us through with the new
+effort. At the same time there was three hundred dollars to pay for the
+necessary survey and line cutting, and supplies of food for the loggers
+for the winter. Houses must also be erected and furnished.</p>
+
+<p>Ignorance undoubtedly supplied us with the courage to begin. Personally
+I knew nothing whatever of mills, having never even seen one. Nor had I
+seen the grant of land, or selected a site for the building. This was
+left entirely to the people themselves; and as none of them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>had ever
+seen a mill either, we all felt a bit uneasy about our capacities. I
+had left orders with the captain of the Co&ouml;perator (our schooner) to
+fetch the mill and put it where the people told him; but when I heard
+that there was one piece which included the boiler which weighed three
+tons, it seemed to me that they could never handle it. We had no wharf
+ready to receive it and no boat capable of carrying it. I woke many
+times that summer wondering if it had not gone to the bottom while they
+were attempting the landing. There was no communication whatever with
+them as we were six hundred miles farther north on our summer cruise;
+and we had not the slightest control over the circumstances in which we
+might become involved.</p>
+
+<p>It was late in the season and the snow was already deep on the ground
+when eventually we were piloted to the spot selected. It was nine miles
+up the bay on a well-wooded promontory of a side inlet. The water was
+deep to the shore and the harbour as safe as a house. The boys from
+England had arrived, and a small cottage had been erected, tucked away
+in the trees. It was very small, and very damp, the inside of the walls
+being white with frost in the morning until the fire had been under way
+for some time. But it was a merry crowd, emerging from various little
+hutlets around among the trees, which greeted the Strathcona.</p>
+
+<p>The big boiler, the "bugaboo" of my dreams all summer, lay on the bank.
+"How did you get it there?" was my first query. "We warped the vessel
+close to the land, and then hove her close ashore and put skids from
+the rocks off to her. On these we slid the boiler, all hands hauling it
+up with our tackles."</p>
+
+<p>Having left the few supplies which we had with us, for the Strathcona
+has no hold or carrying space, we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>returned to the hospital, mighty
+grateful for the successful opening of the venture. The survey had been
+completed and accepted by the Government, and though unfortunately it
+was but very poorly marked, and we have had lots of trouble since,&mdash;as
+we have never been able to say exactly where our boundaries lie, nor
+even to find marks enough to follow over the original survey
+again,&mdash;yet it enabled us to get to work, which was all that we wanted
+at the moment.</p>
+
+<p>The fresh problems at the hospital, and the constant demands on our
+energies, made Christmas and New Year go by with our minds quite
+alienated from the cares of the new enterprise. But when after
+Christmas the dogs had safely carried us over many miles of
+snow-covered wastes, and our immediate patients gave us a chance to
+look farther afield, I began to wonder if we might not pay the mill a
+visit. By land it was only fifty miles distant to the southward,
+possibly sixty if we had to go round the bays. The only difficulty
+about the trip was that there were no trails, and most of the way led
+through virgin forest, where windfalls and stumps and dense undergrowth
+mixed with snow made the ordinary obstacle race a sprint in the open in
+comparison. We knew what it meant, because in our eagerness to begin
+our dog-driving when the first snow came, we had wandered over small
+trees crusted with snow, fallen through, and literally floundered about
+under the crust, unable to climb to the top again. It was the nearest
+thing to the sensations of a man who cannot swim struggling under the
+surface of the water. Moreover, on a tramp with the minister, he had
+gone through his snow racquets and actually lost the bows later,
+smashing them all up as he repeatedly fell through between logs and
+tree-trunks and "tuckamore." His summons for help and the idea that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>there were still eight miles to go still haunted me. On that occasion
+we had cut down some spruce boughs and improvised some huge webbed feet
+for ourselves, which had saved the situation; but whether they would
+have served for twenty or thirty miles, we could not tell. Not so long
+before a man named Casey, bringing his komatik down the steep hill at
+Conche, missed his footing and fell headlong by a bush into the snow.
+The heavy, loaded sledge ran over him and pressed him still farther
+into the bank. Struggling only made him sink the deeper, and an hour
+later the poor fellow was discovered smothered to death.</p>
+
+<p>No one knew the way. We could not hear of a single man who had ever
+gone across in winter, though some said that an old fellow who had
+lived farther south had once carried the mails that way. At length we
+could stand it no longer, and arranging with four men and two extra
+teams, we started off. We hoped to reach the mill in two days, but at
+the end of that time we were still trying to push through the tangle of
+these close-grown forests. To steer by compass sounded easy, but the
+wretched instrument seemed persistently to point to precipitous cliffs
+or impenetrable thickets. There were no barren hilltops after the first
+twenty miles. Occasionally we would stop, climb a tree, and try to get
+a view. But climbing a conifer whose boughs are heavily laden with ice
+and snow is no joke, and gave very meagre returns. At last, however, we
+struck a high divide, and from an island in the centre of a lake,
+occupied only by two lone fir trees, we got a view both ways, showing
+the Cloudy Hills which towered over the south side of the bay in which
+the mill stood.</p>
+
+<p>A very high, densely wooded hill lay, however, directly in our path;
+and which way to get round it best none of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>us knew. We "tossed up" and
+went to the eastward&mdash;the wrong side, of course. We soon struck a
+river, and at once surmised that if we followed it, it must bring us to
+the head of the bay, which meant only three miles of salt water ice to
+cover. Alas, the stream proved very torrential. It leaped here and
+there over so many rapid falls that great canyons were left in the ice,
+and instead of being able to dash along as when first we struck it, we
+had painfully to pick our way between heavy ice-blocks, which sorely
+tangled up our traces, and our dogs ran great danger of being injured.
+Nor could we leave the river, for the banks were precipitous and
+utterly impassable with undergrowth. At length when we came to a gorge
+where the boiling torrent was not even frozen, and as prospects of
+being washed under the ice became only too vivid, we were forced to cut
+our way out on the sloping sides. The task was great fun, but an
+exceedingly slow process.</p>
+
+<p>It was altogether an exciting and delightful trip. Now we have a good
+trail cut and blazed, which after some years of experience we have
+gradually straightened out, with two tilts by the roadside when the
+weather makes camping imperative, or when delay is caused by having
+helpless patients to haul, till now it is only a "joy-ride" to go
+through that beautiful country "on dogs." There is always a challenge,
+however, left in that trail&mdash;just enough to lend tang to the toil of
+it. Once, having missed the way in a blizzard, we had to camp on the
+snow with the thermometer standing at twenty below zero. The problem
+was all the more interesting as we struck only "taunt" timberwoods with
+no undergrowth to halt the wind. On another occasion we attempted to
+cross Hare Bay, and one of the dogs fell through the ice. There was a
+biting wind blowing, and it was ten degrees below zero. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>When we were a
+mile off the land I got off the sledge to try the ice edge, when
+suddenly it gave way, and in I fell. It did not take me long to get
+out&mdash;the best advice being to "keep cool." I had as hard a mile's
+running as ever I experienced, for my clothing was fast becoming like
+the armour of an ancient knight; and though in my youth I had been
+accustomed to break the ice in the morning to bathe, I had never run in
+a coat of mail.</p>
+
+<p>Never shall I forget dragging ourselves in among those big trees with
+our axes, and tumbling to sleep in a grave in the snow, in spite of the
+elements. In this hole in a sleeping-bag, protected by the light drift
+which blew in, one rested as comfortably as in a more conventional type
+of feather bed. Nor, when I think of De Quincey's idea of supreme
+happiness before the glowing logs, can I forget that gorgeous blaze
+which the watch kept up by felling trees full length into the fire, so
+that our Yule logs were twenty feet long, and the ruddy glow and
+crackling warmth went smashing through the hurtling snowdrift. True, it
+was cold taking off our dripping clothing, which as it froze on us made
+progress as difficult as if we were encased in armour. But dancing up
+and down before a huge fire in the crisp open air under God's blue sky
+gave as pleasing a reaction as doing the same thing in the dusty,
+germ-laden atmosphere of a ballroom in the small hours of the night,
+when one would better be in bed, if the joys of efficiency and
+accomplishment are the durable pleasure of life.</p>
+
+<p>It was a real picnic which we had at the mill. Our visit was as welcome
+as it was unexpected, and we celebrated it by the whole day off, when
+all hands went "rabbiting." When at the end, hot and tired, we gathered
+round a huge log fire in the woods and discussed boiling cocoa <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>and
+pork buns, we all agreed that it had been a day worth living for.</p>
+
+<p>Logging had progressed favourably. Logs were close at hand; and the
+whole enterprise spelled cash coming in that the people had never
+earned before. The time had also arrived to prepare the machinery for
+cutting the timber; boxes were being unpacked, and weird iron "parts"
+revealed to us, that had all the interest of a Chinese puzzle, with the
+added pleasure of knowing that they stood for much if we solved the
+problems rightly.</p>
+
+<p>When next we saw the mill it was spring, and the puffing smoke and
+white heaps of lumber that graced the point and met our vision as we
+rounded Breakheart Point will not soon be forgotten. Only one trouble
+had proved insurmountable. The log-hauler would not deliver the goods
+to the rotary saw. Later, with the knowledge that the whole apparatus
+was upside down, it did not seem so surprising after all. One accident
+also marred the year's record. While a party of children had been
+crossing the ice in the harbour to school, a treacherous rapid had
+caused it to give way and leave a number of them in the water. One of
+my English volunteers, being a first-class athlete, had by swimming
+saved five lives, but two had been lost, and the young fellow himself
+so badly chilled that it had taken the hot body of one of the fathers
+of the rescued children, wrapped up in bed with him in lieu of a
+hot-water bottle, to restore his circulation.</p>
+
+<p>The second fall was our hardest period. The bills for our lumber sold
+had not been paid in time for us to purchase the absolutely essential
+stock of food for the winter; and if we could not get a store of food,
+we knew that our men could not go logging. It was food, not cash, which
+they needed in the months when their own slender stock <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>of provisions
+gave out, and when all communication was cut off by the frozen sea.</p>
+
+<p>For a venture which seemed to us problematical in its outcome, we did
+not dare to borrow money or to induce friends to invest; and of course
+Mission funds were not available. For the day has not yet arrived when
+all those who seek by their gifts to hasten the coming of the Kingdom
+of God on earth recognize that to give the opportunity to men to
+provide decently for their families and homes is as effective work for
+the Master, whose first attribute was love, as patching up the
+unfortunate victims of semi-starvation. The inculcation of the
+particular intellectual conception which the donor may hold of
+religion, or as to how, after death, the soul can get into heaven, is,
+as the result of the Church teaching, still considered far the most
+important line of effort. The emphasis on hospitals is second, partly
+at least because, so it has seemed to me as a doctor of medicine, the
+more obvious personal benefit thereby conferred renders the recipients
+more impressionable to the views considered desirable to promulgate.
+Yet only to-day, as I came home from our busy operating-room, I felt
+how little real gain the additional time on earth often is either to
+the world outside or even to the poor sufferers themselves. In order to
+have one's early teachings on these matters profoundly shaken, one has
+only to work as a surgeon in a country where tuberculosis, beri-beri,
+and other preventable diseases, and especially the chronic malnutrition
+of poverty fills your clinic with suffering children, who at least are
+victims and not responsible spiritually for their "punishment." Of
+course, the magnitude of service to the world of every act of
+unselfishness, and much more of whole lives of devotion, such as that
+of Miss Sullivan, the teacher of Miss Helen Keller, can never be
+rightly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>estimated by any purely material conception of human life.</p>
+
+<p>Love is dangerously near to sentimentality when we actually prefer
+remedial to prophylactic charity&mdash;and I personally feel that it is
+false economy even from the point of view of mission funds. The
+industrial mission, the educational mission, and the orphanage work at
+least rank with and should go hand in hand with hospitals in any true
+interpretation of a gospel of love.</p>
+
+<p>In subsequent years the nearest attempt to finance such commonly called
+"side issues of the work" has been with us through the medium of a
+discretionary fund. Into this are put sums of money specially given by
+personal friends, who are content to leave the allocation of their
+expenditure in the hands of the worker on the actual field. This fund
+is, of course, paid out in the same way as other mission funds, and is
+as strictly supervised by the auditors. While it leaves possibly more
+responsibility than some of us are worthy of, it enables individuality
+to play that part in mission business which every one recognizes to be
+all-important in the ordinary business of the world. No money, however,
+from this fund has ever gone into the mill or in assisting the
+co&ouml;perative stores.</p>
+
+<p>Sorry as one feels to confess it, I have seen money wasted and lost
+through red tape in the mission business. And after all is not mission
+business part of the world's business, and must not the measure of
+success depend largely on the same factors in the one case as in the
+other? Has one man more than another the right to be called
+"missionary," for of what use is any man in the world if he has no
+mission in it? Christ's life is one long emphasis on the point that in
+the last analysis, when something has to be done, it is the individual
+who has to do it. It is, we believe, a fact of paramount importance for
+efficiency <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>and economy; and the loyalty of God in committing such
+trust to us, when He presumably knows exactly how unworthy we are of
+it, is the explanation of life's enigma.</p>
+
+<p>When at last our food and freight were purchased for the loggers for
+the winter and landed by the mail steamer nine miles from the mill, the
+whole bay was frozen and five miles of ice already over six inches
+thick. The hull of the Strathcona was three eighths of an inch soft
+steel; but there was no other way to transport the goods but on her,
+excepting by sledges&mdash;a very painful and impracticable method.</p>
+
+<p>It was decided that as we could not possibly butt through the ice, we
+must butt over it. The whole company of some thirty men helped us to
+move everything, including chains and anchors, to the after end of the
+ship, and to pile up the barrels of pork, flour, sugar, molasses, etc.,
+together with boats and all heavy weights, so that her fore foot came
+above the water level and she looked as if she were sinking by the
+stern. We then proceeded to crash into the ice. Up onto it we ran, and
+then broke through, doing no damage whatever to her hull. The only
+trouble was that sometimes she would get caught fast in the trough, and
+it was exceedingly hard to back her astern for a second drive. To
+counteract this all hands stood on one rail, each carrying a weight,
+and then rushed over to the other side, backward and forward at the
+word of command, thus causing the steamer to roll. It was a very slow
+process, but we got there, though in true Biblical fashion, literally
+"reeling to and fro like drunken men."</p>
+
+<p>While the mill was in its cradle, we in the Strathcona were cruising
+the northern Labrador waters. We witnessed that year, off the mighty
+Kaumajets, the most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>remarkable storm of lightning that I have ever
+seen in those parts. Inky masses hid the hoary heads of those
+tremendous cliffs. Away to the northwest, over the high land called
+Saeglek, a lurid light just marked the sharp outline of the mills.
+Ahead, where we were trying to make the entrance to Hebron Bay, an
+apparently impenetrable wall persisted. Seaward night had already
+obscured the horizon; but the moon, hidden behind the curtain of the
+storm, now and again fitfully illuminated some icebergs lazily heaving
+on the ocean swell. Almost every second a vivid flash, now on one side,
+now on the other, would show us a glimpse of the land looming darkly
+ahead. The powers of darkness seemed at play; while the sea, the ice,
+the craggy cliffs, and the flashing heavens were advertising man's puny
+power.</p>
+
+<p>An amusing incident took place in one isolated harbour. A patient came
+on board for medicine, and after examining him I went below to make it
+up. When I came on deck again I gave the medicine to one I took to be
+my man, and then sent him ashore to get the twenty-five cent fee for
+the Mission which he had forgotten. No sooner had he gone than another
+man came and asked if his medicine was ready. I had to explain to him
+that the man just climbing over the rail had it. The odd thing was that
+the latter, having paid for it, positively refused to give it up. True,
+he had not said that he was ill, but the medicine looked good (Heaven
+save the mark!) and he "guessed that it would suit his complaint all
+right."</p>
+
+<p>At the mill we found that quite a large part of the timberland was over
+limestone, while near our first dam there was some very white marble.
+We fully intended to erect a kiln, using our refuse for fuel, for the
+land is loaded with humic acid, and only plants like blueberries,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>conifers, and a very limited flora flourish on it. Some friends in
+England, however, hearing of marble in the bay, which it was later
+discovered formed an entire mountain, commenced a marble mine near the
+entrance. The material there is said to be excellent for statuary. Even
+this small discovery of natural resources encouraged us. For having
+neither road, telegraph, nor mail service to the mill, we hoped that
+the development of these things might help in our own enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>For ten years the little mill has run, giving work to the locality,
+better houses, a new church and school, and indeed created a new
+village.</p>
+
+<p>The only trouble with this North country's own peculiar winter work,
+fur-hunting, is that its very nature limits its supply. In my early
+days in the country, fur in Labrador was very cheap. Seldom did even a
+silver fox fetch a hundred dollars. Beaver, lynx, wolverine, wolves,
+bears, and other skins were priced proportionately. Still, some men
+lived very well out of furring. We came to the conclusion that the only
+way to improve conditions in this line was to breed some of the animals
+in captivity. We did not then know of any enterprise of that kind, but
+I remembered in the zo&ouml;logical gardens at Washington seeing a healthy
+batch of young fox pups born in captivity.</p>
+
+<p>Life is short. Things have to be crowded into it. So we started that
+year an experimental fox farm at St. Anthony. A few uprights from the
+woods and some rolls of wire are a fox farm. We put it close by the
+hospital, thinking that it would be less trouble. The idea, we rejoice
+to know, was perfectly right; but we had neither time, study, nor
+experience to teach us how to manage the animals. Very soon we had a
+dozen couples, red, white, patch, and one silver pair. Some of the
+young fox <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>pups were very tame, for I find an old record written by a
+professor of Harvard University, while he was on board the Strathcona
+on one trip when we were bringing some of the little creatures to St.
+Anthony. He describes the state of affairs as follows: "Dr. Grenfell at
+one time had fifteen little foxes aboard which he was carrying to St.
+Anthony to start a fox farm there. Some of these little animals had
+been brought aboard in blubber casks, and their coats were very sticky.
+After a few days they were very tame and played with the dogs; were all
+over the deck, fell down the companionway, were always having their
+tails and feet stepped on, and yelping for pain, when not yelling for
+food. The long-suffering seaman who took care of them said, 'I been
+cleaned out that fox box. It do be shockin'. I been in a courageous
+turmoil my time, but dis be the head smell ever I witnessed.'"</p>
+
+<p>When the farm was erected, every schooner entering the harbour was
+interested in it, and a deep-cut pathway soon developed as the crews
+went up to see the animals. The reds and one patch were very tame, and
+always came out to greet us. One of the reds loved nothing better than
+to be caught and hugged, and squealed with delight like a child when
+you took notice of it. The whites, and still more the silvers, were
+always very shy; and though we never reared a single pup, there were
+some born and destroyed by the old ones.</p>
+
+<p>As the years passed we decided to close up the little farm,
+particularly after a certain kind of sickness which resembled
+strychnine poisoning had attacked and destroyed three of the animals
+which were especial pets. We then converted the farm into a garden with
+a glass house for our seedling vegetables.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the industry had been developed by a Mr. Beetz in Quebec
+Labrador with very marked economic <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>success; and in Prince Edward
+Island with such tremendous profit that it soon became the most
+important industry in the Province. Enormous prices were paid for
+stock. I remembered a schooner in the days of our farm (1907) bringing
+me in four live young silvers, and asking two hundred dollars for the
+lot. We had enough animals and refused to buy them. In 1914 one of our
+distant neighbours, who had caught a live slut in pup, sold her with
+her little brood for ten thousand dollars. We at once started an
+agitation to encourage the industry locally, and the Government passed
+regulations that only foxes bred in the Colony could be exported alive.
+The last wild one sold was for twenty-five dollars to a buyer, and
+resold for something like a thousand dollars by him. A large number of
+farms grew up and met with more or less success, one big one especially
+in Labrador, which is still running. We saw there this present year
+some delightful little broods, also some mink and marten (sables), the
+prettiest little animals to watch possible. For some reason the success
+of this farm so far has not been what was hoped for it. Indeed, even in
+Prince Edward Island the furor has somewhat died down owing to the war;
+though at the close of the war it is anticipated that the industry will
+go on steadily and profitably. Are not sheep, angora goats, oxen, and
+other animals just the result of similar efforts? If fox-farming some
+day should actually supersede the use of the present sharp-toothed leg
+trap, no small gain would have been effected. A fox now trapped in
+those horrible teeth remains imprisoned generally till he perishes of
+cold, exhaustion, or fear. Though the fur trapper as a rule is a most
+gentle creature, the "quality of mercy is not strained" in furring.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE CHILDREN'S HOME</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>"What's that schooner bound South at this time of year for?" I asked
+the skipper of a fishing vessel who had come aboard for treatment the
+second summer I was on the coast.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess, Doctor, that that's the Yankee what's been down North for a
+load of Huskeymaws. What do they want with them when they gets them?"</p>
+
+<p>"They'll put them in a cage and show them at ten cents a head. They're
+taking them to the World's Fair in Chicago."</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<p>People of every sort crowded to see the popular Eskimo Encampment on
+the Midway. The most taking attraction among the groups displayed was a
+little boy, son of a Northern Chieftain, Kaiachououk by name; and many
+a nickel was thrown into the ring that little Prince Pomiuk might show
+his dexterity with the thirty-foot lash of his dog whip.</p>
+
+<p>One man alone of all who came to stare at the little people from
+far-off Labrador took a real interest in the child. It was the Rev.
+C.C. Carpenter, who had spent many years of his life as a clergyman on
+the Labrador coast. But one day Mr. Carpenter missed his little friend.
+Pomiuk was found on a bed of sickness in his dark hut. An injury to his
+thigh had led to the onset of an insidious hip disease.</p>
+
+<p>The Exhibition closed soon after, and the Eskimos went north. But
+Pomiuk was not forgotten, and Mr. Carpenter sent him letter after
+letter, though he never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>received an answer. The first year the band of
+Eskimos reached as far north as Ramah, but Pomiuk's increasing
+sufferings made it impossible for them to take him farther that season.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile in June, 1895, we again steamed out through the Narrows of
+St. John's Harbour, determined to push as far north as the farthest
+white family. A dark foggy night in August found us at the entrance of
+that marvellous gorge called Nakvak. We pushed our way cautiously in
+some twenty miles from the entrance. Suddenly the watch sang out,
+"Light on the starboard bow!" and the sound of our steamer whistle
+echoed and re&euml;choed in endless cadences between those mighty cliffs.
+Three rifle shots answered us, soon a boat bumped our side, and a
+hearty Englishman sprang over the rail.</p>
+
+<p>It was George Ford, factor of the Hudson Bay Company at that post.
+During the evening's talk he told me of a group of Eskimos still
+farther up the fjord having with them a dying boy. Next day I had my
+first glimpse of little Prince Pomiuk. We found him naked and haggard,
+lying on the rocks beside the tiny "tubik."</p>
+
+<p>The Eskimos were only too glad to be rid of the responsibility of the
+sick lad, and, furthermore, he was "no good fishing." So the next day
+saw us steaming south again, carrying with us the boy and his one
+treasured possession&mdash;a letter from a clergyman at Andover,
+Massachusetts. It contained a photograph, and when I showed it to
+Pomiuk he said, "Me even love him."</p>
+
+<p>A letter was sent to the address given, and some weeks later came back
+an answer. "Keep him," it said. "He must never know cold and loneliness
+again. I write for a certain magazine, and the children in 'The Corner'
+will become his guardians." Thus the "Corner Cot" was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>founded, and
+occupied by the little Eskimo Prince for the brief remainder of his
+life.</p>
+
+<p>On my return the following summer the child's joyful laughter greeted
+me as he said, "Me Gabriel Pomiuk now." A good Moravian Brother had
+come along during the winter and christened the child by the name of
+the angel of comfort.</p>
+
+<p>In a sheltered corner of a little graveyard on the Labrador coast rests
+the tiny body of this true prince. When he died the doctor in charge of
+the hospital wrote me that the building seemed desolate without his
+smiling, happy face and unselfish presence. The night that he was
+buried the mysterious aurora lit up the vault of heaven. The Innuits,
+children of the Northland, call it "the spirits of the dead at play."
+But it seemed to us a shining symbol of the joy in the City of the King
+that another young soldier had won his way home.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<p>The Roman Catholic Church is undoubtedly correct in stating that the
+first seven years of his life makes the child. Missions have always
+emphasized the importance of the children from a purely propaganda
+point of view. But our Children's Home was not begun for any such
+reason. Like Topsy, "it just grow'd." I had been summoned to a lonely
+headland, fifty miles from our hospital at Indian Harbour, to see a
+very sick family. Among the spruce trees in a small hut lived a Scotch
+salmon fisher, his wife and five little children. When we anchored off
+the promontory we were surprised to receive no signs of welcome. When
+we landed and entered the house we found the mother dead on the bed and
+the father lying on the floor dying. Next morning we improvised two
+coffins, contributed from the wardrobes of all hands enough black
+material for a "seemly" funeral, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>and later, steaming up the bay to a
+sandy stretch of land, buried the two parents with all the ceremonies
+of the Church&mdash;and found ourselves left with five little mortals in
+black sitting on the grave mound. We thought that we had done all that
+could be expected of a doctor, but we now found the difference. It
+looked as if God expected more. An uncle volunteered to assume one
+little boy and we sailed away with the remainder of the children.
+Having no place to keep them, we wrote to a friendly newspaper in New
+England and advertised for foster parents. One person responded. A
+young farmer's wife wrote: "I am just married to a farmer in the
+country, and miss the chance to teach children in Sunday-School, or
+even to get to church, it is so far away. I think that I can feed two
+children for the Lord's sake. If you will send them along, I will see
+that they do not want for anything." We shipped two, and began what
+developed into our Children's Home with the balance of the stock.</p>
+
+<p>We had everything to learn in the rearing of children, having had only
+the hygienic side of their development to attend to previously. One of
+the two which we kept turned out very well, becoming a fully trained
+nurse. The other failed. Both of those who went to New England did
+well, the superior discipline of their foster mother being no doubt
+responsible. The following fall I made a special journey to see the
+latter. It was a small farm on which they lived, and a little baby had
+just arrived. Only high ideals could have persuaded the woman to accept
+the added responsibility. The children were as bright and jolly as
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>Among the other functions which have fallen to my lot to perform is the
+ungrateful task of unpaid magistrate, or justice of the peace. In this
+capacity a little later I was called on to try a mother, who in a
+Labrador <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>village had become a widow and later married a man with six
+children who refused to accept her three-year-old little girl. When I
+happened along, the baby was living alone in the mother's old shack, a
+mud-walled hut, and she or the neighbours went in and tended it as they
+could. None of the few neighbours wanted permanently to assume the
+added expense of the child, so dared not accept it temporarily. It was
+sitting happily on the floor playing with a broken saucer when I came
+in. It showed no fear of a stranger; indeed, it made most friendly
+overtures. I had no right to send the new husband to jail. I could not
+fine him, for he had no money. There was no jail in Labrador, anyhow.
+My special constable was a very stout fisherman, a family man, who
+proposed to nurse the child till I could get it to some place where it
+could be properly looked after. When we steamed away, we had the baby
+lashed into a swing cot. It became very rough, and the baby, of course,
+crawled out and was found in the scuppers. It did everything that it
+ought not to do, but which we knew that it would. But we got it to the
+hospital at last and the nurse received it right to her heart.</p>
+
+<p>In various ways my family grew at an alarming rate, once the general
+principle was established. On my early summer voyage to the east coast
+of Labrador I found at Indian Harbour Hospital a little girl of four.
+In the absence of her father, who was hunting, and while her mother lay
+sick in bed, she had crawled out of the house and when found in the
+snow had both legs badly frozen. They became gangrenous halfway to the
+knee, and her father had been obliged to chop them both off. An
+operation gave her good stumps; but what use was she in Labrador with
+no legs? So she joined our family, and we gave her such good new limbs
+that when I brought <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>her into Government House at Halifax, where one of
+our nurses had taken her to school temporarily, and she ran into the
+room with two other little girls, the Governor could scarcely tell
+which was our little cripple Kirkina.</p>
+
+<p>The following fall as we left for the South our good friend, the chief
+factor of the Hudson Bay Company, told me that on an island in the
+large inlet known to us as Eskimo Bay a native family, both hungry and
+naked, were living literally under the open sky. We promised to try and
+find them and help them with some warm clothing.</p>
+
+<p>Having steamed round the island and seen no signs of life, we were on
+the point of leaving when a tiny smoke column betrayed the presence of
+human life&mdash;and with my family-man mate we landed as a search party.
+Against the face of a sheer rock a single sheet of light cotton duck
+covered the abode of a woman with a nursing baby. They were the only
+persons at home. The three boys and a father comprised the remainder of
+the family. We soon found the two small boys. They were practically
+stark naked, but fat as curlews, being full of wild berries with which
+their bodies were stained bright blues and reds. They were a jolly
+little couple, as unconcerned about their environment as Robinson
+Crusoe after five years on his island. Soon the father came home. I can
+see him still&mdash;the vacant brown face of a very feeble-minded
+half-breed, ragged and tattered and almost bootless. He was carrying an
+aged single-barrelled boy's gun in one hand and a belated sea-gull in
+the other, which bird was destined for the entire evening meal of the
+family. A half-wild-looking hobbledehoy boy of fifteen years also
+joined the group.</p>
+
+<p>It was just beginning to snow, a wet sleet. Eight <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>months of winter lay
+ahead. Yet not one of the family seemed to think a whit about that
+which was vivid enough to the minds of the mate and myself. We sat down
+for a regular pow-wow beside the fire sputtering in the open room, from
+which thick smoke crept up the face of the rock, and hung over us in a
+material but symbolic cloud. It was naturally cold. The man began with
+a plea for some "clodin." We began with a plea for some children. How
+many would he swap for a start in clothing and "tings for his winter"?
+He picked out and gave us Jimmie. The soft-hearted mate, on whose
+cheeks the tears were literally standing, grabbed Jimmie&mdash;as the latter
+did his share of the gull. But we were not satisfied. We had to have
+Willie. It was only when a breaking of diplomatic relations altogether
+was threatened that Willie was sacrificed on the altar of "tings." I
+forget the price, but I think that we threw in an axe, which was one of
+the trifles which the father lacked&mdash;and in this of all countries! The
+word was no sooner spoken than our shellback again excelled himself. He
+pounced on Willie like a hawk on its prey, and before the treaty was
+really concluded he was off to our dory with a naked boy kicking
+violently in the vice of each of his powerful arms. The grasping
+strength of our men, reared from childhood to haul heavy strains and
+ponderous anchors, is phenomenal.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever sins Labrador has been guilty of, Malthusianism is not in the
+category. Nowhere are there larger families. Those of Quebec Labrador,
+which is better known, are of almost world-wide fame. God is, to
+Labrador thinking, the Giver of all children. Man's responsibility is
+merely to do the best he can to find food and clothing for them. A man
+can accomplish only so much. If these "gifts of God" suffer and are a
+burden to others <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>that is kismet. It is the animal philosophy and makes
+women's lives on this coast terribly hard. The opportunity for service
+along child-welfare lines is therefore not surprising from this angle
+also.</p>
+
+<p>One day, passing a group of islands, we anchored in a bight known as
+Rogues' Roost. It so happened that a man who many years before had shot
+off his right arm, and had followed up his incapacity with a large
+family of dependants, had just died. Life cannot be expected to last
+long in Labrador under those conditions. There were four children, one
+being a big boy who could help out. The rest were offered as a
+contribution to the Mission. A splendid Newfoundland fisherman and his
+wife had a summer fishing station here, and with that generous
+open-heartedness which is characteristic of our seafarers, they were
+only too anxious to help. "Of course, she would make clothing while I
+was North"&mdash;out of such odd garments as a general collection produced.
+"She wouldn't think of letting them wear it till I came along South,
+not she." She would "put them in the tub as soon as she heard our
+whistle." When after the long summer's work we landed and went up to
+her little house, three shining, red, naked children were drying before
+a large stove, in which the last vestige of connection with their past
+was contributing its quota of calories toward the send-off. A few
+minutes later we were off to the ship with as sweet a batch of jolly,
+black-haired, dark-eyed kiddies as one could wish for. Our good friend
+could not keep back the tears as she kissed them good-bye on deck. The
+boy has already put in three years on the Western Front. The girls have
+both been educated, the elder having had two years finishing at the
+Pratt Institute in New York.</p>
+
+<p>A grimy note saying, "Please call in to Bird Island as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>you pass and
+see the sick," brought me our next donation. "There be something wrong
+with Mrs. B's twins, Doctor," greeted me on landing. "Seems as if they
+was like kittens, and couldn't see yet a wink." It was only too true.
+The little twin girls were born blind in both eyes. What could they do
+in Labrador? Two more for our family without any question. After
+leaving our Orphanage, these two went through the beautiful school for
+the blind at Halifax, and are now able to make their own living in the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>So the roll swelled. Some came because they were orphans; some because
+they were not. Thus, poor Sammy. The home from which he came was past
+description. From the outside it looked like a tumble-down shed. Inside
+there appeared to be but one room, which measured six by twelve feet,
+and a small lean-to. The family consisted of father and mother and
+three children. The eldest boy was about twelve, then came Sam, and
+lastly a wee girl of five, with pretty curly fair hair, but very thin
+and delicate-looking. She seemed to be half-starved and thoroughly
+neglected. The father was a ne'er-do-well and the mother an imbecile
+who has since died of tuberculosis. The filth inside was awful. The
+house was built of logs, and the spaces in between them were partly
+filled in with old rags and moss. The roof leaked. The room seemed to
+be alive with vermin, as were also the whole family. The two boys were
+simply clothed in a pair of men's trousers apiece and a dilapidated
+pair of boots between them. The trousers they found very hard to keep
+on and had to give them frequent hoists up. They were both practically
+destitute of underclothing. To hide all deficiencies, they each wore a
+woman's long jacket of the oldest style possible and green with age,
+which reached down to their heels. Round their waists they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>each wore a
+skin strap. They were stripped of their rags, and made to scrub
+themselves in the stream and then indoors before putting on their new
+clean clothes. Sammy and the little sister joined the family.</p>
+
+<p>One of our boys is from Cape Chidley itself; others come from as far
+south and west as Bay of Islands in South Newfoundland. So many
+erroneous opinions seem to persist regarding the difference between
+Newfoundland and Labrador that I am constantly asked: "But why do you
+have a Children's Home in Newfoundland? Can't the Newfoundlanders look
+out for themselves and their dependent children?" As I have tried to
+make clear in a previous chapter North and South Newfoundland should be
+sharply differentiated as to wealth, education, climate, and
+opportunity. Though for purposes of efficiency and economy the actual
+building of the Home is situated in the north end of the northern
+peninsula of Newfoundland, the children who make up the family are
+drawn almost entirely from the Labrador side of the Straits; unless, as
+is often the case, the poverty and destitution of a so-called
+Newfoundland family on the south side of Belle Isle makes it impossible
+to leave children under such conditions.</p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that something had to be built to accommodate the galaxy;
+and some one secured who understood the problem of running the Home.
+She&mdash;how often it is "she"&mdash;was found in England, a volunteer by the
+name of Miss Eleanor Storr. She was a true Christian lady and a trained
+worker as well. The building during the years grew with the family, so
+that it is really a wonder of odds and patches. The generosity of one
+of our volunteers, Mr. Francis Sayre, the son-in-law of President
+Wilson, doubled its capacity. But buildings that are made of green
+wood, and grow like Topsy, are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>apt to end like Topsy&mdash;turvy. Now we
+are straining every nerve to obtain a suitable accommodation for the
+children. We sorely need a brick building, economically laid out and
+easily kept warm, with separate wings for girls and boys and a cr&ecirc;che
+for babies. Miss Storr was obliged to leave us, and now for over six
+years a splendid and unselfish English lady, Miss Katie Spalding, has
+been helping to solve this most important of all problems&mdash;the
+preparation of the next generation to make their land and the world a
+more fit place in which to live. Miss Spalding's contribution to this
+country has lain not only in her influence on the children and her
+unceasing care of them, but she has given her counsel and assistance in
+other problems of the Mission, where also her judgment, experience, and
+wisdom have proven invaluable.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep250" id="imagep250"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep250.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep250.jpg" width="50%" alt="Inside The Orphanage" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">INSIDE THE ORPHANAGE<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There is yet another side of the orphanage problem. We have been
+obliged, due to the lack of any boarding-school, to accept bright
+children from isolated homes so as to give them a chance in life. It
+has been the truest of love messages to several. The children always
+repay, whether the parents pay anything or not; and as so much of the
+care of them is volunteer, and friends have assumed the expenses of a
+number of the children, the budget has never been unduly heavy. They do
+all their own work, and thanks to the inestimably valuable help of the
+Needlework Guild of America through its Labrador branch, the clothing
+item has been made possible. In summer we use neither boots nor
+stockings for the children unless absolutely necessary. Our harbour
+people still look on that practice askance; but ours are the healthiest
+lot of children on the coast, and their brown bare legs and tough,
+well-shaped feet are a great asset to their resistance to tuberculosis,
+their arch-enemy, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>no small addition to the attraction of their
+merry faces and hatless heads.</p>
+
+<p>Even though Gabriel, Prince Pomiuk, never lived within its walls, the
+real beginning of the idea of our Children's Home was due to him; and
+one feels sure that his spirit loves to visit the other little ones who
+claim this lonely coast as their homeland also.</p>
+
+<p>The one test for surgery which we allow in these days is its "end
+results." Patients must not be advertised as cured till they have
+survived the treatment many years. Surely that is man's as well as
+God's test. Certainly it is the gauge of the outlay in child life. What
+is the good of it all? Does it pay? In the gift of increasing joy to
+us, in its obvious humanity and in its continuous inspiration, it
+certainly does make the work of life here in every branch the better.</p>
+
+<p>The solution of the problem of inducing the peace of God and the
+Kingdom of God into our "parish" is most likely to be solved by wise
+and persevering work among the children. For in them lies the hope of
+the future of this country, and their true education and upbringing to
+fit them for wise citizenship have been cruelly neglected in this
+"outpost of Empire."</p>
+
+<p>Another menace to the future welfare of the coast has been the lack of
+careful instruction and suitable opportunities for the development,
+physical, mental, and spiritual, of its girls. Without an educated and
+enlightened womanhood, no country, no matter how favored by material
+prosperity, can hope to take its place as a factor in the progress of
+the world. In our orphanage and educational work we have tried to keep
+these two ideas constantly before us, and to offer incentives to and
+opportunities for useful life-work in whatever branch, from the
+humblest to the highest, a child showed aptitude.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>Through the vision, ability, and devotion of Miss Storr, Miss Spalding,
+and their helpers, in training the characters as well as the bodies of
+the children at the Home, and by the generous support of friends of
+children elsewhere, we have been able to turn out each year from its
+walls young men and women better fitted to cope with the difficult
+problems of this environment, and to offer to its service that best of
+all gifts&mdash;useful and consecrated personalities.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Every child should be washed. Every child should be educated. The only
+question is how to get there. The "why's" of life interest chiefly the
+academic mind. The "how's" interest every one. It is a pleasure
+sometimes to be out in dirty weather on a lee shore; it permits you to
+devote all your energies to accomplishing something. When secretary for
+our hospital rowing club on the Thames, a fine cup was given for
+competition by Sir Frederick Treves on terms symbolic of his attitude
+to life. The race was to be in ordinary punts with a coxswain "in order
+that every ounce of energy should be devoted to the progress of the
+boat."</p>
+
+<p>That is the whole trouble with the Newfoundland Labrador. All moneys
+granted for education are handed to the churches for sectarian schools.
+It is almost writing ourselves down as still living in the Middle Ages,
+when the Clergy had a monopoly of polite learning. In more densely
+populated countries this division of grants need not be so disastrous.
+Here it means that one often finds a Roman Catholic, a Church of
+England, a Methodist, and a Salvation Army school, all in one little
+village&mdash;and no school whatever in the adjoining place.</p>
+
+<p>The denominational spirit, fostered by these sectarian schools and
+societies, is so emphasized that Catholic and Protestant have little in
+common. Some preferred to let their children or themselves suffer pain
+and inefficiency, rather than come for relief to a hospital where the
+doctors were Protestant. This has in some measure passed away, but it
+was painfully real at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>first&mdash;so much so that once a rickety, crippled
+child, easily cured, though he actually came to the harbour, was
+forbidden to land and returned home to be a cripple for life.</p>
+
+<p>The salaries available offer no attraction to enter the teaching
+profession in this island; and there is no compulsory education law to
+assist those who with lofty motives remain loyal to the profession when
+"better chances" come along. Gauged rightly, there is no such thing as
+a better chance for fulfilling life's purposes than an education; and
+modern conditions concede the right of a decent living wage to all who
+render service to the world in whatever line.</p>
+
+<p>In the little village where are our headquarters there was already a
+Church of England and a Methodist school when we came there, and a
+Salvation Army one has since been added. Threats of still another
+"institution of learning" menaced us at one time&mdash;almost like a new
+Egyptian plague, with more permanency of results thrown in.</p>
+
+<p>If the motor power of the school boat is dissipated in sectarian
+religious education, not to say focussed on it, the arrival of the
+cargo must be seriously handicapped. The statistical returns may show a
+majority of our fishermen as "able to read and write"; but as a matter
+of fact the illiteracy and ignorance of North Newfoundland and Labrador
+is the greatest handicap in the lives of the people.</p>
+
+<p>My first scholar came from North Labrador, long before we aspired to a
+school of our own. He was a lad of Scotch extraction and name, and came
+aboard the hospital ship one night, as she lay at anchor among some
+northern islands, with the request that we would take him up with us to
+some place where he could get an hour's schooling a day. He offered to
+work all the rest of the time <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>in return for his food and clothing.
+To-day he holds a Pratt certificate, is head of our machine shop, has a
+sheet-metal working factory of his own which fills a most valuable
+purpose on the shore, is general consultant for the coast in matters of
+engineering, as well as being the Government surveyor for his district.
+He is also chief musician for the church, having fitted himself for
+both those latter posts in his "spare time." The inspiration which his
+life has been is in itself an education to many of us&mdash;a reflex result
+which is the really highest value of all life.</p>
+
+<p>As each transferred individual has come back North for service, desire
+has at once manifested itself for similar privileges in young people
+who had not previously shown even interest enough to attend our winter
+night schools. This is the best evidence that inroads are being made
+into that natural apathy which is content with mediocrity or even
+inferiority. This is everywhere the world's most subtle enemy. Even if
+selfishness or envy has been the motive, the fact remains that they
+have often kindled that discontent with the past which Charles Kingsley
+preached as necessary to all progress. Nowhere could the pathology of
+the matter be more easily traced than in these concrete examples
+carrying the infection which could come from no other quarter into our
+isolation. It has been in very humble life an example of the return of
+the "Yankee to the Court of King Arthur."</p>
+
+<p>There was a time when Lord Haldane proposed that every English child,
+who in the Board schools had proved his ability to profit by it, should
+be given a college or university education at the expense of the
+State&mdash;as a remunerative outlay for the nation. This proposal was
+turned down as being too costly, though the expenditure for a single
+day's running of this war would have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>gone a long way to provide such a
+fund. We now know that it can be done and must be done as a sign manual
+of real freedom, which is not the leaving of parents or forbears,
+incompetent for any reason, free to damn their country with a stream of
+stunted intellects.</p>
+
+<p>America has already honoured herself forever by being a pioneer in this
+movement for the higher education of the people. Religion surely need
+not fear mental enlightenment. The dangers of life lie in ignorance,
+and after all is not true religion a thing of the intellect as well as
+of the heart? Can that really be inculcated in "two periods of forty
+minutes each week devoted to sectarian teaching," which was one of the
+concessions demanded of us in our fight for a free public or common
+school at St. Anthony? My own mental picture of myself at the age of
+seven sitting on a bench for forty minutes twice every week learning to
+be "religious" made me sympathize with Scrooge when the Ghost of the
+Past was paying him a visit.</p>
+
+<p>One thing was certain. The young lives entrusted to us were having as
+good medical care for their bodies as we could provide; and if we could
+compass it, we were going to have that paralleled for their minds. The
+parents of the village children could do as they liked with those
+committed to them&mdash;and they did it. There is nothing so thoroughly
+reactionary that I know of as religious prejudice well ground in. As
+regards the treatment of physical ailments the prejudices of what Dr.
+Holmes called "Hom&oelig;opathy and Kindred Delusions" always are strong
+in proportion as they are impregnated with some religious bias.</p>
+
+<p>Our efforts to combine the local schools having failed, we had to
+provide a building of our own. This we felt must be planned for the
+future. For some day the halcyon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>days of peace on earth shall be
+permitted in our community, and the true loyalty of efficient service
+to our brothers will, it is to be hoped, become actually the paramount
+object of our Christian religion. Perhaps this terrible war will have
+convinced the world that the loftiest aspirations of mankind are no
+more to save yourself hereafter than here. Is it not as true as ever
+that if we are not ourselves possessors of Christ's spirit, ourselves
+we cannot save?</p>
+
+<p>The only schoolhouse available, anyhow, was not nearly so good a
+building as that which we have since provided for the accommodation of
+our pigs! Fat pork is considered an absolute essential "down North";
+and it was cheaper and safer, according to Upton Sinclair, to raise
+pigs than buy the salted or tinned article. So we had instituted what
+we deemed a missionary enterprise in that line. (<i>Pace</i> our vegetarian
+friends.)</p>
+
+<p>As soon as a sum of three thousand dollars had been raised, architect
+friends at the Pratt Institute sent down to us competitive designs, and
+one of our Labrador boys, who had studied there, erected the building.
+Having at the beginning no funds whatever for current expenses, we had
+to look for volunteer teachers. One denomination helped with part of
+its harbour grant, but the Government would not make any special
+donation toward the union school project. Even the caput grant, to
+which we had hoped that we were entitled for our own orphanage
+children, had by law to go to the denomination to which their parents
+had belonged. This was not always easy to decide correctly. On the
+occasion of taking the last census in Labrador, a well-dressed stranger
+suddenly visited one of our settlements on the east coast. It so
+happened that a very poor man with a large and growing family of eight
+children under ten years, who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>resided there, was not so loyal to his
+church as we are taught we ought to be. When the stranger entered his
+tilt a vision of material favours to be obtained was the dominant idea
+in the fisherman's mind. He was therefore on tenterhooks all the while
+that the questioning was going on lest some blunder of his might
+alienate the sympathy on which he was banking for "getting his share."
+At length it came to the momentous point of "What denomination do you
+belong to?"&mdash;a very vital matter when it comes to sympathy and sharing
+up. In some hesitation he gazed at the row of his eight unwashed and
+but half-clad offspring, whose treacly faces gaped open-mouthed at the
+visitor. Then with sudden inspiration he decided to play for safety,
+and replied, "Half of them is Church of England, and half is
+Methodist!"</p>
+
+<p>Being an unrecognized school, and so far off, some years went by before
+the innovation of bringing up scholars from our northern district
+entered our heads. We realized at length, however, that we should close
+one channel of criticism to the enemy if we proved that we could
+justify our school by their standard of annual examinations. Our
+teachers, being mostly volunteers, had to come from outside the Colony.
+Having no funds to purchase books and other supplies, we made use of
+books also sent us from outside. The real value of the local
+examination becomes questionable as a standard of success when far more
+highly educated teachers, and at least as cleverly laid-out study
+books, prevented the children in our school from passing them.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, further to waken their faculties, we had included in our
+facilities a large upper hall of the school building and a library of
+some thousands of books collected from all quarters. The former
+afforded the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>stimulus which entertainments given by the children could
+carry, and also space for physical drill; the latter, that greatest
+incentive of all, access to books which lure people to wish to read
+them. In summer the parents and older children are busy with the
+fisheries day and night, and the little children run more or less wild,
+so this form of occupation was doubly desirable.</p>
+
+<p>The generous help of summer volunteers, especially a trained
+kindergartner, Miss Olive Lesley, gave us a regular summer school. All
+the expensive outfit needed was also donated. Eye and hand were
+enlisted in the service of brain evolution; while a piano, which it is
+true had seen better days, pressed the ear and the imagination into the
+service as well.</p>
+
+<p>One of the great gaps in child development in Labrador had been the
+almost entire lack of games. The very first year of our coming the
+absence of dolls had so impressed itself upon us that the second season
+we had brought out a trunkful. Even then we found later that the dolls
+were perched high up on the walls as ornaments, just out of reach of
+the children. In one little house I found a lad playing with some
+marbles. For lack of better these were three-quarter-inch bullets which
+"Dad had given him," while the alley was a full-inch round ball, which
+belonged to what my host was pleased to call "the little darlint"&mdash;a
+hoary blunderbuss over six feet in length. The skipper informed me that
+he had plenty of "fresh" for the winter, largely as a result of the
+successful efforts of the "darlint"; though it appeared to have
+exploded with the same fatal effect this year as the season previous.
+"I hear that you made a good shot, the other day, Uncle Joe," I
+remarked. "Nothing to speak on," he answered. "I only got forty-three,
+though I think there was a few more if I could have found them on the
+ice."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>The pathos of the lack of toys and games appealed especially to the
+Anglo-Saxon, who believes that if he has any advantage over
+competitors, it is not merely in racial attributes, but in the reaction
+of those attributes which develop in him the ineradicable love of
+athletics and sport. The fact that he dubs the classmate whom he
+admires most "a good sport," shows that he thinks so, anyway.</p>
+
+<p>So organized play was carefully introduced on the coast. It caught like
+wildfire among the children, and it was delightful to see groups of
+them na&iuml;vely memorizing by the roadside school lessons in the form of
+"Ring-of-Roses," "Looby-Loo," "All on the Train for Boston." To our
+dismay in the minds of the local people the very success of this effort
+gave further evidence of our incompetence.</p>
+
+<p>Our people have well-defined, though often singular, ideas as to what
+Almighty God does and does not allow; and among the pursuits which are
+irrevocably condemned by local oracles is dancing. The laxity of
+"foreigners" on this article of the Creed is proverbial. At the time
+there were two ministers in the place, and realizing that the people
+considered that our kindergarten was introducing the thin edge of the
+wedge, and that our whole effort might meet with disaster unless the
+rumours were checked, I went in search of them without delay. Three
+o'clock found us knocking at the kindergarten door. The teacher and
+source of the reputed scandal seemed in no way disconcerted by the
+visitation. The first game was irreproachable&mdash;every child was sitting
+on the floor. But next the children, were choosing partners, and though
+the boys had chosen boys, and the girls girls, the suspicions of the
+vigilance committee were aroused. No danger, however, to the three R's
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>transpired, and we were next successfully piloted clear of condemnation
+through a game entitled "Piggie-wig and Piggie-wee." Our circulation
+was just beginning to operate once more in its normal fashion when we
+were told that the whole company would now "join hands and move around
+in a circle" to music. The entire jury sensed that the crucial moment
+had come. We saw boys and girls alternating, hand held in hand&mdash;and all
+to the undeniably secular libretto of "Looby-Loo." It was, moreover,
+noted with inward pain that many of the little feet actually left the
+ground. We adjourned to an adjacent fish stage to discuss the matter. I
+need not dilate on the vicissitudes of the session. It was clear that
+all but "Looby-Loo" could obviously be excluded from the group of
+"questionables"&mdash;but the last game was of a different calibre and must
+be put to vote. My readers will be relieved to learn that the resultant
+ballot was unanimously in favour of non-interference, and that from the
+pulpit the following Sunday the clergy gave to the kindergarten the
+official sanction of the Church.</p>
+
+<p>Other outsiders now began telling the people that we could not pass the
+Colony's examinations because we wasted our efforts on teaching
+"foolishness"; and the denomination which had hitherto lent us aid
+withdrew it, and tried again to run a midget sectarian school right
+alongside. The first occasion, however, on which this institution came
+seriously to my attention was when the minister and another young man
+came to call during the early weeks of our winter school session. The
+stranger was their special teacher. He was undoubtedly a smart lad; he
+had passed the preliminary examination. But he was only sixteen, and in
+temperament a very young sixteen at that. He was engaged at a more
+generous salary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>than usual, and was perfectly prepared to
+revolutionize our records. But, alas, not only was their little
+building practically unfit for habitation, but after a week's waiting
+not one single scholar had come to his school. The contrast between the
+two opportunities was too great&mdash;except for frothing criticism. Gladly,
+to help our neighbours out of a difficulty, we divided a big classroom
+into two parts, added a third teacher to our school, and were thus able
+to make an intermediate grade.</p>
+
+<p>The great majority of the whole reconstruction and work of the school
+was made possible by the generous and loving interest of a lady in
+Chicago. Added to the other anxieties of meeting our annual budget, we
+did not feel able to bear the additional burden for which this venture
+called. One cannot work at one's best at any time with an anxious mind.
+The lady, however, was generous enough to give sufficient endowment to
+secure two teachers among other things, though she absolutely refused
+to let even her name be known in connection with the school. Our
+consolation is that we know that she has vision enough to realize the
+value of her gift and to accept that as a more than sufficient return.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that some of our older scholars were able to find really useful
+and remunerative employment in teaching, and as only for those who held
+certificates of having passed the local examinations were augmentation
+grants available, we decided to make special efforts to have our
+scholars pass by the local standards. We, therefore, thanks to the
+endowment, engaged teachers trained in the country, and instituted the
+curriculum of the Colony. These teachers told us that our school was
+better than almost any outside St. John's. Four scholars have passed
+this year; and now we have as head mistress a delightful lady who holds
+the best percentage record for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>passing children through the
+requirements of the local examinations of any in the country.</p>
+
+<p>So much more deeply, however, do idle words sink into some natures than
+even deeds, that one family preferred to keep their children at home to
+risk sending them to our undenominational school; and there is no law
+to compel better wisdom with us here in the North.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, we had already obtained a scale of our own for
+grading success. For a number of our most promising boys and girls we
+had raised the money for them to get outside the country what they
+could never get in it, namely, the technical training which is so much
+needed on a coast where we have to do everything for ourselves, and the
+breadth of view which contact with a more progressive civilization
+alone can give them. The faculty of Pratt Institute gave us a
+scholarship, and later two of them; and with no little fear as to their
+ability to keep up, we sent two young men there. The newness of our
+school forced us to select at the beginning boys who had only received
+teaching after their working hours. Both boys and girls have always had
+to earn something to help them on their way through. But they have
+stood the test of efficiency so well that we look forward with
+confidence to the future. A girl who took the Domestic Economy course
+at the Nasson Institute told me only to-day, "It gave me a new life
+altogether, Doctor"; and she is making a splendid return in service to
+her own people here.</p>
+
+<p>The real test of education is its communal effect; and no education is
+complete which leaves the individual ignorant of the things that
+concern his larger relationship to his country, any more than he is
+anything beyond a learned animal if he knows nothing of his
+opportunities and responsibilities as a son of God. But though example
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>is a more impelling factor than precept, undoubtedly the most permanent
+contributions conferred on the coast by the many college students, who
+come as volunteers every summer to help us in the various branches of
+our work, is just this gift of their own personalities. Strangely
+enough, quite a number of these helpers who have to spend considerable
+money coming and returning, just to give us what they can for the sole
+return of what that means to their own lives, have not been the sons of
+the wealthy, but those working their way through the colleges. These
+men are just splendid to hold up as inspirational to our own.</p>
+
+<p>The access to books, as well as to sermons, may not be neglected. Our
+faculties, like our jaws, atrophy if we do not use them to bite with.
+The Carnegie libraries have emphasized a fact that is to education and
+the colleges what social work is to medicine and the hospitals. We were
+running south some years ago on our long northern trip before a fine
+leading wind, when suddenly we noticed a small boat with an improvised
+flag hoisted, standing right out across our bows. Thinking that it was
+at least some serious surgical case, we at once ordered "Down sail and
+heave her to," annoying though it was to have the trouble and delay.
+When at last she was alongside, a solitary, white-haired old man
+climbed with much difficulty over our rail. "Good-day. What's the
+trouble? We are in a hurry." The old man most courteously doffed his
+cap, and stood holding it in his hand. "I wanted to ask you, Doctor,"
+he said slowly, "if you had any books which you could lend me. We can't
+get anything to read here." An angry reply almost escaped my lips for
+delaying a steamer for such a purpose. But a strange feeling of
+humiliation replaced it almost immediately. Which is really
+charity&mdash;skilfully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>to remove his injured leg, if he had one, or to
+afford him the pleasure and profit of a good book? Both services were
+just as far from his reach without our help.</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't you got any books?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Doctor, I've got two, but I've read them through and through long
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"One is the 'Works of Josephus,'" he answered, "and the other is
+'Plutarch's Lives.'"</p>
+
+<p>I thought that I had discovered the first man who could honestly and
+truthfully say that he would prefer for his own library the "best
+hundred books," selected by Mr. Ruskin and Dr. Eliot, without even so
+much as a sigh for the "ten best sellers."</p>
+
+<p>He was soon bounding away over the seas in his little craft, the happy
+possessor of one of our moving libraries, containing some fifty books,
+ranging from Henty's stories to discarded tomes from theological
+libraries.</p>
+
+<p>Each year the hospital ship moves these library boxes one more stage
+along the coast. As there are some seventy-five of them, they thus last
+the natural life of books, since we have only rarely enjoyed the help
+of a trained librarian enabling us to make the most use of these always
+welcome assets for our work. Later, some librarian friends from
+Brooklyn, chief among whom was Miss Marion Cutter, came down to help
+us; but our inability to have continuity when the ladies cannot afford
+to give their valuable services, has seriously handicapped the
+efficiency of this branch of the work. This, however, only spells
+opportunity, and when this war releases the new appreciation of
+service, we feel confident that somehow we shall be able to fill the
+gap, and some one will be found to come and help us again to meet this
+great need.</p>
+
+<p>The co&ouml;peration of teachers and librarians more than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>doubles the
+capacity of each alone, and we believe sincerely that they do that of
+doctors, as they unquestionably do that of the clergy. All the world's
+workers have infinitely more to gain by co&ouml;peration than they often
+suspect. And indeed we who are apostles of co&ouml;peration, as essential
+for economy in distribution and efficiency in production, realize that
+groups of workers pulling together always increase by geometrical
+progression the result obtained.</p>
+
+<p>None of our methods, however, tackled the smallest settlements, hidden
+away here and there in these fjords, especially those unreached by the
+mail steamers and devoid of means of transportation. Mahomet just could
+not come to the mountain, so it had to go to him. A lady and a Doctor
+of Philosophy, Miss Ethel Gordon Muir, whose life had been spent in
+teaching, and who would have been excused for discontinuing that
+function during her long vacations, came down at her own cost and
+charges to carry the light to one of these lonely settlements. She has
+with loyal devotion continued to carry on and enlarge that work ever
+since, till finally she has built up a work that the clergyman of the
+main section of coast affected, and also the Superintendent of
+Education, have declared is the most effective branch of our Mission.
+Her band of teachers are volunteers. They come down to these little
+hamlets for the duration of their summer vacations. They live with the
+fishermen in their cottages and gather their pupils daily wherever
+seems best. Lack of proper accommodation and pioneer conditions
+throughout in no way deter them. We expected that their criticism would
+be, "It is not worth while." That has never been the case. Before the
+war they came again and again, as a testimony to their belief in the
+value of the effort. Some have given promising <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>children a chance for a
+complete education in the States. Indeed, one such lad, taken down some
+years ago by one of the students, entered Amherst College last year;
+while several were fighting with the American boys "Over There."</p>
+
+<p>The only real joy of possession is the power which it confers for a
+larger life of service. Has it been the reader's good fortune ever to
+save a human life? A cousin of mine, an officer in the submarine
+service of the Royal Engineers, told me a year or two before the war
+that he was never quite happy because he had spent all his life
+acquiring special capacities which he never in the least expected to be
+able to put to practical use. This war has given to him, at least, what
+possessions could never have offered.</p>
+
+<p>It almost requires the fabulous Jack to overcome the hoary giants of
+prejudice and custom, or the irrepressible energy of the Gorgon. It has
+been helpful to remember away "down North" the stand which Archbishop
+Ireland took for public schools. When the Episcopal clergyman for
+Labrador, whom we had been influential in bringing out from England,
+decided to start an undenominational boarding-school on his section of
+the coast, we began to hope that we might yet live to see our sporadic
+effort become a policy. Laymen in St. John's, led by the Rev. Dr. Edgar
+Jones, a most progressive clergyman, sympathized in dollars, and we
+were able to back the effort. A splendid volunteer head teacher will
+arrive in the spring to begin work. The effort still needs much help;
+but I am persuaded that a chain of undenominational schools can be
+started that will react on the whole country. Already a scheme for a
+similar uplift for the west coast is being promulgated.</p>
+
+<p>In a letter written to my wife some years ago I find <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>that my
+convictions on the subject of education were no less firm than they are
+to-day. One came to the conclusion that "ignorance is the worst cause
+of suffering on our coast, and our 'religion' is fostering it. True, it
+has denominational schools, but these are to bolster up special
+ecclesiastical bodies, and are not half so good as Government schools
+would be. The 'goods delivered' in the schools are not educational in
+the best sense, and are all too often inefficiently offered. Instead of
+making the children ambitious to go on learning through life, they make
+them tired. There is no effort to stimulate the play side; and in our
+north end of the Colony's territory there are no trades taught, no new
+ideas, no manual training&mdash;it is all so-called 'arts' and Creeds."</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>"WHO HATH DESIRED THE SEA?"</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>We are somewhat superstitious down here still, and not a few believe
+that shoals and submerged rocks are like sirens which charm vessels to
+their doom.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion, as late in the fall we were creeping up the Straits of
+Belle Isle in the only motor boat then in use there, our new toy broke
+down, and with a strong onshore wind we gradually drifted in toward the
+high cliffs. It was a heavy boat, and though we rowed our best we
+realized that we must soon be on the rocks, where a strong surf was
+breaking. So we lashed all our lines together and cast over our
+anchors, hoping to find bottom. Alas, the water was too deep. Darkness
+came on and the prospect of a long, weary night struggling for safety
+made us thrill with excitement. Suddenly a schooner's lights, utterly
+unexpected, loomed up, coming head on toward us. Like Saul and his
+asses, we no longer cared about our craft so long as we escaped. At
+once we lashed the hurricane light on the boat-hook and waved it to and
+fro on high to make sure of attracting attention. To our dismay the
+schooner, now almost in hail, incontinently tacked, and, making for the
+open sea, soon left us far astern. We fired our guns, we shouted in
+unison, we lit flares. All to no purpose. Surely it must have been a
+phantom vessel sent to mock us. Suddenly our amateur engineer, who had
+all the time been working away at the scrap-heap of parts into which he
+had dismembered the motor, got a faint kick out of one cylinder&mdash;a
+second&mdash;a third, then two, three, and then a solitary one again. It was
+exactly like a case of blocked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>heart. But it was enough with our oars
+to make us move slowly ahead. By much stimulating and watchful nursing
+we limped along on the one cylinder, and about midnight found ourselves
+alongside the phantom ship, which we had followed into the harbour
+"afar off." Angry enough at their desertion of us in distress, we went
+aboard just to tell them what we thought of their behaviour. But their
+explanation entirely disarmed us. "Them cliffs is haunted," said the
+skipper. "More'n one light's been seen there than ever any man lit.
+When us saw you'se light flashing round right in on the cliffs, us
+knowed it was no place for Christian men that time o' night. Us guessed
+it was just fairies or devils trying to toll us in."</p>
+
+<p>We had no lighthouses on Labrador in those days, and though hundreds of
+vessels, crowded often with women and children, had to pass up and down
+the coast each spring and fall, still not a single island, harbour,
+cape, or reef had any light to mark it, and many boats were
+unnecessarily lost as a result.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the schooners of this large fleet are small. Many are old and
+poorly "found" in running gear. Their decks are so crowded with boats,
+barrels, gear, wood, and other impedimenta, that to reef or handle
+sails on a dark night is almost impossible; while below they were often
+so crowded with women and children going North with their men for the
+summer fishing on the Labrador shore, that I have had to crawl on my
+knees to get at a patient, after climbing down through the main hatch.
+These craft are quite unfitted for a rough night at sea, especially as
+there always are icebergs or big pans about, which if touched would
+each spell another "vessel missing." So the craft all creep North and
+South in the spring and fall along the land, darting into harbours
+before dark, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>leaving before dawn if the night proves "civil." Yet
+many a time I have seen these little vessels with their precious
+cargoes becalmed, or with wind ahead, just unable to make anchorage,
+and often on moonless nights when the barometer has been low and the
+sky threatening. As there were no lights on the land, it would have
+been madness to try and make harbours after sundown.</p>
+
+<p>I have known the cruel, long anxiety of heart which the dilemma
+involved. It has been our great pleasure sometimes to run out and tow
+vessels in out of their distress. I can still feel the grip of one fine
+skipper, who came aboard when the sea eased down. The only harbour
+available for us had been very small, and the water too deep for his
+poor gear. So when he started to drift, we had given him a line and let
+him hold on to us through the night, with his own stern only a few
+yards from the cliffs under his lee, and all his loved ones, as well as
+his freighters, a good deal nearer heaven than he wished them to be.</p>
+
+<p>We had frequently written to the Government of this neglect of lights
+for the coast. But Labrador has no representative in the Newfoundland
+Parliament, and legislators who never visited Labrador had
+unimaginative minds. Year after year went by and nothing was done. So I
+spoke to many friends of the dire need for a light near Battle Harbour
+Hospital. Practically every one of the Northern craft ran right by us
+many times as they fished first in the Gulf and later on the east
+coast, and so had to go past that corner of land. I have seen a hundred
+vessels come and anchor near by in a single evening. When the money was
+donated, our architect designed the building, and a friend promised to
+endow the effort, so that the salary of the light-keeper might be
+permanent. The material was cut and sent North, when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>we were
+politely told that the Government could not permit private ownership of
+lights&mdash;a very proper decision, too. They told us that the year before
+money had been voted by the House for lights, and the first would be
+erected near Battle Harbour. This was done, and the Double Island Light
+has been a veritable Godsend to me as well as to thousands of others
+many times since that day.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep272a" id="imagep272a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep272a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep272a.jpg" width="60%" alt="Fish on the Flakes" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">FISH ON THE FLAKES<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep272b" id="imagep272b"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep272b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep272b.jpg" width="60%" alt="Drying the Seines" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">DRYING THE SEINES<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>One hundred miles north of Indian Tickle, a place also directly in the
+run of all the fishing schooners, a light was much needed. On a certain
+voyage coming South with the fleet in the fall, we had all tried to
+make the harbour, but it shut down suddenly before nightfall with a
+blanket of fog which you could almost cut with a knife, and being
+inside many reefs, and unable to make the open, we were all forced to
+anchor. Where we were exactly none of us knew, for we had all pushed on
+for the harbour as much as we dared. There were eleven riding-lights
+visible around us when a rift came in the fog. We hoped against hope
+that we had made the harbour. A fierce northeaster gathered strength as
+night fell, and a mighty sea began to heave in. Soon we strained at our
+anchors in the big seas, and heavy water swept down our decks from bow
+to stern. Our patients were dressed and our boats gotten ready, though
+it all had only a psychological value. Gradually we missed first one
+and then another of the riding-lights, and it was not difficult to
+guess what had happened. When daylight broke, only one boat was left&mdash;a
+large vessel called the Yosemite, and she was drifting right down
+toward us. Suddenly she touched a reef, turned on her side, and we saw
+the seas carry her over the breakers, the crew hanging on to her bilge.
+Steaming to our anchors had saved us. All the vessels that went ashore
+became matchwood. But before <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>we could get our anchors or slip them,
+our main steam pipe gave out and we had to blow down our boilers. It
+was now a race between the engineers trying to repair the damage and
+the shortening hours of daylight. On the result depended quite possibly
+the lives of us all. I cannot remember one sweeter sound than the
+raucous voice of the engineer just in the nick of time calling out,
+"Right for'ard," and then the signal of the engine-room bell in the
+tell-tale in our little wheel-house. The Government has since put a
+fine little light in summer on White Point, the point off which we lay.</p>
+
+<p>Farther north, right by our hospital at Indian Harbour, is a narrow
+tickle known as the "White Cockade." Through this most of the fleet
+pass, and here also we had planned for a lighthouse. When we were
+forbidden to put our material at Battle Harbour, we suggested moving to
+this almost equally important point. But it fell under the same
+category, and soon after the Government put a good light there also.
+The fishermen, therefore, suggested that we should offer our
+peripatetic, would-be lighthouse to the Government for some new place
+each year.</p>
+
+<p>We have not much now to complain of so far as the needs of our present
+stage of evolution goes. We have wireless stations, quite a number of
+lights, not a few landmarks, and a ten times better mail and transport
+service than the much wealthier and more able Dominion of Canada could
+and ought to give to her long shore from Quebec to the eastern
+"Newfoundland" boundary on the Straits Labrador.</p>
+
+<p>He is not a great legislator who only makes provision for certainties.
+True, the West has shown such riches and capacity that it has paid
+better to develop it first. But there is no excuse now whatever for
+neglecting the East. The Dominion would have been well advised,
+indeed, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>had she years ago built a railway to the east coast,
+shortening the steamer communication with England to only two nights at
+sea, and saving twenty-four hours for the mails between London and
+Toronto. The war has shown how easily she could have afforded it. Most
+ardently I had hoped that she might have turned some of her German
+prisoner labour in so invaluable a direction.</p>
+
+<p>Had the reindeer installation been handled by the Newfoundland
+Government years ago as it should have been, Labrador would have
+yielded to our boys in France a very material assistance in meat and
+furs. Canada now could and should, if only in the interest of her
+native population, begin on this problem as soon as peace is declared.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that a thing possesses vitality is a guarantee that it will
+grow if it can. Each new focus will expand, and caterpillar-like cast
+off its old clothing for better. The first necessity for economy and
+efficiency in our work has been to get our patients quickly to us or to
+be able to get to them. Experience has shown us that while boats
+entirely dependent on motors are cheapest, it is not always safe to do
+open-sea work in such launches without a secondary and more reliable
+means of progression. The stories of a doctor's work in these launches
+would fill a volume by themselves. The first Northern Messenger, a
+small "hot-head" boat, was replaced and sold to pay part of the cost of
+Northern Messenger number two. This in its turn was wrecked on an
+uncharted shoal with Dr. West on board, and her insurance used to help
+to procure Northern Messenger number three&mdash;which is the beautiful boat
+which now serves Harrington, our most westerly hospital. We are largely
+indebted for her to Mr. William Bowditch, of Milton, Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Hare, our first doctor at that station, never wrote <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>his own
+experiences, but one of the Yale volunteers who worked under him wrote
+a story founded on fact, from which the following incident is
+suggestive.</p>
+
+<p>Once, running home before a wind in the Gulf, the doctor suddenly
+missed his little son Pat, and looking round saw him struggling in the
+water, already many yards astern. Dr. Hare, who was at the tiller at
+the time, instantly jumped over after him. The child was finally
+disappearing when he reached him at last and held his head above water.
+Meanwhile the engineer, who had been below, jumped on deck to find the
+sails flapping in the wind and the boat head to sea. With the intuitive
+quickness of our people in matters pertaining to the sea, he took in
+the situation in a second, and though entirely alone man&oelig;uvred the
+boat so cleverly as to pick them both up before they perished in these
+frigid waters. Pat's young life was saved, only to be given a short few
+years later in France for the same fight for the kingdom of
+righteousness which his home life had made his familiar ideal.</p>
+
+<p>The forty-five-foot, "hot-head" yawl Daryl, given us by the Dutch
+Reformed friends in New York, was sold to the Hudson Bay Company. At
+first she was naturally called the Flying Dutchman, and was most
+useful; but here we have learned when a better instrument is available
+that it is the truest economy to scrap-heap the old. We were to give
+delivery of the boat in Baffin's Land. There were plenty of volunteers
+for the task, for the tough jobs are the very ones which appeal to real
+men. It would be well if the churches realized this fact and that
+therein lies the real secret of Christianity. The impression that being
+a Christian is a soft job inevitably brings our religion into contempt.
+I had been in England that spring, and had been able to arrange that
+the mail <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>steamer bound for Montreal on which I took passage should
+stop and drop me off Belle Isle if the crusaders who were to take this
+launch on her long voyage North would stand out across our pathway. Mr.
+Marconi personally took an interest in the venture. The launch was to
+wait at our most easterly Labrador station, and we were to keep telling
+her our position. The boat was in charge of Mr. John Rowland and Mr.
+Robert English, both of Yale. It created quite a furor among the
+passengers on our great ship, when she stopped in mid-ocean, as it
+appeared to them, and lowered an erratic doctor over the side on to a
+midget, whose mast-tops one looked down upon from the liner's rail. The
+sensation was all the more marked as we disappeared over the rail
+clinging to two large pots of geraniums&mdash;an importation which we
+regarded as very much worth while.</p>
+
+<p>With an old Hudson Bay man, Mr. George Ford, to act as interpreter, and
+a Harvard colleague, who to his infinite chagrin was recalled by a
+wireless from his parents almost before starting, the little ship and
+her crew of three disappeared "over the edge" beyond communication. I
+should mention that the Company had promised an engineer for the
+launch, but he had begged off when he understood the nature of the
+projected expedition; so Yale decided that they were men enough to do
+without any outside help.</p>
+
+<p>September had nearly gone, and no news had come from the boys. I owe
+some one an infinite debt for a temperament which does not go halfway
+to meet troubles; but even I was a little worried when unkind rumours
+that we had sold a boat that was not safe were capped by a father's
+letter to say that he "had heard the reports"! Fortunately, two days
+later, as the Strathcona lay taking on whale meat for winter dog food
+at the northernmost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>factory, the Northern mail steamer came in. On
+board were our returned wanderers, and papa, who had gone down as far
+as the Labrador steamer runs to look for them, as proud and happy as a
+man has a right to be over sons who do things. The boys had not only
+reached Baffin's Land, but had explored over a hundred miles of its
+uncharted coast-line, crossed to Cape Wolstenholme, navigated Stupart's
+Bay&mdash;northeast of Ungava&mdash;and finally returned to Baffin's Land, coming
+back to Cartwright on the Hudson Bay Company's steamer Pelican. It was
+a splendid record, especially when we remember the fierce currents and
+tremendous rise and fall of tides in that distant land. This latter was
+so great that having anchored one night in three fathoms of water in
+what appeared to be a good harbour, they had awakened in the morning to
+the fact that they were in a pond a full mile in the country, left
+stranded by the retiring tide.</p>
+
+<p>Our last "hot-head," the Pomiuk, in a heavy gale of wind was smashed to
+atoms on a terrible reef of rocks off Domino Point a mile from
+land&mdash;fortunately with no one aboard. Yet another of our fine yawls,
+the Andrew McCosh, given us by the students of Princeton, was driven
+from her anchors on to the dangerous Point Amour, where years ago,
+H.M.S. Lily was lost, and whose bones still lie bleaching on the rocky
+foreshore at the foot of the cliffs. Much as I love the sea, it made
+one rather "sore" that it should serve us such a turn as wrecking the
+McCosh. I have been on the sea for over thirty years and never lost a
+vessel while aboard her, but to look on while the waves destroyed so
+beautiful a handmaid almost reconciled me to the statement that in
+heaven there shall "be no more sea."</p>
+
+<p>It was near this same spot that in November, 1905, a very old vessel,
+while trying to cross the Straits in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>breeze, suddenly sprung a leak
+which sent her to the bottom in spite of all the pumping which could be
+done. The six men aboard were able to keep afloat at that time of year
+in the open Atlantic out of sight of land for five days and nights.
+They had nothing to eat but dry bread, and no covering of any kind. The
+winds were heavy and the seas high all the while. By patiently keeping
+their little boat's head to the wind with the oars, for they had not
+any sails, day after day and night after night, and backing her astern
+when a breaker threatened to overwhelm them, they eventually reached
+land safe and sound.</p>
+
+<p>The special interest about the launches has always been the pleasant
+connection which they have enabled us to maintain with the
+universities. Yale crews, Harvard crews, Princeton crews, Johns Hopkins
+crews, College of Physicians and Surgeons crews, and combined crews of
+many others, have in succeeding years thus become interested.
+Occasionally these men have taken back some of their Labrador shipmates
+to the United States for a year's education, and in that and other
+ways, so they say, have they themselves received much real joy and
+inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>In order to maintain the interest which Canada had taken in our work,
+it had in some way to be organized. We had volunteer honorary
+secretaries in a few cities, but no way of keeping them informed of our
+needs and our progress. In New England a most loyal friend, Miss Emma
+White, who ever since has been secretary and devoted helper of the
+Labrador work there, had started a regular association with a board of
+directors and had taken an office in Beacon Street, Boston. This
+association now and again published little brochures of our work, or
+ordered out a few copies of the English <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>magazine called "The Toilers
+of the Deep." It was suggested that we might with advantage publish a
+quarterly pamphlet of our own. This was made possible by the generous
+help of the late Miss Julia Greenshields, of Toronto, who undertook not
+only to edit, but also personally to finance any loss on a little
+magazine to be entitled "Among the Deep-Sea Fishers." This has been
+maintained ever since, and has been responsible for helping to raise
+many of the funds to enable us to "carry on."</p>
+
+<p>We had also begun to get friends in New York. Dr. Charles Parkhurst,
+famous especially for his plucky exposure of the former rottenness of
+the police force of that city, had asked me to give an illustrated
+lecture at his mission in the Bowery. After my talk a gentleman
+present, to my blank astonishment, gave me a cheque for five hundred
+dollars. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship with one who
+has, for all the succeeding years, given far more than money, namely,
+the constant inspiration of his own attitude to life and his wise
+counsel&mdash;to say nothing of the value of the endorsation of his name.
+His eldest son, one of the ablest of the rising New York architects,
+became chairman of the Grenfell Association of America, and gave us
+both of his time and talent&mdash;he being responsible, as voluntary
+architect, for many of our present buildings, including the Institute
+at St. John's, Newfoundland.</p>
+
+<p>This spread of interest in the United States greatly increased our
+correspondence, with an odd result. Americans apparently all believed
+that this Colony was part of Canada, and that the postage was two cents
+as to the Dominion. This mistake left us six cents to pay on every
+letter, and sixteen on any which were overweight. On one occasion the
+postmaster offered me so many taxable letters that I decided to accept
+only one, and let the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>others go back. That one contained a cheque for
+a hundred dollars for the Mission. I naturally took the rest, and found
+every one of them to be bills, gossip, or from autograph-hunters.</p>
+
+<p>On inquiry, our Postmaster-General informed me that it was not possible
+to arrange a two-cent postal rate with America. It had been tried and
+abandoned, because Canada wanted a share for carrying the letters
+through her territory. He told me, however, that he would agree gladly
+if the United States offered it. On my visit to Washington I had the
+honour of dining with Lord Bryce, our Ambassador there and an old
+friend of my father's, and I mentioned the matter to him. He could not,
+however, commend my efforts to the Government, as I had no credentials
+as a special delegate. There was nothing to do but take my place in the
+queue of importunates waiting to interview the Postmaster-General. When
+at length I had been moved to the top of the bench, I was called in,
+and very soon explained my mission. I received a most cordial hearing,
+but merely the information that a note would be made of my request and
+filed.</p>
+
+<p>It suddenly flashed upon me that Americans had equal fishing rights
+with ourselves on the Labrador coast, and that quite a number visited
+there every year. Possibly the grant of a two-cent postage would be a
+welcome little "sop" to them. Mr. Meyer, who was the Postmaster-General
+at the time, said that it made all the difference if the reduced rate
+would in any way encourage the American mercantile marine. He bade me
+draw a careful list of reasons in favour of my proposal, and promised
+to give it careful attention.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that a few days later I mentioned the matter to Colonel
+McCook at whose home I was staying in New York. Colonel McCook, known
+as "Fighting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>McCook," from the fact that he was the only one of nine
+brothers not killed in the Civil War, at once took up the cudgels in my
+behalf, left for Washington the following day, and wired me on the next
+morning, "All arranged. Congratulations"&mdash;and I had the pleasure of
+telegraphing the Postmaster-General in St. John's that I had arranged
+the two-cent postage rate with the United States and Newfoundland. A
+few days later I received a marked copy of a Newfoundland paper saying
+how capable a Government they possessed, seeing that now they had so
+successfully put through the two-cent post for the Colony&mdash;and that was
+all the notice ever taken of my only little political intrigue; except
+that a year or two later, meeting Mr. Meyer in Cambridge, he whispered
+in my ear, "We were going out of office in four days, or you would
+never have got that two-cent post law of yours through so easily."</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<p>In the spring of 1907 I was in England, and before I left, my old
+University was good enough to offer me an honorary degree of Doctor of
+Medicine of Oxford. As it was the first occasion that that respectable
+old University had ever given that particular degree to any one, I was
+naturally not a little gratified. The day of the conferring of it will
+ever live in my memory. My cousin, the Professor of Paleontology, half
+of whose life was spent in the desert of Egypt digging for papyri in
+old dust-heaps, was considered the most appropriate person to stand
+sponsor for me&mdash;a would-be pioneer of a new civilization in the
+sub-arctic.</p>
+
+<p>The words with which the Public Orator introduced me to the
+Vice-Chancellor, being in Latin, seem to me interesting as a relic
+rather than as a statement of fact:</p>
+
+<p>"Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie vosque egregii <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>Procuratores: Adest
+civis Britannicus, hujus academi&aelig; olim alumnus, nunc Novum Orbem
+incolentibus quam nostratibus notus. Hic ille est qui quindecim abhinc
+annos in litus Labradorium profectus est, ut solivagis in mari Boreali
+piscatoribus ope medica succurreret; quo in munere obeundo Oceani
+pericula, qu&aelig; ibi formidosissima sunt, contempsit dum miseris et
+m&aelig;rentibus solatium ac lumen afferret. Nunc quantum homini licet, in
+ipsius Christi vestigiis, si fas est dicere, insistere videtur, vir
+vere Christianus. Jure igitur eum laudamus cujus laudibus non ipse
+solum sed etiam Academia nostra ornatur.</p>
+
+<p>"Pr&aelig;senta ad vos Wilfredum Thomassum Grenfell, ut admittatur ad gradum
+Doctoris in Medicina Honoris Causa."</p>
+
+<p>As we, the only two Doctors Grenfell extant, marched solemnly back down
+the aisle side by side, the antithesis of what doctorates called for
+struck my sense of humour most forcibly. I had hired the gorgeous robes
+of scarlet box cloth and carmine silk for the occasion, never expecting
+to wear them again. But some years later, when yet another honorary
+Doctorate, of Laws, was most generously conferred upon me by a
+University of our American cousins, I felt it incumbent on me to uphold
+if possible the British end of the ritual. A cable brought me just in
+time the box-cloth surtout. Commencement ceremonies in the United
+States are in June; and the latitude was that of Rome. For years I had
+spent the hot months always in the sub-arctic. The assembly hall was
+small and crowded to bursting&mdash;not even all the graduating class could
+get in, much less all their friends. The temperature was in three
+figures. The scarlet box cloth got hotter and hotter as we paraded in
+and about the campus. My face outrivalled the gown in colour. I have
+made many lobster <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>men out of the boiled limbs of those admirable
+adjuncts of a Northern diet, but I had never expected to pose as one in
+the flesh. The most lasting impression which the ceremony left on my
+mind is of my volunteer summer secretary, who stood almost on my toes
+as he delivered the valedictory address of his class. I still see his
+gradually wilting, boiled collar, and the tiny rivulet which trickled
+down his neck as he warmed to his subject. We were the best of friends,
+but I felt that glow of semi-satisfaction that comes to the man who
+finds that he is no longer the only one seasick on board.</p>
+
+<p>About this time King Edward most graciously presented me, as one of his
+birthday honours, with a Companionship in the Order of St. Michael and
+St. George&mdash;most useful persons for any man to have as companions,
+especially in a work like ours, both being famous for downing dragons
+and devils. My American friends immediately knighted me. The papers and
+magazines knighted me in both the United States and Canada. But that
+got me into trouble, for only kings can make pawns into knights, and I
+had to appeal several times to the Associated Press to save myself
+being dubbed <i>poseur</i>. I have protested at meetings when the chairman
+has knighted me; at banquets, when the master of ceremonies has
+knighted me. I gave it up lest accusation should arise against me, when
+at a semi-religious meeting I uttered a feeble protest against the
+title to which I have no right, and my introducer merely repeated it
+the more firmly, informing the audience meanwhile that I was "too
+modest to use it."</p>
+
+<p>There was attached to the conferring of the Order one elective
+latitude&mdash;it could either be sent out or wait till I returned to
+England and attended a levee with the other recipients. I had a great
+desire to see the King, and, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>though it meant a year's waiting, I
+requested to be allowed to do so. This not only was most courteously
+granted, but also the permission to let my presence in England be known
+to the Hereditary Grand Chamberlain, and the King would give me a
+private audience. When the day arrived, I repaired to Buckingham
+Palace, where I waited for an hour in the reception room in company
+with a small, stout clergyman who was very affable. I learned later
+that he was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was carrying a fat Bible
+from Boston, England, I believe, to be presented to the United States
+of America.</p>
+
+<p>At last Sir Frederick Treves, who kindly acted as my introducer, took
+me up to the King's study&mdash;that King whose life his skill had saved.
+There a most courteous gentleman made me perfectly at home, and talked
+of Labrador and North Newfoundland and our work as if he had lived
+there. He asked especially about the American helpers and interest, and
+laughed heartily when I told him how many freeborn Americans had gladly
+taken the oath of loyalty to His Majesty, when called up to act as
+special constables for me in his oldest Colony. He left the impression
+on my mind that he was a real Englishman in spirit, though he had
+spoken with what I took to be a slight German accent. The sports and
+games of the Colony I had noticed interested him very much, and all
+references to the splendid seafaring genius of the people also found an
+appreciative echo in his heart. When at last he handed me a long box
+with a gorgeous medal and ribbon, and bade me good-bye, I vowed I could
+sing "God save the King" louder than ever if I could do so without
+harrowing the feelings of my more tuneful neighbours.</p>
+
+<p>When later, as a major in an American surgical unit in France, I was
+serving the R.A.M.C., the ribbon of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>Order was actually of real
+service to me. It undoubtedly opened some closed doors, though it
+proved a puzzle to every A.D.M.S. to whom I had to explain the anomaly
+of my position when I had to go and worry him for permission to cross
+the road or some new imaginary line. In England, and even in America, I
+found that the fact that the King had recognized one's work was a real
+material asset. It was a credential&mdash;only on a larger scale&mdash;like that
+from our Minister to the Colonies, the Marquis of Ripon, who kindly had
+given me his blessing in writing when first I visited Canada.</p>
+
+<p>How far signs of superiority are permissible is to my mind an open
+question. Hereditary human superiority does not necessarily exist,
+because selective precautions are not taken, and the environment of the
+superior is very apt to enfeeble the physical machine, anyhow. The
+question of the hereditary superiority of a man's soul, being outside
+my sphere, I leave to the theologians. History, which is the school of
+experience, belies the theory, whatever current science may say. As for
+the giving of hereditary titles, it is significant that they do not as
+a rule go to scholars or even scientific men, but to physical fighters,
+being physical rewards for material services. When these are in the
+possession of offspring no longer capable of rendering such services,
+it appears ridiculous that they should sail under false colours.</p>
+
+<p>To make a man a hereditary duke for being humble and modest, or
+hereditary marquis for being unselfish and generous, or an earl for
+being a man of peace, and a benefactor in the things which make for
+peace, such as a good husband and father and comrade, has, so far as I
+know, never been tried. Some of the so-called lesser honours, such as
+knighthood, are reserved for these. However, an order of knightly
+citizens, so long as they are real knights, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>is, after all, little more
+than the gold key of the Phi Beta Kappa, or the red triangle of the
+Y.M.C.A. worker, or the Red Cross badge of the nurse. We are human,
+anyhow, and such concessions, seeing that they do have an undoubted
+stimulating value in the present stage of our development, to an
+Englishman seem permissible.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE REINDEER EXPERIMENT</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Labrador will never be a "vineland," a land of corn and wine, or a
+country where fenced cities will be needed to keep out the milk and
+honey. But though there may be other sections of the Empire that can
+produce more dollars, Labrador will, like Norway and Sweden, produce
+Vikings, and it is said that the man behind the gun is still of some
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>In past years we have made quite extensive experiments in trying to
+adapt possible food supplies to this climate. I had seventeen bags of
+the hardiest cereal seeds known sent me. They consisted of barley from
+Lapland, from Russia, from Abyssinia, Mansbury barley and Finnish oats.
+All the seeds came from the experimental station at Rampart, Alaska,
+and were grown in latitude 63&deg; 30', which is two degrees north of Cape
+Chidley.</p>
+
+<p>I find in the notes of one of my earliest voyages my satisfaction at
+the fact that a storm with lightning and thunder had just passed over
+the boat and freshened up some rhubarb which I was growing in a box. It
+had been presented to me by the Governor to carry down to Battle
+Harbour, and I was very eager that it, my first agricultural venture,
+should not fail.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere along the coast the inability to get a proper diet, owing to
+the difficulties of successful farming even on ever so small a scale,
+had aroused my mind to the necessity of doing something along that
+line. In one small cottage I saw a poor woman zealously guarding an
+aged rooster.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you got a hen?" I asked her.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>"No, Doctor; I had one, but she died last year."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why ever do you keep that rooster?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! I hopes some day to get a hen. I've had him five years. The last
+manager of the mill gave him to me, but you'se sees he can't never go
+out and walk around because of the dogs, so I just keeps he under that
+settle."</p>
+
+<p>Pathetic as were her efforts at stock farming, I must admit that my
+sympathies were all with the incarcerated rooster.</p>
+
+<p>The problem of the dogs seemed an insurmountable one. The Moravians'
+records abound in stories of their destructiveness. Mr. Hesketh
+Pritchard writes: "Dr. Grenfell records two children and one man killed
+by the dogs. This is fortunately a much less terrible record than that
+shown farther north by the Moravian Missions. The savage dogs did great
+harm at those stations one winter." Among other accidents, a boy of
+thirteen, strong and well, was coming home from his father's kayak to
+his mother. After some time, as he did not arrive, they went to search
+for him and found that the dogs had already killed and eaten a good
+part of him. A full-grown man, driving to Battle Harbour Hospital, was
+killed by his dogs almost at our doors.</p>
+
+<p>The wolves of the country only pack when deer are about. As a contrast
+to our dogs, wolves have never been known to kill a man in Labrador, so
+it would be more correct to speak of a doggish wolf than a wolfish dog.
+It is an odd thing and a fortunate one that in this country, where it
+is very common to have been bitten by a dog, we never have been able to
+find any trace of hydrophobia.</p>
+
+<p>A visitor returning to New York after a summer on the coast wrote as
+follows: "One of my lasting remembrances of Battle Harbour will be the
+dreadful dogs. The Mission team were on an island far removed, but
+there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>were a number of settlers' dogs which delighted in making the
+nights hideous. Never before have I seen dogs stand up like men and
+grapple with each other in a fight, and when made to move on, renew the
+battle round the corner."</p>
+
+<p>Our efforts at agriculture had taught us not to expect too much of the
+country. A New Zealand cousin, Martyn Spencer, a graduate of Macdonald
+College of Agriculture, gave us two years' work. His experience showed
+that while dogs continued to be in common use, cattle-raising was
+impossible. Of a flock of forty Herdwick sheep given by Dr. Wakefield,
+the dogs killed twenty-seven at one time. Angora goats, which we had
+imported, perished in the winter for lack of proper food. Our land cost
+so much to reclaim for hay, being soaked in humic acid, that we had
+always to import that commodity at a cost which made more cows than
+absolutely essential very inadvisable. Weasels, rats, hawks, and vermin
+needed a man's whole time if our chickens were to be properly guarded
+and repay keeping at all. An alfalfa sent us from Washington did well,
+and potatoes also gave a fair return, though our summer frosts often
+destroyed whole patches of the latter. Our imported plum and crabapple
+trees were ringed by mice beneath the snow in winter. At a farm which
+we cleared nine miles up a bay, so as to have it removed from the polar
+current, our oats never ripened, and our turnips and cabbage did not
+flourish in every case. We could not plant early enough, owing to the
+ground being frozen till July some years.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, when we looked at the hundreds of thousands of
+square miles on which caribou could live and increase without any help
+from man, and indeed in spite of all his machinations, our attention
+was naturally turned to reindeer farming, and I went to Washington to
+consult Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the Presbyterian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>missionary from Alaska.
+It was he who had pioneered the introduction by the United States
+Government of domestic reindeer into Alaska. At Washington we received
+nothing but encouragement. Reindeer could make our wilderness smile.
+They would cost only the protection necessary. They multiply steadily,
+breeding every year for eight or ten years after their second season. A
+selected herd should double itself every three years.</p>
+
+<p>The skins are very valuable&mdash;there is no better nonconductor of heat.
+The centre of the hair is not a hollow cylinder, but a series of air
+bubbles which do not soak water, and therefore can be used with
+advantage for life-saving cushions. The skins are splendid also for
+motor robes, and now invaluable in the air service. The meat is tender
+and appetizing, and sold as a game delicacy in New York. The deer
+fatten well on the abundant mosses of a country such as ours.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William MacGregor, the Governor of Newfoundland at the time, had
+samples of the mosses collected around the coast and sent to Kew
+Botanical Gardens for positive identification. The Cladonia
+Rangiferina, or Iceland moss, proved very abundant. It was claimed,
+however, that the reindeer would eat any of such plants and shrubs as
+our coast offers in summer.</p>
+
+<p>As long ago as the year 1903 my interest in the domestication of deer
+had led me to experiment with a young caribou. We had him on the
+Strathcona nearly all one summer. He was a great pet on board, and
+demonstrated how easily trained these animals are. He followed me about
+like a dog, and called after me as I left the ship's side in a boat if
+we did not take him with us. He was as inquisitive as a monkey or as
+the black bear which we had had two years before. We twice caught him
+in the chart-room chewing up white paper, for on his first raid there
+he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>had found an apple just magnanimously sent us from the shore as a
+delicacy.</p>
+
+<p>Friends, inspired by Mr. William Howell Reed, of Boston, collected the
+money for a consignment of reindeer, and we accordingly sent to Lapland
+to purchase as many of the animals as we could afford. The expense was
+not so much in the cost of the deer as in the transport. They could not
+be shipped till they had themselves hauled down to the beach enough
+moss to feed them on their passage across the Atlantic. Between two
+hundred and fifty and three hundred were purchased, and three Lapp
+families hired to teach some of our local people how to herd them. When
+at last snow enough fell for the sledges to haul the moss down to the
+landwash, it was dark all day around the North Cape.</p>
+
+<p>Fifty years hence in all probability the Lapps will be an extinct race,
+as even within the past twelve or fifteen years, districts in which
+thousands of domesticated reindeer grazed, now possess but a few
+hundreds.</p>
+
+<p>The good ship Anita, which conveyed the herd to us, steamed in for
+southern Newfoundland and then worked her way North as far as the ice
+would permit. At St. Anthony everything was frozen up, and the men
+walked out of the harbour mouth on the sea ice to meet the steamer
+bringing the deer. The whole three hundred were landed on the ice in
+Cr&eacute;mailli&egrave;re, some three miles to the southward of St. Anthony
+Hospital, and though many fell through into the sea, they proved hardy
+and resourceful enough to reach the land, where they gathered around
+the tinkling bells of the old deer without a single loss from land to
+land.</p>
+
+<p>One of our workers at St. Anthony that winter wrote that "the most
+exciting moment was when the woman was lowered in her own sledge over
+the steamer's side <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>on to the ice, drawn to the shore, and transferred
+to one of Dr. Grenfell's komatiks, as she had hurt her leg on the
+voyage. The sight of all the strange men surrounding her frightened
+her, but she was finally reassured, threw aside her coverings, and
+clutched her frying-pan, which she had hidden under a sheepskin. When
+she had it safely in her arms she allowed the men to lift her and put
+her on the komatik." When the doctor at the hospital advised that her
+leg would best be treated by operation, the man said, "She is a pretty
+old woman, and doesn't need a very good leg much longer." She was
+thirty-five!</p>
+
+<p>An Irish friend had volunteered to come out and watch the experiment in
+our interest&mdash;and this he did most efficiently. The deer flourished and
+increased rapidly. Unfortunately the Lapps did not like our country.
+They complained that North Newfoundland was too cold for them and they
+wanted to return home. One family left after the first year. A rise in
+salary kept three of the men, but the following season they wanted more
+than we had funds to meet, and we were forced to decide, wrongly, I
+fear, to let them go. The old herder warned me, "No Lapps, no deer";
+but I thought too much in terms of Mission finances, the Government
+having withdrawn their grant toward the herders' salaries. Trusting to
+the confidence in their own ability of the locally trained men, I
+therefore let the Lapp herders go home. The love of the Lapps for their
+deer is like a fisherman's for his vessel, and seems a master passion.
+They appeared even to grudge our having any deer tethered away from
+their care.</p>
+
+<p>To us it seemed strange that these Lapps always contended that the work
+was too hard, and that the only reason that they were always gone from
+camp was that there were no wolves to keep the herd together. They
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>claimed that we must have a big fence or the deer would go off into the
+country. They, of course, both when with us and in Lapland as well,
+lived and slept where the herd was. They told us that the deer no
+longer obeyed the warning summons of the old does' bells, having no
+natural enemy to fear; and one told me, "Money no good, Doctor, if herd
+no increase." Reindeer seemed to be the complement of their souls.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the Alaskan experiment was realizing all of Dr. Jackson's
+happiest hopes; but it had a strong Government grant and backing and
+plenty of skilled superintendence. The lack of those were our
+weaknesses. Our deer thrived splendidly and multiplied as we had
+predicted. We went thirty miles in a day with them with ease. We hauled
+our firewood out, using half a dozen hauling teams every day. Every
+fortnight during the rush of patients at the hospital in summer we
+could afford to kill a deer. The milk was excellent in quality and
+sweet, and preserved perfectly well in rubber-capped bottles. The
+cheese was nourishing and a welcome addition to the local diet. At the
+close of the fourth year we had a thousand deer.</p>
+
+<p>A paper of the serious standing of the "Wall Street Journal," writing
+at about that time, under the title "Reindeer Venison from Alaska," had
+this to say: "At different times in the past twenty years the
+Government imported reindeer into Alaska&mdash;about twelve hundred in
+all&mdash;in hopes to provide food for the natives in the future. The plan
+caused some amusement and some criticism at the time. Subsequent
+developments, however, have justified the attempt. The herds have now
+increased to about forty thousand animals, and are rapidly becoming
+still more numerous. The natives own about two thirds of the number.
+Shipments of meat have been made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>to the Pacific Coast cities. Last
+year the sales of venison and skins amounted to $25,000. It is claimed
+that the vast tundra, or treeless frozen plains of Alaska, will support
+at least ten million animals. The federal authorities in charge are so
+optimistic of the future outlook that the prediction is made that
+within twenty-five years the United States can draw a considerable part
+of its meat supply from Alaska." What can be done in Alaska can be done
+in Labrador, and with its better facilities for shipping and handling
+the product, the greater future ought to be the prize of the latter
+country.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1912 there were five hundred fawns, and at one time we
+had gathered into our corral for tagging no less than twelve hundred
+and fifty reindeer. Of these we sold fifty to the Government of Canada
+for the Peace River District. There they were lost because they were
+placed in a flat country, densely wooded with alders, and not near the
+barren lands. We also sold a few to clubs, in order to try and
+introduce the deer. These sales would have done the experiment no
+injury, but with the fifty to Canada went my chief herder and two of my
+other herders from Labrador. This loss, from which we never recovered,
+coincided with an outbreak of hostility toward the deer among the
+resident population, who live entirely on the sea edge. Only long
+afterwards did we find out that it was partly because they feared that
+we would force deer upon them and do away with their dogs. The local
+Government official told me only the other day that the second
+generation from this would have very little good to say of the
+short-sightedness of these men who let such a valuable industry fail to
+succeed.</p>
+
+<p>With the increasing cares of the enlarging Mission, with Lieutenant
+Lindsay gone back to Ireland, and no one to superintend the herding,
+the successful handling of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>the deer imperceptibly declined. The tags
+on the ears were no longer put in; the bells were not replaced in the
+old localities. The herd was driven, not led as before&mdash;was paid for,
+not loved. These differences at the time were marked by increasing
+poaching on the herd by the people. Here and there at first they had
+killed a deer unknown to us; and finally we caught one hidden in a
+man's woodpile, and several offenders were sent to jail.</p>
+
+<p>We appealed to the Newfoundland Government for protection, as to be
+policeman and magistrate for the herd which one held in trust was an
+anomalous position. I was ordered by them to sit on the bench when
+these cases were up, as I did not own the deer. The section of land on
+which we had the animals is a peninsula of approximately one hundred
+and fifty square miles. It is cut off by a narrow, low neck about eight
+miles long. During all our years of acquaintance with the coast not a
+dozen caribou had been killed on it, for they do not cross the neck to
+the northward. But when we applied for a national preserve, that no
+deer at all might be killed on the peninsula, and so we might run a big
+fence across the neck with a couple of herders' houses along the line
+of it, a petition, signed by part of the "voters," went up to St.
+John's, against such permission being granted us. The petition stated
+that the deer destroyed the people's "gardens," that they were a danger
+to the lives of the settlers, whose dogs went wild when they crossed
+their path, and they claimed that the herd "led men into temptation,"
+because if there were no reindeer to tempt men to kill them, there
+would be none killed. The deer thus were supposed to be the cause of
+making cattle-thieves out of honest men! The result was that a law was
+passed that no domestic reindeer might be shot north of the line of the
+neck for which we had applied, and which we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>intended to fence. This
+only made matters ten times worse, for if the deer either strayed or
+else were driven across the line, the killing of them was thus
+legalized.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep296a" id="imagep296a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep296a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep296a.jpg" width="95%" alt="A Part of the Reindeer Herd" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">A PART OF THE REINDEER HERD<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep296b" id="imagep296b"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep296b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep296b.jpg" width="95%" alt="Reindeer Teams Meeting A Dog Team" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">REINDEER TEAMS MEETING A DOG TEAM<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The deer had cost us, landed, some fifty-one dollars apiece. Three
+years of herding under the adverse conditions of lack of support from
+either Government or people had not lessened the per caput expense very
+materially. If we had shot some one's fifty-dollar cow, our name would
+have been anathema&mdash;but we lost two hundred and fifty deer one winter.
+In addition to this, when we moved the deer to a spot near another
+village on a high bluff, over a hundred died in summer,
+either&mdash;according to the report of the herders&mdash;from falling over the
+cliffs driven by dogs, or of a sickness of which we could not discover
+the nature, though we thought that it resembled a kind of pneumonia.</p>
+
+<p>The poaching got so bad that we took every means in our power to catch
+the guilty parties. But it was a very difficult thing to do. A dead
+deer lies quiet, keeps for weeks where he falls in our winter climate,
+and can be surreptitiously removed by day or night. The little Lapp
+dogs occasionally scented them beneath the snow, and many tell-tale
+"paunches" showed where deer had been killed and carried off.</p>
+
+<p>I had been treating the hunchback boy and only child of a fisherman for
+whom I had very great respect. His was the home where the Methodist
+minister always boarded, and he was looked upon as a pillar of piety.
+After a straightening by frame treatment, the boy's spine had been
+ankylosed by an operation; and as every one felt sorry for the little
+fellow, we were often able to send him gifts. One day the father came
+to me, evidently in great trouble, to have what proved to be a most
+uncommon private talk. To my utter surprise he began: "Doctor, I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>can
+no longer live and keep the secret that I shot two of your reindeer. I
+have brought you ninety dollars, all the cash that I have, and I want
+to ask your forgiveness, after all you have done for me." Needless to
+say, it was freely given, but it made me feel more than ever that the
+deer must be moved to some other country.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this year that the Government for the first time granted
+us a resident policeman&mdash;previously we had had to be our own police.
+Fortunately the man sent was quite a smart fellow. A dozen or so deer
+had been killed along the section of our coast, and so skilfully that
+even though it was done under the noses of the herders no evidence to
+convict could be obtained. It so happened, however, that while one of
+the herders was eating a piece of one of the slaughtered animals which
+he had discovered, and that the thieves had not been able to carry off,
+his teeth met on a still well-formed rifle bullet of number 22 calibre.
+This type of rifle we knew was scarcely ever used on our coast, and the
+policeman at once made a round to take every one. He returned with
+three, which was really the whole stock.</p>
+
+<p>A piece of meat was now placed at a reasonable distance, also some bags
+of snow, flour, etc., and a number of bullets fired into them. These
+bullets were then all privately marked, and shuffled up. Our own
+deductions were made, and a man from twenty miles away summoned,
+arrested, and brought up. He brought witnesses and friends, apparently
+to impress the court&mdash;one especially, who most vehemently protested
+that he knew the owner of the rifle, and that he was never out of his
+house at the time that the deer would have been killed. In court was a
+man, for twenty-seven years agent in Labrador for the Hudson Bay
+Company&mdash;a crack shot and a most expert hunter. He was called up, given
+the big pile of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>bullets, and told to try and sort them, by the groove
+marks, into those fired by the three different rifles. We then handed
+him the control bullet, and he put it instantly on one of the piles. It
+was the pile that had been fired from the rifle of the accused. This
+man, in testifying, in order to clear himself, had let out the fact
+that his rifle had not been kept in his house, but in the house of the
+vociferous witness&mdash;whom we now arrested, convicted, and condemned to
+jail for six months or two hundred dollars fine&mdash;the latter alternative
+being given only because we knew that he had not the necessary sum.
+Protesting as loudly as he had previously witnessed, he went to jail;
+but the rest let out threats that they were coming back with others to
+set him free. We had only a frame wooden jail, and a rheumatic jailer
+of over seventy years, hired to hobble around by day and see that the
+prisoners were fed and kept orderly. We announced, therefore, that our
+Hudson Bay friend, with his rifle loaded, would be night jailer.</p>
+
+<p>A few days passed by. The prisoner did not like improving the public
+thoroughfare for our benefit, while those "who were just as bad as he"
+went free. Our old jailer took good care that he should hear what good
+times they were having and laughing at him for being caught. Indeed, he
+liked it so little that he gave the whole plot away&mdash;at least what he
+called the whole. This landed four more of his friends in the same
+honest and public-spirited occupation which he was himself pursuing;
+though all escaped shortly afterwards by paying fines to the Government
+which aggregated some eight hundred dollars&mdash;which sum was largely paid
+by others for them.</p>
+
+<p>There was no way, however, definitely to stop the steady decrease in
+the numbers of the herd; and though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>we moved them to new pastures
+around the coast, and fenced them in such small mobile corrals as we
+could afford, they were not safe. On several occasions we found dead
+deer with buckshot in them, which had "fallen over the cliffs." Twice
+we discovered that deer had even been killed within our own corral. One
+had been successfully removed, and the other trussed-up carcass had
+been hidden until a good opportunity offered for it to follow suit. I
+do not wish to leave the impression on the minds of my readers that
+every man on this part of the coast is a poacher. Far from it. But the
+majority of the best men were against the reindeer experiment from the
+moment that the first trouble arose. A new obligation of social life
+was introduced. This implied restraint in such trifling things as their
+having to fence their tiny gardens, protect small stray hay-pooks, and
+discriminate into what they discharged their ubiquitous blunderbusses.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the steadily increasing demand for meat, especially since the
+war began, caused outside interest in the experiment; and both the
+owners of Anticosti Island, and a firm in the West who were commencing
+reindeer farming on a commercial basis, opened negotiations with us for
+the purchase of our herd. In the original outlay, however, the Canadian
+Dominion Government had taken an interest to the amount of five
+thousand dollars, so it was necessary to get their opinion on the
+subject. Their Department of Indian Affairs happened to be looking for
+some satisfactory way of helping out their Labrador Indian population.
+They sent down and made inquiries, and came to the conclusion that they
+would themselves take the matter up, as they had done with buffalo,
+elk, and other animals in the West.</p>
+
+<p>In 1917 all preparations for transferring the deer were made, but war
+conditions called their steamer away and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>transport was delayed until
+1918. Again their steamer was called off, so we decided to take the
+deer across ourselves in our splendid three-masted schooner, the George
+B. Cluett. She, alas, was delayed in America by the submarine scare,
+and it was the end of September instead of June when she finally
+arrived. It was a poor season for our dangerous North coast and a very
+bad time for moving the deer, whose rutting season was just beginning.
+My herders, too, were now much reduced in numbers. Most of them had
+gone to the war, and as one had been sick all summer, practically only
+two were available. To add to the difficulty, many small herds of
+reindeer were loose in the country outside the corral.</p>
+
+<p>However, we felt that the venture must be attempted at all hazards,
+even if it delayed our beautiful ship taking a cargo of food to the
+Allies&mdash;as she was scheduled to do as soon as possible&mdash;and though it
+was a serious risk to remain anchored in the shallow open roadstead off
+the spot where the deer had to be taken aboard. The work was all new to
+us. The deer, instead of being tame as they had previously been, were
+wild at best, and wilder still from their breeding season. The days
+went by, and we succeeded in getting only a few aboard. We were all
+greenhorns with the lassoes and lariats which we improvised. A gale of
+wind came on and nothing could be done but lie up.</p>
+
+<p>Then followed a fine Sunday morning. It was intensely interesting to
+note the attitude which my crew could take toward my decision to work
+all day after morning prayers. We talked briefly over the emphasis laid
+by the four Evangelists on Christ's attitude toward the day of rest,
+and what it might mean, if we allowed a rare fine day to go by, to that
+long section of coast which we had not yet this year visited, and which
+might thus miss the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>opportunity of seeing a doctor before Christmas.
+As since this war has begun I have felt that the Christ whom I wanted
+to follow would be in France, so now I felt that the Christ of my ideal
+would go ashore and get those deer in spite of the great breach of
+convention which it would mean for a "Mission" doctor to work in any
+way, except in the many ways he has to work every Sunday of his life.
+The whole crew followed me when I went ashore, saying that they shared
+my view&mdash;all except the mate, who spent his Sunday in bed. Idleness is
+not rest to some natures, either to body or mind, and when at night we
+all turned in at ten o'clock, wet through&mdash;for it had rained in the
+evening&mdash;and tired out, we were able to say our prayers with just as
+light hearts, feeling that we had put sixty-eight deer aboard, as if we
+had enjoyed that foretaste of what some still believe to be the rest of
+heaven. Rest for our souls we certainly had, and to some of us that is
+the rest which God calls His own and intends shall be ours also. When
+later I spoke to some young men about this, it seemed to them a
+Chestertonian paradox, that we should actually hold a Sunday service
+and then go forth to render it. They thought that Sunday prayers had to
+do only with the escaping the consequences of one's sins.</p>
+
+<p>I still believe that we were absolutely right in our theory of the
+introduction of the deer into this North country, and that we shall be
+justified in it by posterity. That these thousands of miles, now
+useless to men, will be grazed over one day by countless herds of deer
+affording milk, meat, clothing, transport, and pleasure to the human
+race, is certain. They do not by any means destroy the land over which
+they rove. On the contrary, the deep ruts made by their feet, like the
+ponies' feet in Iceland, serve to drain the surface water and dry the
+land. The kicking and pawing of the moss-covered ground with their
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>spade-like feet tear it up, level it, and cut off the dense moss and
+creeping plants, bring the sub-soil to the top, and over the whole the
+big herd spreads a good covering of manure.</p>
+
+<p>Reindeer-trodden barrens, after a short rest, yield more grass and
+cattle food than ever before. No domesticated animal can tolerate the
+cold of this country and find sustenance for itself as can the deer. It
+can live as far north as the musk-ox. Peary found reindeer in plenty on
+the shores of the polar sea. The great barren lands of Canada, from
+Hudson Bay north of Chesterfield Inlet away to the west, carry tens of
+thousands of wild caribou. Mr. J.B. Tyrrell's photographs show armies
+of them advancing; the stags with their lordly horns are seen passing
+close to the camera in serried ranks that seem to have no end.</p>
+
+<p>Our own experiment is far from being a failure. It has been a success,
+even if only the corpse is left in Newfoundland. We have proved
+conclusively that the deer can live, thrive, and multiply on the
+otherwise perfectly valueless areas of this North country, and furnish
+a rapidly increasing domesticated "raw material" for a food and
+clothing supply to its people.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE ICE-PAN ADVENTURE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>On Easter Sunday, the 21st of April, 1908, it was still winter with us
+in northern Newfoundland. Everything was covered with snow and ice. I
+was returning to the hospital after morning service, when a boy came
+running over with the news that a large team of dogs had come from
+sixty miles to the southward to get a doctor to come at once on an
+urgent case. A fortnight before we had operated on a young man for
+acute bone disease of the thigh, but when he was sent home the people
+had allowed the wound to close, and poisoned matter had accumulated. As
+it seemed probable that we should have to remove the leg, there was no
+time to be lost, and I therefore started immediately, the messengers
+following me with their team.</p>
+
+<p>My dogs were especially good ones and had pulled me out of many a
+previous scrape by their sagacity and endurance. Moody, Watch, Spy,
+Doc, Brin, Jerry, Sue, and Jack were as beautiful beasts as ever hauled
+a komatik over our Northern barrens. The messengers had been anxious
+that their team should travel back with mine, for their animals were
+slow at best, and moreover were now tired from their long journey. My
+dogs, however, were so powerful that it was impossible to hold them
+back, and though I twice managed to wait for the following sledge, I
+had reached a village twenty miles to the south and had already fed my
+team when the others caught up.</p>
+
+<p>That night the wind came in from sea, bringing with it both fog and
+rain, softening the snow and making the travelling very difficult.
+Besides this a heavy sea began <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>heaving into the bay on the shores of
+which lay the little hamlet where I spent my first night. Our journey
+the next day would be over forty miles, the first ten lying on an arm
+of the sea.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep304a" id="imagep304a"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep304a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep304a.jpg" width="95%" alt="A Spring Scene at St. Anthony" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">A SPRING SCENE AT ST. ANTHONY<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep304b" id="imagep304b"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep304b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep304b.jpg" width="95%" alt="Dog Race at St. Anthony" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">DOG RACE AT ST. ANTHONY<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In order not to be separated too long from my friends I sent them ahead
+of me by two hours, appointing as a rendezvous the log tilt on the
+other side of the bay. As I started the first rain of the year began to
+fall, and I was obliged to keep on what we call the "ballicaters," or
+ice barricades, for a much longer distance up the bay than I had
+anticipated. The sea, rolling in during the previous night, had smashed
+the ponderous layer of surface ice right up to the landwash. Between
+the huge ice-pans were gaping chasms, while half a mile out all was
+clear water.</p>
+
+<p>Three miles from the shore is a small island situated in the middle of
+the bay. This had preserved an ice bridge, so that by crossing a few
+cracks I managed to get to it safely. From that point it was only four
+miles to the opposite shore, a saving of several miles if one could
+make it, instead of following the landwash round the bay. Although the
+ice looked rough, it seemed good, though one could see that it had been
+smashed up by the incoming sea and packed in tight again by the
+easterly wind. Therefore, without giving the matter a second thought, I
+flung myself on the komatik and the dogs started for the rocky
+promontory some four miles distant.</p>
+
+<p>All went well till we were within about a quarter of a mile of our
+objective point. Then the wind dropped suddenly, and I noticed
+simultaneously that we were travelling over "sish" ice. By stabbing
+down with my whip-handle I could drive it through the thin coating of
+young ice which had formed on the surface. "Sish" ice is made up of
+tiny bits formed by the pounding together of the large pans by the
+heavy seas. So quickly had the wind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>veered and come offshore, and so
+rapidly did the packed slob, relieved of the inward pressure of the
+easterly breeze, "run abroad," that already I could not see any pan
+larger than ten feet square. The whole field of ice was loosening so
+rapidly that no retreat was possible.</p>
+
+<p>There was not a moment to lose. I dragged off my oilskins and threw
+myself on my hands and knees beside the komatik so as to give a larger
+base to hold, shouting at the same time to my team to make a dash for
+the shore. We had not gone twenty yards when the dogs scented danger
+and hesitated, and the komatik sank instantly into the soft slob. Thus
+the dogs had to pull much harder, causing them to sink also.</p>
+
+<p>It flashed across my mind that earlier in the year a man had been
+drowned in this same way by his team tangling their traces around him
+in the slob. I loosened my sheath-knife, scrambled forward and cut the
+traces, retaining the leader's trace wound securely round my wrist.</p>
+
+<p>As I was in the water I could not discern anything that would bear us
+up, but I noticed that my leading dog was wallowing about near a piece
+of snow, packed and frozen together like a huge snowball, some
+twenty-five yards away. Upon this he had managed to scramble. He shook
+the ice and water from his shaggy coat and turned around to look for
+me. Perched up there out of the frigid water he seemed to think the
+situation the most natural in the world, and the weird black marking of
+his face made him appear to be grinning with satisfaction. The rest of
+us were bogged like flies in treacle.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually I succeeded in hauling myself along by the line which was
+still attached to my wrist, and was nearly up to the snow-raft, when
+the leader turned adroitly round, slipped out of his harness, and once
+more leered at me with his grinning face.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>There seemed nothing to be done, and I was beginning to feel drowsy
+with the cold, when I noticed the trace of another dog near by. He had
+fallen through close to the pan, and was now unable to force his way
+out. Along his line I hauled myself, using him as a kind of bow
+anchor&mdash;and I soon lay, with my dogs around me, on the little island of
+slob ice.</p>
+
+<p>The piece of frozen snow on which we lay was so small that it was
+evident we must all be drowned if we were forced to remain on it as it
+was driven seaward into open water. Twenty yards away was a larger and
+firmer pan floating in the sish, and if we could reach it I felt that
+we might postpone for a time the death which seemed inescapable. To my
+great satisfaction I now found that my hunting knife was still tied on
+to the back of one of the dogs, where I had attached it when we first
+fell through. Soon the sealskin traces hanging on the dogs' harnesses
+were cut and spliced together to form one long line. I divided this and
+fastened the ends to the backs of my two leaders, attaching the two
+other ends to my own wrists. My long sealskin boots, reaching to my
+hips, were full of ice and water, and I took them off and tied them
+separately on the dogs' backs. I had already lost my coat, cap, gloves,
+and overalls.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing seemed to be able to induce the dogs to move, even though I
+kept throwing them off the ice into the water. Perhaps it was only
+natural that they should struggle back, for once in the water they
+could see no other pan to which to swim. It flashed into my mind that
+my small black spaniel which was with me was as light as a feather and
+could get across with no difficulty. I showed him the direction and
+then flung a bit of ice toward the desired goal. Without a second's
+hesitation he made a dash and reached the pan safely, as the tough
+layer of sea ice easily <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>carried his weight. As he lay on the white
+surface looking like a round black fuss ball, my leaders could plainly
+see him. They now understood what I wanted and fought their way bravely
+toward the little retriever, carrying with them the line that gave me
+yet another chance for my life. The other dogs followed them, and all
+but one succeeded in getting out on the new haven of refuge.</p>
+
+<p>Taking all the run that the length of my little pan would afford, I
+made a dive, slithering along the surface as far as possible before I
+once again fell through. This time I had taken the precaution to tie
+the harnesses under the dogs' bellies so that they could not slip them
+off, and after a long fight I was able to drag myself onto the new pan.</p>
+
+<p>Though we had been working all the while toward the shore, the offshore
+wind had driven us a hundred yards farther seaward. On closer
+examination I found that the pan on which we were resting was not ice
+at all, but snow-covered slob, frozen into a mass which would certainly
+eventually break up in the heavy sea, which was momentarily increasing
+as the ice drove offshore before the wind. The westerly wind kept on
+rising&mdash;a bitter blast with us in winter, coming as it does over the
+Gulf ice.</p>
+
+<p>Some yards away I could still see my komatik with my thermos bottle and
+warm clothing on it, as well as matches and wood. In the memory of the
+oldest inhabitant no one had ever been adrift on the ice in this bay,
+and unless the team which had gone ahead should happen to come back to
+look for me, there was not one chance in a thousand of my being seen.</p>
+
+<p>To protect myself from freezing I now cut down my long boots as far as
+the feet, and made a kind of jacket, which shielded my back from the
+rising wind.</p>
+
+<p>By midday I had passed the island to which I had crossed on the ice
+bridge. The bridge was gone, so that if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>I did succeed in reaching that
+island I should only be marooned there and die of starvation. Five
+miles away to the north side of the bay the immense pans of Arctic ice
+were surging to and fro in the ground seas and thundering against the
+cliffs. No boat could have lived through such surf, even if I had been
+seen from that quarter. Though it was hardly, safe to move about on my
+little pan, I saw that I must have the skins of some of my dogs, if I
+were to live the night out without freezing. With some difficulty I now
+succeeded in killing three of my dogs&mdash;and I envied those dead beasts
+whose troubles were over so quickly. I questioned if, once I passed
+into the open sea, it would not be better to use my trusty knife on
+myself than to die by inches.</p>
+
+<p>But the necessity for work saved me from undue philosophizing; and
+night found me ten miles on my seaward voyage, with the three dogs
+skinned and their fur wrapped around me as a coat. I also frayed a
+small piece of rope into oakum and mixed it with the fat from the
+intestines of my dogs. But, alas, I found that the matches in my box,
+which was always chained to me, were soaked to a pulp and quite
+useless. Had I been able to make a fire out there at sea, it would have
+looked so uncanny that I felt sure that the fishermen friends, whose
+tiny light I could just discern twinkling away in the bay, would see
+it. The carcasses of my dogs I piled up to make a windbreak, and at
+intervals I took off my clothes, wrung them out, swung them in the
+wind, and put on first one and then the other inside, hoping that the
+heat of my body would thus dry them. My feet gave me the most trouble,
+as the moccasins were so easily soaked through in the snow. But I
+remembered the way in which the Lapps who tended our reindeer carried
+grass with them, to use in their boots in place of dry socks. As soon
+as I could sit <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>down I began to unravel the ropes from the dogs'
+harnesses, and although by this time my fingers were more or less
+frozen, I managed to stuff the oakum into my shoes.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly before I had opened a box containing some old football clothes
+which I had not seen for twenty years. I was wearing this costume at
+the time; and though my cap, coat, and gloves were gone, as I stood
+there in a pair of my old Oxford University running shorts, and red,
+yellow, and black Richmond football stockings, and a flannel shirt, I
+remembered involuntarily the little dying girl who asked to be dressed
+in her Sunday frock so that she might arrive in heaven properly
+attired.</p>
+
+<p>Forcing my biggest dog to lie down, I cuddled up close to him, drew the
+improvised dogskin rug over me, and proceeded to go to sleep. One hand
+being against the dog was warm, but the other was frozen, and about
+midnight I woke up shivering enough, so I thought, to shatter my frail
+pan to atoms. The moon was just rising, and the wind was steadily
+driving me toward the open sea. Suddenly what seemed a miracle
+happened, for the wind veered, then dropped away entirely leaving it
+flat calm. I turned over and fell asleep again. I was next awakened by
+the sudden and persistent thought that I must have a flag, and
+accordingly set to work to disarticulate the frozen legs of my dead
+dogs. Cold as it was I determined to sacrifice my shirt to top this
+rude flagpole as soon as the daylight came. When the legs were at last
+tied together with bits of old harness rope, they made the crookedest
+flagstaff that it has ever been my lot to see. Though with the rising
+of the sun the frost came out of the dogs' legs to some extent, and the
+friction of waving it made the odd pole almost tie itself in knots, I
+could raise it three or four feet above my head, which was very
+important.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>Once or twice I thought that I could distinguish men against the
+distant cliffs&mdash;for I had drifted out of the bay into the sea&mdash;but the
+objects turned out to be trees. Once also I thought that I saw a boat
+appearing and disappearing on the surface of the water, but it proved
+to be only a small piece of ice bobbing up and down. The rocking of my
+cradle on the waves had helped me to sleep, and I felt as well as I
+ever did in my life. I was confident that I could last another
+twenty-four hours if my boat would only hold out and not rot under the
+sun's rays. I could not help laughing at my position, standing hour
+after hour waving my shirt at those barren and lonely cliffs; but I can
+honestly say that from first to last not a single sensation of fear
+crossed my mind.</p>
+
+<p>My own faith in the mystery of immortality is so untroubled that it now
+seemed almost natural to be passing to the portal of death from an
+ice-pan. Quite unbidden, the words of the old hymn kept running through
+my head:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"My God, my Father, while I stray<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Far from my home on life's rough way,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, help me from my heart to say,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thy will be done."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I had laid my wooden matches out to dry and was searching about on the
+pan for a piece of transparent ice which I could use as a
+burning-glass. I thought that I could make smoke enough to be seen from
+the land if only I could get some sort of a light. All at once I seemed
+to see the glitter of an oar, but I gave up the idea because I
+remembered that it was not water which lay between me and the land, but
+slob ice, and even if people had seen me, I did not imagine that they
+could force a boat through. The next time that I went back to my
+flag-waving, however, the glitter was very distinct, but my
+snow-glasses having been lost, I was partially snow-blind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>and
+distrusted my vision. But at last, besides the glide of an oar I made
+out the black streak of a boat's hull, and knew that if the pan held
+out for another hour I should be all right. The boat drew nearer and
+nearer, and I could make out my rescuers frantically waving. When they
+got close by they shouted, "Don't get excited. Keep on the pan where
+you are." They were far more excited than I, and had they only known as
+I did the sensations of a bath in the icy water, without the chance of
+drying one's self afterwards, they would not have expected me to wish
+to follow the example of the Apostle Peter.</p>
+
+<p>As the first man leaped on my pan and grasped my hand, not a word was
+spoken, but I could see the emotions which he was trying to force back.
+A swallow of the hot tea which had been thoughtfully sent out in a
+bottle, the dogs hoisted on board, and we started for home, now forging
+along in open water, now pushing the pans apart with the oars, and now
+jumping out on the ice and hauling the boat over the pans.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that the night before four men had been out on the headland
+cutting up some seals which they had killed in the fall. As they were
+leaving for home, my ice-raft must have drifted clear of Hare Island,
+and one of them, with his keen fisherman's eyes, had detected something
+unusual on the ice. They at once returned to their village, saying that
+something living was adrift on the floe. The one man on that section of
+coast who owned a good spy-glass jumped up from his supper on hearing
+the news and hurried over to the lookout on the cliffs. Dusk though it
+was, he saw that a man was out on the ice, and noticed him every now
+and again waving his hands at the shore. He immediately surmised who it
+must be; so little as I thought it, when night was closing in the men
+at the village were trying to launch a boat. Miles of ice lay <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>between
+them and me, and the angry sea was hurling great blocks against the
+land. While I had considered myself a laughing-stock, bowing with my
+flag at those unresponsive cliffs, many eyes were watching me.</p>
+
+<p>By daybreak a fine volunteer crew had been organized, and the boat,
+with such a force behind it, would, I believe, have gone through
+anything. After seeing the heavy breakers through which we were guided,
+as at last we ran in at the harbour mouth, I knew well what the wives
+of that crew had been thinking when they saw their loved ones depart on
+such an errand.</p>
+
+<p>Every soul in the village was waiting to shake hands as I landed; and
+even with the grip that one after another gave me, I did not find out
+that my hands were badly frostburnt&mdash;a fact which I have realized
+since, however. I must have looked a weird object as I stepped ashore,
+tied up in rags, stuffed out with oakum, and wrapped in the bloody
+dogskins.</p>
+
+<p>The news had gone over to the hospital that I was lost, so I at once
+started north for St. Anthony, though I must confess that I did not
+greatly enjoy the trip, as I had to be hauled like a log, my feet being
+so frozen that I could not walk. For a few days subsequently I had
+painful reminders of the adventure in my frozen hands and feet, which
+forced me to keep to my bed&mdash;an unwelcome and unusual interlude in my
+way of life.</p>
+
+<p>In our hallway stands a bronze tablet:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">"To the Memory of<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Three Noble Dogs<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Moody<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Watch<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Spy<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Whose lives were given<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">For mine on the ice<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">April 21st, 1908."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>The boy whose life I was intent on saving was brought to the hospital a
+day or so later in a boat, the ice having cleared off the coast
+temporarily; and he was soon on the highroad to recovery.</p>
+
+<p>We all love life, and I was glad to have a new lease of it before me.
+As I went to sleep that night there still rang through my ears the same
+verse of the old hymn which had been my companion on the ice-pan:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">"Oh, help me from my heart to say,<br /></span>
+<span class="i6">Thy will be done."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THEY THAT DO BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Contrary to her ungenerous reputation, even if vessels are lost on the
+Labrador, her almost unequalled series of harbours&mdash;so that from the
+Straits of Belle Isle to those of Hudson Bay there is not ten miles of
+coast anywhere without one&mdash;enables the crew to escape nearly every
+time.</p>
+
+<p>In 1883, in the North Sea in October, a hurricane destroyed twenty-five
+of our stout vessels on the Dogger Bank, cost us two hundred and
+seventy good lives, and left a hundred widows to mourn on the land. In
+1889 a storm hit the north coast of Newfoundland, but too late in the
+season to injure much of the fishing fleet, which had for the most part
+gone South. But it caused immense damage to property and the loss of a
+few lives. As one of the testimonials to its fury, I saw the flooring
+and seats of the church in the mud of the harbour at St. Anthony at low
+tide even though that church had been founded entirely on a rock. We
+now concede that it is good economy on our coast to have wire stays to
+ringbolts leaded into rocky foundations, to anchor small buildings. Our
+storms are mostly cyclones with wide vortices, and coming largely from
+the southwest or northwest, are offshore, and therefore less felt.</p>
+
+<p>We were once running along at full speed in a very thick fog, framing a
+course to just clear some nasty shoals on our port bow. There was
+nothing outside us and we had seen no ice of late, so I went below for
+some lunch, telling the mate to report land as soon as he saw any, and
+instructing the man at the wheel, if he heard a shout, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>port his
+helm hard. The soup was still on the table when a loud shouting made us
+leap on the deck to see the ship going full tilt into an enormous
+iceberg, which seemed right at the end of the bowsprit. This unexpected
+monster was on our starboard bow, and the order to avoid the shoal was
+putting us headfirst into it. Our only chance was full speed and a
+starboard helm, and we actually grazed along the side of the berg. It
+seemed almost ludicrous later to pick up a large island and run into a
+harbour with grassy, sloping sides, out of which the fog was shut like
+a wall, and then to go ashore and bargain over buying a couple of cows,
+which were being sold, as the settler was moving to the mainland.</p>
+
+<p>Among the records of events of importance to us I find in 1908 that of
+the second real hurricane which I have ever seen. It began on Saturday,
+July 28, the height of our summer, with flat calm and sunshine
+alternating with small, fierce squalls. Though we had a falling
+barometer, this deceived us, and we anchored that evening in a shallow
+and unsafe open roadstead about twenty miles from Indian Harbour
+Hospital. Fortunately our suspicions induced us to keep an anchor
+watch, and his warning made us get steam at midnight, and we brought up
+at daylight in the excellent narrow harbour in which the hospital
+stands. The holding ground there is deep mud in four fathoms of water,
+the best possible for us. Our only trouble was that the heavy tidal
+current would swing a ship uneasily broadside against an average wind
+force.</p>
+
+<p>It was blowing so strongly by this time that the hospital yawl Daryl
+had already been driven ashore from her anchors, but still we were able
+to keep ours in the water, and getting a line to her, to heave her
+astern of our vessel with our powerful winch. The fury of the breeze
+grew worse as the day went on. All the fishing boats in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>harbour
+filled and sank with the driving water. With the increase of violence
+of the weather we got up steam and steamed to our anchors to ease if
+possible the strain on our two chains and shore lines&mdash;a web which we
+had been able to weave before it was too late. By Sunday the gale had
+blown itself entirely away, and Monday morning broke flat calm, with
+lovely sunshine, and only an enormous sullen ground sea. This is no
+uncommon game of Dame Nature's; she seemed to be only mocking at the
+destruction which she had wrought.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that there must be many comrades in trouble, we were early
+away, and dancing like a bubble, we ran north, keeping as close inshore
+as we could, and watching the coast-line with our glasses. The coast
+was littered with remains. Forty-one vessels had been lost; in one
+uninhabited roadstead alone, some forty miles away from Indian Harbour,
+lay sixteen wrecks. The shore here was lined with rude shelters made
+from the wreckage of spars and sails, and the women were busy cooking
+meals and "tidying up" the shacks as if they had lived there always.</p>
+
+<p>We soon set to work hauling off such vessels as would float. One, a
+large hardwood, well-fastened hull, we determined to save. Her name was
+Pendragon. The owner was aboard&mdash;a young man with no experience who had
+never previously owned a vessel. He was so appalled at the disaster
+that he decided to have her sold piecemeal and broken up. We attended
+the auction on the beach and bought each piece as it came to the
+hammer. Getting her off was the trouble. We adopted tactics of our own
+invention. Mousing together the two mastheads with a bight of rope, we
+put on it a large whoop traveller, and to that fastened our stoutest
+and longest line. Then first backing down to her on the very top of
+high water, we went "full speed ahead." Over she fell on her side and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>bumped along on the mud and shingle for a few yards. By repeated jerks
+she was eventually ours, but leaking so like a basket that we feared we
+should yet lose her. Pumps inside fortunately kept her free till we
+passed her topsail under her, and after dropping in sods and peat, we
+let the pressure from the outside keep them in place. When night fell I
+was played out, and told the crew they must let her sink. My two
+volunteer helpers, Albert Gould, of Bowdoin, and Paul Matheson, of
+Brown, however, volunteered to pump all night.</p>
+
+<p>While hunting for a crew to take her South we came upon the wreck of a
+brand-new boat, only launched two months previously. She had been the
+pride of the skipper's life. He was an old friend of mine, and we felt
+so sorry for him that we not only got him to take our vessel, but we
+handed it over for him to work out at the cost which we had paid for
+the pieces. He made a good living out of her for several years, but
+later she was lost with all hands on some dangerous shoals near St.
+Anthony on a journey North.</p>
+
+<p>With fifty-odd people aboard, and a long trail of nineteen fishing
+boats we eventually got back to Indian Harbour, where every one joined
+in helping our friends in misfortune till the steamer came and took
+them South. They waved us farewell, and, quite undismayed, wished for
+better luck for themselves another season.</p>
+
+<p>The case of one skipper is well worth relating as showing their
+admirable optimism. He was sixty-seven years old, and had by hard
+saving earned his own schooner&mdash;a fine large vessel. He had arranged to
+sell her on his return trip and live quietly on the proceeds on his
+potato patch in southern Newfoundland. His vessel had driven on a
+submerged reef and turned turtle. The crew had jumped for their lives,
+not even saving their personal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>clothing, watches, or instruments. We
+photographed the remains of the capsized hull floating on the surf. Yet
+this man, in the four days during which he was my guest, never once
+uttered a word of complaint. He had done all he could, and he "'lowed
+that t' Lord knew better than he what was best."</p>
+
+<p>"But what will you do now, Skipper?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, get another," he replied; "I think them'll trust me."</p>
+
+<p>One of our older vessels started a plank in a gale of wind in the
+Atlantic and went to the bottom without warning. In an open boat for
+six days with only a little dry bread and no covering of any sort, the
+crew fought rough seas and heavy breezes. But they handled her with the
+sea genius of our race; made land safely at last, and never said a word
+about the incident. On another occasion two men, who had been a
+fortnight adrift, had rowed one hundred and fifty miles, and had only
+the smallest modicum of food, came aboard our vessel. When I said, "You
+are hungry, aren't you?" they merely replied, "Well, not
+over-much"&mdash;and only laughed when I suggested that perhaps a month in
+the open boat might have given them a real appetite.</p>
+
+<p>One October, south of St. Anthony, we were lying in the arm of a bay
+with two anchors and two warps out, one to each side of the narrow
+channel. The wind piled up the waters, much as it did in Pharaoh's day.
+We were flung astern yard by yard on the top of the seas, and when it
+was obvious that we must go ashore, we reversed our engines, slipped
+our line, and drove up high and dry to escape the bumping on the beach
+which was inevitable. There we lay for days. Meanwhile I had taken our
+launch into the river-mouth and was marooned there. For the launch blew
+right up on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>bank in among the trees, and strive as we would, for
+days we could not even move her out again.</p>
+
+<p>Another spring we had a very close squeak of losing the Strathcona.
+While we were trying one morning to get out of a harbour, a sudden gale
+of wind came down upon us and pinned us tight, so that we could not
+move an inch. The pressure of the ice became more severe moment by
+moment, and meanwhile the ice between us and the shore seemed to be
+imperceptibly melting away. Naturally we tried every expedient we could
+think of to keep enough ice between us and the shore rocks to save the
+vessel being swept over the rocky headland, toward which the
+irresistible tidal current was steadily forcing us. To make matters
+worse, we struck our propeller against a pan of ice and broke off one
+of the flanges close to the shaft. It became breathlessly exciting as
+the ship drew nearer and nearer to the rocks. We abandoned our boat
+when we saw that by trying to hold on to it any longer we should be
+jeopardizing the steamer. Twisting round helplessly as in a giant's
+arms, we were swept past the dangerous promontory and to our infinite
+joy carried out into the open Atlantic where there is room for all. Our
+boat was subsequently rescued from the shore, and we were able to screw
+on a new blade to the propeller.</p>
+
+<p>Just after the big gale in 1908 His Excellency, Sir William MacGregor,
+then Governor, was good enough to come and spend a short time surveying
+on our north coast. He was an expert in this line, as well as being a
+gold-medallist in medicine. Later he changed over from the Strathcona
+to the Government steamer Fiona. I acted as pilot among other
+capacities on that journey, and was unlucky enough to run her full tilt
+onto one of the only sandbanks on the coast in a narrow passage between
+some islands and the mainland! The little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>Strathcona, following
+behind, was in time to haul us off again, but the incident made the
+captain naturally distrust my ability, and as a result he would not
+approach the shore near enough for us to get the observations which we
+needed. Although we went round Cape Chidley into Ungava Bay I could not
+regain his confidence sufficiently to go through the straits which I
+had myself sounded and surveyed. So we accomplished it in a small boat,
+getting good observations. Our best work, however, was done when His
+Excellency was content to be our guest. The hospital on board was used
+for the necessary instruments&mdash;four chronometers, two theodolites,
+guns, telescopes, camp furniture, and piles of books and printed forms.
+Mr. Albert Gould of Bowdoin was my secretary on board that year, and
+was of very great value to us.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep320" id="imagep320"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep320a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep320a.jpg" width="90%" alt="Iceberg 1" /></a><br />
+
+<a href="images/imagep320b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep320b.jpg" width="90%" alt="Iceberg 2" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ICEBERGS<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Though the work of an amateur, Sir William's surveying was accepted by
+the Admiralty and the Royal Geographical Society&mdash;his survey in Nigeria
+having proved to have not one single location a mile out of place when
+an official survey was run later.</p>
+
+<p>Many a time in the middle of a meal, some desired but unlucky star
+would cross the prime vertical, and all hands had to go up on deck and
+shiver while rows of figures were accumulated. Sir William told us that
+he would rather shoot a star any time than all the game ever hunted.
+One night my secretary, after sitting on a rock at a movable table from
+5 <span class="fakesc">P.M.</span> till midnight, came in, his joints almost creaking with
+cold, and loaded with a pile of figures which he assured us would crush
+the life out of most men. My mate that year was a stout and very short,
+plethoric person. When he stated that he preferred surveying to
+fishing, as it was going to benefit others so much, and that he was
+familiar with the joys of service, he was taken promptly at his word.
+It was a hot summer. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>The theodolite was a nine-inch one and weighed
+many pounds. We had climbed the face of a very steep mountain called
+Cape Mugford, some three thousand feet high&mdash;every inch of which
+distance we had to mount from dead sea-level. When at last Israel
+arrived on the summit, he looked worried. He said that he had always
+thought surveying meant letting things drop down over the ship's side,
+and not carrying ballast up precipices. For his part he could now see
+that providing food for the world was good enough for him. He
+distinctly failed to grasp where the joy of this kind of service came
+in&mdash;and noting his condition as he lay on the ground and panted I
+decided to let it go at that.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor was a real MacGregor and a Presbyterian, and was therefore
+quite a believer in keeping Sunday as a day of rest. But after morning
+prayers on the first fine day, after nearly a week of fog, he decided
+that he had had physical rest enough, and to get good observations
+would bring him the recreation of spirit which he most needed. So he
+packed up for work, and happened to light on the unhappy Israel to row
+him a mile or so to the land. "Iz" was taken "all aback." He believed
+that you should not strain yourself ever&mdash;much less on Sundays. So from
+religious scruples he asked to be excused, though he offered to row any
+one ashore if he was only going to idle the hours away. After all,
+however, our Governor represented our King, and I was personally
+horrified, intending to correct Israel's position with a round turn,
+and show him that we are especially enjoined to obey "Governors and
+Rulers"&mdash;as better also than the sacrifice of loafing. But the Governor
+forbade it, quietly unpacked, put his things away, and stayed aboard.
+Israel subsequently cultivated the habit of remaining in bed on
+Sundays&mdash;thereby escaping being led into temptation, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>as even Governors
+would not be likely to go and tempt him in his bunk.</p>
+
+<p>I have had others refuse to help in really necessary work on Sunday.
+One skipper would not get the Strathcona under way in answer to a
+wireless appeal to come to a woman in danger of dying from hemorrhage
+forty miles distant. When we prepared to start without him, he told me
+that he would go, but that it would be at the price of his soul and we
+would have to be responsible for that loss. We went all the same.</p>
+
+<p>Our charts, such as they were, were subsequently accepted by the Royal
+Geographical Society of England, who generously invited me to lecture
+before them. They were later good enough to award me the Murchison
+Prize in 1911. Much of the work was really due to Sir William, and as
+much of it as I could put on him to the Sabbatarian "Iz."</p>
+
+<p>In connection with the scientific work on the coast I well remember the
+eclipse of October, 1905. All along the land it was perfectly visible.
+A break in the clouds occurred at exactly the right moment: one
+fisherman, to console the astronomers, said that he was very sorry, but
+that he supposed it did not much matter, as there would be another
+eclipse next week. The scientific explorer, who was devoting his
+attention to the effect on the earth's magnetism, spent the time of the
+eclipse in a dark cellar. Most wonderful magnetic disturbances had been
+occurring almost every night, and the night before the event a far from
+ordinary storm had upset his instruments, so that the effect of the
+eclipse on the magnetic indicators was scarcely distinguishable. He had
+just time after the thing was over to peep out and see the light
+returning. He had watched his thermometer and found that it fell three
+degrees during totality.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>The year 1908 at the mill we had built a new large schooner in honour
+of that devoted friend of Labrador, our secretary in Boston, and had
+named the vessel for her, the Emma E. White. She fetched Lloyd's full
+bounty for an A 1 ship. This was a feather in our caps, since she was
+designed and built by one of our own men, who was no "scholard," having
+never learned to read or write. Will Hopkins can take an axe and a few
+tools into the green woods in the fall, and sail down the bay in a new
+schooner in the spring when the ice goes. To see him steaming the
+planking in the open in his own improvised boxes on the top of six feet
+of snow made me stand and take off my hat to him. He is no good at
+speech-making; he does not own a dress-suit, and he cannot dance a
+tango; but he is quite as useful a citizen as some who can, and his
+type of education is one which endears him to all. He gave me the great
+pleasure of having our friend come sailing into St. Anthony in the
+middle of a fine day, seated on the bow of her namesake, the beautiful
+and valuable product of his skill, just when we were all ready on the
+wharf to "sketch them both off," as our people call taking a
+photograph.</p>
+
+<p>Our increasing buildings being all of wood, and as the two largest were
+full of either helpless sick people or an ever-increasing batch of
+children, we wanted something safer than kerosene lamps to illuminate
+the rooms. The people here had never seen electric light "tamed," as it
+were, and to us it seemed almost too big a venture to install a plant
+of our own. Home outfits were not common in those days even in the
+States, and we feared in any case that we could not run it regularly
+enough. No one except the head of the machine shop, a Labrador boy and
+Pratt graduate, knew the first thing about electricity, and he would
+not always be available.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>However, with the help of friends we were able to purchase a hot-head
+vertical engine to generate our current; for our near-by streams freeze
+solid in winter. That engine has now been running for over ten years,
+and has given us electricity in St. Anthony Hospital for operating and
+X-ray work as well as all our lighting. Until he died, it was run the
+greater part of the time by an Eskimo boy whom we had brought down from
+the North Labrador, and who was convalescing from empyema. The
+installation was efficiently done by a volunteer student from the Pratt
+Institute, Mr. Hause.</p>
+
+<p>On my lecture trip the previous winter a gentleman at whose house I was
+a guest told me that when quite a youth he had fought in the Civil War,
+been invalided home, and advised to take a sea voyage for his health.
+He therefore took passage with some Gloucester fishermen and set sail
+for the Labrador. The crew proved to be Southern sympathizers, and one
+day, while my friend was ashore taking a walk, the skipper slipped out
+and left him marooned. He had with him neither money, spare clothing,
+nor anything else; and as British sympathies were also with the South,
+he had many doubts as to how the settlers would receive a penniless
+stranger and Northerner. So seeing his schooner bound in an easterly
+direction, he started literally to run along the shore, hoping that he
+might find where she went and catch her again. Mile after mile he went,
+tearing through the "tuckamore" or dense undergrowth of gnarled trees,
+climbing over high cliffs, swimming or wading the innumerable rivers,
+skirting bays, and now and again finding a short beach along which he
+could hurry. At night, wet, dirty, tired, hungry, penniless, he came to
+a fisherman's cottage and asked shelter and food. He explained that he
+was an American gentleman taking a holiday, but hadn't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>a penny of
+money. It spoke well for the people that they accepted his story. He
+told me that they both fed and clothed him, and one kind-hearted man
+actually the next day gave him some oilskin clothing and a sou'wester
+hat&mdash;costly articles "on Labrador" in those days. So on and on and on
+he went, till at last arriving at Red Bay he found his schooner at
+anchor calmly fishing. He went aboard at once as if nothing had
+happened, and stayed there (having enjoyed enough pedestrian exercise
+for the time being) and no one ever referred to his having been left
+behind. He was now, however, forty years later, anxious to do something
+for the people of that section of the shore, and he gave me a thousand
+dollars toward building a small cottage for a district nurse. Forteau
+was the village chosen, and Dennison Cottage erected as a nursing
+station and dispensary. The people at first each gave a week toward its
+upkeep; and even now every man gives three days annually. The house has
+a good garden, little wards for in-patients, and is the centre of much
+useful industrial work, especially the making of artificial flowers.
+For twelve years now, Miss Florence Bailey, a nurse from the Mildmay
+Institute in London, has presided over its destinies, endeared herself
+to the people, and done most unselfish and heroic work in that lonely
+station, which she has greatly enlarged and improved by her untiring
+efforts. It forms an admirable halfway house between Battle and
+Harrington Hospitals, each being about a hundred miles distant. A local
+trader once wrote me: "Sister Bailey did good work last year. That
+cottage hospital is a blessing to the people of this part of the shore.
+Who would think that by a little act of kindness done forty-odd years
+ago to an old soldier, we would now be reaping the benefit of such an
+act."</p>
+
+<p>Only one longer journey on foot on the Labrador coast <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>is on record.
+The traveller started from Quebec and walked to Battle Harbour. There
+he turned north and walked to Nakvak Bay. The distance as the crow
+flies is about fourteen hundred miles. But the man had no boat of his
+own and only in one or two places accepted a passage. One bay on the
+east coast runs in for some hundred and fifty miles. Over this he got a
+boat fifty miles from the mouth. Round Kipokak and Makkovik, and the
+bays south of Hopedale, he walked most of the way, and these run in for
+forty miles. He carried practically nothing with him, and depended on
+what boots and clothing the people gave him, eating berries and
+whatever else he could find while he was in the country. Those who
+housed him told me that they did not see any signs of madness about
+him, except his avoidance of men and refusal to go in boats or mix with
+others if he could in any way avoid it. He carried no gun. No one knew
+who he was nor why he went on such a "cruise." Long before he reached
+the North the theory that he was a murderer fleeing from justice got
+started, and at some places a very careful watch was kept over him.
+Arrived at Nakvak, he went to the house of everyone's friend, George
+Ford. That is one of the most inaccessible places in the world. No mail
+steamer ever goes there, and no schooner ever anchors nearer than a few
+miles. It is at the bottom of a fjord twenty-five miles long, with very
+precipitous cliffs two thousand feet high on each side and bottomless
+water below. It was then thirty miles from the nearest house, with
+ranges of mountains between, and was the most northerly house on the
+Labrador. Here this phenomenon celebrated his arrival by climbing up
+onto the ridge of the house, when lo! most prosaic of accidents, he
+fell off and broke his neck. The puzzle has always been why he elected
+to carry an unbroken neck at such cost all that long distance.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>Many inexplicable things happen "on Labrador." Thus, one year while
+visiting at the head of Hamilton Inlet, a Scotch settler came aboard to
+ask my advice about a large animal that had appeared round his house.
+Though he had sat up night after night with his gun, he had never seen
+it. His children had seen it several times disappearing into the trees.
+The French agent of R&eacute;villon Fr&egrave;res, twenty miles away, had come over,
+and together they had tracked it, measured the footmarks in the mud,
+and even fenced some of them round. The stride was about eight feet,
+the marks as of the cloven hoofs of an ox. The children described the
+creature as looking like a huge hairy man; and several nights the dogs
+had been driven growling from the house into the water. Twice the whole
+family had heard the creature prowling around the cottage, and tapping
+at the doors and windows. The now grown-up children persist in saying
+that they saw this wild thing. Their house is twenty miles up the large
+Grand River, and a hundred and fifty miles from the coast.</p>
+
+<p>An old fellow called Harry Howell was one winter night missing from his
+home. He had been hunting, and only too late, after a blizzard set in,
+was it discovered that he was absent. In the morning the men gathered
+to make a search, but at that moment in walked "old Harry"! He told me
+later that he was coming home in the afternoon when the blizzard began.
+It was dirty, thick of snow, and cold. Suddenly he heard bells ringing,
+and knew that it was fairies bidding him follow them&mdash;because he had
+followed them before. So off he went, pushing his way through the
+driving snow. When at last he reached the foot of a gnarled old tree in
+the forest, the bells stopped, and he knew that was the place where he
+must stay for the night. So he laid some of the partridges which he had
+killed into a hole in the snow close to the trunk, crawled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>down and
+used them for a seat, and placed the rest of the frozen birds at his
+feet. Then he pulled up his dickey, or kossak, over his head, and with
+his back to the tree, went to sleep while the snow was still driving.
+There was no persuading that man that the ringing bells were in his own
+imagination.</p>
+
+<p>Many years ago a Norwegian captain on the Labrador told me the
+following story. One day the carpenter of his schooner, a man whom he
+had known for three voyages, and trusted thoroughly, was steering on
+the course which the mate had given him. All at once the mate came and
+found the man steering four points out. When he upbraided him, he
+answered, "He came and told me to." "Nobody did," replied the mate. "Go
+northwest."</p>
+
+<p>Three times the experience was repeated, and at last the mate reported
+the matter to the skipper. He immediately suggested, "Well, let us go
+on running in the direction he insists on taking for a while and see if
+anything happens." At the end of two hours they came upon a
+square-rigger with her decks just awash, and six men clinging to her
+rigging. As they came alongside the sinking vessel the carpenter
+pointed aghast to one of the rescued crew and cried out, "There's the
+man who came and told me the skipper said to change the course."</p>
+
+<p>In medicine, too, things happen which we professional men are just as
+unable to explain. A big-bodied, successful fisherman came aboard my
+steamer one day, saying that he had toothache. This was probable, for
+his jaw was swollen, his mouth hard to open, and the offending molar
+easily visible within. When I produced the forceps he protested most
+loudly that he would not have it touched for worlds.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, then, did you come to me?" I asked. "You are wasting my time."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>"I wanted you to charm her, Doctor," he answered, quite naturally.</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear friend, I do not know how to charm, and don't think it
+would do the slightest good. Doctors are not allowed to do such
+things."</p>
+
+<p>He was evidently very much put out, and turning round to go, said, "I
+knows why you'se won't charm her. It's because I'm a Roman Catholic."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense. If you really think that it would do any good, come along.
+You'll have to pay twenty-five cents exactly as if you had it pulled
+out."</p>
+
+<p>"Gladly enough, Doctor. Please go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>He sat on the rail, a burly carcass, the incarnation of materialism,
+while the doctor, feeling the size of a sandflea, put one finger into
+his mouth and touched the molar, while he repeated the most mystic
+nonsense he could think of, "Abracadabra Tiddlywinkum Umslopoga"&mdash;and
+then jumped the finger out lest the patient might close his ponderous
+jaw. The fisherman took a turn around the deck, pulled out the quarter,
+and solemnly handed it to me, saying, "All the pain has gone. Many
+thanks, Doctor." I found myself standing alone in amazement, twiddling
+a miserable shilling, and wondering how I came to make such a fool of
+myself.</p>
+
+<p>A month later the patient again came to see me when we happened to be
+in his harbour. The swelling had gone, the molar was there. "Ne'er an
+ache out of her since," the patient laughed. I have not reported this
+end result to the committee of the American College of Surgeons, though
+much attention is now devoted to the follow-up and end-result
+department of surgery and medicine.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>MARRIAGE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>It was now the fall of 1908, and the time had come for me to visit
+England again and try and arouse fresh interest in our work; and this
+motive was combined with the desire to see my old mother, who was now
+nearing her fourscore years. I decided to leave in November and return
+<i>via</i> America in the spring to receive the honorary degree of LL.D.
+from Williams College and of M.A. from Harvard, which I had been
+generously offered.</p>
+
+<p>My lecture tour this winter was entrusted to an agency. Propaganda is a
+recognized necessity in human life, though it has little attraction for
+most men. To me having to ask personally for money even for other
+people was always a difficulty. Scores of times I have been blamed for
+not even stating in a lecture that we needed help. The distaste for
+beating the big drum, which lecturing for your own work always appears
+to be, makes me quite unable to see any virtue in not doing it, but
+just asking the Lord to do it. If I really were convinced that He would
+meet the expenses whether I worked or not, I should believe that
+neither would He let people suffer and die untended out here or
+anywhere else. Indeed, it would seem a work of supererogation to have
+to remind Him of the necessity that existed.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that we have to show pictures of the work which we are doing
+is tiresome and takes time, but it encourages us to have pictures worth
+taking and to do deeds which we are not ashamed to narrate. It also
+stimulates others to give themselves as well as their money to similar
+kinds of work at their own doorsteps, to see how much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>like themselves
+their almoners are. Only to-day my volunteer secretary told me that he
+honestly expected to meet "a bearded old fogey in spectacles," not a
+man who can shoot his own dinner from the wing or who enjoys the
+justifiable pleasures of life.</p>
+
+<p>The religion of Christ never permitted me to accept the idea that there
+is "nothing to do, only believe." Every man ought to earn his own bread
+and the means to support his family. Why, then, should you have only to
+ask the Lord to give unasked the wherewithal to feed other people's
+families?</p>
+
+<p>Lecturing for philanthropies, only another word for the means to help
+along the Kingdom of God on earth, is in England usually carried on
+through the ordinary missionary meetings; and in my previous experience
+they were not generally much credit to the splendid objects in view.
+The lectures were often patronized by small audiences largely composed
+of women and children.</p>
+
+<p>That particular winter in England I had the privilege of addressing all
+sorts of workmen's clubs and city lecture-course audiences, people who
+would have "the shivers" almost if one had asked them to attend a
+"missionary" lecture. The collection, or even the final monetary
+outcome, is far from being the test of the value of the address. To
+commend Christ's religion by minimizing in any way the prerogative He
+gave men of carrying on the work of His kingdom in their human efforts
+is to sap the very appeal that attracts manhood to Him. I never wanted
+to sing, "Oh! to be nothing, nothing." I always wished to sing, "Oh!
+make me something, something"&mdash;that shall leave some footprints on the
+sands of time, and have some record of talents gained to offer a Master
+whom we believe to be righteous.</p>
+
+<p>When spring came and the lectures were over, a new <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>idea suddenly
+dawned upon me. If I were going to America to festive gatherings and to
+have some honours conferred, why leave the mother behind? Seventy-eight
+years is not old. She was born in India, had lived in England, and
+suppose anything did happen, why not sleep in America?&mdash;she would be
+just as near God there. The splendid Mauretania not only took us safely
+over, but gave me also that gift which I firmly believe God designed
+for me&mdash;a real partner to share in my joys and sorrows, to encourage
+and support in trouble and failures, to inspire and advise in a
+thousand ways, and in addition to bring into my distant field of work a
+personal comrade with the culture, wisdom, and enthusiasm of the
+American life and the training of one of the very best of its
+Universities.</p>
+
+<p>We met on board the second day out. She was travelling with a Scotch
+banker of Chicago and his wife, Mr. W.R. Stirling, whose daughter was
+her best friend. They were returning from a motor tour through Europe
+and Algeria. The Mauretania takes only four and a half days in
+crossing, and never before did I realize the drawbacks of "hustle," and
+yet the extreme need of it on my part. The degrees of longitude slipped
+by so quickly that I felt personally aggrieved when one day we made
+over six hundred miles, and the captain told us in triumph that it was
+a new record. The ship seemed to be paying off some spite against me.
+My mother kept mostly to her cabin. Though constantly in to see her, I
+am afraid I did not unduly worry her to join me on the deck. When just
+on landing I told her that I had asked a fellow passenger to become my
+wife, I am sure had the opportunity arisen she would have tumbled down
+the Mauretania's staircase. When she had the joy of meeting the girl,
+her equanimity was so far upset as to let an unaccustomed tear roll
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>down her cheek. That, at least, is one of the tears which I have cost
+her which brings no regrets. For she confesses that it often puzzles
+her to which of our lives the event has meant most.</p>
+
+<p>The constant little activities of my life had so filled every hour of
+time, and so engrossed my thoughts, that I had never thought to
+philosophize on the advisability of marriage, nor stopped to compare my
+life with those of my neighbors. There is no virtue in keeping the
+Ninth Commandment and not envying your neighbour's condition or goods
+when it never enters your head or heart to worry about them; and when
+you are getting what you care about no halo is due you for not falling
+victim to envy or jealousy of others. I have not been in the habit of
+praying for special personal providences like fine weather in my
+section of the earth, or for head wind for the schooners so as to give
+me a fair wind for my steamer, except so far as one prays for the
+recognition of God's good hand in everything.</p>
+
+<p>I can honestly protest that nothing in my life ever came more "out of
+the blue" than my marriage; and beyond that I am increasingly certain
+each day that it did come out of that blue where God dwells.</p>
+
+<p>I knew neither whence she came nor whither she was going. Indeed, I
+only found out when the proposition was really put that I did not even
+know her name&mdash;for it was down on the passenger list as one of the
+daughters of the friends with whom she was travelling. Fortunately it
+never entered my head that it mattered. For I doubt if I should have
+had the courage to question the chaperon, whose daughter she presumably
+was. It certainly was a "poser" to be told, "But you don't even know my
+name." Had I not been a bit of a seaman, and often compelled on the
+spur of the moment to act first <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>and think afterwards, what the
+consequences might have been I cannot say. Fortunately, I remembered
+that it was not the matter at issue, and explained, without admitting
+the impeachment, that the only question that interested me in the least
+was what I hoped that it might become. Incidentally she mentioned that
+she had only once heard of me. It was the year previous when I had been
+speaking at Bryn Mawr and she had refused in no measured terms an
+invitation to attend, as sounding entirely too dull for her
+predilections. I have wondered whether this was not another "small
+providence."</p>
+
+<p>A pathological condition of one's internal workings is not unusual even
+in Britons who "go down to the sea in ships," but such genius as our
+family has displayed has, so history assures us, shone best on a
+quarter-deck; and on this occasion it pleased God ultimately to add
+another naval victory to our credit. It is generally admitted that an
+abnormal mentality accompanies this not uncommon experience of human
+life, and I found my lack of appreciation of the rapid voyage
+paralleled by a wicked satisfaction that my mother preferred the brass
+four-poster, so thoughtfully provided for her by the Cunard Company, to
+the risks of the unsteady promenade deck.</p>
+
+<p>When the girl's way and mine parted in that last word in material
+jostlings, the custom-house shed in Manhattan, after the liner arrived,
+I realized that it was rather an armistice than a permanent settlement
+which I had achieved. Though there was no father in the case, I learned
+that there was a mother and a home in Chicago. These were formidable
+strongholds for a homeless wanderer to assault, but rendered doubly so
+by the fact that there was neither brother nor sister to leave behind
+to mitigate the possible vacancy. The "everlasting yea" <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>not having
+been forthcoming, under the circumstances it was no easy task for me to
+keep faith with the many appointments to lecture on Labrador which had
+been made for me. The inexorable schedule kept me week after week in
+the East. Fortunately the generous hospitality of many old friends who
+wanted the pleasure of meeting my mother kept my mind somewhat
+occupied. But I confess at the back of it the forthcoming venture
+loomed up more and more momentous as the fateful day drew near for me
+to start for Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>This visit to my wife's beautiful country home among the trees on the
+bluff of Lake Michigan in Lake Forest was one long dream. My mother and
+I were now made acquainted with the family and friends of my fianc&eacute;e.
+Her father, Colonel MacClanahan, a man of six feet five inches in
+height, had been Judge Advocate General on the Staff of Braxton Bragg
+and had fought under General Robert E. Lee. He was a Southerner of
+Scotch extraction, having been born and brought up in Tennessee. A
+lawyer by training, after the war, when everything that belonged to him
+was destroyed in the "reconstruction period," and being still a very
+young man, he had gone North to Chicago and begun life again at his
+profession. There he met and married, in 1884, Miss Rosamond Hill, who
+was born in Burlington, Vermont, but who, since childhood and the death
+of her parents, had lived with her married sister, Mrs. Charles Durand,
+of Chicago. The MacClanahans had two children&mdash;the boy, Kinloch, dying
+at an early age as the result of an accident. Colonel MacClanahan
+himself died a few months later, leaving a widow and one child, Anna
+Elizabeth Caldwell MacClanahan. She and her mother had lived the
+greater part of the time with Mrs. Durand, who died something more than
+a year before our engagement.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>The friends with whom my fianc&eacute;e had been travelling were almost
+next-door neighbours in Lake Forest. They made my short stay doubly
+happy by endless kindnesses; and all through the years, till his death
+in 1918, Mr. Stirling gave me not only a friendship which meant more to
+me than I can express, but his loving and invaluable aid and counsel in
+our work.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of my many years of sailor life, I found that I was expected
+among other things to ride a horse, my fianc&eacute;e being devoted to that
+means of progression. The days when I had ridden to hounds in England
+as a boy in Cheshire stood me in some little stead, for like swimming,
+tennis, and other pastimes calling for co&ouml;rdination, riding is never
+quite forgotten. But remembering Mr. Winkle's experiences, it was not
+without some misgivings that I found a shellback like myself galloping
+behind my lady's charger. My last essay at horseback riding had been
+just eleven years previously in Iceland. Having to wait a few days at
+Reikkavik, I had hired a whole bevy of ponies with a guide to take
+myself and the young skipper of our vessel for a three days' ride to
+see the geysers. He had never been on the back of any animal before,
+and was nevertheless not surprised or daunted at falling off
+frequently, though an interlude of being dragged along with one foot in
+the stirrup over lava beds made no little impression upon him. Fodder
+of all kinds is very scarce in the volcanic tufa of which all that land
+consists, and any moment that one stopped was always devoted by our
+ponies to grubbing for blades of grass in the holes. On our return to
+the ship the crew could not help noticing that the skipper for many
+days ceased to patronize the lockers or any other seat, and soon they
+were rejoicing that for some reason he was unable to sit down at all.
+He explained it by saying that his ponies ate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>so much lava that it
+stuck out under their skins, and I myself recall feeling inclined to
+agree with him.</p>
+
+<p>The journey from Lake Forest to Labrador would have been a tedious one,
+but by good fortune a friend from New York had arranged to come and
+visit the coast in his steam yacht, the Enchantress, and was good
+enough to pick me up at Bras d'Or. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, who had
+previously shown me much kindness, permitted us to rendezvous at his
+house, and for a second time I enjoyed seeing some of the experiments
+of his most versatile brain. His aeroplanes, telephones, and other
+inventions were all intensely interesting, but among his other lines of
+work the effort to develop a race of sheep, which had litters just as
+pigs do, interested me most.</p>
+
+<p>Francis Sayre, whom I had heard win the prize at Williams with his
+valedictory speech, was again to be my summer secretary. On our arrival
+at St. Anthony we found a great deal going on. The fame as a surgeon of
+my colleague, Dr. John Mason Little, had spread so widely that St.
+Anthony Hospital would no longer hold the patients who sought
+assistance at it. Fifty would arrive on a single mail boat. They were
+dumped down on the little wharf, having been landed in small punts from
+the steamer, as in those days we had no proper dock to which the boats
+could come. The little waiting-room in the hospital at night resembled
+nothing so much as a newly opened sardine tin; and to cater for the
+waiting patients was a Sisyphean task without the Hercules. Through the
+instrumentality of Dr. Little's sister a fund of ten thousand dollars
+was raised to double the size of the hospital, and the work of building
+was begun on my return. Although the capacity was greatly increased
+thereby we have really been unable ever to make our building what it
+ought to be to meet the problem. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>first part, constructed of green
+lumber hauled from the woods, and other wings added at different
+periods of growth, the endeavour to blast out suitable heating-plant
+accommodations&mdash;all this has left the hospital building more or less a
+thing of rags and patches, and most uneconomical to run. We are
+urgently in need of having it rebuilt entirely of either brick or
+stone, in order to resist the winter cold, to give more efficiency and
+comfort to patients and staff and to conserve our fuel, which is the
+most serious item of expense we have to meet.</p>
+
+<p>But at that time with all its capacity for service the new addition was
+rising, sounding yet one more note of praise in better ability to meet
+the demands upon us.</p>
+
+<p>And <i>pari passu</i> came the beautiful offer of my friend, Mr. Sayre, to
+double the size of our orphanage, putting up the new wing in memory of
+his father. This meant that instead of twenty we might now accommodate
+forty children at a pinch. Life is so short that it is the depths of
+pathos to be hampered in doing one's work for the lack of a few
+dollars. Of great interest to my fianc&eacute;e and myself was the selection
+of a piece of ground adjoining the Mission land, and the erection for
+ourselves of the home which we had planned and designed together before
+I had left Lake Forest. We chose some land up on the hillside and
+overlooking the sea and the harbour, where the view should be as
+comprehensive as possible. But we feared that even though our new house
+was very literally "founded upon a rock," the winds might some day
+remove it bodily from its abiding-place, and therefore we riveted the
+structure with heavy iron bolts to the solid bedrock.</p>
+
+<p>One excitement of that season was Admiral Peary's return from the North
+Pole. We were cruising near Indian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>Harbour when some visitors came
+aboard to make use of our wireless telegraph, which at that time we had
+installed on board. It proved to be Mr. Harry Whitney. It was the first
+intimation that we had had that Peary was returning that year. Whitney
+had met Cook coming back from the polar sea on the west side of the
+Gulf, where he had disappeared about eighteen months previously. I had
+met Dr. Cook several times myself, and indeed I had slept at his house
+in Brooklyn. He had visited Battle Harbour Hospital in 1893 when he was
+wrecked in the steamer in which he was conducting a party to visit
+Greenland. We had again seen him as he went North with Mr. Bradley in
+the yacht, and he had sent us back some Greenland dogs to mix their
+blood with our dogs, and so perhaps improve their breed and endurance.
+These, however, I had later felt it necessary to kill, for the
+Greenland dogs carry the dangerous tapeworm which is such a menace to
+man, and of which our Labrador dogs are entirely free so far.</p>
+
+<p>The picture of this meeting on the ice between Cook and Whitney gave us
+the impression of another Nansen and Jackson at Spitzbergen. Whitney
+had welcomed Cook warmly, had witnessed his troubles at Etah, and his
+departure by komatik, and had taken charge of his instruments and
+records to carry South with him when he came home. But his ship was
+delayed and delayed, and when Peary in the Roosevelt passed on his way
+South, fearing to be left another winter Whitney had accepted a passage
+on her at the cost of leaving Cook's material behind. He had met his
+own boat farther south and had transferred to her. He left the
+impression very firmly on all our minds that both he and Dr. Cook
+really believed that the latter had found the long-sought Pole.</p>
+
+<p>A little later, while cruising in thick weather in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>Gulf of St.
+Lawrence, my wireless operator came in and said: "There can be no harm
+telling you, Doctor, that Peary is at Battle Harbour. He is wiring to
+Washington that he has found the Pole, and also he is asking his
+committee if he may present the Mission with his superfluous supplies,
+or whether he is to sell them to you." Seeing that it is not easy to
+know whence wireless messages come if the sender does not own up to his
+whereabouts, I at once ordered him to wireless to Peary at Battle the
+simple words: "Give it to them, of course," and sign it "Washington." I
+knew that the Commander would see the joke, and if the decision turned
+out later to be incorrect, it could easily be rectified by purchasing
+the goods. A tin of his brown bread now lies among my curios and one of
+his sledges is in my barn.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep340" id="imagep340"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep340.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep340.jpg" width="48%" alt="Commodore Peary on His Way Back from the Pole, 1909" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">COMMODORE PEARY ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE POLE, 1909<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On our arrival at Battle Harbour we found the Roosevelt lying at the
+wharf repainting and refitting. A whole host of newspaper men and other
+friends had come North to welcome the explorer home. Battle was quite a
+gay place; but it was living up to its name, for Peary not only claimed
+that he had found the Pole, but also that Cook had not; and he was
+realizing what a hard thing it is to prove a negative. We had a very
+delightful time with the party, and greatly enjoyed meeting all the
+members of the expedition. Among them was the ill-fated Borup, destined
+shortly to be drowned on a simple canoe trip, and the indomitable and
+athletic Macmillan who subsequently led the Crocker Land expedition,
+our own schooner George B. Cluett carrying them to Etah.</p>
+
+<p>My secretary, Mr. Sayre, was just about to leave for America, and at
+Peary's request he transferred to the Roosevelt with his typewriter, to
+help the Commander with a few of his many notes and records. I dare say
+that he got an inside view of the question then agitating the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>world
+from Washington to Copenhagen; but if so, he has remained forever
+silent about it. For our part we were glad that some one had found the
+Pole, for it has been a costly quest in both fine men and valuable
+time, energy, and money. It has caused lots of trouble and sorrow, and
+so far at least its practical issues have been few.</p>
+
+<p>Our wedding had been scheduled for November, and for the first time I
+had found a Labrador summer long. In the late fall I left for Chicago
+on a mission that had no flavour of the North Pole about it. We were
+married in Grace Episcopal Church, Chicago, on November 18, 1909. Our
+wedding was followed by a visit to the Hot Springs of Virginia; and
+then "heigho," and a flight for the North. We sailed from St. John's,
+Newfoundland, in January. I had assured my wife, who is an excellent
+sailor, that she would scarcely notice the motion of the ship on the
+coastal trip of three hundred miles. Instead of five days, it took
+nine; and we steamed straight out of the Narrows at St. John's into a
+head gale and a blizzard of snow. The driving spray froze onto every
+thing till the ship was sugared like a vast Christmas cake. It made the
+home which we had built at St. Anthony appear perfectly delightful. My
+wife had had her furniture sent North during the summer, so that now
+the "Lares and Penates" with which she had been familiar from childhood
+seemed to extend a mute but hearty welcome to us from their new
+setting.</p>
+
+<p>We have three children, all born at St. Anthony. Our elder son, Wilfred
+Thomason, was born in the fall of 1910; Kinloch Pascoe in the fall of
+1912, two years almost to a day behind his brother; and lastly a
+daughter, Rosamond Loveday, who followed her brothers in 1917. In the
+case of the two latter children the honours of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>name were divided
+between both sides of the family, Kinloch and Rosamond being old family
+names on my wife's side, while, on the other hand, there have been
+Pascoe and Loveday Grenfells from time immemorial.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly ten years have now rolled away since our marriage. The puzzle to
+me is how I ever got along before; and these last nine years have been
+so crowded with the activities and worries of the increasing cares of a
+growing work, that without the love and inspiration and intellectual
+help of a true comrade, I could never have stood up under them. Every
+side of life is developed and broadened by companionship. I admit of no
+separation of life into "secular" and "religious." Religion, if it
+means anything, means the life and activities of our divine spirit on
+earth in relation to our Father in heaven. I am convinced from
+experience of the supreme value to that of a happy marriage, and that
+"team work" is God's plan for us on this earth.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>NEW VENTURES</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>No human life can be perfect, or even be lived without troubles. Clams
+have their troubles, I dare say. A queer sort of sinking feeling just
+like descending in a fast elevator comes over one, as if trouble and
+the abdominal viscera had a direct connection. Some one has said that
+it must be because that is where the average mind centres. Thus, when
+we lost the little steamer Swallow which we were towing, and with it
+the evidence of a crime and the road to the prevention of its
+repetition, it absolutely sickened me for two or three days, or, to be
+more exact, during two or three nights. It was all quite unnecessary,
+for we can see now that the matter worked out for the best. The fact
+that troubles hurt most when one is at rest and one's mind unoccupied,
+and in the night when one's vitality is lowest, is a great comfort,
+because that shows how it is something physical that is at fault, and
+no physical troubles are of very great importance.</p>
+
+<p>The summer of 1910 brought me a fine crop of personal worries, and
+probably deservedly so, for no one should leave his business affairs
+too much to another, without guarantees, occasionally renewed, that all
+is well. Few professional men are good at business, and personally I
+have no liking for it. This, combined with an over-readiness to accept
+as helpers men whose only qualifications have sometimes been of their
+own rating, was really spoiling for trouble&mdash;and mine came through the
+series of co&ouml;perative stores.</p>
+
+<p>To begin with, none of the stores were incorporated, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>their
+liabilities were therefore unlimited. Though I had always felt it best
+not to accept a penny of interest, I had been obliged to loan them
+money, and their agent in St. John's, who was also mine, allowed them
+considerable latitude in credits. It was, indeed, a bolt from the blue
+when I was informed that the merchants in St. John's were owed by the
+stores the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, and that I was being
+held responsible for every cent of it&mdash;because on the strength of their
+faith in me, and their knowledge that I was interested in the stores,
+having brought them into being, they had been willing to let the
+credits mount up. Even then I still had all my work to carry on and
+little time to devote to money affairs. Had I accepted, on first
+entering the Mission, the salary offered me, which was that of my
+predecessor, I should have been able to meet these liabilities, and
+very gladly indeed would I have done so. As it was I had to find some
+way out. All the merchants interested were told of the facts, and asked
+to meet me at the office of one of them, go over the accounts with my
+agent, and try and find a plan to settle. One can have little heart in
+his work if he feels every one who looks at him really thinks that he
+is a defaulter. The outcome of the inquiry revealed that if the agent
+could not show which store owed each debt, neither could the merchants;
+some had made out their bills to separate stores, some all to one
+store, and some in a general way to myself, though not one single penny
+of the debt was a personal one of my own.</p>
+
+<p>The next discovery was that the manager of the St. Anthony store, who
+had been my summer secretary before, and was an exceedingly pious
+man&mdash;whose great zeal for cottage prayer meetings, and that form of
+religious work, had led me to think far too highly of him&mdash;had
+neglected his books. He had given credit to every one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>who came along
+(though it was a cardinal statute under his rules that no credit was to
+be allowed except at his own personal risk). The St. John's agent
+claimed that he had made a loss of twelve thousand dollars in a little
+over a year, in which he professed to have been able to pay ten per
+cent to shareholders and put by three hundred dollars to reserve.
+Besides this, the new local store secretary had mixed up affairs by
+both ordering supplies direct from Canada and sending produce there,
+which the St. John's agent claimed were owed to the merchants in that
+city.</p>
+
+<p>These two men, instead of pulling together, were, I found, bitter
+enemies; and it looked as if the whole pack of cards were tumbling
+about my ears. I cashed every available personal asset which I could.
+The beautiful schooner, Emma E. White, also a personal possession,
+arrived in St. John's while we were there with a full load of lumber,
+but it and she sailed straight into the melting-pot. The merchants,
+with one exception, were all as good about the matter as men can be.
+They were perfectly satisfied when they realized that I meant facing
+the debt squarely. One was nasty about it, saying that he would not
+wait&mdash;and oddly enough in ordinary life he was a man whom one would not
+expect to be ungenerous, for he too was a religious man. Whether he
+gained by it or not it is hard to say. He was paid first, anyhow. The
+standard of what is really remunerative in life is differently graded.
+The stores have dealt with him since, and his prices are fair and
+honest; but he was the only one among some twenty who even appeared to
+kick a man when he was down. I have nothing but gratitude to all the
+rest.</p>
+
+<p>I should add that the incident was not the fault of the people of the
+coast. Often I had been warned by the merchants that the co&ouml;perative
+stores would fail and that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>people would rob me. It is true that
+there was trouble over the badly kept books, and a number of the
+fishermen disclaimed their debts charged against them; but with one
+exception no one came and said that he had had things which were not
+noted on the bills. I am confident, however, that they did not go back
+on me willingly, and when my merchant friends said, "I told you so," I
+honestly was able to state that it was the management, not the people
+or the system, that was at fault. Indeed, subsequent events have proved
+this. For five of the stores still run, and run splendidly, and pay
+handsomer dividends by far than any investment our people could
+possibly make elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>With the sale of a few investments and some other available property,
+the liability was so far reduced that, with what the stores paid, only
+one merchant was not fully indemnified, and he generously told me not
+to worry about the balance.</p>
+
+<p>This same year, on the other hand, one of our most forward steps, so
+far as the Mission was concerned, was taken, through the generosity of
+the late Mr. George B. Cluett, of Troy, New York. He had built
+specially for our work a magnificent three-masted schooner, fitted with
+the best of gear including a motor launch. She was constructed of
+three-inch oak plank, sheathed with hardwood for work in the
+ice-fields. She was also fitted with an eighty horse-power Wolverine
+engine. The bronze tablet in her bore the inscription, "This vessel
+with full equipment was presented to Wilfred T. Grenfell by George B.
+Cluett." He had previously asked me if I would like any words from the
+Bible on the plate, and I had suggested, "The sea is His and He made
+it." The designer unfortunately put the text after the inscription; so
+that I have been frequently asked why and how I came to make it,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>seeing that it is believed by all good Christians that in heaven "there
+shall be no more sea."</p>
+
+<p>To help out with the expenses of getting her running, our loved friend
+from Chicago, Mr. W.R. Stirling, agreed to come North on the schooner
+the first season, bringing his two daughters and three friends. Even
+though he was renting her for a yachting trip, he offered to bring all
+the cargo free and make the Mission stations his ports of call.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Cluett's idea was that, as we had big expenses carrying endless
+freight so far North, and as it got so broken and often lost in
+transit, and greatly damaged in the many changes involved from rail to
+steamer, and from steamer to steamer, if she carried our freight in
+summer, she could in winter earn enough to make it all free, and
+possibly provide a sinking fund for herself as well. There was also
+good accommodation in her for doctors, nurses, students, etc., who
+every summer come from the South to help in various ways in the work of
+the Mission.</p>
+
+<p>All our freight that year arrived promptly and in good condition, which
+had never happened before. Later the vessel was chartered to go to
+Greenland by the Smithsonian. On this occasion her engine, never
+satisfactory, gave out entirely, which so delayed her that she got
+frozen in near Etah and was held up a whole twelvemonth. Meanwhile the
+war had broken out, and when she at last sailed into Boston, we were
+able to sell her, by the generous permission of Mrs. Cluett, and use
+the money to purchase the George B. Cluett II.</p>
+
+<p>Illustrating the advantage of getting our freight direct, among the
+many instances which have occurred, that of the lost searchlight for
+the Strathcona comes to my mind. As she had often on dark nights to
+come to anchor among vessels, and to nose her way into unlit harbours,
+some friends, through the Professor of Geology at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>Harvard, who had
+himself cruised all along our coast in a schooner, presented me with a
+searchlight for the hospital ship and despatched it <i>via</i> Sydney&mdash;the
+normal freight route. Month after month went by, and it never appeared.
+Year followed year, and still we searched for that searchlight. At
+length, after two and a half years, it suddenly arrived, having been
+"delayed on the way." Had it been provisions or clothing or drugs, or
+almost anything else, of course, it would have been useless. It has
+proved to us one of the almost <i>de luxe</i> additions to a Mission
+steamer.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<p>For a long time I had felt the need of some place in St. John's where
+work for fishermen could be carried on, and which could be also
+utilized as a place of safety for girls coming to that city from other
+parts of the island. My attention was called one day to the fact that
+liquor was being sent to people in the outports C.O.D., by a barrel of
+flour which was being lowered over the side of the mail steamer rather
+too quickly on to the ice. As the hard bump came, the flour in the
+barrel jingled loudly and leaked rum profusely from the compound
+fracture. When our sober outport people went to St. John's, as they
+must every year for supplies, they had only the uncomfortable schooner
+or the street in which to pass the time. There is no "Foyer des
+P&ecirc;cheurs"; no one wanted fishermen straight from a fishing schooner in
+the home; and in those days there were no Camp Community Clubs. As one
+man said, "It is easy for the parson to tell us to be good, but it is
+hard on a wet cold night to be good in the open street" and nowhere to
+go, and harder still if you have to seek shelter in a brightly lighted
+room, where music was being played. The boarding-houses for the
+fishermen, where thousands of our young men flocked in the spring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>to
+try for a berth in the seal fishery, were ridiculous, not to say
+calamitous. Lastly, unsophisticated girls coming from the outports ran
+terrible risks in the city, having no friends to direct and assist
+them; and the Institute which we had in mind was to comprise also a
+girls' lodging department. No provision was made for the accommodation
+of crews wrecked by accident, and our Institute has already proved
+invaluable to many in such plights.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing the hundreds of craft and the thousands of fishermen, and the
+capital and interest vested against us as prohibitionists, it would
+have been obviously futile to put up a second-rate affair in a back
+street. It would only be sneered at as a proselytizing job. I had
+almost forgotten to mention that there was already an Old Seamen's
+Home, but it had gradually become a roost for boozers, and when with
+the trustees we made an inspection of it, it proved to be only worthy
+of immediate closure. This was promptly done, and the money realized
+from the sale of it, some ten thousand dollars, was kindly donated to
+the fund for our new building.</p>
+
+<p>After a few years of my collecting funds spasmodically, a number of our
+local friends got "cold feet." Reports started, not circulated by
+well-wishers, that it was all a piece of personal vanity, that no such
+thing was needed, and if built would prove a white elephant, to support
+which I would be going round with my hat in my hand worrying the
+merchants. We had at that time some ninety thousand dollars in hand. I
+laid the whole story before the Governor, Sir Ralph Williams, a man by
+no means prejudiced in favour of prohibition. He was, however, one who
+knew what the city needed, and realized that it was a big lack and
+required a big remedy.</p>
+
+<p>A letter which I published in all the St. John's papers, describing my
+passing fifteen drunken men on the streets <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span>before morning service on
+Christmas Day, brought forth angry denials of the actual facts, and my
+statement of the number of saloons in the city was also contradicted.
+But a saloon is not necessarily a place licensed by the Government or
+city to make men drunk&mdash;for the majority are unlicensed, and a couple
+of experiences which my men had in looking for sailors who had shipped,
+been given advances, and gone off and got drunk in shebeens, proved the
+number to be very much higher than even I had estimated it.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Ralph thought the matter over and called a public meeting in the
+ballroom of Government House. He had a remarkable personality and no
+fear of conventions. After thoroughly endorsing the plan for the
+Institute, and the need for it, he asked each of the many citizens who
+had responded to his invitation, "Will you personally stand by the
+larger scheme of a two hundred thousand dollar building, or will you
+stand by the sixty thousand dollar building with the thirty thousand
+dollar endowment fund, or will you do nothing at all?" It was proven
+that when it came to the point of going on record, practically all who
+really took the slightest interest in the matter were in favour of the
+larger plan&mdash;if I would undertake to raise the money. My own view,
+since more than justified, was that only so large a building could ever
+hope to meet the requirements and only such a comprehensive institution
+could expect to carry its own expenses. I preferred refunding the
+ninety thousand dollars to the various donors and dropping the whole
+business to embarking on the smaller scheme.</p>
+
+<p>That meeting did a world of good. It cleared the atmosphere; and it is
+only fresh air which most of these things really need&mdash;just as does a
+consumptive patient. The plan was now on the shoulders of the citizens;
+it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>no longer one man's hobby. Enemies, like the Scribes and
+Pharisees of old, knew better than to tackle a crowd, and with the
+splendid gift of Messrs. Bowring Brothers of a site on the water-side
+on the main street, costing thirteen thousand dollars, and those of Job
+Brothers, Harvey and Company, and Macpherson Brothers of twenty-five
+hundred dollars each, the fund grew like Jonah's gourd; and in the year
+of 1911, with approximately one hundred and seventy-five thousand
+dollars in hand, we actually came to the time for laying the foundation
+stone. The hostility of enemies was not over. Such an institute is a
+fighting force, and involves contest and therefore enemies. So we
+decided to make this occasion as much of an event as we could. Through
+friends in England we obtained the promise of King George V that if we
+connected the foundation stone with Buckingham Palace by wire, he
+would, after the ceremony in Westminster Abbey on his Coronation Day,
+press a button at three in the afternoon and lay the stone across the
+Atlantic. The good services of friends in the Anglo-American Telegraph
+Company did the rest.</p>
+
+<p>On the fateful day His Excellency the Governor came down and made an
+appropriate and patriotic speech. Owing to the difference in time of
+about three hours and twenty minutes, it was shortly before twelve
+o'clock with us. The noonday gun signal from the Narrows was fired
+during His Excellency's address. Then followed a prayer of invocation
+by His Lordship the Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda&mdash;and then, a
+dead silence and pause. Every one was waiting for our newly crowned
+King to put that stone into place. Only a moment had passed, the
+Governor had just said, "We will wait for the King," when "Bing, bang,
+bang," went the gong signifying that His Majesty was at the other end
+of the wire. Up went <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>the national flag, and slowly but surely the
+great stone began to move. A storm of cheering greeted the successful
+effort; and all that was left for our enemies to say was, "It was a
+fake." They claimed that we had laid the stone ourselves. Nor might
+they have been so far off the mark as they supposed, for we had a man
+with a knife under that platform to make that stone come down if
+anything happened that the wire device did not work. You cannot go back
+on your King whatever else you do, and to permit any grounds to exist
+for supposing that he had not been punctual was unthinkable. But
+fortunately for all concerned our subterfuge was unnecessary.</p>
+
+<p>I have omitted so far to state one of the main reasons why the
+Institute to our mind was so desirable. That was because no
+undenominational work is carried on practically in the whole country.
+Religion is tied up in bundles and its energies used to divide rather
+than to unite men. No Y.M.C.A. or Y.W.C.A. could exist in the Colony
+for that reason. The Boys' Brigade which we had originally started
+could not continue, any more than the Boy Scouts can now. Catholic
+Cadets, Church Lads Brigade, Methodist Guards, Presbyterian Highland
+Brigade&mdash;are all names symbolic of the dividing influences of
+"religion." In no place of which I know would a Y.M.C.A. be more
+desirable; and a large meeting held in the Institute this present
+spring decided that in no town anywhere was a Y.W.C.A. more needed.</p>
+
+<p>In another place in this book I have spoken of the problem of alcohol
+and fishermen. A man does not need alcohol and is far better without
+it. A man who sees two lights when there is only one is not wanted at
+the wheel. The people who sell alcohol know that just as well as we do,
+but for paltry gain they are unpatriotic enough to barter their earthly
+country as well as their heavenly one, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span>and to be branded with the
+knowledge that they are cursing men and ruining families. The
+filibuster deserves the name no less because he does his destructive
+work secretly and slowly, and wears the emblems of respectability
+instead of operating in the open with "Long Toms" under the shadow of
+the "Jolly Roger."</p>
+
+<p>As a magistrate on this coast I have been obliged more than once to act
+as a policeman, and though one hated the ill-feeling which it stored
+up, and did not enjoy the evil-speaking to which it gave rise, I
+considered that it was really only like lancing a concealed
+infection&mdash;the ill-feeling and evil-speaking were better tapped and let
+out.</p>
+
+<p>On one occasion at one of our Labrador hospitals a beardless youth, one
+of the Methodist candidates for college who every year are sent down to
+look after the interests of that denomination on our North coast, came
+to inform me that the only other magistrate on the coast, the pillar of
+the Church of England, and shortly to be our stipendiary, who had many
+political friends of great influence in St. John's, was keeping a
+"blind tiger," while many even of his own people were being ruined body
+and soul by this temptation under their noses.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," I replied, "if you will come and give the evidence which will
+lead to conviction, I will do the rest."</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly will," he answered. And he did. So we got the little
+Strathcona under way, and after steaming some fifteen miles dropped
+into a small cove a mile or two from the place where our friend lived.
+In the King's name we constrained a couple of men to come along as
+special constables. Our visit was an unusual one. To divert suspicion
+we dressed our ship in bunting as if we were coming for a marriage
+license. When we anchored as near his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>stage as possible, we dropped
+our jolly-boat and made for the store. The door was, however, locked
+and our friend nowhere to be seen. "He is in the store" was the reply
+of his wife to our query. We knew then that there was no time to be
+lost, and even while we battered at the door, we could hear a
+suspicious gurgle and smell a curious odour. Rum was trickling down
+through the cracks of the store floor on to the astonished winkles
+below. But the door quickly gave way before our overtures, and we
+caught the magistrate <i>flagrante delicto</i>. We were threatened with all
+sorts of big folk in St. John's; but we held the trial on board
+straightaway just the same. When court was called, the defendant
+demanded the name of the prosecutor&mdash;and to his infinite surprise out
+popped the youthful aspirant to the Methodist ministry. When he learned
+that half of his fine of seventy dollars had to be paid to the
+prosecutor and would be applied toward the building of a Methodist
+school, his temper completely ran away with him; and we had to threaten
+auction on the spot of the goods in the store before we could collect
+the money. We left him breathing out threatenings and slaughter.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep354" id="imagep354"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep354.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep354.jpg" width="95%" alt="The Institute" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE INSTITUTE<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Only once was I really caught. Two mothers in a little village had
+appealed to me because liquor was being sold to their boys who had no
+money, while people were complaining simultaneously that fish was being
+stolen from their stages. No one would tell who was selling it, so we
+had a systematic search made of all the houses, and the guilty man was
+convicted on evidence discovered under the floor of his sitting-room.
+The fine of fifty dollars he paid without a murmur and it was promptly
+divided between the Government and the prosecutor. It so happened,
+however, that he had obtained from us for a close relative a new
+artificial leg, and there was fifty dollars <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>owing to us on it. Unknown
+to us at the time, he had collected that fifty dollars from the said
+relative and with it paid his fine. To this day we never got a cent for
+our leg, and so really fined ourselves. Nor could we with any propriety
+distrain on one of a poor woman's legs!</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>PROBLEMS ON LAND AND SEA</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The year 1912 was a busy season. The New Year found us in Florida with
+the donor of the ship George B. Cluett, consulting him concerning its
+progress and future. Lecturing then as we went west we reached
+Colorado, visited the Grand Canyon, and lectured all along the Pacific
+Coast from San Diego to Victoria&mdash;finding many old friends and making
+many new ones.</p>
+
+<p>At Berkeley I was asked to deliver the Earle Lectures at the University
+of California; and I also spoke to an immense audience in the open
+Greek theatre&mdash;a most novel experience. At Santa Barbara a special
+meeting had been arranged by our good friend Dr. Joseph Andrews, who
+every year travels all the way from California to St. Anthony at his
+own expense to afford the fishermen of our Northern waters the
+inestimable benefits of his skill as a consulting eye specialist. Many
+blind he has restored to sight who would otherwise be encumbrances to
+themselves and others. Only last year I received the following
+communication from an eager would-be patient: "Dear Dr. Grandfield,
+when is the eye spider coming to St. Anthony? I needs to see him bad."</p>
+
+<p>While we were at Tacoma a visitor, saying that he was an old
+acquaintance of mine, sent up his card to our room. He had driven over
+in a fine motor car, and was a great, broad-shouldered man. The grip
+which he gave me assured me that he had been brought up hard, but I
+utterly failed to place him. With a broad grin he relieved the
+situation by saying: "The last time that we met, Doctor, was on the
+deck of a fishing vessel in the North Sea. I was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span>second hand aboard,
+sailing out from Grimsby." The tough surroundings of that life were
+such a contrast to his present apparently ample means that I could only
+say, "How on earth did you get out here?"</p>
+
+<p>"A friend," said he, "gave me a little book entitled 'One Hundred Ways
+to Rise in the World.' The first ninety-nine were no good to me, but
+the hundredth said, 'Go to Western America,' so I just cleared out and
+came here." He was exceedingly kind to us, even accompanying us to
+Seattle, and his story of pluck and enterprise was a splendid stimulus.</p>
+
+<p>Six weeks of lecturing nearly every single night in a new town in
+Canada gave me a real vision of Canadian Western life, and a sincere
+admiration for its people who are making a nation of which the world is
+proud.</p>
+
+<p>In April a large meeting was held in New York to reorganize the
+management of the Mission. The English Royal National Mission to
+Deep-Sea Fishermen was no longer able or willing to finance, much less
+to direct, affairs which had gone beyond their control, and was hoping
+to arrange an organization of an international character to which all
+the affairs of the enterprise could be turned over. This organization
+was formed at the house of Mr. Eugene Delano, the head of Brown
+Brothers, bankers, whose lifelong help has meant for Labrador more than
+he will ever know.</p>
+
+<p>The International Grenfell Association was incorporated to comprise the
+Labrador branches of the Royal National Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen
+as its English component, the Grenfell Association of America and the
+New England Grenfell Association to represent the American interests,
+the Labrador Medical Mission as the Canadian name for its Society, and
+the Newfoundland Grenfell Association for the Newfoundland branch. Each
+one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>of these component societies has two members in the Central
+Council, and together they make up the Board of Directors of the
+International Grenfell Association. These directors ever since have
+generously been giving their time and interest in the wise and
+efficient administration of this work. To these unselfish men Labrador
+and northern Newfoundland, as well as I, owe a greater debt than can
+ever be repaid.</p>
+
+<p>On the 1st of May I was due to speak at the annual meeting of the
+English Mission in London, and the swift heels of the Mauretania once
+more stood us in good stead; for we reached England the evening before
+May 1, arrived in London at 2 <span class="fakesc">A.M.</span>, and I spoke three times
+that day. After a day or so at my old home with my mother we ran about
+in a Ford car for a fortnight, lecturing every evening. The little
+motor saved endless energy otherwise lost in endeavouring to make
+connections, and gave us the opportunity to see numbers of old friends
+whom we must otherwise have missed. One day we would be at a meeting of
+miners at Redmuth in Cornwall, on another at Harrow or Rugby Schools.
+At the latter, an old college friend, who is now head master there,
+gave us a royal welcome. During the last fortnight at home a splendid
+chance was afforded me to visit daily the clinics of an old friend, Sir
+Robert Jones, England's famous orthopedic surgeon. He is one of the
+most wonderful and practical of men, and he opened our eyes to the
+possibility of medical mission work in the very heart of England&mdash;for
+if ever there was an apostle of hope for the deformed and paralyzed he
+certainly is the man. His Sunday morning free clinics crowded even the
+street opposite his office door with waiting patients of the poorest
+class. Equally beneficent also is the large and wonderful hospital
+built specially for derelict children on the heather-covered hills
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>just above our home in Cheshire. But most unique of all was his
+Basschurch Hospital, constructed mostly of sheet iron, standing in the
+middle of a field in the country forty miles away from Liverpool. Every
+second Sunday, Sir Robert Jones used to motor over there and operate
+"in the field." No expedition have I ever enjoyed better in my life
+than when he was good enough to pick us up on his way, and we saw him
+tackle the motley collection of halt and lame, whom the lady of the
+hospital, herself a marvellous testimony to his skill, collected from
+the neighbouring town slums between his visits. The hospital was the
+nearest thing I know to our little "one-horse shows" scattered along
+the Labrador coast; and there was a homing feeling in one's heart all
+the time at these open-air clinics.</p>
+
+<p>As commander-in-chief of the orthopedic work of the British Army in the
+war, I am certain that Colonel Sir Robert Jones has found the
+experiences of his improvised clinics among the most valuable assets he
+could have had. One day he has promised that he will bring his magic
+wand to Labrador; for he is a sportsman in the best sense of the word
+as well as a healer of limbs.</p>
+
+<p>The quickest way back to St. John's being <i>via</i> Canada, we returned by
+the Allan Line, and lectured in the Maritime Provinces as we passed
+North.</p>
+
+<p>It would appear that one must possess an insatiable love of lecturing.
+As a matter of fact, nothing is farther from the truth. But the brevity
+of life is an insistent fact in our existence, and the inability to do
+good work for lack of help that is so gladly given when the
+reasonableness of the expenditure is presented, makes one feel guilty
+if an evening is spent doing nothing. The lecturing is by far the most
+uncongenial task which I have been called upon to do in life, but in a
+mission like ours, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>is not under any special church, the funds
+must be raised to a very great extent by voluntary donations, and in
+order to secure these friends must be kept informed of the progress of
+the work which their gifts are making possible.</p>
+
+<p>For the first seven years of my work I never spent the winters in the
+country&mdash;nor was it my intention ever to do so. Besides the general
+direction of the whole, my work as superintendent has meant the raising
+of the necessary funds, and my special charge on the actual coast has
+been the hospital ship Strathcona. Naturally, owing to our frozen
+winter sea this is only possible during open water. Since 1902 it has
+been my custom when possible to spend every other winter as well as
+every summer in the North. The actual work and life there is a
+tremendous rest after the nervous and physical tax of a lecture tour.
+At first I used to wonder at the lack of imagination in those who would
+greet me, after some long, wearisome hours on the train or in a crowded
+lecture hall, with "What a lovely holiday you are having!" Now this
+oft-repeated comment only amuses me.</p>
+
+<p>It was just after the first of June when again we found ourselves
+heading North for St. Anthony, only once more to be caught in the jaws
+of winter. For the heavy Arctic ice blockaded the whole of the eastern
+French shore, and we had to be content to be held up in small ice-bound
+harbours as we pushed along through the inner edge of the floe, till
+strong westerly winds cleared the way.</p>
+
+<p>Having reached St. Anthony and looked into matters there, we once again
+ran south to St. John's to inspect the new venture of the Institute. To
+help out expenses we towed for the whole four hundred miles a schooner
+which had been wrecked on the Labrador coast, having run on the rocks,
+and knocked a hole in her bottom. She had a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>number of sacks of "hard
+bread" on board. These had been thrown into the breach and planking
+nailed on over them. The bread had swelled up between the two casings
+and become so hard again that the vessel leaked but little; and though
+the continual dirge of the pumps was somewhat dismal as we journeyed,
+we had no reason to fear that she would go to the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>Flour resists water in a marvellous way. On one occasion our own vessel
+in the North Sea was run into by another. The latter's cutwater went
+through her side and deck almost to the combing of the hatch, and the
+water began to pour in. By immediately putting the vessel on the other
+tack, the rent was largely lifted out of water. A heavy topsail was
+hastily thrown over her side, and eventually hauled under the keel&mdash;the
+inrushing water keeping it there. Then sacks of flour were rammed into
+the breach. The ship in this condition, favoured by the wind which
+enabled her to continue on that tack, reached home, two hundred miles
+distant, with her hand-pumps keeping her comparatively free, though
+there was the greatest difficulty to keep her afloat directly she was
+towed into the harbour and lay at the wharf.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion when a Canadian steamer, loaded with provisions,
+ran into a cliff two hundred feet high in a fog on the northeast end of
+Belle Isle, and became a total wreck, her flour floated all up and down
+the Straits. I remember picking up a sack that had certainly been in
+the water some weeks; and yet only about a quarter of an inch of
+outside layer was even wet.</p>
+
+<p>The opening of the Institute was a great day. Dr. Henry van Dyke had
+come all the way from New York to give an address. Sir William
+Archibald, chairman of the Royal National Mission to Deep-Sea
+Fishermen, had travelled from England to bring a blessing from the old
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>home country; and the merchants and friends in St. John's did their
+best to make it a red-letter day. Sir Edward Morris, the Prime
+Minister, and other politicians, the Mayor and civic functionaries were
+all good enough to come and add their quota to the launching of the new
+ship. There were still pessimistic and croaking individuals, however,
+as well as joyful hearts, when a few days later we again ran North.</p>
+
+<p>We started almost immediately for our Straits trip after reaching St.
+Anthony. On our way east from Harrington, our most westerly hospital,
+commenced in 1907, a telegram summoning me immediately to St. John's
+dropped upon me like a bolt from the blue. Without a moment's delay we
+headed yet again South, full of anxiety as to what could be the cause
+of this message.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival there we found that trouble had arisen concerning the funds
+of the Institute and a prosecution was to follow. It was the worst time
+of my life. Things were readjusted; the money was refunded, punishment
+meted out&mdash;but such damage is not made right by reconstruction. It left
+permanent scars and made the end of an otherwise splendid year anxious
+and sorrowful.</p>
+
+<p>The work on East Labrador was also extended this year. While walking
+down the street in New York with a young doctor friend who had once
+wintered with me, we met a colleague of his at the College of
+Physicians and Surgeons. In the conversation it was suggested that he
+should spend a summer in Labrador, and we would place him in a virgin
+field. As a result Dr. Wiltsie, now in China, came North, started in
+work with a little school, club, and dispensary, at a place called
+Spotted Islands, in a very barren group of islands about a hundred
+miles north of the Straits of Belle Isle. His work became permanent as
+the summer mission of the Y.M.C.A. of the College, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>organization
+now carries all its expenses. It has a dwelling-house, school,
+dispensary, small operating room, and accommodation for a couple of
+patients, all under one roof, and owns a fast motor boat called the P.
+and S., which has made itself known as an angel of mercy, every summer
+since, over a hundred miles of coast and islands. It is only a summer
+work, and is mainly among a schooner population; but as a testimonial
+to the value of pluck and unselfishness I know of no better example.</p>
+
+<p>Among other ways to help Labrador we had always tried to induce
+tourists and yachtsmen to come and visit us. Mr. Rainey's Surf, Mr.
+McCready's Enchantress, Dr. Stimson's Fleur de Lys, Mr. Arthur James's
+Aloha, and a few other yachts had come part of the way, but no one had
+yet explored north of Hopedale&mdash;the latitude at which the fine Northern
+scenery may be said only to begin. The large power vessels or even the
+best type of yacht are by no means necessary for a visit to Labrador.
+For the innumerable fjords and islands make it much more interesting to
+be in a smaller boat, which allows one to go freely in and out of new
+by-ways, even when the survey is only that of your own making. The most
+sporting visits of that kind have been the honeymoon of a Philadelphia
+friend, who, with his wife, one man, and a canoe, went by river to
+James's Bay, then <i>via</i> Hudson Bay to Richmond Gulf, then by portage
+and river to Ungava Bay, and thence home by way of the Hudson Bay
+Company's steamer; the canoe trips of Mr. Kennedy all along the outside
+eastern coast, and those of Mr. William Cabot on the section of the
+northeastern coast between Hopedale and Nain. In this year of 1912 a
+new little yacht appeared, the Sybil, brought down from Boston by her
+owner, Mr. George Williams. I had promised that if ever he would sail
+down to see us in his own boat, we would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span>escort him up a salmon river
+for a fishing expedition&mdash;a luxury which we certainly never anticipated
+would materialize. But on arriving North, there was the beautiful
+little boat; and in it we sailed up into the fine salmon stream in the
+bay close to the hospital. Subsequently Mr. Williams came year after
+year, pushing farther North each time. The Sybil he eventually gave to
+the Mission, and built a large boat, the Jeanette, in which I had the
+pleasure later of exploring with him and roughly charting three
+hitherto unrecorded bays.</p>
+
+<p>One unusual feature of our magisterial work in 1912 was the settlement
+of a fisherman's strike "down North." It would at first seem difficult
+to understand how fishermen could engineer a strike, they are so
+good-natured and so long-suffering. But this time it was over the price
+of fish, naturally a matter of immense importance to the catcher. The
+planters, or men who give advances to come and fish around the mouth of
+Hamilton Inlet, were to ship their fish on a steamer coming direct from
+England and returning direct&mdash;thus saving delay and very great expense.
+But the price did not please the men, and they knew if they once put
+the fish on board at $3.50 per quintal, the amount offered, they would
+never recover the $5, which was the price for which fish was selling in
+St. John's that year. The more masterful men decided that not only
+would they not put the fish on board till they had cash orders or
+R&eacute;villon agreements for their price, but they would not allow any of
+the weaker brethren to do so either. There were but few hard words and
+no violent deeds, but when one blackleg was seen to go alongside the
+waiting steamer, which was costing a hundred dollars a day to the
+fish-carrying merchant, a crowd of boats dashed out from creeks and
+corners and pounced like a vulture on the big boat, fat with a fine
+load of fish, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span>and not only towed her away and tied her up, but hauled
+her out of the water with the cargo and all in her, and dragged her so
+far up the side of a steep hill that the owner was utterly unable
+without assistance to get her down again.</p>
+
+<p>Each day we had a conference with one side or the other, the Government
+having asked us to remain and see things settled. While each side was
+fencing for an advantage, a good-sized schooner sailed into the
+harbour, brought up alongside the steamer, and was seen to begin
+unloading dry fish. A dash was made for her by the boats as before;
+only this time it was the attack of Lilliputians on Gulliver. We on the
+shore could not help laughing heartily when shortly we saw a string of
+over a dozen fishing boats harnessed tandem in one long line towing the
+interloper&mdash;as they had the blackleg&mdash;away up the inlet where they
+moored and guarded her. It appeared that the buyer had sent her to a
+far-off anchorage, and unknown to the strikers had had fish put into
+her there. The steamer might have followed and got away with the ruse.
+But the skipper underestimated the enemy, always a fatal mistake, and
+lost out.</p>
+
+<p>The agreement made a day or so later was perfectly peaceful, and
+perfectly satisfactory to both sides, for the fish turned out a good
+price, and the buyer did not lose anything on the transaction but the
+demurrage on his steamer and a little kudos, which I must confess he
+took in very good spirit. Even if he did have a grasping side to his
+character, he was fortunate in possessing a sense of humour also.</p>
+
+<p>The fall brought yet another call to go South to St. John's, and once
+more in the little Strathcona we ploughed our way through the long
+miles to the southward. This time it was for the reorganization of the
+Institute <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span>government, to form a council and to install the new manager
+from England. This was Mr. Walter Jones, a man whose wide experience
+among naval "Jackies" had been gained in a large institute of much the
+same kind. This gave him the credentials which we needed, for he had
+made it not only a social but an economic success. He has been much
+sought by the various churches in St. John's as a speaker to men, and
+his Sunday evening lantern services and lectures at the Institute are a
+real source of uplift and help to men of every religious denomination.</p>
+
+<p>The fall of the year was very busy. Dr. Seymour Armstrong, formerly
+surgical registrar at the Charing Cross Hospital in London, an able
+surgeon, and a man of independent means, joined me for that winter at
+St. Anthony. He had already wintered twice at our Labrador hospitals,
+and was fully expecting to give us much further help, but two years
+later the great war found him at the front, where he gladly laid down
+his life for his country.</p>
+
+<p>One sick call that winter lives in my memory. It was a case where a
+nurse was really more needed than a doctor. The way was long, the wind
+was cold, and the snow happened to be particularly deep. One of the
+nurses, however, volunteered for the journey, and I arranged to carry
+her on a second komatik, while my driver broke the path with our
+impedimenta. Things did not go altogether well. Since I have enjoyed
+the luxury of a driver, or a "carter" as we call them, my cunning in
+wriggling a komatik at full speed down steep mountain-sides through
+trees has somewhat waned. Comparatively early in the day we looped the
+loop&mdash;and we were both heavy weights. It was nearly dark when we
+reached the last lap&mdash;an enormous bay with a direct run of seven miles
+over sea ice. We should probably have made it all right, but suddenly
+fog drifted in from the Straits of Belle Isle, and steering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span>with a
+small compass and no binnacle, while attending to hauling a heavy nurse
+over hummocky sea ice in the dark, satisfied all my ambition for
+problems. At length the nature of the ice indicated that we were
+approaching either land or the sea edge. We stopped the komatiks, and
+it fell to my lot to go ahead and explore. Finding nothing I called to
+the driver, and his voice returned out of the fog right ahead of me,
+and almost in my ear. I had told them not to move or we might miss our
+way, and I reminded him of that fact. "Haven't budged an inch" came the
+reply from the darkness. I had been describing a large circle. I can
+still hear that nurse laughing.</p>
+
+<p>At last we struck the huge blocks of ice, raised on the boulder rocks
+by the rise and fall of tide in shallow water, and we knew that we
+should make the land. The perversity of nature made us turn the wrong
+way for the village toward which we were aiming, and we found ourselves
+"tangled up" in the Boiling Brooks, a place where some underground
+springs keep holes open through the ice all winter. Suddenly, while
+marching ahead with the compass, seeking to avoid these springs, the
+ground being level enough for the nurse to act as her own helmsman, a
+tremendous "whurr! whurr!" under my feet restored sufficient leaping
+power to my weary legs to leave me head down and only my racquets out
+of the snow&mdash;all for a covey of white partridges on which I had nearly
+trodden. At length we made a tiny winter cottage. The nurse slept on
+the bench, the doctor on the floor, the driver on a shelf. Our generous
+host had almost to hang himself on a hook. The dogs went hungry. But as
+we boiled our kettle, all agreed that we would not have exchanged the
+experience for ten rides in a Pullman Car.</p>
+
+<p>Largely through the zeal of my colleague, Dr. Arthur Wakefield, of
+Kendal, England, and that of my cousin, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>Mr. Martyn Spencer, of New
+Zealand, a band of the Legion of Frontiersmen had been brought into
+being all along this section of coast, in spite of the scattered nature
+of the population. The idea was that having to depend so largely on the
+use of their guns, and being excellent shots with a bullet, the men
+would make good snipers and scouts if ever there were war. True, most
+of our people called it "playing soldiers," and no one took seriously
+that we were ever likely to be called upon to fight; but all Dr.
+Wakefield's hopes and fears were realized and our lads made both brave
+soldiers and excellent marksmen.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep368" id="imagep368"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep368a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep368a.jpg" width="60%" alt="On The Way Home" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">On the Way Home</p>
+
+<a href="images/imagep368b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep368b.jpg" width="60%" alt="Carrying A Sick Dog" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">Carrying a Sick Dog</p>
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">DOG TRAVEL<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Dr. and Mrs. Wakefield have given several years of both medical and
+industrial work for the people of this coast, both in St. Anthony,
+Forteau, Mud Lake, and Battle Harbour.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, the functions of superintendent involved executive duties, and I
+had once again to run to St. John's, during the following summer, for a
+meeting of the Board of Directors. With true Christian unselfishness
+these men come all the way from Ottawa, New York, and Boston, to help
+with their counsel so relatively unimportant a work as ours. Sir Walter
+Davidson again lent his heartiest co&ouml;peration. The people owe him, Sir
+Herbert Murray, Sir Henry MacCallum, Sir William MacGregor, Sir Ralph
+Williams, Sir Alexander Harris, and all the long line of their
+Governors, more than most of them realize. They bring all the
+inspiration of the best type of educated, widely experienced, and
+travelled Englishmen to this Colony. They are specially trained and
+specially selected men, and can give their counsel and leadership
+absolutely untrammelled by any local prejudices.</p>
+
+<p>One excellent outcome of this particular meeting was the reorganization
+on a larger scale of the Girls' Committee for the Institute. The
+success of it has been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span>phenomenal. Together with its protective work
+it has aimed at that most difficult task of creating in them sufficient
+ambition to make the girls receiving very small wages want to pay for a
+better environment. The committee has always been strictly
+interdenominational, with Mrs. W.C. Job and Mrs. W.E. Gosling as its
+presidents. It has made a "show place" of the Girls' Department of the
+Institute, and that department has become self-supporting&mdash;a most
+desirable goal for every philanthropy.</p>
+
+<p>The lumber mill and schooner building work were in slings. Our men,
+made far better off by the winter work thus provided, had acquired gear
+so much better for fishing than their former equipment that they could
+not resist engaging in the more remunerative work of the fishery in the
+summer months. For two years previous they had left before the drive
+was complete and the logs out of the woods. Now the local manager had
+also decided to fish during the three summer months&mdash;which is really
+the only time available for mill operations also. I was fortunate
+enough on my way North to persuade an expert lumber operator from
+Canada, and an entirely kindred spirit, Mr. Harry Crowe, to come down
+and help me out with the problem. We spent a few delightful days
+together, in which he taught me as many things that every mill man
+should know as he would have had to learn had he been dabbling in
+pills. Like myself, Mr. Crowe is an ardent believer in Confederation
+with Canada for this little country. Before Mr. Crowe's efforts on our
+behalf had materialized, a new friend, Mr. Walter Booth, of New York,
+well known in American football circles as one of the best of
+all-American forwards, came North and carried the mill for a year. The
+one and only fault of his r&eacute;gime was that it was too short. The field
+of work was one for which he was admirably equipped, but home reasons
+made him return <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span>after his time expired. He has often told me since,
+however, that he has fits of wishing that he could have put in a life
+with us in the North, rather than spending it in the more civilized
+circles of the New York Bar.</p>
+
+<p>Many invitations to speak, especially at universities in America, and
+through a lecture agency in England to numerous societies and clubs,
+led me to devote the winter of 1913-14 to a lecture tour. My wife
+induced me also to renew my youth by a holiday of a month on the
+Continent.</p>
+
+<p>A lecture tour includes some of the most delightful experiences of
+life, bringing one into direct personal contact with so many people
+whom it is a privilege to know. But it also has its anxieties and
+worries, and eternal vigilance is the price of avoiding a breakdown at
+this the most difficult of all my work. One's memory is taxed far
+beyond its capacity. To forget some things, and some people and some
+kindnesses, are unforgivable sins. A new host every night, a new home,
+a new city, a new audience, alone lead one into lamentable lapses. In a
+car full of people a man asked me one day how I liked Toledo. I replied
+that I had never been there. "Strange," he murmured, "because you spent
+the night at my house!" On another occasion at a crowded reception I
+was talking to a lady on one side and a gentleman on the other. I had
+been introduced to them, but caught neither name. They did not address
+each other, but only spoke to me. I felt that I must remedy matters by
+making them acquainted with each other, and therefore mumbled, "Pray
+let me present to you Mrs. M-m-m." "Oh! no need, Doctor," he replied.
+"We've been married for thirty years." Shortly after I noticed at a
+reception that every one wore his name pinned onto his breast, and I
+wondered if there were any connection.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>It is my invariable custom in the North to carry a water-tight box with
+matches and a compass chained to my belt. One night, being tired, I had
+turned into bed in a very large, strange room without noting the
+bearings of the doors or electric switches. My faithful belt had been
+abandoned for pyjama strings. It so happened that to catch a train I
+had to rise before daylight, and all my possessions were in a
+dressing-room. I soon gave up hunting for the electric light. It was
+somewhere in the air, I knew, but beating the air in the dark with the
+windows wide open in winter is no better fun in your nightclothes in
+New York than in Labrador. A tour of inspection discovered no less than
+five doors, none of which I felt entitled to enter in the dark in
+<i>d&eacute;shabille</i>. The humour of the situation is, of course, apparent now,
+but even one's dog hates to be laughed at.</p>
+
+<p>An independent life has somehow left me with an instinctive dislike for
+asking casual acquaintances the way to any place that I am seeking. The
+aversion is more or less justified by the fact that outside the police
+force very exceptional persons can direct you, especially if they know
+the way themselves. On my first visit to New York I could see how easy
+a city it was to navigate, and returned to my host's house near Eighth
+Street in good time to dress for dinner after a long side trip near
+Columbia University and thence to the Bellevue Hospital. "How did you
+find your way?" my friend asked. "Why, there was sufficient sky visible
+to let me see the North Star," I answered. I felt almost hurt when he
+laughed. It is natural for a polar bear not to have to inquire the way
+home.</p>
+
+<p>The aphorism attributed to Dr. John Watson, of "Beside the Bonnie Briar
+Bush," suggests itself. "My fee is one hundred dollars if I go to a
+hotel, two hundred if I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span>am entertained, because in the latter event
+one can only live half so long." I conclude that he made the choice of
+Achilles, for he died on a lecture tour. So far fate has been kinder to
+me.</p>
+
+<p>The greatest danger is the reporter, especially the emotional reporter,
+who has not attended your meeting. I owe such debts to the press that
+this statement seems the blackest of ingratitude. On the contrary, I
+must plead that doctors are privileged. My controversy with this class
+of reporters is their generosity, which puts into one's mouth
+statements that on final analysis may be cold facts, but which,
+remembering that one is lecturing on work among people whom one loves
+and respects, it would never occur to me to slur at a public meeting.
+No one who tries to alter conditions which exist can expect to escape
+making enemies. I have seen reports of what I have said at advertised
+meetings, that were subsequently cancelled. I have followed up rumours,
+and editors have expressed sorrow that they accepted them from men who
+had been too busy to be present. But "qui s'excuse, s'accuse"; and my
+conclusion is that the lecturer is practically defenceless.</p>
+
+<p>Since our marriage my wife has generously acted as my secretary, having
+specially learned shorthand and typewriting in order to free me from
+carrying such a burden, and has helped me enormously ever since on this
+line. But lecture tours used to make me despair of keeping abreast of
+correspondence. I sometimes was forced to treat letters as Henry
+Drummond did&mdash;who allowed them to answer themselves&mdash;if I wished free
+mornings in which to visit the hospitals, just at the time that all
+their professional work was in progress. These clinics are invaluable
+and almost unique experiences. They persuaded me more than ever how
+much depends in surgery as well <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span>as in medicine on "the man behind the
+gun"; and that mere mileage is not the real handicap on members of our
+profession whose fields of work lie away from the centres of learning.
+They also imbued me with the profoundest spirit of respect for the
+leaders of the healing art.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<p>To no one but myself did it seem odd that a plain Englishman should be
+invited to perform the function of best man at the wedding of the
+daughter of the President of the United States of America at the White
+House. The matter was never even noticed either in the press or in
+conversation. The only citizen to whom I suggested the anomaly merely
+said, "Well, why not?"</p>
+
+<p>My long-time fellow worker and one of my best of friends, Francis B.
+Sayre, was to be married on November 25, 1913, to Miss Jessie Wilson.
+Her father, who, when first I had had the honour of his acquaintance,
+happened to be the President of Princeton University, was now the
+President of the United States. So we had all the fun of a White House
+wedding. Not less than fifty of our fishermen friends from Labrador and
+North Newfoundland were invited, and some members of our staff were
+present.</p>
+
+<p>We started the wedding procession upstairs, and came down to the
+fanfare of uniformed trumpeters. Our awkwardness in keeping step,
+though we had rehearsed the whole business several times, only relieved
+the tension that must exist at so important an event in life.</p>
+
+<p>Trying to dodge the reporters added heaps of fun, which I am sure that
+they shared, for they generally got the better of us; though the thrill
+of escape from the White House and Washington, so that the honeymoon
+rendezvous should not be known, was practically a victory for the
+wedding party. As it would never be safe to use <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span>the tactics again, I
+am permitted after the lapse of many years to give them away. As soon
+as dark fell, and while the guests were still revelling, the bride and
+groom were hustled into a secret elevator in the thickness of the wall,
+whisked up to the robing chambers, and completely disguised. Meanwhile
+a suitable camouflage of automobiles had arrived ostentatiously at the
+main entrance, to carry and escort the illustrious couple in fitting
+pomp to the great station. From the landing the couple were dropped
+direct to the basement to a prearranged oubliette. The password was the
+sound of the wheels of an ordinary cab at the kitchen entrance. The
+moments of suspense were not long. At the sound of the crush on the
+gravel a silent door was opened, two completely muffled figures crept
+out, and the conspirators drove slowly along round a few corners where
+a swift automobile lay panting to add <i>libert&eacute;</i> to <i>&eacute;galit&eacute;</i> and
+<i>fraternit&eacute;</i>.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>A MONTH'S HOLIDAY IN ASIA MINOR</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>After the fall spent in America in raising the necessary funds, it was
+the now famous Carmania which carried us to England. In spite of a few
+days' rest at my old home, and the stimulus of a Grenfell clan
+gathering in London, my wife and I were both in need of something which
+could direct our minds from our problems, and Boxing Day found us bound
+for Paris, Turin, Milan, and Rome.</p>
+
+<p>Just before Christmas I had had a meeting at the famous office of the
+Hudson Bay Company in London, and attended another of their interesting
+luncheons where their directors meet. My old friend Lord Strathcona
+presided. I could not help noting that after all the lapse of years
+since we first met at Hudson Bay House in Montreal, he still retained
+his abstemious habits. He was ninety-three, and still at his post as
+High Commissioner for a great people, as well as leading councillor of
+a dozen companies. His memory of Labrador and his days there, and his
+love for it, had not abated one whit. Hearing that the hospital steamer
+Strathcona needed a new boiler and considerable repairs, he ordered me
+to have the work undertaken at once and the bill sent to him. He,
+moreover, insisted that we should spend some days with him at his
+beautiful country house near London, an invitation which we accepted
+for our return, but which we were never fated to realize, for before
+the appointed date that able man had crossed the last bar.</p>
+
+<p>It is said to be better to be lucky than rich. We had expected in Rome
+to do only what the Romans of our pocket-book do. But we fell in with
+some old acquaintances <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>whose pleasure it is to give pleasure, and New
+Year's night was made memorable by a concert given by the choir of the
+Sistine Chapel, to which we were taken by the editor of the "Churchman"
+and later of the "Constructive Quarterly," an old friend of ours, Dr.
+Silas McBee. A glimpse into the British Embassy gave us an insight into
+the problem of Roman modern politics and the factions of the Black and
+White.</p>
+
+<p>Rome is always delightful. One is glad to forget the future and live
+for the time in the past. Sitting in the Coliseum in the moonlight I
+could see the gladiators fighting to amuse the civilized man of that
+period, and gentle women and innocent men dying horrible deaths for
+truths that have made us what we are, but which we now sometimes regard
+so lightly.</p>
+
+<p>I confess that religious buildings, religious pictures, religious
+conventions of all kinds very soon pall on my particular temperament.
+It is possibly a defect in my development, like my inability to
+appreciate classical music. On the other hand, like Mark Twain, I enjoy
+an ancient mummy just because he is ancient; and were it not for the
+irritation of seeing so much religious display associated with such
+miserable social conditions in so beautiful a country, I should have
+more sympathy with those who would "see Rome and die." The sanitation
+of the one-time Mistress of the world suggests that it could not be
+difficult to accomplish that feat in the hot weather.</p>
+
+<p>Brindisi is a household word in almost every English home, especially
+one like ours with literally dozens of Anglo-Indian relatives. I was
+therefore glad to pass <i>via</i> Brindisi on the road to Athens. Patras
+also had its interest to me as a distributing centre for our Labrador
+fish. We actually saw three forlorn-looking schooners, with cargoes
+from Newfoundland, lying in the harbour.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span>One poignant impression left on my mind by Greece, as well as Rome, was
+its diminutive size. I almost resented the fact that a place civilized
+thousands of years ago, and which had loomed up on my imagination as
+the land of Socrates, of Plato, of Homer, of Achilles, of Spartan
+warriors, and immortal poets, all seemed so small. The sense of
+imposition on my youth worried me.</p>
+
+<p>In Athens one saw so many interesting relics within a few hundred yards
+that it left one with the feeling of having eaten a meal too fast. The
+scene of the battle of Salamis fascinated me. When we sat in Xerxes'
+seat and conjured up the whole picture again, and saw the meaning to
+the world of the great deed for which men so gladly gave their lives to
+defeat a tyrant seeking for world power, it made me love those old
+Greeks, not merely admire their art.</p>
+
+<p>On Mars Hill we stood on the spot where, to me, perhaps the greatest
+man in history, save one, pleaded with men to accept love as the only
+durable source of greatness and power. But every monument, every
+bas-relief, every tombstone showed that the fighting man was their
+ideal.</p>
+
+<p>The idea of sailing from the Piraeus reconciled us to the very mediocre
+vessel which carried us to Smyrna. Our visit to Asia Minor we had
+inadvertently timed to the opening of the International College at
+Paradise near Smyrna. This college is the gift of Mrs. John Kennedy of
+New York. Mr. Ralph Harlow, our host and a professor at the college,
+with Mr. Cass Reid and other friends, made it possible for us to enjoy
+intelligently our brief visit. It was just a dream of pleasure. Time
+forbids my describing the marvellous work of that and other colleges.
+Men of ambition, utterly irrespective of race, colour, creed, or sect,
+sit side by side as the alumni. The humanity, not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>the
+other-worldliness, of the leaders has made even the Turks, steeped in
+the blood of their innocent Christian subjects, recognize the untold
+value of these Christian universities, and kept them, their professors,
+and buildings, safe during the war.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Bliss, of Beyrout, once told us a humorous story about himself. He
+had just been addressing a large audience in New York, when immediately
+after his speech the chairman rose and announced, "We will now sing the
+one hundred and fiftieth hymn, 'From the best bliss that earth imparts,
+we turn unfilled to Thee again.'"</p>
+
+<p>The preservation of Ephesus was a surprise to us, though of late the
+Turks have been carrying off its precious historic marble to burn for
+lime for their fields. One large marble font in an old Byzantine
+baptistry was broken up for that purpose while we were there. We stood
+on the very rostrum in the theatre where St. Paul and the coppersmith
+had trouble&mdash;while at the time of our visit, the only living inhabitant
+of that once great city was a hungry ass which we saw harboured in a
+dressing-room beneath the platform.</p>
+
+<p>The anachronism of buzzing along a Roman road, which had not been
+repaired since the days of the C&aelig;sars, on our way to Pergamos, in the
+only Ford car in the country, was punctuated by having to get out and
+shove whenever we came to a cross-drain. These always went over instead
+of under the road&mdash;only on an exaggerated Baltimorian plan. One night
+at Soma, which is the end of the branch railroad in the direction of
+Pergamos, we were in the best hotel, which, however, was only half of
+it for humans. A detachment of Turkish soldiers were billeted below in
+the quarters for the other animals. Snow was on the ground, and it was
+bitterly cold. The poor soldiers slept literally on the stone floor. We
+were cold, and we felt so sorry for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>them, that after we had enjoyed a
+hot breakfast, in a fit of generosity we sent them a couple of baskets
+of Turkish specialties. Later in the day we noticed that wherever we
+went a Turkish soldier with a rifle followed us. So we turned off into
+a side street and walked out into the country. Sure enough the soldier
+came along behind. As guide to speak the many languages for us, we had
+a Greek graduate of International College, a very delightful young
+fellow, very proud of a newly acquired American citizenship. At last we
+stopped and bribed that soldier to tell us what the trouble was. "Our
+officer thought that you must be spies because you sent gifts to
+Turkish soldiers."</p>
+
+<p>At Pergamos, a Greek Christian&mdash;very well off&mdash;invited us to be his
+guests on Greek Christmas Eve. It was the occasion of a large family
+gathering. There were fine young men and handsome, dark-eyed girls, and
+all the accessories of a delightful Christian home. When the outer
+gates had been locked, and the inner doors bolted and blinds drawn
+down, and all possible loopholes examined for spies, the usual
+festivities were observed. These families of the conquered race have
+lived in bondage some four hundred years, but their patriotism has no
+more dimmed than that of ancient Israel under her oppressors. Before we
+left they danced for us the famous Souliet Dance&mdash;memorial to the brave
+Greek girls who, driven to their last stand on a rocky hilltop, jumped
+one by one over the precipice as the dance came round to each one,
+rather than submit to shame and slavery. From our friends at Smyrna we
+learned subsequently that when, a few months later, and just before the
+war, the German general visited the country, making overtures to the
+Turks, the blow fell on this family like many others, and they suffered
+the agony of deportation.</p>
+
+<p>At Constantinople the kindness of Mr. Morgenthau, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span>the American
+Ambassador, and the optimism bred by Robert College and the Girls'
+School, left delightful memories of even the few days in winter that we
+spent there. The museum alone is worth the long journey to it, and when
+a teacher from the splendid Girls' School, herself a specialist on the
+Hittites, was good enough to show it to us, it was like a leap back
+into the long history of man. It seemed but a step to the Neanderthal
+skull and our Troglodyte forbears.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to shortage of time we returned to England through Bulgaria,
+passing through Serbia, and stopping for a day at Budapest and two at
+Vienna. We would have been glad to linger longer, for every hour was
+delightful.</p>
+
+<p>The month's holiday did me lots of good and sent me back to England a
+new man to begin lecturing again in the interests of the distant
+Labrador; and with the feeling that, after all, our coast was a very
+good place for one's life-work.</p>
+
+<p>We helped to lessen the tedium of the lectures by doing most of the
+travelling in an automobile of my brother's, in which we lived, moved,
+and had our meals by the roadside. The lectures took us everywhere from
+the drawing-room of a border castle on the line of the old Roman
+Wall&mdash;which Puck of Pook's Hill had made as fascinating for us as he
+did for the children&mdash;to the Embassy in Paris.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the Mauretania carried us to America. April was spent partly
+in lecturing and partly in attending surgical clinics&mdash;a very valuable
+experience being a week's work with Dr. W.R. MacAusland, of Boston, at
+his orthopedic clinics in and around that city. He and his brother
+"Andy" had passed a summer with us in Labrador. May found us in Canada
+visiting our helpers, and stimulating various branches by lectures.
+While <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span>loading the George B. Cluett in early June in St. John's,
+Newfoundland, we organized an education committee to work with the
+Institute Committee, to give regular educational lectures throughout
+the winter. Dr. Lloyd, our present Prime Minister, and Sir Patrick
+McGrath, always a stanch friend of the Mission, helped materially in
+this new activity.</p>
+
+<p>The Institute at the time was housing some of the crew of the
+Greenland, who had come through the terrible experiences at the seal
+fishery in the spring of 1914. Caught on the ice in a fearful blizzard,
+almost all had perished miserably. Some few had survived to lose limbs
+and functions from frostburns. The occasion gave the Institute one of
+the many opportunities for a service rather more dramatic than the
+routine, which did much to win it popularity.</p>
+
+<p>Midsummer's Day and the two following days we were stuck in a heavy
+ice-jam one hundred miles south of St. Anthony. My wife and boys had
+arrived in St. Anthony before me, and to find them in our own house,
+and the hospital full of opportunity for the line of help which I
+especially enjoy, afforded all that heart could wish.</p>
+
+<p>Early in July the Duke of Connaught, the Governor-General of Canada,
+paid us a long-promised visit. It was highly appreciated by all our
+people, who would possibly have paid him more undivided attention had
+he not been kind enough to send his band ashore&mdash;the first St. Anthony
+had ever heard. The resplendent uniforms of the members totally
+eclipsed that of the Duke, who was in "mufti"; but he readily
+understood that the division of attention was really not attributable
+to us. He proved to be a thorough good sport and a most democratic
+prince.</p>
+
+<p>The war having broken out in August, we had only one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span>idea&mdash;economy on
+every side, that we might all be able to do what we could. We had not
+then begun to realize the seriousness of it sufficiently to dream that
+we should be welcome ourselves. We closed up all activities not
+entirely necessary, and even the hospital ship went into winter
+quarters so early that my fall trip was made from harbour to harbour in
+the people's own boats or by mail steamer or schooner, as opportunity
+offered.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE WAR</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In the fall of 1915, I was urged by the Harvard Surgical Unit to make
+one of their number for their proposed term of service that winter at a
+base hospital in France. Having discussed the matter with my directors,
+we decided that it was justifiable to postpone the lecture tour which
+had been arranged for me, in view of this new need.</p>
+
+<p>We sailed for England on the Dutch liner New Amsterdam and landed at
+Falmouth, passing through a cordon of mine-sweepers and small patrols
+as we neared the English shores. My wife's offer to work in France not
+being accepted, since I held the rank of Major, we ran down to my old
+home, where she decided to spend most of her time. My uniform and kit
+were ready in a few days; and in spite of the multitudinous calls on
+the War Office officials, I can say in defence of red tape that my
+papers were made out very quickly. I was thus able to leave promptly
+for Boulogne, near which I joined the other members of my Unit, who had
+preceded me by a fortnight.</p>
+
+<p>It was Christmas and the snow was on the ground when I arrived in
+France. There was much talk of trench feet and the cold. Our life in
+the North had afforded experiences more like those at the front than
+most people's. We are forced to try and obtain warmth and mobility
+combined with economy, especially in food and clothing. At the request
+of the editor, I therefore sent to the "British Medical Journal" a
+summary of deductions from our Northern experiences. Clothes only keep
+heat in and damp out. Thickness, not even fur, will warm a statue, and
+our ideal has been to obtain light, wind-and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span>water-proof material, and
+a pattern that prevents leakage of the body's heat from the neck,
+wrists, waist, knees, and ankles. Our skin boots, by being soft,
+water-tight, and roomy, remove the causes of trench feet. Later when I
+returned to England I was invited to the War Office to talk over the
+matter. The defects, either in wet and cold or in hot weather, of
+woolen khaki cloth are obvious, and when subsequently I visited the
+naval authorities in Washington about the same subject, I was delighted
+to be assured that on all small naval craft our patterns were being
+exclusively used. Who introduced them did not matter.</p>
+
+<p>I had also advocated a removable insert of sheet steel in a pocket on
+the breast of the tunic, this plate to be kept in the trenches and
+inserted on advancing; and a lobster-tail steel knee-piece in the
+knickers. Of this latter Sir Robert Jones, the British orthopedic
+chief, appreciated the value, knowing how many splendid men are put
+<i>hors de combat</i> by tiny pieces of shell splinters infecting that
+joint. But the "Journal" censored all these references to armour. A
+wounded Frenchman at Berck presented me with a helmet heavily dented by
+shrapnel, and told me that he owed his life to it. Later at General
+Headquarters, General Sir Arthur Sloggett showed me a collection of a
+dozen experimental helmets, each of which stood for a saved life.</p>
+
+<p>One of the soldiers who came under my care had a bullet wound through
+the palm of his hand. I happened to ask him where his hand had been
+when hit. He said, "On my hip. We were mending a break in our barbed
+wire at night, and a fixed rifle got me, exactly where it got my chum
+just afterwards, but it went through him."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did your bullet go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>An examination of his trousers showed the bullet in his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span>pocket. It was
+embedded in three pennies and two francs which he happened to be
+carrying there, and which his wounded hand had prevented his feeling
+for afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>Pathos and humour, like genius and madness, are close akin. One of the
+boys told me of a chum who was very "churchy," and always carried an
+Episcopal Prayer Book in his pocket&mdash;for which he was not a little
+chaffed. For a joke one day he was presented with a second that a
+messmate had received, but for which he had no use. His scruples about
+"wasting it" made him put it in his pocket with the other. Soon after
+this, in an advance, he was shot in the chest. The bullet passed right
+through the first Prayer Book and lodged in the second, where it was
+found on his arrival at hospital for another slight wound. He at least
+will long continue to swear by the Book of Common Prayer.</p>
+
+<p>One day, walking with other officers in the country, we stumbled across
+a tiny isolated farm. As usual the voice of the inevitable Tommy could
+be heard from within. They were tending cavalry horses, which filled
+every available nook and corner behind the lines at a period when
+cavalry was considered useless in action. Having learned that one of
+these men had been body servant to a cousin of mine, who was a V.C. at
+the time that he was killed, I asked him for the details of his death.
+The Germans had broken through on the left of his command, and it was
+instantly imperative to hold the morale while help from the right was
+summoned. Jumping on the parapet, my cousin had stood there encouraging
+the line amid volleys of bullets. At the same time he ordered his
+servant to carry word to the right at once. Suddenly a bullet passed
+through his body and he fell into the trench. Protesting that he was
+all right, he declared that he could hold out till the man should come
+back. On his return he found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span>that my cousin was dead. But help came,
+the line held, and the German attack was a costly failure. His servant
+had collected and turned in all the little personal possessions of any
+value which he had found on the body.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that you should have got a Military Cross," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"I did get an M.C.," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"I congratulate you," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a confinement to barracks. A bullet had smashed to pieces a
+little wrist watch which the captain always carried. It was quite
+valueless, and I had kept the remnants as a memento of a man whom every
+one loved. But a comrade got back at me by reporting it to
+headquarters, and they had to punish me, they said."</p>
+
+<p>It is true, "strafing" was at a low ebb at the time that I arrived in
+France; but even I was not a bit prepared for the amount of leisure
+time that our duties allowed us. There were in France hundreds of sick
+and wounded for every one in the lonely North; but in Labrador you are
+always on the go, being often the only available doctor. Our Unit had
+at the time only some five hundred beds and a very strong staff, both
+of doctors and nurses. In spite of lending one of our colonels and
+several of our staff to other hospitals, we still had not enough beds
+to keep us fully occupied. It gave me ample time to help out
+occasionally in Y.M.C.A. activities, and to do some visiting among the
+poor French families and refugees in Boulogne, close to which city our
+hospital was located. I could also visit other Units, and give lantern
+shows, which had, I thought, special value when psychic treatment was
+badly needed. Shell-shock was but very imperfectly understood at the
+beginning of the war. The football matches and athletic sports did not
+need the asset of being an antidote to shell-shock to attract my
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span>patronage. Never in my life had I realized quite so keenly what a
+saving trait the sporting instinct is in the Anglo-Saxon&mdash;a strain of
+it in the Teuton might have even averted this war.</p>
+
+<p>My stay in France enabled me to enjoy that which life on the Labrador
+largely denies one&mdash;the contact with many educated minds. It was the
+custom, if an officer needed a lift along the road, to hail any passing
+motor. While walking one day, I took advantage of this privilege, and
+found myself driving with Sir Bertrand Dawson, the King's physician,
+with whom I thus renewed a most valued acquaintanceship. On another
+occasion our host or guest might be Sir Almroth Wright, the famous
+pathologist, or Sir Robert Jones would pay us a visit, or Sir Frederick
+Treves. In fact, we had chances to meet many of the great leaders of
+our profession. Sir Arthur Lawley, the head of our Red Cross in France,
+gave me some delightful evenings. Unquestionably there is an intense
+pleasure in hearing and seeing personally the men who are doing things.</p>
+
+<p>Food grew perceptibly scarcer in Boulogne even during my stay. The
+<i>petits g&acirc;teaux</i> got smaller, the hours during which officers might
+enter restaurants for afternoon tea became painfully shorter. But they
+were not a whit less enjoyable, reminding one as they did of the dear
+old days, long before the war was thought of, and before the war of
+life had taken me to Labrador. If one had hoped that a life in the
+wilds had succeeded in eradicating natural desires, those relapses in
+the midst of war-time completely destroyed any such delusion. Every day
+was full of excitement. Bombs fell on the city only twice while I was
+there, and, moreover, we were bitterly disappointed that we did not
+know it till we read the news in the morning paper. But every day
+flying machines of all sorts <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span>sailed overhead. My interest never failed
+to respond to the buzzing of some hurrying airship, or the sight of a
+seaplane dropping out of heaven into the water and swimming calmly
+ashore, waddling up the beach into its pen exactly like a great duck.</p>
+
+<p>One day it was the excitement of watching trawlers from the cliffs
+firing-up mines; another, hunting along the beach among the silent
+evidences of some tragedy at sea, or riding convalescent horses that
+needed exercise, flying along the sands to see some special sight, such
+as the carcass of a leviathan wrecked by butting into mine-fields.</p>
+
+<p>Close to us was a large Canadian Unit. They were changing their
+location, and for three months had been in the sorry company of those
+who have no work to do. The matron, however, told me that she found
+plenty to occupy her time&mdash;in such a beehive of officers, with
+seventy-five nurses to look after.</p>
+
+<p>When at the close of the period for which I had volunteered I had to
+decide whether to sign on again, my whole inclination was to stay just
+another term; but as my commandant, Colonel David Cheever, informed me
+that he and a number of the busier men felt that duty called them home,
+and that there were plenty of volunteers to take our places, my
+judgment convinced me that I was more needed in Labrador.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not say much of the Y.M.C.A. They need no encomium of mine, but
+I am prepared to stand by them to the last ditch. They were doing, not
+talking, and were wise enough to use even those agents whom they knew
+to be imperfect, as God Himself does when He uses us. The folly of
+judging for all cases by one standard is common and human, but it is
+not God's way. This conviction was brought home to me in a very odd
+manner. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span>had gone to lecture at an English Y.M.C.A. hut at the
+invitation of the efficient director, who knew me only for a "medical
+missionary." On my arrival he most hospitably took me to the cupboard
+which he called "his rooms." It was a raw, cold night, and among other
+efforts to show his gratitude for my help, to my amazement he offered
+me "a drop of Scotch." Astonishment so outran good-breeding that I
+unwittingly let him perceive it. "I am not a regular 'Y' man, Major,"
+he explained. "I'm an Australian, and was living on my little pile when
+the war began. They turned me down each place I volunteered on account
+of my age. But I was crazy to do my bit, and I offered to work with the
+Y.M.C.A. as a stopgap. The War Office has commandeered so many of their
+men that they had to take me to 'carry on.' I'm afraid I'm a poor
+apology, but I'm doing my best."</p>
+
+<p>The freedom from convention lent another peculiar charm to the life in
+France. The mess sergeant of a headquarters where I was dining one
+night, close behind the lines, presented the colonel with a beautifully
+illustrated monograph on a certain unmentionable and unwelcome member
+of war camps and trench life. The beautiful work and the evidences of
+scientific training led me to ask who the mess sergeant might have been
+in civil life. "Professor of Biology at the University of &mdash;&mdash;," was
+the reply.</p>
+
+<p>The most inspiring fact about the Channel ports at that time was the
+regularity with which steamers arrived, crowded with soldiers, and
+returned with wounded. We could see England on clear days from our
+quarters, and could follow the boats almost across. The number of
+trawlers at work all the year round, even in heavy gales that almost
+blew us off the cliffs, was enough to tell how vigilant a watch was
+being kept all the while. One morning only we woke to find a large
+stray steamer, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span>had entered the roads overnight, sunk across the
+harbour mouth, her decks awash at low water&mdash;torpedoed, we supposed.
+Another day a small patrol, literally cut in half by a mine, was towed
+in. But though both in the air and under the sea all the ingenuity of
+the enemy from as near by as Ostend was unceasingly directed against
+that living stream, not one single disaster happened the whole winter
+that I was out. Our mine-fields were constantly being changed. The
+different courses the traffic took from day to day suggested that. But
+who did it, and when, no one ever knew. The noise of occasional
+bomb-firing, once a mine rolling up on the shore, exploding and
+throwing some incredibly big fragments onto the golf links, the
+incessant tramp of endless soldiers in the street, the ever-present but
+silent motors hurrying to and fro, and the nightly arrival of convoys
+of wounded, were all that reminded us that any war was in progress. Had
+it been permitted, the beach would have been crowded as usual with
+invalids, nursemaids, and perambulators.</p>
+
+<p>The second marvel was that in spite of the enormous numbers of people
+coming and going, no secrets leaked out. We gave up looking for news
+almost as completely as in winter in Labrador. We seemed to be shut off
+entirely in an eddy of the stream, as we are in our Northern wastes.</p>
+
+<p>The spirit of humour in the wounded Briton was as invaluable as the
+love of sport when he is well. On one occasion a small party were going
+to relieve a section of the line. The Boches had the range of a piece
+of the road over which they had to pass, and the men made dashes singly
+or in small numbers across it. A lad, a well-known athlete, was caught
+by a shell and blown over a hedge into a field. When they reached him,
+his leg was gone and one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span>arm badly smashed. He was sitting up smoking
+a cigarette, and all he said was, "Well, I fancy that's the end of my
+football days." One very undeveloped man, who had somehow leaked into
+Kitchener's Army, told me, "Well, you see, Major, I was a bit too weak
+for a labouring man, so I joined the army. I thought it might do my
+'ealth good!" One of the English papers reported that when a small
+Gospel was sent by post to a prisoner in Germany the Teuton official
+stamped every page, "Passed by the Censor."</p>
+
+<p>The practice of listening to the yarns of the wounded was much
+discouraged, chiefly for one's own sake, for their knowledge was less
+accurate than our own, while shell-shock led them to imagine more. The
+censor had always good yarns to tell. The men showed generally much
+good-humour and a universal light-heartedness. Our wounded hardly ever
+"groused." They hid their troubles and cheered their families, seldom
+or never by pious sentiments. One man writing from a regimental camp
+close to Boulogne, after a painfully uneventful Channel crossing,
+announced, "Here we are in the enemies' country right under the muzzles
+of the guns. We got over quite safely, though three submarines chased
+us and shelled us all the way. Food here is very short. I haven't
+looked at a bun for weeks. A bit more of that cake of yours would do
+nicely, not to talk o' smokes. Your loving husband." Another letter was
+quoted in the "Daily Mail." It ran: "Dear Mother&mdash;This comes hoping
+that it may find you as it leaves me at present. I have a broken leg,
+and a bullet in my left lung. Your affectionate son."</p>
+
+<p>Yet the men were far from fatalists, and the psychic stimulus of being
+able to tell your patient that he was ordered to "Blighty" was
+demonstrable on his history chart. One poor fellow whose right arm was
+infected with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span>gas bacillus was so anxious to save it that we left it
+on too long and general blood poisoning set in. He was on the dying
+list. The Government under these circumstances would pay the expenses
+of a wife or mother to come over and say the last good-bye. After the
+message went, it seemed that our friend could not last till their
+arrival, and the colonel decided as a last chance to try intra-venous
+injections of Eusol, the powerful antiseptic in use at that time in all
+the hospitals. On entering the ward the next morning the nurse told me
+with a smiling face, "B. is ever so much better. I think that he will
+pull through all right." "Then the Eusol injection has done good, I
+suppose?" "His wife and mother came last night and sat up with
+him"&mdash;and I saw a twinkle in the corner of her eye. Eusol injections
+are now considered inert.</p>
+
+<p>With so many patients who only remained so short a time, there was an
+inevitable tendency to relapse into treating men as "cases," not as
+brothers. To get through their exterior needed tact and experience. But
+if love is a force stronger than bayonets and guns, it certainly has
+its place in modern&mdash;and all time&mdash;surgery. I have a shrewd suspicion
+that it is better worth exhibiting than quite a number of the drugs
+still on the world's pharmacop&oelig;ias. Many of the nurses kept
+visitors' books, and in these their patients were asked to write their
+names or anything they liked. The little fact made them feel more at
+home, as if some person really cared for them. One could not help
+noticing how many of them broke out into verse, though most of them
+were labouring men at home. Although some was not original, it showed
+that they liked poetry. Some was extempore, as the following:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Good-bye, dear mother, sister, brother,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Drive away those bitter tears.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For England's in no danger<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">While there are bomb throwers in the Tenth Royal Fusiliers."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span>The following effusion I think was doubtless evolved gradually. It
+runs:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"There's a little dug-out in a trench,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which the rainstorms continually drench.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">With the sky overhead, and a stone for a bed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And another that acts for a bench.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"It's hard bread and cold bully we chew;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It is months since we've tasted a stew;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And the Jack Johnsons flare through the cold wintry air,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O'er my little wet home in the trench.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"So hurrah for the mud and the clay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which leads to 'der Tag,' that's the day<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When we enter Berlin, that city of sin,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And make the fat Berliners pay."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>I have never been in any sense what is generally understood by the term
+"faith healer," but I am certain that you can make a new man out of an
+old one, can save a man who is losing ground, and turn the balance and
+help him to win out through psychic agencies when all our chemical
+stimulants are only doing harm. That seemed especially true in those
+put <i>hors de combat</i> by the almost superhuman horrors of this war. It
+seemed to me to pay especially to get the confidence of one's patients.
+Thus one man would be drawn out by the gift of a few flowers, a little
+fruit, cigarettes, as so many of the kindly visitors discovered. One
+man with shrapnel splinters in his abdomen expressed a craving for
+Worcester sauce. It appeared to him so unobtainable in a hospital in
+France. From the point of view of his recovery I am convinced that the
+bottle which we procured in Boulogne was a good investment.</p>
+
+<p>We eagerly awaited the illustrated papers each week for the same
+reason. But personal interest shown in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span>themselves, by the time spared
+for chatting, was far the most appreciated. We had been very rightly
+warned against listening to the wounded men. It was with them in the
+base hospitals that the story of the angels of Mons originated. I never
+met any one personally who saw anything nearer the supernatural than
+that marvellous fight itself&mdash;the pluck and endurance of our
+"contemptible little army." But some claimed to have seen a spirit but
+visible army, such as Elijah at Dothan showed to his servant, or Castor
+and Pollux at Lake Regillus, fighting in front of our lines. A Canadian
+in command of the C.A.M.C. contingent, who treated thousands of the
+wounded as they came back from the front, told me that early in the day
+he heard the rumour, and ordered his men to ask as many as possible if
+they had seen any such phenomenon. Not one claimed to have done so. Yet
+a few days later from the base he heard a great many of these same men
+had declared that they had seen the "angels." He considered that the
+whole matter arose originally through some hysterical woman, and then
+was augmented by the suggestion of the question which he himself had
+put to them, made to men shell-shocked and in abnormal mental
+conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Among other deductions from voluminous notes I judged that the Saxons
+really did not want to fight, the impression coming from so many
+different sources. Some said that they let us know, shouting across "No
+Man's Land," that they did not wish to fight, that they were
+Christians, had wives and children of their own, that they did not want
+to kill any one, and would fire in the air when forced to fire, were
+keen to renew the Christmas "pour-parlers." Our men claimed that it was
+comparative peace when the Saxons were in the trenches opposite, and
+they made friendly overtures as often as they dared. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span>They were capable
+of attributing honour to others, and those who came over into our lines
+asserted that hundreds were anxious to do so, only they were so watched
+from behind. Moreover, the outrages committed by the Prussians under
+flags of truce had made it impossible for our men to allow any one to
+approach. To sit opposite a Saxon regiment for a month and not exchange
+shots appeared to be not uncommon. One man told me that they poked up a
+notice on their bayonets saying, "We are not going to fight"; and
+another said that once when "strafing" somehow commenced, they shouted
+from the opposite trenches: "Save your bullets. You'll need them
+to-night when the Prussian Guard relieves us"&mdash;which proved perfectly
+true. One day an elderly man crawled out of their trench, came to our
+barbed wire, and called out for bread. We threw him a loaf. He wrapped
+up something in his cap and threw it over. We tossed it back with more
+bread, but when he went back he left the watch behind.</p>
+
+<p>After an especially brutal piece of treachery, our men were too
+maddened to give quarter, and one said, "A Saxon might have had a
+chance with us even then, but a Prussian would have had about as little
+as a beetle at a woodpecker's prayer meeting!" The Saxons, on the other
+hand, displayed the individual courage of the Anglo-Saxon that helped
+to lessen our losses by enabling us to attack in open formation. Every
+animal will fight when forced to do so. The cowardly wolf will attack
+only in packs; and one of the main reasons for the wholesale holocausts
+of mass attacks seems to have been that same lack of real courage in
+the boastful and militarist element. He dare not advance alone.</p>
+
+<p>A colonel in command at the first battle of the Aisne described to me
+an incident that I at least did not hear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span>elsewhere. He said that the
+Germans opposite him came on sixteen abreast, arm in arm, rifles at the
+trail or held anyhow. They were singing wildly, and literally jumping
+up and down, as if dancing. Fire was reserved till they came within a
+few hundred yards, when machine guns started to mow them down.
+Hay-pooks, or rather man-pooks, were immediately formed, and the
+advancing column, instead of coming straight on, went round and round
+the ever-increasing stacks. He believed that they had been filled with
+too much dope or too much doctored grog of some kind.</p>
+
+<p>It was my great desire before returning from France to see the
+conditions at the front. I was told that members of American Units were
+discouraged from visiting the trenches. Dr. Carrel had twice most
+kindly invited me to Compi&egrave;gne to see his new work on wounds, but
+permission to accept had been denied me. Being a British subject and
+wearing a British decoration on an American uniform only seemed to
+worry the authorities. I had almost abandoned hope, when one day an
+automobile stopped at our headquarters, just at the close of my term of
+service, and a colonel, a distinguished scientist, jumped out. He told
+me if I could get to Medical Headquarters, then at St. Omer, he could
+arrange for me to visit each of the four armies I wished to see. I had
+no permission to leave the base, though my term of service expired the
+next day. I had no passes, and our British commandant would not on his
+own responsibility either give me leave or lend me the necessary
+outfit. He would only agree to look the other way if I went.</p>
+
+<p>Passing the sentries was not difficult, but once arrived in St. Omer,
+it was essential to have permission from Headquarters before one could
+enter any house or hotel. I was accordingly dumped in the dark streets
+of a strange <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span>town and told to be at that exact spot again in two
+hours, waiting my sponsor's return. Nor did he say where he was going,
+in case we failed to meet, for no one was allowed to mention the
+whereabouts of the G.H.Q. After two hours were over, I was at the
+appointed spot with that pleasurable sense of excitement that seldom
+comes after one has settled down in life. I could then understand
+better how a spy must feel. The town naturally was unlit for fear of
+aircraft, and yet there was a queer feeling that every one was looking
+at you as you walked up and down in the dark. My colonel friend was at
+the rendezvous with all the precision of a soldier, not only with the
+necessary papers and arrangements for the tour of inspection, but also
+a genial invitation to dine at Headquarters. General Sir Arthur
+Sloggett and his exceedingly able staff opened my eyes very
+considerably before the evening was out as to the methods of the
+R.A.M.C. in war-time. It was such a revelation to me that I felt it
+would be an infinite comfort to those with loved ones in the trenches
+to realize how marvellously efficient the provision for the care of the
+soldier's health had become. The main impression on my mind was the
+extraordinary developments since the days of the Lady of the Lamp.
+Formerly, so long as he was fit to fight, the soldier was always looked
+after. Now the soldier unfit to fight had exactly the same rights, just
+as after the war let us trust that the broken soldier will be "seen
+through" back into civil life. I was honestly surprised that he no
+longer depended on voluntary gifts to a charitable society for a
+bandage when he lay wounded or for a nurse if sickness overtook him.
+The marvellous system of the medical intelligence department, even the
+separate medical secret service, worked so efficiently that in spite of
+the awful conditions the health of the men in the line was twice as
+good as that when at home in civil <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>life. Even disease approaching from
+the enemy's side was "spied," and as far as possible forestalled. All
+sanitary arrangements, all water supplies, and all public health
+matters from the North Sea to the Swiss border were handled by regular
+army officers. For the first time in history the medicals were
+considered so intimate a part of the fighting force that doctors held
+the same rank as executive officers. I was a major&mdash;no longer a surgeon
+major or just a sanitary official. Those in command were even trusted
+in advance with information as to what would likely be required of them
+on any part of the front by some man&oelig;uvre or attack, though I do not
+think that even the general of the R.A.M.C. was admitted to the council
+of war.</p>
+
+<p>The chart-room of the G.H.Q. was another revelation. The walls from
+ceiling to floor were occupied with the usual large-scale maps, with
+flags on pins; while long, weird, crooked lines of all colours made
+elaborate tracings over the charts, like those used in hospitals. These
+flags and lines indicated the surgical and medical front, where battles
+with typhoid, trench feet, and wounds were being waged by the immense
+army of workers under General Sloggett's direction. Laboratories in
+motor cars, special surgeons and ambulances were racing here and there,
+new hospitals for emergencies were being pushed in different
+directions, so that though within range of the enemies' guns, men
+wounded in the chest or abdomen could be treated in time to give them a
+chance for their lives. Typhoid recurring in any section of the line
+might mean the reprimand of the medical officer there; trench feet
+became a misdemeanour, so excellent were the precautions devised and
+carried out by the N.C.O.'s.</p>
+
+<p>I ventured at table to say quite truthfully that I, a surgeon from a
+base hospital, where we saw endless Red <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span>Cross motor ambulances, and
+received so many kindnesses in supplies, and especially luxuries for
+our wounded from the Red Cross officials, had been under the impression
+that the R.A.M.C. was a sort of small tail to a very large Red Cross
+kite, owing to our little army and general unpreparedness when the war
+broke out. I could see that to my surprised hosts I appeared to be
+mentally deficient, but I was able to assure them that there were tens
+of thousands who knew even less than that, and thought that the chances
+still were that if their loved ones were hurt, they might be left to
+die because some one had not given their annual contribution to a
+society. It seemed a very serious omission that the public had not the
+information that would carry so much consolation with it. The British
+Red Cross has every one's love and support, but its function in war, as
+one officer said, must increasingly become, in relation to the
+R.A.M.C., that of a Sunday-school treat to the staff of the school.</p>
+
+<p>The officialdom of Germany and even of France had always contrasted
+very unfavourably in my mind with our English methods. I was surprised
+in America that so many hospitals were Government institutions, and yet
+worked so well.</p>
+
+<p>At Melville we turned aside to inspect what was apparently a second
+Valley of Hinnom. It was a series of furnaces, built out of clay and
+old cans, efficiently disposing of the garbage of a town and a large
+section of the line. At West Outre an officer found time to show us his
+ingenious improvised laundry. His share was to fight the enemy by
+keeping our boys decently clean; and for this purpose he collected
+their dirty linen into huge piles. He had diverted the only available
+brook so as to put a portable building over it. His battalion consisted
+of the whole female strength of the country-side, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span>had to be
+prepared to advance or retire <i>pari passu</i> with the other fighters. The
+chattering, shouting crowd, almost invisible in the fog of steam as we
+walked through, made me realize how difficult a command this regiment
+of washerwomen constituted. The triumph was that they all appeared to
+be contented and fraternal.</p>
+
+<p>As every one knows one of the worst problems of the trenches was
+vermin. We entered a huge building used in peace-time for the purposes
+of dyeing. A Jack Johnson had only just exploded in the moat that
+brought the water to the tanks, but provision was made for trifles of
+this kind. When we peered over the edge of a steaming vat, it was to
+discover a platoon of Tommies enjoying the "time of their lives,"
+before they joined the line of naked beings, each scrubbing the now
+happy man ahead. An endless stream of garments advanced through
+electric superheaters in parallel columns. There seemed as much
+excitement about the chance of every man getting his own clothing back
+as there is in the bran pie at a children's Christmas party.</p>
+
+<p>While visiting the mud and squalor of a front trench in Flanders, only
+a few yards from the enemy's lines, the cheery occupants offered to
+brew some tea, exactly as we "boil our kettle" and have a good time in
+the safety of our Northern backwoods. One day I picked up some bright
+blue crystals. They proved to be "blue-stone," or sulphate of copper.
+When my pilot noticed that its presence puzzled me, he remarked
+casually, "There was a regimental dressing-station there a day or so
+ago. Probably that is the remains of it."</p>
+
+<p>On a siding at Calais station a veritable pyramid of filth met my eyes.
+On inspection it proved to be odd old boots dug from the mud of the
+battle-fields, and, sorted out from the other endless piles of d&eacute;bris,
+brought back <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span>as salvage. To attack one pair of such boots is
+depressing. Melancholia alone befitted the pile. Yet I saw close at
+hand, through a series of sheds, this polluted current entering and
+coming out at the other end new boots, at the rate of a thousand pairs
+a day&mdash;the talisman not being a Henry Ford of boot-making, but just a
+smiling English colonel in the sporting trousers of a mounted officer.</p>
+
+<p>The ground was still under snow, and we drove over much ice and through
+much slush as we returned to our base at Boulogne. My colleagues had
+gone back to America and it was a terribly lonely journey to London,
+though both steamer and train were crowded. The war was not yet won,
+and I could not help feeling an intense desire to remain and see it
+through with the brave, generous-hearted men who were giving their
+lives for our sakes. Loneliness scarcely describes my sensations; it
+felt more like desertion. One road to despair would be the awful
+realization that one is not wanted. The work looming ahead was the only
+comforting element, with the knowledge that the best of wives and
+partners was waiting in London to help me out.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>FORWARD STEPS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>My return to the work after serving in France was embittered by a
+violent attack made upon me in a St. John's paper. It was called forth
+by a report of a lecture in Montreal where I had addressed the Canadian
+Club. The meeting was organized by Newfoundlanders at the Ritz Carlton
+Hotel, and the fact that a large number from the Colony were present
+and moved the vote of thanks at the end should have been sufficient
+guarantee of the <i>bona fides</i> of my statements. But the
+over-enthusiastic account of a reporter who unfortunately was not
+present gave my critics the chance for which they were looking. It was
+at a time when any criticism whatever of a country that was responding
+so generously to the homeland's call for help would have been
+impolitic, even if true. It subsequently proved one factor, however, in
+obtaining the commission of inquiry from the Government, and so far was
+really a blessing to our work. In retrospect it is easy to see that all
+things work together for good, but at the time, oddly enough, even if
+such reports are absolutely false, they hurt more than the point of a
+good steel knife. Anonymous letters, on the contrary, with which form
+of correspondence I have a bowing acquaintance, only disturb the
+waste-paper basket.</p>
+
+<p>The Governor, the representatives of our Council, the Honourable Robert
+Watson and the Honourable W.C. Job, and my many other fast friends,
+however, soon made it possible for me to forget the matter. If protest
+breeds opposition, it in turn begets apposition, and a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span>good line of
+demarcation&mdash;a "no man's land" between friend and foe&mdash;and gives a
+healthy atmosphere in so-called times of peace.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1915 a large co&ouml;perative store was established at Cape
+Charles near Battle Harbour, which bred such opposition amongst certain
+merchants that it proved instrumental also in obtaining for us the
+Government commission of inquiry sent down a few months later. After a
+thorough investigation of St. Anthony, Battle Harbour, Cape Charles,
+Forteau, Red Bay, and Flowers Cove, summoning every possible witness
+and tracing all rumours to their source, the commissioners' findings
+were so favourable to the Mission that on their return to St. John's
+our still undaunted detractors could only attribute it to supernatural
+agencies.</p>
+
+<p>My colleague at Battle Harbour, Dr. John Grieve, who with his wife had
+already given us so many years' work there, and whose interest in the
+co&ouml;perative effort at Cape Charles was responsible for its initial
+success, had worked out a plan for a winter hospital station in Lewis
+Bay, and had surveyed the necessary land grant. Through the resignation
+of our business manager, Mr. Sheard, and the selection of Dr. Grieve by
+the directors as his successor, only that part of the Lewis Bay scheme
+which enables us to give work in winter providing wood supplies has so
+far materialized.</p>
+
+<p>In 1915 also, at a place called Northwest River, one hundred and thirty
+miles up Hamilton Inlet from Indian Harbour, a little cottage hospital
+and doctor's house combined was built, called the "Emily Beaver
+Chamberlain Memorial Hospital." Thus the work of Dr. and Mrs. Paddon
+has been converted into a continuous service, for formerly when Indian
+Harbour Hospital was closed in the fall, they had no place in which
+they could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>efficiently carry on their work during the winter months.
+Before Dr. Paddon came to the coast, Dr. and Mrs. Norman Stewart gave
+us several years of valuable service, spending their summers at Indian
+Harbour and returning for the winter to St. Anthony, according to my
+original plan when I first built St. Anthony Hospital.</p>
+
+<p>An old friend and worker at St. Anthony, Mr. John Evans of
+Philadelphia, who had helped us with our deer and other problems,
+having married our head nurse, the first whom we had ever had from
+Newfoundland, found it essential to return and take up remunerative
+work at home.</p>
+
+<p>The increasing number of patients seeking help at St. Anthony made it
+necessary to provide proportionately increasing facilities. As I have
+stated elsewhere, the sister of my splendid colleague, Dr. Little, in
+1909 had raised the money for the new wing of the hospital for the
+accommodation of the summer accession of patients. The clinic which had
+now grown so tremendously, due to Dr. Little's magnificent work, was
+maintaining a permanent house surgeon, Dr. Louis Fallen, who had
+faithfully served the Mission at different times at other stations. We
+had also regular dental and eye departments.</p>
+
+<p>The summer of 1917 was saddened for us all by the loss to the work of
+my beloved and able colleague, Dr. John Mason Little, Jr., who had
+given ten years of most valuable labour to the people of this coast. He
+had married, some years before, our delightful and unselfish helper,
+Miss Ruth Keese, and they now had four little children growing up in
+St. Anthony. The education of his family and the call of other home
+ties made him feel that it had become essential for him to terminate
+his more intimate connection with the North, and he left us to take up
+medical work in Boston. The loss of them both <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span>was a very heavy one to
+the work and to us personally, and we are only thankful that we have
+been able to secure Dr. Little's invaluable assistance and advice on
+our Board of Directors in Boston. This coast and this hospital owe him
+a tremendous debt which can never be repaid, for it was he who put this
+clinic in a position to hold up its head among the best of medical
+work, and offer to this far-off people the grade of skilled assistance
+which we should wish for our loved ones if they were ill or in trouble.
+For Dr. Little offered not only his very exceptional skill as a
+surgeon, but also the gift of his inspiring and devoted personality.</p>
+
+<p>The winter of 1917-18 was extremely severe, not only in our North
+country, but in the United States and Canada also. I was lecturing
+during this winter in both these latter countries, though during the
+months of December and January travelling became very difficult owing
+to the continuous blizzards. I was held up for three days in Racine,
+Wisconsin, as neither trains, electric cars, or automobiles could make
+their way through the heavy drifts. Had I had my trusty dog team,
+however, I should not have missed three important lecture engagements.
+Life in the North has its compensations.</p>
+
+<p>At Toronto I was unfortunate enough to contract bronchitis and
+pleurisy, and I understand from competent observers that I was an
+"impossible patient." Be that as it may, so much pressure was brought
+to bear on me that at last I was forced to obey the doctors and leave
+for a month's rest in a warmer climate.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to ice and war conditions we did not arrive in St. Anthony until
+the first of July. In arriving late we were all spared a terrible
+shock. The previous day some of the boys from the Orphanage had gone
+fishing in the Devil's Pond, about a mile away, and a favourite
+resort <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span>with them. Unfortunately that afternoon they were seized with
+the brilliant idea of kindling a fire with which to cook their trout.
+Greatly to the astonishment of the would-be cooks, the fire quickly got
+beyond the one desired for culinary purposes, and, panic-stricken, they
+rushed home to give the alarm. Every man ashore and afloat came and
+worked, and the obliteration of the place was saved by a providential
+change in the wind and wide fire-breaks cut through few and
+ill-to-be-spared trees. Everything had been taken from our house&mdash;even
+furniture and linen&mdash;and dragged to the wharf head, where terrified
+children, fleeing patients, and heaps of furnishings from the orphanage
+and elsewhere were all piled up. Schooners had been hauled in to carry
+off what was possible, and the patients in the hospital were got ready
+to be carried away at a moment's notice. Only the most strenuous
+efforts saved the entire station. Now all our beautiful sky-line is
+blackened and charred. All day long the gravity of the debt was in our
+hearts, for if the wooden buildings had once had the clouds of fiery
+sparks settle upon them, the whole of those dependent upon us would
+have been homeless. Surely in a country like this, the incident of this
+fire puts an added emphasis upon our need of brick buildings. Gratitude
+for our safe return, for all God's mercies to us, and joy over the
+outcome of the at one time apparently inevitable disaster, made our
+first day of the season a never-to-be-forgotten event.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep406" id="imagep406"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep406.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep406.jpg" width="55%" alt="The Labrador Doctor in Winter" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN WINTER<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Mr. W.R. Stirling, our Chicago director, who had personally visited the
+hospitals, insisted that a water supply must at all costs be secured
+both for hospital and orphanage. This was not only to avert the
+reproach of typhoid epidemics, two of which had previously occurred,
+but also to better our protection for so many helpless lives in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span>old
+dry wooden buildings, and to economize the great expense of hauling
+water by dogs every winter, when our little surface reservoir was
+frozen to the bottom. This water supply has only just been finished;
+and now we cannot understand how we ever existed without it. But it is
+an unromantic object to which to give money, and the total cost, even
+doing the work ourselves, amounted to just upon ten thousand dollars.
+According to the Government engineer's advice we had a stream to dam
+and a mile and a quarter of piping to lay six feet underground to
+prevent the water freezing. It is only in very few places that we boast
+six feet of soil at all on the rock that forms the frame of Mother
+Earth here. Hence there was much blasting to do. But the task was
+accomplished, and by our own boys, and has successfully weathered our
+bitter winter. The last lap was run by an intensely interesting
+experiment. The assistant at Emmanuel Church in Boston brought down a
+number of volunteer Boy Scouts to give their services on the
+commonplace task of digging the remainder of the trench necessary to
+complete the water supply. When they first arrived, our Northern
+outside man, after looking at their clothes of the Boston cut,
+remarked, "Hm. You'd better give that crowd some softer job than
+digging." But they did the work, and a whole lot more besides. For
+their grit and jollity, and above all their readiness to tackle and see
+through such side tasks as unloading and stowing away some three
+hundred tons of coal were real "missionary" lessons.</p>
+
+<p>The ever-growing demand for doctors as the war dragged on made it
+harder and harder to man our far-off stations. The draft in America was
+the last straw, doctors having already been forbidden to leave England
+or Canada. Dr. Charles Curtis had taken over Dr. Little's work at St.
+Anthony, and stood nobly by, getting special <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span>permission to do so. Dr.
+West, who had succeeded our colleague, Dr. Mather Hare, at Harrington,
+when his wife's breakdown had obliged him to leave us, had already
+given us a year over his scheduled time, for he had accepted work in
+India at the hands of those who had specially trained him for that
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>We had been having considerable trouble in the accommodation of the
+heavy batches of patients that came by the mail boat. They were left on
+the wharf when she steamed away, and only the floors of our treatment
+and waiting-rooms were available for their reception. For all could not
+possibly go into the wards, where children, and often very sick
+patients, were being cared for. The people around always stretched
+their hospitality to the limit, but this was a very undesirable method
+of housing sick persons temporarily. Owing to the generosity of a lady
+in New Bedford and other friends, we were enabled to meet the problem
+by the erection of a rest house, with first and second class
+accommodation. This was built in the spring of 1917, and has been a
+Godsend to many besides patients. It makes people free to come to St.
+Anthony and stay and benefit by whatever it has to offer, without the
+feeling that they have no place to which they can go. Moreover, this
+hostel has been entirely self-supporting from the day that it opened,
+and every one who goes and comes has a good word for the rest house. It
+is run by one of our Labrador orphan boys, whose education was finished
+in America, and "Johnnie," as every one calls him, is already a feature
+in the life of the place.</p>
+
+<p>Among the advances of the year 1918 must also be noted that more
+subscribers and subscriptions from local friends have been received
+than ever before. Our X-ray department has been added to. We have been
+able also to improve the roads, a thing greatly to be desired.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span>Look where we will, we have nothing but gratitude that in the last year
+of a long and exhausting war, here in this far-away section of the
+world, the keynote has been one of progress.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE FUTURE OF THE MISSION</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>What is the future of this Mission? I have once or twice been an
+unwilling listener to a discussion on this point. It has usually been
+in the smoking-room of a local mail steamer. The subtle humour of W.W.
+Jacobs has shown us that pessimism is an attribute of the village "pub"
+also. The alcoholic is always a prophet of doom; and the wish is often
+father to the thought.</p>
+
+<p>In our medical work in the wilds we have become a repository of some
+old instruments discarded on the death of their owners or cast aside by
+the advancing tide of knowledge. Seeing the ingenuity, time, and
+expense lavished on many of them, they would make a truly pathetic
+museum. Personally I prefer the habits of India to those of Egypt
+concerning the departed. If the Pharaoh of the Persecution could see
+his mummy being shown to tourists as a cheap side show, I am sure that
+he would vote for cremation if he had the choice over again.</p>
+
+<p>It sounds flippant in one who has devoted his life to this work to say,
+"Really I don't care what its future may be." I am content to leave the
+future with God. No true sportsman wants to linger on, a wretched
+handicap to the cause for which he once stood, like a fake hero with
+his peg leg and a black patch over one eye. The Christian choice is
+that of Achilles. Nature also teaches us that the paths of progress are
+marked by the discarded relics of what once were her corner-stones. The
+original Moses had the spirit of Christ when he said, "If Thou wilt,
+forgive their sin&mdash;and if not, I pray Thee, blot me out of Thy book."
+The heroic Paul was willing to be eliminated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span>for the Kingdom of God.
+It seems to me that that attitude is the only credential which any
+Christian mission can give for its existence. If I felt that my work
+had accomplished all it could, I would "lay it down with a will."</p>
+
+<p>As in India and China the missionaries of the various societies are
+uniting to build up a native, national Church which would wish to
+assume the responsibility of caring for its own problems, so when the
+Government of this country is willing and able to take over the
+maintenance of the medical work, this Mission would have justified its
+existence by its elimination. All lines along which the Mission works
+should one day become self-eliminating. Until that time arrives I am
+satisfied that the Mission has great opportunities before it. I am an
+optimist, and feel certain that God will provide the means to continue
+as long as the need exists.</p>
+
+<p>Some believe that the future of this population depends solely on the
+attention paid to the development of the resources of the coast. Not
+only are its raw products more needed than ever, but even supposing
+that unscientific handling of them has depleted the supply, still there
+is ample to maintain a larger population than at present. This can only
+be when science and capital are introduced here, combined with an
+educated manhood fired by the spirit of co&ouml;peration.</p>
+
+<p>In large parts of China a famine to wipe out surplus population is
+apparently a periodical necessity. An orphanage in India for similar
+reasons does not seem to be as rationally economic as one for the
+Labrador children. I never see a cliff face from which an avalanche has
+removed the supersoil and herbage without thinking in pity of the
+crowded sections of China, where tearing up even the roots of trees for
+fuel has permitted so much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span>arable land to be denuded by rains that the
+food supply gets smaller while the population grows larger.</p>
+
+<p>The future of all medical work depends on whether people want it and
+can arrange to get it paid for. If all the world become Christian
+Scientists, scientific&mdash;which we believe to be also Christian&mdash;healing
+will everywhere die a natural death&mdash;and possibly the people also. But
+history suggests that the healing art is one of considerable vitality.
+My own belief is that in the apparently approaching socialistic age,
+medicine will be communized and provided by the State free to all. If
+education for the mind is, why not education for the body?</p>
+
+<p>Certain subtle and very vital psychic influences are probably the best
+stock in trade of the "Doctor of the old school." These qualities
+appear at present less likely to be "had for hire" in a Government
+official. The Chinese may yet return the missionary compliment by
+teaching us to adopt their method of paying the doctor only when and as
+long as the patient is cured.</p>
+
+<p>Out of the taxes, the major part of which is paid by the people of the
+outport districts in this Colony, the Government provides free medical
+aid in the Capital, presumably because those who have the spending of
+the money mostly reside there. The Mission provides it in the farthest
+off and poorest part of the country, Labrador and North Newfoundland,
+because there is no chance whatever at present for the poor people to
+obtain it otherwise. Our <i>pro rata</i> share of the taxes, if judged by
+the paltry Government grant toward the work, would not provide anything
+worth having. The people here pay far better in proportion to their
+ability for hospital privileges than they do in Boston or London; the
+Government pays a little, and the rest comes from the loving gifts of
+those who desire nothing better, when they know of real need, than to
+make sacrifices to meet it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span>One feels that the Chinese and Japanese and all nations will be able
+some day to pay for their own doctors, whether they do it on
+individualistic or communistic principles. In the present state of the
+world I believe the missionary enterprise to be entirely desirable, or
+I would not be where I am. But being a Christian with a little faith, I
+hope that it may not be so forever. If anything will stimulate to
+better methods, it is example, not precept, and perhaps the best work
+of this and all missions will be their reflex influences on Governments
+through the governed.</p>
+
+<p>To carry on the bare essentials of this work an endowment of at least a
+million dollars is necessary. Toward this a hundred and sixty thousand
+dollars is all that has been contributed, and in addition we can count
+annually upon a small Government grant. Even if this million dollars
+were given, it would still leave several thousand dollars to be raised
+by voluntary subscription each year, a healthy thing for the life of
+any charitable work. On the other hand, the certainty of being able to
+meet the main bills is an economy in nerve energy, in time and in
+money.</p>
+
+<p>Among our patients brought in one season to St. Anthony Hospital was
+the mother of ten children on whom an emergency operation for
+appendicitis had to be done&mdash;the first time in her life that a doctor
+had ever tended her. She came from a very poor home, for besides her
+large family her husband had been all his life handicapped by a serious
+deformity of one leg caused by a fall. She reminded me of how some
+years before a traveller had left her the rug from his dog sledge, as,
+without any bedclothes, she was again about to give birth to a child;
+how she had actually been unable at times to turn over in bed, because
+her personal clothing had frozen solid to the wall of the one-roomed
+hut in which she lived.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span>In April, 1906, in northern Newfoundland I found a young mother near
+St. Anthony. She was twenty-six years old, suffering from acute
+rheumatic fever, lying in a fireless loft, on a rickety bedstead with
+no bedclothes. She had only one shoddy black dress to her name, and no
+underwear to keep her warm in bed in a house like that. The floor was
+littered with d&eacute;bris, including a number of hard buns which she could
+not now eat, but which some charitable neighbour had sent her. She had
+a wizened baby of seven months, which every now and then she was trying
+to feed by raising herself on one elbow and forcing bread and water
+pap, moistened with the merest suspicion of condensed milk, down its
+throat. None of her four previous children had lived so long. She had
+been under my care three years before for sailor's scurvy. Her present
+illness lasted only a week, and in spite of all that we could do, she
+died.</p>
+
+<p>The desire of the people to be mutually helpful is undoubted, whether
+it is to each other or to some "outsider" like ourselves. I question if
+in the so-called centres of civilization the following incident can be
+surpassed as evidencing this aspect of their character.</p>
+
+<p>In a little Labrador village called Deep Water Creek I was called in
+one day to see a patient: an old Englishman, who was reported to have
+had "a bad place this twelvemonth." As I was taken into the tiny
+cottage, a bright-faced, black-bearded man greeted me. Three children
+were playing on the hearth with a younger man, evidently their father.
+"No, Doctor, they aren't ours," replied my host, in answer to my
+question. "But us took Sam as our own when he was born, and his mother
+lay dead. These be his little ones. You remember Kate, his wife, what
+died in hospital."</p>
+
+<p>After the cup of hot tea so thoughtfully provided, I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span>said, "Skipper
+John, let's get out and see the old Englishman."</p>
+
+<p>"No need, Doctor. He's upstairs in bed."</p>
+
+<p>Upstairs was the triangular space between the roof and the ceiling of
+the ground floor. At each end was a tiny window, and the whole area,
+windows included, had been divided longitudinally by a single thickness
+of hand-sawn lumber. Both windows were open, a cool breeze was blowing
+through, and a bright paper pasted on the wall gave a cheerful
+impression. One corner was shut off by a screen of cheap cheesecloth.
+Sitting bolt upright on a low bench, and leaning against the partition,
+was a very aged woman, staring fixedly ahead out of blind eyes, and
+ceaselessly monotoning what was meant for a hymn. No head was visible
+among the rude collection of bedclothes.</p>
+
+<p>"Uncle Solomon, it's the Doctor," I called. The mass of clothes moved,
+and a trembling old hand came out to meet mine.</p>
+
+<p>"No pain, Uncle Solomon, I hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"No pain, Doctor, thank the good Lord, and Skipper John. He took us in
+when the old lady and I were starving."</p>
+
+<p>The terrible cancer had so extended its ravages that the reason for the
+veiled corner was obvious, and also for the effective ventilation.</p>
+
+<p>"He suffers a lot, Doctor, though he won't own it," now chimed in the
+old woman.</p>
+
+<p>When the interview was over, I was left standing in a brown study till
+I heard Skipper John's voice calling me. As I descended the ladder he
+said: "We're so grateful you comed, Doctor. The poor old creatures
+won't last long. But thanks aren't dollars. I haven't a cent in the
+world now. The old people have taken what little we had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span>put by. But if
+I gets a skin t' winter, I'll try and pay you for your visit anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"Skipper John, what relation are those people to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no relation 'zactly."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they pay nothing at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Them has nothing," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"What made you take them in?"</p>
+
+<p>"They was homeless, and the old lady was already blind."</p>
+
+<p>"How long have they been with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just twelve months come Saturday."</p>
+
+<p>I found myself standing in speechless admiration in the presence of
+this man. I thought then, and I still think, that I had received one of
+my largest fees.</p>
+
+<p>Ours is primarily a medical mission, and nothing that may have been
+stated in this book with reference to other branches of the work is
+meant in any way to detract from what to us as doctors is the basic
+reason for our being here, though we mean ours to be prophylactic as
+well as remedial medicine.</p>
+
+<p>St. Anthony having so indisputably become the headquarters of the
+hospital stations, there can be but one answer to the question of the
+advisability of its closing its doors summer or winter in the days to
+come. For not only is our largest hospital located there&mdash;its scope due
+in great measure to the reputation gained for it by Dr. Little's
+splendid services, and continued by Dr. Curtis&mdash;but also the Children's
+Home, our school, machine shop, the headquarters of various industrial
+enterprises, and lastly a large storehouse to be used in future as a
+distributing centre for the supplies of the general Mission. Moreover,
+the population of the environs of St. Anthony, owing to their numbers
+and the fact that they can profit by the employment given by the
+Mission, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span>should be able increasingly to assist in the maintenance of
+this hospital, though a large number of its clinic is drawn from
+distant parts. These patients come not only from Labrador, the Straits
+of Belle Isle, and southern Newfoundland, but we have had under our
+care Syrians, Russians, Scandinavians, Frenchmen, and naturally
+Americans and Canadians, seamen from schooners engaged in the Labrador
+fishery.</p>
+
+<p>Harrington Hospital, located on the Canadian Labrador, must for many
+years to come depend on outside support. I am Lloyd Georgian enough to
+feel that taxation should presuppose the obligation to look after the
+bodies of the taxed. The Quebec Government gives neither vote,
+representation, adequate mail service, nor any public health grant for
+the long section of the coast which it claims to govern, that lies west
+of the Point des Eskimo. It is to my mind a severe stricture on their
+qualifications as legislators. That hospital should, we believe, be
+adequately subsidized and kept open summer and winter. At present we
+have to thank the Labrador Medical Mission, which is the Canadian
+branch of the International Grenfell Association, for their generous
+and continued support of this station.</p>
+
+<p>Battle Harbour and Indian Harbour Hospitals can never be anything but
+summer stations, owing to their geographical positions on islands in
+frozen seas, on which islands there is practically no population during
+the winter months. But gifts and grants sufficient to maintain a doctor
+at Northwest River Cottage Hospital, and one if possible in Lewis Bay,
+winter supplements to these summer hospitals, are to my thinking more
+than justifiable.</p>
+
+<p>As to the future of our hospital stations at Pilley's Islands, Spotted
+Islands, and Forteau, that will depend upon the changing demands of
+local conditions. That the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span>need of medical assistance exists is
+unquestionable, as is evidenced from the many appeals which I receive
+to start hospitals or supply doctors in districts at present utterly
+incapable of obtaining such help.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><a name="imagep418" id="imagep418"></a>
+<a href="images/imagep418.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep418.jpg" width="95%" alt="Entrance to St. Anthony Harbour" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;">ENTRANCE TO ST. ANTHONY HARBOUR<span class="totoi"><a href="#toi">ToList</a></span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>One still indispensable requisite in our scattered field of work is a
+hospital steamer. In fact, not a few of us think that the Strathcona is
+the keystone of the Mission. She reaches those who need our help most
+and at times when they cannot afford to leave home and seek it. Her
+functions are innumerable. She is our eyepiece to keep us cognizant of
+our opportunities. She both treats and carries the sick and feeds the
+hospitals. She enables us to distribute our charity efficiently. The
+invaluable gifts of clothing which the Labrador Needlework Guild and
+other friends send us could never be used at all as love would wish,
+unless the Strathcona were available to enlarge the area reached. In
+spite of all this, those who would quibble over trifles claim that she
+is the only craft on record that rolls at dry-dock! Her functions are
+certainly varied, but perhaps the oddest which I have ever been asked
+to perform was an incident which I have often told. One day, after a
+long stream of patients had been treated, a young man with a great air
+of secrecy said that he wanted to see me very privately.</p>
+
+<p>"I wants to get married, Doctor," he confided when we were alone.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's something in which I can't help you. Won't any of the
+girls round here have you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! it isn't that. There's a girl down North I fancies, but I'm
+shipped to a man here for the summer, and can't get away. Wouldn't you
+just propose to her for me, and bring her along as you comes South?"</p>
+
+<p>The library would touch a very limited field if it were not for the
+hospital ship. She carries half a hundred <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span>travelling libraries each
+year. She finds out the derelict children and brings them home. She is
+often a court of law, trying to dispense justice and help right against
+might. She has enabled us to serve not only men, but their ships as
+well; and many a helping hand she has been able to lend to men in
+distress when hearts were anxious and hopes growing faint. In a
+thousand little ways she is just as important a factor in preaching the
+message of love. To-day she is actually loaned for her final trip,
+before going into winter quarters, to a number of heads of families,
+who are thus enabled to bring out fuel for their winter fires from the
+long bay just south of the hospital.</p>
+
+<p>Her plates are getting thin. They were never anything but
+three-eighths-inch steel, and we took a thousand pounds of rust out of
+her after cabin alone this spring. She leaks a little&mdash;and no iron ship
+should. It will cost two thousand dollars to put her into repair again
+for future use. Money is short now, but when asked about the future of
+the Mission I feel that whatever else will be needed for many years to
+come, the hospital ship at least cannot possibly be dispensed with.</p>
+
+<p>The child is potential energy, the father of the future man, and the
+future state; and the children of this country are integral,
+determining factors in the future of this Mission. The children who are
+turned out to order by institutions seem sadly deficient, both in
+ability to cope with life and in the humanities. The "home" system, as
+at Quarrier's in Scotland, is a striking contrast, and personally I
+shall vote for the management of orphanages on home lines every time.
+This is not a concession to Dickens, whose pictures of Bumble I hope
+and believe apply only to the dark ages in which Dickens lived; but
+historically they are not yet far enough removed for me to advocate
+Government orphanages, though our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span>Government schools are an advance on
+Dotheboys Hall.</p>
+
+<p>The human body is the result of physical causes; breeding tells as
+surely as it does in dogs or cows, and the probability of defects in
+the offspring of poverty and of lust is necessarily greater than in
+well-bred, well-fed, well-environed children. The proportion of
+mentally and morally deficient children that come to us absolutely
+demonstrates this fact; and the love needed to see such children
+through to the end is more comprehensive than the mere sentiment of
+having a child in the home, and infinitely more than the desire to have
+the help which he can bring.</p>
+
+<p>The Government allows us fifty-two dollars a year toward the expense of
+a child whose father is dead; nothing if the mother is dead, or if the
+father is alive but had better be dead. It would be wiser if each case
+could be judged on its merits by competent officials. But we believe it
+is a blessing to a community to have the opportunity of finding the
+balance.</p>
+
+<p>Tested by its output and the returns to the country, our orphanage has
+amply justified itself. One new life resultant from the outlay of a few
+dollars would class the investment as gilt-edged if graded merely in
+cash. The community which sows a neglected childhood reaps a whirlwind
+in defective manhood.</p>
+
+<p>In view of these facts&mdash;to leave out of consideration my earnest
+personal desire&mdash;there can never be any question in my mind as to the
+imperative necessity of the Mission's continuance of the work for
+derelict children. This conclusion seems to me safeguarded by the fact
+that all nations are placing increasing emphasis on "the child in the
+midst of them."</p>
+
+<p>When Solomon chose wisdom as the gift which he most desired, the Bible
+tells us that it was pleasing to God. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span>St. Paul holds out the hope that
+one day we shall know as we are known. But there is a vast difference
+between knowledge and being wise. In fact, from the New Testament
+itself we are led to believe that the devils knew far more than even
+the Disciples.</p>
+
+<p>The school is an essential part of the orphanage. Seeing that the
+village children needed education just as much as those for whom we
+were more directly responsible, and realizing the value to both of the
+co&ouml;peration, and that the denominational system which still persists in
+the country is a factor for division and not for unity, it became
+obviously desirable for us to provide such a bond. Friends made the
+building possible. The generosity of a lady in Chicago in practically
+endowing it has, we feel, secured its future. We have now a proper
+building, three teachers, a graded school, modern appliances for
+teaching, and vastly superior results. In these days when the
+expenditure of every penny seems a widow's mite, one welcomes the
+encouragement of facts such as these to enable one to "carry on."</p>
+
+<p>Modern pedagogy has brought to the attention of even the man in the
+street the realization that education consists not merely in its
+accepted scholastic aspect, but also that training of the eye and hand
+which in turn fosters the larger development of the mind. In the latter
+sense our people are far from uneducated. Taking this aptitude of
+theirs as a starting-point, some twelve years ago we began our
+industrial department, first by giving out skin work in the North, and
+later started other branches under Miss Jessie Luther, who subsequently
+gave many years of service to the coast.</p>
+
+<p>The co&ouml;perative movement is the same question seen from another angle,
+and is almost contemporaneous with our earliest hospitals.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span>It is not unnatural that man, realizing that he is himself like "the
+grass that to-morrow is cast into the oven," should worry over the
+permanency of the things on which he has spent himself. Though Christ
+especially warns us against this anxiety, religious people have been
+the greatest sinners in laying more emphasis upon to-morrow than
+to-day. The element which makes most for longevity is always
+interesting, even if longevity is often a mistake. Almost every old
+parish church in England maintains some skeleton of bygone efforts
+which once met real needs and were tokens of real love.</p>
+
+<p>The future is a long way off&mdash;that future when Christ's Kingdom comes
+on earth in the consecrated hearts and wills of all mankind, when all
+the superimposed efforts will be unnecessary. But love builds for a
+future, however remote; and at present we see no other way than to work
+for it, and know of no better means than to insure the permanency of
+the hospitals, orphanage, school, and the industrial and co&ouml;perative
+enterprises, thus to hasten, however little, the coming of Christ in
+Labrador.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XXVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>MY RELIGIOUS LIFE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>No one can write his real religious life with pen or pencil. It is
+written only in actions, and its seal is our character, not our
+orthodoxy. Whether we, our neighbour, or God is the judge, absolutely
+the only value of our "religious" life to ourselves or to any one is
+what it fits us for and enables us to do. Creeds, when expressed only
+in words, clothes, or abnormal lives, are daily growing less acceptable
+as passports to Paradise. What my particular intellect can accept
+cannot commend me to God. His "well done" is only spoken to the man who
+"wills to do His will."</p>
+
+<p>We map the world out into black and white patches for "heathen" and
+"Christian"&mdash;as if those who made the charts believed that one section
+possessed a monopoly of God's sonship. Europe was marked white, which
+is to-day comment enough on this division. A black friend of mine used
+often to remind me that in his country the Devil was white.</p>
+
+<p>My own religious experiences divide my life into three periods. As a
+boy at school, and as a young man at hospital, the truth or untruth of
+Christianity as taught by the churches did not interest me enough to
+devote a thought to it. It was neither a disturbing nor a vital
+influence in my life. My mother was my ideal of goodness. I have never
+known her speak an angry or unkind word. Sitting here looking back on
+over fifty years of life, I cannot pick out one thing to criticize in
+my mother.</p>
+
+<p>What did interest me was athletics. Like most English boys I almost
+worshipped physical accomplishments. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span>I had the supremest contempt for
+clothes except those designed for action or comfort. Since no saint
+apparently ever wore trousers, or appeared to care about football
+knickers, I never supposed that they could be the same flesh as myself.
+It was always a barrier between me and the parsons and religious
+persons generally that they affected clothing which dubbed my ideals
+"worldly." It was even a barrier between myself and the Christ that I
+could not think of Him in flannels or a gymnasium suit. At that time I
+should have considered such an idea blasphemous&mdash;whatever that meant.
+As soon as religious services ceased to be compulsory for me, I only
+attended them as a concession to others. The prime object of the
+prayers and lessons did not appear to be that they might be understood.
+So far as I could see, common sense and plain natural feelings were at
+a discount. A long heritage of an eager, restless spirit left me
+uninterested in "homilies," and aided by the "dim religious light," I
+was enabled to sleep through both long prayers and sermons. Justice
+forces me to add that the two endless hours of "prep" lessons after tea
+had very much the same effect upon me.</p>
+
+<p>At the request of my mother I once went to take a class at the Sunday
+School. These were for the "poor only" in England in those days. Little
+effort was expended on making them attractive. I recall nothing but
+disgust at the dirty urchins with whom I had to associate for half an
+hour. An incident which happened on the death of one of the boys at my
+father's school interested me temporarily in religion. The boy's father
+happened to be a dissenter, and our vicar refused to allow the gates of
+the parish churchyard to be opened to enable the funeral cort&egrave;ge to
+enter. My chum had only a legal right to be buried in the yard. The
+coffin had therefore to be lifted over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span>wall and as the church was
+locked, father conducted the service in the open air. His words at the
+grave-side gave a touch of reality to religion, and still more so did
+his walking down the aisle out of church the following Sunday when the
+vicar referred to the destructive influence of anything that lent
+colour to dissent. Later when father threw up the school for the far
+more onerous and less remunerative task of chaplain at the London
+Hospital, even I realized that religion meant something. Indeed, it was
+that tax on his sensitive, nervous brain that brought his life to its
+early close. No man ever had a more generous and soft-hearted father.
+He never refused us any reasonable request, and very few unreasonable
+ones, and allowed us an amount of self-determination enjoyed by few.
+How deeply and how often have I regretted that I did not understand him
+better. His brilliant scholarship, and the friends that it brought
+around him, his ability literally to speak Greek and Latin as he could
+German and French, his exceptionally developed mental as compared with
+his physical gifts, were undoubtedly the reasons that a very ordinary
+English boy could not appreciate him.</p>
+
+<p>At fourteen years of age, at Marlborough School, I was asked if I
+wished to be confirmed. Every boy of that age was. It permitted one to
+remain when "the kids went out after first service." It added dignity,
+like a football cap or a mustache. All I remember about it was bitterly
+resenting having to "swat up" the Catechism out of school hours. I
+counted, however, on the examiner being easy, and he was. I am an
+absolute believer in boys making a definite decision to follow the
+Christ; and that in the hands of a really keen Christian man the rite
+of confirmation is very valuable. The call which gets home to a boy's
+heart is the call to do things. If only a boy can be led to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span>see that
+the following of Christ demands a real knighthood, and that true
+chivalry is Christ's service, he will want all the rites and ceremonies
+that either proclaim his allegiance or promise him help and strength to
+live up to it.</p>
+
+<p>What I now believe that D.L. Moody did for me was just to show that
+under all the shams and externals of religion was a vital call in the
+world for things that I could do. This marks the beginning of the
+second period of my religious development. He helped me to see myself
+as God sees the "unprofitable servant," and to be ashamed. He started
+me working for all I was worth, and made religion real fun&mdash;a new field
+brimming with opportunities. With me the pendulum swung very far. The
+evangelical to my mind had a monopoly of infallible truth. A Roman
+Catholic I regarded as a relic of medi&aelig;valism; while almost a rigour
+went down my spine when a man told me that he was a "Unitarian
+Christian." Hyphenation was loyalty compared to that. I mention this
+only because it shows how I can now understand intolerance and
+dogmatism in others. Yes, I must have been "very impossible," for then
+I honestly thought that I knew it all.</p>
+
+<p>About this time I began to be interested in reading my Bible, and I
+learned to appreciate my father's expositions of it. At prayers he
+always translated into the vernacular from the original of either the
+Old or the New Testament. To me he seemed to know every sense of every
+Greek word in any setting. Ever since I have been satisfied to use an
+English version, knowing that I cannot improve on the words chosen by
+the various learned translators.</p>
+
+<p>Because I owed so much to evangelical teachers, it worried me for a
+long while that I could not bring myself <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span>to argue with my boys about
+their intellectual attitude to Christ. My Sunday class contained
+several Jews whom I loved. I respected them more because they made no
+verbal professions. I have seen Turkish religionists dancing and
+whirling in Asia Minor at their prayers. I have seen much emotional
+Christianity, and I fully realize the value of approaching men on their
+emotional side. A demonstrative preacher impresses large crowds of
+people at once. But all the same, I have learned from many
+disillusionments to be afraid of overdoing emotionalism in religion.
+Summing up the evidence of men's Christlikeness by their characters, as
+I look back down my long list of loved and honoured helpers and
+friends, I am certainly safe in saying that I at least should judge
+that no section of Christ's Church has any monopoly of Christ's spirit;
+and that I should like infinitely less to be examined on my own
+dogmatic theology than I should thirty-five years ago. Combined with
+this goes the fact that though I know the days of my stay on earth are
+greatly reduced, I seem to be less rather than more anxious about "the
+morrow." For though time has rounded off the corners of my conceit,
+experience of God's dealing with such an unworthy midget as myself has
+so strengthened the foundations on which faith stood, that Christ now
+means more to me as a living Presence than when I laid more emphasis on
+the dogmas concerning Him.</p>
+
+<p>This chapter would not be complete without an endeavour to face the
+task of trying to answer the questions so often asked: "What is your
+position now? Do you still believe as you did when you first decided to
+serve Christ?" I am still a communicant member "in good standing" of
+the Episcopal Church. One hopes that one's religious ideas grow like
+the rest of one's life. It is fools who are said to rush in where
+angels fear to tread. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span>most powerful Christian churches in the
+world, the Greek and the Roman, recognizing the great dangers
+threatening, have countered by stereotyping the answer for all time,
+assuming all responsibility, and permitting no individual freedom in
+the matter. The numbers of their adherents testify to how vast a
+proportion of mankind the course appeals. And yet we are sons of
+God&mdash;and at our best value freedom in every department of our
+being&mdash;spirit as well as mind and body. George Adam Smith says: "The
+great causes of God and humanity are not defeated by the hot assaults
+of the Devil, but by the slow, crushing, glacier-like mass of thousands
+and thousands of indifferent nobodies. God's causes are never destroyed
+by being blown up, but by being sat upon. It is not the violent and
+anarchical whom we have to fear in the war for human progress, but the
+slow, the staid, the respectable; and the danger of these lies in their
+real skepticism. Though it would abhor articulately confessing that God
+does nothing, it virtually means so by refusing to share manifest
+opportunities for serving Him."</p>
+
+<p>Feeble and devious as my own footsteps have been since my decision to
+follow Jesus Christ, I believe more than ever that this is the only
+real adventure of life. No step in life do I even compare with that one
+in permanent satisfaction. I deeply regret that I did not take it
+sooner. I do not feel that it mattered much whether I chose medicine
+for an occupation, or law, or education, or commerce, or any other way
+to justify my existence by working for a living as every honest man
+should. But if there is one thing about which I never have any
+question, it is that the decision and endeavour to follow the Christ
+does for men what nothing else on earth can. Without stultifying our
+reason, it develops all that makes men godlike. Christ claimed that it
+was the only way to find out truth.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>To me, enforced asceticism, vows of celibacy, denunciation of pleasures
+innocent in themselves, intellectual monopoly of interpretation of
+things past or present, written or unwritten, are travesties of common
+sense, which is to me the Voice within. Not being a philosopher, I do
+not classify it, but I listen to it, because I believe it to be the
+Voice of God. That is the first point which I have no fear in putting
+on record.</p>
+
+<p>The extraordinary revelations of some Power outside ourselves leading
+and guiding and helping and chastening are, I am certain, really the
+ordinary experiences of every man who is willing to accept the fact
+that we are sons of God. Only a child, however, who submits to his
+father can expect to enjoy or understand his dealings. If we look into
+our everyday life we cannot fail to see that God not only allows but
+seeks our co&ouml;peration in the establishment of His Kingdom. So the
+second fundamental by which I stand is the certainty of a possible real
+and close relationship between man and God. Not one qualm assails my
+intellect or my intuition when I say that I know absolutely that God is
+my Father. To live "as seeing Him who is invisible" is my one ideal
+which embraces all the lesser ideals of my life.</p>
+
+<p>It has been my lot in life to have to stand by many death-beds, and to
+be called in to dying men and women almost as a routine in my
+profession. Yet I am increasingly convinced that their spirits never
+die at all. I am sure that there is no real death. Death is no argument
+against, but rather for, life. Eternal life is the complement of all my
+unsatisfied ideals; and experience teaches me that the belief in it is
+a greater incentive to be useful and good than any other I know.</p>
+
+<p>I have read "Raymond" with great interest. I am neither capable nor
+willing to criticize those who, with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span>the deductive ability of such men
+as Sir Oliver Lodge, are brave enough and unselfish enough to devote
+their talents to pioneering in a field that certainly needs and merits
+more scientific investigation, seeing that it has possibilities of such
+great moment to mankind.</p>
+
+<p>The experiences on which rest one's own convictions of continuing life
+are of an entirely different nature. Even though the first and personal
+reason may seem foolish, it is because I desire it so much. This is a
+natural passion, common to all human beings. Experience convinces me
+that such longings are purposeful and do not go unsatisfied.</p>
+
+<p>No, we do not know everything yet; and perhaps the critic is a
+shallower fool than he judges to be the patient delvers into the
+unknown beyond. The evidence on which our deductions have been based
+through the ages may suddenly be proven fallible after all. It may be
+that there is no such thing as matter. Chemists and physicists now
+admit that is possible. The spiritual may be far more real than the
+material, in spite of the cocksure conceit of the current science of
+1918. Immortality may be the complement of mortality, as water becomes
+steam, and steam becomes power, and power becomes heat, and heat
+becomes light. The conclusion that life beyond is the conservation of
+energy of life here may be as scientific as that great natural law for
+material things. I see knowledge become service, service become joy. I
+see fear prohibit glands from secreting, hope bring back colour to the
+face and tone to the blood. I see something not material make Jekyl
+into Hyde; and thank God, make Hyde over into Jekyl again, when birch
+rods and iron bars have no effect whatever. I have seen love do
+physical things which the mere intellectual convictions cannot&mdash;make
+hearts beat and eyes sparkle, that would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span>not respond even to digitalis
+and strychnine. I claim that the boy is justified in saying that his
+kite exists in the heaven, even though it is out of sight and the
+string leads round the corner, on no other presumption than that he
+feels it tugging. I prefer to stand with Moses in his belief in the
+Promised Land, and that we can reach it, than to believe that the
+Celestial City is a mirage.</p>
+
+<p>This attempted analysis of my religious life has revealed to me two
+great changes in my position toward its intellectual or dogmatic
+demands, and both of them are reflections of the ever rightly changing
+attitude of the defenders of our Christian faith. "Tempora mutantur et
+nos mutamus in illis." Christians should not fret because they cannot
+escape adapting themselves to the environment of 1918&mdash;which is no
+longer that of 918, or 18. The one and only hope for any force,
+Christianity no less than others, is its ability to adapt itself to all
+time.</p>
+
+<p>I still study my Bible in the morning and scribble on the margin the
+lessons which I get out of the portion. I can only do it by using a new
+copy each time I finish, because it brings new thoughts according to
+the peculiar experiences, tasks, needs, and environments of the day. I
+change I know. It does not&mdash;and yet it does&mdash;for we see the old truths
+in new lights. That to me is the glory of the Scriptures. Somehow it
+suits itself always to my developing needs. Christ did not teach as did
+other teachers. He taught for all time. We find out that our attitude
+to everything changes, to the things that give us pleasure and to those
+that give us pain. It is but a sign of healthy evolution (in this
+chapter, I suppose I should call it "grace") that the great churches
+have ceased to condemn their leaders who are unsound on points which
+once spelt <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span>fagot and stake. To-day predestination no longer involves
+the same reaction, even if dropped into a conference of selected "Wee
+Frees." The American section of the Episcopal Church has omitted to
+insist on our publicly and periodically declaring that we must have a
+correct view of three Incomprehensibles, or be damned, as is still the
+case in our Church of England.</p>
+
+<p>I am writing of my religion. The churches are now teaching that
+religion is action, not diction. There was a time when I could work
+with only one section of the Church of God. Thank God, it was a very
+brief period, but I weep for it just the same. Now I can not only work
+with any section, but worship with them also. If there is error in
+their intellectual attitudes, it is to God they stand, not to me.
+Doubtless there is just as much error in mine. To me, he is the best
+Christian who "judges not." To claim a monopoly of Christian religion
+for any church, looked at from the point of view of following Jesus
+Christ, is ridiculous. So I find that I have changed, changed in the
+importance which I place on what others think and upon what I myself
+think.</p>
+
+<p>Unless a Christian is a witness in his life, his opinions do not matter
+two pins to God or man. Of course, to-day <i>we</i> should not burn
+Savonarola, any more than we should actually crucify that brave old
+fisherman, Peter, or ridicule a Gordon or a Livingstone, or assassinate
+a Lincoln or a Phillips Brooks, even with our tongues, though they
+differed from us in their view of what the Christian religion really
+needs. Oh, of course we shouldn't!</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps my change spells more and not less faith in the Saviour of the
+world. As I love the facts of life more, I care less for fusty
+commentators. As I see more of Christ's living with us all the days, I
+care less for arguments about His death. I have no more doubt that He
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span>lives in His world to-day than that I do. Why should I blame myself
+because more and more my mind emphasizes the fact that it is because He
+lives, and only so far as He lives in me, that I shall live also?</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+
+
+<h4>THE END</h4>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h2>INDEX</h2>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span><br />
+<a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>INDEX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+<br />
+
+<ul><li>Agriculture, in Labrador, unsuccessful, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Alaska, reindeer experiment in, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a  href="#Page_294">294-295</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Albert, the, hospital ship of Dr. Grenfell, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+
+<li><i>Among the Deep-Sea Fishers</i>, magazine, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Andrews, Dr. Joseph, eye-specialist, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Archibald, Sir William, chairman of the Royal National Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Armstrong, Dr. Seymour, his work at St. Anthony, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Arnold, Thomas, of Rugby, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Athletics, Grenfell's fondness of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_424">424</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Bailey, Florence, nurse, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Barnett, Samuel, of Mile End, head of Toynbee House, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Barter system, the evils of, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a  href="#Page_133">133-138</a>, <a  href="#Page_215">215-217</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bartlett, Captain, father of "Captain Bob," <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Battle Harbour, Newfoundland, site of hospital, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Beattie, Arthur, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Beetz, Mr., <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Begbie, Harold, <i>Twice-Born Men</i>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bell, Dr. Alexander Graham, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Belle Isle, the Straits of, Labrador, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Besant, Mrs. Annie, associated with Charles Bradlaugh, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Blandford, Captain Samuel, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bobardt, Dr. Arthur, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a  href="#Page_159">159-162</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Booth, Walter, of New York, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bowditch, William, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Boys' Brigade, the, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bradlaugh, Charles, religious radical, <a  href="#Page_81">81-82</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Cabot, John, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Carpenter, Rev. C.C., <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Carrel, Dr. Alexis, in France, <a href="#Page_397">397</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cartier, Jacques, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cartwright, George, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Catholic Cadet Corps, the, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cattle-raising in Labrador unsuccessful, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cawardine, Miss, nurse, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Charity, prophylactic, more important than remedial, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cheever, Colonel David, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Chester, England, birthplace of Grenfell, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Chidley, Cape, Labrador, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Children's Home, the, <a  href="#Page_244">244-253</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Church Lads Brigade, the, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Clark, Sir Andrew, doctor, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cluett, George B., of Troy, N.Y., <a href="#Page_347">347</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cook, Captain, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Co&ouml;perative system, the, <a  href="#Page_215">215-225</a>.</li>
+
+<li><i>Corner</i>, the, magazine, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Crookhaven, seat of a dispensary and social centre, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Crowe, Harry, lumber operator, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Curtis, Dr. Charles, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Curtis, Lieutenant Roger, quoted, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Curwen, Dr. Elliott, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Curzon-Howe, Lady, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Curzon-Howe, Lord, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cutter, Marion, librarian, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Daly, Professor Reginald, head of Department of Geology at Harvard University, quoted, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dampier, William, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Davis Inlet, Labrador, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dawson, Sir Betrand, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dee, the River, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Delano, Eugene, head of Brown Brothers, bankers, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Denominationalism, evils of, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Dogs, Labrador, ferocity of, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Domino Run, Labrador, natural harbour, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Drake, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Durand, Mrs. Charles, aunt of Mrs. Grenfell, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Education in Labrador: schools denominational, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>Grenfell's school, <a  href="#Page_257">257-264</a>;</li>
+  <li>moving libraries, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
+  <li>founding of undenominational boarding school, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Edward VII, King, Grenfell's private audience with, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Edwards, Antiguan lecturer of the Christian Evidence Society, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Emily Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li>
+
+<li>English, Robert, of Yale College, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Eskimos, the, Grenfell's work with, <a  href="#Page_129">129-136</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>original natives of Labrador, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>
+  <li>Valentine, king of, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li>
+  <li>suffering of, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Evans, John, worker at St. Anthony, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Fallon, Dr. Louis, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Faro&euml; Islands, the, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fenwick, Harry, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li>"Fisher Lads' Letter-Writing Association," <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fishermen's Institute, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ford, George, factor of Hudson Bay Company, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Fox Farm, at St. Anthony, <a  href="#Page_238">238-240</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>George V, King, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gladstone, W.E., <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gosling, Mrs. W.E., <a href="#Page_370">370</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Gould, Albert, volunteer helper of Grenfell, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Great Cop, the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Greenshields, Julia, editor of <i>Among the Deep-Sea Fishers</i>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Algernon, brother of W.T.G., <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Algernon Sydney, father of W.T.G., <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Cecil, brother of W.T.G., <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Kinloch Pascoe, son of W.T.G., <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Maurice, brother of W.T.G., <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Pascoe, of Bank of England, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Rosamond Loveday, daughter of W.T.G., <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, birth, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>ancestry, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li>
+  <li>early days, <a  href="#Page_2">2-14</a>;</li>
+  <li>school life, <a  href="#Page_15">15-36</a>;</li>
+  <li>study of natural objects, <a  href="#Page_34">34-36</a>;</li>
+  <li>choice of medical profession, <a  href="#Page_37">37-39</a>;</li>
+  <li>college life, <a  href="#Page_41">41-44</a>;</li>
+  <li>interest in athletics, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
+  <li>religious awakening, <a  href="#Page_44">44-46</a>;</li>
+  <li>Sunday-school class and slum work, <a  href="#Page_46">46-53</a>;</li>
+  <li>summer cruises, <a  href="#Page_53">53-57</a>;</li>
+  <li>camping with boys, <a  href="#Page_57">57-63</a>;</li>
+  <li>germination of democratic tendencies, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
+  <li>interne in London Hospital, <a  href="#Page_64">64-87</a>;</li>
+  <li>father's death, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
+  <li>humanitarian ideals, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>
+  <li>hatred of liquor traffic, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>
+  <li>association with religious radicals in East London, <a  href="#Page_81">81-86</a>;</li>
+  <li>cosmopolitan life, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;</li>
+  <li>member of College of Physicians and Royal College of Surgeons of England, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>
+  <li>first work in fisheries of North Sea, <a  href="#Page_88">88-98</a>;</li>
+  <li>his religion intensely social, <a  href="#Page_99">99-101</a>;</li>
+  <li>medical officer in boys' summer-camps, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;</li>
+  <li>development of work in North Sea and off Irish coast, <a  href="#Page_104">104-114</a>;</li>
+  <li>preparation and departure for America, <a  href="#Page_113">113-118</a>;</li>
+  <li>first summer in Labrador, <a  href="#Page_119">119-125</a>;</li>
+  <li>success in Labrador, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li>
+  <li>return to England, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li>
+  <li>second voyage to Labrador, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li>
+  <li>founding of cottage hospitals, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li>
+  <li>visits to Moravian Brethren and work among Eskimos, <a  href="#Page_128">128-138</a>;</li>
+  <li>lecturing and soliciting in southern Newfoundland and Canada, <a  href="#Page_159">159-162</a>;</li>
+  <li>cruising north, <a  href="#Page_163">163-170</a>;</li>
+  <li>experience with seal fishery, <a  href="#Page_173">173-182</a>;</li>
+  <li>trip to Iceland, <a  href="#Page_183">183-187</a>;</li>
+  <li>holiday with Treves on Scilly Islands, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li>
+  <li>third voyage to Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;</li>
+  <li>requested to establish a winter station at St. Anthony, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>;</li>
+  <li>winter at St. Anthony, <a  href="#Page_197">197-214</a>;</li>
+  <li>institution of co&ouml;perative system, <a  href="#Page_218">218-225</a>;</li>
+  <li>institution of saw-mill in North Newfoundland, <a  href="#Page_226">226-238</a>;</li>
+  <li>fox farm at St. Anthony, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</li>
+  <li>founding of The Children's Home, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li>
+  <li>founding of common school, <a  href="#Page_257">257-265</a>;</li>
+  <li>moving libraries, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
+  <li>arrangement of two-cent postal rate, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li>
+  <li>awarded honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine of Oxford, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;</li>
+  <li>received honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in America, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</li>
+  <li>received Companionship in the Order of St. Michael and St. George, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span></li>
+  <li>reindeer experiment, <a  href="#Page_288">288-303</a>;</li>
+  <li>propaganda lecturing in England, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>;</li>
+  <li>courtship, <a  href="#Page_333">333-337</a>;</li>
+  <li>enlargement of St. Anthony Hospital, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>;</li>
+  <li>marriage and family, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>;</li>
+  <li>assumption of co&ouml;perative store debt, <a  href="#Page_344">344-347</a>;</li>
+  <li>founding of Institute at St. John's, <a  href="#Page_349">349-353</a>;</li>
+  <li>lecture tour in U.S. and England, <a  href="#Page_357">357-361</a>;</li>
+  <li>lecture tour again, <a  href="#Page_371">371-374</a>;</li>
+  <li>holiday in Asia Minor, <a  href="#Page_376">376-382</a>;</li>
+  <li>winter at base hospital in France (1915), <a  href="#Page_384">384-402</a>;</li>
+  <li>attacked by a St. John's newspaper, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>;</li>
+  <li>growth and development of Mission, <a  href="#Page_404">404-410</a>;</li>
+  <li>religious life, <a  href="#Page_424">424-434</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Jr., <a href="#Page_342">342</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell Association of America, the, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grenfell Town, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Grieve, Dr. John, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Haldane, Lord, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Halifax, visited by Grenfell, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hare, Dr. Mather, work at Harrington, <a  href="#Page_275">275-276</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Harrington Hospital, Canadian Labrador, <a href="#Page_418">418</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hause, Mr., of Pratt Institute, volunteer student helper, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hearn longliners and trawlers, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Heligoland, visited by Grenfell, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Henley, or Ch&acirc;teau, Labrador, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Henson, Dr. Hensley, Bishop of Hereford, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Home, the Children's, <a  href="#Page_244">244-253</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hopedale, Labrador, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Horsley, Sir Victor, doctor, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hot-heads, launches used in open sea, <a  href="#Page_275">275-279</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hudson Bay Company, the, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Huxley, Professor, his criticism of English public school teaching, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Hy&egrave;res, France, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Iceland, <a  href="#Page_183">183-187</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Illiteracy, in Newfoundland and Labrador, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Indian Harbour, site of one of Grenfell's hospitals, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Indian Tickle, Labrador, site of a church built by Labrador Mission, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ingram, Rt. Rev. A.F. Winnington, Bishop of London, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li>International Grenfell Association the, formation of, <a  href="#Page_358">358-359</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ireland, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Irish Poor-Relief Board, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Irving, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Jackson, Rev. Dr. Sheldon, Presbyterian missionary in Alaska, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Job, the Honourable W.C., <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Job, Mrs. W.C., <a href="#Page_370">370</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Jones, Rev. Dr. Edgar, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Jones, Sir Robert, orthopedic surgeon. <a href="#Page_359">359</a>, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Jones, Mr. Walter, manager of Institute at St. John's, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Julia Sheriden, the, Mission steamer, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Kean, Captain, of the S.S. Wolf, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Keese, Ruth (Mrs. John Mason Little, Jr.), <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Kingsley, Charles, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Komatik, description of a, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Labrador, the Country and the People</i>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Labrador, inhabitants of, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>climate of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;</li>
+  <li>fishing industry, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>;</li>
+  <li>poverty of people, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a  href="#Page_148">148-153</a>;</li>
+  <li>superstition of people, <a  href="#Page_142">142-145</a>;</li>
+  <li>natural characteristics of, <a  href="#Page_156">156-158</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Lake Forest, on Lake Michigan, Mrs. Grenfell's home, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lapps, <a  href="#Page_292">292-294</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Leacock, Stephen, his essay, <i>How to Become a Doctor</i>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Leslie, Olive, kindergartner, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lewis Bay, Labrador, winter hospital station at, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lighthouses, at Battle Harbour, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>at White Point, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;</li>
+  <li>at Indian Harbour, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Liquor traffic, the, Grenfell's hatred of, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>his suppression of, at St. Anthony, <a  href="#Page_209">209-214</a>;</li>
+  <li>at St. John's, <a  href="#Page_353">353-356</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Lister, Sir Joseph, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Little, Dr. John Mason, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lloyd, Dr., Prime Minister of Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Lodge, Sir Oliver, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li>
+
+<li>London Hospital and University, Grenfell's father chaplain of, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>Grenfell's alma mater, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Loti, Pierre, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Luther, Jessie, <a href="#Page_422">422</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>MacAusland, Dr. W.R., of Boston, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>.</li>
+
+<li>MacClanahan, Anna Elizabeth Caldwell (Mrs. W.T. Grenfell), <a href="#Page_336">336</a>.</li>
+
+<li>MacClanahan, Colonel, father-in-law of Grenfell, <a href="#Page_336">336</a>.</li>
+
+<li>MacGregor, Sir William, Governor of Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a  href="#Page_320">320-323</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mackenzie, Sir Stephen, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Marlborough School, <a  href="#Page_15">15-24</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a  href="#Page_30">30-33</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Marquis of Ripon, Minister to the Colonies, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mason, A.E.W., novelist, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Matheson, Paul, volunteer helper of Grenfell, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>.</li>
+
+<li>McCook, Colonel Anson G., <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li>
+
+<li>McGrath, Sir Patrick, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Methodist guards, the, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Meyer, Hon. George von L., Postmaster-General, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mill, the, on the "French Shore," Newfoundland, <a  href="#Page_326">326-238</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Montreal, visited by Grenfell, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Moody, Dwight L., evangelist, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_427">427</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Moravian Brethren, the, their work with the Eskimos, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Moravian Mission, <a  href="#Page_129">129-132</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Muir, Ethel Gordon, teacher, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Murchison Prize, awarded Grenfell by the Royal Geographical Society, in 1911, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Nain, Labrador, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Nakvak, Labrador, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>remains of Tunits there, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Napatuliarasok Island, Labrador, noted for its Labradorite, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Nasson Institute, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Needlework Guild of America, the, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_419">419</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Newfoundland, independent colony of England, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>Labrador owned by, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li>
+  <li>difference between North and South Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Nielsen, Adolph, Superintendent of Fisheries off Labrador, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>O'Brien, Sir Terence, governor at St. John's, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Paddon, Dr. and Mrs., <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Parkhurst, Dr. Charles H., of New York, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Peary, Admiral, return of from North Pole, <a  href="#Page_339">339-342</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Pomiuk, Prince, Eskimo, <a  href="#Page_241">241-243</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Pratt Institute, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Presbyterian Highland Brigade, the, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Prince Edward Island, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Princess May, the midget steam launch, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Public School Camps, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>R.A.M.C., efficiency of in France, <a  href="#Page_398">398-400</a>.</li>
+
+<li><i>Raymond</i>, Sir Oliver Lodge, <a href="#Page_430">430</a>, <a href="#Page_431">431</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Red Bay, Labrador, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Red Bay Co&ouml;perative Store, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Reed, William Howell, of Boston, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Reikyavik, capital of Iceland, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Reindeer experiment, the, <a  href="#Page_290">290-303</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Ripon, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Rivington, Sir Walter, surgeon, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Roddick, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Roosevelt, the, Peary's ship, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Rowland, John, of Yale College, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>St. Anthony, Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>poverty of people, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;</li>
+  <li>Grenfell's first winter in, <a  href="#Page_197">197-214</a>;</li>
+  <li>Grenfell's fight against liquor traffic, <a  href="#Page_209">209-214</a>;</li>
+  <li>headquarters of hospital stations, <a href="#Page_417">417</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>St. John's, burning of, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>seat of Newfoundland government, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Sands of Dee, the, <a  href="#Page_1">1-7</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sayre, Francis B., secretary of Grenfell, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>, <a href="#Page_339">339</a>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Scilly Islands, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Seal Fishery, the, <a  href="#Page_172">172-182</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Seyde Fjord, Iceland, visited by Grenfell, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sheard, Mr., <a href="#Page_404">404</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sir Donald, the, mission steamer, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Skiff, Captain, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Sloggett, Sir Arthur, general, <a href="#Page_385">385</a>, <a href="#Page_398">398</a>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Smith, George Adam, quoted, <a href="#Page_429">429</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Southborough, Lord (Mr. Francis Hopwood), <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Spalding, Katie, of The Children's Home, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Spencer, Martyn, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Stewart, Dr. and Mrs. Norman, <a href="#Page_405">405</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Stirling, W.R., <a href="#Page_333">333</a>, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Storr, Eleanor, of The Children's Home, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Strathcona, Lord (Donald Smith), patron of Labrador Mission, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>donor of the Strathcona, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Studd, J.E. and C.T., <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Sutton, Dr., London Hospital, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Terschelling, visited by Grenfell, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tickle, the Grenfell, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tigris, the S.S., of the Polaris expedition, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tilt Cove, Newfoundland, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+
+<li><i>Toilers of the Deep, The</i>, magazine, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Tralee, on Kerry coast, seat of a dispensary, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Treves, Sir Frederick, lecturer in anatomy and surgery in London Hospital and University, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a  href="#Page_67">67-69</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_388">388</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li><i>The Cradle of the Deep</i>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Trevize, skipper, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Truck Acts, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Ungava Bay, Labrador, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Van Dyke, Dr. Henry, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Vestmann Islands, Iceland, visited by Grenfell, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Victoria, Queen, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+
+<li>Victoria Park, London, <a  href="#Page_81">81-82</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Wakefield, Dr. Arthur, of England, <a href="#Page_368">368</a>, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>.</li>
+
+<li><i>Wall Street Journal</i>, quoted, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Watson, the Honourable Robert, <a href="#Page_403">403</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+
+<li>West, Dr., <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_409">409</a>.</li>
+
+<li>White, Emma E., secretary of Labrador Mission in Boston, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.</li>
+
+<li>White Bay, Labrador, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Whitechapel Road, site of London Hospital, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Whitney, Harry, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Williams, Miss, nurse, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Williams, George, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Williams, Sir Ralph, governor of Newfoundland, <a  href="#Page_350">350-352</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Willway, Dr., colleague of Grenfell, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wilson, Jessie, daughter of President Wilson, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wiltsie, Dr., his work in Labrador, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Wolf, the S.S., wreck of, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.<br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Yarmouth, institute for fishermen ashore, and dispensary vessel, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Y.M.C.A. in St. John's, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>in France, <a href="#Page_389">389</a>, <a href="#Page_390">390</a>.</li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h5>The Riverside Press<br />
+CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS<br />
+U . S . A</h5>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p>
+<br />
+Page &nbsp;&nbsp;13: &nbsp;comimg replaced with coming<br />
+Page &nbsp;&nbsp;96: &nbsp;vicitms replaced with victims<br />
+Page 162: &nbsp;sudddenly replaced with suddenly<br />
+Page 256: &nbsp;runnng replaced with running<br />
+Page 303: &nbsp;Reinder replaced with Reindeer<br />
+Page 332: &nbsp;aften replaced with often<br />
+Page 441: &nbsp;Slogget replaced with Sloggett<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LABRADOR DOCTOR***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 22372-h.txt or 22372-h.zip *******</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Labrador Doctor, by Wilfred Thomason
+Grenfell
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: A Labrador Doctor
+       The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
+
+
+Author: Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
+
+
+
+Release Date: August 22, 2007  [eBook #22372]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LABRADOR DOCTOR***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Roger Frank, Jeannie Howse, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+oeNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 22372-h.htm or 22372-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/3/7/22372/22372-h/22372-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/3/7/22372/22372-h.zip)
+
+
+      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+      | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+      |                                                           |
+      | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+      | been preserved.                                           |
+      |                                                           |
+      | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For     |
+      | a complete list, please see the end of this document.     |
+      |                                                           |
+      +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+         +-------------------------------------------------+
+         |    By Wilfred T. Grenfell                       |
+         |                                                 |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    A LABRADOR DOCTOR. The Autobiography of      |
+         |    Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. Illustrated.      |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    LABRADOR DAYS. Tales of the Sea Toilers.     |
+         |    With frontispiece.                           |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    TALES OF THE LABRADOR. With frontispiece.    |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    THE ADVENTURE OF LIFE.                       |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    ADRIFT ON AN ICE-PAN. Illustrated.           |
+         |                                                 |
+         |    HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY                     |
+         |    BOSTON AND NEW YORK                          |
+         +-------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+A LABRADOR DOCTOR
+
+The Autobiography of
+Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
+
+
+[Illustration: (signed) Wilfred Grenfell]
+
+
+A LABRADOR DOCTOR
+
+The Autobiography of
+Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
+M.D. (Oxon.), C.M.G.
+
+With Illustrations
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Boston and New York
+Houghton Mifflin Company
+The Riverside Press Cambridge
+
+Copyright, 1919, by Wilfred T. Grenfell
+All Rights Reserved
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+I have long been resisting the strong pressure from friends that would
+force me to risk having to live alongside my own autobiography. It
+seems still an open question whether it is advisable, or even whether
+it is right--seeing that it calls for confessions. In the eyes of God
+the only alternative is a book of lies. Moreover, sitting down to
+write one's own life story has always loomed up before my imagination
+as an admission that one was passing the post which marks the last
+lap; and though it was a justly celebrated physician who told us that
+we might profitably crawl upon the shelf at half a century, that added
+no attraction for me to the effort, when I passed that goal.
+
+Thirty-two years spent in work for deep-sea fishermen, twenty-seven of
+which years have been passed in Labrador and northern Newfoundland,
+have necessarily given me some experiences which may be helpful to
+others. I feel that this alone justifies the writing of this story.
+
+To the many helpers who have cooperated with me at one time or another
+throughout these years, I owe a debt of gratitude which will never be
+forgotten, though it has been impossible to mention each one by name.
+Without them this work could never have been.
+
+To my wife, who was willing to leave all the best the civilized world
+can offer to share my life on this lonely coast, I want to dedicate
+this book. Truth forces me to own that it would never have come into
+being without her, and her greater share in the work of its production
+declares her courage to face the consequences.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    I. EARLY DAYS                                          1
+
+   II. SCHOOL LIFE                                        15
+
+  III. EARLY WORK IN LONDON                               37
+
+   IV. AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL                             64
+
+    V. NORTH SEA WORK                                     99
+
+   VI. THE LURE OF THE LABRADOR                          119
+
+  VII. THE PEOPLE OF LABRADOR                            139
+
+ VIII. LECTURING AND CRUISING                            159
+
+   IX. THE SEAL FISHERY                                  171
+
+    X. THREE YEARS' WORK IN THE BRITISH ISLES            183
+
+   XI. FIRST WINTER AT ST. ANTHONY                       197
+
+  XII. THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT                          215
+
+ XIII. THE MILL AND THE FOX FARM                         226
+
+  XIV. THE CHILDREN'S HOME                               241
+
+   XV. PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION                             254
+
+  XVI. "WHO HATH DESIRED THE SEA?"                       270
+
+ XVII. THE REINDEER EXPERIMENT                           288
+
+XVIII. THE ICE-PAN ADVENTURE                             304
+
+  XIX. THEY THAT DO BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS             315
+
+   XX. MARRIAGE                                          331
+
+  XXI. NEW VENTURES                                      344
+
+ XXII. PROBLEMS ON LAND AND SEA                          357
+
+XXIII. A MONTH'S HOLIDAY IN ASIA MINOR                   376
+
+ XXIV. THE WAR                                           384
+
+  XXV. FORWARD STEPS                                     403
+
+ XXVI. THE FUTURE OF THE MISSION                         411
+
+XXVII. MY RELIGIOUS LIFE                                 424
+
+INDEX                                                    435
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL                _Frontispiece_
+
+VIEW FROM MOSTYN HOUSE, THE AUTHOR'S BIRTHPLACE, PARKGATE,
+CHESHIRE                                                        2
+
+OXFORD UNIVERSITY RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL TEAM                    44
+
+THE LABRADOR COAST                                            120
+
+ESKIMO WOMAN AND BABY                                         128
+
+ESKIMO MAN                                                    128
+
+ESKIMO GIRLS                                                  132
+
+BATTLE HARBOUR                                                140
+
+A LABRADOR BURIAL                                             156
+
+THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN SUMMER                                 164
+
+THE STRATHCONA                                                192
+
+THREE OF THE DOCTOR'S DOGS                                    198
+
+A KOMATIK JOURNEY                                             202
+
+THE FIRST COOPERATIVE STORE                                   218
+
+ST. ANTHONY                                                   226
+
+INSIDE THE ORPHANAGE                                          250
+
+FISH ON THE FLAKES                                            272
+
+DRYING THE SEINES                                             272
+
+A PART OF THE REINDEER HERD                                   296
+
+REINDEER TEAMS MEETING A DOG TEAM                             296
+
+A SPRING SCENE AT ST. ANTHONY                                 304
+
+DOG RACE AT ST. ANTHONY                                       304
+
+ICEBERGS                                                      320
+
+COMMODORE PEARY ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE POLE, 1909           340
+
+THE INSTITUTE, ST. JOHN'S                                     354
+
+DOG TRAVEL                                                    368
+
+THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN WINTER                                 406
+
+ENTRANCE TO ST. ANTHONY HARBOUR                               418
+
+
+
+
+A LABRADOR DOCTOR
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+EARLY DAYS
+
+
+To be born on the 28th of February is not altogether without its
+compensations. It affords a subject of conversation when you are asked
+to put your name in birthday books. It is evident that many people
+suppose it to be almost an intrusion to appear on that day. However,
+it was perfectly satisfactory to me so long as it was not the 29th. As
+a boy, that was all for which I cared. Still, I used at times to be
+oppressed by the danger, so narrowly missed, of growing up with undue
+deliberation.
+
+The event occurred in 1865 in Parkgate, near Chester, England, whither
+my parents had moved to enable my father to take over the school of
+his uncle. I was always told that what might be called boisterous
+weather signalled my arrival. Experience has since shown me that that
+need not be considered a particularly ominous portent in the winter
+season on the Sands of Dee.
+
+It is fortunate that the selection of our birthplace is not left to
+ourselves. It would most certainly be one of those small decisions
+which would later add to the things over which we worry. I can see how
+it would have acted in my own case. For my paternal forbears are
+really of Cornish extraction--a corner of our little Island to which
+attaches all the romantic aroma of the men, who, in defence of
+England, "swept the Spanish Main," and so long successfully singed the
+Bang of Spain's beard, men whose exploits never fail to stir the best
+blood of Englishmen, and among whom my direct ancestors had the
+privilege of playing no undistinguished part. On the other hand, my
+visits thither have--romance aside--convinced me that the restricted
+foreshore and the precipitous cliffs are a handicap to the development
+of youth, compared with the broad expanses of tempting sands, which
+are after all associated with another kinsman, whose songs have helped
+to make them famous, Charles Kingsley.
+
+My mother was born in India, her father being a colonel of many
+campaigns, and her brother an engineer officer in charge during the
+siege of Lucknow till relieved by Sir Henry Havelock. At the first
+Delhi Durbar no less than forty-eight of my cousins met, all being
+officers either of the Indian military or civil service.
+
+To the modern progressive mind the wide sands are a stumbling-block.
+Silting up with the years, they have closed the river to navigation,
+and converted our once famous Roman city of Chester into a sleepy,
+second-rate market-town. The great flood of commerce from the New
+World sweeps contemptuously past our estuary, and finds its
+clearing-house under the eternal, assertive smoke clouds which
+camouflage the miles of throbbing docks and slums called
+Liverpool--little more than a dozen miles distant. But the
+heather-clad hills of Heswall, and the old red sandstone ridge, which
+form the ancient borough of the "Hundred of Wirral," afford an
+efficient shelter from the insistent taint of out-of-the-worldness.
+
+Every inch of the Sands of Dee were dear to me. I learned to know
+their every bank and gutter. Away beyond them there was a mystery in
+the blue hills of the Welsh shore, only cut off from us children in
+reality by the narrow, rapid water of the channel we called the Deep.
+Yet they seemed so high and so far away. The people there spoke a
+different language from ours, and all their instincts seemed
+diverse. Our humble neighbours lived by the seafaring genius which we
+ourselves loved so much. They made their living from the fisheries of
+the river mouth; and scores of times we children would slip away, and
+spend the day and night with them in their boats.
+
+   [Illustration: VIEW FROM MOSTYN HOUSE, THE AUTHOR'S BIRTHPLACE,
+   PARKGATE, CHESHIRE]
+
+While I was still quite a small boy, a terrible blizzard struck the
+estuary while the boats were out, and for twenty-four hours one of the
+fishing craft was missing. Only a lad of sixteen was in charge of
+her--a boy whom we knew, and with whom we had often sailed. All my
+family were away from home at the time except myself; and I can still
+remember the thrill I experienced when, as representative of the "Big
+House," I was taken to see the poor lad, who had been brought home at
+last, frozen to death.
+
+The men of the opposite shores were shopkeepers and miners. Somehow we
+knew that they couldn't help it. The nursery rhyme about "Taffy was a
+Welshman; Taffy was a thief," because familiar, had not led us to hold
+any unduly inflated estimate of the Welsh character. One of my old
+nurses did much to redeem it, however. She had undertaken the burden
+of my brother and myself during a long vacation, and carried us off
+bodily to her home in Wales. Her clean little cottage stood by the
+side of a road leading to the village school of the State Mining
+District of Festiniog. We soon learned that the local boys resented
+the intrusion of the two English lads, and they so frequently chased
+us off the village green, which was the only playground offered us,
+that we at last decided to give battle. We had stored up a pile of
+slates behind our garden wall, and luring the enemy to the gates by
+the simple method of retiring before their advance, we saluted them
+with artillery fire from a comparatively safe entrenchment. To my
+horror, one of the first missiles struck a medium-sized boy right over
+the eye, and I saw the blood flow instantly. The awful comparison of
+David and Goliath flashed across my terror-stricken mind, and I fled
+incontinently to my nurse's protection. Subsequently by her adroit
+diplomacy, we were not only delivered from justice, but gained the
+freedom of the green as well.
+
+Far away up the river came the great salt-water marshes which seemed
+so endless to our tiny selves. There was also the Great Cop, an
+embankment miles long, intended to reach "from England to Wales," but
+which was never finished because the quicksand swallowed up all that
+the workmen could pour into it. Many a time I have stood on the broken
+end, where the discouraged labourers had left their very shovels and
+picks and trucks and had apparently fled in dismay, as if convicted of
+the impiousness of trying to fill the Bottomless Pit. To my childish
+imagination the upturned wheelbarrows and wasted trucks and rails
+always suggested the banks of the Red Sea after the awful disaster had
+swept over Pharoah and his host. How the returning tide used to sweep
+through that to us fathomless gulch! It made the old river seem ever
+so much more wonderful, and ever so much more filled with adventure.
+
+Many a time, just to dare it, I would dive into the very cauldron, and
+let the swirling current carry me to the grassy sward beyond--along
+which I would run till the narrowing channel permitted my crossing to
+the Great Cop again. I would be drying myself in the sunshine as I
+went, and all ready for my scanty garments when I reached my clothing
+once more.
+
+Then came the great days when the heavy nor'westers howled over the
+Sands--our sea-front was exposed to all the power of the sea right
+away to the Point of Ayr--the days when they came in with big spring
+tides, when we saw the fishermen doubling their anchors, and carefully
+overhauling the holding gear of their boats, before the flooding tide
+drove them ashore, powerless to do more than watch them battling at
+their moorings like living things--the possessions upon which their
+very bread depended. And then this one would sink, and another would
+part her cable and come hurtling before the gale, until she crashed
+right into the great upright blocks of sandstone which, riveted with
+iron bands to their copings, were relied upon to hold the main road
+from destruction. Sometimes in fragments, and sometimes almost entire,
+the craft would be slung clean over the torturing battlements, and be
+left stranded high and dry on our one village street, a menace to
+traffic, but a huge joy to us children.
+
+The fascination of the Sands was greatly enhanced by the numerous
+birds which at all times frequented them, in search of the abundant
+food which lay buried along the edges of the muddy gutters. There were
+thousands of sandpipers in enormous flocks, mixed with king plovers,
+dunlins, and turnstones, which followed the ebb tides, and returned
+again in whirling clouds before the oncoming floods. Black-and-white
+oyster-catchers were always to be found chattering over the great
+mussel patches at low water. With their reddish bills, what a trophy a
+bunch of them made as we bore them proudly home over our shoulders!
+Then there were the big long-billed curlews. What a triumph when one
+outwitted them! One of my clearest recollections is discovering a
+place to which they were flighting at night by the water's edge; how,
+having no dog, I swam out for bird after bird as they fell to my
+gun--shooting some before I had even time to put on my shirt again;
+and my consequent blue-black shoulder, which had to be carefully
+hidden next day. There were wild ducks, too, to be surprised in the
+pools of the big salt marshes.
+
+From daylight to dark I would wander, quite alone, over endless miles,
+entirely satisfied to come back with a single bird, and not in the
+least disheartened if I got none. All sense of time used to be lost,
+and often enough the sandwich and biscuit for lunch forgotten, so that
+I would be forced occasionally to resort to a solitary public house
+near a colliery on our side of the water, for "tea-biscuits," all that
+they offered, except endless beer for the miners. I can even remember,
+when very hard driven, crossing to the Welsh side for bread and
+cheese.
+
+These expeditions were made barefoot as long as the cold was not too
+great. A diary that I assayed to keep in my eighth year reminds me
+that on my birthday, five miles from home in the marshes, I fell head
+over heels into a deep hole, while wading out, gun in hand, after some
+oyster-catchers which I had shot. The snow was still deep on the
+countryside, and the long trot home has never been quite forgotten. My
+grief, however, was all for the gun. There was always the joy of
+venture in those dear old Sands. The channels cut in them by the
+flowing tides ran deep, and often intersected. Moreover, they changed
+with the varying storms. The rapidly rising tide, which sent a bore up
+the main channel as far as Chester, twelve miles above us, filled
+first of all these treacherous waterways, quite silently, and often
+unobserved. To us, taught to be as much at home in the water as on the
+land, they only added spice to our wanderings. They were nowhere very
+wide, so by keeping one's head, and being able to swim, only our
+clothes suffered by it, and they, being built for that purpose, did
+not complain.
+
+One day, however, I remember great excitement. The tide had risen
+rapidly in the channel along the parade front, and the shrimp
+fishermen, who used push-nets in the channels at low tide, had
+returned without noticing that one of their number was missing. Word
+got about just too late, and already there was half a mile of water,
+beyond which, through our telescopes, we could see the poor fellow
+making frantic signals to the shore. There was no boat out there, and
+a big bank intervening, there seemed no way to get to him. Watching
+through our glasses, we saw him drive the long handle of his net deep
+into the sand, and cling to it, while the tide rose speedily around
+him. Meanwhile a whole bevy of his mates had rowed out to the bank,
+and were literally carrying over its treacherous surface one of their
+clumsy and heavy fishing punts. It was a veritable race for life; and
+never have I watched one with keener excitement. We actually saw his
+post give way, and wash downstream with him clinging to it, just
+before his friends got near. Fortunately, drifting with the spar, he
+again found bottom, and was eventually rescued, half full of salt
+water. I remember how he fell in my estimation as a seaman--though I
+was only a boy at the time.
+
+There were four of us boys in all, of whom I was the second. My next
+brother Maurice died when he was only seven, and the fourth, Cecil,
+being five years younger than I, left my brother Algernon and myself
+as the only real companions for each other. Moreover, an untoward
+accident, of which I was the unwitting cause, left my younger brother
+unable to share our play for many years. Having no sisters, and
+scarcely any boy friends, in the holidays, when all the boys in the
+school went home, it might be supposed that my elder brother and I
+were much thrown together. But as a matter of fact such was not the
+case, for our temperaments being entirely different, and neither of us
+having any idea of giving way to the other, we seldom or ever found
+our pleasures together. And yet most of the worst scrapes into which
+we fell were cooperative affairs. Though I am only anxious to shoulder
+my share of the responsibility in the escapades, as well as in every
+other line of life, my brother Algernon possessed any genius to which
+the family could lay claim, in that as in every other line. He was my
+father over again, while I was a second edition of my mother. Father
+was waiting to get into the sixth form at Rugby when he was only
+thirteen years old. He was a brilliant scholar at Balliol, but had
+been compelled to give up study and leave the University temporarily
+owing to brain trouble. He never published anything, but would reel
+off brilliant short poems or essays for friends at a moment's notice.
+I used always to remark that in whatever company he was, he was always
+deferred to as an authority in anything approaching classics. He could
+read and quote Greek and Latin like English, spoke German and French
+fluently, while he was an excellent geologist, and Fellow of the
+Geographical Society. Here is quite a pretty little effusion of his
+written at eight years of age:
+
+      O, Glorious Sun, in thy palace of light,
+      To behold thee methinks is a beautiful sight.
+      O, Glorious Sun, come out of thy cloud,
+      No longer thy brightness in darkness shroud.
+      Let thy glorious beams like a golden Flood
+      Pour over the hills and the valleys and wood.
+      See! Mountains of light around him rise,
+      While he in a golden ocean lies:
+      O, Glorious Sun, in thy Palace of Light
+      To behold thee methinks is a beautiful sight.
+
+    Algernon Sydney Grenfell
+      Aged eight years
+
+Some of my brother's poems and hymns have been published in the school
+magazine, or printed privately; but he, too, has only published a
+Spanish grammar, a Greek lexicon, and a few articles in the papers.
+While at Oxford he ran daily, with some friends, during one "eights
+week" a cynical comic paper called "The Rattle," to boost some
+theories he held, and which he wished to enforce, and also to "score"
+a few of the dons to whom he objected. This would have resulted in his
+being asked to retire for a season from the seat of learning at the
+request of his enemies, had not our beloved provost routed the special
+cause of the whole trouble, who was himself contributing to a London
+society paper, by replying that it was not to be wondered at if the
+scurrilous rags of London found an echo in Oxford. Moreover, a set of
+"The Rattle" was ordered to be bound and placed in the college
+archives, where it may still be seen.
+
+My father having a very great deal of responsibility and worry during
+the long school terms, as he was not only head master, but owned the
+school as well, which he had purchased from his great-uncle, used to
+leave almost the day the holidays began and travel abroad with my
+mother. This partly accounts for the very unusual latitude allowed to
+us boys in coming and going from the house--no one being anxious if
+now and again we did not return at night. The school matron was left
+in charge of the vast empty barracks, and we had the run of
+play-field, gymnasium, and everything else we wanted. To outwit the
+matron was always considered fair play by us boys, and on many
+occasions we were more than successful.
+
+One time, when we had been acquiring some new lines of thought from
+some trashy boys' books of the period, we became fired with the desire
+to enjoy the ruling passion of the professional burglar. Though never
+kept short of anything, we decided that one night we would raid the
+large school storeroom while the matron slept. As always, the planning
+was entrusted to my brother. It was, of course, a perfectly easy
+affair, but we played the whole game "according to Cavendish." We let
+ourselves out of the window at midnight, glued brown paper to the
+window panes, cut out the putty, forced the catch, and stole sugar,
+currants, biscuits, and I am ashamed to say port wine--which we mulled
+in a tin can over the renovated fire in the matron's own sanctum. In
+the morning the remainder was turned over to fishermen friends who
+were passing along shore on their way to catch the early tide.
+
+I had no share in two other of my brother's famous escapades, though
+at the time it was a source of keen regret, for we were sent to
+different public schools, as being, I suppose, incompatible. But we
+heard with pride how he had extracted phosphorus from the chemical
+laboratory and while drawing luminous ghosts on the wall for the
+benefit of the timorous, had set fire to the large dormitory and the
+boys' underclothing neatly laid out on the beds, besides burning
+himself badly. Later he pleaded guilty to beeswaxing the seat of the
+boys in front of him in chapel, much to the detriment of their
+trousers and the destruction of the dignity of Sunday worship.
+
+During the time that my parents were away we never found a moment in
+which to be lonely, but on one occasion it occurred to us that the
+company of some friends would add to our enjoyment. Why we waited till
+my father and mother departed I do not know, but I recall that
+immediately they had gone we spent a much-valued sixpence in
+telegraphing to a cousin in London to come down to us for the
+holidays. Our message read: "Dear Sid. Come down and stay the
+holidays. Father has gone to Aix." We were somewhat chagrined to
+receive the following day an answer, also by wire: "Not gone yet.
+Father." It appeared that my father and mother had stayed the night in
+London in the very house to which we had wired, and Sid. having to ask
+his father's permission in order to get his railway fare, our uncle
+had shown the invitation to my father. It was characteristic of my
+parents that Sid. came duly along, but they could not keep from
+sharing the joke with my uncle.
+
+During term-time some of our grown-up relatives would occasionally
+visit us. But alas, it was only their idiosyncrasies which used to
+make any impression upon us. One, a great-uncle, and a very
+distinguished person, being Professor of Political Economy at Oxford,
+and a great friend of the famous Dr. Jowett, the chancellor, was the
+only man we knew who ever, at any time, stood up long to my father in
+argument. It was only on rare occasions that we ever witnessed such a
+contest, but I shall never forget one which took place in the evening
+in our drawing-room. My great-uncle was a small man, rather stout and
+pink, and almost bald-headed. He got so absorbed in his arguments,
+which he always delivered walking up and down, that on this occasion,
+coming to an old-fashioned sofa, he stepped right up onto the seat,
+climbed over the back, and went on all the time with his remarks, as
+if only punctuating them thereby.
+
+Whether some of our pranks were suggested by those of which we heard,
+I do not remember. One of my father's yarns, however, always stuck in
+my memory. For once, being in a very good humour, he told us how when
+some distinguished old lady had come to call on his father--a house
+master with Arnold at Rugby--he had been especially warned not to
+interrupt this important person, who had come to see about her son's
+entering my grandfather's "House." It so happened that quite
+unconsciously the lady in question had seated herself on an old
+cane-bottomed armchair in which father had been playing, thus
+depriving him temporarily of a toy with which he desired to amuse
+himself. He never, even in later life, was noted for undue patience,
+and after endeavouring in vain to await her departure, he somehow
+secured a long pin. With this he crawled from behind under the seat,
+and by discreetly probing upwards, succeeded suddenly in dislodging
+his enemy.
+
+Our devotions on Sunday were carried out in the parish church of the
+village of Neston, there being no place of worship of the Established
+Church in our little village. In term-time we were obliged to go
+morning and evening to the long services, which never made any
+concessions to youthful capacities. So in holiday-time, though it was
+essential that we should go in the morning to represent the house, we
+were permitted to stay home in the evening. But even the mornings were
+a time of great weariness, and oft-recurrent sermons on the terrible
+fate which awaited those who never went to church, and the still more
+untoward end which was in store for frequenters of dissenting
+meeting-houses, failed to awaken in us the respect due to the
+occasion.
+
+On the way to church we had generally to pass by those who dared even
+the awful fate of the latter. It was our idea that to tantalize us
+they wore especially gorgeous apparel while we had to wear black Etons
+and a top hat--which, by the way, greatly annoyed us. One waistcoat
+especially excited our animosity, and from it we conceived the title
+"specklebelly," by which we ever afterwards designated the whole
+"genus nonconformist." The entrance to the chapel (ours was the
+Church!) was through a door in a high wall, over which we could not
+see; and my youthful brain used to conjure up unrighteous and strange
+orgies which we felt must take place in those precincts which we were
+never permitted to enter. Our Sunday Scripture lessons had grounded us
+very familiarly with the perverse habits of that section of the Chosen
+People who _would_ serve Baal and Moloch, when it obviously paid so
+much better not to do so. But although we counted the numbers which we
+saw going in, and sometimes met them coming out, they seemed never to
+lessen perceptibly. On this account our minds, with the merciless
+logic of childhood, gradually discounted the threatened calamities.
+
+This must have accounted for the lapse in our own conduct, and a sort
+of comfortable satisfaction that the Almighty contented Himself in
+merely counting noses in the pews. For even though it was my brother
+who got into trouble, I shall never forget the harangue on impiety
+that awaited us when a most unchristian sexton reported to our father
+that the pew in front of ours had been found chalked on the back, so
+as to make its occupants the object of undisguised attention from the
+rest of the congregation. As circumstantial evidence also against us,
+he offered some tell-tale squares of silver paper, on which we had
+been cooking chocolates on the steam pipes during the sermon.
+
+In all my childhood I can only remember one single punishment, among
+not a few which I received, which I resented--and for years I never
+quite forgot it. Some one had robbed a very favourite apple tree in
+our orchard--an escapade of which I was perfectly capable, but in this
+instance had not had the satisfaction of sharing. Some evidence had
+been lodged against me, of which I was not informed, and I therefore
+had no opportunity to challenge it. I was asked before a whole class
+of my schoolmates if I had committed the act, and at once denied it.
+Without any hearing I was adjudged guilty, and promptly subjected to
+the punishment of the day--a good birching. On every occasion on which
+we were offered the alternative of detention, we invariably "plumped"
+for the rod, and got it over quickly, and, as we considered,
+creditably--taking it smiling as long as we could. But that one act of
+injustice, the disgrace which it carried of making me a liar before my
+friends, seared my very soul. I vowed I would get even whatever it
+cost, and I regret to say that I hadn't long to wait the opportunity.
+For I scored both the apples and the lie against the punishment before
+many months. Nor was I satisfied then. It rankled in my mind both by
+day and by night; and it taught me an invaluable lesson--never to
+suspect or condemn rashly. It was one of Dr. Arnold's boys at Rugby, I
+believe, who summed up his master's character by saying, "The head was
+a beast, but he was always a just beast."
+
+At fourteen years of age my brother was sent to Repton, to the house
+of an uncle by marriage--an arrangement which has persuaded me never
+to send boys to their relatives for training. My brother's pranks were
+undoubtedly many, but they were all boyish and legitimate ones. After
+a time, however, he was removed at his own request, and sent to
+Clifton, where he was head of the school, and the school house also,
+under Dr. Percival, the late Bishop of Hereford. From there he took an
+open scholarship for Oxford.
+
+It was most wisely decided to send us to separate schools, and
+therefore at fourteen I found myself at Marlborough--a school of
+nearly six hundred resident boys, on entering which I had won a
+scholarship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SCHOOL LIFE
+
+
+Marlborough "College," as we say in England for a large University
+preparatory school, is situated in Wiltshire, in a perfectly beautiful
+country, close to the Savernake Forest--one of the finest in all
+England. As everything and everybody was strange to me on my arrival,
+had I been brought up to be less self-reliant the events of my first
+day or two would probably have impressed themselves more deeply on my
+memory than is the case. Some Good Samaritan, hearing that I was bound
+for a certain house, allowed me to follow him from the station to the
+inn--for a veritable old inn it was. It was one of those lovely old
+wayside hostels along the main road to the west, which, with the
+decline of coaching days, found its way into the market, and had
+fallen to the hammer for the education of youth. Exactly how the
+adaptation had been accomplished I never quite understood. The
+building formed the end of a long avenue of trees and was approached
+through high gates from the main road. It was flanked on the east side
+by other houses, which fitted in somewhat inharmoniously, but served
+as school-rooms, dining-hall, chapel, racquets and fives courts,
+studies, and other dwelling-houses. The whole was entirely enclosed so
+that no one could pass in or out, after the gates were shut, without
+ringing up the porter from his lodge, and having one's name taken as
+being out after hours. At least it was supposed that no one could,
+though we boys soon found that there were more ways than one leading
+to Rome.
+
+The separate dwelling-houses were named A, B, and C. I was detailed
+to C House, the old inn itself. Each house was again divided into
+three, with its own house master, and its own special colour and
+badges. Our three were at the time "Sharps," "Upcutts," and "Bakers."
+Our particular one occupied the second floor, and was reached by great
+oak staircases, which, if you were smart, you could ascend at about
+six steps at a time. This was often a singular desideratum, because
+until you reached the fifth form, according to law you ascended by the
+less direct back stairway.
+
+Our colours were white and maroon, and our sign a bishop's
+mitre--which effigy I still find scribbled all over the few book
+relics which I have retained, and which emblem, when borne
+subsequently on my velvet football cap, proved to be the nearest I
+ever was to approach to that dignified insignia.
+
+My benefactor, on the night of my arrival, having done more for me
+than a new boy could expect of an old one, was whirled off in the
+stream of his returning chums long before I had found my resting-place
+for the night. The dormitory to which I at last found myself assigned
+contained no less than twenty-five beds, and seemed to me a veritable
+wilderness. If the coaches which used to stop here could have ascended
+the stairs, it might have accommodated several. What useful purpose it
+could have served in those far-off days I never succeeded in deciding.
+The room most nearly like it which I can recall is the old dining-hall
+of a great manor, into which the knights in armour rode on horseback
+to meals, that being far less trouble than removing one's armour, and
+quite as picturesque. More or less amicably I obtained possession of a
+bed in a good location, under a big window which looked out over the
+beautiful gardens below. I cannot remember that I experienced any of
+those heart-searchings or forebodings which sentiment deplores as the
+inevitable lot of the unprotected innocent.
+
+One informal battle during the first week with a boy possessed of the
+sanctity of having come up from the lower school, and therefore being
+an "old boy," achieved for me more privileges than the actual decision
+perhaps entitled one to enjoy, namely, being left alone. I
+subsequently became known as the "Beast," owing to my belligerent
+nature and the undue copiousness of my hair.
+
+The fact that I was placed in the upper fourth form condemned me to do
+my "prep" in the intolerable barrack called "Big School"--a veritable
+bear-garden to which about three hundred small boys were relegated to
+study. Order was kept by a master and a few monitors, who wandered to
+and fro from end to end of the building, while we were supposed to
+work. For my part, I never tried it, partly because the work came very
+easy to me, while the "repetition" was more readily learned from a
+loose page at odd times like dinner and chapel, and partly because,
+winning a scholarship during the term, I was transferred to a building
+reserved for twenty-eight such privileged individuals until they
+gained the further distinction of a place in the house class-room, by
+getting their transfer into the fifth form.
+
+Besides those who lived in the big quad there were several houses
+outside the gates, known as "Out-Houses." The boys there fared a good
+deal better than we who lived in college, and I presume paid more
+highly for it. Our meals were served in "Big Hall," where the whole
+four hundred of us were fed. The meals were exceptionally poor; so
+much so that we boys at the beginning of term formed what we called
+brewing companies--which provided as far as possible breakfasts and
+suppers for ourselves all term. As a protection against early
+bankruptcy, it was our custom to deposit our money with a rotund but
+popular school official, known always by a corruption of his name as
+"the Slug." Every Saturday night he would dole out to you your deposit
+made on return from the holidays, divided into equal portions by the
+number of weeks in the term. Once one was in the fifth form, brewing
+became easy, for one had a right to a place on the class-room fire for
+one's kettle or saucepan. Till then the space over gas stoves in Big
+School being strictly limited, the right was only acquired "vi et
+armis." Moreover, most of the fourth form boys and the "Shells," a
+class between them and the fifth, if they had to work after evening
+chapel, had to sit behind desks around the house class-room facing the
+centre, in which as a rule the fifth form boys were lazily cooking and
+devouring their suppers. Certain parts of those repasts, like
+sausages, we would import ready cooked from the "Tuck Shop," and hence
+they only needed warming up. Breakfast in Big School was no comfort to
+one, and personally I seldom attended it. But at dinner and tea one
+had to appear, and remain till the doors were opened again. It was a
+kind of roll-call; and the penalty for being late was fifty lines to
+be written out. As my own habits were never as regular as they should
+have been, whenever I was able to keep ahead, I possessed pages of
+such lines, neatly written out during school hours and ready for
+emergencies. On other occasions I somewhat shamefacedly recall that I
+employed other boys, who devoted less time to athletics than was my
+wont, to help me out--their only remuneration being the "joy of
+service."
+
+The great desire of every boy who could hope to do so was to excel in
+athletics. This fact has much to commend it in such an educational
+system, for it undoubtedly kept its devotees from innumerable worse
+troubles and dangers. All athletics were compulsory, unless one had
+obtained permanent exemption from the medical officer. If one was not
+chosen to play on any team during the afternoon, each boy had to go to
+gymnasium for drill and exercises, or to "flannel" and run round the
+Aylesbury Arms, an old public house three quarters of a mile distant.
+Any breach of this law was severely punished by the boys themselves.
+It involved a "fives batting," that is, a "birching" carried out with
+a hardwood fives bat, after chapel in the presence of the house. As a
+breach of patriotism, it carried great disgrace with it, and was very,
+very seldom necessary.
+
+Experience would make me a firm believer in
+self-government--determination is the popular term now, I believe. No
+punishments ever touched the boys one tenth part as much as those
+administered by themselves. On one occasion two of the Big School
+monitors, who were themselves notorious far more for their constant
+breaches of school law than for their observance of it, decided to
+make capital at the expense of the sixth form. One day, just as the
+dinner-bell rang, they locked the sixth form door, while a conclave
+was being held inside. Though everyone was intended to know to whom
+the credit belonged, it was understood that no one would dream of
+giving evidence against them. But it so happened that their voices had
+been recognized from within by one of the sixth form boys--and
+"bullies" and unpopular though the culprits were, they wouldn't deny
+their guilt. Their condign punishment was to be "fives-batted"
+publicly in Big School--in which, however, they regained very
+considerable popularity by the way they took a "spanking" without
+turning a hair, though it cost no less than a dozen bats before it
+was over.
+
+The publicity of Big School was the only redemption of such a
+bear-garden, but that was a good feature. It served to make us toe the
+line. After tea, it was the custom to have what we called "Upper
+School Boxing." A big ring was formed, boxing-gloves provided, and any
+differences which one might have to settle could be arranged there.
+There was more energy than science about the few occasions on which I
+appeared personally in the ring, but it was an excellent safety-valve
+and quite an evolutionary experience.
+
+The exigency of having to play our games immediately after noon dinner
+had naturally taught the boys at the head of athletic affairs that it
+was not wise to eat too much. Dinner was the one solid meal which the
+college provided, and most of us wanted it badly enough when it came
+along, especially the suet puddings which went by the name of
+"bollies" and were particularly satisfying. But whenever any game of
+importance was scheduled, a remorseless card used to be passed round
+the table just after the meat stage, bearing the ominous legend "No
+bolly to-day." To make sure that there were no truants, all hands were
+forced to "Hooverize." Oddly enough, beer in large blue china jugs was
+freely served at every dinner. We called it "swipes," and boys,
+however small, helped themselves to as much as they liked. Moreover,
+as soon as the game was over, all who had their house colours might
+come in and get "swipes" served to them freely through the buttery
+window. Both practices, I believe, have long since fortunately fallen
+into desuetude.
+
+To encourage the budding athlete there was an excellent custom of
+classifying not only the players who attained the first team; but
+beyond them there were "the Forty" who wore velvet caps with tassels,
+"the Sixty" who wore velvet caps with silver braid, "the Eighty," and
+even "the Hundred"--all of whom were posted from time to time, and so
+stimulated their members to try for the next grade.
+
+Like every other school there were bounds beyond which one might not
+go, and therefore beyond which one always wanted to go. Compulsory
+games limited the temptation in that direction very considerably; and
+my own breaches were practically always to get an extra swim. We had
+an excellent open-air swimming pool, made out of a branch of the river
+Kenneth, and were allowed one bathe a day, besides the dip before
+morning chapel, which only the few took, and which did not count as a
+bathe. The punishment for breaking the rule was severe, involving a
+week off for a first offence. But one was not easily caught, for even
+a sixth-former found hundreds of naked boys very much alike in the
+water, and the fact of any one having transgressed the limit was very
+hard to detect. Nor were we bound to incriminate ourselves by replying
+to leading questions.
+
+"Late for Gates" was a more serious crime, involving detention from
+beloved games--and many were the expedients to which we resorted to
+avoid such an untoward contingency. I remember well waiting for an
+hour outside the porter's view, hoping for some delivery wagon to give
+me a chance to get inside. For it was far too light to venture to
+climb the lofty railings before "prep" time. Good fortune ordained,
+however, that a four-wheel cab should come along in time, containing
+the parents of a "hopeful" in the sick-room. It seemed a desperate
+venture, for to "run" the gate was a worse offence than being late and
+owning up. But we succeeded by standing on the off step, unquestioned
+by the person inside, who guessed at once what the trouble was, and
+who proved to be sport enough to engage the porter while we got clear.
+Later on a scapegrace who had more reason to require some by-way than
+myself, revealed to me a way which involved a long detour and a climb
+over the laundry roof. Of this, on another occasion, I was sincerely
+glad to avail myself. One of the older boys, I remember, made a much
+bolder venture. He waited till dusk, and then boldly walked in through
+the masters' garden. As luck would have it, he met our form master,
+whom we will call Jones, walking the other way. It so happened he
+possessed a voice which he knew was much like that of another master,
+so simply sprinting a little he called out, "Night, night, Jones," and
+got by without discovery.
+
+Our chapel in those days was not a thing of beauty; but since then it
+has been rebuilt (out of our stomachs, the boys used to say) and is a
+model work of art. Attendance at chapel was compulsory, and no "cuts"
+were allowed. Moreover, once late, you were given lines, besides
+losing your chapel half-holiday. So the extraordinary zeal exhibited
+to be marked off as present should not be attributed to religious
+fervour. The chapel was entered from quad by two iron gates, with the
+same lofty railings which guarded the entrance on each side. The bell
+tolled for five minutes, then was silent one minute, and then a single
+toll was given, called "stroke." At that instant the two masters who
+stood by the pillars guarding each gate, jumped across, closing the
+gates if they could, and every one outside was late. Those inside the
+open walk--the length of the chapel that led to the doors at the far
+end--then continued to march in.
+
+During prayers each form master sat opposite his form, all of which
+faced the central aisle, and marked off those present. Almost every
+morning half-dressed boys, with shirts open and collars unbuttoned,
+boots unlaced, and jumping into coats and waistcoats as they dashed
+along, could be seen rushing towards the gate during the ominous
+minute of silence. There was always time to get straight before the
+mass of boys inside had emptied into chapel; and I never remember a
+gate master stopping a boy before "stroke" for insufficiency of
+coverings. Many were the subterfuges employed to get excused, and
+naturally some form masters were themselves less regular than others,
+though you never could absolutely count on any particular one being
+absent. Twice in my time gates were rushed--that is, when "stroke"
+went such crowds of flying boys were just at the gate that the masters
+were unable to stop the onslaught, and were themselves brushed aside
+or knocked down under the seething mass of panic-stricken would-be
+worshippers. On one of these occasions we were forgiven--"stroke" was
+ten seconds early; on the other a half-holiday was stopped, as one of
+the masters had been injured. To trip one's self up, and get a bloody
+nose, and possibly a face scratched on the gravel, and then a "sick
+cut" from the kindly old school doctor, was one of the more common
+ways boys discovered of saving their chapel half--when it was a very
+close call.
+
+The school surgery was presided over in my day by a much-beloved old
+physician of the old school, named Fergus, which the boys had so long
+ago corrupted into "Fungi" that many a lad was caught mistakenly
+addressing the old gentleman as Dr. Fungi--an error I always fancied
+to be rather appreciated.
+
+By going to surgery you could very frequently escape evening chapel--a
+very desirable event if you had a "big brew" coming off in class-room,
+for you could get things cooked and have plenty of room on the fire
+before the others were out. But one always had to pay for the
+advantage, the old doctor being very much addicted to potions. I never
+shall forget the horrible tap in the corner, out of which "cough
+mixture" flowed as "a healing for the nations," but which, nasty as it
+was, was the cheapest price at which one could purchase the cut. Some
+boys, anxious to cut lessons, found that by putting a little soap in
+one's eye, that organ would become red and watery. This they practised
+so successfully that sometimes for weeks they would be forbidden to do
+lessons on account of "eye-strain." They had to use lotions,
+eye-shades, and every spectacle possible was tried, but all to no
+avail. Sometimes they used so much soap that I was sure the doctor
+would suspect the bubbles.
+
+I had two periods in sick-room with a worrying cough, where the time
+was always made so pleasant that one was not tempted to hasten
+recovery. Diagnosis, moreover, was not so accurate in those days as it
+might have been, and the dear old doctor took no risks. So at the age
+of sixteen I was sent off for a winter to the South of France, with
+the diagnosis of congestion of the lungs.
+
+One of my aunts, a Miss Hutchinson, living at Hyeres in the South of
+France, was delighted to receive me. With a widowed friend and two
+charming and athletic daughters, she had a very pretty villa on the
+hills overlooking the sea. My orders--to live out of doors--were very
+literally obeyed. In light flannel costumes we roamed the hills after
+moths and butterflies, early and late. We kept the frogs in miniature
+ponds in boxes covered with netting, providing them with bamboo
+ladders to climb, and so tell us when it was going to be wet weather.
+We had also enclosures in which we kept banks of trap-door spiders,
+which used to afford us intense interest with their clever artifices.
+To these we added the breeding of the more beautiful butterflies and
+moths, and so, without knowing that we were learning, we were taught
+many and valuable truths of life. There were horses to ride also, and
+a beautiful "plage" to bathe upon. It was always sunny and warm, and I
+invariably look back on that winter as spent in paradise. I was
+permitted to go over with a young friend to the Carnival at Nice,
+where, disguised as a clown, and then as a priest, with the _abandon_
+of boys, we enjoyed every moment of the time--the world was so big and
+wonderful. The French that I had very quickly learned, as we always
+spoke it at our villa, stood me on this occasion in good stead. But
+better still, I happened, when climbing into one of the
+flower-bedecked carriages parading in the "bataille de fleurs"--which,
+being in costume, was quite the right thing to do--to find that the
+owner was an old friend of my family, one Sir William Hut. He at once
+carried me to his home for the rest of the Carnival, and, of course,
+made it doubly enjoyable.
+
+A beautiful expedition, made later in that region which lives in my
+memory, was to the gardens at La Mortola, over the Italian line, made
+famous by the frequent visits of Queen Victoria to them. They were
+owned by Sir Thomas Hanbury, whose wife was my aunt's great friend.
+
+The quaintness of the memories which persist longest in one's mind
+often amuse me. We used, as good Episcopalians, to go every Sunday to
+the little English Church on the rue des Palmiers. Alas, I can
+remember only one thing about those services. The clergyman had a
+peculiar impediment in his speech which made him say his _h_'s and
+_s_'s, both as _sh_. Thus he always said _sh_uman for _h_uman, and
+invariably prayed that God might be pleased to "shave the Queen." He
+nearly got me into trouble once or twice through it.
+
+About the middle of the winter I realized that I had made a mistake.
+In writing home I had so enthusiastically assured my father that the
+place was suiting my health, that he wrote back that he thought in
+that case I might stand a little tutoring, and forthwith I was
+despatched every morning to a Mr. B., an Englishman, whose house,
+called the "Hermitage," was in a thick wood. I soon discovered that
+Mr. B. was obliged to live abroad for his health, and that the
+coaching of small boys was only a means to that end. He was a good
+instructor in mathematics, a study which I always loved, but he
+insisted on my taking Latin and French literature, for neither of
+which I had the slightest taste. I consequently made no effort
+whatever to improve my mind, a fact which did not in the least disturb
+his equanimity. The great interest of those journeys to the Hermitage
+were the fables of La Fontaine--which I learned as repetition and
+enjoyed--and the enormous number of lizards on the walls, which could
+disappear with lightning rapidity when seen, though they would stay
+almost motionless, waiting for a fly to come near, which they then
+swallowed alive. They were so like the stones one could almost rub
+one's nose against them without seeing them. Each time I started, I
+used to cut a little switch for myself and try to switch them off
+their ledges before they vanished. The attraction to the act lay in
+that it was almost impossible to accomplish. But if you did they
+scored a bull's-eye by incontinently discarding their tails, which
+made them much harder to catch next time, and seemed in no way to
+incommode them, though it served to excuse my conscience of cruelty.
+At the same time I have no wish to pose as a protector of flies.
+
+Returning to Marlborough School the following summer, I found that my
+father, who knew perfectly the thorough groundwork I had received in
+Greek and Latin, had insisted on my being given a remove into the
+lower fifth form "in absentia." Both he and I were aware that I could
+do the work easily; but the form master resented it, and had already
+protested in vain. I believe he was a very good man in his way, and
+much liked by those whom he liked. But alas, I was not one of them;
+and never once, during the whole time I was in his form, did I get one
+single word of encouragement out of him. My mathematical master, and
+"stinks," or chemical master, I was very fond of, and in both those
+departments I made good progress.
+
+The task of keeping order in a chemistry class of boys is never easy.
+The necessary experiments divert the master's eye from the class, and
+always give opportunity for fooling. Added to this was the fact that
+our "stinks" master, like many scientific teachers, was far too
+good-natured, and half-enjoyed himself the diversion which his
+experiments gave. When obliged to punish a boy caught "flagrante
+delicto," he invariably looked out for some way to make it up to him
+later. It was the odd way he did it which endeared him to us, as if
+apologizing for the kindness. Thus, on one occasion, suddenly in most
+righteous anger, just as if a parenthesis to the remark he was making,
+he interposed, "Come and be caned, boy. My study, twelve o'clock."
+When the boy was leaving, very unrepentant after keeping the
+appointment, in the same parenthetical way the master remarked, "Go
+away, boy. Cake and wine, my room, five o'clock"--which proved
+eventually the most effective part of the correction.
+
+To children there always appears a gap between them and "grown-ups"
+as impassable as that which Abraham is made to describe as so great
+that they who would pass to and fro cannot. As we grow older, we cease
+to see it, but it exists all the same. As I write, five children are
+romping through this old wood on broom-handle horses. One has just
+fallen. A girl of twelve at once retorts, "Do get up, Willy, your
+horse is always throwing you off." The joys of life lie in us, not in
+things; and in childhood imagination is so big, its joys so entirely
+uncloyed. Sometimes grown-ups are apt to grudge the time and trouble
+put into apparently transient pleasures. A trivial strawberry feast,
+given to children on our dear old lawn under the jasmine and
+rose-bushes, something after the order of a New England clam-bake,
+still looms as a happy memory of my parents' love for children,
+punctuated by the fact that though by continuing a game in spite of
+warning I broke a window early in the afternoon, and was banished to
+the nursery "as advised," my father forgave me an hour later, and
+himself fetched me down again to the party.
+
+To teach us independence, my father put us on an allowance at a very
+early age, with a small bank account, to which every birthday he added
+five pounds on our behalf. We had no pony at that time, indeed had not
+yet learned to ride, so our deposits always went by the name of "pony
+money." This was an excellent plan, for we didn't yet value money for
+itself, and were better able to appreciate the joy of giving because
+it seemed to postpone the advent of our pony. However, when we were
+thought to have learned to value so sentient a companion and to be
+likely to treat him properly, a Good Samaritan was permitted to
+present us with one of our most cherished friends. To us, she was an
+unparalleled beauty. How many times we fell over her head, and over
+her tail, no one can record. She always waited for you to remount, so
+it didn't much matter; and we were taught that great lesson in life,
+not to be afraid of falling, but to learn how to take a fall. My own
+bent, however, was never for the things of the land, and though
+gallops on the Dee Sands, and races with our cousins, who owned a
+broncho and generally beat us, had their fascination, boats were the
+things which appealed most to me.
+
+Having funds at our disposal, we were allowed to purchase material,
+and under the supervision of a local carpenter, to build a boat
+ourselves. To this purpose our old back nursery was forthwith
+allocated. The craft which we desired was a canoe that would enable us
+to paddle or drift along the deep channels of the river, and allow us
+to steal upon the flocks of birds feeding at the edges. Often in
+memory I enjoy those days again--the planning, the modelling, the
+fitting, the setting-up, and at last, the visit of inspection of our
+parents. Alas, stiff-necked in our generation, we had insisted on
+straight lines and a square stern. Never shall I forget the
+indignation aroused in me by a cousin's remark, "It looks awful like a
+coffin." The resemblance had not previously struck either of us, and
+father had felt that the joke was too dangerous a one to make, and had
+said nothing. But the pathos of it was that we now saw it all too
+clearly. My brother explained that the barque was intended to be not
+"seen." Ugliness was almost desirable. It might help us if we called
+it the "Reptile," and painted it red--all of which suggestions were
+followed. But still I remember feeling a little crestfallen, when
+after launching it through the window, it lay offensively resplendent
+against the vivid green of the grass. It served, however, for a time,
+ending its days honourably by capsizing a friend and me, guns and all,
+into the half-frozen water of the lower estuary while we were
+stalking some curlew. I had to run home dripping. My friend's gun,
+moreover, having been surreptitiously borrowed from my cousin's
+father, was recovered the following day, to our unutterable relief.
+Out of the balance of the money spent on the boat, we purchased a
+pin-fire, breech-loading gun, the pride of my life for many days. I
+was being kept back from school at the time on account of a cold, but
+I was not surprised to find myself next day sitting in a train, bound
+for Marlborough, and "referred once more to my studies."
+
+A little later my father, not being satisfied, took me away to read
+with a tutor for the London matriculation, in which without any
+trouble, I received a first class.
+
+A large boarding-school in England is like a miniature world. One
+makes many acquaintances, who change as one gets pushed into new
+classes, so at that stage one makes few lasting friends. Those who
+remain till they attain the sixth form, and make the school teams,
+probably form more permanent friendships. I at least think of that
+period as one when one's bristles were generally up, and though many
+happy memories linger, and I have found that to be an old Marlburian
+is a bond of friendship all the world over, it is the little oddities
+which one remembers best.
+
+A new scholarship boy had one day been assigned to the closed
+corporation of our particular class-room. To me he had many
+attractions, for he was a genius both in mathematics and chemistry. We
+used to love talking over the problems that were set us as voluntary
+tasks for our spare time; and our united excursions in those
+directions were so successful that we earned our class more than one
+"hour off," as rewards for the required number of stars given for good
+pieces of work. My friend had, however, no use whatever for
+athletics. He had never been from home before, had no brothers, and
+five sisters, was the pet of his parents, and naturally somewhat of a
+square plug in a round hole in our school life. He hated all
+conventions, and was always in trouble with the boys, for he entirely
+neglected his personal appearance, while his fingers were always
+discoloured with chemicals, and he would not even feign an interest in
+the things for which they cared. I can remember him sitting on the
+foot of my bed, talking me to sleep more than once with some new plan
+he had devised for a self-steering torpedo or an absolutely reliable
+flying machine. He had received the sobriquet of "Mad G.," and there
+was some justice in it from the opposition point of view. I had not
+realized, however, that he was being bullied--on such a subject he
+would never say a syllable--till one day as he left class-room I saw a
+large lump of coal hit him square on the head, and a rush of blood
+follow it that made me hustle him off to surgery. Scalp wounds are not
+so dangerous as they are bloody to heads as thick as ours. His
+explanation that he had fallen down was too obvious a distortion of
+truth to deceive even our kindly old doctor. But he asked no further
+question, seeing that it was a point of honour. The matter, however,
+forced an estrangement between myself and some of my fellows that I
+realized afterwards was excellent for me. Forthwith we moved my
+friend's desk into my corner of the room which was always safe when I
+was around, though later some practices of the others to which I took
+exception led to a combination which I thought of then as that made by
+the Jews to catch Paul, and which I foiled in a similar way,
+watchfully eluding them when they were in numbers together, but always
+ready to meet one or two at a time. The fact that I had just taken up
+"racquets" impressed it on my memory, for considering the class-room
+temporarily unsafe for "prep" work, I used that building as a
+convenient refuge for necessary study. It would have been far better
+to have fought it out and taken, if unavoidable, whatever came to
+me--had it been anywhere else I should probably have done so. But the
+class-room was a close corporation for Foundation scholars, and not
+one of my chums had access to it to see fair play.
+
+My friendship for "Mad G." was largely tempered by my own love for
+anything athletic, and eccentricities paid a very heavy price among
+all boys. Thus, though I was glad to lend my protection to my friend,
+we never went about together--as such boys as he always lived the life
+of hermits in the midst of the crowd. I well remember one other boy,
+made eccentric by his peculiar face and an unfortunate impediment of
+speech. No such boy should have been sent to an English public school
+as it was in my day. His stutter was no ordinary one, for it
+consisted, not in repeating the first letter or syllable, but in
+blowing out both cheeks like a balloon, and making noises which
+resembled a back-firing motor engine. It was the custom of our form
+master to make us say our repetition by each boy taking one line, the
+last round being always "expressed"--that is, unless you started
+instantly the boy above you finished, the next boy began, and took
+your place. I can still see and hear the unfortunate J. getting up
+steam for his line four or five boys ahead of time, so that he might
+explode at the right moment, which desirable end, however, he but very
+rarely accomplished, and never catching up, he used, like the man in
+the parable, always to "begin with shame to take the lowest place."
+Sometimes the master in a merciful mood allowed us to write the line;
+but that was risky, for it was considered no disgrace to circumvent
+him, and under those circumstances it was very easy for the next boy
+to write his own and then yours, and pass it along if he saw you were
+in trouble.
+
+There was, and I think with some reason, a pride among the boys on
+their appearance on certain occasions. It went by the name of "good
+form." Thus on Sundays at morning chapel, we always wore a button-hole
+flower if we could. My dear mother used to post me along a little box
+of flowers every week--nor was it by any means wasted energy, for not
+only did the love for flowers become a hobby and a custom with many of
+us through life, and a help to steer clear of sloppiness in
+appearance, but it was a habit quite likely to spread to the soul. But
+beyond that, the picture of my dear mother, with the thousand worries
+of a large school of small boys on her hands, finding time to gather,
+pack, address, and post each week with her own hands so fleeting and
+inessential a token of her love, has a thousand times arisen to my
+memory, and led me to consider some apparently quite unnecessary
+little labour of love as being well worth the time and trouble. It is
+these deeds of love--not words, however touching--that never fade from
+the soul, and to the last make their appeal to the wandering boy to
+"arise" and do things.
+
+Like everything else this fastidiousness can be overdone, and I
+remember once a boy's legal guardian showing me a bill for a hundred
+pounds sterling that his ward had incurred in a single term for cut
+flowers. Yet "form" is a part of the life of all English schools, and
+the boys think much more of it than sin. At Harrow you may not walk in
+the middle of the road as a freshman; and in American schools and
+universities, such regulations as the "Fence" laws at Yale show that
+they have emulated and even surpassed us in these. It was, however, a
+very potent influence, and we were always ridiculously sensitive about
+breaches of it. Thus, on a certain prize day my friend "Mad G.,"
+having singularly distinguished himself in his studies, his parents
+came all the way from their home, at great expense to themselves, to
+see their beloved and only son honoured. I presume that, though wild
+horses would not drag anything out of the boy at school, he had
+communicated to them the details of some little service rendered. For
+to my horror I was stopped by his mother, whom I subsequently learned
+to love and honour above most people, and actually kissed while
+walking in the open quad--strutting like a peacock, I suppose, for I
+remember feeling as if the bottom had suddenly fallen out of the
+earth. The sequel, however, was an invitation to visit their home in
+North Wales for the Christmas holidays, where there was rough
+shooting,--the only kind I really cared for,--boating, rock-climbing,
+bathing, and the companionship of as lively a family as it was
+possible to meet anywhere. Many a holiday afterwards we shared
+together, and the kindness showered upon me I shall never be able to
+forget, or, alas, return; for my dear friend "Mad G." has long ago
+gone to his rest, and so have both his parents, whom I loved almost as
+my own.
+
+Another thing for which I have much to thank my parents is the
+interest which they encouraged me to take in the collecting and study
+of natural objects. We were taught that the only excuse that made the
+taking of animal life honourable was for some useful purpose, like
+food or study or self-preservation. Several cases of birds stuffed and
+set up when we were fourteen and sixteen years of age still adorn the
+old house. Every bit had to be done by ourselves, my brother making
+the cases, and I the rock work and taxidermy. The hammering-up of
+sandstone and granite; to cover the glue-soaked brown paper that we
+moulded into rocks, satisfied my keenest instinct for making messes,
+and only the patience of the old-time domestics would have "stood for
+it." My brother specialized in birds' eggs, and I in butterflies and
+moths. Later we added seaweeds, shells, and flowers. Some of our
+collections have been dissipated; and though we have not a really
+scientific acquaintance with either of these kingdoms, we acquired a
+"hail-fellow-well-met" familiarity with all of them, which has
+enlivened many a day in many parts of the world as we have journeyed
+through life. Moreover, though purchased pictures have other values,
+the old cases set on the walls of one's den bring back memories that
+are the joy and solace of many idle moments later in life--each rarer
+egg, each extra butterfly picturing some day or place of keen triumph,
+otherwise long since forgotten. Here, for instance, is a convolvulus
+hawk father found killed on a mountain in Switzerland; there an Apollo
+I caught in the Pyrenees; here a "red burnet" with "five eyes"
+captured as we raced through the bracken on Clifton Downs; and there
+are "purple emperors" wired down to "meat" baits on the Surrey Downs.
+
+Many a night at school have I stolen into the great forest, my
+butterfly net under my coat, to try and add a new specimen to my
+hoard. We were always supplied with good "key-books," so that we
+should be able to identify our specimens, and also to search for
+others more intelligently. One value of my own specialty was that for
+the moths it demanded going out in the night, and the thrills of out
+of doors in the beautiful summer evenings, when others were "fugging"
+in the house or had gone to bed, used actually to make me dance
+around on the grass. The dark lantern, the sugaring of the tree stems
+with intoxicating potions, and the subsequent excitement of searching
+for specimens, fascinated me utterly. Our breeding from the egg,
+through the caterpillar stage, taught us many things without our
+knowing that we were learning.
+
+One of our holidays was memorable, because as soon as our parents left
+we invited my friend and two sisters as well to come and stay with us.
+They came, fully expecting that mother had asked them, but were good
+enough sports to stay when they found it was only us two boys. They
+greatly added to the enjoyment of the days, and if they had not been
+such inveterate home letter-writers--a habit of which we were very
+contemptuous--it would have saved us boys much good-humoured teasing
+afterwards, for the matron would have been mum and no one the wiser.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+EARLY WORK IN LONDON
+
+
+In 1883 my father became anxious to give up teaching boys and to
+confine himself more exclusively to the work of a clergyman. With this
+in view he contemplated moving to London where he had been offered the
+chaplaincy of the huge London Hospital. I remember his talking it over
+with me, and then asking if I had any idea what I wanted to do in
+life. It came to me as a new conundrum. It had never occurred to me to
+look forward to a profession; except that I knew that the heads of
+tigers, deer, and all sorts of trophies of the chase which adorned our
+house came from soldier uncles and others who hunted them in India,
+and I had always thought that their occupation would suit my taste
+admirably. It never dawned on me that I would have to earn my bread
+and butter--that had always come along. Moreover, I had never seen
+real poverty in others, for all the fisher-folk in our village seemed
+to have enough. I hated dress and frills, and envied no one. At
+school, and on the Riviera, and even in Wales, I had never noticed any
+want. It is true that a number of dear old ladies from the village
+came in the winter months to our house once or twice a week to get
+soup. They used to sit in the back hall, each with a round tin can
+with a bucket handle. These were filled with hot broth, and the old
+ladies were given a repast as well before leaving. As a matter of fact
+I very seldom actually saw them, for that part of the house was cut
+off entirely by large double green-baize covered doors. But I often
+knew that they must have been there, because our Skye terrier, though
+fed to overflowing, usually attended these seances, and I presume,
+while the old ladies were occupied with lunch, sampled the cans of
+soup that stood in rows along the floor. He used to come along with
+dripping whiskers which betrayed his excursion, and the look of a
+connoisseur in his large round eyes--as if he were certifying that
+justice had been done once more in the kitchen.
+
+While I was in France the mother of my best chum in school had been
+passing through Marseilles on her way home from India, and had most
+kindly taken me on a jolly trip to Arles, Avignon, and other
+historical places. She was the wife of a famous missionary in India.
+She spoke eight languages fluently, including Arabic, and was a
+perfect "vade mecum" of interesting information which she well knew
+how to impart. She had known my mother's family all her life, they
+being Anglo-Indians in the army service.
+
+About the time of my father's question, my friend's mother was staying
+in Chester with her brother-in-law, the Lord Lieutenant of
+Denbighshire. It was decided that as she was a citizeness of the
+world, no one could suggest better for what profession my peculiar
+talents fitted me. The interview I have long ago forgotten, but I
+recall coming home with a confused idea that tiger hunting would not
+support me, and that she thought I ought to become a clergyman, though
+it had no attraction for me, and I decided against it.
+
+None of our family on either side, so far as I can find out, had ever
+practised medicine. My own experience of doctors had been rather a
+chequered one, but at my father's suggestion I gladly went up and
+discussed the matter with our country family doctor. He was a fine
+man, and we boys were very fond of him and his family, his daughter
+being our best girl friend near by. He had an enormous practice, in
+which he was eminently successful. The number of horses he kept, and
+the miles he covered with them, were phenomenal in my mind. He had
+always a kind word for every one, and never gave us boys away, though
+he must have known many of our pranks played in our parents' absence.
+The only remaining memory of that visit was that the old doctor
+brought down from one of his shelves a large jar, out of which he
+produced a pickled human brain. I was thrilled with entirely new
+emotions. I had never thought of man's body as a machine. That this
+weird, white, puckered-up mass could be the producer or transmitter of
+all that made man, that it controlled our physical strength and
+growth, and our responses to life, that it made one into "Mad G." and
+another into me--why, it was absolutely marvellous. It attracted me as
+did the gramophone, the camera, the automobile.
+
+My father saw at once on my return that I had found my real interest,
+and put before me two alternative plans, one to go to Oxford, where my
+brother had just entered, or to join him in London and take up work in
+the London Hospital and University, preparatory to going in for
+medicine. I chose the latter at once--a decision I have never
+regretted. I ought to say that business as a career was not suggested.
+In England, especially in those days, these things were more or less
+hereditary. My forbears were all fighters or educators, except for an
+occasional statesman or banker. Probably there is some advantage in
+this plan.
+
+The school had been leased for a period of seven years to a very
+delightful successor, it being rightly supposed that after that time
+my brother would wish to assume the responsibility.
+
+Some of the subjects for the London matriculation were quite new to
+me, especially "English." But with the fresh incentive and new vision
+of responsibility I set to work with a will, and soon had mastered the
+ten required subjects sufficiently to pass the examination with
+credit. But I must say here that Professor Huxley's criticisms of
+English public school teaching of that period were none too stringent.
+I wish with all my heart that others had spoken out as bravely, for in
+those days that wonderful man was held up to our scorn as an atheist
+and iconoclast. He was, however, perfectly right. We spent years of
+life and heaps of money on our education, and came out knowing nothing
+to fit us for life, except that which we picked up incidentally.
+
+I now followed my father to London, and found every subject except my
+chemistry entirely new. I was not familiar with one word of botany,
+zoology, physics, physiology, or comparative anatomy. About the
+universe which I inhabited I knew as little as I did about cuneiform
+writings. Except for my mathematics and a mere modicum of chemistry I
+had nothing on which to base my new work; and students coming from
+Government free schools, or almost anywhere, had a great advantage
+over men of my previous education; I did not even know how to study
+wisely. Again, as Huxley showed, medical education in London was so
+divided, there being no teaching university, that the curriculum was
+ridiculously inadequate. There were still being foisted upon the world
+far too many medical men of the type of Bob Sawyer.
+
+There were fourteen hospitals in London to which medical schools were
+attached. Our hospital was the largest in the British Isles, and in
+the midst of the poorest population in England, being located in the
+famous Whitechapel Road, and surrounded by all the purlieus of the
+East End of the great city. Patients came from Tilbury Docks to
+Billingsgate Market, and all the river haunts between; from Shadwell,
+Deptford, Wapping, Poplar, from Petticoat Lane and Radcliffe Highway,
+made famous by crime and by Charles Dickens. They came from Bethnal
+Green, where once queens had their courts, now the squalid and crowded
+home of poverty; from Stratford and Bow, and a hundred other slums.
+
+The hospital had some nine hundred beds, which were always so full
+that the last surgeon admitting to his wards constantly found himself
+with extra beds poked in between the regulation number through sheer
+necessity. It afforded an unrivalled field for clinical experience and
+practical teaching. In my day, however, owing to its position in
+London, and the fact that its school was only just emerging from
+primeval chaos, it attracted very few indeed of the medical students
+from Oxford and Cambridge, who are obliged to come to London for their
+last two or three years' hospital work--the scope in those small
+university towns being decidedly limited.
+
+Looking back I am grateful to my alma mater, and have that real
+affection for her that every loyal son should have. But even that does
+not conceal from me how poor a teaching establishment it was. Those
+who had natural genius, and the advantages of previous scientific
+training, who were sons of medical men, or had served apprenticeships
+to them, need not have suffered so much through its utter
+inefficiency. But men in my position suffered quite unconsciously a
+terrible handicap, and it was only the influences for which I had
+nothing whatever to thank the hospital that saved me from the
+catastrophes which overtook so many who started with me.
+
+To begin with, there was no supervision of our lives whatever. We were
+flung into a coarse and evil environment, among men who too often
+took pride in their shame, just to sink or swim. Not one soul cared
+which you did. I can still remember numerous cases where it simply
+meant that men paid quite large sums for the privilege of sending the
+sons they loved direct to the devil. I recall one lad whom I had known
+at school. His father lavished money upon him, and sincerely believed
+that his son was doing him credit and would soon return to share his
+large practice, and bring to it all the many new advances he had
+learned. The reports of examinations successfully passed he fully
+accepted; and the non-return of his son at vacation times he put down
+to professional zeal. It was not till the time came for the boy to get
+his degree and return that the father discovered that he had lived
+exactly the life of the prodigal in the parable, and had neither
+attended college nor attempted a single examination of any kind
+whatever. It broke the father's heart and he died.
+
+Examinations for degrees were held by the London University, or the
+Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, never by the hospital
+schools. These were practically race committees; they did no teaching,
+but when you had done certain things, they allowed you to come up and
+be examined, and if you got through a written and "viva voce"
+examination you were inflicted on an unsuspecting public "qualified to
+kill"--often only too literally so.
+
+It is obvious on the face of it that this could be no proper criterion
+for so important a decision as to qualifications; special crammers
+studied the examiners, their questions, and their teachings, and luck
+had a great deal to do with success. While some men never did
+themselves justice in examinations, others were exactly the reverse.
+Thus I can remember one resident accoucheur being "ploughed," as we
+called it, in his special subject, obstetrics--and men to whom you
+wouldn't trust your cat getting through with flying colours.
+
+Of the things to be done: First you had to be signed up for attending
+courses of lectures on certain subjects. This was simply a matter of
+tipping the beadle, who marked you off. I personally attended only two
+botany lectures during the whole course. At the first some practical
+joker had spilled a solution of carbon bisulphide all over the
+professor's platform, and the smell was so intolerable that the
+lecture was prorogued. At the second, some wag let loose a couple of
+pigeons, whereupon every one started either to capture them or stir
+them up with pea-shooters. The professor said, "Gentlemen, if you do
+not wish to learn, you are at liberty to leave." The entire class
+walked out. The insignificant sum of two and sixpence secured me my
+sign-up for the remainder of the course.
+
+Materia medica was almost identical; and while we had better fortune
+with physiology, no experience and no apparatus for verifying its
+teachings were ever shown us.
+
+Our chemistry professor was a very clever man, but extremely
+eccentric, and his class was pandemonium. I have seen him so
+frequently pelted with peas, when his head was turned, as to force him
+to leave the amphitheatre in despair. I well remember also an
+unpopular student being pushed down from the top row almost on to the
+experiment table.
+
+There was practically no histology taught, and little or no pathology.
+Almost every bit of the microscope which I did was learned on my own
+instrument at home. Anatomy, however, we were well taught in the
+dissecting-room, where we could easily obtain all the work we needed.
+But not till Sir Frederick Treves became our lecturer in anatomy and
+surgery was it worth while doing more than pay the necessary sum to
+get signed up.
+
+In the second place we had to attend in the dispensary, actually to
+handle drugs and learn about them--an admirable rule. Personally I
+went once, fooled around making egg-nogg, and arranged with a
+considerate druggist to do the rest that was necessary. Yet I
+satisfied the examiners at the College of Physicians and Surgeons,
+those of the London University at the examinations for Bachelor of
+Medicine--the only ones which they gave which carried questions in any
+of these subjects.
+
+In the athletic life of the University, however, I took great
+interest, and was secretary in succession of the cricket, football,
+and rowing clubs. I helped remove the latter from the old river Lea to
+the Thames, to raise the inter-hospital rowing championship and start
+the united hospitals' rowing club. I found time to row in the
+inter-hospital race for two years and to play on the football team in
+the two years of which we won the inter-hospital football cup. A few
+times I played with the united hospitals' team; but I found that their
+ways were not mine, as I had been taught to despise alcohol as a
+beverage and to respect all kinds of womanhood. For three years I
+played regularly for Richmond--the best of the London clubs at the
+time--and subsequently for Oxford, being put on the team the only term
+I was in residence. I also threw the hammer for the hospital in the
+united hospitals' sports, winning second place for two years. Indeed,
+athletics in some form occupied every moment of my spare time.
+
+It was in my second year, 1885, that returning from an out-patient
+case one night, I turned into a large tent erected in a purlieu of
+Shadwell, the district to which I happened to have been called. It
+proved to be an evangelistic meeting of the then famous Moody and
+Sankey. It was so new to me that when a tedious prayer-bore began with
+a long oration, I started to leave. Suddenly the leader, whom I
+learned afterwards was D.L. Moody, called out to the audience, "Let us
+sing a hymn while our brother finishes his prayer." His practicality
+interested me, and I stayed the service out. When eventually I left,
+it was with a determination either to make religion a real effort to
+do as I thought Christ would do in my place as a doctor, or frankly
+abandon it. That could only have one issue while I still lived with a
+mother like mine. For she had always been my ideal of unselfish love.
+So I decided to make the attempt, and later went down to hear the
+brothers J.E. and C.T. Studd speak at some subsidiary meeting of the
+Moody campaign. They were natural athletes, and I felt that I could
+listen to them. I could not have listened to a sensuous-looking man, a
+man who was not a master of his own body, any more than I could to a
+precentor, who coming to sing the prayers at college chapel
+dedication, I saw get drunk on sherry which he abstracted from the
+banquet table just before the service. Never shall I forget, at the
+meeting of the Studd brothers, the audience being asked to stand up if
+they intended to try and follow Christ. It appeared a very sensible
+question to me, but I was amazed how hard I found it to stand up. At
+last one boy, out of a hundred or more in sailor rig, from an
+industrial or reformatory ship on the Thames, suddenly rose. It seemed
+to me such a wonderfully courageous act--for I knew perfectly what it
+would mean to him--that I immediately found myself on my feet, and
+went out feeling that I had crossed the Rubicon, and must do something
+to prove it.
+
+   [Illustration: OXFORD UNIVERSITY RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL TEAM
+   W.T. Grenfell at left of bottom row]
+
+We were Church of England people, and I always attended service with
+my mother at an Episcopal church of the evangelical type. At her
+suggestion I asked the minister if I could in any way help. He offered
+me a class of small boys in his Sunday School, which I accepted with
+much hesitation. The boys, derived from houses in the neighbourhood,
+were as smart as any I have known. With every faculty sharpened by the
+competition of the street, they so tried my patience with their pranks
+that I often wondered what strange attraction induced them to come at
+all. The school and church were the property of a society known by the
+uninviting title of the "Episcopal Society for the promotion of
+Christianity among the Jews." It owned a large court, shut off from
+the road by high gates, around which stood about a dozen houses--with
+the church facing the gates at one end of a pretty avenue of trees. It
+was an oasis in the desert of that dismal region. It possessed also an
+industrial institution for helping its converts to make a living, when
+driven out of their own homes; and its main work was carried on for
+the most part by superannuated missionaries. One was from Bagdad, I
+remember, and one from Palestine, both themselves Jews by extraction.
+These missionaries were paid such miserable salaries that in their old
+age they were always left very poor.
+
+One instance of a baptism I have never forgotten. I was then living in
+the court, having hired a nice separate house under the trees after my
+father had died and my mother had moved to Hampstead. In such a
+district the house was a Godsend. One Sunday I was strolling in the
+court when the clergyman came rushing out of the church and called to
+me in great excitement, "The church is full of Jews. They are going to
+carry off Abraham. Can't you go in and help while I fetch the police?"
+My friend and I therefore rushed in as directed to a narrow alleyway
+between high box pews which led into the vestry, into which "Abraham"
+had been spirited. The door being shut and our backs put to it, it was
+a very easy matter to hold back the crowd, who probably supposed at
+first that we were leading the abduction party. There being only room
+for two to come on at once, "those behind cried forward, and those in
+front back," till after very little blood spilt, we heard the police
+in the church, and the crowd at once took to flight. I regret to say
+that we expedited the rear-guard by football rather than strictly
+Christian methods. His friends then charged Abraham with theft,
+expecting to get him out of his place of refuge and then trap him, as
+we were told they had a previous convert. We therefore accompanied him
+personally through the mean streets, both to and fro, spoiling for
+more fun. But they displayed more discretion than valour, and to the
+best of my belief he escaped their machinations.
+
+My Sunday-School efforts did not satisfy me. The boys were few, and I
+failed to see any progress. But I had resolved that I would do no work
+on Sundays except for others, so I joined a young Australian of my
+class in hospital in holding services on Sunday nights in half a dozen
+of the underground lodging-houses along the Radcliffe Highway. He was
+a good musician, so he purchased a fine little portable harmonium, and
+whatever else the lodgers thought of us, they always liked the music.
+We used to meet for evening tea at a place in the famous Highway known
+as "The Stranger's Rest," outside of which an open-air service was
+always held for the sailors wandering up and down the docks. At these
+a number of ladies would sing; and after the meetings a certain number
+of the sailors were asked to come in and have refreshments. There were
+always some who had spent their money on drink, or been robbed, or
+were out of ships, and many of them were very fine men. Some were
+foreigners--so much so that a bit farther down the road a Norwegian
+lady carried on another similar work, especially for Scandinavians.
+
+A single story will illustrate the good points which some of these men
+displayed. My hospital chief, Sir Frederick Treves, had operated on a
+great big Norwegian, and the man had left the hospital cured. As a
+rule such patients do not even know the name of their surgeon. Some
+three weeks later, however, this man called at Sir Frederick Treves's
+house late one dark night. Having asked if he were the surgeon who had
+operated on him and getting a reply in the affirmative, he said he had
+come to return thanks, that since he left hospital he had been
+wandering about without a penny to his name, waiting for a ship, but
+had secured a place on that day. He proceeded to cut out from the
+upper edge of his trousers a gold Norwegian five-kronen piece which
+his wife had sewed in there to be his stand-by in case of absolute
+need. He had been so hungry that he had been tempted to use it, but
+now had come to present it as a token of gratitude--upon which he
+bowed and disappeared. Sir Frederick said that he was so utterly taken
+aback that he found himself standing in the hall, holding the coin,
+and bowing his visitor out. He said he could no more return it than
+you could offer your teacher a "tip," and he has preserved it as a
+much-prized possession.
+
+The underground lodging-house work did me lots of good. It brought me
+into touch with real poverty--a very graveyard of life I had never
+surmised. The denizens of those miserable haunts were men from almost
+every rank of life. They were shipwrecks from the ocean of humanity,
+drifted up on the last beach. There were large open fireplaces in the
+dens, over which those who had any food cooked it. Often while the
+other doctor or I was holding services, one of us would have to sit
+down on some drunken man to keep him from making the proceedings
+impossible; but there was always a modicum who gathered around and
+really enjoyed the singing.
+
+We soon found that there were no depths of contemptible treachery
+which some among these new acquaintances would not attempt. We became
+gradually hardened to the piteous tales of ill luck, of malignant
+persecution, and of purely temporary embarrassments, and learned soon
+to leave behind us purses, and watches, and anything else of value,
+and to keep some specially worn clothing for this service.
+
+There was always a narrow passage from the front door to the staircase
+which led down into those huge underground basements. The guardians
+had a room inside the door, with a ticket window, where they took five
+or possibly eight cents from the boarders for their night's lodging.
+At about eleven o'clock a "chucker out" would go down and clear out
+all the gentlemen who had not paid in advance for the night. This was
+always a very melancholy period of the evening, and in spite of our
+hardened hearts, we always had a score against us there. That,
+however, had to be given in person, for there were plenty among our
+audiences who had taken special courses in imitative calligraphy.
+I.O.U.'s on odd bits of paper were a menace to our banking accounts
+till we sorrowfully abandoned that convenient way of helping often a
+really deserving case.
+
+In those houses, somewhat to my astonishment, we never once received
+any physical opposition. We knew that some considered us harmless and
+gullible imbeciles; but the great majority were still able to see that
+it was an attempt, however poor, to help them. Drink, of course, was
+the chief cause of the downfall of most; but as I have already said,
+there were cases of genuine, undeserved poverty--like our sailor
+friend, overtaken with sickness in a foreign port. We induced some to
+sign the pledge and to keep it, if only temporarily, but I think that
+we ourselves got most out of the work, both in pleasure and uplift. I
+recall one clergyman, one doctor, and many men from the business world
+and clerk's life in the flotsam and jetsam.
+
+One poor creature, in the last stage of poverty and dirt, proved to be
+an honours man in Oxford. We looked up his record in the University.
+He assured us that he intended to begin again a new life, and we
+agreed to help start him. We took him to a respectable, temperance
+lodging-house, paid for a bed, a bath, and a supper, and purchased a
+good second-hand outfit of clothing for him. We were wise enough only
+to give this to him after we had taken away his own while he was
+having a bath in the tub. We did not give him a penny of money,
+fearing his lack of control. Next morning, however, when we went for
+him, he was gone--no one knew where. We had the neighbouring saloons
+searched, and soon got track of him. Some "friend" in the temperance
+house had given him sixpence. The barman offered him the whiskey; his
+hands trembled so that he could not lift the glass to his mouth, and
+the barman kindly poured it down his throat. We never saw him again.
+
+In this lodging-house work a friend, now a well-known artist and
+successful business man, often joined us two doctors.
+
+My growing experience had shown me that there was a better way to the
+hearts of my Sunday-School boys than merely talking to them. Like
+myself, they worshipped the athlete, whether he were a prize-fighter
+or a big football player. There were no Y.M.C.A.'s or other places for
+them to get any physical culture, so we arranged to clear our
+dining-room every Saturday evening, and give boxing lessons and
+parallel-bar work: the ceiling was too low for the horizontal. The
+transformation of the room was easily accomplished. The furniture was
+very primitive, largely our own construction, and we could throw out
+through the window every scrap of it except the table, which was soon
+"adapted." We also put up a quoit pitch in our garden.
+
+This is no place to discuss the spiritual influences of the "noble art
+of boxing." Personally I have always believed in its value; and my
+Sunday-School class soon learned the graces of fair play, how to take
+defeat and to be generous in victory. They began at once bringing
+"pals" whom my exegesis on Scripture would never have lured within my
+reach. We ourselves began to look forward to Saturday night and Sunday
+afternoon with an entirely new joy. We all learned to respect and so
+to love one another more--indeed, lifelong friendships were developed
+and that irrespective of our hereditary credal affiliations. The
+well-meaning clergyman, however, could not see the situation in that
+light, and declining all invitations to come and sample an evening's
+fun instead of condemning it unheard, or I should say, unseen, he
+delivered an ultimatum which I accepted--and resigned from his school.
+
+My Australian friend was at that time wrestling with a real ragged
+school on the Highway on Sunday afternoons. The poor children there
+were street waifs and as wild as untamed animals. So, being
+temporarily out of a Sunday job, I consented to join him.
+
+Our school-room this time owed no allegiance to any one but
+ourselves, and the work certainly proved a real labour of love. If the
+boys were allowed in a minute before there was a force to cope with
+them, the room would be wrecked. Everything movable was stolen
+immediately opportunity arose. Boys turned out or locked out during
+session would climb to the windows, and triumphantly wave stolen
+articles. On one occasion when I had "chucked out" a specially
+obstreperous youth, I was met with a shower of mud and stones as I
+passed through a narrow alley on my return home. The police were
+always at war with the boys, who annoyed them in similar and many
+other ways. I remember two scholars whose eyes were blacked and badly
+beaten by a "cop" who happened to catch them in our doorway, as they
+declared, "only waiting for Sunday School to open." Old scores were
+paid off by both parties whenever possible. My own boys did not stay
+in the old school long after I left, but came and asked me to keep a
+class on Sunday in our dining-room--an arrangement in which I gladly
+acquiesced, though it involved my eventually abandoning the ragged
+school, which was at least two miles distant.
+
+With the night work at the lodging-houses, we used to combine a very
+aggressive total abstinence campaign. The saloon-keepers as a rule
+looked upon us as harmless cranks, and I have no doubt were grateful
+for the leaflets we used to distribute to their customers. These
+served admirably for kindling purposes. At times, however, they got
+ugly, and once my friend, who was in a saloon talking to a customer,
+was trapped and whiskey poured into his mouth. On another occasion I
+noticed that the outer doors were shut and a couple of men backed up
+against them while I was talking to the bartender over the counter,
+and that a few other customers were closing in to repeat the same
+experiment on me. However, they greatly overrated their own stock of
+fitness and equally underrated my good training, for the scrimmage
+went all my own way in a very short time.
+
+If ever I told my football chums (for in those days I was playing
+hard) of these adventures in a nether world, they always wanted to
+come and cooperate; but I have always felt that reliance on physical
+strength alone is only a menace when the odds are so universally in
+favour of our friend the enemy. At this time also at St. Andrew's
+Church, just across the Whitechapel Road from the hospital, the
+clergyman was a fine athlete and good boxer. He was a brother of Lord
+Wenlock, and was one night returning from a mission service in the
+Highway when he was set upon by footpads and robbed of everything,
+including the boots off his feet. Meantime "Jack the Ripper" was also
+giving our residential section a most unsavoury reputation.
+
+My long vacations at this time were always taken on the sea. My
+brother and I used to hire an old fishing smack called the "Oyster,"
+which we rechristened the "Roysterer." This we fitted out,
+provisioned, and put to sea in with an entirely untrained crew, and
+without even the convention of caring where we were bound so long as
+the winds bore us cheerily along. My brother was always cook--and
+never was there a better. We believed that he would have made a mark
+in the world as a chef, from his ability to satisfy our appetites and
+cater to our desires out of so ill-supplied a galley. We always took
+our departure from the north coast of Anglesea--a beautiful spot, and
+to us especially attractive as being so entirely out of the run of
+traffic that we could do exactly as we pleased. We invariably took our
+fishing gear with us, and thus never wanted for fresh food. We could
+replenish our bread, milk, butter, and egg supply at the numerous
+small ports at which we called. The first year the crew consisted of
+my brother and me--skipper, mate, and cook between us--and an Oxford
+boating friend as second mate. For a deckhand we had a young East
+London parson, whom we always knew as "the Puffin," because he so
+closely resembled that particular bird when he had his vestments on.
+We sailed first for Ireland, but the wind coming ahead we ran instead
+for the Isle of Man. The first night at sea the very tall
+undergraduate as second mate had the 12 P.M. to 4 A.M. night watch.
+The tiller handle was very low, and when I gave him his course at
+midnight before turning in myself, he asked me if it would be a breach
+of nautical etiquette to sit down to steer, as that was the only
+alternative to directing the ship's course with his ankles. No land
+was in sight, and the wind had died out when I came on deck for my 4
+A.M. to 8 A.M. watch. I found the second mate sitting up rubbing his
+eyes as I emerged from the companion hatch.
+
+"Well, where are we now? How is her head? What's my course?"
+
+"Don't worry about such commonplace details," he replied. "I have made
+an original discovery about these parts that I have never seen
+mentioned before."
+
+"What's that?" I asked innocently.
+
+"Well," he replied, "when I sat down to steer the course you gave
+brought a bright star right over the topmast head and that's what I
+started to steer by. It's a perfect marvel what a game these heavenly
+bodies play. We must be in some place like Alice in Wonderland. I just
+shut my eyes for a second and when next I opened them the sun was
+exactly where I had left that star--" and he fled for shelter.
+
+It is a wonder that we ever got anywhere, for we had not so much as a
+chronometer watch, and so in spite of a decrepit sextant even our
+latitude was often an uncertain quantity. However, we made the port of
+Douglas, whence we visited quite a part of the historic island. As our
+parson was called home from there, we wired for and secured another
+chum to share our labours. Our generally unconventional attire in
+fashionable summer resorts was at times quite embarrassing.
+Barelegged, bareheaded, and "tanned to a chip," I was carrying my
+friend's bag along the fashionable pier to see him off on his homeward
+journey, when a lady stopped me and asked me if I were an Eskimo,
+offering me a job if I needed one. I have wondered sometimes if it
+were a seat in a sideshow which she had designed for me.
+
+We spent that holiday cruising around the island. It included getting
+ashore off the north point of land and nearly losing the craft; and
+also in Ramsey Harbour a fracas with the harbour authorities. We had
+run that night on top of the full spring tide. Not knowing the
+harbour, we had tied up to the first bollard, and gone incontinently
+to sleep. We were awakened by the sound of water thundering on top of
+us, and rushing up found to our dismay that we were lying in the mud,
+and a large sewer was discharging right on to our decks. Before we had
+time to get away or clean up, the harbour master, coming alongside,
+called on us to pay harbour duties. We stoutly protested that as a
+pleasure yacht we were not liable and intended to resist to the death
+any such insult being put upon us. He was really able to see at once
+that we were just young fellows out for a holiday, but he had the last
+word before a crowd of sight-seers who had gathered on the quay above
+us.
+
+"Pleasure yacht, pleasure yacht, indeed!" he shouted as he rode away,
+"I can prove to any man with half an eye that you are nothing but one
+of them old coal or mud barges."
+
+The following year the wind suited better the other way. We were
+practically all young doctors this time, the cook being a very
+athletic chum in whose rooms were collected as trophies, in almost
+every branch of athletics, over seventy of what we called silver
+"pots." As a cook he proved a failure except in zeal. It didn't really
+interest him, especially when the weather was lively. On one occasion
+I reported to the galley, though I was the skipper that year, in
+search of the rice-pudding for dinner--Dennis, our cook, being
+temporarily indisposed. Such a sight as met my view! Had I been
+superstitious I should have fled. A great black column the
+circumference of the boiler had risen not less than a foot above the
+top rim, and was wearing the iron cover jauntily on one side as a
+helmet. It proved to be rice. He had filled the saucepan with dry
+rice, crowded in a little water, forced the lid on very tight and left
+it to its own devices!
+
+Nor, in his subsequent capacity as deckhand, did he redeem in our eyes
+the high qualities of seamanship which we had anticipated from him.
+
+Our tour took us this time through the Menai Straits, _via_ Carnarvon
+and the Welsh coast, down the Irish Channel to Milford Haven. In the
+region of very heavy tides and dangerous rocks near the south Welsh
+coast, we doubled our watch at night. One night the wind fell very
+light, and we had stood close inshore in order to pass inside the
+Bishop Rocks. The wind died out at that very moment, and the heavy
+current driving us down on the rocky islands threatened prematurely to
+terminate our cruise. The cook was asleep, as usual when called, and
+at last aroused to the nature of the alarm, was found leaning forward
+over the ship's bows with a lighted candle. When asked what he was
+doing, he explained, "Why, looking for those bishops, of course."
+
+No holiday anywhere could be better sport than those cruises. There
+was responsibility, yet rest, mutual dependence, and a charming,
+unconventional way of getting acquainted with one's own country. We
+visited Carnarvon, Harlech, and other castles, lost our boat in a
+breeze of wind off Dynllyn, climbed Snowden from Pwllheli Harbour, and
+visited a dozen little out-of-the-world harbours that one would
+otherwise never see. Fishing and shooting for the pot, bathing and
+rowing, and every kind of healthy out-of-doors pleasure was indulged
+in along the road of travel. Moreover, it was all made to cost just as
+much or as little as you liked.
+
+Another amusing memory which still remains with me was at one little
+seaport where a very small man not over five feet high had married a
+woman considerably over six. He was an idle, drunken little rascal,
+and I met her one day striding down the street with her intoxicated
+little spouse wrapped up in her apron and feebly protesting.
+
+One result of these holidays was that I told my London boys about
+them, using one's experiences as illustrations; till suddenly it
+struck me that this was shabby Christianity. Why shouldn't these town
+cagelings share our holidays? Thirteen accompanied me the following
+summer. We had three tents, an old deserted factory, and an
+uninhabited gorge by the sea, all to ourselves on the Anglesea coast,
+among people who spoke only Welsh. Thus we had all the joys of foreign
+travel at very little cost.
+
+Among the many tricks the boys "got away with" was one at the big
+railway junction at Bangor, where we had an hour to wait. They
+apparently got into the baggage-room and stole a varied assortment of
+labels, which they industriously pasted over those on a large pile of
+luggage stacked on the platform. The subsequent tangle of destinations
+can better be imagined than described.
+
+Camp rules were simple--no clothing allowed except short blue knickers
+and gray flannel shirts, no shoes, stockings, or caps except on
+Sundays. The uniform was provided and was as a rule the amateur
+production of numerous friends, for our finances were strictly
+limited. The knickers were not particularly successful, the legs
+frequently being carried so high up that there was no space into which
+the body could be inserted. Every one had to bathe in the sea before
+he got any breakfast. I can still see ravenous boys staving off the
+evil hour till as near midday as possible. No one was allowed in the
+boats who couldn't swim, an art which they all quickly acquired. There
+was, of course, a regular fatigue party each day for the household
+duties. We had no beds--sleeping on long, burlap bags stuffed with
+hay. A very favourite pastime was afforded by our big lifeboat, an old
+one hired from the National Lifeboat Society. The tides flowed very
+strongly alongshore, east on the flood tide and west on the ebb. Food,
+fishing lines, and a skipper for the day being provided, the old boat
+would go off with the tide in the morning, the boys had a picnic
+somewhere during the slack-water interim, and came back with the
+return tide.
+
+When our numbers grew, as they did to thirty the second year, and
+nearly a hundred in subsequent seasons, thirty or more boys would be
+packed off daily in that way--and yet we never lost one of them. If
+they had not had as many lives as cats it would have been quite
+another story. The boat had sufficient sails to give the appearance
+to their unfamiliar eyes of being a sailing vessel, but the real work
+was done with twelve huge oars, two boys to an oar being the rule. At
+nights they used to come drifting homeward on the returning tides
+singing their dirges, like some historic barge of old. There was one
+familiar hymn called "Bringing in the Sheaves," which like everything
+else these rascals adapted for the use of the moment; and many a time
+the returning barge would be announced to us cooking supper in the old
+factory or in the silent gorge, by the ringing echoes of many voices
+beating with their oars as they came on to the words:
+
+    "Pulling at the sweeps,
+    Pulling at the sweeps;
+    Here we come rejoicing,
+    Pulling at the sweeps."
+
+As soon as the old boat's keel slid up upon the beach, there would be
+a rush of as appreciative a supper party as ever a cook had the
+pleasure of catering for.
+
+An annual expedition was to the top of Mount Snowdon, the highest in
+England or Wales. It was attempted by land and water. Half of us
+tramped overland in forced marches to the beautiful Menai Straits,
+crossed the suspension bridge, and were given splendid hospitality and
+good beds on the straw of the large stables at the beautiful country
+seat of a friend at Treborth. Here the boat section who came around
+the island were to meet us, anchoring their craft on the south side of
+the Straits. Our second year the naval division did not turn up, and
+some had qualms of conscience that evil might have overtaken them. Nor
+did they arrive until we by land had conquered the summit, travelling
+by Bethesda and the famous slate quarries, and returning for the
+second evening at Treborth. We then found that they had been stranded
+on the sands in Red Wharf Bay, so far from shore that they could
+neither go forward nor back; had thus spent their first night in a
+somewhat chilly manner in old bathing machines by the land wash, and
+supped off the superfluous hard biscuit which they had been reserving
+for the return voyage. They were none the worse, however, our genial
+host making it up to them in an extra generous provision and a special
+evening entertainment. One of my smartest boys (a Jew by nationality,
+for we made no distinctions in election to our class), in recounting
+his adventures to me next day, said: "My! Doctor, I did have some fun
+kidding that waiter in the white choker. He took a liking to me so I
+let him pal up. I told him my name was Lord Shaftesbury when I was
+home, but I asked him not to let it out, and the old bloke promised he
+wouldn't." The "old bloke" happened to be our host, who was always in
+dress-clothes in the evening, the only time we were at his house.
+
+These holidays were the best lessons of love I could show my boys. It
+drew us very closely together; and to make the boys feel it less a
+charitable affair, every one was encouraged to save up his railway
+fare and as much more as possible. By special arrangement with the
+railway and other friends, and by very simple living, the per caput
+charges were so much reduced that many of the boys not only paid their
+own expenses, but even helped their friends. The start was always
+attended by a crowd of relatives, all helping with the baggage. The
+father of one of my boys was a costermonger, and had a horse that he
+had obtained very cheap because it had a disease of the legs. He
+always kept it in the downstairs portion of his house, which it
+entered by the front door. It was a great pleasure to him to come and
+cart our things free to the station. The boys used to load his cart
+at our house, and I remember one time that they made him haul
+unconsciously all the way to the big London terminal at Euston half
+our furniture, including our coal boxes. His son, a most charming boy,
+made good in life in Australia and bought a nice house in one of the
+suburbs for his father and mother. I had the pleasure one night of
+meeting them all there. The father was terribly uneasy, for he said he
+just could not get accustomed to it. All his old "pals" were gone, and
+his neighbours' tastes and interests were a great gulf between them. I
+heard later that as soon as his son left England again the old man
+sold the house, and returned to the more congenial associations of a
+costermonger's life, where I believe he died in harness.
+
+The last two years of my stay in London being occupied with resident
+work at hospital, I could not find time for such far-off holidays, and
+at the suggestion of my chief, Sir Frederick Treves, himself a
+Dorsetshire man, we camped by permission of our friends, the owners,
+in the grounds of Lulworth Castle, close by the sea. The class had now
+developed into a semi-military organization. We had acquired real
+rifles--old-timers from the Tower of London--and our athletic clubs
+were portions of the Anglesey Boys' Brigade, which antedated the Boys'
+Brigade of Glasgow, forerunner of the Church Lads' Brigade, and the
+Boy Scouts.
+
+One of the great attractions of the new camping-ground was the
+exquisite country and the splendid coast, with chalk cliffs over which
+almost any one could fall with impunity. Lulworth Cove, one of the
+most picturesque in England, was the summer resort of my chief, and he
+being an expert mariner and swimmer used not only very often to join
+us at camp, but always gave the boys a fine regatta and picnic at his
+cottage. Our water polo games were also a great feature here, the
+water being warm and enabling us easily to play out the games. There
+are also numerous beautiful castles and country houses all the way
+between Swanage and Weymouth, and we had such kindness extended to us
+wherever we went that every day was a dream of joy to the lads.
+Without any question they acquired new visions and ideals through
+these experiences.
+
+We always struck camp at the end of a fortnight, having sometimes
+arranged with other friends with classes of their own to step into our
+shoes. The present head master of Shrewsbury and many other
+distinguished persons shared with us some of the educative joys of
+those days. Among the many other more selfish portions of the holidays
+none stand out more clearly in my memory than the August days when
+partridge and grouse shooting used to open. Most of my shooting was
+done over the delightful highlands around Bishop's Castle in
+Shropshire, on the outskirts of the Welsh hills, in Clun Forest, and
+on the heather-covered Longmynds. How I loved those days, and the
+friends who made them possible--the sound of the beaters, the
+intelligent setters and retrievers, the keepers in velveteens, the
+lunches under the shade of the great hedges or in lovely cottages,
+where the ladies used to meet us at midday, and every one used to
+jolly you about not shooting straight, and you had to take refuge in a
+thousand "ifs."
+
+As one looks back on it all from Labrador, it breathes the aroma of an
+old civilization and ancient customs. Much of the shooting was over
+the old lands of the Walcotts of Walcott Hall, a family estate that
+had been bought up by Earl Clive on his return from India, and was now
+in the hands of his descendant, an old bachelor who shot very little,
+riding from one good stand to another on a steady old pony. There
+were many such estates, another close by being that of the Oakovers of
+Oakover, a family that has since sold their heritage.
+
+A thousand time-honoured old customs, only made acceptable by their
+hoary age, added, and still continue to add in the pleasures of
+memory, to the joys of those days, with which golf and tennis and all
+the wonderful luxury of the modern summer hotel seem never able to
+compete. It is right, however, that such eras should pass.
+
+The beautiful forest of Savernake, that in my school days I had loved
+so well, and which meant so much to us boys, spoke only too loudly of
+the evil heirloom of the laws of entail. Spendthrift and dissolute
+heirs had made it impossible for the land to be utilized for the
+benefit of the people, and yet kept it in the hands of utterly
+undeserving persons. Being of royal descent they still bore a royal
+name even in my day; but it was told of them that the last, who had
+been asked to withdraw from the school, on one occasion when, half
+drunk, he was defending himself from the gibes and jeers of grooms and
+'ostlers whom he had made his companions, rose with ill-assumed
+dignity and with an oath declared that he was their king by divine
+right if only he had his dues. Looking back it seems to me that the
+germs of democratic tendencies were sown in me by just those very
+incidents.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL
+
+
+I have never ceased to regret that there was not more corporate life
+in our medical school, but I believe that conditions have been greatly
+improved since my day. Here and there two or three classmates would
+"dig" together, but otherwise, except at lectures or in hospitals, we
+seldom met unless it was on the athletic teams. We had no playground
+of our own, and so, unable to get other hospitals to combine, when a
+now famous St. Thomas man and myself hired part of the justly
+celebrated London Rowing Club Headquarters at Putney for a united
+hospitals' headquarters, we used to take our blazers and more
+cherished possessions home with us at night for fear of distraint of
+rent.
+
+They were great days. Rowing on the Thames about Putney is not like
+that at Oxford on a mill-pond, or as at Cambridge on what we nicknamed
+a drain that should be roofed over. Its turgid waters were often rough
+enough to sink a rowing shell, and its busy traffic was a thing with
+which to reckon. But it offered associations with all kinds of
+interesting places, historical and otherwise, from the Star and Garter
+at Richmond and the famous Park away to Boulter's Lock and Cleveden
+Woods, to the bathing pools about Taplow Court, the seat of the senior
+branch of our family, and to Marlow and Goring where our annual club
+outings were held. Twice I rowed in the inter-hospital race from
+Putney to Mortlake, once as bow and again as stroke. During those
+early days the "London" frequently had the best boat on the river.
+
+Having now finished my second year at hospital and taken my
+preliminary examinations, including the scientific preliminary, and my
+first bachelor of medicine for the University of London degree, I had
+advanced to the dignity of "walking the hospitals," carried a large
+shining stethoscope, and spent much time following the famous
+physicians and surgeons around the wards.
+
+Our first appointment was clerking in the medical wards. We had each
+so many beds allotted to us, and it was our business to know
+everything about the patients who occupied them, to keep accurate
+"histories" of all developments, and to be ready to be quizzed and
+queried by our resident house physician, or our visiting consultant on
+the afternoon when he made his rounds, followed by larger or smaller
+crowds of students according to the value which was placed upon his
+teaching. I was lucky enough to work under the famous Sir Andrew
+Clark, Mr. Gladstone's great physician. He was a Scotchman greatly
+beloved, and always with a huge following to whom he imparted far more
+valuable truths than even the medical science of thirty years ago
+afforded. His constant message, repeated and repeated at the risk of
+wearying, was: "Gentlemen, you must observe for yourselves. It is your
+observation and not your memory which counts. It is the patient and
+not the disease whom you are treating."
+
+Compared with the methods of diagnosis to-day those then were very
+limited, but Sir Andrew's message was the more important, showing the
+greatness of the man, who, though at the very top of the tree, never
+for a moment tried to convey to his followers that his knowledge was
+final, but that any moment he stood ready to abandon his position for
+a better one. On one occasion, to illustrate this point, while he was
+in one of the largest of our wards (one with four divisions and twenty
+beds each) he was examining a lung case, while a huge class of fifty
+young doctors stood around.
+
+"What about the sputum, Mr. Jones?" he asked. "What have you observed
+coming from these lungs?"
+
+"There is not much quantity, sir. It is greenish in colour."
+
+"But what about the microscope, Mr. Jones? What does that show?"
+
+"No examination has been made, sir."
+
+"Gentlemen," he said, "I will now go to the other ward, and you shall
+choose a specimen of the sputum of some of these cases. When I return
+we will examine it and see what we can learn."
+
+When he returned, four specimens awaited him, the history and
+diagnoses of the cases being known only to the class. The class never
+forgot how by dissolving and boiling, and with the microscope, he told
+us almost more from his examination of each case than we knew from all
+our other information. His was real teaching, and reminds one of the
+Glasgow professor who, in order to emphasize the same point of the
+value of observation, prepared a little cupful of kerosene, mustard,
+and castor oil, and calling the attention of his class to it, dipped a
+finger into the atrocious compound and then sucked his finger. He then
+passed the mixture around to the students who all did the same with
+most dire results. When the cup returned and he observed the faces of
+his students, he remarked: "Gentlemen, I am afraid you did not use
+your powers of obsairvation. The finger that I put into the cup was no
+the same one that I stuck in my mouth afterwards."
+
+Sir Stephen Mackenzie, who operated on the Emperor Frederick, was
+another excellent teacher under whom we had the good fortune to study.
+Indeed, whatever could be said against the teaching of our college,
+in this much more important field of learning, the London Hospital was
+most signally fortunate, and, moreover, was famed not only in London,
+but all the world over. Our "walking class" used to number men from
+the United States to Australia, insomuch that the crowds became so
+large that the teachers could not get room to pass along. It was this
+fact which led to the practice, now almost universal, of carrying the
+patient in his bed with a nurse in attendance into the theatre for
+observation as more comfortable and profitable for all concerned.
+
+On changing over to the surgical side in the hospital, we were
+employed in a very similar manner, only we were called "dressers," and
+under the house surgeon had all the care of a number of surgical
+patients. My good fortune now brought me under the chieftaincy of Sir
+Frederick Treves, the doyen of teachers. His great message was
+self-reliance. He taught dogmatically as one having authority, and
+always insisted that we should make up our minds, have a clear idea of
+what we were doing, and then do it. His ritual was always thought out,
+no detail being omitted, and each person had exactly his share of work
+and his share of responsibility. It used greatly to impress patients,
+and he never underestimated the psychical value of having their
+complete confidence. Thus, on one occasion asking a dresser for his
+diagnosis, the student replied:
+
+"It might be a fracture, sir, or it might be only sprained."
+
+"The patient is not interested to know that it might be measles, or it
+might be toothache. The patient wants to know what is the matter, and
+it is your business to tell it to him or he will go to a quack who
+will inform him at once."
+
+All his teachings were, like Mark Twain's, enhanced by such
+over-emphasis or exaggeration. He could make an article in the
+"British Medical Journal" on Cholecystenterostomy amusing to a general
+reader, and make an ordinary remark as cutting as an amputation knife.
+He never permitted laxity of any kind in personal appearance or dress,
+or any imposing on the patients. His habit of saying openly exactly
+what he meant made many people fear, as much as they respected, him.
+However, he was always, in spite of it, the most popular of all the
+chiefs because he was so worth while.
+
+One incident recurs to my mind which I must recount as an example when
+psychology failed. A Whitechapel "lady," suffering with a very violent
+form of delirium tremens, was lying screeching in a strait-jacket on
+the cushioned floor of the padded room. With the usual huge queue of
+students following, he had gone in to see her, as I had been unable to
+get the results desired with a reasonable quantity of sedatives and
+soporifics. It was a very rare occasion, for cases which did not
+involve active surgery he left strictly alone. After giving a talk on
+psychical influence he had the jacket removed as "a relic of
+barbarism," and in a very impressive way looking into her glaring eyes
+and shaking his forefinger at her, he said: "Now, you are comfortable,
+my good woman, and will sleep. You will make no more disturbance
+whatever." There was an unusual silence. The woman remained absolutely
+passive, and we all turned to follow the chief out. Suddenly the
+"lady" called out, "Hi, hi,"--and some perverse spirit induced Sir
+Frederick to return. Looking back with defiant eyes she screamed out,
+"You! You with a faice! You do think yerself ---- ---- clever, don't
+yer?" The strange situation was only relieved by his bursting into a
+genuine fit of laughter.
+
+Among other celebrated men who were admired and revered was Mr. Harry
+Fenwick on the surgical side, for whom I had the honour of
+illustrating in colours his prize Jacksonian essay. Any talent for
+sketching, especially in colours, is of great value to the student of
+medicine. Once you have sketched a case from nature, with the object
+of showing the peculiarity of the abnormality, it remains permanently
+in your mind. Besides this, it forces you to note small differences;
+in other words, it teaches you to "obsairve." Thus, in the skin
+department I was sent to reproduce a case of anthrax of the neck, a
+rare disease in England, though all men handling raw hides are liable
+to contract it. The area had to be immediately excised; yet one never
+could forget the picture on one's mind. On another occasion a case of
+genuine leprosy was brought in, with all the dreadful signs of the
+disease. The macula rash was entirely unique so far as I knew, but a
+sketch greatly helped to fix it on one's memory. The poor patient
+proved to be one of the men who was handling the meat in London's
+greatest market at Smithfield. A tremendous hue and cry spread over
+London when somehow the news got into the paper, and vegetarianism
+received a temporary boost which in my opinion it still badly needs
+for the benefit of the popular welfare.
+
+Among the prophets of that day certainly should be numbered another of
+our teachers, Dr. Sutton, an author, and very much of a personality.
+For while being one of the consulting physicians of the largest of
+London hospitals, he was naturally scientific and strictly
+professional. He was very far, however, from being the conventionalist
+of those days, and the younger students used to look greatly askance
+at him. His message always was: "Drugs are very little use whatever.
+Nature is the source of healing. Give her a chance." Thus, a careful
+history would be read over to him; all the certain signs of typhoid
+would be noted--and his comment almost always was: "This case won't
+benefit by drugs. We will have the bed wheeled out into the sunshine."
+The next case would be acute lobar pneumonia and the same treatment
+would be adopted. "This patient needs air, gentlemen. We must wheel
+him out into the sunshine"--and so on. How near we are coming to his
+teaching in these days is already impressing itself upon our minds.
+Unfortunately the fact that the doctors realize that medicines are not
+so potent as our forbears thought has not left the public with the
+increased confidence in the profession which the infinitely more
+rational treatment of to-day justifies, and valuable time is wasted
+and fatal delays incurred, by a return of the more impressionable
+public to quacks with high-sounding titles, or to cults where faith is
+almost credulity.
+
+Truly one has lived through wonderful days in the history of the
+healing art. The first operations which I saw performed at our
+hospitals were before Lord Lister's teaching was practised; though
+even in my boyhood I remember getting leave to run up from Marlborough
+to London to see my brother, on whom Sir Joseph Lister had operated
+for osteomyelitis of the leg. Our most famous surgeon in 1880 was Sir
+Walter Rivington; and to-day there rises in memory the picture of him
+removing a leg at the thigh, clad in a blood-stained, black velvet
+coat, and without any attempt at or idea of asepsis. The main thing
+was speed, although the patient was under ether, and in quickly
+turning round the tip of the sword-like amputation knife, he made a
+gash in the patient's other leg. The whole thing seemed horrible
+enough to us students, but the surgeon smiled, saying, "Fortunately it
+is of no importance, gentlemen. The man will not live."
+
+The day came when every one worked under clouds of carbolic steam
+which fizzed and spouted from large brass boilers over everything; and
+then the time when every one was criticizing the new, young surgeon,
+Treves, who was daring to discard it, and getting as good results by
+scrupulous cleanliness. His aphorism was, "Gentlemen, the secret of
+surgery is the nailbrush." Now with blood examinations, germ cultures,
+sera tests, X-rays, and a hundred added improvements, one can say to a
+fisherman in far-off Labrador arriving on a mail steamer, and to whom
+every hour lost in the fishing season spells calamity, "Yes, brother,
+you can be operated on and the wound will be healed and you will be
+ready to go back by the next steamer, unless some utterly unforeseen
+circumstance arises."
+
+The fallibility of diagnosis was at this very impressionable time
+fixed upon my mind--a fact that has since served me in good stead. For
+what can be more reactionary in human life than the man who thinks he
+knows it all, whether it be in science, philosophy, or religion?
+
+During my Christmas vacation I was asked to go north and visit my
+father's brother, a well-known captain in Her Majesty's Navy, who was
+also an inventor in gun machinery and sighting apparatus, and who had
+been appointed the naval head of Lord Armstrong's great works at
+Yarrow-on-the-Tyne. All that I was told was that he had been taken
+with such severe pains in the back that he needed some one with him,
+and my new-fledged dignity of "walking the hospitals" was supposed to
+qualify me especially for the post. Already my uncle had seen many
+doctors in London and had been ordered to the Continent for rest.
+After some months, not a bit improved, he had again returned to
+London. This time the doctor told his wife that it was a mental
+trouble, and that he should be sent to an asylum. This she most
+indignantly denied, and yet desired my company as the only medical
+Grenfell, who at such a crisis could stay in the house without being
+looked upon as a warder or keeper. Meantime they had consulted Sir
+C.P., who had told my uncle that he had an aneurism of his aorta, and
+that he must be prepared to have it break and kill him any minute. His
+preparations were accordingly all made, and personally I fully
+anticipated that he would fall dead before I left. He put up a
+wonderful fight against excruciating pain, of which I was frequently a
+witness. But the days went by and nothing happened, so I returned to
+town and another young doctor took my place. He also got tired of
+waiting and suggested it might be some spinal trouble. He induced them
+once more to visit London and see Sir Victor Horsley, whose work on
+the brains of animals and men had marked an epoch in our knowledge of
+the central nervous system. Some new symptoms had now supervened, and
+the famous neurologist at once diagnosed a tumour in the spinal canal.
+Such a case had never previously been operated on successfully, but
+there was no alternative. The operation was brilliantly performed and
+a wonderful success obtained. The case was quoted in the next edition
+of our surgical textbooks.
+
+A little later my father's health began to fail in London, the worries
+and troubles of a clergyman's work among the poor creatures who were
+constantly passing under his care utterly overwhelming him. We had
+agreed that a long change of thought was necessary and he and I
+started for a fishing and sight-seeing tour in Norway. Our steamer was
+to sail from the Tyne, and we went up to Newcastle to catch it. There
+some evil fiend persuaded my father to go and consult a doctor about
+his illness, for Newcastle has produced some well-known names in
+medicine. Thus, while I waited at the hotel to start, my father became
+persuaded that he had some occult disease of the liver, and must
+remain in Newcastle for treatment. I, however, happened to be
+treasurer of the voyage, and for the first time asserting my
+professional powers, insisted that I was family physician for the
+time, and turned up in the evening with all our round-trip tickets and
+reservations taken and paid for. In the morning I had the trunks
+packed and conveyed aboard, and we sailed together for one of the most
+enjoyable holidays I ever spent. We travelled much afoot and in the
+little native carriages called "stolkjaerre," just jogging along,
+staying anywhere, fishing in streams, and living an open-air life
+which the increasing flood of tourists in after years have made much
+less possible. We both came back fitter in body and soul for our
+winter's work.
+
+My father's death a year later made a great difference to me, my
+mother removing to live with my grandmother at Hampstead, it being too
+lonely and not safe for her to live alone in East London. Twice our
+house had been broken into by burglars, though both times fruitlessly.
+The second occasion was in open daylight during the hour of evening
+service on a Sunday. Only a couple of maids would have been in the
+house had I not been suffering from two black eyes contracted during
+the Saturday's football game. Though I had accompanied the others out,
+decidedly my appearance might have led to misinterpretations in
+church, and I had returned unnoticed. The men escaped by some method
+which they had discovered of scaling a high fence, but I was close
+behind following them through the window by which they had entered.
+Shortly afterward I happened to be giving evidence at the Old Bailey
+on one of the many cases of assault and even murder where the victims
+were brought into hospital as patients. London was ringing with the
+tale of a barefaced murder at Murray Hill in North London, where an
+exceedingly clever piece of detective work, an old lantern discovered
+in a pawnbroker's shop in Whitechapel--miles away from the scene of
+the crime--was the means of bringing to trial four of the most
+rascally looking villains I ever saw. The trial preceded ours and we
+had to witness it. One of the gang had turned "Queen's evidence" to
+save his own neck. So great was the hatred of the others for him and
+the desire for revenge that even in the court they were hand-cuffed
+and in separate stands. Fresh from my own little fracas I learned what
+a fool I had been, for in this case also the deed was done in open
+daylight, and the lawn had tight wires stretched across it. The young
+son, giving chase as I did, had been tripped up and shot through his
+abdomen for his pains. He had, however, crawled back, made his will,
+and was subsequently only saved by a big operation. He looked in
+terrible shape when giving evidence at the trial.
+
+The giving of expert evidence on such occasions was the only
+opportunity which the young sawbones had of earning money. True we
+only got a guinea a day and expenses, but there were no other movie
+shows in those days, and we learned a lot about medical jurisprudence,
+a subject which always greatly interested me. It was no uncommon sight
+either at the "London" or the "Poplar," at both of which I did interne
+work, to see a policeman always sitting behind the screen at the foot
+of the patient's bed. One man, quite a nice fellow when not occupied
+in crime, had when furiously drunk killed his wife and cut his own
+throat. By the curious custom of society all the skill and money that
+the hospital could offer to save a most valuable life was as usual
+devoted to restoring this man to health. He was weaned slowly back
+from the grave by special nurses and treatment, till it began to dawn
+upon him that he might have to stand his trial. He would ask me if I
+thought he would have to undergo a long term, for he had not been
+conscious of what he was doing. As he grew better, and the policeman
+arrived to watch him, he decided that it would probably be quite a
+long time. He had a little place of his own somewhere, and he used to
+have chickens and other presents sent up to fellow patients, and would
+have done so to the nurses, only they could not receive them. I was
+not personally present at his trial, but I felt really sorry to hear
+that they hanged him.
+
+Many of these poor fellows were only prevented from ending their own
+lives by our using extreme care. The case of one wretched man, driven
+to desperation, I still remember. "Patient male; age forty-five;
+domestic trouble--fired revolver into his mouth. Finding no phenomena
+of interest develop, fired a second chamber into his right ear. Still
+no symptoms worthy of notice. Patient threw away pistol and walked to
+hospital." Both bullets had lodged in the thick parts of his skull,
+and doing no damage were left there. A subsequent note read: "Patient
+to-day tried to cut his throat with a dinner-knife which he had hidden
+in his bed. Patient met with no success." Another of my cases which
+interested me considerably was that of a professional burglar who had
+been operated upon in almost every part of the kingdom, and was
+inclined to be communicative, as the job which had brought him to
+hospital had cost him a broken spine. Very little hope was held out to
+him that he would ever walk again. He was clear of murder, for he
+said it was never his practice to carry firearms, being a nervous man
+and apt to use them if he had them and got alarmed when busy
+burglaring. He relied chiefly on his extraordinary agility and steady
+head to escape. His only yarn, however, was his last. He and a friend
+had been detailed by the gang to the job of plundering one of a row of
+houses. The plans of the house and of the enterprise were all in
+order, but some unexpected alarm was given and he fled upstairs,
+climbed through a skylight onto the roof, and ran along the gables of
+the tiles, not far ahead of the police, who were armed and firing at
+him. He could easily have gotten away, as he could run along the
+coping of the brick parapet without turning a hair, but he was brought
+up by a narrow side street on which he had not counted, not having
+anticipated, like cats, a battle on the tiles. It was only some twelve
+or fifteen feet across the gap, and the landing on the other side was
+a flat roof. Taking it all at a rush he cleared the street
+successfully, but the flat roof, black with ages of soot, proved to be
+a glass skylight, and he entered a house in a way new even to him. His
+falling on a stone floor many feet below accounted for his
+"unfortunate accident"! After many months in bed, the man took an
+unexpected turn, his back mended, and with only a slight leg paralysis
+he was able to return to the outside world. His long suffering and
+incarceration in hospital were accepted by the law as his punishment,
+and he assured me by all that he held sacred that he intended to
+retire into private life. Oddly enough, however, while on another
+case, I saw him again in the prisoner's dock and at once went over and
+spoke to him.
+
+"Drink this time, Doctor," he said. "I was down on my luck and the
+barkeeper went out and left his till open. I climbed over and got the
+cash, but there was so little space between the bar and the wall that
+with my stiff back I couldn't for the life of me get back. I was
+jammed like a stopper in a bottle."
+
+Among many interesting experiences, one especially I shall never
+forget. Like the others, it occurred during my service for Sir
+Frederick Treves as house-surgeon, and I believe he told the story. A
+very badly burned woman had been brought into hospital. Her dress had
+somehow got soaked in paraffin and had then taken fire. Her terribly
+extensive burns left no hope whatever of her recovery, and only the
+conventions of society kept us from giving the poor creature the
+relief of euthanasia, or some cup of laudanum negus. But the law was
+interested. A magistrate was brought to the bedside and the husband
+sent for. The nature of the evidence, the meaning of an oath, the
+importance of the poor creature acknowledging that her words were
+spoken "in hopeless fear of immediate death," were all duly impressed
+upon what remained of her mind. The police then brought in the savage,
+degraded-looking husband, and made him stand between two policemen at
+the foot of the bed, facing his mangled wife. The magistrate, after
+preliminary questions, asked her to make her dying statement as to how
+she came by her death. There was a terrible moment of silence. It
+seemed as if her spirit were no longer able to respond to the stimuli
+of life on earth. Then a sudden rebound appeared to take place, her
+eyes lit up with a flash of light, and even endeavouring to raise her
+piteous body, she said, "It was an accident, Judge. I upset the lamp
+myself, so help me God"; and just for one moment her eyes met those of
+her miserable husband. It was the last time she spoke.
+
+Tragedy and comedy ran hand in hand even in this work. St. Patrick's
+Day always made the hospital busy, just as Christmas was the season
+for burned children. Beer in an East London "pub" was generally served
+in pewter pots, as they were not easily broken. A common head injury
+was a circular scalp cut made by the heavy bottom rim, a wound which
+bled horribly. A woman was brought in on one St. Patrick's Day, her
+scalp turned forward over her face and her long hair a mass of clotted
+blood from such a stroke, made while she was on the ground. When the
+necessary readjustments had been made and she was leaving hospital
+cured, we asked her what had been the cause of the trouble. "'Twas
+just an accidint, yer know. Sure, me an' another loidy was just havin'
+a few words."
+
+On another occasion late at night, we were called out of bed by a
+cantankerous, half-drunken fellow whom the night porter could not
+pacify. "I'm a regular subscriber to this hospital, and I have never
+had my dues yet," he kept protesting. A new drug to produce immediate
+vomiting had just been put on the market, and as it was exactly the
+treatment he required, we gave him an injection. To our dismay, though
+the medicine is in common use to-day, either the poison which he had
+been drinking or the drug itself caused a collapse followed by head
+symptoms. He was admitted, his head shaved and icebags applied, with
+the result that next day he was quite well again. But when he left he
+had, instead of a superabundance of curly, auburn hair, a polished
+white knob oiled and shining like a State House at night. We debated
+whether his subscription would be as regular in future, though he
+professed to be profoundly grateful.
+
+I have digressed, but the intimacy which grew up between some of my
+patients and myself seemed worth while recounting, for they showed me
+what I never in any other way could have understood about the seamy
+side of life in great cities, of its terrible tragedies and pathos, of
+how much good there is in the worst, and how much need of courage, and
+what vast opportunities lie before those who accept the service of man
+as their service to God. It proved to me how infinitely more needed
+are unselfish deeds than orthodox words, and how much the churches
+must learn from the Labour Party, the Socialist Party, the
+Trades-Union, before tens of thousands of our fellow beings, with all
+their hopes and fears, loves and aspirations, have a fair chance to
+make good. I learned also to hate the liquor traffic with a loathing
+of my soul. I met peers of the realm honoured with titles because they
+had grown rich on the degradation of my friends. I saw lives damned,
+cruelties of every kind perpetrated, jails and hospitals filled,
+misery, want, starvation, murder, all caused by men who fattened off
+the profits and posed as gentlemen and great people. I have seen men's
+mouths closed whose business in life it was to speak out against this
+accursed trade. I have seen men driven from the profession of priests
+of God, making the Church a stench in the nostrils of men who knew
+values just as well as those trained in the universities do, all
+through alcohol, alcohol, alcohol. This awful war has been dragging
+its weary course for over four years now, and yet England has not
+tackled this curse which is throttling her. We sing "God save the
+King," and pretend to believe in the prayer, and yet we will not face
+this glaring demon in our midst. Words may clothe ideas, but it takes
+deeds to realize them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My parents having gone, it became necessary for me to find
+lodgings--which I did, "unfurnished," in the house of a Portuguese
+widow. Her husband, who had a good family name, had gone down in the
+world, and had disappeared with another "lady." The eldest son, a
+mathematical genius, had been able to pay his way through Cambridge
+University by the scholarships and prizes which he had won. One
+beautiful little dark-eyed daughter of seven was playing in a West End
+Theatre as the dormouse in "Alice in Wonderland." She was second
+fiddle to Alice herself, also, and could sing all her songs. Her pay
+was some five pounds a week, poor enough for the attraction she
+proved, but more than all the rest of the family put together earned.
+At that time I never went to theatres. Acquaintances had persuaded me
+that so many of the girls were ruined on the stage that for a man
+taking any interest in Christian work whatever, it was wrong to
+attend. Moreover, among my acquaintances there were not a few theatre
+fans, and I had nothing in common with them. The "dormouse," however,
+used to come up and say her parts for my benefit, and that of
+occasional friends, and was so modest and winsome, and her earnings so
+invaluable to the family, that I entirely altered my opinion. Then and
+there I came to the conclusion that the drama was an essential part of
+art, and that those who were trying to elevate and cleanse it, like
+Sir Henry Irving, whose son I had met at Marlborough, must have the
+support of a public who demanded clean plays and good conditions both
+in front and behind the screen. When I came to London my father had
+asked me not to go to anything but Shakespearian or equally
+well-recognized plays until I was twenty-one. Only once did I enter a
+music hall and I had plenty to satisfy me in a very few minutes.
+Vaudevilles are better than in those days. The censor does good work,
+but it is still the demand which creates the supply, and whatever
+improvement has occurred has been largely due to the taste of the
+patrons. Medical students need all the open air they can get in order
+to keep body and soul fit, and our contempt for the theatre fan was
+justifiable.
+
+My new lodgings being close to Victoria Park afforded the opportunity
+for training if one were unconventional. To practise throwing the
+sixteen-pound hammer requires rough ground and plenty of space, and as
+I was scheduled for that at the inter-hospital sports, it was
+necessary to work when not too many disinterested parties were around.
+Even an East-Ender's skull is not hammer-proof, as I had seen when a
+poor woman was brought into hospital with five circular holes in her
+head, the result of blows inflicted by her husband with a hammer. The
+only excuse which the ruffian offered for the murder was that she had
+forgotten to wake him, he had been late, and lost his job.
+
+A number of the boys in my class were learning to swim. There was only
+one bathing lake and once the waters were troubled we drew the line at
+going in to give lessons. So we used to meet at the gate at the hour
+of opening in the morning, and thus be going back before most folks
+were moving. Nor did we always wait for the park keeper, but often
+scaled the gates and so obtained an even more exclusive dip. Many an
+evening we would also "flannel," and train round and round the park,
+or Hackney Common, to improve one's wind before some big event. For
+diet at that time I used oatmeal, milk, and eggs, and very little or
+no meat. It was cheaper and seemed to give me more endurance; and the
+real value of money was dawning on me.
+
+Victoria Park is one of those open forums where every man with a sore
+spot goes out to air his grievance. On Sundays there were little
+groups around the trees where orators debated on everything from a
+patent medicine to the nature of God. Charles Bradlaugh and Mrs.
+Annie Besant were associated together in iconoclastic efforts against
+orthodox religion, and there was so much truth in some of their
+contentions that they were making no little disturbance. Hanging on
+their skirts were a whole crowd of ignorant, dogmatic atheists, who
+published a paper called "The Freethinker," which, while it was a
+villainous and contemptible rag, appealed to the passions and
+prejudices of the partially educated. To answer the specious arguments
+of their propaganda an association known as the Christian Evidence
+Society used to send out lecturers. One of them became quite famous
+for his clever arguments and answers, his ready wit, and really
+extensive reading. He was an Antiguan, a black man named Edwards, and
+had been a sailor before the mast. I met him at the parish house of an
+Episcopal clergyman of a near-by church, who, under the caption of
+Christian socialism, ran all kinds of social agencies that really
+found their way to the hearts of the people. His messages were so much
+more in deeds than in words that he greatly appealed to me, and I
+transferred my allegiance to his church, which was always well filled.
+I particularly remember among his efforts the weekly parish dance. My
+religious acquaintances were apt to class all such simple amusements
+in a sort of general category as "works of the Devil," and turn deaf
+ears to every invitation to point out any evil results, being
+satisfied with their own statement that it was the "thin edge of the
+wedge." This good man, however, was very obviously driving a wedge
+into the hearts of many of his poor neighbours who in those days found
+no opportunity for relief in innocent pleasures from the sordid round
+of life in the drab purlieus of Bethnal Green. This clergyman was a
+forerunner of his neighbour, the famous Samuel Barnett of Mile End,
+who thought out, started, and for many years presided over Toynbee
+House, the first big university settlement in East London. His workers
+preached their gospel through phrases and creeds which they accepted
+with mental reservations, but just exactly in such ways as they
+believed in absolutely. At first it used to send a shiver down my
+spine to find a church worker who didn't believe in the Creed, and
+stumbled over all our fundamentals. At first it amazed me that such
+men would pay their own expenses to live in a place like Whitechapel,
+only to work on drain committees, as delinquent landlord mentors, or
+just to give special educational chances to promising minds, or
+physical training to unfit bodies. Yet one saw in their efforts
+undeniable messages of real love. Personally I could only occasionally
+run up there to meet friends in residence or attend an art exhibition,
+but they taught me many lessons.
+
+Exactly opposite the hospital was Oxford House, only two minutes
+distant, which combined definite doctrinal religion with social work.
+Being an Oxford effort it had great attractions for me. Moreover,
+right alongside it in the middle of a disused sugar refinery I had
+hired the yard, converted it into a couple of lawn-tennis courts, and
+ran a small club. There I first met the famous Dr. Hensley Henson, now
+Bishop of Hereford, and also the present Bishop of London, Dr.
+Winnington-Ingram--a good all-round athlete. He used to visit in our
+wards, and as we had a couple of fives courts, a game which takes
+little tune and gives much exercise, we used to have an afternoon off
+together, once a week, when he came over to hospital. Neither of these
+splendid men were dignitaries in those days, or I am afraid they would
+have found us medicals much more stand-offish. I may as well admit
+that we had not then learned to have any respect for bishops or church
+magnates generally. We liked both of these men because they were
+unconventional and good sports, and especially in that they were not
+afraid to tackle the atheist's propaganda in the open. I have seen Dr.
+Henson in Whitechapel debating alone against a hall full of opponents
+and with a fairness and infinite restraint, convincing those open to
+reason that they were mistaken. Moreover, I have seen Dr. Ingram doing
+just the same thing standing on a stone in the open park. It may all
+sound very silly when one knows that by human minds, or to the human
+mind, the Infinite can never be demonstrated as a mathematical
+proposition. But the point was that these clergy were proving that
+they were real men--men who had courage as well as faith, who believed
+in themselves and their message, who deserved the living which they
+were supposed to make out of orthodoxy. This the audience knew was
+more than could be said of many of the opponents. Christ himself
+showed his superb manhood in just such speaking out.
+
+Indelibly impressed on my mind still is an occasion when one of the
+most blatant and vicious of these opponents of religion fell ill. A
+Salvation Army lass found him deserted and in poverty, nursed and
+looked after him and eventually made a new man of him.
+
+Far and away the most popular of the Park speakers was the Antiguan.
+His arguments were so clever it was obvious that he was well and
+widely read. His absolute understanding of the crowd and his witty
+repartee used frequently to cause his opponents to lose their tempers,
+and that was always their undoing. The crowd as a rule was very fair
+and could easily distinguish arguments from abuse. Thus, on one Sunday
+the debate was as to whether nature was God. The atheist
+representative was a very loud-voiced demagogue, who when angry
+betrayed his Hibernian origin very markedly. Having been completely
+worsted and the laugh turned against him by a clever correction of
+some one's, he used the few minutes given him to reply in violent
+abuse, ending up that "ladies and gentlemen did not come out on
+holidays to spend their time being taught English by a damned nigger."
+
+"Sir," Edwards answered from the crowd, "I am a British subject, born
+on the island of Antigua, and as much an Englishman as any Irishman in
+the country."
+
+Edwards possessed an inexhaustible stock of good-humour and his laugh
+could be heard halfway across the Park. As soon as his turn came to
+mount the stone, he got the crowd so good-natured that they became
+angry at the interruptions of the enemy, and when some one suggested
+that if nature were that man's God, the near-by duckpond was the
+natural place for him, there was a rush for him, and for several
+subsequent Sundays he was not in evidence. Edwards was a poor man, his
+small salary and incessant generosity left him nothing for holidays,
+and he was killing himself with overwork. So we asked him to join us
+in the new house which we were fitting up in Palestine Place. He most
+gladly did so and added enormously to our fun. Unfortunately
+tuberculosis long ago got its grip upon him, and removed a valuable
+life from East London.
+
+It was a queer little beehive in which we lived in those days, and a
+more cosmopolitan crowd could hardly have been found: one young doctor
+who has since made his name and fortune in Australia; another in whose
+rooms were nearly a hundred cups for prowess in nearly every form of
+athletics, and who also has "made good" in professional life, besides
+several others who for shorter or longer periods were allotted rooms
+in our house. Among the more unusual was the "C.M.," a Brahmin from
+India, a priest in his youth, who had been brought back to England by
+some society to be educated in medical missionary work, but whom for
+some reason they had dropped. For a short time a clever young Russian
+of Hebrew extraction who was studying for the Church helped to render
+our common-room social engagements almost international affairs.
+
+As I write this I am at Charleston, South Carolina, and I see how hard
+it will be for an American to understand the possibility of such a
+motley assembly being reasonable or even proper. It seems to me down
+here that there must have been odd feelings sometimes in those days. I
+can only say, however, that I never personally even thought of it.
+East London is so democratic that one's standards are simply those of
+the value of the man's soul as we saw it. If he had been yellow with
+pink stripes it honestly would not have mattered one iota to most of
+us.
+
+It so happened that there was at that time in hospital under my care a
+patient known as "the elephant man." He had been starring under that
+title in a cheap vaudeville, had been seen by some of the students,
+and invited over to be shown to and studied by our best physicians.
+The poor fellow was really exceedingly sensitive about his most
+extraordinary appearance. The disease was called "leontiasis," and
+consisted of an enormous over-development of bone and skin on one
+side. His head and face were so deformed as really to resemble a big
+animal's head with a trunk. My arms would not reach around his hat. A
+special room in a yard was allotted to him, and several famous people
+came to see him--among them Queen Alexandra, then the Princess of
+Wales, who afterward sent him an autographed photograph of herself.
+He kept it in his room, which was known as the "elephant house," and
+it always suggested beauty and the beast. Only at night could the man
+venture out of doors, and it was no unusual thing in the dusk of
+nightfall to meet him walking up and down in the little courtyard. He
+used to talk freely of how he would look in a huge bottle of
+alcohol--an end to which in his imagination he was fated to come. He
+was of a very cheerful disposition and pathetically proud of his left
+side which was normal. Very suddenly one day he died--the reason
+assigned being that his head fell forward and choked him, being too
+heavy for him to lift up.
+
+In 1886 I passed my examinations and duly became a member of the
+College of Physicians and of the Royal College of Surgeons of England;
+and sought some field for change and rest, where also I could use my
+newly acquired license to my own, if to no one else's, benefit. Among
+the patients who came to the London Hospital, there were now and again
+fishermen from the large fishing fleets of the North Sea. They lived
+out, as it were, on floating villages, sending their fish to market
+every day by fast cutters. Every two or three months, as their turn
+came round, a vessel would leave for the home port on the east coast,
+being permitted, or supposed to be permitted, a day at home for each
+full week at sea. As the fleets kept the sea summer and winter and the
+boats were small, not averaging over sixty tons, it was a hazardous
+calling. The North Sea is nowhere deeper than thirty fathoms, much of
+it being under twenty, and in some places only five. Indeed, it is a
+recently sunken and still sinking portion of Europe, so much so that
+the coasts on both sides are constantly receding, and when Heligoland
+was handed over by the English to the Kaiser, it was said that he
+would have to keep jacking it up or soon there would be none left.
+Shallow waters exposed to the fierce gales which sweep the German
+Ocean make deep and dangerous seas, which readily break and wash the
+decks of craft with low freeboard, such as the North Sea vessels are
+obliged to have in order to get boats in and out to ferry their fish
+to the cutter.
+
+There being no skilled aid at hand, the quickest way to get help used
+to be to send an injured man to market with the fish. Often it was a
+long journey of many days, simple fractures became compound, and limbs
+and faculties were often thus lost. It so happened that Sir Frederick
+Treves had himself a love for navigating in small sailing craft. He
+had made it a practice to cross the English Channel to Calais in a
+sailing lugger every Boxing Day--that is, the day after Christmas. He
+was especially interested in those "that go down to the sea in ships"
+and had recently made a trip among the fishing fleets. He told me that
+a small body of men, interested in the religious and social welfare of
+the deep-sea fishermen, had chartered a small fishing smack, sent her
+out among the fishermen to hold religious services of a simple,
+unconventional type, in order to afford the men an alternative to the
+grog vessels when fishing was slack, and to carry first aid, the
+skipper of the vessel being taught ambulance work. They wanted,
+however, very much to get a young doctor to go out, who cared also for
+the spiritual side of the work, to see if they could use the
+additional attraction of proper medical aid to gain the men's
+sympathies. His advice to me was to go and have a look at it. "If you
+go in January you will see some fine seascapes, anyhow. Don't go in
+summer when all of the old ladies go for a rest."
+
+I therefore applied to go out the following January, and that fall,
+while working near the Great London docks, I used often to look at
+the tall East Indiamen, thinking that I soon should be aboard just
+such a vessel in the North Sea. It was dark and raining when my train
+ran into Yarmouth, and a dripping, stout fisherman in a blue uniform
+met me at that then unattractive and ill-lighted terminus. He had
+brought a forlorn "growler" or four-wheeled cab. Climbing in we drove
+a mile or more along a deserted road, and drew up at last apparently
+at the back of beyond.
+
+"Where is the ship?" I asked.
+
+"Why, those are her topmasts," replied my guide, pointing to two posts
+projecting from the sand. "The tide is low and she is hidden by the
+quay."
+
+"Heavens!" I thought; "she's no tea clipper, anyhow."
+
+I climbed up the bank and peered down in the darkness at the hull of a
+small craft, a little larger than our old Roysterer. She was just
+discernible by the dim rays of the anchor light. I was hesitating as
+to whether I shouldn't drive back to Yarmouth and return to London
+when a cheery voice on deck called out a hearty welcome. What big
+things hang on a smile and a cheery word no man can ever say. But it
+broke the spell this time and I had my cabby unload my bags on the
+bank and bade him good-night. As his wheels rumbled away into the rain
+and dark, I felt that my cables were cut beyond recall. Too late to
+save me, the cheery voice shouted, "Mind the rigging, it's just tarred
+and greased." I was already sliding down and sticking to it as I went.
+Small as the vessel was she was absolutely spotless. Her steward, who
+cooked for all hands, was smart and in a snow-white suit. The contrast
+between-decks and that above was very comforting, though my quarters
+were small. The crew were all stocky, good-humoured, and independent.
+Democratic as East London had made me, they impressed me very
+favourably, and I began to look forward to the venture with real
+pleasure.
+
+Drink was the worst enemy of these men. The quaysides of the
+fisherman's quarters teemed with low saloons. Wages were even paid off
+in them or their annexes, and grog vessels, luring the men aboard with
+cheap tobacco and low literature, plied their nefarious calling with
+the fleets, and were the death, body and soul, of many of these fine
+specimens of manhood.
+
+There was never any question as to the real object of the Mission to
+Deep-Sea Fishermen. The words "Heal the sick" carved in large letters
+adorned the starboard bow. "Preach the Word" was on the port, and
+around the brass rim of the wheel ran the legend, "Jesus said, Follow
+me and I will make you fishers of men." Thirty years ago we were more
+conventional than to-day, and I was much surprised to learn from our
+skipper that we were bound to Ostend to ship four tons of tobacco,
+sent over from England for us in bond, as he might not take it out
+consigned to the high seas. In Belgium, however, no duty was paid. The
+only trouble was that our vessel, to help pay its expenses, carried
+fishing gear, and as a fishing vessel could not get a clearance in
+Belgium. Our nets and beams, therefore, had to go out to the fishing
+grounds in a friendly trawler while we passed as a mercantile marine
+during the time we took on our cargo.
+
+So bitter was the cold that in the harbour we got frozen in and were
+able to skate up the canals. We had eventually to get a steamer to go
+around us and smash our ice bonds when we were again ready for sea.
+During the next two months we saw no land except Heligoland and
+Terschelling--or Skilling, as the fishermen called it--far away in
+the offing. Nor was our deck once clear of ice and snow during all the
+time.
+
+Our duty was to visit as many fleets as we could, and arrange with
+some reliable vessel to take a stock of tobacco for the use of their
+special fleet. The ship was to carry about six feet of blue bunting on
+her foretopmast stay, a couple of fathoms above her bowsprit end, so
+that all the fleet might know her. She was to sell the tobacco at a
+fixed price that just covered the cost, and undersold the "coper" by
+fifty per cent. She was to hoist her flag for business every morning,
+while the small boats were out boarding fish on the carrier, and was
+to lie as far to leeward of the coper as possible so that the men
+could not go to both. Nineteen such floating depots were eventually
+arranged for, with the precaution that if any one of them had to
+return to port, he should bring no tobacco home, but hand over his
+stock and accounts to a reliable friend.
+
+These deep-sea fisheries were a revelation to me, and every hour of
+the long trip I enjoyed. It was amazing to me to find over twenty
+thousand men and boys afloat--the merriest, cheerfullest lot which I
+had ever met. They were hail-fellow-well-met with every one, and never
+thought of deprivation or danger. Clothing, food, customs, were all
+subordinated to utility. They were the nearest possible thing to a
+community of big boys, only needing a leader. In efficiency and for
+their daring resourcefulness in physical difficulties and dangers,
+they were absolutely in a class by themselves, embodying all the
+traits of character which make men love to read the stories of the
+buccaneers and other seamen of the sixteenth-century period.
+
+Each fleet had its admiral and vice-admiral, appointed partly by the
+owner, and partly by the skippers of the vessels. The devil-may-care
+spirit was always a great factor with the men. The admiral directed
+operations by flags in the daytime and by rockets at night, thus
+indicating what the fleet was to do and where they were to fish.
+Generally he had the fastest boat, and the cutters, hunting for the
+fleet always lay just astern of the admiral, the morning after their
+arrival. Hundreds of men would come for letters, packages, to load
+fish, to get the news of what their last assignment fetched in market.
+Moreover, a kind of Parliament was held aboard to consider policies
+and hear complaints.
+
+At first it was a great surprise to me how these men knew where they
+were, for we never saw anything but sky and sea, and not even the
+admirals carried a chronometer or could work out a longitude; and only
+a small percentage of the skippers could read or write. They all,
+however, carried a sextant and could by rule of thumb find a latitude
+roughly. But that was only done at a pinch. The armed lead was the
+fisherman's friend. It was a heavy lead with a cup on the bottom
+filled fresh each time with sticky grease. When used, the depth was
+always called out by the watch, and the kind of sand, mud, or rock
+which stuck to the grease shown to the skipper. "Fifteen fathoms and
+coffee grounds--must be on the tail end of the Dogger. Put her a bit
+more to the westward, boy," he would remark, and think no more about
+it, though he might have been three or four days looking for his
+fleet, and not spoken to a soul since he left land. I remember one
+skipper used to have the lead brought down below, and he could tell by
+the grit between his teeth after a couple of soundings which way to
+steer. It sounds strange even now, but it was so universal, being just
+second-nature to the men, who from boyhood had lived on the sea, that
+we soon ceased to marvel at it. Skippers were only just being obliged
+to have certificates. These they obtained by _viva voce_ examinations.
+You would sometimes hear an aspiring student, a great black-bearded
+pirate over forty-seven inches around the chest, and possibly the
+father of eight or ten children, as he stamped about in his watch
+keeping warm, repeating the courses--"East end of the Dogger to Horn
+S.E. by E. 1/2 and W. point of the island [Heligoland] to Barkum S. 1/2 W.
+Ower Light to Hazebrough N.N.W."--and so on. Their memories were not
+burdened by a vast range of facts, but in these things they were the
+nearest imaginable to Blind Tom, the famous slave musician.
+
+Our long round only occupied us about a month, and after that we
+settled down with the fleet known as the Great Northerners. Others
+were the Short Blues, the Rashers (because they were streaked like a
+piece of bacon), the Columbia, the Red Cross, and so on. Sometimes
+during the night while we were fishing into the west, a hundred sail
+or more of vessels, we would pass through another big fleet coming the
+other way, and some of our long trawls and warps would tangle with
+theirs. Beyond the beautiful spectacle of the myriads of lights
+bobbing up and down often enough on mighty rough seas--for it needed
+good breezes to haul our trawls--would be the rockets and flares of
+the entangled boats, and often enough also rockets and flares from
+friends, and from cutters. One soon became so friendly with the men
+that one would not return at night to the ship, but visit around and
+rejoin the Mission ship boarding fish next day, to see patients coming
+for aid. Though it was strictly against sea rules for skippers to be
+off their vessels all night, that was a rule, like all others on the
+North Sea, as often marked in the breach as in the observance. A
+goodly company would get together yarning and often singing and
+playing games until it was time to haul the trawl and light enough to
+find their own vessel and signal for the boat.
+
+The relation of my new friends to religion was a very characteristic
+one. Whatever they did, they did hard. Thus one of the admirals, being
+a thirsty soul, and the grog vessels having been adrift for a longer
+while than he fancied, conceived the fine idea of holding up the
+Heligoland saloons. So one bright morning he "hove his fleet to" under
+the lee of the island and a number of boats went ashore, presumably to
+sell fish. Altogether they landed some five hundred men, who held up
+the few saloons for two or three days. As a result subsequently only
+one crew selling fish to the island was allowed ashore at one time.
+The very gamble of their occupation made them do things hard. Thus it
+was a dangerous task to throw out a small boat in half a gale of wind,
+fill her up with heavy boxes of fish, and send her to put these over
+the rail of a steamer wallowing in the trough of a mountainous sea.
+
+But it was on these very days when less fish was sent to market that
+the best prices were realized, and so there were always a number of
+dare-devils, who did not care if lives were lost so long as good
+prices were obtained and their record stood high on the weekly list of
+sales which was forwarded to both owners and men. I have known as many
+as fourteen men upset in one morning out of these boats; and the
+annual loss of some three hundred and fifty men was mostly from this
+cause. Conditions were subsequently improved by the Board of Trade,
+who made it manslaughter against the skipper if any man was drowned
+boarding fish, unless the admiral had shown his flags to give the
+fleet permission to do so. In those days, however, I often saw twenty
+to thirty boats all tied up alongside the cutter at one time, the
+heavy seas every now and again rolling the cutter's sail right under
+water, and when she righted again it might come up under the keels of
+some of the boats and tip them upside down. Thus any one in them was
+caught like a mouse under a trap or knocked to pieces trying to swim
+among the rushing, tossing boats.
+
+As a rule we hauled at midnight, and it was always a fresh source of
+wonder, for the trawl was catholic in its embrace and brought up
+anything that came in its way. To emphasize how comparatively recently
+the Channel had been dry land, many teeth and tusks of mammoths who
+used to roam its now buried forests were given up to the trawls by the
+ever-shifting sands. Old wreckage of every description, ancient
+crockery, and even a water-logged, old square-rigger that must have
+sunk years before were brought one day as far as the surface by the
+stout wire warp. After the loss of a large steamer called the Elbe
+many of the passengers who had been drowned were hauled up in this
+way; and on one occasion great excitement was caused in Hull by a
+fisher lad from that port being picked up with his hands tied behind
+his back and a heavy weight on his feet. The defence was that the boy
+had died, and was thus buried to save breaking the voyage--supported
+by the fact that another vessel had also picked up the boy and thrown
+him overboard again for the same reason. But those who were a bit
+superstitious thought otherwise, and more especially as cruelty to
+these boys was not unknown.
+
+These lads were apprenticed to the fishery masters largely from
+industrial or reformatory schools, had no relations to look after
+them, and often no doubt gave the limit of trouble and irritation. On
+the whole, however, the system worked well, and a most excellent class
+of capable seamen was developed. At times, however, they were badly
+exploited. During their apprenticeship years they were not entitled to
+pay, only to pocket money, and yet sometimes the whole crew including
+the skipper were apprentices and under twenty-one years of age. Even
+after that they were fitted for no other calling but to follow the
+sea, and had to accept the master's terms. There were no fishermen's
+unions, and the men being very largely illiterate were often left
+victims of a peonage system in spite of the Truck Acts. The master of
+a vessel has to keep discipline, especially in a fleet, and the best
+of boys have faults and need punishing while on land. These skippers
+themselves were brought up in a rough school, and those who fell
+victims to drink and made the acquaintance of the remedial measures of
+our penal system of that day were only further brutalized by it.
+Religion scarcely touched the majority; for their brief periods of
+leave ashore were not unnaturally spent in having a good time. To
+those poisoned by the villainous beverages sold on the sordid grog
+vessels no excess was too great. Owners were in sympathy with the
+Mission in trying to oust the coper, because their property, in the
+form of fish, nets, stores, and even sails, were sometimes bartered on
+the high seas for liquor. On one occasion during a drunken quarrel in
+the coper's cabin one skipper threw the kerosene lamp over another
+lying intoxicated on the floor. His heavy wool jersey soaked in
+kerosene caught fire. He rushed for the deck, and then, a dancing mass
+of flames, leaped overboard and disappeared.
+
+Occasionally skippers devised punishments with a view to remedying the
+defects of character. Thus one lad, who through carelessness had on
+more than one occasion cooked the "duff" for dinner badly, was made to
+take his cinders on deck when it was his time to turn in, and go
+forward to the fore-rigging. Then he had to take one cinder, go up to
+the cross-tree, and throw it over into the sea, come down the opposite
+rigging and repeat the act until he had emptied his scuttle. Another
+who had failed to clean the cabin properly had one night, instead of
+going to bed, to take a bucketful of sea water and empty it with a
+teaspoon into another, and so to and fro until morning. On one
+occasion a poor boy was put under the ballast deck, that is, the cabin
+floor, and forgotten. He was subsequently found dead, drowned in the
+bilge water. It was easy to hide the results of cruelty, for being
+washed overboard was by no means an uncommon way of disappearing from
+vessels with low freeboards in the shallow water of the North Sea.
+
+A very practical outcome in the mission work was the organization of
+the Fisher Lads' Letter-Writing Association. The members accepted so
+many names of orphan lads at sea and pledged themselves to write
+regularly to them. Also, if possible, they were to look them up when
+they returned to land, and indeed do for them much as the War Camp
+Community League members are to-day trying to accomplish for our
+soldiers and sailors. As every practical exposition of love must, it
+met with a very real response, and brought, moreover, new interests
+and joys into many selfish lives.
+
+I remember one lady whose whole care in life had been her own health.
+She had nursed it, and worried over it, and enjoyed ill health so
+long, that only the constant recourse to the most refined stimulants
+postponed the end which would have been a merciful relief--to others.
+The effort of letter-writing remade her. Doctors were forgotten,
+stimulants were tabooed, the insignia of invalidism banished, and to
+my intense surprise I ran across her at a fishing port surrounded by a
+bevy of blue-jerseyed lads, who were some of those whom she was being
+blessed by helping.
+
+The best of efforts, however, sometimes "gang aft agley." One day I
+received a letter, evidently written in great consternation, from an
+elderly spinster of singularly aristocratic connections and an
+irreproachableness of life which was almost painful. The name sent to
+her by one of our skippers as a correspondent who needed help and
+encouragement was one of those which would be characterized as
+common--let us say John Jones. By some perverse fate the wrong ship
+was given as an address, and the skipper of it happened to have
+exactly the same name. It appeared that lack of experience in just
+such work had made her letter possibly more affectionate than she
+would have wished for under the circumstances which developed. For in
+writing to me she enclosed a ferocious letter from a lady of
+Billingsgate threatening, not death, but mutilation, if she continued
+making overtures to "her John."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+NORTH SEA WORK
+
+
+I have dwelt at length upon the experiences of the North Sea, because
+trivial as they appear on the surface, they concern the biggest
+problem of human life--the belief that man is not of the earth, but
+only a temporary sojourner upon it. This belief, that he is destined
+to go on living elsewhere, makes a vast difference to one's estimate
+of values. Life becomes a school instead of a mere stage, the object
+of which is that our capacities for usefulness should develop through
+using them until we reach graduation. What life gives to us can only
+be of permanent importance as it develops our souls, thus enabling us
+to give more back to it, and leaves us better prepared for any
+opportunities than may lie beyond this world. The most valuable asset
+for this assumption is love for the people among whom one lives.
+
+The best teachers in life are far from being those who know most, or
+who think themselves wisest. Show me a schoolmaster who does not love
+his boys and you show me one who is of no use. Our faith in our
+sonship of God is immensely strengthened by the puzzling fact that
+even God cannot force goodness into us, His sons, because we share His
+nature.
+
+These convictions, anyhow, were the mental assets with which I had to
+begin work, and no others. A scientific training had impressed upon me
+that big and little are very relative terms; that one piece of work
+becomes unexpectedly permanent and big, while that which appears to be
+great, but is merely diffuse, will be temporary and ineffective.
+Experience has taught me that one human life has its limits of direct
+impetus, but that its most lasting value is its indirect influence.
+The greatest Life ever lived was no smaller for being in a carpenter's
+shop, and largely spent among a few ignorant fishermen. The Scarabee
+had a valid _apologia pro vita sua_ in spite of Dr. Holmes. Tolstoy on
+his farm, Milton without his sight, Bunyan in his prison, Pasteur in
+his laboratory, all did great things for the world.
+
+There is so much that is manly about the lives of those who follow the
+sea, so much less artificiality than in many other callings, and with
+our fishermen so many fewer of what we call loosely "chances in life,"
+that to sympathize with them was easy--and sympathy is a long step
+toward love. Life at sea also gives time and opportunity for really
+knowing a man. It breaks down conventional barriers, and indeed almost
+compels fellowship and thus an intelligent understanding of the
+difficulties and tragedies of the soul of our neighbour. That rare
+faculty of imagination which is the inspiration of all great lovers of
+men is not alone indispensable. Hand in hand with this inevitably goes
+the vision of one's own opportunity to help and not to hinder others,
+even though it be through the unattractive medium of the collection
+box--for that gives satisfaction only in proportion to the sacrifice
+which we make.
+
+In plain words the field of work offered me was attractive. It seemed
+to promise me the most remunerative returns for my abilities, or, to
+put it in another way, it aroused my ambitions sufficiently to make me
+believe that my special capacities and training could be used to make
+new men as well as new bodies. Any idea of sacrifice was balanced by
+the fact that I never cared very much for the frills of life so long
+as the necessities were forthcoming.
+
+The attention that Harold Begbie's book "Twice-Born Men" received, was
+to me later in life a source of surprise. One forgets that the various
+religions and sects which aimed at the healing of men's souls have
+concerned themselves more with intellectual creeds than material,
+Christ-like ends. At first it was not so. Paul rejoiced that he was a
+new man. There can be no question but that the Gospels show us truly
+that the change in Christ's first followers was from men, the slaves
+of every ordinary human passion, into men who were self-mastered--that
+Christ taught by what he was and did rather than by insistence on
+creeds and words. It has been seeing these changes in men's lives, not
+only in their surroundings, though those improve immediately, that
+reconcile one to our environment, and has induced me to live a
+life-time in the wilds.
+
+Another movement that was just starting at this time also interested
+me considerably. A number of keen young men from Oxford and Cambridge,
+having experienced the dangers that beset boys from big English public
+schools who enter the universities without any definite help as to
+their attitude toward the spiritual relationships of life, got
+together to discuss the question. They recognized that the formation
+of the Boys' Brigade in our conservative social life only touched the
+youth of the poorer classes. Like our English Y.M.C.A., it was not
+then aristocratic enough for gentlemen. They saw, however, that
+athletic attainments carried great weight, and that all outdoor
+accomplishments had a strong attraction for boys from every class.
+Thus it happened that an organization called the Public School Camps
+came into being. Its ideal was the uplift of character, and the
+movement has grown with immense strides on both sides of the
+Atlantic.
+
+An integral part of my summer holidays during these years was spent as
+medical officer at one of these camps. For many reasons it was wise in
+England to run them on military lines, for besides the added dignity,
+it insured the ability to maintain order and discipline. Some
+well-known commandant was chosen who was a soldier also in the good
+fight of faith. Special sites were selected, generally on the grounds
+of some big country seat which were loaned by the interested lord of
+the manor, and every kind of outdoor attraction was provided which
+could be secured. Besides organized competitive games, there was
+usually a yacht, good bathing, always a gymkhana, and numerous
+expeditions and "hikes." Not a moment was left unoccupied. All of the
+work of the camp was done by the boys, who served in turn on orderly
+duty. The officers were always, if possible, prominent athletes, to
+whom the boys could look up as being capable in physical as well as
+spiritual fields. There was a brief address each night before "taps"
+in the big marquee used for mess; and one night was always a straight
+talk on the problems of sex by the medical officers, whom the boys
+were advised to consult in their perplexities. These camps were among
+the happiest memories of my life, and many of the men to-day
+gratefully acknowledge that the camps were the turning-point of their
+whole lives. The secret was unconventionality and absolute naturalness
+with no "shibboleths." The boys were allowed to be boys absolutely in
+an atmosphere of sincere if not omniscient fervour. On one occasion
+when breaking up camp, a curly-headed young rascal in my tent, being
+late on the last morning--unknown to any one--went to the train in his
+pajamas, hidden only by his raincoat. At a small wayside station over
+a hundred miles from London, whither he was bound, leaving his coat in
+the carriage, he ventured into the refreshment stall of the
+waiting-room. Unfortunately, however, he came out only to find his
+train departed and himself in his nightclothes on the platform without
+a penny, a ticket, or a friend. Eluding the authorities he reached the
+huge Liverpool terminus by night to find a faithful friend waiting on
+the platform for him with the sorely needed overgarment.
+
+No one was ever ashamed to be a Christian, or of what Christ was, or
+what he did and stood for. However, to ignore the fact that the mere
+word "missionary" aroused suspicion in the average English
+unconventional mind--such as those of these clean, natural-minded
+boys--would be a great mistake. Unquestionably, as in the case of
+Dickens, a missionary was unpractical if not hypocritical, and mildly
+incompetent if not secretly vicious. I found myself always fighting
+against the idea that I was termed a missionary. The men I loved and
+admired, especially such men as those on our athletic teams, felt
+really strongly about it. Henry Martyn--as a scholar--was a hero to
+those who read of him, though few did. Moreover, who does not love
+Charles Kingsley? Even as boys, we want to be "a man," though Kingsley
+was a "Parson Lot." It always seemed that a missionary was naturally
+discounted until he had proved his right to be received as an ordinary
+being. Once after being the guest of a bank president, he told me that
+my stay was followed by that of their bishop, who was a person of
+great importance. When the bishop had gone, he asked his two boys one
+day. "Well, which do you like best, the bishop or the doctor?" "Ach,"
+was the reply, "the bishop can't stand on his head." On another
+occasion during a visit--while lecturing on behalf of the
+fishermen--and doing my usual evening physical drill in my bedroom,
+by a great mischance I missed a straight-arm-balance on a chair, fell
+over, and nearly brought the chandelier of the drawing-room down on
+the heads of some guests. That a so-called "missionary" should be so
+worldly as to wish to keep his body fit seemed so unusual that I heard
+of that trifle a hundred times.
+
+The Church of Christ that is coming will be interested in the forces
+that make for peace and righteousness in this world rather than in
+academic theories as to how to get rewards in another. That will be a
+real stimulus to fitness and capacity all round instead of a dope for
+failures. It is that element in missions to-day, such as the
+up-to-date work of the Rockefeller Institute and other medical
+missions in China and India, which alone holds the respect of the mass
+of the people. The value of going out merely to make men of different
+races think as we think is being proportionately discounted with the
+increase of education.
+
+Our North Sea work grew apace. Vessel after vessel was added to the
+fleet. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, became interested, and besides
+subscribing personally toward the first hospital boat, permitted it to
+be named in her honour. According to custom the builders had a
+beautiful little model made which Her Majesty agreed to accept. It was
+decided that it should be presented to her in Buckingham Palace by the
+two senior mission captains.
+
+The journey to them was a far more serious undertaking than a winter
+voyage on the Dogger Bank. However, arrayed in smart blue suits and
+new guernseys and polished to the last degree, they set out on the
+eventful expedition. On their return every one was as anxious to know
+"how the voyage had turned out" as if they had been exploring new
+fishing grounds around the North Cape in the White Sea. "Nothing to
+complain of, boys, till just as we had her in the wind's eye to shoot
+the gear," said the senior skipper. "A big swell in knee-breeches
+opened the door and called out our names, when I was brought up all
+standing, for I saw that the peak halliard was fast on the port side.
+The blame thing was too small for me to shift over, so I had to leave
+it. But, believe me, she never said a word about it. That's what I
+call something of a lady."
+
+At this time we had begun two new ventures, an institute at Yarmouth
+for fishermen ashore and a dispensary vessel to be sent out each
+spring among the thousands of Scotch, Manx, Irish, and French
+fishermen, who carried on the herring and mackerel fishery off the
+south and west coast of Ireland.
+
+The south Irish spring fishery is wonderfully interesting. Herring and
+mackerel are in huge shoals anywhere from five to forty miles off the
+land, and the vessels run in and out each day bringing back the catch
+of the night. Each vessel shoots out about two miles of net, while
+some French ones will shoot out five miles. Thus the aggregate of nets
+used would with ease stretch from Ireland to New York and back. Yet
+the undaunted herring return year after year to the disastrous
+rendezvous. The vessels come from all parts. Many are the large
+tan-sailed luggers from the Scottish coasts, their sails and hulls
+marked "B.F." for Banff, "M.E." for Montrose, "C.N." for Campbelltown,
+etc. With these come the plucky little Ulster boats from Belfast and
+Larne, Loch Swilly and Loch Foyle; and not a few of the hereditary
+seafaring men from Cornwall, Devon, and Dorset. Others also come from
+Falmouth, Penzance, and Exmouth. Besides these are the Irish
+boats--few enough, alas, for Paddy is not a sailor. A good priest had
+tried to induce his people to share this rich harvest by starting a
+fishery school for boys at Baltimore, where net-making and every other
+branch of the industry was taught. It was to little purpose, for I
+have met men hungry on the west coast, who were trying to live on
+potato-raising on that bog land who were graduates of Father D.'s
+school.
+
+There was one year when we ourselves were trying out the trawling in
+Clew Bay and Blacksod, and getting marvellous catches; so much so that
+I remember one small trawler from Grimsby on the east coast of England
+making two thousand dollars in two days' work, while the Countess of
+Z. fund was distributing charity to the poverty-stricken men who lived
+around the bay itself. The Government of Ireland also made serious
+efforts to make its people take up the fishery business. About one
+million dollars obtained out of the escheated funds of the Church of
+England in Ireland, when that organization was disestablished by Mr.
+Gladstone, was used as a loan fund which was available for fishermen,
+resident six months, at two per cent interest. They were permitted to
+purchase their own boat and gear for the fishery out of the money thus
+provided.
+
+While we lay in Durham Harbour at the entrance to Waterford Harbour,
+we met many Cornishmen who were temporarily resident there, having
+come over from Cornwall to qualify for borrowing the money to get
+boats and outfit. During one week in which we were working from that
+port, there were so many saints' days on which the Irish crews would
+not go out fishing, but were having good times on the land, that the
+skippers, who were Cornishmen, had to form a crew out of their own
+numbers and take one of their boats to sea.
+
+One day we had landed on the Arran Islands, and I was hunting ferns in
+the rock crevices, for owing to the warmth of the Gulf current the
+growth is luxuriant. On the top of the cliffs about three hundred feet
+high, I fell in with two Irishmen smoking their pipes and sprawling on
+the edge of the precipice. The water below was very deep and they were
+fishing. I had the fun of seeing dangling codfish hauled leisurely up
+all that long distance, and if one fell off on the passage, it was
+amusing to note the absolute insouciance of the fishermen, who assured
+me that there were plenty more in the sea.
+
+It has always been a puzzle to me why so few tourists and yachtsmen
+visit the south and west coast of Ireland. Its marvellous wild, rock
+scenery, its exquisite bays,--no other words describe them,--its
+emerald verdure, and its interesting and hospitable people have given
+me, during the spring fishing seasons that I spent on that coast, some
+of the happiest memories of my life. On the contrary, most of the
+yachts hang around the Solent, and the piers of Ryde, Cowes, and
+Southampton, instead of the magnificent coast from Queenstown to
+Donegal Cliffs, and from there all along West Scotland to the
+Hebrides.
+
+About this time our work established a dispensary and social centre at
+Crookhaven, just inside the Fastnet Lighthouse, and another in Tralee
+on the Kerry coast, north of Cape Clear. Gatherings for worship and
+singing were also held on Sundays on the boats, for on that day
+neither Scotch, Manx, nor English went fishing. The men loved the
+music, the singing of hymns, and the conversational addresses. Many
+would take some part in the service, and my memories of those
+gatherings are still very pleasant ones.
+
+On this wild coast calls for help frequently came from the poor
+settlers as well as from the seafarers. A summons coming in one day
+from the Fastnet Light, we rowed out in a small boat to that lovely
+rock in the Atlantic. A heavy sea, however, making landing impossible,
+we caught hold of a buoy, anchored off from the rock, and then rowing
+in almost to the surf, caught a line from the high overhanging crane.
+A few moments later one was picked out of the tumbling, tossing boat
+like a winkle out of a shell, by a noose at the end of a line from a
+crane a hundred and fifty feet above, swung perpendicularly up into
+the air, and then round and into a trap-door in the side of the
+lighthouse. On leaving one was swung out again in the same fashion,
+and dangled over the tumbling boat until caught and pulled in by the
+oarsmen.
+
+Another day we rowed out nine miles in an Irish craft to visit the
+Skerry Islands, famous for the old Beehive Monastery, and the
+countless nests of gannets and other large sea-birds. The cliffs rise
+to a great height almost precipitously, and the ceaseless thunder of
+the Atlantic swell jealously guards any landing. There being no davit
+or crane, we had just to fling ourselves into the sea, and climb up as
+best we could, carrying a line to haul up our clothing from the boat
+and other apparatus after landing, while the oarsmen kept her outside
+the surf. To hold on to the slippery rock we needed but little
+clothing, anyhow, for it was a slow matter, and the clinging power of
+one's bare toes was essential. The innumerable gannets sitting on
+their nests gave the island the appearance of a snowdrift; and we soon
+had all the eggs that we needed lowered by a line. But some of the
+gulls, of whose eggs we wanted specimens also, built so cleverly onto
+the actual faces of the cliffs, that we had to adopt the old plan of
+hanging over the edge and raising the eggs on the back of one's foot,
+which is an exploit not devoid of excitement. The chief difficulty
+was, however, with one of our number, who literally stuck on the top,
+being unable to descend, at least in a way compatible with comfort or
+safety. The upshot was that he had to be blindfolded and helped.
+
+One of our Council, being connected at this time with the Irish
+Poor-Relief Board and greatly interested in the Government efforts to
+relieve distress in Ireland, arranged that we should make a voyage
+around the entire island in one of our vessels, trying the trawling
+grounds everywhere, and also the local markets available for making
+our catch remunerative. There has been considerable activity in these
+waters of late years, but it was practically pioneer work in those
+days, the fishery being almost entirely composed of drift nets and
+long lines. It was supposed that the water was too deep and the bottom
+too uneven and rocky to make trawling possible. We had only a sailing
+vessel of about sixty tons, and the old heavy beam trawl, for the
+other trawl and steam fishing boats were then quite in their infancy.
+The quantity and variety of victims that came to our net were
+prodigious, and the cruise has remained as a dream in my memory,
+combined as it was with so many chances of helping out one of the most
+interesting and amiable--if not educated--peoples in the world. It
+happened to be a year of potato scarcity; as one friend pointed out,
+there was a surplus of Murphys in the kitchen and a scarcity of
+Murphys in the cellar--"Murphys" being another name for that vegetable
+which is so large a factor in Irish economic life. As mentioned
+before, a fund, called the Countess of Z.'s fund, had been established
+to relieve the consequent distress, and while we were fishing in Black
+Sod Bay, the natives around the shore were accepting all that they
+could secure. Yet one steam trawler cleared four hundred pounds
+within a week; and our own fine catches, taken in so short a while,
+made it seem a veritable fishermen's paradise for us, who were
+accustomed to toil over the long combers and stormy banks of the North
+Sea. The variety of fish taken alone made the voyage of absorbing
+interest, numbering cod, haddock, ling, hake, turbot, soles, plaice,
+halibut, whiting, crayfish, shark, dog-fish, and many quaint monsters
+unmarketable then, but perfectly edible. Among those taken in was the
+big angler fish, which lives at the bottom with his enormous mouth
+open, dangling an attractive-looking bait formed by a long rod growing
+out from his nose, which lures small victims into the cavern, whence,
+as he possesses row upon row of spiky teeth which providentially point
+down his throat, there is seldom any returning.
+
+Among the many memories of that coast which gave me a vision of the
+land question as it affected the people in those days, one in
+particular has always remained with me. We had made a big catch in a
+certain bay, a perfectly beautiful inlet. To see if the local
+fishermen could find a market within reach of these fishing grounds,
+with one of the crew, and the fish packed in boxes, we sailed up the
+inlet to the market town of Bell Mullet. Being Saturday, we found a
+market day in progress, and buyers, who, encouraged by one of the new
+Government light railways, were able to purchase our fish. That
+evening, however, when halfway home, a squall suddenly struck our own
+lightened boat, which was rigged with one large lugsail, and capsized
+her. By swimming and manoeuvring the boat, we made land on the low,
+muddy flats. No house was in sight, and it was not until long after
+dark that we two shivering masses of mud reached an isolated cabin in
+the middle of a patch of the redeemed ground right in the centre of a
+large bog. A miserably clad woman greeted us with a warm Irish
+welcome. The house had only one room and accommodated the live-stock
+as well as the family. A fine cow stood in one corner; a donkey tied
+to the foot of the bed was patiently looking down into the face of the
+baby. Father was in England harvesting. A couple of pigs lay under the
+bed, and the floor space was still further encroached upon by a goodly
+number of chickens, which were encouraged by the warmth of the peat
+fire. They not only thought it their duty to emphasize our welcome,
+but--misled by the firelight--were saluting the still far-off dawn.
+The resultant emotions which we experienced during the night led us to
+suggest that we might assist toward the erection of a cattle pen.
+Before leaving, however, we were told, "Shure t' rint would be raised
+in the fall," if such signs of prosperity as farm buildings greeted
+the land agent's arrival.
+
+The mouth of Loch Foyle, one of the most beautiful bays in Ireland,
+gave us a fine return in fish. Especially I remember the magnificent
+turbot which we took off the wild shore between the frowning basalt
+cliffs of the Giant's Causeway, and the rough headlands of Loch
+Swilly. We sold our fish in the historic town of Londonderry, where we
+saw the old gun Mons Meg, which once so successfully roared for King
+William, still in its place on the old battlements. By a packet
+steamer plying to Glasgow, we despatched some of the catch to that
+greedy market. At Loch Foyle there is a good expanse of sandy and mud
+bottom which nurses quite a harvest of the sea, though--oddly
+enough--close by off Rathlin Island is the only water over one hundred
+fathoms deep until the Atlantic Basin is reached. The Irish Sea like
+the North Sea is all shallow water. Crossing to the Isle of Man, we
+delayed there only a short while, for those grounds are well known to
+the Fleetwood trawlers, who supply so much fish to the dense
+population of North Central England. We found little opportunity of
+trawling off the west of Scotland, the ocean's bottom being in no way
+suited to it. On reaching the Western Hebrides, however, we were once
+more among many old friends. From Stornaway on the Isle of Lewis alone
+some nine hundred drifters were pursuing the retreating armies of
+herring.
+
+The German hordes have taught us to think of life in large numbers,
+but were the herring to elect a Kaiser, he would dominate in reality
+an absolutely indestructible host. For hundreds of years fishermen of
+all countries have without cessation been pursuing these friends of
+mankind. For centuries these inexhaustible hordes have followed their
+long pathways of the sea, swimming by some strange instinct always
+more or less over the same courses--ever with their tireless enemies,
+both in and out of the water, hot foot on their tracks. Sharks,
+dog-fish, wolf-fish, cod, and every fish large enough to swallow them,
+gulls, divers, auks, and almost every bird of the air, to say nothing
+of the nets set now from steam-propelled ships, might well threaten
+their speedy extermination. This is especially true when we remember
+that even their eggs are preyed upon in almost incalculable bulk as
+soon as they are deposited. But phoenix-like they continue to reappear
+in such vast quantities that they are still the cheapest food on the
+market. Such huge numbers are caught at one time that they have now
+and again to be used for fertilizer, or dumped overboard into the sea.
+The great bay of Stornaway Harbour was so deeply covered in oil from
+the fish while we lay there, that the sailing boats raced to and fro
+before fine breezes and yet the wind could not even ripple the
+surface of the sea, as if at last millennial conditions had
+materialized. Many times we saw nets which had caught such quantities
+of fish at once that they had sunk to the bottom. They were only
+rescued with great difficulty, and then the fish were so swollen by
+being drowned in the net that it took hours of hard work and delay to
+shake their now distended bodies out again.
+
+The opportunities for both holding simple religious services and
+rendering medical help from our dispensary were numerous, and we
+thought sufficiently needed to call for some sort of permanent effort;
+so later the Society established a small mission room in the harbour.
+
+Alcohol has always been a menace to Scotch life, though their
+fishermen were singularly free from rioting and drunkenness. Indeed,
+their home-born piety was continually a protest to the indulgence of
+the mixed crowd which at that time followed King Henry. Scores of
+times have I seen a humble crew of poor fishermen, who themselves
+owned their small craft, observing the Sunday as if they were in their
+homes, while the skippers of large vessels belonging to others fished
+all the week round at the beck of their absent owners, thinking they
+made more money in that way.
+
+In 1891 the present Lord Southborough, then Mr. Francis Hopwood, and a
+member of the Mission Board, returned from a visit to Canada and
+Newfoundland. He brought before the Council the opportunities for
+service among the fishermen of the northwest Atlantic, and the
+suggestion was handed on to me in the form of a query. Would I
+consider crossing the Atlantic in one of our small sailing vessels,
+and make an inquiry into the problem?
+
+Some of my older friends have thought that my decision to go was made
+under strong religious excitement, and in response to some deep-seated
+conviction that material sacrifices or physical discomforts commended
+one to God. I must, however, disclaim all such lofty motives. I have
+always believed that the Good Samaritan went across the road to the
+wounded man just because he wanted to. I do not believe that he felt
+any sacrifice or fear in the matter. If he did, I know very well that
+I did not. On the contrary, there is everything about such a venture
+to attract my type of mind, and making preparations for the long
+voyage was an unmitigated delight.
+
+The boat which I selected was ketch-rigged--much like a yawl, but more
+comfortable for lying-to in heavy weather, the sail area being more
+evenly distributed. Her freeboard being only three feet, we replaced
+her wooden hatches, which were too large for handling patients, by
+iron ones; and also sheathed her forward along the water-line with
+greenheart to protect her planking in ice. For running in high seas we
+put a large square sail forward, tripping the yard along the foremast,
+much like a spinnaker boom. Having a screw steering gear which took
+two men to handle quickly enough when she yawed and threatened to jibe
+in a big swell, it proved very useful.
+
+It was not until the spring of 1892 that we were ready to start. We
+had secured a master with a certificate, for though I was myself a
+master mariner, and my mate had been in charge of our vessel in the
+North Sea for many years, we had neither of us been across the
+Atlantic before. The skipper was a Cornishman, Trevize by name, and a
+martinet on discipline--an entirely new experience to a crew of North
+Sea fishermen. He was so particular about everything being just so
+that quite a few days were lost in starting, though well spent as far
+as preparedness went. Nothing was wanting when at last, in the second
+week of June, the tugboat let us go, and crowds of friends waved us
+good-bye from the pier-head as we passed out with our bunting
+standing. We had not intended to touch land again until it should rise
+out of the western horizon, but off the south coast of Ireland we met
+with heavy seas and head winds, so we ran into Crookhaven to visit our
+colleagues who worked at that station. Our old patients in that lonely
+corner were almost as interested as ourselves in the new venture, and
+many were the good eggs and "meals of greens" which they brought down
+to the ship as parting tokens. Indeed, we shrewdly guessed that our
+"dry" principles alone robbed us of more than "one drop o' potheen"
+whose birth the light of the moon had witnessed.
+
+As we were not fortunate in encountering fair winds, it was not until
+the twelfth day that we saw our first iceberg, almost running into it
+in a heavy fog. The fall in the temperature of the sea surface had
+warned us that we were in the cold current, and three or four days of
+dense fog emphasized the fact. As it was midsummer, we felt the change
+keenly, when suddenly on the seventeenth day the fog lifted, and a
+high evergreen-crowned coast-line greeted our delighted eyes. A lofty
+lighthouse on a rocky headland enabled us almost immediately to
+discover our exact position. We were just a little north of St. John's
+Harbour, which, being my first landfall across the Atlantic, impressed
+me as a really marvellous feat; but what was our surprise as we
+approached the high cliffs which guard the entrance to see dense
+columns of smoke arising, and to feel the offshore wind grow hotter
+and hotter as the pilot tug towed us between the headlands. For the
+third time in its history the city of St. John's was in flames.
+
+The heat was fierce when we at last anchored, and had the height of
+the blaze not passed, we should certainly have been glad to seek again
+the cool of our icy friends outside. Some ships had even been burned
+at their anchors. We could count thirteen fiercely raging fires in
+various parts of the city, which looked like one vast funeral pyre.
+Only the brick chimneys of the houses remained standing blackened and
+charred. Smoke and occasional flame would burst out here and there as
+the fickle eddies of wind, influenced, no doubt, by the heat, whirled
+around as if in sport over the scene of man's discomfitures. On the
+hillside stood a solitary house almost untouched, which, had there
+been any reason for its being held sacred, might well have served as a
+demonstration of Heaven's special intervention in its behalf. As it
+was, it seemed to mock the still smouldering wreck of the beautiful
+stone cathedral just beside it. Among the ruins in this valley of
+desolation little groups of men darted hither and thither, resembling
+from the harbour nothing so much as tiny black imps gloating over a
+congenial environment. I hope never again to see the sight that might
+well have suggested Gehenna to a less active imagination than Dante's.
+
+Huts had been erected in open places to shelter the homeless; long
+queues of hungry human beings defiled before temporary booths which
+served out soup and other rations. Every nook and corner of house-room
+left was crowded to overflowing with derelict persons and their
+belongings. The roads to the country, like those now in the environs
+of the towns in northern France, were dotted with exiles and belated
+vehicles, hauling in every direction the remnants of household goods.
+The feeling as of a rudely disturbed antheap dominated one's mind, and
+yet, in spite of it all, the hospitality and welcome which we as
+strangers received was as wonderful as if we had been a relief ship
+laden with supplies to replace the immense amount destroyed in the
+ships and stores of the city. Moreover, the cheerfulness of the town
+was amazing. Scarcely a "peep" or "squeal" did we hear, and not a
+single diatribe against the authorities. Every one had suffered
+together. Nor was it due to any one's fault. True, the town
+water-supply had been temporarily out of commission, some stranger was
+said to have been smoking in the hay loft, Providence had not
+specially intervened to save property, and hence this result. Thus to
+our relief it was a city of hope, not of despair, and to our amazement
+they were able to show most kindly interest in problems such as ours
+which seemed so remote at the moment. None of us will ever forget
+their kindness, from the Governor Sir Terence O'Brien, and the Prime
+Minister, Sir William Whiteway, to the humblest stevedore on the
+wharves.
+
+I had expected to spend the greater part of our time cruising among
+the fishing schooners out of sight of land on the big Banks as we did
+in the North Sea; but I was advised that owing to fog and isolation,
+each vessel working separately and bringing its own catch to market,
+it would be a much more profitable outlay of time, if we were to
+follow the large fleet of over one hundred schooners, with some thirty
+thousand fishermen, women, and children which had just sailed North
+for summer work along the coast of Labrador. To better aid us the
+Government provided a pilot free of expense, and their splendid
+Superintendent of Fisheries, Mr. Adolph Nielsen, also accepted the
+invitation to accompany us, to make our experiment more exhaustive and
+valuable by a special scientific inquiry into the habits and manner of
+the fish as well as of the fishermen. Naturally a good deal of delay
+had occurred owing to the unusual congestion of business which needed
+immediate attention and the unfortunate temporary lack of facilities;
+but we got under way at last, and sailing "down North" some four
+hundred miles and well outside the land, eventually ran in on a
+parallel and made the Labrador coast on the 4th of August.
+
+The exhilarating memory of that day is one which will die only when we
+do. A glorious sun shone over an oily ocean of cerulean blue, over a
+hundred towering icebergs of every fantastic shape, and flashing all
+of the colours of the rainbow from their gleaming pinnacles as they
+rolled on the long and lazy swell. Birds familiar and strange left the
+dense shoals of rippling fish, over which great flocks were hovering
+and quarrelling in noisy enjoyment, to wave us welcome as they swept
+in joyous circles overhead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE LURE OF THE LABRADOR
+
+
+Twenty years have passed away since that day, and a thousand more
+important affairs which have occurred in the meantime have faded from
+my memory; but still its events stand out clear and sharp. The large
+and lofty island, its top covered with green verdure, so wonderful a
+landmark from the sea, its peaks capped with the fleecy mist of early
+morning, rose in a setting of the purest azure blue. For the first
+time I saw the faces of its ruddy cliffs, their ledges picked out with
+the homes of myriad birds. Its feet were bathed in the dark, rich
+green of the Atlantic water, edged by the line of pure white breakers,
+where the gigantic swell lazily hurled immeasurable mountains of water
+against its titanic bastions, evoking peals of sound like thunder from
+its cavernous recesses--a very riot of magnificence. The great schools
+of whales, noisily slapping the calm surface of the sea with their
+huge tails as in an _abandon_ of joy, dived and rose, and at times
+threw the whole of their mighty carcasses right out of water for a
+bath in the glorious morning sunshine. The shoals of fish everywhere
+breaching the water, and the silver streaks which flashed beneath our
+bows as we lazed along, suggested that the whole vast ocean was too
+small to hold its riches.
+
+When we realized that practically no man had ever lived there, and few
+had even seen it, it seemed to overwhelm us, coming as we did from the
+crowded Island of our birth, where notices not to trespass haunted
+even the dreams of the average man.
+
+A serried rank of range upon range of hills, reaching north and south
+as far as the eye could see from the masthead, was rising above our
+horizon behind a very surfeit of islands, bewildering the minds of men
+accustomed to our English and North Sea coast-lines.
+
+In a ship just the size of the famous Matthew, we had gone west,
+following almost the exact footsteps of the great John Cabot when just
+four hundred years before he had fared forth on his famous venture of
+discovery. We seemed now almost able to share the exhilaration which
+only such experiences can afford the human soul, and the vast
+potential resources for the blessing of humanity of this great land
+still practically untouched.
+
+At last we came to anchor among many schooners in a wonderful natural
+harbour called Domino Run, so named because the Northern fleets all
+pass through it on their way North and South. Had we been painted
+scarlet, and flown the Black Jack instead of the Red Ensign, we could
+not have attracted more attention. Flags of greeting were run up to
+all mastheads, and boats from all sides were soon aboard inquiring
+into the strange phenomenon. Our object explained, we soon had calls
+for a doctor, and it has been the experience of almost every visitor
+to the coast from that day to this that he is expected to have a
+knowledge of medicine.
+
+   [Illustration: Cape Uivuk
+   THE LABRADOR COAST]
+
+   [Illustration: The Tickle Anchorage
+   THE LABRADOR COAST]
+
+One impression made on my mind that day undoubtedly influenced all my
+subsequent actions. Late in the evening, when the rush of visitors was
+largely over, I noticed a miserable bunch of boards, serving as a
+boat, with only a dab of tar along its seams, lying motionless a
+little way from us. In it, sitting silent, was a half-clad,
+brown-haired, brown-faced figure. After long hesitation, during which
+time I had been watching him from the rail, he suddenly asked:
+
+"Be you a real doctor?"
+
+"That's what I call myself," I replied.
+
+"Us hasn't got no money," he fenced, "but there's a very sick man
+ashore, if so be you'd come and see him."
+
+A little later he led me to a tiny sod-covered hovel, compared with
+which the Irish cabins were palaces. It had one window of odd
+fragments of glass. The floor was of pebbles from the beach; the earth
+walls were damp and chilly. There were half a dozen rude wooden bunks
+built in tiers around the single room, and a group of some six
+neglected children, frightened by our arrival, were huddled together
+in one corner. A very sick man was coughing his soul out in the
+darkness of a lower bunk, while a pitiably covered woman gave him cold
+water to sip out of a spoon. There was no furniture except a small
+stove with an iron pipe leading through a hole in the roof.
+
+My heart sank as I thought of the little I could do for the sufferer
+in such surroundings. He had pneumonia, a high fever, and was probably
+tubercular. The thought of our attractive little hospital on board at
+once rose to my mind; but how could one sail away with this husband
+and father, probably never to bring him back. Advice, medicine, a few
+packages of food were only temporizing. The poor mother could never
+nurse him and tend the family. Furthermore, their earning season,
+"while the fish were in," was slipping away. To pray for the man, and
+with the family, was easy, but scarcely satisfying. A hospital and a
+trained nurse was the only chance for this bread-winner--and neither
+was available.
+
+I called in a couple of months later as we came South before the
+approach of winter. Snow was already on the ground. The man was dead
+and buried; there was no provision whatever for the family, who were
+destitute, except for the hollow mockery of a widow's grant of twenty
+dollars a year. This, moreover, had to be taken up in goods at a truck
+store, less debts _if_ she owed any.
+
+Among the nine hundred patients that still show on the records of that
+long-ago voyage, some stand out more than others for their peculiar
+pathos and their utter helplessness. I shall never forget one poor
+Eskimo. In firing a cannon to salute the arrival of the Moravian
+Mission ship, the gun exploded prematurely, blowing off both the man's
+arms below the elbows. He had been lying on his back for a fortnight,
+the pathetic stumps covered only with far from sterile rags dipped in
+cold water. We remained some days, and did all we could for his
+benefit; but he too joined the great host that is forever "going
+west," for want of what the world fails to give them.
+
+It is not given to every member of our profession to enjoy the
+knowledge that he alone stands between the helpless and suffering or
+death, for in civilization modern amenities have almost annihilated
+space and time, and the sensations of the Yankee at the Court of King
+Arthur are destroyed by the realization of competitors, "just as
+good," even if it often does leave one conscious of limitations. The
+successful removal of a molar which has given torture for weeks in a
+dentistless country, gains one as much gratitude as the amputation of
+a limb. One mere boy came to me with necrosis of one side of his lower
+jaw due to nothing but neglected toothache. It had to be dug out from
+the new covering of bone which had grown up all around it. The
+whimsical expression of his lop-sided face still haunts me.
+
+Deformities went untreated. The crippled and blind halted through
+life, victims of what "the blessed Lord saw best for them." The
+torture of an ingrowing toe-nail, which could be relieved in a few
+minutes, had incapacitated one poor father for years. Tuberculosis and
+rickets carried on their evil work unchecked. Preventable poverty was
+the efficient handmaid of these two latter diseases.
+
+There was also much social work to be done in connection with the
+medical. Education in every one of its branches--especially public
+health--was almost nonexistent--as were many simple social amenities
+which might have been so easily induced.
+
+At one village a woman with five children asked us if we could marry
+her to her husband. They had never been together when a parson
+happened along, and they now lived in a lonely cove three miles away.
+This seemed a genuine case of distress; and as it happened a parson
+was taking a passage with us, we sent two of our crew over in a boat
+to round up the groom. Apparently he was not at all anxious, but being
+a very small man and she a large woman, he discreetly acquiesced. The
+wedding was held on board our ship, every one entering into the spirit
+of the unusual occasion. The main hold was crammed with guests, bells
+were rung and flags flown, guns fired, and at night distress rockets
+were sent up. We kept in touch with the happy couple for years, till
+once more they moved away to try their luck elsewhere.
+
+Obviously the coast offered us work that would not be done unless we
+did it. Here was real need along any line on which one could labour,
+in a section of our own Empire, where the people embodied all our best
+sea traditions. They exhibited many of the attractive characteristics
+which, even when buried beneath habits and customs the outcome of
+their environment, always endear men of the sea to the genuine
+Anglo-Saxon. They were uncomplaining, optimistic, splendidly
+resourceful, cheerful and generous--and after all in one sense soap
+and water only makes the outside of the platter clean.
+
+I confess that we had greatly enjoyed the adventure _qua_ adventure.
+Mysterious fjords which wound out of sight into the fastnesses of
+unknown mountains, and which were entirely uncharted, fairly shouted
+an invitation to enter and discover what was round the next corner.
+Islands by the hundred, hitherto never placed on any map, challenged
+one's hydrographic skill. Families of strange birds, which came
+swinging seaward as the season advanced, suggested a virgin field for
+hunting. Berries and flowering plants, as excellent as they were
+unfamiliar, appealed for exploration. Great boulders perched on
+perilous peaks, torn and twisted strata, with here and there raised
+beaches, and great outcrops of black trap-rock piercing through red
+granite cliffs in giant vertical seams--all piqued one's curiosity to
+know the geology of this unknown land. Some stone arrow-heads and
+knives, brought to me by a fisherman, together with the memories that
+the Norse Vikings and their competitors on the scroll of discovery
+made their first landfall on this the nearest section of the American
+coast to Europe, excited one's curiosity to know more of these shores.
+The dense growth of evergreen trees abounding in every river valley,
+and the exquisite streams with trout and salmon and seals attracted
+one whose familiarity with sport and forests was inseparably connected
+with notices to trespassers.
+
+It only wanted an adventure such as we had one day while sailing up a
+fjord on a prosaic professional call, when we upset our cutter and had
+to camp for the night, to give spice to our other experiences, and
+made us wish to return another year, better equipped, and with a more
+competent staff.
+
+I am far from being the only person from the outside world who has
+experienced what Wallace describes as "the Lure of the Labrador." It
+was a genuine surprise to me one morning to find ice on deck--a scale
+of sparkling crystals most beautifully picking out the water-line of
+our little craft. It was only then that I realized that October had
+come. The days, so full of incident, had passed away like ships in the
+night. Whither away was the question? We could not stay even though we
+felt the urgent call to remain. So "Heigho for the southward bar" and
+a visit to St. John's to try and arouse interest in the new-discovered
+problems, before we should once more let go our stern lines and be
+bowling homeward before the fall nor'westers to dear old England.
+
+Home-going craft had generously carried our story before us to the
+city of St. John's. The Board of Trade commended our effort. The
+papers had written of the new phenomenon; the politicians had not
+refrained from commendation. His Excellency the Governor made our path
+plain by calling a meeting in Government House, where the following
+resolution was passed:
+
+"That this meeting, representing the principal merchants and traders
+carrying on the fisheries, especially on the Labrador coast, and
+others interested in the welfare of this colony, desires to tender its
+warmest thanks to the directors of the Deep-Sea Mission for sending
+their hospital ship Albert to visit the settlement on the Labrador
+coast.
+
+"Much of our fishing industry is carried on in regions beyond the
+ordinary reach of medical aid, or of charity, and it is with the
+deepest sense of gratitude that this meeting learns of the amount of
+medical and surgical work done....
+
+"This meeting also desires to express the hope that the directors may
+see their way to continue the work thus begun, and should they do so,
+they may be assured of the earnest cooperation of all classes of this
+community."
+
+When at last we said good-bye on our homeward voyage, our cabins were
+loaded with generous souvenirs for the journey, and no king on his
+throne was happier than every man of the crew of the good ship Albert.
+
+Our report to the Council in London, followed by the resolution sent
+by the Newfoundland Committee, induced the Society to repeat the
+experiment on a larger scale the following spring. Thus, with two
+young doctors, Elliott Curwen of Cambridge and Arthur Bobardt from
+Australia, and two nurses, Miss Cawardine and Miss Williams, we again
+set out the following June.
+
+The voyage was uneventful except that I was nearly left behind in
+mid-Atlantic. While playing cricket on deck our last ball went over
+the side, and I after it, shouting to the helmsman to tack back. This
+he did, but I failed to cut him off the first time, as he got a bit
+rattled. However, we rescued the ball.
+
+We had chosen two islands two hundred miles apart for cottage
+hospitals, one at Battle Harbour, on the north side of the entrance of
+the St. Lawrence (Straits of Belle Isle), and the other at Indian
+Harbour, out in the Atlantic at the mouth of the great Hamilton Inlet.
+Both places were the centres of large fisheries, and were the
+"bring-ups" for numberless schooners of the Labrador fleet on their
+way North and South. The first, a building already half finished, was
+donated by a local fishery firm by the name of Baine, Johnston and
+Company. This was quickly made habitable, and patients were admitted
+under Dr. Bobardt's care. The second building, assembled at St.
+John's, was shipped by the donors, who were the owners of the Indian
+Harbour fishery, Job Brothers and Company. Owing to difficulties in
+landing, this building was not completed and ready for use until the
+following year, so Dr. Curwen took charge of the hospital ship Albert,
+and I cruised as far north as Okkak (lat. 57 deg.) in the Princess May, a
+midget steam launch, eight feet wide, with a cook and an engineer. As
+there was no coal obtainable in the North, we used wood, and her
+fire-box being small the amount of cutting entailed left a permanent
+impression on our biceps.
+
+A friend from Ireland had presented this little boat, which I found
+lying up on the Chester Race-Course, near our home on the Sands of
+Dee. We had repaired her and steamed her through the canal into the
+Mersey, where, somewhat to our humiliation, she had been slung up onto
+the deck of an Allan liner for her trans-Atlantic passage, as if she
+were nothing but an extra hand satchel. Nor was our pride restored
+when on her arrival it was found that her funnel was missing among the
+general baggage in the hold. We had to wait in St. John's for a new
+one before starting on our trip North. The close of the voyage proved
+a fitting corollary. In crossing the Straits of Belle Isle, the last
+boat to leave the Labrador, we ran short of fuel, and had to burn our
+cabin-top to make the French shore, having also lost our compass
+overboard. Here we delayed repairing and refitting so long that the
+authorities in St. John's became alarmed and despatched their mail
+steamer in search of us. I still remember my astonishment, when, on
+boarding the steamer, the lively skipper, a very tender-hearted father
+of a family, threw both arms around me with a mighty hug and
+exclaimed, "Thank God, we all thought you were gone. A schooner picked
+up your flagpole at sea." Poor fellow, he was a fine Christian seaman,
+but only a year or two later he perished with his large steamer while
+I still rove this rugged coast.
+
+That summer we visited the stations of the Moravian Brethren, who were
+kindness personified to us. Their stations, five in number, dated back
+over a hundred and thirty years, yet they had never had a doctor among
+them. It would scarcely be modest for me to protest that they were the
+worse off for that circumstance. Each station was well armed with
+homoeopathic pills, and at least those do no harm; while one old
+German house-father had really performed with complete success
+craniotomy and delivery of a child _en morcellement_, in the case of a
+colleague's wife. During our stay they gave us plenty of work among
+their Eskimos, and were good enough to report most favourably of our
+work to their home Committee.
+
+As there was no chart of any use for the coast north of Hopedale, few
+if any corrections having been made in the topographic efforts of the
+long late Captain Cook, of around-the-world reputation, one of the
+Brethren, Mr. Christopher Schmidt, joined the Princess May to help me
+find their northern stations among the plethora of islands which
+fringe the coast in that vicinity. Never in my life had I expected any
+journey half so wonderful. We travelled through endless calm fjords,
+runs, tickles, bays, and straits without ever seeing the open sea, and
+with hardly a ripple on the surface. We passed high mountains and
+lofty cliffs, crossed the mouths of large rivers, left groves of
+spruce and fir and larches on both sides of us, and saw endless birds,
+among them the Canada goose, eider duck, surf scoters, and many
+commoner sea-fowl. As it was both impossible and dangerous to proceed
+after dark, when no longer able to run we would go ashore and gather
+specimens of the abundant and beautiful sub-arctic flora, and
+occasionally capture a bird or a dish of trout to help out our
+diminutive larder.
+
+   [Illustration: ESKIMO WOMAN AND BABY]
+
+   [Illustration: ESKIMO MAN]
+
+Among the Eskimos I found a great deal of tuberculosis and much eye
+trouble. Around the Moravian Mission stations wooden houses had
+largely replaced the former "tubiks," or skin tents, which were moved
+as occasion required and so provided for sanitation. These wooden huts
+were undrained, dark and dirty to a remarkable degree. No water supply
+was provided, and the spaces between the houses were simply
+indescribable garbage heaps, presided over by innumerable dogs. The
+average life was very short and infant mortality high. The best for
+which we could hope in the way of morals among these people was that a
+natural unmorality was some offset to the existing conditions. The
+features of the native life which appealed most to us were the
+universal optimism, the laughing good-nature and contentment, and the
+Sunday cleanliness of the entire congregation which swarmed into the
+chapel service, a welcome respite from the perennial dirt of the week
+days. Moreover, nearly all had been taught to read and write in
+Eskimo, though there is no literature in that language to read, except
+such books as have been translated by the Moravian Brethren. At that
+time a strict policy of teaching no English had been adopted. Words
+lacking in the language, like "God," "love," etc., were substituted by
+German words. Nearly every Eskimo counted "ein, zwei, drei." In one of
+my lectures, on returning to England, I mentioned that as the Eskimos
+had never seen a lamb or a sheep either alive or in a picture, the
+Moravians, in order to offer them an intelligible and appealing
+simile, had most wisely substituted the kotik, or white seal, for the
+phrase "the Lamb of God." One old lady in my audience must have felt
+that the good Brethren were tampering unjustifiably with Holy Writ,
+for the following summer, from the barrels of clothing sent out to
+the Labrador, was extracted a dirty, distorted, and much-mangled and
+wholly sorry-looking woolly toy lamb. Its _raison d'etre_ was a
+mystery until we read the legend carefully pinned to one dislocated
+leg, "Sent in order that the heathen may know better."
+
+Their love for music and ability to do part-playing and singing also
+greatly impressed us, and we spent many evenings enjoying their brass
+bands and their Easter and Christmas carols. We made some records of
+these on our Edison phonograph, and they were overpowered with joy
+when they heard their own voices coming back to them from the machine.
+The magic lantern also proved exceedingly popular, and several tried
+to touch the pictures and see if they could not hold them. We were
+also able to show some hastily made lantern slides of themselves, and
+I shall never forget their joyful excitement. The following season, in
+giving them some lantern views, we chanced to show a slide of an old
+Eskimo woman who had died during the winter. The subsequent commotion
+caused among the "little people" was unintelligible to us until one of
+the Moravian Brethren explained that they thought her spirit had taken
+visible form and returned to her own haunts.
+
+I happened to be in the gardens at Nain when a northerly air made it
+feel chilly and the thermometer stood only a little above freezing. A
+troop of Eskimo women came out to cover up the potatoes. Every row of
+potatoes is covered with arched sticks and long strips of canvas along
+them. A huge roll of sacking is kept near each row and the whole is
+drawn over and the potatoes are tucked in bed for the night. I could
+not resist the temptation to lift the bedclothes and shake hands and
+say good-night to one of the nearest plants, whereat the merry little
+people went off into convulsions of laughter.
+
+At Hopedale there was a large Danish ship with over six hundred tons
+of cargo for the new Moravian buildings. The Brethren do not build as
+we are doing from coast material. In order to save time and also to
+have more substantial buildings, they are cut out and built in
+Germany, photographed, and each piece marked. Then they are taken to
+pieces, shipped, and sent out here for erection.
+
+Some years ago in Germany, when the Socialists were wearing beards and
+mustaches, all respectable people used to shave. Therefore the
+missionaries being Germans insisted on the Eskimos shaving as they
+did. The result is that at one store at least a stock of ancient
+razors are left on hand, for now neither missionary nor Eskimo shaves
+in the inhospitable climate of this country. A small stock of these
+razors was, therefore, left on my account in some graves from which
+one or two Eskimos were good enough to go and get us a few ancient
+stone implements. It is a marvellous thing how superstition still
+clings around the very best of native Christian communities.
+
+The Moravian Mission is a trading mission. This trading policy in some
+aspects is in its favour. It is unquestionably part of a message of
+real love to a brother to put within his reach at reasonable rates
+those adjuncts of civilized life that help to make less onerous his
+hard lot. Trade, however, is always a difficult form of charity, and
+the barter system, common to this coast, being in vogue at the
+Moravian Mission stations also, practically every Eskimo was in debt
+to them. In reality this caused a vicious circle, for it encouraged
+directly the outstanding fault of the Eskimo, his readiness to leave
+the morrow to care for itself so long as he does not starve to-day.
+Like a race of children, they need the stimulus of necessity to make
+them get out and do their best while the opportunity exists. In the
+past twenty-six years I have made many voyages to one and another of
+the stations of the Brethren, and have learned to love them all very
+sincerely as individuals, though their mission policies are their own
+and not mine.
+
+I remember once in Nain the slob ice had already made ballicaters and
+the biting cold of winter so far north had set in with all its vigour.
+There was a heavy sea and a gale of wind. One of two boats which had
+been out all day had not come in. The sea was so rough and the wind so
+strong that the occupants of the first boat could not face it, and so
+had run in under the land and walked all the way round, towing their
+boat by a long line from the shore. Night came on and the second boat
+had not appeared. Next morning the Nain folk knew that some accident
+must have happened. Some men reported that the evening before they had
+seen through a glass the boat trying to beat against the storm, and
+then disappear. The Eskimos gathered together to see what could be
+done and then decided that it was kismet--and went their way. The
+following evening a tiny light was seen on the far shore of the
+bay--some one must be alive there. There was no food or shelter there,
+and it was obvious that help was needed. The gale was still blowing in
+fury and the sea was as rough as ever, and Eskimos and missionaries
+decided that in their unseaworthy boats they could do nothing. There
+was one dissentient voice--Brother Schmidt; and he went and rescued
+them. One was nearly spent. When their boat had capsized, one man, a
+woman, and a lad had been drowned, but two men had succeeded in
+getting into their kajaks and floated off when the disaster happened.
+
+    [Illustration: ESKIMO GIRLS]
+
+With October came the necessity for returning South, and the long
+dark nights spent at the little fishing stations as we journeyed from
+place to place proved all too short. The gatherings for lantern
+meetings, for simple services, for spinning yarns, together with
+medicine and such surgery as we could accomplish under the
+circumstances, made every moment busy and enjoyable. One outstanding
+feature, however, everywhere impressed an Englishman--the absolute
+necessity for some standard medium of exchange. Till one has seen the
+truck system at work, its evil effects in enslaving and demoralizing
+the poor are impossible to realize.
+
+All the length and breadth of the coast, the poorer people would show
+me their "settling up" as they called their account, though many never
+got as far as having any "settling up" given them--so they lived and
+died in debt to their merchant. They never knew the independence of a
+dollar in their pockets and the consequent incentive and value of
+thrift.
+
+It was incredible to me that even large concerns like the Hudson Bay
+Company would not pay in cash for valuable furs, and that so many
+dealers in the necessities of life should be still able to hold free
+men in economic bondage. It seemed a veritable chapter from "Through
+the Looking Glass," to hear the "grocer" and "haberdasher" talking of
+"my people," meaning their patrons, and holding over them the whip of
+refusal to sell them necessities in their hour of need if at any time
+they dealt with outsiders, however much to their advantage such a
+course might be.
+
+This fact was first impressed upon me in an odd way. Early in the
+summer an Eskimo had come aboard the hospital ship with a bear skin
+and a few other furs to sell. We had not only been delighted with the
+chance to buy them, but had spread them all around the cabin and
+taken a picture of him in the middle. Later in the season, while
+showing my photograph album to a trader, he had suddenly remarked,
+"Why, what's ---- doing here?"
+
+"Selling me some beautiful furs," I replied.
+
+"Oh! was he?" said the man. "I'll make him sing for selling the furs
+for which I supplied him."
+
+It was no salve to his fretfulness when I assured him that I had paid
+in good English gold, and that his "dealer" would be as honest with
+the money as the system had made him. But the trader knew that the
+truck system creates slippery, tricky men; and the fisherman openly
+declares war on the merchant, making the most of his few opportunities
+to outwit his opponent.
+
+A few years later a man brought a silver fox skin aboard my ship, just
+such a one as I had been requested by an English lady to secure for
+her. As fulfilling such a request would involve me in hostilities
+(which, however, I do not think were useless), I asked the man, who
+was wretchedly poor, if he owed the skin to the trader.
+
+"I am in debt," he replied, "but they will only allow me eight dollars
+off my account for this skin, and I want to buy some food."
+
+"Very well," I answered. "If you will promise to go at once and pay
+eight dollars off your debt, I will give you eight gold sovereigns for
+this skin."
+
+To this he agreed, and faithfully carried out the agreement--while the
+English lady scored a bargain, and I a very black mark in the books of
+my friend the trader.
+
+On another occasion my little steamer had temporarily broken down, and
+to save time I had journeyed on in the jolly-boat, leaving the cook to
+steer the vessel after me. I wanted to visit a very poor family, one
+of whose eight children I had taken to hospital for bone tuberculosis
+the previous year, and to whom the Mission had made a liberal grant
+of warm clothing. As the steamer had not come along by night, I had to
+sleep in the tiny one-roomed shack which served as a home. True, since
+it stood on the edge of the forest, there was little excuse that it
+was no larger; but the father, a most excellent, honest, and faithful
+worker, was obviously discouraged. He had not nearly enough proper
+food for his family; clothing was even more at a discount; tools with
+which to work were almost as lacking as in a cave man's dwelling; the
+whole family was going to pieces from sheer discouragement. The
+previous winter on the opposite bank of the same river, called Big
+River, a neighbour had in desperation sent his wife and eldest boy out
+of the house, killed his young family, and then shot himself.
+
+When night came five of the children huddled together for warmth in
+one bed, and the parents and balance of the family in the other. I
+slept on the floor near the door in my sleeping-bag, with my nose
+glued to the crack to get a breath of God's cold air, in spite of the
+need for warmth--for not a blanket did the house possess. When I
+asked, a little hurt, where were the blankets which we had sent last
+year, the mother somewhat indignantly pointed to various trousers and
+coats which betrayed their final resting-place, and remarked, "If
+you'se had five lads all trying to get under one covering to onct,
+Doctor, you'd soon know what would happen to that blanket."
+
+Early in the morning I made a boiling of cocoa, and took the two elder
+boys out for a seal hunt while waiting for my steamer. I was just in
+time to see one boy carefully upset his mug of cocoa, when he thought
+I was not looking, and replace it with cold spring water. "I 'lows
+I'se not accustomed to no sweetness" was his simple explanation. It
+was raw and damp as we rowed into the estuary at sunrise in search of
+the seals. I was chilly even in a well-lined leather coat. But the
+two shock-headed boys, clad in ancient cotton shirts, and with what
+had once been only cotton overall jackets, were as jolly as crickets,
+and apparently almost unduly warm. The Labrador has taught me one
+truth, which as a physician I never forget, that is, coddling is the
+terrible menace of civilization, and "to endure hardness" is the best
+preparation for a "good soldier." On leaving, I promised to send to
+those boys, whose contentment and cheerfulness greatly endeared them
+to me, a dozen good fox traps in order to give them a chance for the
+coming winter. Such a gift as those old iron rat traps seemed in their
+eyes! When at last they arrived, and were really their own
+possessions, no prince could have been prouder than they. The next
+summer as I steamed North, we called in at D---- B----'s house. The
+same famine in the land seemed to prevail; the same lack of apparently
+everything which I should have wanted. But the old infective smile was
+still presented with an almost religious ceremonial, and my friend
+produced from his box a real silver fox skin. "I kept it for you'se,
+Doctor," he said, "though us hadn't ne'er a bit in t' house. I know'd
+you'd do better 'n we with he."
+
+I promised to try, and on my way called in at some northern islands
+where my friend, Captain Bartlett, father of the celebrated "Captain
+Bob" of North Pole fame, carried on a summer trade and fishery. He
+himself was a great seal and cod fisherman, and a man known for his
+generous sympathy for others.
+
+"Do your best for me, Captain Will," I asked as I handed over the
+skin--and on coming South I found a complete winter diet laid out for
+me to take to D---- B----'s little house. It was a veritable full load
+for the small carrying capacity of my little craft.
+
+When we arrived at the house on the promontory, however, it was locked
+up and the family gone. They were off fishing on the outer islands, so
+all we could do was to break in the door, pile up the things inside,
+bar it up again, affixing a notice warning off bears, dogs, and all
+poachers, and advising Dick that it was the price of his pelt. In the
+note we also told him to put all the fur he caught the following
+winter in a barrel and "sit on it" till we came along, if he wanted a
+chance to get ahead. This he did almost literally. We ourselves took
+his barrel to the nearest cash buyer, and ordered for him goods for
+cash in St. John's to the full amount realized. The fur brought more
+than his needs, and he was able to help out neighbours by reselling at
+cash prices. This he did till the day of his death, when he left me,
+as his executor, with a couple of hundred good dollars in cash to
+divide among his children.
+
+It was experiments like this which led me in later years to start the
+small cooperative distributive stores, in spite of the knowledge of
+the opposition and criticism it would involve. How can one preach the
+gospel of love to a hungry people by sermons, or a gospel of healing
+to underfed children by pills, while one feels that practical teaching
+in home economics is what one would most wish if in their position?
+The more broad-minded critics themselves privately acknowledged this
+to me. One day a Northern furrier, an excellent and more intelligent
+man than ordinary, came to me as a magistrate to insist that a trading
+company keep its bargain by paying him in cash for a valuable fox
+skin. They were trying to compel him to take flour and supplies from
+them at prices far in excess of those at which he could purchase the
+goods in St. John's, _via_ the mail steamer.
+
+When asked to act as a justice of the peace for the Colony, I had
+thought it my duty to accept the responsibility. Already it had led me
+into a good deal of trouble. But that I should be forced to seize the
+large store of a company, and threaten an auction of goods for
+payment, without even a policeman to back me up, had never entered my
+mind. It was, however, exactly what I now felt called upon to do. To
+my intense surprise and satisfaction the trader immediately turned
+round and said: "You are quite right. The money shall be paid at once.
+The truck system is a mistaken policy, and loses us many customers."
+It was Saturday night. We had decided to have a service for the
+fishermen the next day, but had no place in which to gather.
+Therefore, after we had settled the business I took my pluck in my
+hands, and said:
+
+"It's Sunday to-morrow. Would you lend us your big room for prayers in
+the morning?"
+
+"Why, certainly," he replied; and he was present himself and sang as
+heartily as any man in the meeting. Nor did he lose a good customer on
+account of his open-mindedness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE PEOPLE OF LABRADOR
+
+
+Since the publication of the book "Labrador, the Country and the
+People," the means of transportation to the coast have been so
+improved that each year brings us an increasing number of visitors to
+enjoy the attractions of this sub-arctic land. So many misconceptions
+have arisen, however, as to the country and its inhabitants, and one
+is so often misrepresented as distorting conditions, that it seems
+wise at this point to try and answer a few questions which are so
+familiar to us who live on the coast as to appear almost negligible.
+
+The east coast of Labrador belongs to Newfoundland, and is not part of
+the territory of Canada, although the ill-defined boundary between the
+two possessions has given rise to many misunderstandings. Newfoundland
+is an autonomous government, having its own Governor sent out from
+England, Prime Minister, and Houses of Parliament in the city of St.
+John's. Instead of being a province of Canada, as is often supposed,
+and an arrangement which some of us firmly believe would result in the
+ultimate good of the Newfoundlanders, it stands in the same
+relationship to England as does the great Dominion herself. Labrador
+is owned by Newfoundland, so that legally the Labradormen are
+Newfoundlanders, though they have no representation in the
+Newfoundland Government. At Blanc Sablon, on the north coast in the
+Straits of Belle Isle, the Canadian Labrador begins, so far as the
+coast-line is concerned. The hinterland of the Province of Ungava is
+also a Canadian possession.
+
+The original natives of the Labrador were Eskimos and bands of roving
+Indians. The ethnologist would find fruitful opportunities in the
+country. The Eskimos, one of the most interesting of primitive races,
+have still a firm foothold in the North--chiefly around the five
+stations of the Moravian Brethren, upon whose heroic work I need not
+now dilate. The Montagnais Indians roam the interior. They are a
+branch of the ancient Algonquin race who held North America as far
+west as the Rockies. They are the hereditary foes of the Eskimos,
+whole settlements of whom they have more than once exterminated.
+Gradually, with the influx of white settlers from Devon and Dorset,
+from Scotland and France, the "Innuits" were driven farther and
+farther north, until there are only some fifteen hundred of them
+remaining to-day. Among them the Moravians have been working for the
+past hundred and thirty-five years. A few bands of Indians still
+continue to rove the interior, occasionally coming out to the coast to
+dispose of their furs, and obtain such meagre supplies as their mode
+of life requires. The balance of the inhabitants of the country are
+white men of our own blood and religion--men of the sea and dear to
+the Anglo-Saxon heart.
+
+During the past years it has been the experience of many of my
+colleagues, as well as myself, that as soon as one mentions the fact
+that part of our work is done on the north shore of Newfoundland,
+one's audience loses interest, and there arises the question: "But
+Newfoundland is a prosperous island. Why is it necessary to carry on a
+charitable enterprise there?"
+
+There is a sharp demarcation between main or southern Newfoundland and
+the long finger of land jutting northward, which at Cape Bauld splits
+the polar current, so that the shores of the narrow peninsula are
+continuously bathed in icy waters. The country is swept by biting
+winds, and often for weeks enveloped in a chilly and dripping blanket
+of fog. The climate at the north end of the northward-pointing finger
+is more severe than on the Labrador side of the Straits. Indeed, my
+friend, Mr. George Ford, for twenty-seven years factor of the Hudson
+Bay Company at Nakvak, told me that even in the extreme north of
+Labrador he never really knew what cold was until he underwent the
+penetrating experience of a winter at St. Anthony. The Lapp reindeer
+herders whom we brought over from Lapland, a country lying well north
+of the Arctic Circle, after spending a winter near St. Anthony, told
+me that they had never felt anything like that kind of cold, and that
+they really could not put up with it! The climate of the actual
+Labrador is clear, cold, and still, with a greater proportion of
+sunshine than the northern peninsula of Newfoundland. As a matter of
+fact, our station at St. Anthony is farther north and farther east
+than two of our hospitals on the Labrador side of the Straits of Belle
+Isle. Along that north side the gardens of the people are so good that
+their produce affords a valuable addition to the diet--but not so
+here.
+
+   [Illustration: BATTLE HARBOUR]
+
+The dominant industry of the whole Colony is its fisheries--the
+ever-recurrent pursuit of the luckless cod, salmon, herring, halibut,
+and lobster in summer, and the seal fishery in the month of March. It
+is increasingly difficult to overestimate the importance, not merely
+to the British Empire, but to the entire world, of the invaluable
+food-supply procured by the hardy fishermen of these northern waters.
+Only the other day the captain of a patrol boat told me that he had
+just come over from service on the North Sea, and in his opinion it
+would be years before those waters could again be fished, owing to the
+immense numbers of still active mines which would render such an
+attempt disproportionately hazardous. From this point of view, if
+from no other more disinterested angle, we owe a great and continuous
+debt to the splendid people of Britain's oldest colony. It was among
+these white fishermen that I came out to work primarily, the floating
+population which every summer, some twenty thousand strong, visits the
+coasts of Labrador; and later including the white resident settlers of
+the Labrador and North Newfoundland coasts as well.
+
+The conditions prevailing among some of the people at the north end of
+Newfoundland and of Labrador itself should not be confused with those
+of their neighbours to the southward. Chronic poverty is, however,
+very far from being universally prevalent in the northern district.
+Some of the fishermen lead a comfortable, happy, and prosperous life;
+but my old diaries, as well as my present observations, furnish all
+too many instances in which families exist well within the danger-line
+of poverty, ignorance, and starvation.
+
+The privations which the inhabitants of the French or Treaty shore and
+of Labrador have had to undergo, and their isolation from so many of
+the benefits of civilization, have had varying effects on the
+residents of the coast to-day. While a resourceful and kindly, hardy
+and hospitable people have been developed, yet one sometimes wonders
+exactly into what era an inhabitant of say the planet Mars would place
+our section of the North Country if he were to alight here some crisp
+morning in one of his unearthly machines. For we are a reactionary
+people in matters of religion and education; and our very "speech
+betrays us," belonging as so many of its expressions do to the days
+when the Pilgrims went up to Canterbury, or a certain Tinker wrote of
+another and more distant pilgrimage to the City of Zion.
+
+The people are, naturally, Christians of a devout and simple faith.
+The superstitions still found among them are attributable to the
+remoteness of the country from the current of the world's thought, the
+natural tendency of all seafaring people, and the fact that the days
+when the forbears of these fishermen left "Merrie England" to seek a
+living by the harvest of the sea, and finally settled on these rocky
+shores, were those when witches and hobgoblins and charms and amulets
+were accepted beliefs.
+
+Nevertheless, to-day as a medical man one is startled to see a fox's
+or wolf's head suspended by a cord from the centre, and to learn that
+it will always twist the way from which the wind is going to blow. One
+man had a barometer of this kind hanging from his roof, and explained
+that the peculiar fact was due to the nature of the animals, which in
+life always went to windward of others; but if you had a seal's head
+similarly suspended, it would turn from the wind, owing to the timid
+character of that creature. Moreover, it surprises one to be assured,
+on the irrefutable and quite unquestioned authority of "old Aunt Anne
+Sweetapple," that aged cats always become playful before a gale of
+wind comes on.
+
+"I never gets sea boils," one old chap told me the other day.
+
+"How is that?" I asked.
+
+"Oh! I always cuts my nails on a Monday, so I never has any."
+
+There is a great belief in fairies on the coast. A man came to me once
+to cure what he was determined to believe was a balsam on his baby's
+nose. The birthmark to him resembled that tree. More than one had
+given currency if not credence to the belief that the reason why the
+bull's-eye was so hard to hit in one of our running deer rifle matches
+was that we had previously charmed it. If a woman sees a hare without
+cutting out and keeping a portion of the dress she is then wearing,
+her child will be born with a hare-lip.
+
+When stripping a patient for examination, I noticed that he removed
+from his neck what appeared to be a very large scapular. I asked him
+what it could be. It was a haddock's fin-bone--a charm against
+rheumatism. The peculiarity of the fin consists in the fact that the
+fish must be taken from the water and the fin cut out before the
+animal touches anything whatever, especially the boat. Any one who has
+seen a trawl hauled knows how difficult a task this would be, with the
+jumping, squirming fish to cope with.
+
+Protestant and Catholic alike often sew up bits of paper, with prayers
+written on them, in little sacks that are worn around the neck as an
+amulet; and green worsted tied around the wrist is reported to be a
+never-failing cure for hemorrhage.
+
+Every summer some twenty thousand fishermen travel "down North" in
+schooners, as soon as ever the ice breaks sufficiently to allow them
+to get along. They are the "Labrador fishermen," and they come from
+South Newfoundland, from Nova Scotia, from Gloucester, and even
+Boston. Some Newfoundlanders take their families down and leave them
+in summer tilts on the land near the fishing grounds during the
+season. When fall comes they pick them up again and start for their
+winter homes "in the South," leaving only a few hundreds of scattered
+"Liveyeres" in possession of the Labrador.
+
+We were much surprised one day to notice a family moving their house
+in the middle of the fishing season, especially when we learned that
+the reason was that a spirit had appropriated their dwelling.
+
+Stephen Leacock would have obtained much valuable data for his essay
+on "How to Become a Doctor" if he had ever chanced to sail along "the
+lonely Labrador." In a certain village one is confidently told of a
+cure for asthma, as simple as it is infallible. It consists merely of
+taking the tips of all one's finger-nails, carefully allowed to grow
+long, and cutting them off with sharp scissors. In another section a
+powder known as "Dragon's Blood" is very generally used as a plaster.
+It appears quite inert and harmless. A little farther south along the
+coast is a baby suffering from ophthalmia. The doctor has only been
+called in because blowing sugar in its eyes has failed to cure it.
+
+A colleague of mine was visiting on his winter rounds in a delightful
+village some forty miles south of St. Anthony Hospital. The "swiles"
+(seals) had struck in, and all hands were out on the ice, eager to
+capture their share of these valuable animals. But snow-blindness had
+incontinently attacked the men, and had rendered them utterly unable
+to profit by their good fortune. The doctor's clinic was long and busy
+that night. The following morning he was, however, amazed to see many
+of his erstwhile patients wending their way seawards, each with one
+eye treated on his prescription, but the other (for safety's sake)
+doctored after the long-accepted methods of the talent of the
+village--tansy poultices and sugar being the acknowledged favourites.
+The consensus of opinion obviously was that the stakes were too high
+for a man to offer up both eyes on the altar of modern medicine.
+
+In the course of many years' practice the methods for the treatment
+and extraction of offending molars which have come to my attention are
+numerous, but none can claim a more prompt result than the following:
+First you attach a stout, fine fish-line firmly to the tooth. Next
+you lash the other end to the latch of the door--we do not use knobs
+in this country. You then make the patient stand back till there is a
+nice tension on the line, when suddenly you make a feint as if to
+strike him in the eye. Forgetful of the line, he leaps back to avoid
+the blow. Result, painless extraction of the tooth, which should be
+found hanging to the latch.
+
+Although there have been clergyman of the Church of England and
+Methodist denominations on the coast for many years past--devoted and
+self-sacrificing men who have done most unselfish work--still, their
+visits must be infrequent. One of them told me in North Newfoundland
+that once, when he happened to pass through a little village with his
+dog team on his way South, the man of one house ran out and asked him
+to come in. "Sorry I have no time," he replied. "Well, just come in at
+the front door and out at the back, so we can say that a minister has
+been in the house," the fisherman answered.
+
+Even to-day, to the least fastidious, the conditions of travel leave
+much to be desired. The coastal steamers are packed far beyond their
+sleeping or sitting capacity. On the upper deck of the best of these
+boats I recall that there are two benches, each to accommodate four
+people. The steamer often carries three hundred in the crowded season
+of the fall of the year. One retires at night under the
+misapprehension that the following morning will find these seats still
+available. On ascending the companionway, however, one's gaze is met
+by a heterogeneous collection of impedimenta. The benches are buried
+as irretrievably as if they "had been carried into the midst of the
+sea." Almost anything may have been piled on them, from bales of
+hay--among which my wife once sat for two days--to the nucleus of a
+chicken farm, destined, let us say, for the Rogues' Roost Bight.
+
+As the sturdy little steamer noses her way into some picturesque
+harbour and blows a lusty warning of her approach, small boats are
+seen putting off from the shore and rowing or sculling toward her with
+almost indecorous rapidity. Lean over the rail for a minute with me,
+and watch the freight being unloaded into one of these bobbing little
+craft. The hatch of the steamer is opened, a most unmusical winch
+commences operations--and a sewing machine emerges _de profundis_.
+This is swung giddily out over the sea by the crane and dropped on the
+thwarts of the waiting punt. One shudders to think of the probably
+fatal shock received by the vertebrae of that machine. One's
+sympathies, however, are almost immediately enlisted in the interest
+and fortunes of a young and voiceful pig, which, poised in the blue,
+unwillingly experiences for the moment the fate of the coffin of the
+Prophet. Great shouting ensues as a baby is carried down the ship's
+ladder and deposited in the rocking boat. A bag of beans, of the
+variety known as "haricot," is the next candidate. A small hole has
+been torn in a corner of the burlap sack, out of which trickles a
+white and ominous stream. The last article to join the galaxy is a tub
+of butter. By a slight mischance the tub has "burst abroad," and the
+butter, a golden and gleaming mass,--with unexpected consideration
+having escaped the ministrations of the winch,--is passed from one
+pair of fishy hands to another, till it finds a resting-place by the
+side of the now quiescent pig.
+
+We pass out into the open again, bound for the next port of call. If
+the weather chances to be "dirty," the sufferers from _mal-de-mer_ lie
+about on every available spot, be it floor or bench, and over these
+prostrate forms must one jump as one descends to the dining-saloon for
+lunch. It may be merely due to the special keenness of my
+professional sense, but the apparent proportion of the halt, lame, and
+blind who frequent these steamers appears out of all relation to the
+total population of the coast. Across the table is a man with an
+enormous white rag swathing his thumb. The woman next him looks out on
+a blue and altered world from behind a bandaged eye. Beside one sits a
+young fisherman, tenderly nursing his left lower jaw, his enjoyment of
+the fact that his appetite is unimpaired by the vagaries of the North
+Atlantic tempered by an unremitting toothache.
+
+But the cheerful kindliness and capability of the captain, the crew,
+and the passengers, on whatever boat you may chance to travel,
+pervades the whole ship like an atmosphere, and makes one forget any
+slight discomfort in a justifiable pride that as an Anglo-Saxon one
+can claim kinship to these "Vikings of to-day."
+
+Life is hard in White Bay. An outsider visiting there in the spring of
+the year would come to the conclusion that if nothing further can be
+done for these people to make a more generous living, they should be
+encouraged to go elsewhere. The number of cases of tubercle, anaemia,
+and dyspepsia, of beri-beri and scurvy, all largely attributable to
+poverty of diet, is very great; and the relative poverty, even
+compared with that of the countries which I have been privileged to
+visit, is piteous. The solution of such a problem does not, however,
+lie in removing a people from their environment, but in trying to make
+the environment more fit for human habitation.
+
+The hospitality of the people is unstinted and beautiful. They will
+turn out of their beds at any time to make a stranger comfortable, and
+offer him their last crust into the bargain, without ever expecting or
+asking a penny of recompense. But here, as all the world over, the
+sublime and the ridiculous go hand in hand. On one of my dog trips
+the first winter which I spent at St. Anthony, the bench on which I
+slept was the top of the box used for hens. This would have made
+little difference to me, but unfortunately it contained a youthful and
+vigorous rooster, which, mistaking the arrival of so many visitors for
+some strange herald of morning, proceeded every half-hour to salute it
+with premature and misdirected zeal, utterly incompatible with
+unbroken repose just above his head. It was possible, without moving
+one's limbs much, to reach through the bars and suggest better things
+to him; but owing to the inequality which exists in most things, one
+invariably captured a drowsy hen, while the more active offender
+eluded one with ease. Lighting matches to differentiate species under
+such exceptional circumstances in the pursuit of knowledge was quite
+out of the question.
+
+A visit to one house on the French shore I shall not easily forget.
+The poor lad of sixteen years had hip disease, and lay dying. The
+indescribable dirt I cannot here picture. The bed, the house, and
+everything in it were full of vermin, and the poor boy had not been
+washed since he took to bed three or four months before. With the help
+of a clergyman who was travelling with me at the time, the lad was
+chloroformed and washed. We then ordered the bedding to be burned,
+provided him with fresh garments, and put him into a clean bed. The
+people's explanation was that he was in too much pain to be touched,
+and so they could do nothing. We cleansed and drained his wounds and
+left what we could for him. Had he not been so far gone, we should
+have taken him to the hospital, but I feared that he would not survive
+the journey.
+
+Although at the time it often seemed an unnecessary expenditure of
+effort in an already overcrowded day, one now values the records of
+the early days of one's life on the coast. In my notebook for 1895 I
+find the following: "The desolation of Labrador at this time is easy
+to understand. No Newfoundlanders were left north of us; not a vessel
+in sight anywhere. The ground was all under snow, and everything
+caught over with ice except the sea. I think that I must describe one
+house, for it seems a marvel that any man could live in it all winter,
+much less women and children. It was ten feet by twenty, one storey
+high, made of mud and boards, with half a partition to divide bedroom
+from the sitting-room kitchen. If one adds a small porch filled with
+dirty, half-starved dogs, and refuse of every kind, an ancient and
+dilapidated stove in the sitting part of the house, two wooden benches
+against the walls, a fixed rude table, some shelves nailed to the
+wall, and two boarded-up beds, one has a fairly accurate description
+of the furnishings. Inside were fourteen persons, sleeping there, at
+any rate for a night or two. The ordinary regular family of a man and
+wife and four girls was to be increased this winter by the man's
+brother, his wife, and four boys from twelve months to seven years of
+age. His brother had 'handy enough flour,' but no tea or molasses. The
+owner was looking after Newfoundland Rooms, for which he got flour,
+tea, molasses, and firewood for the winter. The people assure me that
+one man, who was aboard us last fall just as we were going South,
+starved to death, and many more were just able to hold out till
+spring. The man, they tell me, ate his only dog as his last resource."
+
+I sent one day a barrel of flour and some molasses to a poor widow
+with seven children at Stag Islands. She was starving even in summer.
+She was just eating fish, which she and her eldest girl caught, and
+drinking water--no flour, no tea, nothing. Two winters before she and
+her eldest girl sawed up three thousand feet of planking to keep the
+wolf from the little ones. The girl managed the boat and fished in
+summer, drove the dogs and komatik and did the shooting for which they
+could afford powder in winter.
+
+A man, having failed to catch a single salmon beyond what he was
+forced to eat, left in his little boat to row down to the Inlet to try
+for codfish. To get a meal--breakfast--and a little flour to sustain
+life on the way, he had to sell his anchor before he left.
+
+The life of the sea, with all its attractions, is at best a hazardous
+calling, and it speaks loud in the praise of the capacity and simple
+faith of our people that in the midst of a trying and often perilous
+environment, they retain so quiet and kindly a temper of mind. During
+my voyage to the seal fishery I recall that one day at three o'clock
+the men were all called in. Four were missing. We did not find them
+till we had been steaming for an hour and a half. They were caught on
+pans some mile or so apart in couples, and were in prison. We were a
+little anxious about them, but the only remark which I heard, when at
+last they came aboard, was, "Leave the key of your box the next time,
+Ned."
+
+To those who claim that Labrador is a land of plenty I would offer the
+following incident in refutation. At Holton on a certain Sunday
+morning the leader of the church services came aboard the hospital
+steamer and asked me for a Bible. Some sacrilegious pigs which had
+been brought down to fatten on the fish, driven to the verge of
+starvation by the scarcity of that article, had broken into the church
+illicitly one night, and not only destroyed the cloth, but had
+actually torn up and eaten the Bible. In reply to inquiry I gave it
+as my opinion that it would be no sin to eat the pork of the erring
+quadrupeds.
+
+Once when I was cruising on the North Labrador coast I anchored one
+day between two desolate islands some distance out in the Atlantic, a
+locality which in those days was frequented by many fishing craft. My
+anchors were scarcely down when a boat from a small Welsh brigantine
+came aboard, and asked me to go at once and see a dying girl. She
+proved to be the only woman among a host of men, and was servant in
+one of the tiny summer fishing huts, cooking and mending for the men,
+and helping with the fish when required. I found her in a rude bunk in
+a dark corner of the shack. She was almost eighteen, and even by the
+dim light of my lantern and in contrast with the sordid surroundings,
+I could see that she was very pretty. A brief examination convinced me
+that she was dying. The tender-hearted old captain, whose aid had been
+called in as the only man with a doctor's box and therefore felt to be
+better qualified to use it than others, was heart-broken. He had
+pronounced the case to be typhoid, to be dangerous and contagious, and
+had wisely ordered the fishermen, who were handling food for human
+consumption, to leave him to deal with the case alone. He told me at
+once that he had limited his attentions to feeding her, and that
+though helpless for over a fortnight, and at times unconscious, the
+patient had not once been washed or the bed changed. The result, even
+with my experience, appalled me. But while there is life in a young
+patient there is always hope, and we at once set to work on our Augean
+task. By the strangest coincidence it was an inky dark night outside,
+with a low fog hanging over the water, and the big trap boat, with a
+crew of some six men, among them the skipper's sons, had been missing
+since morning. The skipper had stayed home out of sympathy for his
+servant girl, and his mind was torn asunder by the anxiety for the
+girl and his fear for his boys.
+
+When night fell, the old captain and I were through with the hardest
+part of our work. We had new bedding on the bed and the patient clean
+and sleeping quietly. Still the boat and its precious complement did
+not come. Every few minutes the skipper would go out and listen, and
+stare into the darkness. The girl's heart suddenly failed, and about
+midnight her spirit left this world. The captain and I decided that
+the best thing to do was to burn everything--and in order to avoid
+publicity to do it at once. So having laboriously carried it all out
+onto the edge of the cliff, we set a light to the pile and were
+rewarded with a bonfire which would have made many a Guy Fawkes
+celebration. Quite unintentionally we were sending out great streams
+of light into the darkness over the waters away down below us, and
+actually giving the longed-for signal to the missing boat. Her crew
+worked their way in the fog to life and safety by means of the blazing
+and poor discarded "properties" of the soul preceding us to our last
+port.
+
+Although our work has lain almost entirely among the white population
+of the Labrador and North Newfoundland coasts, still it has been our
+privilege occasionally to come in contact with the native races, and
+to render them such services, medical or otherwise, as lay within our
+power. Our doctor at Harrington on the Canadian Labrador is appointed
+by the Canadian Government as Indian Agent.
+
+Once, when my own boat was anchored in Davis Inlet, a band of roving
+Indians had come to the post for barter and supplies. Our steamer was
+a source of great interest to them. Our steam whistle they would
+gladly have purchased, after they had mastered their first fears. At
+night we showed them some distress rockets and some red and blue port
+flares. The way those Indians fled from the port flares was really
+amusing, and no one enjoyed it more than they did, for the shouting
+and laughter, after they had picked themselves out of the scuppers
+where they had been rolling on top of one another, wakened the very
+hills with their echoes. Next morning one lonely-looking brave came on
+board, and explained to me by signs and grunts that during the
+entertainment a white counter, or Hudson Bay dollar, had rolled out of
+the lining of his hat into our woodpile. An elaborate search failed to
+reveal its whereabouts, but as there was no reason to doubt him, I
+decided to make up the loss to him out of our clothes-bag. Fortunately
+a gorgeous purple rowing blazer came readily to hand, and with this
+and a helmet, both of which he put on at once, the poor fellow was
+more than satisfied. Indeed, on the wharf he was the envy of the whole
+band.
+
+At night they slept in the bunkhouse, and they presented a sight which
+one is not likely to forget--especially one lying on his back on the
+table, with his arms extended and his head hanging listlessly over the
+edge. One felt sorely tempted to put a pin into him to see if he
+really were alive, but we decided to abstain for prudential reasons.
+
+We had among the garments on board three not exactly suited to the
+white settlers, so I told the agent to let the Indians have a rifle
+shooting match for them. They were a fox huntsman's red broadcloth
+tail-coat, with all the glory of gilt buttons, a rather dilapidated
+red golf blazer, and a white, cavalryman's Eton coat, with silver
+buttons, and the coat-of-arms on. Words fail me to paint the elation
+of the winner of the fox hunting coat; while the wearer of the cavalry
+mess jacket was not the least bit daunted by the fact that when he got
+it on he could hardly breathe. I must say that he wore it over a
+deerskin kossak, which is not the custom of cavalrymen, I am led to
+believe.
+
+The coast-line from Ramah to Cape Chidley is just under one hundred
+miles, and on it live a few scattered Eskimo hunters. Mr. Ford knew
+every one of them personally, having lived there twenty-seven years.
+It appears that a larger race of Eskimos called "Tunits," to whom the
+present race were slaves, used to be on this section of the coast. At
+Nakvak there are remains of them. In Hebron, the same year that we met
+the Indians at Davis Inlet, we saw Pomiuk's mother. Her name is
+Regina, and she is now married to Valentine, the king of the Eskimos
+there. I have an excellent photograph of a royal dinner party, a thing
+which I never possessed before. The king and queen and a solitary
+courtier are seated on the rocks, gnawing contentedly raw walrus
+bones--"ivik" they call it.
+
+The Eskimos one year suffered very heavily from an epidemic of
+influenza--the germ doubtless imported by some schooner from the
+South. Like all primitive peoples, they had no immunity to the
+disease, and the suffering and mortality were very high. It was a
+pathetic sight as the lighter received its load of rude coffins from
+the wharf, with all the kindly little people gathered to tow them to
+their last resting-place in the shallow sand at the end of the inlet.
+The ten coffins in one grave seemed more the sequence of a battle
+than of a summer sickness in Labrador. Certainly the hospital move on
+the part of the Moravians deserved every commendation; though I
+understand that at their little hospital in Okkak they have not always
+been able to have a qualified medical man in residence.
+
+One old man, a patient on whose hip I had operated, came and insisted
+that I should examine the scars. Oddly enough during the operation the
+Eskimo, who was the only available person whom I had been able to find
+to hold the light, had fainted, and left me in darkness. I had
+previously had no idea that their sensibilities were so akin to ours.
+
+At Napatuliarasok Island are some lovely specimens of blue and green and
+golden Labradorite, a striated feldspar with a glorious sheen. Nothing
+has ever really been done with this from a commercial point of view;
+moreover, the samples of gold-bearing quartz, of which such good hopes
+have been entertained, have so far been found wanting also. In my
+opinion this is merely due to lack of persevering investigation--for one
+cannot believe that this vast area of land can be utterly unremunerative.
+
+On one of the old maps of Labrador this terse description is written
+by the cartographer: "Labrador was discovered by the English. There is
+nothing in it of any value"; and another historian enlarges on the
+theme in this fashion: "God made the world in five days, made Labrador
+on the sixth, and spent the seventh throwing stones at it." It is so
+near and yet so far, so large a section of the British Empire and yet
+so little known, and so romantic for its wild grandeur, and many
+fastnesses still untrodden by the foot of man! The polar current
+steals from the unknown North its ice treasures, and lends them
+with no niggard hand to this seaboard. There is a never-wearying charm
+in these countless icebergs, so stately in size and so fantastic in
+shape and colouring.
+
+   [Illustration: A LABRADOR BURIAL]
+
+The fauna and flora of the country are so varied and exquisite that
+one wonders why the world of science has so largely passed us by.
+Perhaps with the advent of hydroplanes, Labrador will come to its own
+among the countries of the world. Not only the ethnologist and
+botanist, but the archaeologist as well reaps a rich harvest for his
+labours here. Many relics of a recent stone age still exist. I have
+had brought to me stone saucepans, lamps, knives, arrow-heads, etc.,
+taken from old graves. It is the Eskimo custom to entomb with the dead
+man all and every possession which he might want hereafter, the idea
+being that the spirit of the implement accompanies the man's spirit.
+Relics of ancient whaling establishments, possibly early Basque, are
+found in plenty at one village, while even to-day the trapper there
+needing a runner for his komatik can always hook up a whale's jaw or
+rib from the mud of the harbour. Relics of rovers of the sea, who
+sought shelter on this uncharted coast with its million islands, are
+still to be found. A friend of mine was one day looking from his boat
+into the deep, narrow channel in front of his house, when he perceived
+some strange object in the mud. With help he raised it, and found a
+long brass "Long Tom" cannon, which now stands on the rocks at that
+place. Remains of the ancient French occupation should also be
+procurable near the seat of their deserted capital near Bradore.
+
+My friend, Professor Reginald Daly, head of the Department of Geology
+at Harvard University, after having spent a summer with me on the
+coast, wrote as follows:
+
+"We crossed the Straits of Belle Isle once more, homeward bound. Old
+Jacques Cartier, searching for an Eldorado, found Labrador, and in
+disgust called it the 'Land of Cain.' A century and a half afterward
+Lieutenant Roger Curtis wrote of it as a 'country formed of frightful
+mountains, and unfruitful valleys, a prodigious heap of barren rock';
+and George Cartwright, in his gossipy journal, summed up his
+impressions after five and twenty years on the coast. He said, 'God
+created this country last of all, and threw together there the refuse
+of his materials as of no use to mankind.'
+
+"We have learned at last the vital fact that Nature has set apart her
+own picture galleries where men may resort if for a time they would
+forget human contrivances. Such a wilderness is Labrador, a kind of
+mental and moral sanitarium. The beautiful is but the visible splendor
+of the true. The enjoyment of a visit to the coast may consist not
+alone in the impressions of the scenery; there may be added the deeper
+pleasure of reading out the history of noble landscapes, the
+sculptured monuments of elemental strife and revolutions of distant
+ages."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+LECTURING AND CRUISING
+
+
+We had now been coming for some two years to the coast, and the
+problem was assuming larger proportions than I felt the Society at
+home ought to be called on to finance. It seemed advisable, therefore,
+to try and raise money in southern Newfoundland and Canada. So under
+the wing of the most famous seal and fish killer, Captain Samuel
+Blandford, I next visited and lectured in St. John's, Harbour Grace,
+and Carbonear.
+
+The towns in Newfoundland are not large. Its sectarian schools and the
+strong denominational feeling between the churches so greatly divide
+the people that united efforts for the Kingdom of God were extremely
+rare before the war. Even now there is no Y.M.C.A. or Y.W.C.A. in the
+Colony. The Boys' Brigade, which we initiated our first year, divided
+as it grew in importance, into the Church Lads Brigade, the Catholic
+Cadet Corps, and the Methodist Guards.
+
+Dr. Bobardt, my young Australian colleague, and I now decided to cross
+over to Halifax. We had only a certain amount of money for the
+venture; it was our first visit to Canada, and we knew no one. We
+carried credentials, however, from the Marquis of Ripon and other
+reputable persons. If we had had experience as commercial travellers,
+this would have been child's play. But our education had been in an
+English school and university; and when finally we sat at breakfast at
+the Halifax hotel we felt like fish out of water. Such success as we
+obtained subsequently I attribute entirely to what then seemed to me
+my colleague's colonial "cheek." He insisted that we should call on
+the most prominent persons at once, the Prime Minister, the General in
+charge of the garrison, the Presidents of the Board of Trade and
+University, the Governor of the Province, and all the leading
+clergymen. There have been times when I have hesitated about getting
+my anchors for sea, when the barometer was falling, the wind in, and a
+fog-bank on the horizon--but now, years after, I still recall my
+reluctance to face that ordeal. But like most things, the obstacles
+were largely in one's own mind, and the kindness which we received
+left me entirely overwhelmed. Friends formed a regular committee to
+keep a couple of cots going in our hospital, to collect supplies, and
+sent us to Montreal with introductions and endorsements. Some of these
+people have since been lifelong helpers of the Labrador Mission.
+
+By the time we reached Montreal, our funds were getting low, but Dr.
+Bobardt insisted that we must engage the best accommodations, even if
+it prevented our travelling farther west. The result was that
+reporters insisted on interviewing him as to the purpose of an
+Australian coming to Montreal; and I was startled to see a long
+account which he had jokingly given them published in the morning
+papers, stating that his purpose was to materialize the All Red Line
+and arrange closer relations between Australia and Canada. According
+to his report my object was to inspect my ranch in Alberta. Life to
+him, whether on the Labrador Coast, in an English school, or in his
+Australian home, was one perpetual picnic.
+
+Naturally, our most important interview was with Lord Strathcona. He
+was President of the Hudson Bay Company, the Canadian Pacific
+Railroad, and the Bank of Montreal. As a poor Scotch lad named Donald
+Smith he had lived for thirteen years of his early life in Labrador.
+There he had found a wife and there his daughter was born. From the
+very first he was thoroughly interested in our work, and all through
+the years until his death in 1914 his support was maintained, so that
+at the very time he died we were actually due to visit him the
+following month at Knelsworth.
+
+We hired the best hall and advertised Sir Donald as our chairman. To
+save expense Dr. Bobardt acted in the ticket-box. When Sir Donald came
+along, not having seen him previously, he insisted on collecting fifty
+cents from him as from the rest. When Sir Donald strongly protested
+that he was our chairman, the shrewd young doctor merely replied that
+several others before him had made the same remark. Every one in the
+city knew Sir Donald; and when the matter was explained to him in the
+greenroom, he was thoroughly pleased with the business-like attitude
+of the Mission. As we had never seen Canada he insisted that we must
+take a holiday and visit as far west as British Columbia. All of this
+he not only arranged freely for us, but even saw to such details as
+that we should ride on the engine through the Rocky Mountains, and be
+entertained at his home called "Silver Heights" while in Winnipeg. It
+was during this trip that I visited "Grenfell Town," a queer little
+place called after Pascoe Grenfell, of the Bank of England. The marvel
+of the place to me was the thousands and thousands of acres of
+splendid farmland on which no one lived. I promised that I would send
+the hotel-keeper the Grenfell crest.
+
+Lord Strathcona later presented the Mission with a fine little
+steamer, the Sir Donald, purchased and equipped at his expense through
+the Committee in Montreal.
+
+We went back to England very well satisfied with our work. Dr. Bobardt
+left me and entered the Navy, while I returned the following year and
+steamed the new boat from Montreal down the St. Lawrence River and the
+Straits to Battle Harbour. There the Albert, which had sailed again
+from England with doctors, nurses, and supplies, was to meet me. We
+had made a fine voyage, visiting all along the coast as we journeyed,
+and had turned in from sea through the last "run," or passage between
+islands. We had polished our brass-work, cleaned up our decks, hoisted
+our flags, all that we might make a triumphant entry on our arrival a
+few minutes later--when suddenly, _Buff--Bur-r--Buff_, we rose,
+staggered, and fell over on a horrible submerged shoal. Our side was
+gored, our propeller and shaft gone, our keel badly splintered, and
+the ship left high and dry. When we realized our mistake and the
+dreadful position into which we had put ourselves, we rowed ashore to
+the nearest island, walked three or four miles over hill and bog, and
+from there got a fisherman with a boat to put us over to Battle
+Harbour Island. The good ship Albert lay at anchor in the harbour. Our
+new colleagues and old friends were all impatiently waiting to see our
+fine new steamer speed in with all her flags up--when, instead, two
+bedraggled-looking tramps, crestfallen almost to weeping, literally
+crept aboard.
+
+Sympathy took the form of deeds and a crowd at once went round in
+boats with a museum of implements. Soon they had her off, and our
+plucky schooner took her in tow all the three hundred miles to the
+nearest dry-dock at St. John's.
+
+Meanwhile Sir Thomas Roddick, of Montreal, an old Newfoundlander, had
+presented us with a splendid twenty-foot jolly-boat, rigged with
+lug-sail and centre-boom. In this I cruised north to Eskimo Bay,
+harbouring at nights if possible, getting a local pilot when I could,
+and once being taken bodily on board, craft and all, by a big friendly
+fishing schooner. It proved a most profitable summer. I was so
+dependent on the settlers and fishermen for food and hospitality that
+I learned to know them as would otherwise have been impossible. Far
+the best road to a seaman's heart is to let him do something for you.
+Our impressions of a landscape, like our estimates of character, all
+depend on our viewpoint. Fresh from the more momentous problems of
+great cities, the interests and misunderstandings of small isolated
+places bias the mind and make one censorious and resentful. But from
+the position of a tight corner, that of needing help and hospitality
+from entire strangers, one learns how large are the hearts and homes
+of those who live next to Nature. If I knew the Labrador people before
+(and among such I include the Hudson Bay traders and the Newfoundland
+fishermen), that summer made me love them. I could not help feeling
+how much more they gladly and freely did for me than I should have
+dreamed of doing for them had they come along to my house in London. I
+have sailed the seas in ocean greyhounds and in floating palaces and
+in steam yachts, but better than any other I love to dwell on the
+memories of that summer, cruising the Labrador in a twenty-footer.
+
+That year I was late returning South. Progress is slow in the fall of
+the year along the Labrador in a boat of that capacity. I was
+weather-bound, with the snow already on the ground in Square Island
+Harbour. The fishery of the settlers had been very poor. The traders
+coming South had passed them by. There were eight months of winter
+ahead, and practically no supplies for the dozen families of the
+little village. I shall never forget the confidence of the patriarch
+of the settlement, Uncle Jim, whose guest I was. The fact that we were
+without butter, and that "sweetness" (molasses) was low, was scarcely
+even noticed. I remember as if it were yesterday the stimulating tang
+of the frosty air and the racy problem of the open sea yet to be
+covered. The bag of birds which we had captured when we had driven in
+for shelter from the storm made our dry-diet supper sweeter than any
+Delmonico ten-course dinner, because we had wrested it ourselves from
+the reluctant environment. Then last of all came the general meeting
+in Uncle Jim's house at night to ask the Lord to open the windows of
+heaven for the benefit of the pathetic little group on the island.
+Next morning the first thing on which our eyes lighted was the belated
+trader, actually driven north again by the storm, anchored right in
+the harbour. Of course Uncle Jim knew that it would be there.
+Personally, I did not expect her, so can claim no credit for the
+telepathy; but if faith ever did work wonders it was on that occasion.
+There were laughing faces and happy hearts as we said good-bye, when
+my dainty little lady spread her wings to a fair breeze a day or so
+later.
+
+The gallant little Sir Donald did herself every credit the following
+year, and we not only visited the coast as far north as Cape Chidley,
+but explored the narrow channel which runs through the land into
+Ungava Bay, and places Cape Chidley itself on a detached island.
+
+There were a great many fishing schooners far north that season, and
+the keen pleasures of exploring a truly marvellous coast, practically
+uncharted and unknown, were redeemed from the reproach of selfishness
+by the numerous opportunities for service to one's fellow men.
+
+   [Illustration: THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN SUMMER]
+
+Once that summer we were eleven days stuck in the ice, and while there
+the huge mail steamer broke her propeller, and a boat was sent up to
+us through the ice to ask for our help. The truck on my mastheads was
+just up to her deck. The ice was a lot of trouble, but we got her into
+safety. On board were the superintendent of the Moravian Missions and
+his wife. They were awfully grateful. The great tub rolled about so in
+the Atlantic swell that the big ice-pans nearly came on deck. My
+dainty little lady took no notice of anything and picked her way among
+the pans like Agag "treading delicately." We had five hours' good
+push, however, to get into Battle Harbour. It was calm in the
+ice-field, only the heavy tide made it run and the little "alive"
+steamer with human skill beat the massive mountains of ice into a
+cocked hat.
+
+At Indian Tickle there is a nice little church which was built by
+subscription and free labour the second year we came on the coast.
+There is one especially charming feature about this building. It
+stands in such a position that you can see it as you come from the
+north miles away from the harbour entrance, and it is so situated that
+it leads directly into the safe anchorage. There are no lights to
+guide sailors on this coast at all, and yet during September, October,
+and November, three of the most dangerous months in the year, hundreds
+of schooners and thousands of men, women, and children are coming into
+or passing through this harbour on their way to the southward. By a
+nice arrangement the little east window points to the north--if that
+is not Irish--and two large bracket lamps can be turned on a pivot, so
+that the lamps and their reflectors throw a light out to sea. The
+good planter, at his own expense, often maintains a light here on
+stormy or dark nights, and "steering straight for it" brings one to
+safety.
+
+While cruising near Cape Chidley, a schooner signalling with flag at
+half-mast attracted our attention. On going aboard we found a young
+man with the globe of one eye ruptured by a gun accident, in great
+pain, and in danger of losing the other eye sympathetically. Having
+excised the globe, we allowed him to go back to his vessel, intensely
+grateful, but full of apprehension as to how his girl would regard him
+on his return South. It so happened that we had had a gift of false
+eyes, and we therefore told him to call in at hospital on his way home
+and take his chance on getting a blue one. While walking over the hill
+near the hospital that fall I ran into a crowd of young fishermen,
+whose schooner was wind-bound in the harbour, and who had been into
+the country for an hour's trouting. One asked me to look at his eye,
+as something was wrong with it. Being in a hurry, I simply remarked,
+"Come to hospital, and I'll examine it for you"; whereupon he burst
+out into a merry laugh, "Why, Doctor, I'm the boy whose eye you
+removed. This is the glass one you promised. Do you think it will suit
+her?"
+
+Another time I was called to a large schooner in the same region.
+There were two young girls on board doing the cooking and cleaning, as
+was the wont in Newfoundland vessels. One, alas, was seriously ill,
+having given birth to a premature child, and having lain absolutely
+helpless, with only a crew of kind but strange men anywhere near.
+Rolling her up in blankets, we transferred her to the Sir Donald, and
+steamed for the nearest Moravian station. Here the necessary
+treatment was possible, and when we left for the South a Moravian's
+good wife accompanied us as nurse. The girl, however, had no wish to
+live. "I want to die, Doctor; I can never go home again." Her physical
+troubles had abated, but her mind was made up to die, and this, in
+spite of all our care, she did a few days later. The pathos of the
+scene as we rowed the poor child's body ashore for interment on a
+rocky and lonely headland, looking out over the great Atlantic,
+wrapped simply in the flag of her country, will never be forgotten by
+any of us--the silent but unanswerable reproach on man's utter
+selfishness. Many such scenes must rise to the memory of the general
+practitioner; at times, thank God, affording those opportunities of
+doing more for the patients than simply patching up their
+bodies--opportunities which are the real reward for the "art of
+healing." Some years later I revisited the grave of this poor girl,
+marked by the simple wooden cross which we had then put up, and
+bearing the simple inscription:
+
+Suzanne
+"Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee."
+
+The fall trip lasted till late into November, without our even
+realizing the fact that snow was on the ground. Indeed the ponds were
+all frozen and we enjoyed drives with dog teams on the land before we
+had finished our work and could think of leaving. We had scarcely left
+Flowers Cove and were just burying our little steamer--loaded to the
+utmost with wood, cut in return for winter clothing--in the dense fog
+which almost universally maintains in the Straits, and were rounding
+the hidden ledges of rock which lie half a mile offshore, when we
+discovered a huge trans-Atlantic liner racing up in our wake. We
+instantly put down our helm and scuttled out of the way to avoid the
+wash, and almost held our breath as the great steamer dashed by at
+twenty miles an hour, between us and the hidden shoal. She altered her
+helm as she did so, no doubt catching her first sight of the
+lighthouse as she emerged from the fog-bank, but as it was, she must
+have passed within an ace of the shoal. We expected every minute to
+see her dash on the top of it, and then she passed out of sight once
+more, her light-hearted passengers no doubt completely unconscious
+that they had been in any danger at all.
+
+The last port of call was Henley, or Chateau, where formerly the
+British had placed a fort to defend it against the French. We had
+carried round with us a prospective bridegroom, and we were privileged
+to witness the wedding, a simple but very picturesque proceeding. A
+parson had been fetched from thirty miles away, and every kind of
+hospitality provided for the festive event. But in spite of the warmth
+of the occasion the weather turned bitterly cold, the harbour "caught
+over," and for a week we were prisoners. When at last the young ice
+broke up again, we made an attempt to cross the Straits, but sea and
+wind caught us halfway and forced us to run back, this time in the
+thick fog. The Straits' current had carried us a few miles in the
+meanwhile--which way we did not know--and the land, hard to make out
+as it was in the fog, was white with snow. However, with the storm
+increasing and the long dark night ahead, we took a sporting chance,
+and ran direct in on the cliffs. How we escaped shipwreck I do not
+know now. We suddenly saw a rock on our bow and a sheer precipice
+ahead, twisted round on our heel, shot between the two, and we knew
+where we were, as that is the only rock on a coast-line of twenty
+miles of beach--but there really is no room between it and the cliff.
+
+All along the coast that year we noticed a change of attitude toward
+professional medical aid. Confidence in the wise woman, in the seventh
+son and his "wonderful" power, in the use of charms like green
+worsted, haddock fins, or scrolls of prayer tied round the neck, had
+begun to waver. The world talks still of a blind man made to see
+nineteen hundred years ago; but the coast had recently been more
+thrilled by the tale of a blind man made to see by "these yere
+doctors." One was a man who for seventeen years had given up all hope;
+and two others, old men, parted for years, and whose first occasion of
+seeing again had revealed to them the fact that they were brothers.
+
+Some lame had also been made to walk--persons who had abandoned hope
+quite as much as he who lay for forty years by the Pool of Siloam, or
+for a similar period at the Golden Gate.
+
+One of my first operations had been rendered absolutely inescapable by
+the great pain caused by a tumour in the leg. The patient had insisted
+on having five men sit on her while the operation proceeded, as she
+did not believe it was right to be put to sleep, and, moreover, she
+secretly feared that she might not wake up again. But now the
+conversion of the coast had proceeded so far that many were pleading
+for a winter doctor. At first we did not think it feasible, but my
+colleague, Dr. Willway, finally volunteered to stay at Battle Harbour.
+We loaded him up with all our spare assets against the experiment, the
+hospital being but very ill-equipped for an Arctic winter. When the
+following summer we approached the coast, it was with real
+trepidation that I scanned the land for signs of my derelict friend.
+We felt that he would be gravely altered at least, possibly having
+grown hair all over his face. When an alert, tanned, athletic figure,
+neatly tonsured and barbered, at last leaped over our rail, all our
+sympathy vanished and gave way to jealousy.
+
+One detail, however, had gone wrong. We had anchored our beautiful Sir
+Donald in his care in a harbour off the long bay on the shores of
+which he was wintering. He had seen her once or twice in her ice
+prison, but when he came to look for her in the spring, she had
+mysteriously disappeared. The ice was there still. There wasn't a
+vestige of wreckage. She must have sunk, and the hole frozen up. Yet
+an extended period of "creeping" the bottom with drags and grapples
+had revealed nothing, and, anyhow, the water not being deep, her masts
+should have been easily visible. It was not till some time later that
+we heard from the South that our trusty craft had been picked up some
+three hundred miles to the southward and westward, well out in a heavy
+ice-pack, and right in amongst a big patch of seals, away off on the
+Atlantic. The whole of the bay ice had evidently gone out together,
+taking the ship with it, and the bay had then neatly frozen over
+again. The seal hunters laughingly assured me that they found a patch
+of old "swiles" having tea in the cabin. As the hull of the Sir Donald
+was old, and the size of the boat made good medical work aboard
+impossible, we decided to sell her and try and raise the funds for a
+more seaworthy and capable craft.
+
+Years of experience have subsequently emphasized the fact that if you
+are reasonably resistant, and want to get tough and young again, you
+can do far worse than come and winter on "the lonely Labrador."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE SEAL FISHERY
+
+
+Returning South in the fall of 1895, business necessitated my
+remaining for some time in St. John's, where as previously the
+Governor, Sir Terence O'Brien, very kindly entertained me. It proved
+to be a most exciting time. There were only two banks in the Colony,
+called respectively the Union and the Commercial. These issued all the
+notes used in the country and except for the savings bank had all the
+deposits of the fishermen and people. Suddenly one day I was told,
+though with extreme secrecy, that the two banks were unsound and would
+not again open after Monday morning. This was early on Saturday.
+Business went on as usual, but among the leaders of the country
+consternation was beginning to spread. The banks closed at their usual
+hour--three o 'clock on Saturday, and so far as I knew no one profited
+by the secret knowledge, though later accusations were made against
+some people. The serious nature of the impending disaster never really
+dawned on me, not being either personally concerned in either bank or
+having any experience of finance. When the collection came around at
+the cathedral on Sunday my friend whispered to me, "That silver will
+be valuable to-morrow." It so happened that on Sunday I was dining
+with the Prime Minister, who had befriended all our efforts, and his
+tremendously serious view of the position of the Colony sent me to bed
+full of alarms for my new friends. We were to have sailed for England
+next day and I went down after breakfast to buy my ticket. The agent
+sold it, but remarked, "I am not sure if Newfoundland money is good
+any longer. It is a speculation selling you this ticket." Before we
+sailed the vessel was held up by the Government, as only a few of the
+ships were taking notes at face value. Those of the Commercial Bank
+were only fetching twenty cents. Besides the banks quite a number of
+commercial firms also closed. The directors of the banks were all
+local merchants, and many were heavily indebted to them for supplies
+given out to their "planters," as they call the fishermen whom they
+supply with goods in advance to catch fish for them. It was a sorry
+mix-up, and business was very difficult to carry on because we had no
+medium of exchange. Even the Governor to pay his gardener had to give
+I.O.U. orders on shops--there simply being no currency available.
+
+Matters have long since adjusted themselves, though neither bank ever
+reopened. Larger banks of good standing came in from Canada, and no
+one can find anything of which to complain in the financial affairs of
+the "oldest Colony," even in these days of war.
+
+Newfoundland has a large seal as well as cod fishery. The great
+sealing captains are all aristocrats of the fishermen and certainly
+are an unusually fine set of men. The work calls for peculiar training
+in the hardest of schools, for great self-reliance and resource,
+besides skill in handling men and ships. In those days the doyen of
+the fleet was Captain Samuel Blandford. He fired me with tales of the
+hardships to be encountered and the opportunities and needs for a
+doctor among three hundred men hundreds of miles from anywhere. The
+result was a decision to return early from my lecture tour and go out
+with the seal hunters of the good ship Neptune.
+
+I look back on this as one of the great treats of my life; though I
+believe it to be an industry seriously detrimental to the welfare of
+the people of the Colony and the outside world. For no mammal bringing
+forth but one young a year can stand, when their young are just born
+and are entirely helpless, being attacked by huge steel-protected
+steamers carrying hundreds of men with modern rifles or even clubs.
+Advantage is also taken of the maternal instinct to get the mothers as
+well as the young "fat," if the latter is not obtainable in sufficient
+quantities. Meanwhile the poor scattered people of the northern shores
+of Newfoundland are being absolutely ruined and driven out. They need
+the seals for clothing, boots, fresh food, and fats. They use every
+portion of the few animals which each catches, while the big steamers
+lose thousands which they have killed, by not carrying them at once to
+the ship and leaving them in piles to be picked up later. Moreover, in
+the latter case all the good proteid food of their carcasses is left
+to the sharks and gulls.
+
+At twelve o'clock of March 10, 1896, the good ship Neptune hauled out
+into the stream at St. John's Harbour, Newfoundland, preparatory to
+weighing anchor for the seal fishery. The law allows no vessels to
+sail before 2 P.M. on that day, under a penalty of four thousand
+dollars fine--nor may any seals be killed from the steamers until
+March 14, and at no time on Sundays. The whole city of St. John's
+seemed to be engrossed in the one absorbing topic of the seal fishery.
+It meant if successful some fifty thousand pounds sterling at least to
+the Colony--it meant bread for thousands of people--it meant for days
+and even weeks past that men from far-away outports had been slowly
+collecting at the capital, till the main street was peopled all day
+with anxious-looking crowds, and all the wharves where there was any
+chance of a "berth" to the ice were fairly in a state of siege.
+
+Now let us go down to the dock and visit the ship before she starts.
+She is a large barque-rigged vessel, with auxiliary steam, or rather
+one should say a steamer with auxiliary sails. The first point that
+strikes one is her massive build, her veritable bulldog look as she
+sits on the water. Her sides are some eighteen inches thick, and
+sheathed and resheathed with "greenheart" to help her in battering the
+ice. Inside she is ceiled with English oak and beech, so that her
+portholes look like the arrow slits of the windows of an old feudal
+castle. Her bow is double-stemmed--shot with a broad band of iron, and
+the space of some seventeen feet between the two stems solid with the
+choicest hardwoods. Below decks every corner is adapted to some use.
+There are bags of flour, hard bread, and food for the crew of three
+hundred and twenty men; five hundred tons of coal for the hungry
+engine in her battle with the ice-floe. The vessel carries only about
+eighteen hundred gallons of water and the men use five hundred in a
+day. This, however, is of little consequence, for a party each day
+brings back plenty of ice, which is excellent drinking after being
+boiled. This ice is of very different qualities. Now it is "slob"
+mixed with snow born on the Newfoundland coast. This is called "dirty
+ice" by the sealers. Even it at times packs very thick and is hard to
+get through. Then there is the clearer, heavy Arctic ice with here and
+there huge icebergs frozen in; and again the smoother, whiter variety
+known as "whelping ice"--that is, the Arctic shore ice, born probably
+in Labrador, on which the seals give birth to their pups.
+
+The masters of watches are also called "scunners"--they go up night
+and day in the forebarrel to "scun" the ship--that is, to find the
+way or leads through the ice. This word comes from "con" of the
+conning tower on a man-of-war.
+
+When the morning of the 10th arrives, all is excitement. Fortunately
+this year a southwest wind had blown the ice a mile or so offshore.
+Now all the men are on board. The vessels are in the stream. The flags
+are up; the whistles are blowing. The hour of two approaches at last,
+and a loud cheering, renewed again and again, intimates that the first
+vessel is off, and the S.S. Aurora comes up the harbour. Cheers from
+the ships, the wharves, and the town answer her whistle, and closely
+followed by the S.S. Neptune and S.S. Windsor, she gallantly goes out,
+the leader of the sealing fleet for the year.
+
+There have been two or three great disasters at the seal fishery,
+where numbers of men astray from their vessels in heavy snow blizzards
+on the ice have perished miserably. Sixteen fishermen were once out
+hunting for seals on the frozen ice of Trinity Bay when the wind
+changed and drove the ice offshore. When night came on they realized
+their terrible position and that, with a gale of wind blowing, they
+could not hope to reach land in their small boats. Nothing but an
+awful death stared them in the face, for in order to hunt over the ice
+men must be lightly clad, so as to run and jump from piece to piece.
+Without fire, without food, without sufficient clothing, exposed to
+the pitiless storm on the frozen sea, they endured thirty-six hours
+without losing a life. Finally, they dragged their boats ten miles
+over the ice to the land, where they arrived at last more dead than
+alive.
+
+It is the physical excitement of travelling over broken loose ice on
+the bosom of the mighty ocean, and the skill and athletic qualities
+which the work demands, that makes one love the voyage. Jumping from
+the side of the ship as she goes along, skurrying and leaping from
+ice-pan to ice-pan, and then having killed, "sculped," and "pelted"
+the seal, the exciting return to the vessel! But it has its tragic
+side, for it takes its regular tribute of fine human life.
+
+A Mr. Thomas Green, of Greenspond, while a boy, with his father and
+another man and a 'prentice lad, was tending his seal nets when a
+"dwey" or snowstorm came on, and the boat became unmanageable and
+drifted off to sea. They struck a small island, but drifted off again.
+That night the father and the 'prentice lad died, and next morning the
+other man also. The son dressed himself in all the clothes of the
+other three, whose bodies he kept in the boat. He ate the flesh of an
+old harp seal they had caught in their net. On the third day by
+wonderful luck he gaffed an old seal in the slob ice. This he hauled
+in and drank the warm blood. On the fifth day he killed a white-coat,
+and thinking that he saw a ship he walked five miles over the floe,
+leaving his boat behind. The phantom ship proved to be an island of
+ice, and in the night he had to tramp back to his open punt. On the
+seventh day he was really beginning to give up hope when a vessel, the
+Flora, suddenly hove in sight. He shouted loudly as it was dark,
+whereupon she immediately tacked as if to leave him. Again he shouted,
+"For God's sake, don't leave me with my dead father here!" The words
+were plainly heard on board, and the vessel hove to. The watch had
+thought that his previous shouting was of supernatural origin. He and
+his boat with its pitiful load were picked up and sent back home by a
+passing vessel.
+
+On this particular voyage we were lucky enough to come early into the
+seals. From the Conner's barrel, in which I spent a great deal of
+time, we saw one morning black dots spread away in thousands all over
+the ice-floes through which we were butting, ramming, and fighting our
+way. All hands were over the side at once, and very soon patients
+began needing a doctor. Here a cut, there a wrench or sprain, and
+later came thirty or forty at a time with snow-blindness or
+conjunctivitis--very painful and disabling, though not fatal to sight.
+
+One morning we had been kept late relieving these various slight
+ailments, and the men being mostly out on the ice made me think that
+they were among the seals; so I started out alone as soon as I could
+slip over the side to join them. This, however, I failed to do till
+late in the afternoon, when the strong wind, which had kept the loose
+ice packed together, dropped, and in less than no time it was all
+"running abroad." The result naturally is that one cannot get along
+except by floating on one piece to another, and that is a slow process
+without oars. It came on dark and a dozen of us who had got together
+decided to make for a large pan not far distant; but were obliged to
+give it up, and wait for the ship which had long gone out of sight. To
+keep warm we played "leap-frog," "caps," and "hop, skip, and jump"--at
+which some were very proficient. We ate our sugar and oatmeal, mixed
+with some nice clear snow; and then, shaving our wooden seal bat
+handles, and dipping them into the fat of the animals which we had
+killed, we made a big blaze periodically to attract the attention of
+the ship.
+
+It was well into the night before we were picked up; and no sooner had
+we climbed over the rail than the skipper came and gave us the best or
+worst "blowing-up" I ever received since my father spanked me. He told
+me afterwards that his good heart was really so relieved by our safe
+return that he was scarcely conscious of what he said. Indeed, any
+words which might have been considered as unparliamentary he asked me
+to construe as gratitude to God.
+
+Our captain was a passenger on and prospective captain of the S.S.
+Tigris when she picked up those members of the ill-fated Polaris
+expedition who had been five months on the ice-pans. He had gone below
+from his watch and daylight was just breaking when the next watch came
+and reported a boat and some people on a large pan, with the American
+flag flying. A kayak came off and Hans, an Eskimo, came alongside and
+said, "Ship lost. Captain gone." Boats were immediately lowered and
+nineteen persons, including two women and one baby, born on the
+ice-pan, came aboard amidst cheers renewed again and again. They had
+to be washed and fed, cleaned and clothed. The two officers were
+invited to live aft and the remainder of the rescued party being
+pestered to death by the sealing crew in the forecastle, it was
+decided to abandon the sealing trip, and the brave explorers were
+carried to St. John's, the American people eventually indemnifying the
+owners of the Tigris.
+
+In hunting my patients I started round with a book and pencil
+accompanied by the steward carrying a candle and matches. The invalids
+were distributed in the four holds--the after, the main, forecastle,
+and foretop-gallant-forecastle. I never went round without a bottle of
+cocaine solution in my pocket for the snow-blind men, who suffered the
+most excruciating pain, often rolling about and moaning as if in a
+kind of frenzy, and to whom the cocaine gave wonderful relief. Very
+often I found that I must miss one or even both holds on my first
+rounds, for the ladders were gone and seals and coals were exchanging
+places in them during the first part of the day. Once down, however,
+one shouts out, "Is there any one here?" No answer. Louder still, "Is
+there any one here?" Perhaps a distant cough answers from some dark
+recess, and the steward and I begin a search. Then we go round
+systematically, climbing over on the barrels, searching under sacks,
+and poking into recesses, and after all occasionally missing one or
+two in our search. It seems a peculiarity about the men, that though
+they will lie up, they will not always say anything about it. The
+holds were very damp and dirty, but the men seemed to improve in
+health and fattened like the young seals. It must have been the pork,
+doughs, and excellent fresh meat of the seal. We had boiled or fried
+seal quite often with onions, and I must say that it was excellent
+eating--far more palatable than the dried codfish, which, when one has
+any ice work, creates an intolerable thirst.
+
+The rats were making a huge noise one night and a barrel man gave it
+as his opinion that we should have a gale before long; but a glorious
+sunshine came streaming down upon us next morning, and we decided
+perforce the rats were evidently a little previous.
+
+On Sunday I had a good chance to watch the seals. They came up, simply
+stared at the ship; now from sheer fat rolling on their backs, and
+lying for a few seconds tail and flippers beating the air helpless.
+These baby seals resemble on the ice nothing so much as the South Sea
+parrot fish--that is, a complete round head, with somewhere in the
+sphere two huge black dots for eyes and a similar one for a nose.
+These three form the corners of a small triangle, and except for the
+tail one could not easily tell which was the back and which the belly
+of a young white-coat--especially in stormy weather. For it is a
+well-ascertained fact that Nature makes the marvellous provision that
+in storm and snow they grow fattest and fastest. I have marvelled
+greatly how it is possible for any hot-blooded creature to enjoy so
+immensely this terribly cold water as do these old seals. They paddle
+about, throw themselves on their backs, float and puff out their
+breasts, flapping their flippers like paws over their chests.
+
+Sunday morning we were lying off Fogo Island when some men came aboard
+and reported the wreck of the S.S. Wolf in the ice. She got round the
+island, a wind offshore having cleared the ice from the land. Three
+other vessels were behind her. Hardly, however, had she got round when
+the northerly wind brought the ice back. The doomed ship now lay
+between the main or fixed frozen shore ice and the immense floe which
+was impelled by the north wind acting on its whole irregular surface.
+The force was irresistible. The Wolf backed and butted and got twenty
+yards into a nook in the main ice, and lay there helpless as an
+infant. On then swept the floe, crashed into the fixed ice, shattered
+its edge, rose up out of water over it, which is called "rafting,"
+forced itself on the unfortunate ship, rose over her bulwarks, crushed
+in her sides, and only by nipping her tightly avoided sinking her
+immediately. Seeing that all was lost, Captain Kean got the men and
+boats onto the pans, took all they could save of food and clothes, but
+before he had saved his own clothing, the ice parted enough to let her
+through and she sank like a stone, her masts catching and breaking in
+pieces as she went. A sorrowful march for the shore now began over the
+ice, as the three hundred men started for home, carrying as much as
+they could on their backs. Many would have to face empty cupboards and
+hard times; all would have days of walking and rowing and camping
+before they could get home. One hundred miles would be the least, two
+and even three hundred for some, before they could reach their own
+villages. Some of these poor fellows had walked nearly two hundred
+miles to get a chance of going on the lost ship, impelled by hunger
+and necessity. Alas, we felt very sad for them and for Captain Kean,
+who had to face almost absolute ruin on account of this great loss.
+
+The heaving of the great pans, like battering-rams against the sides
+of the Neptune, made a woesome noise below decks. I was often glad of
+her thirty-six inches of hardwood covering. Every now and then she
+steamed ahead a little and pressed into the ice to prevent this. I
+tried to climb on one of the many icebergs, but the heavy swell made
+it dangerous. At every swell it rolled over and back some eight feet,
+and as I watched it I understood how an iceberg goes to wind. For it
+acted exactly like a steam plough, crashing down onto one large pan as
+it rolled, and then, as it rolled back, lifting up another and
+smashing it from beneath. A regular battle seemed to be going on, with
+weird sounds of blows and groanings of the large masses of ice.
+Sometimes as pieces fell off the water would rush up high on the side
+of the berg. For some reason or other the berg had red-and-white
+streaks, and looked much like an ornamental pudding.
+
+At latitude 50.18, about Funk Island, is one of the last refuges of
+the great auk. A few years ago, the earth, such as there is on these
+lonely rocks, was sifted for the bones of that extinct bird, and I
+think three perfect skeletons, worth a hundred pounds sterling each,
+were put together from the remnants discovered. One day the captain
+told me that he held on there in a furious gale for some time. Masses
+of ice, weighing thirty or forty tons, were hurled high up and lodged
+on the top of the island. Some men went out to "pan" seals on a large
+pan. Seven hundred of the animals had been placed on one of them, and
+the men had just left it, when a furious breaking sea took hold of
+the pan and threw it completely upside down.
+
+I am never likely to forget the last lovely Sunday. We had nearly "got
+our voyage"; at least no one was anxious now for the credit of the
+ship. The sunshine was blazing hot as it came from above and below at
+the same time, and the blue sky over the apparently boundless field of
+heaving "floe" on which we lay made a contrast which must be seen to
+be appreciated. I had brought along a number of pocket hymn-books and
+in the afternoon we lay out on the high fore-deck and sang and talked,
+unworried by callers and the thousand interruptions of the land. Then
+we had evening prayers together, Catholic and Protestant alike; and
+for my part I felt the nearness of God's presence as really as I have
+felt it in the mysterious environment of the most magnificent
+cathedral. Eternal life seemed so close, as if it lay just over that
+horizon of ice, in the eternal blue beyond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THREE YEARS' WORK IN THE BRITISH ISLES
+
+
+In the spring of 1897 I was asked by the Council to sail to Iceland
+with a view to opening work there, in response to a petition sent in
+to the Board by the Hearn longliners and trawlers, who were just
+beginning their vast fishery in those waters from Hull and Grimsby.
+
+Having chosen a smaller vessel, so as to leave the hospital ship free
+for work among the fleets, we set sail for Iceland in June. The fight
+with the liquor traffic which the Mission had been waging had now been
+successful in driving the sale of intoxicants from the North Sea by
+international agreement; but the proverbial whiskey still continued
+its filibustering work in the Scotch seaports. As our men at times had
+to frequent these ports we were anxious to make it easier for them to
+walk straight while they were ashore.
+
+We therefore called at Aberdeen on the way and anchored off the first
+dock. The beautiful Seaman's Home there was on the wrong side of the
+harbour for the vessels, and was not offering exactly what was needed.
+So we obtained leave to put a hull in the basin, with a first-aid
+equipment, refreshments, lounge and writing-rooms, and with simple
+services on Sunday. This boat commenced then and there, and was run
+for some years under Captain Skiff; till she made way for the present
+homely little Fishermen's Institute exactly across the road from the
+docks before you came to the saloons.
+
+I shall not soon forget our first view of the cliffs of the southern
+coast of Iceland. We had called at Thorshaven in the Faroe group to
+see what we could learn of the boats fishing near Rockall; but none
+were there at the time. As we had no chronometers on our own boat we
+were quite unable to tell our longitude--a very much-needed bit of
+information, for we had had fog for some days, and anyhow none of us
+knew anything about the coast.
+
+We brought up under the shadow of the mighty cliffs and were debating
+our whereabouts, when we saw an English sailing trawler about our own
+size, with his nets out close in under the land. So we threw out our
+boat and boarded him for information. He proved to be a Grimsby
+skipper, and we received the usual warm reception which these
+Yorkshire people know so well how to give. But to my amazement he was
+unable to afford us the one thing which we really desired. "I've been
+coming this way, man and boy, for forty years," he assured me. "But I
+can't read the chart, and I knows no more of the lay of the land than
+you does yourself. I don't use no chart beyond what's in my head."
+
+With this we were naturally not content, so we sent back to the boat
+for our own sheet chart to try and get more satisfactory information.
+But when it lay on the table in this old shellback's cabin all he did
+was to put down on it a huge and horny thumb that was nearly large
+enough to cover the whole historic island, and "guess we were
+somewhere just about here."
+
+Our cruise carried us all round the island--the larger part of our
+time being spent off the Vestmann Islands and the mouth of Brede Bugt,
+the large bay in which Reikyavik lies. It was off these islands that
+Eric the Red threw his flaming sticks into the sea. The first brand
+which alighted on the land directed him where to locate his new
+headquarters. Reikyavik means "smoking village," so called from the
+vapours of the hot streams which come out of the ground near by.
+
+There is no night on the coast in summer; and even though we were a
+Mission ship we found it a real difficulty to keep tab of Sundays. The
+first afternoon that I went visiting aboard a large trawler, the
+extraordinary number of fish and the specimens of unfamiliar varieties
+kept me so interested that I lost all count of time, and when at last
+hunger prompted me to look at my watch I found that it was exactly
+1.30 A.M.
+
+At that time so many plaice and flatfish were caught at every haul,
+and they were so much more valuable than cod and haddock, that it was
+customary not to burden the vessel on her long five days' journey to
+market with round fish at all. These were, however, hauled up so
+rapidly to the surface from great depths that they had no time to
+accommodate the tension in their swimming bladders to the diminished
+pressure, with the result that when thrown overboard they were all
+left swimming upside down. A pathetic wake of white-bellied fish would
+stretch away for half a mile behind the vessel, over which countless
+screaming gulls and other birds were fighting. A sympathy for their
+horribly unprotected helplessness always left an uneasy sinking
+feeling at the pit of my own stomach. The waste has, however, righted
+itself in the course of years by the simple process of an increasing
+scarcity of the species, making it pay to save all haddock, cod, hake,
+ling, and other fish good for food, formerly so ruthlessly cast away.
+
+One had many interesting experiences in this voyage, some of which
+have been of no small value subsequently. But the best lesson was the
+optimism and contentment of one's fellows, who had apparently so few
+of the things that only tyrannize the lives of those who live for
+them. They were a simple, kindly, helpful people, living in a country
+barren and frigid beyond all others, with no trees except in one
+extreme corner of the island. The cows were literally fed on salt
+codfish and the tails of whales, and the goats grazed on the roofs of
+the houses, where existed the only available grass. There were dry,
+hard, and almost larval deposits over the whole surface of the land
+which is not occupied by perpetual snow and ice. The hot springs which
+abound in some regions only suggest a forlorn effort on the part of
+Nature at the last moment to save the situation. The one asset of the
+country is its fisheries, and of these the whale and seal fisheries
+were practically handed over to Norwegians; while large French and
+English boats fell like wolves on the fish, which the poor natives had
+no adequate means of securing for themselves.
+
+We were fishing one day in Seyde Fjord on the east coast, when
+suddenly with much speed and excitement the great net was hauled, and
+we started with several other trawlers to dash pell-mell for the open
+sea. The alarm of masts and smoke together on the horizon had been
+given--the sign manual of the one poor Danish gunboat which was
+supposed to control the whole swarm of far smarter little pirates,
+which lived like mosquitoes by sucking their sustenance from others.
+The water was as a general rule too deep outside the three-mile limit
+for legitimate fishing.
+
+The mention of Iceland brings to every one's mind the name of Pierre
+Loti. We saw many of the "pecheurs d'islande" whom he so effectively
+portrays; and often felt sorry enough for them, fishing as they still
+were from old square-rigged wind-jammers. On some of these which had
+been months on the voyage, enough green weed had grown "to feed a
+cow"--as the mate put it.
+
+On our return home we reported the need of a Mission vessel on the
+coast, but the difficulty of her being where she was wanted at the
+right time, over such an extended fishery ground, was very
+considerable. We decided that only a steam hospital trawler would be
+of any real value--unless a small cottage hospital could be started in
+Seyde Fjord, to which the sick and injured could be taken.
+
+It was now thought wise that I should take a holiday, and thus through
+the kindness of my former chief, Sir Frederick Treves, then surgeon to
+the King, whose life he had been the means of saving, I found myself
+for a time his guest on the Scilly Islands. There we could divert our
+minds from our different occupations, conjuring up visions of heroes
+like Sir Cloudesley Shovel, who lost his life here, and of the scenes
+of daring and of death that these beautiful isles out in the Atlantic
+have witnessed. Nor did we need Charles Kingsley to paint for us again
+the visit of Angus Lee and Salvation Yeo, for Sir Frederick, as his
+book, "The Cradle of the Deep," shows, is a past-master in buccaneer
+lore. Besides that we had with us his nephew, the famous novel writer,
+A.E.W. Mason.
+
+Treves, with his usual insatiable energy, had organized a grand
+regatta to be held at St. Mary's, at which the Governor of the island,
+the Duke of Wellington, and a host of visiting big-wigs were to be
+present. One event advertised as a special attraction was a
+life-saving exhibition to be given by local experts from the judges'
+stage opposite the grand stand on the pier. This, Mason and I, being
+little more than ornaments in the other events, decided to try and
+improve upon. Dressed as a somewhat antiquated lady, just at the
+psychological moment Mason fell off the pier head with a loud
+scream--when, disguised as an aged clergyman, wildly gesticulating,
+and cramming my large beaver hat hard down on my head, I dived in to
+rescue him. A real scene ensued. We were dragged out with such energy
+that the lady lost her skirt, and on reaching the pier fled for the
+boat-house clad only in a bonnet and bodice over a bathing-suit.
+Although the local press wrote up the affair as genuine, the secret
+somehow leaked out, and we had to make our bow at the prize
+distribution the following evening.
+
+Only parts of the winter seasons could be devoted to raising money.
+The general Mission budget had to be taken care of as well as the
+special funds; besides which one had to superintend the North Sea
+work. Thus the summer of 1897 was spent in Iceland as above described,
+and some of the winter in the North Sea. The spring, summer, and part
+of the fall of 1898 were occupied by the long Irish trip, which
+established work among the spring herring and mackerel men from
+Crookhaven.
+
+On leaving England for one of these North Sea trips I was delayed and
+missed the hospital ship, so that later I was obliged to transfer to
+her on the high seas from the little cutter which had kindly carried
+me out to the fishing grounds. Friends had been good enough to give me
+several little delicacies on my departure, and I had, moreover, some
+especially cherished personal possessions which I desired to have with
+me on the voyage. These choice treasures consisted of some eggs, a
+kayak, a kodak, a chronometer, and a leg of mutton! After I was safely
+aboard the Mission hospital ship I found to my chagrin that in my
+anxiety to transfer the eggs, the kayak, the kodak, the chronometer,
+and especially the leg of mutton to the Albert, I had forgotten my
+personal clothing. I appreciated the fact that a soaking meant a
+serious matter, as I had to stay in bed till my things, which were
+drenched during my passage in the small boat, were dry again.
+
+It was on this same voyage that a man, badly damaged, sent off for a
+doctor. It was a dirty dark morning, "thick o' rain," and a nasty sea
+was running, but we were really glad of a chance of doing anything to
+relieve the monotony. So we booted and oil-skinned, sou'-westered and
+life-jacketed, till we looked like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and felt
+much as I expect a German student does when he is bandaged and padded
+till he can hardly move, preparatory to his first duel. The boat was
+launched and eagerly announcing the fact by banging loudly and
+persistently on the Albert's side. Our two lads, Topsy and Sam, were
+soon in the boat, adopting the usual North Sea recipe for transit: (1)
+Lie on the rail full length so as not to get your legs and hands
+jammed. (2) Wait till the boat bounces in somewhere below you. (3) Let
+go! It is not such a painful process as one might imagine, especially
+when one is be-padded as we were. The stretcher was now handed in, and
+a bag of splints and bandages. "All gone!" shouted simultaneously the
+mate and crew, who had risked a shower bath on deck to see us off; and
+after a vicious little crack from the Albert's quarter as we dropped
+astern, we found ourselves rushing away before the rolling waters,
+experiencing about the same sensation one can imagine a young sea-gull
+feels when he begins to fly.
+
+While the skipper was at work in the tobacco locker one morning he
+heard a fisherman say that he had taken poison.
+
+"Where did you get it?"
+
+"I got it from the Albert."
+
+"Who gave it to you?"
+
+"Skipper ----" mentioning the skipper's name.
+
+At this the skipper came out trembling, wondering what he had done
+wrong now.
+
+"Well, you see it was this way. Our skipper had a bad leg, so as I was
+going aboard for some corf mixture, he just arst me to get him a drop
+of something to rub in. Well, the skipper here gives me a bottle of
+red liniment for our skipper's leg, and a big bottle of corf mixture
+for me, but by mistake I drinks the liniment and gave the corf mixture
+to our skipper to rub in his leg. I only found out that there
+yesterday, so I knew I were poisoned, and I've been lying up ever
+since."
+
+"How long ago did you get the medicine?"
+
+"About a fortnight."
+
+This man had got it into his head that he was poisoned, and nothing on
+earth would persuade him to the contrary, so he was put to bed in the
+hospital. For three meals he had nothing but water and a dose of
+castor oil. By the next time dinner came round the patient really
+began to think he was on the mend, and remarked that "he began to feel
+real hungry like." It was just marvellous how much better he was
+before tea. He went home to his old smack, cured, and greatly
+impressed with the capacity of the medical profession.
+
+The first piece of news that reached us in the spring was that the Sir
+Donald had been found frozen in the floe ice far out on the Atlantic.
+No one was on board her, and there was little of any kind in her, but
+even the hardy crew of Newfoundland sealers who found her, as they
+wandered over the floating ice-fields in search of seals, did not fail
+to appreciate the weird and romantic suggestions of a derelict Mission
+steamer, keeping her lonely watch on that awful, deathlike waste. She
+had been left at Assizes Harbour, usually an absolutely safe haven of
+rest. But she was not destined to end her chequered career so
+peacefully, for the Arctic ice came surging in and froze fast to her
+devoted sides, then bore her bodily into the open sea, as if to give
+her a fitting burial. The sealing ship Ranger passed her a friendly
+rope, and she at length felt the joyful life of the rolling ocean
+beneath her once more, and soon lay safely ensconced in the harbour at
+St. John's. Here she was sold by auction, and part of the proceeds
+divided as her ransom to her plucky salvors.
+
+The money which could be especially devoted to the new steamer for
+Labrador, over and above the general expenses, was not forthcoming
+until 1899, when the contract for building the ship was given to a
+firm at Dartmouth in Devon. The chief donor of the new boat was again
+Lord Strathcona, after whom she was subsequently named.
+
+On June 27, 1899, the Strathcona was launched, and christened by Lady
+Curzon-Howe. When the word was given to let go, without the slightest
+hitch or roll the ship slid steadily down the ways into the water. The
+band played "Eternal Father," "God save the Queen," and "Life on the
+Ocean Wave." Lord Curzon-Howe was formerly commodore upon the station
+embracing the Newfoundland and Labrador coast. Lord Strathcona
+regretted his enforced absence and sent "Godspeed" to the new steamer.
+
+She arrived at Gorleston July 18, proving an excellent sea-boat, with
+light coal consumption. She is larger than the vessel in which Drake
+sailed round the world, or Dampier raided the Spanish Main, or than
+the Speedy, which Earl Dundonald made the terror of the French and
+Spanish.
+
+In the fall of 1899 the hull of the Strathcona was completely
+finished, and I brought her round, an empty shell, to fit her up at
+our Yarmouth wharf; after which, in company with a young Oxford
+friend, Alfred Beattie, we left for the Labrador, crossing to Tilt
+Cove, Newfoundland, direct from Swansea in an empty copper ore tanker,
+the Kilmorack. On this I was rated as purser at twenty-five cents for
+the trip. Most tramps can roll, but an empty tanker going west against
+prevailing winds in the "roaring forties" can certainly give points to
+the others. Her slippery iron decks and the involuntary sideways
+excursions into the scuppers still spring into my mind when a certain
+Psalm comes round in the Church calendar, with its "that thy footsteps
+slip not." We were a little delayed by what is known as wind-jamming,
+and we used to kill time by playing tennis in the huge empty hold.
+This occupation, under the circumstances, supplied every kind of
+diversion.
+
+The mine at Tilt Cove is situated in a hole in the huge headland which
+juts out far into the Atlantic, in the northern end of Newfoundland.
+Communication in these days was very meagre. No vessel would be
+available for us to get North for a fortnight. It so happened,
+however, that the Company's doctor had long been waiting a chance to
+get married, but his contract never allowed him to leave the mine
+without a medical man while it was working. I therefore found myself
+welcomed with open arms, and incidentally practising in his place the
+very next day--he having skipped in a boat after his bride. The
+exchange had been ratified by the captain of the mine on the assurance
+that I would not leave before he returned. It was absolutely essential
+that I should not let the next north-bound steamer go by. The season
+was already far advanced; and yet when the day on which she was due
+arrived, there was no sign of the doctor and his wife. It was a kind
+of Damon and Pythias experience--only Pythias got back late by a few
+hours in spite of all his efforts, and Damon would have had to pay the
+piper if the captain of the mine had not permitted me to proceed.
+
+   [Illustration: THE STRATHCONA]
+
+The narrow road around the cavernous basin in the cliffs leaves only
+just room for the line of houses between the lake in the middle and
+the precipice behind. Only a few years later an avalanche overwhelmed
+the house of Captain Williams, and he and his family perished in it.
+During the days I was at the mine the news travelled by grapevine
+telegraph that the Mission doctor from England had come to the
+village, and every one took advantage of it. The plan there was to pay
+so much per month, well or ill, for the doctor. The work was easy at
+first, but by the time I left every living being seemed to me to have
+contracted some disease. For each succeeding day my surgery got
+fuller, until on the last morning even the yard and road contained
+waiting patients. Whose fault it was has always been a problem to me;
+but it added a fresh reason for wishing to leave punctually, so that
+one might not risk outliving one's reputation.
+
+In October, 1899, I wrote to my mother: "We have just steamed into
+Battle Harbour and guns and flags gave us a welcome after our three
+years' absence. The hospital was full and looked splendid. What a
+change from the day, now seven years ago, that we first landed and had
+only a partially finished house! What an oasis for patients from the
+bleak rocks outside! I never thought to remain so long in this
+country."
+
+Here we boarded the little Mission steamer, but no human agency is
+perfect, and even the Julia Sheriden had her faults. Her gait on this
+fall voyage was suggestive of inebriety, and at times gave rise to the
+anxious sensations one experiences when one sees a poor victim of the
+saloon returning home along a pavement near much traffic.
+
+While in England we had received letters from the north coast of
+Newfoundland, begging us to again include their shores in our visits,
+and especially to establish a definite winter station at St. Anthony.
+The people claimed, and rightly, to be very poor. One man with a large
+family, whom I knew well, as he had acted guide for me on hunting
+expeditions, wrote: "Come and start a station here if you can. My
+family and I are starving." Dr. Aspland wrote that every one was
+strongly in favour of our taking up a Mission hospital in North
+Newfoundland. We felt that we should certainly reach a very large
+number of people whom we now failed to touch, and that careful
+inquiries should be made.
+
+Life on the French shore has been a struggle with too many families to
+keep off actual starvation. For instance, one winter at St. Anthony a
+man with a large family, and a fine, capable, self-respecting fellow,
+was nine days without tasting any flour or bread, or anything besides
+roast seal meat. Others were even worse off, for this man was a keen
+hunter, and with his rickety old single-barrel, boy's muzzle-loading
+gun used to wander alone far out over the frozen sea, with an empty
+stomach as well, trying to get a seal or a bird for his family. At
+last he shot a square flipper seal and dragged it home. The rumour of
+his having killed it preceded his arrival, and even while skinning it
+a crowd of hungry men were waiting for their share of the fat. Not
+that any was due to them, but here there is a delightful
+semi-community of goods.
+
+Fish was then only fetching two or three dollars a hundredweight,
+salted and dried. The price of necessities depended on the conscience
+of the individual supplier and the ignorance of the people. The truck
+system was universal; thrift at a discount--and the sin of Ananias an
+all too common one; that is, taking supplies from one man and
+returning to him only part of the catch. The people in the north end
+of Newfoundland and Labrador were very largely illiterate; the
+sectarian schools split up the grants for teachers--as they still most
+unfortunately do--and miserable salaries, permitting teachers only for
+a few months at a time, were the rule.
+
+I had once spent a fortnight at St. Anthony, having taken refuge there
+in the Princess May when I was supposed to be lost by those who were
+cut off from communication with us. I had also looked in there each
+summer to see a few patients. My original idea was to get a winter
+place established for our Indian Harbour staff, and I proposed opening
+up there each October when Indian Harbour closed, and closing in June
+when navigation was reopened, Battle Harbour again accessible, and
+when the man-of-war doctors are more on this section of the coast.
+
+The snow was deep on the ground long before our voyage ended. There is
+always a romantic charm about cruising in the fall of the year on the
+Labrador. The long nights and the heavy gales add to the interest of
+the day's work. The shelter of the islands becomes a positive joy; the
+sense of safety in the harbours and fjords is as real a pleasure as
+the artificial attractions of civilization. The tang of the air, the
+young ice that makes every night, the fantastic midnight dances of the
+November auroras in the winter sky, all make one forget the petty
+worries of the daily round.
+
+As Beattie agreed to stay with me it was with real keenness to sample
+a sub-arctic winter that in November we disembarked from the Julia
+Sheriden. We made only the simplest preparations, renting a couple of
+rooms in the chief trader's house and hiring my former guide as
+dog-driver.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+FIRST WINTER AT ST. ANTHONY
+
+
+Not one of the many who have wintered with us in the North has failed
+to love our frozen season. To me it was one long delight. The
+dog-driving, the intimate relationships with the people on whom one
+was so often absolutely dependent, the opportunity to use to the real
+help of good people in distress the thousand and one small things
+which we had learned--all these made the knowledge that we were shut
+off from the outside world rather a pleasure than a cause for regret.
+
+Calls for the doctor were constant. I spent but three Sundays at home
+the whole time, and my records showed fifteen hundred miles covered
+with dogs.
+
+The Eskimo dog is so strong and enduring that he is the doyen of
+traction power in the North, when long distances and staying qualities
+are required. But for short, sharp dashes of twenty to thirty miles
+the lighter built and more vivacious Straits dog is the speedier and
+certainly the less wolfish. We have attempted crossbreeding our
+somewhat squat-legged Eskimo dogs with Kentucky wolf hounds, to
+combine speed with endurance. The mail-carrier from Fullerton to
+Winnipeg found that combination very desirable. With us, however, it
+did not succeed. The pups were lank and weedy and not nearly so
+capable as the ordinary Straits breed.
+
+The real Labrador dog is a very slightly modified wolf. A good
+specimen stands two feet six inches, or even two feet eight inches
+high at the shoulder, measures over six feet six inches from the tip
+of the nose to the tip of the tail, and will scale a hundred pounds.
+The hair is thick and straight; the ears are pointed and stand
+directly up. The large, bushy tail curves completely over on to the
+back, and is always carried erect. The colour is generally tawny, like
+that of a gray wolf, with no distinctive markings. The general
+resemblance to wolves is so great that at Davis Inlet, where wolves
+come out frequently in winter, the factor has seen his team mixed with
+a pack of wolves on the beach in front of the door, and yet could not
+shoot, being unable to distinguish one from the other. The Eskimo dog
+never barks, but howls exactly like a wolf, in sitting posture with
+the head upturned. The Labrador wolf has never been known to kill a
+man, but during the years I have spent in that country I have known
+the dogs to kill two children and one man, and to eat the body of
+another. Our dogs have little or no fear, and unlike the wolves, will
+unhesitatingly attack even the largest polar bear.
+
+No amount of dry cold seems to affect the dogs. At 50 deg. F. below zero,
+a dog will lie out on the ice and sleep without danger of frost-bite.
+He may climb out of the sea with ice forming all over his fur, but he
+seems not to mind one iota. I have seen his breath freeze so over his
+face that he had to rub the coating off his eyes with his paws to
+enable him to see the track.
+
+The dogs have a wonderful instinct for finding their way under almost
+insurmountable difficulties, and they have oftentimes been the means
+of saving the lives of their masters. Once I was driving a distance of
+seventy miles across country. The path was untravelled for the winter,
+and was only a direction, not being cut or blazed. The leading dog had
+been once across the previous year with the doctor. The "going" had
+then been very bad; with snow and fog the journey had taken three
+days. A large part of the way lay across wide frozen lakes, and
+then through woods. As I had never been that way before I had to leave
+it to the dog. Without a single fault, as far as we knew, he took us
+across, and we accomplished the whole journey in twelve hours,
+including one and a half hours for rest and lunch.
+
+   [Illustration: THREE OF THE DOCTOR'S DOGS]
+
+The distance travelled and the average speed attained depends largely
+on other factors than the dog power. We have covered seventy-five
+miles in a day with comfort; we have done five with difficulty.
+Ordinary speed would be six miles an hour, but I once did twenty-one
+miles in two hours and a quarter over level ice. Sails can sometimes
+be used with advantage on the komatik as an adjunct. The whole charm
+of dog-team driving lies in its infinite variety of experiences, the
+personal study of each dog, and the need for one's strength, courage,
+and resourcefulness.
+
+South and north of the little village of St. Anthony where we had
+settled were other similar villages; and we decided that we could make
+a round tour every second month at least. We soon found, however, a
+great difficulty in getting started, because we always had some
+patients in houses near about, whom we felt that we could not leave.
+So we selected a motherly woman, whom we had learned that we could
+trust to obey orders and not act on her own initiative and judgment,
+and trained her as best we could to deal with some of these sick
+people. Then, having borrowed and outfitted a couple of rooms in a
+friend's house, we left our serious cases under her care, and started
+for a month's travel with all the optimism of youth.
+
+Weight on your komatik is a vital question, and not knowing for what
+you may be called upon, makes the outfitting an art. I give the
+experience of years. The sledge should be eleven feet long. Its
+runners should be constructed of black spruce grown in the Far North
+where wood grows slowly and is very tough, and yet quite light. The
+runners should be an inch thick, eleven inches high, and about
+twenty-six inches apart, the bottoms rising at the back half an inch,
+as well as at the front toward the horns. The laths are fastened on
+with alternate diagonal lashings, are two inches wide, and close
+together. Such a komatik will "work" like a snake, adapting itself to
+the inequalities of the ground, and will not spread or "buckle." Long
+nails are driven up right through the runners, and clinched on the top
+to prevent splitting. The runners should be shod with spring steel,
+one inch wide; and a second runner, two and a half inches wide, may be
+put between the lower one and the wood, to hold up the sledge when the
+snow is soft. Thus one has on both a skate and a snowshoe at once. The
+dogs' traces should be of skin and fastened with toggles or buttons to
+the bowline. Dog food must be distributed along the komatik trail in
+summer--though the people will make great sacrifices to feed "the
+Doctor's team."
+
+Clothing must be light; to perspire in cold weather is unpardonable,
+for it will freeze inside your clothes at night. Fortunately warmth
+depends only on keeping heat in; and we find an impervious, light,
+dressed canvas best. The kossak should be made with, so to speak, no
+neck through which the heat which one produces can leak out. The
+headpiece must be attached to the tunic, which also clips tight round
+the wrists and round the waist to retain the heat. The edges may be
+bound with fur, especially about the hood, so as to be soft and tight
+about the face, and to keep the air out. The Eskimo cuts his own hair
+so as to fill that function. Light sealskin boots are best for all
+weathers, but in very cold, dry seasons, deerskin dressed very soft
+is warmer. The skin boot should be sewn with sinew which swells in
+water and thus keeps the stitches water-tight. These skin boots are
+made by the Eskimo women who chew the edges of the skin to make them
+soft before sewing them with deer sinew. The little Eskimo girls on
+the North Labrador coast are proficient in the art of chewing, as they
+are brought up from childhood to help their mothers in this way, the
+women having invariably lost their teeth at a very early age.
+
+A light rifle should always be lashed on the komatik, as a rabbit, a
+partridge, or a deer gives often a light to the eyes with the fresh
+proteids they afford, like Jonathan's wild honey. In these
+temperatures, with the muscular exercise required, my strictest of
+vegetarian friends should permit us to bow in the House of Rimmon. One
+day while crossing a bay I noticed some seals popping up their heads
+out of the water beyond the ice edge. I had a fine leading dog bearing
+the unromantic name of Podge, and pure white in colour. But he was an
+excellent water dog, trained not only to go for birds, but to dive
+under water for sunken seals. Owing to their increasing fat in winter,
+seals as a rule float, though they invariably sink in summer. On this
+particular occasion, having hitched up the team we crept out to the
+ice edge, Podge following at my heels. Lying still on the ice, and
+just occasionally lifting and waggling one's leg when the seal put up
+his head, he mistook one for a basking brother, and being a very
+curious animal, he again dived, and came up a few feet away. We shot
+two, both of which Podge dived after and retrieved, to the unbounded
+joy both of ourselves and his four-footed chums, who more than gladly
+shared the carcasses with him later.
+
+A friend, returning from an island, was jogging quietly along on the
+bay ice, when his team suddenly went wild. A bear had crossed close
+ahead, and before he could unlash his rifle the komatik had dashed
+right onto the animal, who, instead of running, stood up and showed
+fight. The team were all around him, rapidly snarling themselves up in
+their own traces. He had just time to draw his hunting knife across
+the traces and so save the dogs, caring much more for them than he did
+for the prey. Whilst his dogs held the attention of the bear, he was
+able, though only a few feet away, to unlash his rifle at his leisure,
+and very soon ended the conflict.
+
+A gun, however, is a temptation, even to a doctor, and nearly cost one
+of my colleagues his life. He was crossing a big divide, or neck of
+land, between bays, and was twenty miles from anywhere, when his dogs
+took the trail of some deer, which were evidently not far off. Being
+short of fresh food, he hitched up his team, and also his pilot's
+team, leaving only his boy driver in charge, while the men pursued the
+caribou. He enjoined the boy very strictly not to move on any account.
+By an odd freak a sudden snowstorm swept out of a clear sky just after
+they left. They missed their way, and two days later, starving and
+tired out, they found their first refuge, a small house many miles
+from the spot where they had left the sledges. When, however, they
+sent a relief team to find the komatiks, they discovered the boy still
+"standing by" his charge.
+
+When crossing wide stretches of country we are often obliged to camp
+if it comes on dark. It is quite impossible to navigate rough country
+when one cannot see stumps, windfalls, or snags; and I have more than
+once, while caught in a forest looking for our tilt, been obliged
+to walk ahead with a light, and even to search the snow for tracks
+with the help of matches, when one's torch has carelessly been left at
+home. On one occasion, having stopped our team in deep snow at
+nightfall, we left it in the woods to walk out to a village, only five
+or six miles distant, on our snowshoes. We entirely lost our way, and
+ended up at the foot of some steep cliffs which we had climbed down,
+thinking that our destination lay at their feet. The storm of the day
+had broken the sea ice from the land, and we could not get round the
+base of the cliffs, though we could see the village lights twinkling
+away, only a mile or two across the bay. Climbing steep hills through
+dense woods in deep snow in the dark calls for some endurance,
+especially as a white snow-bank looks like an open space through the
+dark trees. I have actually stuck my face into a perpendicular bluff,
+thinking that I was just coming out into the open. Oddly enough, when
+after much struggling we had mounted the hill, we heard voices, and
+suddenly met two men, who had also been astray all day, but now knew
+the way home. They were "all in" for want of food, and preferred
+camping for the night. A good fire and some chunks of sweet cake so
+greatly restored them, however, that we got under way again in a
+couple of hours, further stimulated to do so by the bitter cold,
+against which, in the dark, we could not make adequate shelter.
+Moreover, we had perspired with the violent exercise and our clothes
+were freezing from the inside out.
+
+   [Illustration: A Hilly Trail
+   A KOMATIK JOURNEY]
+
+   [Illustration: Crossing a Brook
+   A KOMATIK JOURNEY]
+
+You must always carry an axe, not only for firewood, but for getting
+water--unless you wish to boil snow, which is a slow process, and apt
+to burn your kettle. Also when you have either lost the trail or there
+is none, you must have an axe to clear a track as you march ahead of
+your dogs. Then there is, of course, the unfortunate question of food.
+Buns baked with chopped pork in them give one fine energy-producing
+material, and do not freeze. A sweet hard biscuit is made on the coast
+which is excellent in one's pocket. Cocoa, cooked pork fat, stick
+chocolate, are all good to have. Our sealers carry dry oatmeal and
+sugar in their "nonny bags," which, mixed with snow, assuage their
+thirst and hunger as well. Pork and beans in tins are good, but they
+freeze badly. I have boiled a tin in our kettle for fifteen minutes,
+and then found a lump of ice in the middle of the substance when it
+was turned out into the dish.
+
+Winter travelling on this coast oftentimes involves considerable
+hardships, as when once our doctor lost the track and he and his men
+had to spend several nights in the woods. They were so reduced by
+hunger that they were obliged to chew pieces of green sealskin which
+they cut from their boots and to broil their skin gloves over a fire
+which they had kindled.
+
+One great joy which comes with the work is the sympathy one gets with
+the really poor, whether in intelligence, physical make-up, or worldly
+assets. One learns how simple needs and simple lives preserve simple
+virtues that get lost in the crush of advancing civilization. Many and
+many a time have the poor people by the wayside refused a penny for
+their trouble. On one occasion I came in the middle of the night to a
+poor man's house. He was in bed and the lights out, and it was bitter
+cold. He got out of bed in a trice and went down to his stage carrying
+an old hurricane lantern to feed my dogs, while his wife, after he had
+lit a fire in the freezing cold room, busied herself making me some
+cocoa. Milk and sugar were provided, and not till long afterwards did
+I know that it was a special little hoard kept for visitors. Later I
+was sent to bed--quite unaware that the good folk had spent the first
+part of the night in it, and were now themselves on the neighbouring
+floor. Nor would a sou's return be asked. "It's the way of t' coast,"
+the good fellow assured me.
+
+Another time my host for the night had gone when I rose for breakfast.
+I found that he had taken the road which I was intending to travel to
+the next village, some fourteen miles distant, just to break and mark
+a trail for us as we did not know the way; and secondly to carry some
+milk and sugar to "save the face" of my prospective host for the next
+day, who had "made a bad voyage" that year. Still another time no less
+than forty men from Conche marched ahead on a twenty-mile track to
+make it possible for our team to travel quickly to a neighbouring
+settlement.
+
+Often I have thought how many of these things would I do for my poorer
+friends. We who speak glibly of the need of love for our neighbours as
+being before that for ourselves, would we share a bed, a room, or give
+hospitality to strangers even in our kitchens, after they had awakened
+us in the middle of the night by slinging snowballs at our bedroom
+windows?
+
+One day that winter a father of eight children sent in from a
+neighbouring island for immediate help. His gun had gone off while his
+hand was on the muzzle, and practically blown it to pieces. To treat
+him ten miles away on that island was impossible, so we brought him in
+for operation. To stop the bleeding he had plunged his hand into a
+flour barrel and then tied it up in a bag, and as a result the wounded
+arm was poisoned way up above the elbow. He preferred death to losing
+his right arm. Day and night for weeks our nurse tended him, as he
+hovered between life and death with general blood poisoning. Slowly
+his fine constitution brought him through, and at last a secondary
+operation for repair became possible. We took chances on bone-grafting
+to form a hand; and he was left with a flipper like a seal's, able,
+however, to oppose one long index finger and "nip a line" when he
+fished. But there was no skin for it. So Dr. Beattie and I shared the
+honours of supplying some. Pat--for that was his name--has been a
+veritable apostle of the hospital ever since, and has undoubtedly been
+the means of enabling others to risk the danger of our suspected
+proselytizing. For though he had English Episcopal skin on the palm of
+his hand and Scotch Presbyterian skin on the back, the rest of him
+still remained a devout Roman Catholic.
+
+Another somewhat parallel case occurred the following year, when a
+dear old Catholic lady was hauled fifty miles over the snow by her two
+stalwart sons, to have her leg removed for tubercular disease of the
+ankle. She did exceedingly well, and the only puzzle which we could
+not solve was where to raise the necessary hundred dollars for a new
+leg--for her disposition, even more than her necessity, compelled her
+to move about. While lecturing that winter in America, I asked friends
+to donate to me any of their old legs which they no longer needed, and
+soon I found myself the happy possessor of two good wooden limbs, one
+of which exactly suited my requirements. A departed Methodist had left
+it, and the wife's clergyman, a Congregationalist, had handed it to
+me, an Episcopalian, and I had the joy of seeing it a real blessing to
+as good a Roman Catholic as I know. As the priest says, there is now
+at least one Protestant leg established in his parish.
+
+We once reached a house at midnight, found a boy with a broken thigh,
+and had to begin work by thawing out frozen board in order to plane
+it for splints, then pad and fix it, and finally give chloroform on
+the kitchen table. On another occasion we had to knock down a
+partition in a tiny cottage, make a full-length wooden bath, pitching
+the seams to make it water-tight, in order to treat a severe
+cellulitis. Now it would be a maternity case, now a dental one, now a
+gunshot wound or an axe cut with severed tendons to adjust, now
+pneumonia, when often in solitary and unlearned homes, we would
+ourselves do the nursing and especially the cooking, as that art for
+the sick is entirely uncultivated on the coast.
+
+The following winter I lectured in England and then crossed in the
+early spring to the United States and lectured both there and in
+Canada, receiving great kindness and much help for the work.
+
+As I have stated in the previous chapter we had raised, largely
+through the generosity of Lord Strathcona, the money for a suitable
+little hospital steamer, and she had been built to our design in
+England. I had steamed her round to our fitting yard at Great
+Yarmouth, and had her fitted for our work before sailing. While I was
+in America, my old Newfoundland crew went across and fetched her over,
+so that June found us once more cruising the Labrador coast.
+
+While working with the large fleet of schooners, which at that time
+fished in August and September from Cape Mugford to Hudson Bay
+Straits, I visited as usual the five stations of the Moravian
+Brethren. They were looking for a new place to put a station, and at
+their request I took their representative to Cape Chidley in the
+Strathcona.
+
+This northern end of Labrador is extremely interesting to cruise. The
+great Appalachian Mountain Range runs out here right to the water
+edge, and forms a marvellous sea-front of embattled cliffs from two
+thousand to three thousand feet in height. The narrow passages which
+here and there run far into the mountains, and represent old valleys
+scooped out by ice action, are dominated all along by frowning peaks,
+whose pointed summits betray the fact that they overtopped the ice
+stream in the glacial age. The sharp precipices and weather-worn sides
+are picked out by coloured lichens, and tiny cold-proof Arctic plants,
+and these, with the deep blue water and unknown vistas that keep
+constantly opening up as one steams along the almost fathomless
+fjords, afford a fascination beyond measure.
+
+Once before in the Sir Donald we had tried to navigate the narrow run
+that cuts off the island on which Cape Chidley stands from the
+mainland of Labrador, but had missed the way among the many openings,
+and only noted from a hilltop the course we should have taken, by the
+boiling current which we saw below, whose vicious whirlpools like
+miniature maelstroms poured like a dashing torrent from Ungava Bay
+into the Atlantic.
+
+It was, however, with our hearts somewhere near our mouths that we
+made an attempt to get through this year, for we knew nothing of the
+depth, except that the Eskimos had told us that large icebergs drove
+through at times. We could steam nine knots, and we essayed to cover
+the tide, which we found against us, as we neared the narrowest part,
+which is scarcely one hundred yards wide. The current carried us
+bodily astern, however, and glad enough we were to drive stern
+foremost into a cove on one side and find thirteen fathoms of water to
+hold on in till the tide should turn. When at last it did turn, and
+got under way, it fairly took us in its teeth, and we shot through, an
+impotent plaything on the heaving bosom of the resistless waters. We
+returned safely, with a site selected and a fair chart of the "Tickle"
+(Grenfell Tickle).
+
+When winter closed in, I arranged for an old friend, a clerk of the
+Hudson Bay Company, to stay with me at St. Anthony, and once more we
+settled down in rooms hired in a cottage. We had a driver, a team of
+dogs, and an arrangement with a paternal Government to help out by
+making an allowance of twenty-five cents for medicine for such
+patients as could not themselves pay that amount, and in those days
+the number was quite large.
+
+When early spring came the hospital question revived. An expedition
+into the woods was arranged, and with a hundred men and thrice as many
+dogs, we camped in the trees, and at the end of the fortnight came
+home hauling behind us the material for a thirty-six by thirty-six
+hospital. Being entirely new to us it proved a very happy experience.
+We were quartermasters and general providers. Our kitchen was dug down
+in thick woods through six feet of snow, and our main reliance was on
+boiled "doughboys"--the "sinkers" among which, with a slice of fat
+pork or a basin of bird soup, were as popular as lobster a la Newburg
+at Delmonico's or Sherry's.
+
+The next summer we had trouble with a form of selfishness which I have
+always heartily hated--the liquor traffic. Suppose we do allow that a
+man has a right to degrade his body with swallowing alcohol, he
+certainly has no more right to lure others to their destruction for
+money than a filibuster has a right to spend his money in gunpowder
+and shoot his fellow countrymen. To our great chagrin we found that an
+important neighbour near one of our hospitals was selling intoxicants
+to the people--girls and men. One girl found drunk on the hillside
+brought home to me the cost of this man's right to "do as he liked."
+We promptly declared war, and I thanked God who had made "my hands to
+war, and my fingers to fight"--when that is the only way to resist the
+Devil successfully and to hasten the kingdom of peace.
+
+This man and I had had several disagreements, and I had been warned
+not to land on the premises on pain of being "chucked into the sea."
+But when I tested the matter out by landing quite alone from a
+row-boat, after a "few wor-r-r-ds" his coast-born hospitality overcame
+him, and as his bell sounded the dinner call, he promptly invited me
+to dine with him. I knew that he would not poison the food, and soon
+we were glowering at one another over his own table--where his painful
+efforts to convince me that he was right absolutely demonstrated the
+exact opposite.
+
+My chance came that summer. We were steaming to our Northern hospital
+from the deep bay which runs in a hundred and fifty miles. About
+twenty miles from the mouth a boat hailed us out of the darkness, and
+we stopped and took aboard a wrecked crew of three men. They had
+struck our friend's well-insured old steam launch on a shoal and she
+had sunk under them. We took them aboard, boat and all, wrote down
+carefully their tale of woe, and then put the steamer about, pushed as
+near the wreck as we dared and anchored. Her skipper came forward and
+asked me what I intended doing, and I told him I was going to survey
+the wreck. A little later he again came to ask permission to go aboard
+the wreck to look for something he had forgotten. I told him certainly
+not. Just before sunrise the watch called me and said that the wrecked
+crew had launched their boat, and were rowing toward the steamer.
+"Launch ours at once, and drive them back" was an order which our boys
+obeyed with alacrity and zest. It was a very uneasy three men who
+faced me when they returned. They were full of bluff at what they
+would do for having their liberties thus interfered with, but
+obviously uneasy at heart.
+
+With some labour we discovered that the water only entered the wreck
+at low tide and forward; so by buoying her with casks, tearing up her
+ballast deck, and using our own pumps as well as buckets--at which all
+hands of my crew worked with a good will, we at last found the hole.
+It was round. There were no splinters on the inside. We made a huge
+bung from a stick of wood, plugged the opening, finished pumping her
+out, and before dark had her floating alongside us. Late that night we
+were once more anchored--this time opposite the dwelling-house of my
+friend the owner. We immediately went ashore and woke him up. There is
+a great deal in doing things at the psychological moment; and by
+midnight I had a deed duly drawn up, signed and sealed, selling me the
+steamer for fifty cents. I still see the look in his eyes as he gave
+me fifty cents change from a dollar. He was a self-made man, had
+acquired considerable money, and was keen as a ferret at business. The
+deed was to me a confession that he was in the plot for barratry, to
+murder the boat for her insurance.
+
+On our trip South we picked up the small steamer, and towing her to a
+Hudson Bay Company's Post we put her "on the hard," photographed the
+hole, with all the splintering on the outside, and had a proper survey
+of the hull made by the Company's shipwright. The unanimous verdict
+was "wilful murder." In the fall as her own best witness, we tried to
+tow her to St. John's, but in a heavy breeze of wind and thick snow
+we lost her at sea--and with her our own case as well. The law decided
+that there was no evidence, and my friend, making out that he had lost
+the boat and the insurance, threatened to sue me for the value.
+
+The sequel of the story may as well be told here. A year or so later I
+had just returned from Labrador. It used to be said always that our
+boat "brought up the keel of the Labrador"; but this year our friend
+had remained until every one else had gone. Just as we were about to
+leave for England, the papers in St. John's published the news of the
+loss of a large foreign-going vessel, laden with fish for the
+Mediterranean, near the very spot where our friend lived. On a visit a
+little later to the shipping office I found the event described in the
+graphic words of the skipper and mate. Our friend the consignee had
+himself been on board at the time the "accident" occurred. After
+prodigies of valour they had been forced to leave the ship, condemn
+her, and put her up for sale. Our friend, the only buyer at such a
+time on the coast, had bought her in for eighty dollars.
+
+It was the end of November, and already a great deal of ice had made.
+The place was six hundred miles north. The expense of trying to save
+the ship would be great. But was she really lost? The heroics sounded
+too good to be true. All life is a venture. Why not take one in the
+cause of righteousness? That night in a chartered steam trawler, with
+a trusty diver, we steamed out of the harbour, steering north. Our
+skipper was the sea rival of the famous Captain Blandford; and the way
+he drove his little craft, with the ice inches thick from the driving
+spray all over the bridge and blocking the chart-room windows, made
+one glad to know that the good sea genius of the English was still so
+well preserved.
+
+When our distance was run down we hauled in for the land, but had to
+lay "hove to" (with the ship sugared like a Christmas cake), as we
+were unable to recognize our position in the drifting snow. At length
+we located the islands, and never shall I forget as we drew near
+hearing the watch call out, "A ship's topmasts over the land." It was
+the wreck we were looking for.
+
+It took some hours to cut through the ice in which she lay, before
+ever we could get aboard; and even the old skipper showed excitement
+when at last we stood on her deck. Needless to say, she was not upside
+down, nor was she damaged in any way, though she was completely
+stripped of all running gear. The diver reported no damage to her
+bottom, while the mate reported the fish in her hold dry, and the
+hatches still tightly clewed, never having been stirred.
+
+With much hearty good-will our crew jettisoned fish enough into our
+own vessel to float the craft. Fearing that so late in the year we
+might fail to tow her safely so far, and remembering the outcome of
+our losing the launch, we opened the stores on the island, and finding
+both block and sails, neatly labelled and stowed away, we soon had our
+prize not only refitted for sea, but also stocked with food, water,
+chart, and compass and all essentials for a voyage across the
+Atlantic, if she were to break loose and we to lose her. The last
+orders were to the mate, who was put on board her with a crew, "If not
+St. John's then Liverpool."
+
+No such expedient, however, proved necessary. Though we had sixty
+fathoms of anchor chain on each of our wire cables to the ship, we
+broke one in a seaway and had to haul under the lee of some cliffs and
+repair damages. Often for hours together the vessel by day and her
+lights by night would disappear, and our hearts would jump into our
+mouths for fear we might yet fail. But at last, with all our bunting
+up, and both ships dressed as if for a holiday, we proudly entered the
+Narrows of St. John's, the cynosure of all eyes. The skipper and our
+friend had gone to England, so the Government had them extradited. The
+captain, who was ill with a fatal disease, made a full confession, and
+both men were sent to prison.
+
+That was how we "went dry" in our section of Labrador.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT
+
+
+Being a professional and not a business man, and having no
+acquaintance with the ways of trade, the importance of a new economic
+system as one of the most permanent messages of helpfulness to the
+coast was not at first obvious to me. But the ubiquitous barter
+system, which always left the poor men the worst end of the bargain,
+is as subtle a danger as can face a community--subtle because it
+impoverishes and enslaves the victims, and then makes them love their
+chains.
+
+As a magistrate I once heard a case where a poor man paid one hundred
+dollars in cash to his trader in the fall to get him a new net. The
+trader could not procure the twine, and when spring arrived the man
+came to get on credit his usual advance of "tings." From the bill for
+these the trader deducted the hundred dollars cash, upon which the man
+actually came to me as a justice of the peace to have him punished!
+
+Lord Strathcona told me that in his day on this coast, when a man had
+made so good a hunt that he had purchased all he could think of, he
+would go round to the store again asking how much money was still due
+him. He would then take up purchases to exceed it by a moderate
+margin, saying that he liked to keep his name on the Company's books.
+In those days the people felt that they had the best part of the
+bargain if they were always a little in debt. The tendency to thrift
+was thus annihilated. The fishermen simply turned in all their catch
+to the merchant, and took what was coming to them as a matter of
+course. Many even were afraid to ask for certain supplies. This fact
+often became evident when we were trying to order special diets--the
+patient would reply, "Our trader won't give out that." Naturally the
+whole system horrified us, as being the nearest possible approach to
+English slavery, for the poor man was in constant fear that the
+merchant "will turn me off." On the other hand, the traders took
+precautions that their "dealers" should not be able to leave them,
+such as not selling them traps outright for furring, or nets for
+fishing, but only loaning them, and having them periodically returned.
+This method insured their securing all the fur caught, because legally
+a share of the catch belonged to them in return for the loan of the
+trap. They thus completely minimized the chance for competition, which
+is "the life of trade."
+
+Soon after my arrival on the coast I saw the old Hudson Bay Company's
+plan of paying in bone counters of various colours; and a large lumber
+company paying its wages in tin money, stamped "Only valuable at our
+store." If, to counteract this handicap, the men sold fish or fur for
+cash to outsiders, and their suppliers found it out, they would punish
+them severely.
+
+On another occasion, sitting by me on a gunning point where we were
+shooting ducks as they flew by on their fall migration, was a friend
+who had given me much help in building one of our hospitals. I
+suddenly noticed that he did not fire at a wonderful flock of eiders
+which went right over our heads. "What's the matter, Jim?" I asked. "I
+settled with the merchant to-day," he replied, "and he won't give me
+nothing for powder. A duck or two won't matter. 'Tis the children I'm
+minding." The fishery had been poor, and not having enough to meet his
+advances, he had sold a few quintals of fish for cash, so as to get
+things like milk which he would not be allowed on winter credit, and
+had been caught doing so. He was a grown man and the father of four
+children. We went to his trader to find out how much he was in debt.
+The man's account on the books was shown us, and it read over three
+thousand dollars against our friend. It had been carried on for many
+years. A year or two later when the merchant himself went bankrupt
+with a debt of $686,000 to the bank of which he was a director, the
+people of that village, some four hundred and eleven souls in all,
+owed his firm $64,000, an asset returned as value nil. The whole thing
+seemed a nightmare to any one who cared about these people.
+
+In Labrador no cereals are grown and the summer frosts make potato and
+turnip crops precarious, so that the tops of the latter are
+practically all the green food to which we can aspire--except for the
+few families who remain at the heads of the long bays all summer, far
+removed from the polar current. Furthermore, until some one invents a
+way to extract the fishy taste from our fish oils, we must import our
+edible fats; for the Labrador dogs will not permit cows or even goats
+to live near them. I have heard only this week that a process has just
+been discovered in California for making a pleasant tasting butter out
+of fish oil. Our "sweetness" must all be imported, for none of our
+native berries are naturally sweet, and we can grow no cultivated
+fruits. The same fact applies to cotton and wool. Thus nearly all our
+necessities of life have to be brought to us. Firewood, lumber, fish
+and game, boots or clothing of skins, are all that we can provide for
+ourselves. On the other hand, we must export our codfish, salmon,
+trout, whales, oil, fur, and in fact practically all our products. An
+exchange medium is therefore imperative; and we must have some gauge
+like cash by which to measure, or else we shall lose on all
+transactions; for all the prices of both exports and imports fluctuate
+very rapidly, and besides this, we had then practically no way to find
+out what prices were maintaining in our markets.
+
+Government relief had failed to stop the evils of the barter system.
+In the opinion of thinking men it only made matters worse. We were
+therefore from every point of view encouraged to start the cooperative
+plan which had proved so successful in England. I still believe that
+the people are honest, and that the laziness of indolence, from the
+stigma of which it is often impossible to clear them, is due to
+despair and inability to work properly owing to imperfect nourishment.
+
+Things went from bad to worse as the years went by. The fact of the
+sealing steamers killing the young seals before they could swim
+greatly impoverished the Labrador inshore seal fishery. The prices of
+fish were so low that a man could scarcely catch enough to pay for his
+summer expenses out of it.
+
+With us the matter came to a head in a little fishing village called
+Red Bay, on the north side of the Straits of Belle Isle. When we ran
+in there on our last visit one fall, we found some of our good friends
+packed up and waiting on their stages to see if we would remove them
+from the coast. A meeting was called that night to consider the
+problem, and it was decided that the people must try to be their own
+merchants, accepting the risks and sharing the profits. The
+fisherman's and trapper's life is a gamble, and naturally, therefore,
+they like credit advances, for it makes the other man carry the risks.
+We then and there decided, however, to venture a cooperative store,
+hiring a schooner to bring our freight and carry our produce straight
+to market; and if necessary eat grass for a year or so. Alas, after
+a year's saving the seventeen families could raise only eighty-five
+dollars among them for capital, and we had to loan them sufficient to
+obtain the first cargo. A young fisherman was chosen as secretary, and
+the store worked well from the beginning. That was in 1905. He is
+still secretary, and to-day in 1918 the five-dollar shares are worth
+one hundred and four dollars each, by the simple process of
+accumulation of profits. The loan has been repaid years ago. Not a
+barrow load of fish leaves the harbour except through the cooperative
+store. Due to it, the people have been able to tide over a series of
+bad fisheries; and every family is free of debt.
+
+   [Illustration: THE FIRST COOPERATIVE STORE]
+
+At the time of the formation one most significant fact was that every
+shareholder insisted that his name must not be registered, for fear
+some one might find out that he owned cash. They were even opposed to
+a label on the building to signify that it was a store. However, I
+chalked all over its face "Red Bay Cooperative Store."
+
+The whole effort met with very severe criticism, not to say hostility,
+at the hands of the smaller traders, but the larger merchants were
+most generous in their attitude, and though doubtful of the
+possibility of realizing a cash basis, were without exception
+favourable to the attempt. This store has been an unqualified success,
+only limited in its blessings by its lack of larger capital. It has
+enabled its members to live independently, free of debt and without
+want; while similar villages, both south and east and west, have been
+gradually deleted by the people being forced to leave through
+inability to meet their needs.
+
+During my first winter at St. Anthony, the young minister of the
+little church on more than one occasion happened to be visiting on his
+rounds in the very house where we were staying on ours, and the
+subject of cooperation was frequently discussed over the evening pipe
+with the friends in the place. He had himself been trading, and had so
+disliked the methods that he had retired. He would certainly help us
+to organize a store on the Newfoundland side of the Straits.
+
+At last the day arrived for the initial meeting. We gave notice
+everywhere. The chosen rendezvous was in a village fourteen miles
+north. The evening before, however, the minister sent word that he
+could not be present, as he had to go to a place twenty miles to the
+northwest to hold service. Knowing for how much his opinion counted in
+the minds of some of the people, this was a heavy blow, especially as
+the traders had notified me that they would all be on hand.
+Fortunately an ingenious suggestion was made--"He doesn't know the
+way. Persuade his driver, after starting out, to gradually work round
+and end up at the cooperative meeting." This was actually done, and
+our friend was present willy-nilly. He proved a broken reed, however,
+for in the face of the traders he went back on cooperation.
+
+As fortune would have it, our own komatik fell through the ice in
+taking a short cut across a bay, and we arrived late, having had to
+borrow some dry clothing from a fisherman on the way. Our trader
+friends had already appeared on the scene, and were joking the parson
+for being tricked, saying that evidently we had made a mistake and
+were really at Cape Norman, the place to which he had intended to go.
+
+It was a dark evening, crisp and cold, and hundreds of dogs that had
+hauled people from all over the countryside to the meeting made night
+dismal outside. We began our meeting with prayer for guidance, wisdom,
+and good temper, for we knew that we should need them all--and then
+we came down to statistics, prices, debts, possibilities, and the
+story of cooperation elsewhere.
+
+The little house was crammed to overflowing. But the fear of the old
+regime was heavy on the meeting. The traders occupied the whole time
+for speaking. Only one old fisherman spoke at all. He had been an
+overseas sailor in his early days, and he surprised himself by turning
+orator. His effort elicited great applause. "Doctor--I means Mr.
+Chairman--if this here copper store buys a bar'l of flour in St.
+John's for five dollars, be it going to sell it to we fer ten? That's
+what us wants to know."
+
+Outside, after the meeting, Babel was let loose. The general opinion
+was that there must be something to it or the traders would not have
+so much to say against the project. The upshot of the matter was that
+for a long time no one could be found who would take the managership;
+but at length the best-beloved fisherman on the shore stepped into the
+breach. He was not a scholar--in fact could scarcely read, write, and
+figure--but his pluck, optimism, and unselfishness carried him
+through.
+
+That little store has been preaching its vital truths ever since. It is
+a still small text, but it has had vast influences for good. There has
+proved to be one difficulty. It is the custom on the coast to give all
+meals to travellers free, both men and dogs, and lodging to boot.
+Customers came from so far away that they had to stay overnight at
+least, and of course it was always Harry's house to which they went. The
+profit on a twenty-five cent purchase was slender under these
+circumstances, and as cash was scarce in those days, a twenty-five-cent
+purchase was not so rare as might be supposed. We therefore printed,
+mounted, framed, and sent to our friend the legend, "No more free meals.
+Each meal will cost ten cents." Later we received a most grateful reply
+from him in his merry way, saying that he had hung up the card in his
+parlour, but begging us not to defer visits if we had not the requisite
+amount, as he was permitted to give credit to that extent. But when next
+we suddenly "blew in" to Harry's house, the legend was hanging with its
+face to the wall.
+
+Our third store was seventy-five miles to the westward at a place
+called Flowers Cove. Here the parson came in with a will. Being a
+Church of England man, he was a more permanent resident, and, as he
+said, "he was a poor man, but he would sell his extra pair of boots to
+be able to put one more share in the store." What was infinitely more
+important he put in his brains. Every one in that vicinity who had
+felt the slavery of the old system joined the venture. One poor
+Irishman walked several miles around the coast to catch me on my next
+visit, and secretly give me five dollars. "'Tis all I has in the
+world, Doctor, saving a bunch of children, but if it was ten times as
+large, you should have every cent of it for the store." "Thanks,
+Paddy, that's the talking that tells." For some years afterwards,
+every time that he knew I was making a visit to that part of the
+coast, he would come around seeking a private interview, and inquire
+after the health of "the copper store"; till he triumphantly brought
+another five dollars for a second share "out of my profits, Doctor."
+
+That store is now a limited liability company with a capital of ten
+thousand dollars owned entirely by the fishermen, it has paid
+consistently a ten per cent dividend every year, and is located in
+fine premises which it bought and owns outright.
+
+A fourth store followed near the lumber mill which we started to give
+winter labour at logging; but owing to bad management and lack of
+ability to say "no" to men seeking credit, it fell into debt and we
+closed it up. Number five almost shared the same fate. Unable to get
+local talent to manage it, we hired a Canadian whose pretensions
+proved unequal to his responsibility. He was, however, found out in
+time to reorganize the store; but the loss which he had caused was
+heavy, and it was his notice of leaving for Canada which alone
+betrayed the truth to us. The most serious aspect of the matter was
+that many of the local fishermen lost confidence in the ability of the
+store to succeed, and returning to the credit system, they found it
+modified enough to appear to them a lamb instead of a wolf. However,
+number five is growing all the time again and will yet be a factor in
+the people's deliverance.
+
+Numbers six and seven were in poor and remote parts of Labrador, very
+small, and with insufficient capital and brains. One has closed
+permanently. They were simply small stores under the care of one
+settler, who guaranteed to charge the people only a fixed percentage
+over St. John's prices for goods, as the return for his
+responsibility. Number eight was the result of a night spent in a
+miserable shack on a lonely promontory called Adlavik.
+
+God forbid that I should judge traders or doctors or lawyers or
+priests by their profession or their intellectual attitude. There are
+noble men in all walks of life. Alas, some are more liable than others
+to yield to temptation, and the temptations to which they are exposed
+are more insistent.
+
+Number nine was on the extreme northern edge of the white settlers at
+Ford's Harbour. The story of it is too long to relate, but the trade
+there, in spite of many difficulties, still continues to preach a
+gospel and spell much blessing to poor people. To help out, we have
+sent north to this station three of our boys from the orphanage, as
+they grew old enough to go out into the world for themselves.
+
+One disaster, in the form of a shipwreck, overtook the fine fellow in
+charge of this most northerly venture. For the first time in his life
+he came south, to seek a wife, his former wife having succumbed to
+tuberculosis. He brought with him his year's products of fur and skin
+boots. The mail steamer on which he was travelling struck a rock off
+Battle Harbour, and most of his goods were lost uninsured, he himself
+gladly enough escaping with his life.
+
+It remained for our tenth venture to bring the hardest battle, and in
+a sense the greatest measure of success. Spurred by the benefits of
+the Red Bay store, the people of a little village about forty miles
+away determined to combine also. The result was a fine store near our
+hospital at Battle Harbour--which during the first year did sixty
+thousand dollars' worth of business. This served to put a match to the
+explosive wrath of those whose opposition hitherto had been that of
+rats behind a wainscot. They secured from their friends a Government
+commission appointed to inquire into the work of the Mission as "a
+menace to honest trade." The leading petitioner had been the best of
+helpers to the first venture. When the traders affected by it had
+first boycotted the fish, he had sent his steamer and purchased it
+from the company. Now the boot was on the other leg. The Commission
+and even the lawyers have all told me that they were prejudiced
+against the whole Mission by hearsay and misinterpretations, before
+they even began their exhaustive inquiry. Their findings, however,
+were a complete refutation of all charges, and the best advertisement
+possible.
+
+It would not be the time to say that the whole cooperative venture has
+been an unqualified success; but the causes of failure in each case
+have been perfectly obvious, and no fault of the system. Lack of
+business ability has been the main trouble, and the lack of courage
+and unity which everywhere characterizes mankind, but is perhaps more
+emphasized on a coast where failure means starvation, and where the
+cooperative spirit has been rendered very difficult to arouse owing to
+mistrust born of religious sectarianism and denominational schools.
+These all militate very strongly against that unity which alone can
+enable labour to come to its own without productive ability.
+
+There is one aspect for which we are particularly grateful. Politics,
+at any rate, has not been permitted to intrude, and the stress laid on
+the need of brotherliness, forbearance, and self-development--if ever
+these producers are to reap the rewards of being their own
+traders--has been very marked. Only thus can they share in the balance
+of profit which makes the difference between plenty and poverty on
+this isolated coast.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE MILL AND THE FOX FARM
+
+
+The argument for cooperation had been that life on the coast was not
+worth living under the credit system. A short feast and a long famine
+was the local epigram. If our profits could be maintained on the
+coast, and spent on the coast, then the next-to-nature life had enough
+to offer in character as well as in maintenance to attract a permanent
+population, especially with the furring in winter. For the actual
+figures showed that good hunters made from a thousand to fifteen
+hundred dollars in a season, besides the salmon and cod fishery. There
+was, moreover, game for food, free firewood, water, homes, and no
+taxation except indirect in duties on their goods.
+
+These same conditions prevailed on the long, narrow slice of land
+known as the "French shore" in northern Newfoundland. There the people
+were more densely settled, the hinterland was small, and many
+therefore could not go furring. Moreover, the polar current, entering
+the mouth of the Straits of Belle Isle, makes this section of land
+more liable to summer frosts, with a far worse climate than the
+Labrador bays, and gardening is less remunerative. We puzzled our
+brains for some way to add to our earning capacities, some cooperative
+productive as well as distributive enterprise.
+
+The poverty which I had witnessed in Canada Bay in North Newfoundland,
+some sixty miles south of St. Anthony Hospital, had left me very keen
+to do something for that district which might really offer a solution
+of the problem. I had been told that there was plenty of timber to
+justify running a mill in the bay; but that no sawmills paid in
+Newfoundland. This was emphasized in St. John's by my friends who
+still own the only venture out of the eleven which have operated in
+that city that has been able to continue. They have succeeded by
+adopting modern methods and erecting a factory for making furniture,
+so as to supply finished articles direct to their customers. We knew
+that in our case labour would be cheaper than ordinarily, for our
+labour in winter had generally to go begging. It was mainly this fact
+which finally induced us to make the attempt.
+
+   [Illustration: ST. ANTHONY]
+
+Having talked the matter over with the people we secured from the
+Government a special grant, as the venture, if it succeeded, would
+relieve them of the necessity of having poor-relief bills. The whole
+expense of the enterprise fell upon myself, for the Mission Board
+considered it outside their sphere; and already we had built St.
+Anthony Hospital in spite of the fact that they thought that we were
+undertaking more than they would be able to handle, and had
+discouraged it from the first.
+
+The people had no money to start a mill, and the circumstances
+prohibited my asking aid from outside, so it was with considerable
+anxiety that we ordered a mill, as if it were a pound of chocolates,
+and arranged with two young friends to come out from England as
+volunteers, except for their expenses, to help us through with the new
+effort. At the same time there was three hundred dollars to pay for
+the necessary survey and line cutting, and supplies of food for the
+loggers for the winter. Houses must also be erected and furnished.
+
+Ignorance undoubtedly supplied us with the courage to begin.
+Personally I knew nothing whatever of mills, having never even seen
+one. Nor had I seen the grant of land, or selected a site for the
+building. This was left entirely to the people themselves; and as none
+of them had ever seen a mill either, we all felt a bit uneasy about
+our capacities. I had left orders with the captain of the Cooperator
+(our schooner) to fetch the mill and put it where the people told him;
+but when I heard that there was one piece which included the boiler
+which weighed three tons, it seemed to me that they could never handle
+it. We had no wharf ready to receive it and no boat capable of
+carrying it. I woke many times that summer wondering if it had not
+gone to the bottom while they were attempting the landing. There was
+no communication whatever with them as we were six hundred miles
+farther north on our summer cruise; and we had not the slightest
+control over the circumstances in which we might become involved.
+
+It was late in the season and the snow was already deep on the ground
+when eventually we were piloted to the spot selected. It was nine
+miles up the bay on a well-wooded promontory of a side inlet. The
+water was deep to the shore and the harbour as safe as a house. The
+boys from England had arrived, and a small cottage had been erected,
+tucked away in the trees. It was very small, and very damp, the inside
+of the walls being white with frost in the morning until the fire had
+been under way for some time. But it was a merry crowd, emerging from
+various little hutlets around among the trees, which greeted the
+Strathcona.
+
+The big boiler, the "bugaboo" of my dreams all summer, lay on the
+bank. "How did you get it there?" was my first query. "We warped the
+vessel close to the land, and then hove her close ashore and put skids
+from the rocks off to her. On these we slid the boiler, all hands
+hauling it up with our tackles."
+
+Having left the few supplies which we had with us, for the Strathcona
+has no hold or carrying space, we returned to the hospital, mighty
+grateful for the successful opening of the venture. The survey had
+been completed and accepted by the Government, and though
+unfortunately it was but very poorly marked, and we have had lots of
+trouble since,--as we have never been able to say exactly where our
+boundaries lie, nor even to find marks enough to follow over the
+original survey again,--yet it enabled us to get to work, which was
+all that we wanted at the moment.
+
+The fresh problems at the hospital, and the constant demands on our
+energies, made Christmas and New Year go by with our minds quite
+alienated from the cares of the new enterprise. But when after
+Christmas the dogs had safely carried us over many miles of
+snow-covered wastes, and our immediate patients gave us a chance to
+look farther afield, I began to wonder if we might not pay the mill a
+visit. By land it was only fifty miles distant to the southward,
+possibly sixty if we had to go round the bays. The only difficulty
+about the trip was that there were no trails, and most of the way led
+through virgin forest, where windfalls and stumps and dense
+undergrowth mixed with snow made the ordinary obstacle race a sprint
+in the open in comparison. We knew what it meant, because in our
+eagerness to begin our dog-driving when the first snow came, we had
+wandered over small trees crusted with snow, fallen through, and
+literally floundered about under the crust, unable to climb to the top
+again. It was the nearest thing to the sensations of a man who cannot
+swim struggling under the surface of the water. Moreover, on a tramp
+with the minister, he had gone through his snow racquets and actually
+lost the bows later, smashing them all up as he repeatedly fell
+through between logs and tree-trunks and "tuckamore." His summons for
+help and the idea that there were still eight miles to go still
+haunted me. On that occasion we had cut down some spruce boughs and
+improvised some huge webbed feet for ourselves, which had saved the
+situation; but whether they would have served for twenty or thirty
+miles, we could not tell. Not so long before a man named Casey,
+bringing his komatik down the steep hill at Conche, missed his footing
+and fell headlong by a bush into the snow. The heavy, loaded sledge
+ran over him and pressed him still farther into the bank. Struggling
+only made him sink the deeper, and an hour later the poor fellow was
+discovered smothered to death.
+
+No one knew the way. We could not hear of a single man who had ever
+gone across in winter, though some said that an old fellow who had
+lived farther south had once carried the mails that way. At length we
+could stand it no longer, and arranging with four men and two extra
+teams, we started off. We hoped to reach the mill in two days, but at
+the end of that time we were still trying to push through the tangle
+of these close-grown forests. To steer by compass sounded easy, but
+the wretched instrument seemed persistently to point to precipitous
+cliffs or impenetrable thickets. There were no barren hilltops after
+the first twenty miles. Occasionally we would stop, climb a tree, and
+try to get a view. But climbing a conifer whose boughs are heavily
+laden with ice and snow is no joke, and gave very meagre returns. At
+last, however, we struck a high divide, and from an island in the
+centre of a lake, occupied only by two lone fir trees, we got a view
+both ways, showing the Cloudy Hills which towered over the south side
+of the bay in which the mill stood.
+
+A very high, densely wooded hill lay, however, directly in our path;
+and which way to get round it best none of us knew. We "tossed up"
+and went to the eastward--the wrong side, of course. We soon struck a
+river, and at once surmised that if we followed it, it must bring us
+to the head of the bay, which meant only three miles of salt water ice
+to cover. Alas, the stream proved very torrential. It leaped here and
+there over so many rapid falls that great canyons were left in the
+ice, and instead of being able to dash along as when first we struck
+it, we had painfully to pick our way between heavy ice-blocks, which
+sorely tangled up our traces, and our dogs ran great danger of being
+injured. Nor could we leave the river, for the banks were precipitous
+and utterly impassable with undergrowth. At length when we came to a
+gorge where the boiling torrent was not even frozen, and as prospects
+of being washed under the ice became only too vivid, we were forced to
+cut our way out on the sloping sides. The task was great fun, but an
+exceedingly slow process.
+
+It was altogether an exciting and delightful trip. Now we have a good
+trail cut and blazed, which after some years of experience we have
+gradually straightened out, with two tilts by the roadside when the
+weather makes camping imperative, or when delay is caused by having
+helpless patients to haul, till now it is only a "joy-ride" to go
+through that beautiful country "on dogs." There is always a challenge,
+however, left in that trail--just enough to lend tang to the toil of
+it. Once, having missed the way in a blizzard, we had to camp on the
+snow with the thermometer standing at twenty below zero. The problem
+was all the more interesting as we struck only "taunt" timberwoods
+with no undergrowth to halt the wind. On another occasion we attempted
+to cross Hare Bay, and one of the dogs fell through the ice. There was
+a biting wind blowing, and it was ten degrees below zero. When we
+were a mile off the land I got off the sledge to try the ice edge,
+when suddenly it gave way, and in I fell. It did not take me long to
+get out--the best advice being to "keep cool." I had as hard a mile's
+running as ever I experienced, for my clothing was fast becoming like
+the armour of an ancient knight; and though in my youth I had been
+accustomed to break the ice in the morning to bathe, I had never run
+in a coat of mail.
+
+Never shall I forget dragging ourselves in among those big trees with
+our axes, and tumbling to sleep in a grave in the snow, in spite of
+the elements. In this hole in a sleeping-bag, protected by the light
+drift which blew in, one rested as comfortably as in a more
+conventional type of feather bed. Nor, when I think of De Quincey's
+idea of supreme happiness before the glowing logs, can I forget that
+gorgeous blaze which the watch kept up by felling trees full length
+into the fire, so that our Yule logs were twenty feet long, and the
+ruddy glow and crackling warmth went smashing through the hurtling
+snowdrift. True, it was cold taking off our dripping clothing, which
+as it froze on us made progress as difficult as if we were encased in
+armour. But dancing up and down before a huge fire in the crisp open
+air under God's blue sky gave as pleasing a reaction as doing the same
+thing in the dusty, germ-laden atmosphere of a ballroom in the small
+hours of the night, when one would better be in bed, if the joys of
+efficiency and accomplishment are the durable pleasure of life.
+
+It was a real picnic which we had at the mill. Our visit was as
+welcome as it was unexpected, and we celebrated it by the whole day
+off, when all hands went "rabbiting." When at the end, hot and tired,
+we gathered round a huge log fire in the woods and discussed boiling
+cocoa and pork buns, we all agreed that it had been a day worth
+living for.
+
+Logging had progressed favourably. Logs were close at hand; and the
+whole enterprise spelled cash coming in that the people had never
+earned before. The time had also arrived to prepare the machinery for
+cutting the timber; boxes were being unpacked, and weird iron "parts"
+revealed to us, that had all the interest of a Chinese puzzle, with
+the added pleasure of knowing that they stood for much if we solved
+the problems rightly.
+
+When next we saw the mill it was spring, and the puffing smoke and
+white heaps of lumber that graced the point and met our vision as we
+rounded Breakheart Point will not soon be forgotten. Only one trouble
+had proved insurmountable. The log-hauler would not deliver the goods
+to the rotary saw. Later, with the knowledge that the whole apparatus
+was upside down, it did not seem so surprising after all. One accident
+also marred the year's record. While a party of children had been
+crossing the ice in the harbour to school, a treacherous rapid had
+caused it to give way and leave a number of them in the water. One of
+my English volunteers, being a first-class athlete, had by swimming
+saved five lives, but two had been lost, and the young fellow himself
+so badly chilled that it had taken the hot body of one of the fathers
+of the rescued children, wrapped up in bed with him in lieu of a
+hot-water bottle, to restore his circulation.
+
+The second fall was our hardest period. The bills for our lumber sold
+had not been paid in time for us to purchase the absolutely essential
+stock of food for the winter; and if we could not get a store of food,
+we knew that our men could not go logging. It was food, not cash,
+which they needed in the months when their own slender stock of
+provisions gave out, and when all communication was cut off by the
+frozen sea.
+
+For a venture which seemed to us problematical in its outcome, we did
+not dare to borrow money or to induce friends to invest; and of course
+Mission funds were not available. For the day has not yet arrived when
+all those who seek by their gifts to hasten the coming of the Kingdom
+of God on earth recognize that to give the opportunity to men to
+provide decently for their families and homes is as effective work for
+the Master, whose first attribute was love, as patching up the
+unfortunate victims of semi-starvation. The inculcation of the
+particular intellectual conception which the donor may hold of
+religion, or as to how, after death, the soul can get into heaven, is,
+as the result of the Church teaching, still considered far the most
+important line of effort. The emphasis on hospitals is second, partly
+at least because, so it has seemed to me as a doctor of medicine, the
+more obvious personal benefit thereby conferred renders the recipients
+more impressionable to the views considered desirable to promulgate.
+Yet only to-day, as I came home from our busy operating-room, I felt
+how little real gain the additional time on earth often is either to
+the world outside or even to the poor sufferers themselves. In order
+to have one's early teachings on these matters profoundly shaken, one
+has only to work as a surgeon in a country where tuberculosis,
+beri-beri, and other preventable diseases, and especially the chronic
+malnutrition of poverty fills your clinic with suffering children, who
+at least are victims and not responsible spiritually for their
+"punishment." Of course, the magnitude of service to the world of
+every act of unselfishness, and much more of whole lives of devotion,
+such as that of Miss Sullivan, the teacher of Miss Helen Keller, can
+never be rightly estimated by any purely material conception of human
+life.
+
+Love is dangerously near to sentimentality when we actually prefer
+remedial to prophylactic charity--and I personally feel that it is
+false economy even from the point of view of mission funds. The
+industrial mission, the educational mission, and the orphanage work at
+least rank with and should go hand in hand with hospitals in any true
+interpretation of a gospel of love.
+
+In subsequent years the nearest attempt to finance such commonly
+called "side issues of the work" has been with us through the medium
+of a discretionary fund. Into this are put sums of money specially
+given by personal friends, who are content to leave the allocation of
+their expenditure in the hands of the worker on the actual field. This
+fund is, of course, paid out in the same way as other mission funds,
+and is as strictly supervised by the auditors. While it leaves
+possibly more responsibility than some of us are worthy of, it enables
+individuality to play that part in mission business which every one
+recognizes to be all-important in the ordinary business of the world.
+No money, however, from this fund has ever gone into the mill or in
+assisting the cooperative stores.
+
+Sorry as one feels to confess it, I have seen money wasted and lost
+through red tape in the mission business. And after all is not mission
+business part of the world's business, and must not the measure of
+success depend largely on the same factors in the one case as in the
+other? Has one man more than another the right to be called
+"missionary," for of what use is any man in the world if he has no
+mission in it? Christ's life is one long emphasis on the point that in
+the last analysis, when something has to be done, it is the individual
+who has to do it. It is, we believe, a fact of paramount importance
+for efficiency and economy; and the loyalty of God in committing such
+trust to us, when He presumably knows exactly how unworthy we are of
+it, is the explanation of life's enigma.
+
+When at last our food and freight were purchased for the loggers for
+the winter and landed by the mail steamer nine miles from the mill,
+the whole bay was frozen and five miles of ice already over six inches
+thick. The hull of the Strathcona was three eighths of an inch soft
+steel; but there was no other way to transport the goods but on her,
+excepting by sledges--a very painful and impracticable method.
+
+It was decided that as we could not possibly butt through the ice, we
+must butt over it. The whole company of some thirty men helped us to
+move everything, including chains and anchors, to the after end of the
+ship, and to pile up the barrels of pork, flour, sugar, molasses,
+etc., together with boats and all heavy weights, so that her fore foot
+came above the water level and she looked as if she were sinking by
+the stern. We then proceeded to crash into the ice. Up onto it we ran,
+and then broke through, doing no damage whatever to her hull. The only
+trouble was that sometimes she would get caught fast in the trough,
+and it was exceedingly hard to back her astern for a second drive. To
+counteract this all hands stood on one rail, each carrying a weight,
+and then rushed over to the other side, backward and forward at the
+word of command, thus causing the steamer to roll. It was a very slow
+process, but we got there, though in true Biblical fashion, literally
+"reeling to and fro like drunken men."
+
+While the mill was in its cradle, we in the Strathcona were cruising
+the northern Labrador waters. We witnessed that year, off the mighty
+Kaumajets, the most remarkable storm of lightning that I have ever
+seen in those parts. Inky masses hid the hoary heads of those
+tremendous cliffs. Away to the northwest, over the high land called
+Saeglek, a lurid light just marked the sharp outline of the mills.
+Ahead, where we were trying to make the entrance to Hebron Bay, an
+apparently impenetrable wall persisted. Seaward night had already
+obscured the horizon; but the moon, hidden behind the curtain of the
+storm, now and again fitfully illuminated some icebergs lazily heaving
+on the ocean swell. Almost every second a vivid flash, now on one
+side, now on the other, would show us a glimpse of the land looming
+darkly ahead. The powers of darkness seemed at play; while the sea,
+the ice, the craggy cliffs, and the flashing heavens were advertising
+man's puny power.
+
+An amusing incident took place in one isolated harbour. A patient came
+on board for medicine, and after examining him I went below to make it
+up. When I came on deck again I gave the medicine to one I took to be
+my man, and then sent him ashore to get the twenty-five cent fee for
+the Mission which he had forgotten. No sooner had he gone than another
+man came and asked if his medicine was ready. I had to explain to him
+that the man just climbing over the rail had it. The odd thing was
+that the latter, having paid for it, positively refused to give it up.
+True, he had not said that he was ill, but the medicine looked good
+(Heaven save the mark!) and he "guessed that it would suit his
+complaint all right."
+
+At the mill we found that quite a large part of the timberland was
+over limestone, while near our first dam there was some very white
+marble. We fully intended to erect a kiln, using our refuse for fuel,
+for the land is loaded with humic acid, and only plants like
+blueberries, conifers, and a very limited flora flourish on it. Some
+friends in England, however, hearing of marble in the bay, which it
+was later discovered formed an entire mountain, commenced a marble
+mine near the entrance. The material there is said to be excellent for
+statuary. Even this small discovery of natural resources encouraged
+us. For having neither road, telegraph, nor mail service to the mill,
+we hoped that the development of these things might help in our own
+enterprise.
+
+For ten years the little mill has run, giving work to the locality,
+better houses, a new church and school, and indeed created a new
+village.
+
+The only trouble with this North country's own peculiar winter work,
+fur-hunting, is that its very nature limits its supply. In my early
+days in the country, fur in Labrador was very cheap. Seldom did even a
+silver fox fetch a hundred dollars. Beaver, lynx, wolverine, wolves,
+bears, and other skins were priced proportionately. Still, some men
+lived very well out of furring. We came to the conclusion that the
+only way to improve conditions in this line was to breed some of the
+animals in captivity. We did not then know of any enterprise of that
+kind, but I remembered in the zoological gardens at Washington seeing
+a healthy batch of young fox pups born in captivity.
+
+Life is short. Things have to be crowded into it. So we started that
+year an experimental fox farm at St. Anthony. A few uprights from the
+woods and some rolls of wire are a fox farm. We put it close by the
+hospital, thinking that it would be less trouble. The idea, we rejoice
+to know, was perfectly right; but we had neither time, study, nor
+experience to teach us how to manage the animals. Very soon we had a
+dozen couples, red, white, patch, and one silver pair. Some of the
+young fox pups were very tame, for I find an old record written by a
+professor of Harvard University, while he was on board the Strathcona
+on one trip when we were bringing some of the little creatures to St.
+Anthony. He describes the state of affairs as follows: "Dr. Grenfell
+at one time had fifteen little foxes aboard which he was carrying to
+St. Anthony to start a fox farm there. Some of these little animals
+had been brought aboard in blubber casks, and their coats were very
+sticky. After a few days they were very tame and played with the dogs;
+were all over the deck, fell down the companionway, were always having
+their tails and feet stepped on, and yelping for pain, when not
+yelling for food. The long-suffering seaman who took care of them
+said, 'I been cleaned out that fox box. It do be shockin'. I been in a
+courageous turmoil my time, but dis be the head smell ever I
+witnessed.'"
+
+When the farm was erected, every schooner entering the harbour was
+interested in it, and a deep-cut pathway soon developed as the crews
+went up to see the animals. The reds and one patch were very tame, and
+always came out to greet us. One of the reds loved nothing better than
+to be caught and hugged, and squealed with delight like a child when
+you took notice of it. The whites, and still more the silvers, were
+always very shy; and though we never reared a single pup, there were
+some born and destroyed by the old ones.
+
+As the years passed we decided to close up the little farm,
+particularly after a certain kind of sickness which resembled
+strychnine poisoning had attacked and destroyed three of the animals
+which were especial pets. We then converted the farm into a garden
+with a glass house for our seedling vegetables.
+
+Meanwhile the industry had been developed by a Mr. Beetz in Quebec
+Labrador with very marked economic success; and in Prince Edward
+Island with such tremendous profit that it soon became the most
+important industry in the Province. Enormous prices were paid for
+stock. I remembered a schooner in the days of our farm (1907) bringing
+me in four live young silvers, and asking two hundred dollars for the
+lot. We had enough animals and refused to buy them. In 1914 one of our
+distant neighbours, who had caught a live slut in pup, sold her with
+her little brood for ten thousand dollars. We at once started an
+agitation to encourage the industry locally, and the Government passed
+regulations that only foxes bred in the Colony could be exported
+alive. The last wild one sold was for twenty-five dollars to a buyer,
+and resold for something like a thousand dollars by him. A large
+number of farms grew up and met with more or less success, one big one
+especially in Labrador, which is still running. We saw there this
+present year some delightful little broods, also some mink and marten
+(sables), the prettiest little animals to watch possible. For some
+reason the success of this farm so far has not been what was hoped for
+it. Indeed, even in Prince Edward Island the furor has somewhat died
+down owing to the war; though at the close of the war it is
+anticipated that the industry will go on steadily and profitably. Are
+not sheep, angora goats, oxen, and other animals just the result of
+similar efforts? If fox-farming some day should actually supersede the
+use of the present sharp-toothed leg trap, no small gain would have
+been effected. A fox now trapped in those horrible teeth remains
+imprisoned generally till he perishes of cold, exhaustion, or fear.
+Though the fur trapper as a rule is a most gentle creature, the
+"quality of mercy is not strained" in furring.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE CHILDREN'S HOME
+
+
+"What's that schooner bound South at this time of year for?" I asked
+the skipper of a fishing vessel who had come aboard for treatment the
+second summer I was on the coast.
+
+"I guess, Doctor, that that's the Yankee what's been down North for a
+load of Huskeymaws. What do they want with them when they gets them?"
+
+"They'll put them in a cage and show them at ten cents a head. They're
+taking them to the World's Fair in Chicago."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+People of every sort crowded to see the popular Eskimo Encampment on
+the Midway. The most taking attraction among the groups displayed was
+a little boy, son of a Northern Chieftain, Kaiachououk by name; and
+many a nickel was thrown into the ring that little Prince Pomiuk might
+show his dexterity with the thirty-foot lash of his dog whip.
+
+One man alone of all who came to stare at the little people from
+far-off Labrador took a real interest in the child. It was the Rev.
+C.C. Carpenter, who had spent many years of his life as a clergyman on
+the Labrador coast. But one day Mr. Carpenter missed his little
+friend. Pomiuk was found on a bed of sickness in his dark hut. An
+injury to his thigh had led to the onset of an insidious hip disease.
+
+The Exhibition closed soon after, and the Eskimos went north. But
+Pomiuk was not forgotten, and Mr. Carpenter sent him letter after
+letter, though he never received an answer. The first year the band
+of Eskimos reached as far north as Ramah, but Pomiuk's increasing
+sufferings made it impossible for them to take him farther that
+season.
+
+Meanwhile in June, 1895, we again steamed out through the Narrows of
+St. John's Harbour, determined to push as far north as the farthest
+white family. A dark foggy night in August found us at the entrance of
+that marvellous gorge called Nakvak. We pushed our way cautiously in
+some twenty miles from the entrance. Suddenly the watch sang out,
+"Light on the starboard bow!" and the sound of our steamer whistle
+echoed and reechoed in endless cadences between those mighty cliffs.
+Three rifle shots answered us, soon a boat bumped our side, and a
+hearty Englishman sprang over the rail.
+
+It was George Ford, factor of the Hudson Bay Company at that post.
+During the evening's talk he told me of a group of Eskimos still
+farther up the fjord having with them a dying boy. Next day I had my
+first glimpse of little Prince Pomiuk. We found him naked and haggard,
+lying on the rocks beside the tiny "tubik."
+
+The Eskimos were only too glad to be rid of the responsibility of the
+sick lad, and, furthermore, he was "no good fishing." So the next day
+saw us steaming south again, carrying with us the boy and his one
+treasured possession--a letter from a clergyman at Andover,
+Massachusetts. It contained a photograph, and when I showed it to
+Pomiuk he said, "Me even love him."
+
+A letter was sent to the address given, and some weeks later came back
+an answer. "Keep him," it said. "He must never know cold and
+loneliness again. I write for a certain magazine, and the children in
+'The Corner' will become his guardians." Thus the "Corner Cot" was
+founded, and occupied by the little Eskimo Prince for the brief
+remainder of his life.
+
+On my return the following summer the child's joyful laughter greeted
+me as he said, "Me Gabriel Pomiuk now." A good Moravian Brother had
+come along during the winter and christened the child by the name of
+the angel of comfort.
+
+In a sheltered corner of a little graveyard on the Labrador coast
+rests the tiny body of this true prince. When he died the doctor in
+charge of the hospital wrote me that the building seemed desolate
+without his smiling, happy face and unselfish presence. The night that
+he was buried the mysterious aurora lit up the vault of heaven. The
+Innuits, children of the Northland, call it "the spirits of the dead
+at play." But it seemed to us a shining symbol of the joy in the City
+of the King that another young soldier had won his way home.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Roman Catholic Church is undoubtedly correct in stating that the
+first seven years of his life makes the child. Missions have always
+emphasized the importance of the children from a purely propaganda
+point of view. But our Children's Home was not begun for any such
+reason. Like Topsy, "it just grow'd." I had been summoned to a lonely
+headland, fifty miles from our hospital at Indian Harbour, to see a
+very sick family. Among the spruce trees in a small hut lived a Scotch
+salmon fisher, his wife and five little children. When we anchored off
+the promontory we were surprised to receive no signs of welcome. When
+we landed and entered the house we found the mother dead on the bed
+and the father lying on the floor dying. Next morning we improvised
+two coffins, contributed from the wardrobes of all hands enough black
+material for a "seemly" funeral, and later, steaming up the bay to a
+sandy stretch of land, buried the two parents with all the ceremonies
+of the Church--and found ourselves left with five little mortals in
+black sitting on the grave mound. We thought that we had done all that
+could be expected of a doctor, but we now found the difference. It
+looked as if God expected more. An uncle volunteered to assume one
+little boy and we sailed away with the remainder of the children.
+Having no place to keep them, we wrote to a friendly newspaper in New
+England and advertised for foster parents. One person responded. A
+young farmer's wife wrote: "I am just married to a farmer in the
+country, and miss the chance to teach children in Sunday-School, or
+even to get to church, it is so far away. I think that I can feed two
+children for the Lord's sake. If you will send them along, I will see
+that they do not want for anything." We shipped two, and began what
+developed into our Children's Home with the balance of the stock.
+
+We had everything to learn in the rearing of children, having had only
+the hygienic side of their development to attend to previously. One of
+the two which we kept turned out very well, becoming a fully trained
+nurse. The other failed. Both of those who went to New England did
+well, the superior discipline of their foster mother being no doubt
+responsible. The following fall I made a special journey to see the
+latter. It was a small farm on which they lived, and a little baby had
+just arrived. Only high ideals could have persuaded the woman to
+accept the added responsibility. The children were as bright and jolly
+as possible.
+
+Among the other functions which have fallen to my lot to perform is
+the ungrateful task of unpaid magistrate, or justice of the peace. In
+this capacity a little later I was called on to try a mother, who in a
+Labrador village had become a widow and later married a man with six
+children who refused to accept her three-year-old little girl. When I
+happened along, the baby was living alone in the mother's old shack, a
+mud-walled hut, and she or the neighbours went in and tended it as
+they could. None of the few neighbours wanted permanently to assume
+the added expense of the child, so dared not accept it temporarily. It
+was sitting happily on the floor playing with a broken saucer when I
+came in. It showed no fear of a stranger; indeed, it made most
+friendly overtures. I had no right to send the new husband to jail. I
+could not fine him, for he had no money. There was no jail in
+Labrador, anyhow. My special constable was a very stout fisherman, a
+family man, who proposed to nurse the child till I could get it to
+some place where it could be properly looked after. When we steamed
+away, we had the baby lashed into a swing cot. It became very rough,
+and the baby, of course, crawled out and was found in the scuppers. It
+did everything that it ought not to do, but which we knew that it
+would. But we got it to the hospital at last and the nurse received it
+right to her heart.
+
+In various ways my family grew at an alarming rate, once the general
+principle was established. On my early summer voyage to the east coast
+of Labrador I found at Indian Harbour Hospital a little girl of four.
+In the absence of her father, who was hunting, and while her mother
+lay sick in bed, she had crawled out of the house and when found in
+the snow had both legs badly frozen. They became gangrenous halfway to
+the knee, and her father had been obliged to chop them both off. An
+operation gave her good stumps; but what use was she in Labrador with
+no legs? So she joined our family, and we gave her such good new limbs
+that when I brought her into Government House at Halifax, where one
+of our nurses had taken her to school temporarily, and she ran into
+the room with two other little girls, the Governor could scarcely tell
+which was our little cripple Kirkina.
+
+The following fall as we left for the South our good friend, the chief
+factor of the Hudson Bay Company, told me that on an island in the
+large inlet known to us as Eskimo Bay a native family, both hungry and
+naked, were living literally under the open sky. We promised to try
+and find them and help them with some warm clothing.
+
+Having steamed round the island and seen no signs of life, we were on
+the point of leaving when a tiny smoke column betrayed the presence of
+human life--and with my family-man mate we landed as a search party.
+Against the face of a sheer rock a single sheet of light cotton duck
+covered the abode of a woman with a nursing baby. They were the only
+persons at home. The three boys and a father comprised the remainder
+of the family. We soon found the two small boys. They were practically
+stark naked, but fat as curlews, being full of wild berries with which
+their bodies were stained bright blues and reds. They were a jolly
+little couple, as unconcerned about their environment as Robinson
+Crusoe after five years on his island. Soon the father came home. I
+can see him still--the vacant brown face of a very feeble-minded
+half-breed, ragged and tattered and almost bootless. He was carrying
+an aged single-barrelled boy's gun in one hand and a belated sea-gull
+in the other, which bird was destined for the entire evening meal of
+the family. A half-wild-looking hobbledehoy boy of fifteen years also
+joined the group.
+
+It was just beginning to snow, a wet sleet. Eight months of winter
+lay ahead. Yet not one of the family seemed to think a whit about that
+which was vivid enough to the minds of the mate and myself. We sat
+down for a regular pow-wow beside the fire sputtering in the open
+room, from which thick smoke crept up the face of the rock, and hung
+over us in a material but symbolic cloud. It was naturally cold. The
+man began with a plea for some "clodin." We began with a plea for some
+children. How many would he swap for a start in clothing and "tings
+for his winter"? He picked out and gave us Jimmie. The soft-hearted
+mate, on whose cheeks the tears were literally standing, grabbed
+Jimmie--as the latter did his share of the gull. But we were not
+satisfied. We had to have Willie. It was only when a breaking of
+diplomatic relations altogether was threatened that Willie was
+sacrificed on the altar of "tings." I forget the price, but I think
+that we threw in an axe, which was one of the trifles which the father
+lacked--and in this of all countries! The word was no sooner spoken
+than our shellback again excelled himself. He pounced on Willie like a
+hawk on its prey, and before the treaty was really concluded he was
+off to our dory with a naked boy kicking violently in the vice of each
+of his powerful arms. The grasping strength of our men, reared from
+childhood to haul heavy strains and ponderous anchors, is phenomenal.
+
+Whatever sins Labrador has been guilty of, Malthusianism is not in the
+category. Nowhere are there larger families. Those of Quebec Labrador,
+which is better known, are of almost world-wide fame. God is, to
+Labrador thinking, the Giver of all children. Man's responsibility is
+merely to do the best he can to find food and clothing for them. A man
+can accomplish only so much. If these "gifts of God" suffer and are a
+burden to others that is kismet. It is the animal philosophy and
+makes women's lives on this coast terribly hard. The opportunity for
+service along child-welfare lines is therefore not surprising from
+this angle also.
+
+One day, passing a group of islands, we anchored in a bight known as
+Rogues' Roost. It so happened that a man who many years before had
+shot off his right arm, and had followed up his incapacity with a
+large family of dependants, had just died. Life cannot be expected to
+last long in Labrador under those conditions. There were four
+children, one being a big boy who could help out. The rest were
+offered as a contribution to the Mission. A splendid Newfoundland
+fisherman and his wife had a summer fishing station here, and with
+that generous open-heartedness which is characteristic of our
+seafarers, they were only too anxious to help. "Of course, she would
+make clothing while I was North"--out of such odd garments as a
+general collection produced. "She wouldn't think of letting them wear
+it till I came along South, not she." She would "put them in the tub
+as soon as she heard our whistle." When after the long summer's work
+we landed and went up to her little house, three shining, red, naked
+children were drying before a large stove, in which the last vestige
+of connection with their past was contributing its quota of calories
+toward the send-off. A few minutes later we were off to the ship with
+as sweet a batch of jolly, black-haired, dark-eyed kiddies as one
+could wish for. Our good friend could not keep back the tears as she
+kissed them good-bye on deck. The boy has already put in three years
+on the Western Front. The girls have both been educated, the elder
+having had two years finishing at the Pratt Institute in New York.
+
+A grimy note saying, "Please call in to Bird Island as you pass and
+see the sick," brought me our next donation. "There be something wrong
+with Mrs. B's twins, Doctor," greeted me on landing. "Seems as if they
+was like kittens, and couldn't see yet a wink." It was only too true.
+The little twin girls were born blind in both eyes. What could they do
+in Labrador? Two more for our family without any question. After
+leaving our Orphanage, these two went through the beautiful school for
+the blind at Halifax, and are now able to make their own living in the
+world.
+
+So the roll swelled. Some came because they were orphans; some because
+they were not. Thus, poor Sammy. The home from which he came was past
+description. From the outside it looked like a tumble-down shed.
+Inside there appeared to be but one room, which measured six by twelve
+feet, and a small lean-to. The family consisted of father and mother
+and three children. The eldest boy was about twelve, then came Sam,
+and lastly a wee girl of five, with pretty curly fair hair, but very
+thin and delicate-looking. She seemed to be half-starved and
+thoroughly neglected. The father was a ne'er-do-well and the mother an
+imbecile who has since died of tuberculosis. The filth inside was
+awful. The house was built of logs, and the spaces in between them
+were partly filled in with old rags and moss. The roof leaked. The
+room seemed to be alive with vermin, as were also the whole family.
+The two boys were simply clothed in a pair of men's trousers apiece
+and a dilapidated pair of boots between them. The trousers they found
+very hard to keep on and had to give them frequent hoists up. They
+were both practically destitute of underclothing. To hide all
+deficiencies, they each wore a woman's long jacket of the oldest style
+possible and green with age, which reached down to their heels. Round
+their waists they each wore a skin strap. They were stripped of their
+rags, and made to scrub themselves in the stream and then indoors
+before putting on their new clean clothes. Sammy and the little sister
+joined the family.
+
+One of our boys is from Cape Chidley itself; others come from as far
+south and west as Bay of Islands in South Newfoundland. So many
+erroneous opinions seem to persist regarding the difference between
+Newfoundland and Labrador that I am constantly asked: "But why do you
+have a Children's Home in Newfoundland? Can't the Newfoundlanders look
+out for themselves and their dependent children?" As I have tried to
+make clear in a previous chapter North and South Newfoundland should
+be sharply differentiated as to wealth, education, climate, and
+opportunity. Though for purposes of efficiency and economy the actual
+building of the Home is situated in the north end of the northern
+peninsula of Newfoundland, the children who make up the family are
+drawn almost entirely from the Labrador side of the Straits; unless,
+as is often the case, the poverty and destitution of a so-called
+Newfoundland family on the south side of Belle Isle makes it
+impossible to leave children under such conditions.
+
+It is obvious that something had to be built to accommodate the
+galaxy; and some one secured who understood the problem of running the
+Home. She--how often it is "she"--was found in England, a volunteer by
+the name of Miss Eleanor Storr. She was a true Christian lady and a
+trained worker as well. The building during the years grew with the
+family, so that it is really a wonder of odds and patches. The
+generosity of one of our volunteers, Mr. Francis Sayre, the son-in-law
+of President Wilson, doubled its capacity. But buildings that are made
+of green wood, and grow like Topsy, are apt to end like
+Topsy--turvy. Now we are straining every nerve to obtain a suitable
+accommodation for the children. We sorely need a brick building,
+economically laid out and easily kept warm, with separate wings for
+girls and boys and a creche for babies. Miss Storr was obliged to
+leave us, and now for over six years a splendid and unselfish English
+lady, Miss Katie Spalding, has been helping to solve this most
+important of all problems--the preparation of the next generation to
+make their land and the world a more fit place in which to live. Miss
+Spalding's contribution to this country has lain not only in her
+influence on the children and her unceasing care of them, but she has
+given her counsel and assistance in other problems of the Mission,
+where also her judgment, experience, and wisdom have proven
+invaluable.
+
+   [Illustration: INSIDE THE ORPHANAGE]
+
+There is yet another side of the orphanage problem. We have been
+obliged, due to the lack of any boarding-school, to accept bright
+children from isolated homes so as to give them a chance in life. It
+has been the truest of love messages to several. The children always
+repay, whether the parents pay anything or not; and as so much of the
+care of them is volunteer, and friends have assumed the expenses of a
+number of the children, the budget has never been unduly heavy. They
+do all their own work, and thanks to the inestimably valuable help of
+the Needlework Guild of America through its Labrador branch, the
+clothing item has been made possible. In summer we use neither boots
+nor stockings for the children unless absolutely necessary. Our
+harbour people still look on that practice askance; but ours are the
+healthiest lot of children on the coast, and their brown bare legs and
+tough, well-shaped feet are a great asset to their resistance to
+tuberculosis, their arch-enemy, and no small addition to the
+attraction of their merry faces and hatless heads.
+
+Even though Gabriel, Prince Pomiuk, never lived within its walls, the
+real beginning of the idea of our Children's Home was due to him; and
+one feels sure that his spirit loves to visit the other little ones
+who claim this lonely coast as their homeland also.
+
+The one test for surgery which we allow in these days is its "end
+results." Patients must not be advertised as cured till they have
+survived the treatment many years. Surely that is man's as well as
+God's test. Certainly it is the gauge of the outlay in child life.
+What is the good of it all? Does it pay? In the gift of increasing joy
+to us, in its obvious humanity and in its continuous inspiration, it
+certainly does make the work of life here in every branch the better.
+
+The solution of the problem of inducing the peace of God and the
+Kingdom of God into our "parish" is most likely to be solved by wise
+and persevering work among the children. For in them lies the hope of
+the future of this country, and their true education and upbringing to
+fit them for wise citizenship have been cruelly neglected in this
+"outpost of Empire."
+
+Another menace to the future welfare of the coast has been the lack of
+careful instruction and suitable opportunities for the development,
+physical, mental, and spiritual, of its girls. Without an educated and
+enlightened womanhood, no country, no matter how favored by material
+prosperity, can hope to take its place as a factor in the progress of
+the world. In our orphanage and educational work we have tried to keep
+these two ideas constantly before us, and to offer incentives to and
+opportunities for useful life-work in whatever branch, from the
+humblest to the highest, a child showed aptitude.
+
+Through the vision, ability, and devotion of Miss Storr, Miss
+Spalding, and their helpers, in training the characters as well as the
+bodies of the children at the Home, and by the generous support of
+friends of children elsewhere, we have been able to turn out each year
+from its walls young men and women better fitted to cope with the
+difficult problems of this environment, and to offer to its service
+that best of all gifts--useful and consecrated personalities.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION
+
+
+Every child should be washed. Every child should be educated. The only
+question is how to get there. The "why's" of life interest chiefly the
+academic mind. The "how's" interest every one. It is a pleasure
+sometimes to be out in dirty weather on a lee shore; it permits you to
+devote all your energies to accomplishing something. When secretary
+for our hospital rowing club on the Thames, a fine cup was given for
+competition by Sir Frederick Treves on terms symbolic of his attitude
+to life. The race was to be in ordinary punts with a coxswain "in
+order that every ounce of energy should be devoted to the progress of
+the boat."
+
+That is the whole trouble with the Newfoundland Labrador. All moneys
+granted for education are handed to the churches for sectarian
+schools. It is almost writing ourselves down as still living in the
+Middle Ages, when the Clergy had a monopoly of polite learning. In
+more densely populated countries this division of grants need not be
+so disastrous. Here it means that one often finds a Roman Catholic, a
+Church of England, a Methodist, and a Salvation Army school, all in
+one little village--and no school whatever in the adjoining place.
+
+The denominational spirit, fostered by these sectarian schools and
+societies, is so emphasized that Catholic and Protestant have little
+in common. Some preferred to let their children or themselves suffer
+pain and inefficiency, rather than come for relief to a hospital where
+the doctors were Protestant. This has in some measure passed away, but
+it was painfully real at first--so much so that once a rickety,
+crippled child, easily cured, though he actually came to the harbour,
+was forbidden to land and returned home to be a cripple for life.
+
+The salaries available offer no attraction to enter the teaching
+profession in this island; and there is no compulsory education law to
+assist those who with lofty motives remain loyal to the profession
+when "better chances" come along. Gauged rightly, there is no such
+thing as a better chance for fulfilling life's purposes than an
+education; and modern conditions concede the right of a decent living
+wage to all who render service to the world in whatever line.
+
+In the little village where are our headquarters there was already a
+Church of England and a Methodist school when we came there, and a
+Salvation Army one has since been added. Threats of still another
+"institution of learning" menaced us at one time--almost like a new
+Egyptian plague, with more permanency of results thrown in.
+
+If the motor power of the school boat is dissipated in sectarian
+religious education, not to say focussed on it, the arrival of the
+cargo must be seriously handicapped. The statistical returns may show
+a majority of our fishermen as "able to read and write"; but as a
+matter of fact the illiteracy and ignorance of North Newfoundland and
+Labrador is the greatest handicap in the lives of the people.
+
+My first scholar came from North Labrador, long before we aspired to a
+school of our own. He was a lad of Scotch extraction and name, and
+came aboard the hospital ship one night, as she lay at anchor among
+some northern islands, with the request that we would take him up with
+us to some place where he could get an hour's schooling a day. He
+offered to work all the rest of the time in return for his food and
+clothing. To-day he holds a Pratt certificate, is head of our machine
+shop, has a sheet-metal working factory of his own which fills a most
+valuable purpose on the shore, is general consultant for the coast in
+matters of engineering, as well as being the Government surveyor for
+his district. He is also chief musician for the church, having fitted
+himself for both those latter posts in his "spare time." The
+inspiration which his life has been is in itself an education to many
+of us--a reflex result which is the really highest value of all life.
+
+As each transferred individual has come back North for service, desire
+has at once manifested itself for similar privileges in young people
+who had not previously shown even interest enough to attend our winter
+night schools. This is the best evidence that inroads are being made
+into that natural apathy which is content with mediocrity or even
+inferiority. This is everywhere the world's most subtle enemy. Even if
+selfishness or envy has been the motive, the fact remains that they
+have often kindled that discontent with the past which Charles
+Kingsley preached as necessary to all progress. Nowhere could the
+pathology of the matter be more easily traced than in these concrete
+examples carrying the infection which could come from no other quarter
+into our isolation. It has been in very humble life an example of the
+return of the "Yankee to the Court of King Arthur."
+
+There was a time when Lord Haldane proposed that every English child,
+who in the Board schools had proved his ability to profit by it,
+should be given a college or university education at the expense of
+the State--as a remunerative outlay for the nation. This proposal was
+turned down as being too costly, though the expenditure for a single
+day's running of this war would have gone a long way to provide such
+a fund. We now know that it can be done and must be done as a sign
+manual of real freedom, which is not the leaving of parents or
+forbears, incompetent for any reason, free to damn their country with
+a stream of stunted intellects.
+
+America has already honoured herself forever by being a pioneer in
+this movement for the higher education of the people. Religion surely
+need not fear mental enlightenment. The dangers of life lie in
+ignorance, and after all is not true religion a thing of the intellect
+as well as of the heart? Can that really be inculcated in "two periods
+of forty minutes each week devoted to sectarian teaching," which was
+one of the concessions demanded of us in our fight for a free public
+or common school at St. Anthony? My own mental picture of myself at
+the age of seven sitting on a bench for forty minutes twice every week
+learning to be "religious" made me sympathize with Scrooge when the
+Ghost of the Past was paying him a visit.
+
+One thing was certain. The young lives entrusted to us were having as
+good medical care for their bodies as we could provide; and if we
+could compass it, we were going to have that paralleled for their
+minds. The parents of the village children could do as they liked with
+those committed to them--and they did it. There is nothing so
+thoroughly reactionary that I know of as religious prejudice well
+ground in. As regards the treatment of physical ailments the
+prejudices of what Dr. Holmes called "Homoeopathy and Kindred
+Delusions" always are strong in proportion as they are impregnated
+with some religious bias.
+
+Our efforts to combine the local schools having failed, we had to
+provide a building of our own. This we felt must be planned for the
+future. For some day the halcyon days of peace on earth shall be
+permitted in our community, and the true loyalty of efficient service
+to our brothers will, it is to be hoped, become actually the paramount
+object of our Christian religion. Perhaps this terrible war will have
+convinced the world that the loftiest aspirations of mankind are no
+more to save yourself hereafter than here. Is it not as true as ever
+that if we are not ourselves possessors of Christ's spirit, ourselves
+we cannot save?
+
+The only schoolhouse available, anyhow, was not nearly so good a
+building as that which we have since provided for the accommodation of
+our pigs! Fat pork is considered an absolute essential "down North";
+and it was cheaper and safer, according to Upton Sinclair, to raise
+pigs than buy the salted or tinned article. So we had instituted what
+we deemed a missionary enterprise in that line. (_Pace_ our vegetarian
+friends.)
+
+As soon as a sum of three thousand dollars had been raised, architect
+friends at the Pratt Institute sent down to us competitive designs,
+and one of our Labrador boys, who had studied there, erected the
+building. Having at the beginning no funds whatever for current
+expenses, we had to look for volunteer teachers. One denomination
+helped with part of its harbour grant, but the Government would not
+make any special donation toward the union school project. Even the
+caput grant, to which we had hoped that we were entitled for our own
+orphanage children, had by law to go to the denomination to which
+their parents had belonged. This was not always easy to decide
+correctly. On the occasion of taking the last census in Labrador, a
+well-dressed stranger suddenly visited one of our settlements on the
+east coast. It so happened that a very poor man with a large and
+growing family of eight children under ten years, who resided there,
+was not so loyal to his church as we are taught we ought to be. When
+the stranger entered his tilt a vision of material favours to be
+obtained was the dominant idea in the fisherman's mind. He was
+therefore on tenterhooks all the while that the questioning was going
+on lest some blunder of his might alienate the sympathy on which he
+was banking for "getting his share." At length it came to the
+momentous point of "What denomination do you belong to?"--a very vital
+matter when it comes to sympathy and sharing up. In some hesitation he
+gazed at the row of his eight unwashed and but half-clad offspring,
+whose treacly faces gaped open-mouthed at the visitor. Then with
+sudden inspiration he decided to play for safety, and replied, "Half
+of them is Church of England, and half is Methodist!"
+
+Being an unrecognized school, and so far off, some years went by
+before the innovation of bringing up scholars from our northern
+district entered our heads. We realized at length, however, that we
+should close one channel of criticism to the enemy if we proved that
+we could justify our school by their standard of annual examinations.
+Our teachers, being mostly volunteers, had to come from outside the
+Colony. Having no funds to purchase books and other supplies, we made
+use of books also sent us from outside. The real value of the local
+examination becomes questionable as a standard of success when far
+more highly educated teachers, and at least as cleverly laid-out study
+books, prevented the children in our school from passing them.
+
+Moreover, further to waken their faculties, we had included in our
+facilities a large upper hall of the school building and a library of
+some thousands of books collected from all quarters. The former
+afforded the stimulus which entertainments given by the children
+could carry, and also space for physical drill; the latter, that
+greatest incentive of all, access to books which lure people to wish
+to read them. In summer the parents and older children are busy with
+the fisheries day and night, and the little children run more or less
+wild, so this form of occupation was doubly desirable.
+
+The generous help of summer volunteers, especially a trained
+kindergartner, Miss Olive Lesley, gave us a regular summer school. All
+the expensive outfit needed was also donated. Eye and hand were
+enlisted in the service of brain evolution; while a piano, which it is
+true had seen better days, pressed the ear and the imagination into
+the service as well.
+
+One of the great gaps in child development in Labrador had been the
+almost entire lack of games. The very first year of our coming the
+absence of dolls had so impressed itself upon us that the second
+season we had brought out a trunkful. Even then we found later that
+the dolls were perched high up on the walls as ornaments, just out of
+reach of the children. In one little house I found a lad playing with
+some marbles. For lack of better these were three-quarter-inch bullets
+which "Dad had given him," while the alley was a full-inch round ball,
+which belonged to what my host was pleased to call "the little
+darlint"--a hoary blunderbuss over six feet in length. The skipper
+informed me that he had plenty of "fresh" for the winter, largely as a
+result of the successful efforts of the "darlint"; though it appeared
+to have exploded with the same fatal effect this year as the season
+previous. "I hear that you made a good shot, the other day, Uncle
+Joe," I remarked. "Nothing to speak on," he answered. "I only got
+forty-three, though I think there was a few more if I could have found
+them on the ice."
+
+The pathos of the lack of toys and games appealed especially to the
+Anglo-Saxon, who believes that if he has any advantage over
+competitors, it is not merely in racial attributes, but in the
+reaction of those attributes which develop in him the ineradicable
+love of athletics and sport. The fact that he dubs the classmate whom
+he admires most "a good sport," shows that he thinks so, anyway.
+
+So organized play was carefully introduced on the coast. It caught
+like wildfire among the children, and it was delightful to see groups
+of them naively memorizing by the roadside school lessons in the form
+of "Ring-of-Roses," "Looby-Loo," "All on the Train for Boston." To our
+dismay in the minds of the local people the very success of this
+effort gave further evidence of our incompetence.
+
+Our people have well-defined, though often singular, ideas as to what
+Almighty God does and does not allow; and among the pursuits which are
+irrevocably condemned by local oracles is dancing. The laxity of
+"foreigners" on this article of the Creed is proverbial. At the time
+there were two ministers in the place, and realizing that the people
+considered that our kindergarten was introducing the thin edge of the
+wedge, and that our whole effort might meet with disaster unless the
+rumours were checked, I went in search of them without delay. Three
+o'clock found us knocking at the kindergarten door. The teacher and
+source of the reputed scandal seemed in no way disconcerted by the
+visitation. The first game was irreproachable--every child was sitting
+on the floor. But next the children, were choosing partners, and
+though the boys had chosen boys, and the girls girls, the suspicions
+of the vigilance committee were aroused. No danger, however, to the
+three R's transpired, and we were next successfully piloted clear of
+condemnation through a game entitled "Piggie-wig and Piggie-wee." Our
+circulation was just beginning to operate once more in its normal
+fashion when we were told that the whole company would now "join hands
+and move around in a circle" to music. The entire jury sensed that the
+crucial moment had come. We saw boys and girls alternating, hand held
+in hand--and all to the undeniably secular libretto of "Looby-Loo." It
+was, moreover, noted with inward pain that many of the little feet
+actually left the ground. We adjourned to an adjacent fish stage to
+discuss the matter. I need not dilate on the vicissitudes of the
+session. It was clear that all but "Looby-Loo" could obviously be
+excluded from the group of "questionables"--but the last game was of a
+different calibre and must be put to vote. My readers will be relieved
+to learn that the resultant ballot was unanimously in favour of
+non-interference, and that from the pulpit the following Sunday the
+clergy gave to the kindergarten the official sanction of the Church.
+
+Other outsiders now began telling the people that we could not pass
+the Colony's examinations because we wasted our efforts on teaching
+"foolishness"; and the denomination which had hitherto lent us aid
+withdrew it, and tried again to run a midget sectarian school right
+alongside. The first occasion, however, on which this institution came
+seriously to my attention was when the minister and another young man
+came to call during the early weeks of our winter school session. The
+stranger was their special teacher. He was undoubtedly a smart lad; he
+had passed the preliminary examination. But he was only sixteen, and
+in temperament a very young sixteen at that. He was engaged at a more
+generous salary than usual, and was perfectly prepared to
+revolutionize our records. But, alas, not only was their little
+building practically unfit for habitation, but after a week's waiting
+not one single scholar had come to his school. The contrast between
+the two opportunities was too great--except for frothing criticism.
+Gladly, to help our neighbours out of a difficulty, we divided a big
+classroom into two parts, added a third teacher to our school, and
+were thus able to make an intermediate grade.
+
+The great majority of the whole reconstruction and work of the school
+was made possible by the generous and loving interest of a lady in
+Chicago. Added to the other anxieties of meeting our annual budget, we
+did not feel able to bear the additional burden for which this venture
+called. One cannot work at one's best at any time with an anxious
+mind. The lady, however, was generous enough to give sufficient
+endowment to secure two teachers among other things, though she
+absolutely refused to let even her name be known in connection with
+the school. Our consolation is that we know that she has vision enough
+to realize the value of her gift and to accept that as a more than
+sufficient return.
+
+Seeing that some of our older scholars were able to find really useful
+and remunerative employment in teaching, and as only for those who
+held certificates of having passed the local examinations were
+augmentation grants available, we decided to make special efforts to
+have our scholars pass by the local standards. We, therefore, thanks
+to the endowment, engaged teachers trained in the country, and
+instituted the curriculum of the Colony. These teachers told us that
+our school was better than almost any outside St. John's. Four
+scholars have passed this year; and now we have as head mistress a
+delightful lady who holds the best percentage record for passing
+children through the requirements of the local examinations of any in
+the country.
+
+So much more deeply, however, do idle words sink into some natures
+than even deeds, that one family preferred to keep their children at
+home to risk sending them to our undenominational school; and there is
+no law to compel better wisdom with us here in the North.
+
+On the other hand, we had already obtained a scale of our own for
+grading success. For a number of our most promising boys and girls we
+had raised the money for them to get outside the country what they
+could never get in it, namely, the technical training which is so much
+needed on a coast where we have to do everything for ourselves, and
+the breadth of view which contact with a more progressive civilization
+alone can give them. The faculty of Pratt Institute gave us a
+scholarship, and later two of them; and with no little fear as to
+their ability to keep up, we sent two young men there. The newness of
+our school forced us to select at the beginning boys who had only
+received teaching after their working hours. Both boys and girls have
+always had to earn something to help them on their way through. But
+they have stood the test of efficiency so well that we look forward
+with confidence to the future. A girl who took the Domestic Economy
+course at the Nasson Institute told me only to-day, "It gave me a new
+life altogether, Doctor"; and she is making a splendid return in
+service to her own people here.
+
+The real test of education is its communal effect; and no education is
+complete which leaves the individual ignorant of the things that
+concern his larger relationship to his country, any more than he is
+anything beyond a learned animal if he knows nothing of his
+opportunities and responsibilities as a son of God. But though
+example is a more impelling factor than precept, undoubtedly the most
+permanent contributions conferred on the coast by the many college
+students, who come as volunteers every summer to help us in the
+various branches of our work, is just this gift of their own
+personalities. Strangely enough, quite a number of these helpers who
+have to spend considerable money coming and returning, just to give us
+what they can for the sole return of what that means to their own
+lives, have not been the sons of the wealthy, but those working their
+way through the colleges. These men are just splendid to hold up as
+inspirational to our own.
+
+The access to books, as well as to sermons, may not be neglected. Our
+faculties, like our jaws, atrophy if we do not use them to bite with.
+The Carnegie libraries have emphasized a fact that is to education and
+the colleges what social work is to medicine and the hospitals. We
+were running south some years ago on our long northern trip before a
+fine leading wind, when suddenly we noticed a small boat with an
+improvised flag hoisted, standing right out across our bows. Thinking
+that it was at least some serious surgical case, we at once ordered
+"Down sail and heave her to," annoying though it was to have the
+trouble and delay. When at last she was alongside, a solitary,
+white-haired old man climbed with much difficulty over our rail.
+"Good-day. What's the trouble? We are in a hurry." The old man most
+courteously doffed his cap, and stood holding it in his hand. "I
+wanted to ask you, Doctor," he said slowly, "if you had any books
+which you could lend me. We can't get anything to read here." An angry
+reply almost escaped my lips for delaying a steamer for such a
+purpose. But a strange feeling of humiliation replaced it almost
+immediately. Which is really charity--skilfully to remove his injured
+leg, if he had one, or to afford him the pleasure and profit of a good
+book? Both services were just as far from his reach without our help.
+
+"Haven't you got any books?"
+
+"Yes, Doctor, I've got two, but I've read them through and through
+long ago."
+
+"What kind are they?"
+
+"One is the 'Works of Josephus,'" he answered, "and the other is
+'Plutarch's Lives.'"
+
+I thought that I had discovered the first man who could honestly and
+truthfully say that he would prefer for his own library the "best
+hundred books," selected by Mr. Ruskin and Dr. Eliot, without even so
+much as a sigh for the "ten best sellers."
+
+He was soon bounding away over the seas in his little craft, the happy
+possessor of one of our moving libraries, containing some fifty books,
+ranging from Henty's stories to discarded tomes from theological
+libraries.
+
+Each year the hospital ship moves these library boxes one more stage
+along the coast. As there are some seventy-five of them, they thus
+last the natural life of books, since we have only rarely enjoyed the
+help of a trained librarian enabling us to make the most use of these
+always welcome assets for our work. Later, some librarian friends from
+Brooklyn, chief among whom was Miss Marion Cutter, came down to help
+us; but our inability to have continuity when the ladies cannot afford
+to give their valuable services, has seriously handicapped the
+efficiency of this branch of the work. This, however, only spells
+opportunity, and when this war releases the new appreciation of
+service, we feel confident that somehow we shall be able to fill the
+gap, and some one will be found to come and help us again to meet this
+great need.
+
+The cooperation of teachers and librarians more than doubles the
+capacity of each alone, and we believe sincerely that they do that of
+doctors, as they unquestionably do that of the clergy. All the world's
+workers have infinitely more to gain by cooperation than they often
+suspect. And indeed we who are apostles of cooperation, as essential
+for economy in distribution and efficiency in production, realize that
+groups of workers pulling together always increase by geometrical
+progression the result obtained.
+
+None of our methods, however, tackled the smallest settlements, hidden
+away here and there in these fjords, especially those unreached by the
+mail steamers and devoid of means of transportation. Mahomet just
+could not come to the mountain, so it had to go to him. A lady and a
+Doctor of Philosophy, Miss Ethel Gordon Muir, whose life had been
+spent in teaching, and who would have been excused for discontinuing
+that function during her long vacations, came down at her own cost and
+charges to carry the light to one of these lonely settlements. She has
+with loyal devotion continued to carry on and enlarge that work ever
+since, till finally she has built up a work that the clergyman of the
+main section of coast affected, and also the Superintendent of
+Education, have declared is the most effective branch of our Mission.
+Her band of teachers are volunteers. They come down to these little
+hamlets for the duration of their summer vacations. They live with the
+fishermen in their cottages and gather their pupils daily wherever
+seems best. Lack of proper accommodation and pioneer conditions
+throughout in no way deter them. We expected that their criticism
+would be, "It is not worth while." That has never been the case.
+Before the war they came again and again, as a testimony to their
+belief in the value of the effort. Some have given promising children
+a chance for a complete education in the States. Indeed, one such lad,
+taken down some years ago by one of the students, entered Amherst
+College last year; while several were fighting with the American boys
+"Over There."
+
+The only real joy of possession is the power which it confers for a
+larger life of service. Has it been the reader's good fortune ever to
+save a human life? A cousin of mine, an officer in the submarine
+service of the Royal Engineers, told me a year or two before the war
+that he was never quite happy because he had spent all his life
+acquiring special capacities which he never in the least expected to
+be able to put to practical use. This war has given to him, at least,
+what possessions could never have offered.
+
+It almost requires the fabulous Jack to overcome the hoary giants of
+prejudice and custom, or the irrepressible energy of the Gorgon. It
+has been helpful to remember away "down North" the stand which
+Archbishop Ireland took for public schools. When the Episcopal
+clergyman for Labrador, whom we had been influential in bringing out
+from England, decided to start an undenominational boarding-school on
+his section of the coast, we began to hope that we might yet live to
+see our sporadic effort become a policy. Laymen in St. John's, led by
+the Rev. Dr. Edgar Jones, a most progressive clergyman, sympathized in
+dollars, and we were able to back the effort. A splendid volunteer
+head teacher will arrive in the spring to begin work. The effort still
+needs much help; but I am persuaded that a chain of undenominational
+schools can be started that will react on the whole country. Already a
+scheme for a similar uplift for the west coast is being promulgated.
+
+In a letter written to my wife some years ago I find that my
+convictions on the subject of education were no less firm than they
+are to-day. One came to the conclusion that "ignorance is the worst
+cause of suffering on our coast, and our 'religion' is fostering it.
+True, it has denominational schools, but these are to bolster up
+special ecclesiastical bodies, and are not half so good as Government
+schools would be. The 'goods delivered' in the schools are not
+educational in the best sense, and are all too often inefficiently
+offered. Instead of making the children ambitious to go on learning
+through life, they make them tired. There is no effort to stimulate
+the play side; and in our north end of the Colony's territory there
+are no trades taught, no new ideas, no manual training--it is all
+so-called 'arts' and Creeds."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+"WHO HATH DESIRED THE SEA?"
+
+
+We are somewhat superstitious down here still, and not a few believe
+that shoals and submerged rocks are like sirens which charm vessels to
+their doom.
+
+On one occasion, as late in the fall we were creeping up the Straits
+of Belle Isle in the only motor boat then in use there, our new toy
+broke down, and with a strong onshore wind we gradually drifted in
+toward the high cliffs. It was a heavy boat, and though we rowed our
+best we realized that we must soon be on the rocks, where a strong
+surf was breaking. So we lashed all our lines together and cast over
+our anchors, hoping to find bottom. Alas, the water was too deep.
+Darkness came on and the prospect of a long, weary night struggling
+for safety made us thrill with excitement. Suddenly a schooner's
+lights, utterly unexpected, loomed up, coming head on toward us. Like
+Saul and his asses, we no longer cared about our craft so long as we
+escaped. At once we lashed the hurricane light on the boat-hook and
+waved it to and fro on high to make sure of attracting attention. To
+our dismay the schooner, now almost in hail, incontinently tacked,
+and, making for the open sea, soon left us far astern. We fired our
+guns, we shouted in unison, we lit flares. All to no purpose. Surely
+it must have been a phantom vessel sent to mock us. Suddenly our
+amateur engineer, who had all the time been working away at the
+scrap-heap of parts into which he had dismembered the motor, got a
+faint kick out of one cylinder--a second--a third, then two, three,
+and then a solitary one again. It was exactly like a case of blocked
+heart. But it was enough with our oars to make us move slowly ahead.
+By much stimulating and watchful nursing we limped along on the one
+cylinder, and about midnight found ourselves alongside the phantom
+ship, which we had followed into the harbour "afar off." Angry enough
+at their desertion of us in distress, we went aboard just to tell them
+what we thought of their behaviour. But their explanation entirely
+disarmed us. "Them cliffs is haunted," said the skipper. "More'n one
+light's been seen there than ever any man lit. When us saw you'se
+light flashing round right in on the cliffs, us knowed it was no place
+for Christian men that time o' night. Us guessed it was just fairies
+or devils trying to toll us in."
+
+We had no lighthouses on Labrador in those days, and though hundreds
+of vessels, crowded often with women and children, had to pass up and
+down the coast each spring and fall, still not a single island,
+harbour, cape, or reef had any light to mark it, and many boats were
+unnecessarily lost as a result.
+
+Most of the schooners of this large fleet are small. Many are old and
+poorly "found" in running gear. Their decks are so crowded with boats,
+barrels, gear, wood, and other impedimenta, that to reef or handle
+sails on a dark night is almost impossible; while below they were
+often so crowded with women and children going North with their men
+for the summer fishing on the Labrador shore, that I have had to crawl
+on my knees to get at a patient, after climbing down through the main
+hatch. These craft are quite unfitted for a rough night at sea,
+especially as there always are icebergs or big pans about, which if
+touched would each spell another "vessel missing." So the craft all
+creep North and South in the spring and fall along the land, darting
+into harbours before dark, and leaving before dawn if the night
+proves "civil." Yet many a time I have seen these little vessels with
+their precious cargoes becalmed, or with wind ahead, just unable to
+make anchorage, and often on moonless nights when the barometer has
+been low and the sky threatening. As there were no lights on the land,
+it would have been madness to try and make harbours after sundown.
+
+I have known the cruel, long anxiety of heart which the dilemma
+involved. It has been our great pleasure sometimes to run out and tow
+vessels in out of their distress. I can still feel the grip of one
+fine skipper, who came aboard when the sea eased down. The only
+harbour available for us had been very small, and the water too deep
+for his poor gear. So when he started to drift, we had given him a
+line and let him hold on to us through the night, with his own stern
+only a few yards from the cliffs under his lee, and all his loved
+ones, as well as his freighters, a good deal nearer heaven than he
+wished them to be.
+
+We had frequently written to the Government of this neglect of lights
+for the coast. But Labrador has no representative in the Newfoundland
+Parliament, and legislators who never visited Labrador had
+unimaginative minds. Year after year went by and nothing was done. So
+I spoke to many friends of the dire need for a light near Battle
+Harbour Hospital. Practically every one of the Northern craft ran
+right by us many times as they fished first in the Gulf and later on
+the east coast, and so had to go past that corner of land. I have seen
+a hundred vessels come and anchor near by in a single evening. When
+the money was donated, our architect designed the building, and a
+friend promised to endow the effort, so that the salary of the
+light-keeper might be permanent. The material was cut and sent North,
+when we were politely told that the Government could not permit
+private ownership of lights--a very proper decision, too. They told us
+that the year before money had been voted by the House for lights, and
+the first would be erected near Battle Harbour. This was done, and the
+Double Island Light has been a veritable Godsend to me as well as to
+thousands of others many times since that day.
+
+   [Illustration: FISH ON THE FLAKES]
+
+   [Illustration: DRYING THE SEINES]
+
+One hundred miles north of Indian Tickle, a place also directly in the
+run of all the fishing schooners, a light was much needed. On a
+certain voyage coming South with the fleet in the fall, we had all
+tried to make the harbour, but it shut down suddenly before nightfall
+with a blanket of fog which you could almost cut with a knife, and
+being inside many reefs, and unable to make the open, we were all
+forced to anchor. Where we were exactly none of us knew, for we had
+all pushed on for the harbour as much as we dared. There were eleven
+riding-lights visible around us when a rift came in the fog. We hoped
+against hope that we had made the harbour. A fierce northeaster
+gathered strength as night fell, and a mighty sea began to heave in.
+Soon we strained at our anchors in the big seas, and heavy water swept
+down our decks from bow to stern. Our patients were dressed and our
+boats gotten ready, though it all had only a psychological value.
+Gradually we missed first one and then another of the riding-lights,
+and it was not difficult to guess what had happened. When daylight
+broke, only one boat was left--a large vessel called the Yosemite, and
+she was drifting right down toward us. Suddenly she touched a reef,
+turned on her side, and we saw the seas carry her over the breakers,
+the crew hanging on to her bilge. Steaming to our anchors had saved
+us. All the vessels that went ashore became matchwood. But before we
+could get our anchors or slip them, our main steam pipe gave out and
+we had to blow down our boilers. It was now a race between the
+engineers trying to repair the damage and the shortening hours of
+daylight. On the result depended quite possibly the lives of us all. I
+cannot remember one sweeter sound than the raucous voice of the
+engineer just in the nick of time calling out, "Right for'ard," and
+then the signal of the engine-room bell in the tell-tale in our little
+wheel-house. The Government has since put a fine little light in
+summer on White Point, the point off which we lay.
+
+Farther north, right by our hospital at Indian Harbour, is a narrow
+tickle known as the "White Cockade." Through this most of the fleet
+pass, and here also we had planned for a lighthouse. When we were
+forbidden to put our material at Battle Harbour, we suggested moving
+to this almost equally important point. But it fell under the same
+category, and soon after the Government put a good light there also.
+The fishermen, therefore, suggested that we should offer our
+peripatetic, would-be lighthouse to the Government for some new place
+each year.
+
+We have not much now to complain of so far as the needs of our present
+stage of evolution goes. We have wireless stations, quite a number of
+lights, not a few landmarks, and a ten times better mail and transport
+service than the much wealthier and more able Dominion of Canada could
+and ought to give to her long shore from Quebec to the eastern
+"Newfoundland" boundary on the Straits Labrador.
+
+He is not a great legislator who only makes provision for certainties.
+True, the West has shown such riches and capacity that it has paid
+better to develop it first. But there is no excuse now whatever for
+neglecting the East. The Dominion would have been well advised,
+indeed, had she years ago built a railway to the east coast,
+shortening the steamer communication with England to only two nights
+at sea, and saving twenty-four hours for the mails between London and
+Toronto. The war has shown how easily she could have afforded it. Most
+ardently I had hoped that she might have turned some of her German
+prisoner labour in so invaluable a direction.
+
+Had the reindeer installation been handled by the Newfoundland
+Government years ago as it should have been, Labrador would have
+yielded to our boys in France a very material assistance in meat and
+furs. Canada now could and should, if only in the interest of her
+native population, begin on this problem as soon as peace is declared.
+
+The fact that a thing possesses vitality is a guarantee that it will
+grow if it can. Each new focus will expand, and caterpillar-like cast
+off its old clothing for better. The first necessity for economy and
+efficiency in our work has been to get our patients quickly to us or
+to be able to get to them. Experience has shown us that while boats
+entirely dependent on motors are cheapest, it is not always safe to do
+open-sea work in such launches without a secondary and more reliable
+means of progression. The stories of a doctor's work in these launches
+would fill a volume by themselves. The first Northern Messenger, a
+small "hot-head" boat, was replaced and sold to pay part of the cost
+of Northern Messenger number two. This in its turn was wrecked on an
+uncharted shoal with Dr. West on board, and her insurance used to help
+to procure Northern Messenger number three--which is the beautiful
+boat which now serves Harrington, our most westerly hospital. We are
+largely indebted for her to Mr. William Bowditch, of Milton,
+Massachusetts.
+
+Dr. Hare, our first doctor at that station, never wrote his own
+experiences, but one of the Yale volunteers who worked under him wrote
+a story founded on fact, from which the following incident is
+suggestive.
+
+Once, running home before a wind in the Gulf, the doctor suddenly
+missed his little son Pat, and looking round saw him struggling in the
+water, already many yards astern. Dr. Hare, who was at the tiller at
+the time, instantly jumped over after him. The child was finally
+disappearing when he reached him at last and held his head above
+water. Meanwhile the engineer, who had been below, jumped on deck to
+find the sails flapping in the wind and the boat head to sea. With the
+intuitive quickness of our people in matters pertaining to the sea, he
+took in the situation in a second, and though entirely alone
+manoeuvred the boat so cleverly as to pick them both up before they
+perished in these frigid waters. Pat's young life was saved, only to
+be given a short few years later in France for the same fight for the
+kingdom of righteousness which his home life had made his familiar
+ideal.
+
+The forty-five-foot, "hot-head" yawl Daryl, given us by the Dutch
+Reformed friends in New York, was sold to the Hudson Bay Company. At
+first she was naturally called the Flying Dutchman, and was most
+useful; but here we have learned when a better instrument is available
+that it is the truest economy to scrap-heap the old. We were to give
+delivery of the boat in Baffin's Land. There were plenty of volunteers
+for the task, for the tough jobs are the very ones which appeal to
+real men. It would be well if the churches realized this fact and that
+therein lies the real secret of Christianity. The impression that
+being a Christian is a soft job inevitably brings our religion into
+contempt. I had been in England that spring, and had been able to
+arrange that the mail steamer bound for Montreal on which I took
+passage should stop and drop me off Belle Isle if the crusaders who
+were to take this launch on her long voyage North would stand out
+across our pathway. Mr. Marconi personally took an interest in the
+venture. The launch was to wait at our most easterly Labrador station,
+and we were to keep telling her our position. The boat was in charge
+of Mr. John Rowland and Mr. Robert English, both of Yale. It created
+quite a furor among the passengers on our great ship, when she stopped
+in mid-ocean, as it appeared to them, and lowered an erratic doctor
+over the side on to a midget, whose mast-tops one looked down upon
+from the liner's rail. The sensation was all the more marked as we
+disappeared over the rail clinging to two large pots of geraniums--an
+importation which we regarded as very much worth while.
+
+With an old Hudson Bay man, Mr. George Ford, to act as interpreter,
+and a Harvard colleague, who to his infinite chagrin was recalled by a
+wireless from his parents almost before starting, the little ship and
+her crew of three disappeared "over the edge" beyond communication. I
+should mention that the Company had promised an engineer for the
+launch, but he had begged off when he understood the nature of the
+projected expedition; so Yale decided that they were men enough to do
+without any outside help.
+
+September had nearly gone, and no news had come from the boys. I owe
+some one an infinite debt for a temperament which does not go halfway
+to meet troubles; but even I was a little worried when unkind rumours
+that we had sold a boat that was not safe were capped by a father's
+letter to say that he "had heard the reports"! Fortunately, two days
+later, as the Strathcona lay taking on whale meat for winter dog food
+at the northernmost factory, the Northern mail steamer came in. On
+board were our returned wanderers, and papa, who had gone down as far
+as the Labrador steamer runs to look for them, as proud and happy as a
+man has a right to be over sons who do things. The boys had not only
+reached Baffin's Land, but had explored over a hundred miles of its
+uncharted coast-line, crossed to Cape Wolstenholme, navigated
+Stupart's Bay--northeast of Ungava--and finally returned to Baffin's
+Land, coming back to Cartwright on the Hudson Bay Company's steamer
+Pelican. It was a splendid record, especially when we remember the
+fierce currents and tremendous rise and fall of tides in that distant
+land. This latter was so great that having anchored one night in three
+fathoms of water in what appeared to be a good harbour, they had
+awakened in the morning to the fact that they were in a pond a full
+mile in the country, left stranded by the retiring tide.
+
+Our last "hot-head," the Pomiuk, in a heavy gale of wind was smashed
+to atoms on a terrible reef of rocks off Domino Point a mile from
+land--fortunately with no one aboard. Yet another of our fine yawls,
+the Andrew McCosh, given us by the students of Princeton, was driven
+from her anchors on to the dangerous Point Amour, where years ago,
+H.M.S. Lily was lost, and whose bones still lie bleaching on the rocky
+foreshore at the foot of the cliffs. Much as I love the sea, it made
+one rather "sore" that it should serve us such a turn as wrecking the
+McCosh. I have been on the sea for over thirty years and never lost a
+vessel while aboard her, but to look on while the waves destroyed so
+beautiful a handmaid almost reconciled me to the statement that in
+heaven there shall "be no more sea."
+
+It was near this same spot that in November, 1905, a very old vessel,
+while trying to cross the Straits in a breeze, suddenly sprung a leak
+which sent her to the bottom in spite of all the pumping which could
+be done. The six men aboard were able to keep afloat at that time of
+year in the open Atlantic out of sight of land for five days and
+nights. They had nothing to eat but dry bread, and no covering of any
+kind. The winds were heavy and the seas high all the while. By
+patiently keeping their little boat's head to the wind with the oars,
+for they had not any sails, day after day and night after night, and
+backing her astern when a breaker threatened to overwhelm them, they
+eventually reached land safe and sound.
+
+The special interest about the launches has always been the pleasant
+connection which they have enabled us to maintain with the
+universities. Yale crews, Harvard crews, Princeton crews, Johns
+Hopkins crews, College of Physicians and Surgeons crews, and combined
+crews of many others, have in succeeding years thus become interested.
+Occasionally these men have taken back some of their Labrador
+shipmates to the United States for a year's education, and in that and
+other ways, so they say, have they themselves received much real joy
+and inspiration.
+
+In order to maintain the interest which Canada had taken in our work,
+it had in some way to be organized. We had volunteer honorary
+secretaries in a few cities, but no way of keeping them informed of
+our needs and our progress. In New England a most loyal friend, Miss
+Emma White, who ever since has been secretary and devoted helper of
+the Labrador work there, had started a regular association with a
+board of directors and had taken an office in Beacon Street, Boston.
+This association now and again published little brochures of our work,
+or ordered out a few copies of the English magazine called "The
+Toilers of the Deep." It was suggested that we might with advantage
+publish a quarterly pamphlet of our own. This was made possible by the
+generous help of the late Miss Julia Greenshields, of Toronto, who
+undertook not only to edit, but also personally to finance any loss on
+a little magazine to be entitled "Among the Deep-Sea Fishers." This
+has been maintained ever since, and has been responsible for helping
+to raise many of the funds to enable us to "carry on."
+
+We had also begun to get friends in New York. Dr. Charles Parkhurst,
+famous especially for his plucky exposure of the former rottenness of
+the police force of that city, had asked me to give an illustrated
+lecture at his mission in the Bowery. After my talk a gentleman
+present, to my blank astonishment, gave me a cheque for five hundred
+dollars. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship with one who
+has, for all the succeeding years, given far more than money, namely,
+the constant inspiration of his own attitude to life and his wise
+counsel--to say nothing of the value of the endorsation of his name.
+His eldest son, one of the ablest of the rising New York architects,
+became chairman of the Grenfell Association of America, and gave us
+both of his time and talent--he being responsible, as voluntary
+architect, for many of our present buildings, including the Institute
+at St. John's, Newfoundland.
+
+This spread of interest in the United States greatly increased our
+correspondence, with an odd result. Americans apparently all believed
+that this Colony was part of Canada, and that the postage was two
+cents as to the Dominion. This mistake left us six cents to pay on
+every letter, and sixteen on any which were overweight. On one
+occasion the postmaster offered me so many taxable letters that I
+decided to accept only one, and let the others go back. That one
+contained a cheque for a hundred dollars for the Mission. I naturally
+took the rest, and found every one of them to be bills, gossip, or
+from autograph-hunters.
+
+On inquiry, our Postmaster-General informed me that it was not
+possible to arrange a two-cent postal rate with America. It had been
+tried and abandoned, because Canada wanted a share for carrying the
+letters through her territory. He told me, however, that he would
+agree gladly if the United States offered it. On my visit to
+Washington I had the honour of dining with Lord Bryce, our Ambassador
+there and an old friend of my father's, and I mentioned the matter to
+him. He could not, however, commend my efforts to the Government, as I
+had no credentials as a special delegate. There was nothing to do but
+take my place in the queue of importunates waiting to interview the
+Postmaster-General. When at length I had been moved to the top of the
+bench, I was called in, and very soon explained my mission. I received
+a most cordial hearing, but merely the information that a note would
+be made of my request and filed.
+
+It suddenly flashed upon me that Americans had equal fishing rights with
+ourselves on the Labrador coast, and that quite a number visited there
+every year. Possibly the grant of a two-cent postage would be a welcome
+little "sop" to them. Mr. Meyer, who was the Postmaster-General at the
+time, said that it made all the difference if the reduced rate would in
+any way encourage the American mercantile marine. He bade me draw a
+careful list of reasons in favour of my proposal, and promised to give
+it careful attention.
+
+It so happened that a few days later I mentioned the matter to Colonel
+McCook at whose home I was staying in New York. Colonel McCook, known
+as "Fighting McCook," from the fact that he was the only one of nine
+brothers not killed in the Civil War, at once took up the cudgels in
+my behalf, left for Washington the following day, and wired me on the
+next morning, "All arranged. Congratulations"--and I had the pleasure
+of telegraphing the Postmaster-General in St. John's that I had
+arranged the two-cent postage rate with the United States and
+Newfoundland. A few days later I received a marked copy of a
+Newfoundland paper saying how capable a Government they possessed,
+seeing that now they had so successfully put through the two-cent post
+for the Colony--and that was all the notice ever taken of my only
+little political intrigue; except that a year or two later, meeting
+Mr. Meyer in Cambridge, he whispered in my ear, "We were going out of
+office in four days, or you would never have got that two-cent post
+law of yours through so easily."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the spring of 1907 I was in England, and before I left, my old
+University was good enough to offer me an honorary degree of Doctor of
+Medicine of Oxford. As it was the first occasion that that respectable
+old University had ever given that particular degree to any one, I was
+naturally not a little gratified. The day of the conferring of it will
+ever live in my memory. My cousin, the Professor of Paleontology, half
+of whose life was spent in the desert of Egypt digging for papyri in
+old dust-heaps, was considered the most appropriate person to stand
+sponsor for me--a would-be pioneer of a new civilization in the
+sub-arctic.
+
+The words with which the Public Orator introduced me to the
+Vice-Chancellor, being in Latin, seem to me interesting as a relic
+rather than as a statement of fact:
+
+"Insignissime Vice-Cancellarie vosque egregii Procuratores: Adest
+civis Britannicus, hujus academiae olim alumnus, nunc Novum Orbem
+incolentibus quam nostratibus notus. Hic ille est qui quindecim abhinc
+annos in litus Labradorium profectus est, ut solivagis in mari Boreali
+piscatoribus ope medica succurreret; quo in munere obeundo Oceani
+pericula, quae ibi formidosissima sunt, contempsit dum miseris et
+maerentibus solatium ac lumen afferret. Nunc quantum homini licet, in
+ipsius Christi vestigiis, si fas est dicere, insistere videtur, vir
+vere Christianus. Jure igitur eum laudamus cujus laudibus non ipse
+solum sed etiam Academia nostra ornatur.
+
+"Praesenta ad vos Wilfredum Thomassum Grenfell, ut admittatur ad gradum
+Doctoris in Medicina Honoris Causa."
+
+As we, the only two Doctors Grenfell extant, marched solemnly back
+down the aisle side by side, the antithesis of what doctorates called
+for struck my sense of humour most forcibly. I had hired the gorgeous
+robes of scarlet box cloth and carmine silk for the occasion, never
+expecting to wear them again. But some years later, when yet another
+honorary Doctorate, of Laws, was most generously conferred upon me by
+a University of our American cousins, I felt it incumbent on me to
+uphold if possible the British end of the ritual. A cable brought me
+just in time the box-cloth surtout. Commencement ceremonies in the
+United States are in June; and the latitude was that of Rome. For
+years I had spent the hot months always in the sub-arctic. The
+assembly hall was small and crowded to bursting--not even all the
+graduating class could get in, much less all their friends. The
+temperature was in three figures. The scarlet box cloth got hotter and
+hotter as we paraded in and about the campus. My face outrivalled the
+gown in colour. I have made many lobster men out of the boiled limbs
+of those admirable adjuncts of a Northern diet, but I had never
+expected to pose as one in the flesh. The most lasting impression
+which the ceremony left on my mind is of my volunteer summer
+secretary, who stood almost on my toes as he delivered the valedictory
+address of his class. I still see his gradually wilting, boiled
+collar, and the tiny rivulet which trickled down his neck as he warmed
+to his subject. We were the best of friends, but I felt that glow of
+semi-satisfaction that comes to the man who finds that he is no longer
+the only one seasick on board.
+
+About this time King Edward most graciously presented me, as one of
+his birthday honours, with a Companionship in the Order of St. Michael
+and St. George--most useful persons for any man to have as companions,
+especially in a work like ours, both being famous for downing dragons
+and devils. My American friends immediately knighted me. The papers
+and magazines knighted me in both the United States and Canada. But
+that got me into trouble, for only kings can make pawns into knights,
+and I had to appeal several times to the Associated Press to save
+myself being dubbed _poseur_. I have protested at meetings when the
+chairman has knighted me; at banquets, when the master of ceremonies
+has knighted me. I gave it up lest accusation should arise against me,
+when at a semi-religious meeting I uttered a feeble protest against
+the title to which I have no right, and my introducer merely repeated
+it the more firmly, informing the audience meanwhile that I was "too
+modest to use it."
+
+There was attached to the conferring of the Order one elective
+latitude--it could either be sent out or wait till I returned to
+England and attended a levee with the other recipients. I had a great
+desire to see the King, and, though it meant a year's waiting, I
+requested to be allowed to do so. This not only was most courteously
+granted, but also the permission to let my presence in England be
+known to the Hereditary Grand Chamberlain, and the King would give me
+a private audience. When the day arrived, I repaired to Buckingham
+Palace, where I waited for an hour in the reception room in company
+with a small, stout clergyman who was very affable. I learned later
+that he was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was carrying a fat Bible
+from Boston, England, I believe, to be presented to the United States
+of America.
+
+At last Sir Frederick Treves, who kindly acted as my introducer, took
+me up to the King's study--that King whose life his skill had saved.
+There a most courteous gentleman made me perfectly at home, and talked
+of Labrador and North Newfoundland and our work as if he had lived
+there. He asked especially about the American helpers and interest,
+and laughed heartily when I told him how many freeborn Americans had
+gladly taken the oath of loyalty to His Majesty, when called up to act
+as special constables for me in his oldest Colony. He left the
+impression on my mind that he was a real Englishman in spirit, though
+he had spoken with what I took to be a slight German accent. The
+sports and games of the Colony I had noticed interested him very much,
+and all references to the splendid seafaring genius of the people also
+found an appreciative echo in his heart. When at last he handed me a
+long box with a gorgeous medal and ribbon, and bade me good-bye, I
+vowed I could sing "God save the King" louder than ever if I could do
+so without harrowing the feelings of my more tuneful neighbours.
+
+When later, as a major in an American surgical unit in France, I was
+serving the R.A.M.C., the ribbon of the Order was actually of real
+service to me. It undoubtedly opened some closed doors, though it
+proved a puzzle to every A.D.M.S. to whom I had to explain the anomaly
+of my position when I had to go and worry him for permission to cross
+the road or some new imaginary line. In England, and even in America,
+I found that the fact that the King had recognized one's work was a
+real material asset. It was a credential--only on a larger scale--like
+that from our Minister to the Colonies, the Marquis of Ripon, who
+kindly had given me his blessing in writing when first I visited
+Canada.
+
+How far signs of superiority are permissible is to my mind an open
+question. Hereditary human superiority does not necessarily exist,
+because selective precautions are not taken, and the environment of
+the superior is very apt to enfeeble the physical machine, anyhow. The
+question of the hereditary superiority of a man's soul, being outside
+my sphere, I leave to the theologians. History, which is the school of
+experience, belies the theory, whatever current science may say. As
+for the giving of hereditary titles, it is significant that they do
+not as a rule go to scholars or even scientific men, but to physical
+fighters, being physical rewards for material services. When these are
+in the possession of offspring no longer capable of rendering such
+services, it appears ridiculous that they should sail under false
+colours.
+
+To make a man a hereditary duke for being humble and modest, or
+hereditary marquis for being unselfish and generous, or an earl for
+being a man of peace, and a benefactor in the things which make for
+peace, such as a good husband and father and comrade, has, so far as I
+know, never been tried. Some of the so-called lesser honours, such as
+knighthood, are reserved for these. However, an order of knightly
+citizens, so long as they are real knights, is, after all, little
+more than the gold key of the Phi Beta Kappa, or the red triangle of
+the Y.M.C.A. worker, or the Red Cross badge of the nurse. We are
+human, anyhow, and such concessions, seeing that they do have an
+undoubted stimulating value in the present stage of our development,
+to an Englishman seem permissible.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE REINDEER EXPERIMENT
+
+
+Labrador will never be a "vineland," a land of corn and wine, or a
+country where fenced cities will be needed to keep out the milk and
+honey. But though there may be other sections of the Empire that can
+produce more dollars, Labrador will, like Norway and Sweden, produce
+Vikings, and it is said that the man behind the gun is still of some
+moment.
+
+In past years we have made quite extensive experiments in trying to
+adapt possible food supplies to this climate. I had seventeen bags of
+the hardiest cereal seeds known sent me. They consisted of barley from
+Lapland, from Russia, from Abyssinia, Mansbury barley and Finnish
+oats. All the seeds came from the experimental station at Rampart,
+Alaska, and were grown in latitude 63 deg. 30', which is two degrees north
+of Cape Chidley.
+
+I find in the notes of one of my earliest voyages my satisfaction at
+the fact that a storm with lightning and thunder had just passed over
+the boat and freshened up some rhubarb which I was growing in a box.
+It had been presented to me by the Governor to carry down to Battle
+Harbour, and I was very eager that it, my first agricultural venture,
+should not fail.
+
+Everywhere along the coast the inability to get a proper diet, owing
+to the difficulties of successful farming even on ever so small a
+scale, had aroused my mind to the necessity of doing something along
+that line. In one small cottage I saw a poor woman zealously guarding
+an aged rooster.
+
+"Have you got a hen?" I asked her.
+
+"No, Doctor; I had one, but she died last year."
+
+"Then why ever do you keep that rooster?"
+
+"Oh! I hopes some day to get a hen. I've had him five years. The last
+manager of the mill gave him to me, but you'se sees he can't never go
+out and walk around because of the dogs, so I just keeps he under that
+settle."
+
+Pathetic as were her efforts at stock farming, I must admit that my
+sympathies were all with the incarcerated rooster.
+
+The problem of the dogs seemed an insurmountable one. The Moravians'
+records abound in stories of their destructiveness. Mr. Hesketh
+Pritchard writes: "Dr. Grenfell records two children and one man
+killed by the dogs. This is fortunately a much less terrible record
+than that shown farther north by the Moravian Missions. The savage
+dogs did great harm at those stations one winter." Among other
+accidents, a boy of thirteen, strong and well, was coming home from
+his father's kayak to his mother. After some time, as he did not
+arrive, they went to search for him and found that the dogs had
+already killed and eaten a good part of him. A full-grown man, driving
+to Battle Harbour Hospital, was killed by his dogs almost at our
+doors.
+
+The wolves of the country only pack when deer are about. As a contrast
+to our dogs, wolves have never been known to kill a man in Labrador,
+so it would be more correct to speak of a doggish wolf than a wolfish
+dog. It is an odd thing and a fortunate one that in this country,
+where it is very common to have been bitten by a dog, we never have
+been able to find any trace of hydrophobia.
+
+A visitor returning to New York after a summer on the coast wrote as
+follows: "One of my lasting remembrances of Battle Harbour will be the
+dreadful dogs. The Mission team were on an island far removed, but
+there were a number of settlers' dogs which delighted in making the
+nights hideous. Never before have I seen dogs stand up like men and
+grapple with each other in a fight, and when made to move on, renew
+the battle round the corner."
+
+Our efforts at agriculture had taught us not to expect too much of the
+country. A New Zealand cousin, Martyn Spencer, a graduate of Macdonald
+College of Agriculture, gave us two years' work. His experience showed
+that while dogs continued to be in common use, cattle-raising was
+impossible. Of a flock of forty Herdwick sheep given by Dr. Wakefield,
+the dogs killed twenty-seven at one time. Angora goats, which we had
+imported, perished in the winter for lack of proper food. Our land
+cost so much to reclaim for hay, being soaked in humic acid, that we
+had always to import that commodity at a cost which made more cows
+than absolutely essential very inadvisable. Weasels, rats, hawks, and
+vermin needed a man's whole time if our chickens were to be properly
+guarded and repay keeping at all. An alfalfa sent us from Washington
+did well, and potatoes also gave a fair return, though our summer
+frosts often destroyed whole patches of the latter. Our imported plum
+and crabapple trees were ringed by mice beneath the snow in winter. At
+a farm which we cleared nine miles up a bay, so as to have it removed
+from the polar current, our oats never ripened, and our turnips and
+cabbage did not flourish in every case. We could not plant early
+enough, owing to the ground being frozen till July some years.
+
+On the other hand, when we looked at the hundreds of thousands of
+square miles on which caribou could live and increase without any help
+from man, and indeed in spite of all his machinations, our attention
+was naturally turned to reindeer farming, and I went to Washington to
+consult Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the Presbyterian missionary from Alaska.
+It was he who had pioneered the introduction by the United States
+Government of domestic reindeer into Alaska. At Washington we received
+nothing but encouragement. Reindeer could make our wilderness smile.
+They would cost only the protection necessary. They multiply steadily,
+breeding every year for eight or ten years after their second season.
+A selected herd should double itself every three years.
+
+The skins are very valuable--there is no better nonconductor of heat.
+The centre of the hair is not a hollow cylinder, but a series of air
+bubbles which do not soak water, and therefore can be used with
+advantage for life-saving cushions. The skins are splendid also for
+motor robes, and now invaluable in the air service. The meat is tender
+and appetizing, and sold as a game delicacy in New York. The deer
+fatten well on the abundant mosses of a country such as ours.
+
+Sir William MacGregor, the Governor of Newfoundland at the time, had
+samples of the mosses collected around the coast and sent to Kew
+Botanical Gardens for positive identification. The Cladonia
+Rangiferina, or Iceland moss, proved very abundant. It was claimed,
+however, that the reindeer would eat any of such plants and shrubs as
+our coast offers in summer.
+
+As long ago as the year 1903 my interest in the domestication of deer
+had led me to experiment with a young caribou. We had him on the
+Strathcona nearly all one summer. He was a great pet on board, and
+demonstrated how easily trained these animals are. He followed me
+about like a dog, and called after me as I left the ship's side in a
+boat if we did not take him with us. He was as inquisitive as a monkey
+or as the black bear which we had had two years before. We twice
+caught him in the chart-room chewing up white paper, for on his first
+raid there he had found an apple just magnanimously sent us from the
+shore as a delicacy.
+
+Friends, inspired by Mr. William Howell Reed, of Boston, collected the
+money for a consignment of reindeer, and we accordingly sent to
+Lapland to purchase as many of the animals as we could afford. The
+expense was not so much in the cost of the deer as in the transport.
+They could not be shipped till they had themselves hauled down to the
+beach enough moss to feed them on their passage across the Atlantic.
+Between two hundred and fifty and three hundred were purchased, and
+three Lapp families hired to teach some of our local people how to
+herd them. When at last snow enough fell for the sledges to haul the
+moss down to the landwash, it was dark all day around the North Cape.
+
+Fifty years hence in all probability the Lapps will be an extinct
+race, as even within the past twelve or fifteen years, districts in
+which thousands of domesticated reindeer grazed, now possess but a few
+hundreds.
+
+The good ship Anita, which conveyed the herd to us, steamed in for
+southern Newfoundland and then worked her way North as far as the ice
+would permit. At St. Anthony everything was frozen up, and the men
+walked out of the harbour mouth on the sea ice to meet the steamer
+bringing the deer. The whole three hundred were landed on the ice in
+Cremailliere, some three miles to the southward of St. Anthony
+Hospital, and though many fell through into the sea, they proved hardy
+and resourceful enough to reach the land, where they gathered around
+the tinkling bells of the old deer without a single loss from land to
+land.
+
+One of our workers at St. Anthony that winter wrote that "the most
+exciting moment was when the woman was lowered in her own sledge over
+the steamer's side on to the ice, drawn to the shore, and transferred
+to one of Dr. Grenfell's komatiks, as she had hurt her leg on the
+voyage. The sight of all the strange men surrounding her frightened
+her, but she was finally reassured, threw aside her coverings, and
+clutched her frying-pan, which she had hidden under a sheepskin. When
+she had it safely in her arms she allowed the men to lift her and put
+her on the komatik." When the doctor at the hospital advised that her
+leg would best be treated by operation, the man said, "She is a pretty
+old woman, and doesn't need a very good leg much longer." She was
+thirty-five!
+
+An Irish friend had volunteered to come out and watch the experiment
+in our interest--and this he did most efficiently. The deer flourished
+and increased rapidly. Unfortunately the Lapps did not like our
+country. They complained that North Newfoundland was too cold for them
+and they wanted to return home. One family left after the first year.
+A rise in salary kept three of the men, but the following season they
+wanted more than we had funds to meet, and we were forced to decide,
+wrongly, I fear, to let them go. The old herder warned me, "No Lapps,
+no deer"; but I thought too much in terms of Mission finances, the
+Government having withdrawn their grant toward the herders' salaries.
+Trusting to the confidence in their own ability of the locally trained
+men, I therefore let the Lapp herders go home. The love of the Lapps
+for their deer is like a fisherman's for his vessel, and seems a
+master passion. They appeared even to grudge our having any deer
+tethered away from their care.
+
+To us it seemed strange that these Lapps always contended that the
+work was too hard, and that the only reason that they were always gone
+from camp was that there were no wolves to keep the herd together.
+They claimed that we must have a big fence or the deer would go off
+into the country. They, of course, both when with us and in Lapland as
+well, lived and slept where the herd was. They told us that the deer
+no longer obeyed the warning summons of the old does' bells, having no
+natural enemy to fear; and one told me, "Money no good, Doctor, if
+herd no increase." Reindeer seemed to be the complement of their
+souls.
+
+Meanwhile the Alaskan experiment was realizing all of Dr. Jackson's
+happiest hopes; but it had a strong Government grant and backing and
+plenty of skilled superintendence. The lack of those were our
+weaknesses. Our deer thrived splendidly and multiplied as we had
+predicted. We went thirty miles in a day with them with ease. We
+hauled our firewood out, using half a dozen hauling teams every day.
+Every fortnight during the rush of patients at the hospital in summer
+we could afford to kill a deer. The milk was excellent in quality and
+sweet, and preserved perfectly well in rubber-capped bottles. The
+cheese was nourishing and a welcome addition to the local diet. At the
+close of the fourth year we had a thousand deer.
+
+A paper of the serious standing of the "Wall Street Journal," writing
+at about that time, under the title "Reindeer Venison from Alaska,"
+had this to say: "At different times in the past twenty years the
+Government imported reindeer into Alaska--about twelve hundred in
+all--in hopes to provide food for the natives in the future. The plan
+caused some amusement and some criticism at the time. Subsequent
+developments, however, have justified the attempt. The herds have now
+increased to about forty thousand animals, and are rapidly becoming
+still more numerous. The natives own about two thirds of the number.
+Shipments of meat have been made to the Pacific Coast cities. Last
+year the sales of venison and skins amounted to $25,000. It is claimed
+that the vast tundra, or treeless frozen plains of Alaska, will
+support at least ten million animals. The federal authorities in
+charge are so optimistic of the future outlook that the prediction is
+made that within twenty-five years the United States can draw a
+considerable part of its meat supply from Alaska." What can be done in
+Alaska can be done in Labrador, and with its better facilities for
+shipping and handling the product, the greater future ought to be the
+prize of the latter country.
+
+In the spring of 1912 there were five hundred fawns, and at one time
+we had gathered into our corral for tagging no less than twelve
+hundred and fifty reindeer. Of these we sold fifty to the Government
+of Canada for the Peace River District. There they were lost because
+they were placed in a flat country, densely wooded with alders, and
+not near the barren lands. We also sold a few to clubs, in order to
+try and introduce the deer. These sales would have done the experiment
+no injury, but with the fifty to Canada went my chief herder and two
+of my other herders from Labrador. This loss, from which we never
+recovered, coincided with an outbreak of hostility toward the deer
+among the resident population, who live entirely on the sea edge. Only
+long afterwards did we find out that it was partly because they feared
+that we would force deer upon them and do away with their dogs. The
+local Government official told me only the other day that the second
+generation from this would have very little good to say of the
+short-sightedness of these men who let such a valuable industry fail
+to succeed.
+
+With the increasing cares of the enlarging Mission, with Lieutenant
+Lindsay gone back to Ireland, and no one to superintend the herding,
+the successful handling of the deer imperceptibly declined. The tags
+on the ears were no longer put in; the bells were not replaced in the
+old localities. The herd was driven, not led as before--was paid for,
+not loved. These differences at the time were marked by increasing
+poaching on the herd by the people. Here and there at first they had
+killed a deer unknown to us; and finally we caught one hidden in a
+man's woodpile, and several offenders were sent to jail.
+
+We appealed to the Newfoundland Government for protection, as to be
+policeman and magistrate for the herd which one held in trust was an
+anomalous position. I was ordered by them to sit on the bench when
+these cases were up, as I did not own the deer. The section of land on
+which we had the animals is a peninsula of approximately one hundred
+and fifty square miles. It is cut off by a narrow, low neck about
+eight miles long. During all our years of acquaintance with the coast
+not a dozen caribou had been killed on it, for they do not cross the
+neck to the northward. But when we applied for a national preserve,
+that no deer at all might be killed on the peninsula, and so we might
+run a big fence across the neck with a couple of herders' houses along
+the line of it, a petition, signed by part of the "voters," went up to
+St. John's, against such permission being granted us. The petition
+stated that the deer destroyed the people's "gardens," that they were
+a danger to the lives of the settlers, whose dogs went wild when they
+crossed their path, and they claimed that the herd "led men into
+temptation," because if there were no reindeer to tempt men to kill
+them, there would be none killed. The deer thus were supposed to be
+the cause of making cattle-thieves out of honest men! The result was
+that a law was passed that no domestic reindeer might be shot north of
+the line of the neck for which we had applied, and which we
+intended to fence. This only made matters ten times worse, for if the
+deer either strayed or else were driven across the line, the killing
+of them was thus legalized.
+
+   [Illustration: A PART OF THE REINDEER HERD]
+
+   [Illustration: REINDEER TEAMS MEETING A DOG TEAM]
+
+The deer had cost us, landed, some fifty-one dollars apiece. Three
+years of herding under the adverse conditions of lack of support from
+either Government or people had not lessened the per caput expense
+very materially. If we had shot some one's fifty-dollar cow, our name
+would have been anathema--but we lost two hundred and fifty deer one
+winter. In addition to this, when we moved the deer to a spot near
+another village on a high bluff, over a hundred died in summer,
+either--according to the report of the herders--from falling over the
+cliffs driven by dogs, or of a sickness of which we could not discover
+the nature, though we thought that it resembled a kind of pneumonia.
+
+The poaching got so bad that we took every means in our power to catch
+the guilty parties. But it was a very difficult thing to do. A dead
+deer lies quiet, keeps for weeks where he falls in our winter climate,
+and can be surreptitiously removed by day or night. The little Lapp
+dogs occasionally scented them beneath the snow, and many tell-tale
+"paunches" showed where deer had been killed and carried off.
+
+I had been treating the hunchback boy and only child of a fisherman
+for whom I had very great respect. His was the home where the
+Methodist minister always boarded, and he was looked upon as a pillar
+of piety. After a straightening by frame treatment, the boy's spine
+had been ankylosed by an operation; and as every one felt sorry for
+the little fellow, we were often able to send him gifts. One day the
+father came to me, evidently in great trouble, to have what proved to
+be a most uncommon private talk. To my utter surprise he began:
+"Doctor, I can no longer live and keep the secret that I shot two of
+your reindeer. I have brought you ninety dollars, all the cash that I
+have, and I want to ask your forgiveness, after all you have done for
+me." Needless to say, it was freely given, but it made me feel more
+than ever that the deer must be moved to some other country.
+
+It was about this year that the Government for the first time granted
+us a resident policeman--previously we had had to be our own police.
+Fortunately the man sent was quite a smart fellow. A dozen or so deer
+had been killed along the section of our coast, and so skilfully that
+even though it was done under the noses of the herders no evidence to
+convict could be obtained. It so happened, however, that while one of
+the herders was eating a piece of one of the slaughtered animals which
+he had discovered, and that the thieves had not been able to carry
+off, his teeth met on a still well-formed rifle bullet of number 22
+calibre. This type of rifle we knew was scarcely ever used on our
+coast, and the policeman at once made a round to take every one. He
+returned with three, which was really the whole stock.
+
+A piece of meat was now placed at a reasonable distance, also some
+bags of snow, flour, etc., and a number of bullets fired into them.
+These bullets were then all privately marked, and shuffled up. Our own
+deductions were made, and a man from twenty miles away summoned,
+arrested, and brought up. He brought witnesses and friends, apparently
+to impress the court--one especially, who most vehemently protested
+that he knew the owner of the rifle, and that he was never out of his
+house at the time that the deer would have been killed. In court was a
+man, for twenty-seven years agent in Labrador for the Hudson Bay
+Company--a crack shot and a most expert hunter. He was called up,
+given the big pile of bullets, and told to try and sort them, by the
+groove marks, into those fired by the three different rifles. We then
+handed him the control bullet, and he put it instantly on one of the
+piles. It was the pile that had been fired from the rifle of the
+accused. This man, in testifying, in order to clear himself, had let
+out the fact that his rifle had not been kept in his house, but in the
+house of the vociferous witness--whom we now arrested, convicted, and
+condemned to jail for six months or two hundred dollars fine--the
+latter alternative being given only because we knew that he had not
+the necessary sum. Protesting as loudly as he had previously
+witnessed, he went to jail; but the rest let out threats that they
+were coming back with others to set him free. We had only a frame
+wooden jail, and a rheumatic jailer of over seventy years, hired to
+hobble around by day and see that the prisoners were fed and kept
+orderly. We announced, therefore, that our Hudson Bay friend, with his
+rifle loaded, would be night jailer.
+
+A few days passed by. The prisoner did not like improving the public
+thoroughfare for our benefit, while those "who were just as bad as he"
+went free. Our old jailer took good care that he should hear what good
+times they were having and laughing at him for being caught. Indeed,
+he liked it so little that he gave the whole plot away--at least what
+he called the whole. This landed four more of his friends in the same
+honest and public-spirited occupation which he was himself pursuing;
+though all escaped shortly afterwards by paying fines to the
+Government which aggregated some eight hundred dollars--which sum was
+largely paid by others for them.
+
+There was no way, however, definitely to stop the steady decrease in
+the numbers of the herd; and though we moved them to new pastures
+around the coast, and fenced them in such small mobile corrals as we
+could afford, they were not safe. On several occasions we found dead
+deer with buckshot in them, which had "fallen over the cliffs." Twice
+we discovered that deer had even been killed within our own corral.
+One had been successfully removed, and the other trussed-up carcass
+had been hidden until a good opportunity offered for it to follow
+suit. I do not wish to leave the impression on the minds of my readers
+that every man on this part of the coast is a poacher. Far from it.
+But the majority of the best men were against the reindeer experiment
+from the moment that the first trouble arose. A new obligation of
+social life was introduced. This implied restraint in such trifling
+things as their having to fence their tiny gardens, protect small
+stray hay-pooks, and discriminate into what they discharged their
+ubiquitous blunderbusses.
+
+Meanwhile the steadily increasing demand for meat, especially since
+the war began, caused outside interest in the experiment; and both the
+owners of Anticosti Island, and a firm in the West who were commencing
+reindeer farming on a commercial basis, opened negotiations with us
+for the purchase of our herd. In the original outlay, however, the
+Canadian Dominion Government had taken an interest to the amount of
+five thousand dollars, so it was necessary to get their opinion on the
+subject. Their Department of Indian Affairs happened to be looking for
+some satisfactory way of helping out their Labrador Indian population.
+They sent down and made inquiries, and came to the conclusion that
+they would themselves take the matter up, as they had done with
+buffalo, elk, and other animals in the West.
+
+In 1917 all preparations for transferring the deer were made, but war
+conditions called their steamer away and transport was delayed until
+1918. Again their steamer was called off, so we decided to take the
+deer across ourselves in our splendid three-masted schooner, the
+George B. Cluett. She, alas, was delayed in America by the submarine
+scare, and it was the end of September instead of June when she
+finally arrived. It was a poor season for our dangerous North coast
+and a very bad time for moving the deer, whose rutting season was just
+beginning. My herders, too, were now much reduced in numbers. Most of
+them had gone to the war, and as one had been sick all summer,
+practically only two were available. To add to the difficulty, many
+small herds of reindeer were loose in the country outside the corral.
+
+However, we felt that the venture must be attempted at all hazards,
+even if it delayed our beautiful ship taking a cargo of food to the
+Allies--as she was scheduled to do as soon as possible--and though it
+was a serious risk to remain anchored in the shallow open roadstead
+off the spot where the deer had to be taken aboard. The work was all
+new to us. The deer, instead of being tame as they had previously
+been, were wild at best, and wilder still from their breeding season.
+The days went by, and we succeeded in getting only a few aboard. We
+were all greenhorns with the lassoes and lariats which we improvised.
+A gale of wind came on and nothing could be done but lie up.
+
+Then followed a fine Sunday morning. It was intensely interesting to
+note the attitude which my crew could take toward my decision to work
+all day after morning prayers. We talked briefly over the emphasis
+laid by the four Evangelists on Christ's attitude toward the day of
+rest, and what it might mean, if we allowed a rare fine day to go by,
+to that long section of coast which we had not yet this year visited,
+and which might thus miss the opportunity of seeing a doctor before
+Christmas. As since this war has begun I have felt that the Christ
+whom I wanted to follow would be in France, so now I felt that the
+Christ of my ideal would go ashore and get those deer in spite of the
+great breach of convention which it would mean for a "Mission" doctor
+to work in any way, except in the many ways he has to work every
+Sunday of his life. The whole crew followed me when I went ashore,
+saying that they shared my view--all except the mate, who spent his
+Sunday in bed. Idleness is not rest to some natures, either to body or
+mind, and when at night we all turned in at ten o'clock, wet
+through--for it had rained in the evening--and tired out, we were able
+to say our prayers with just as light hearts, feeling that we had put
+sixty-eight deer aboard, as if we had enjoyed that foretaste of what
+some still believe to be the rest of heaven. Rest for our souls we
+certainly had, and to some of us that is the rest which God calls His
+own and intends shall be ours also. When later I spoke to some young
+men about this, it seemed to them a Chestertonian paradox, that we
+should actually hold a Sunday service and then go forth to render it.
+They thought that Sunday prayers had to do only with the escaping the
+consequences of one's sins.
+
+I still believe that we were absolutely right in our theory of the
+introduction of the deer into this North country, and that we shall be
+justified in it by posterity. That these thousands of miles, now
+useless to men, will be grazed over one day by countless herds of deer
+affording milk, meat, clothing, transport, and pleasure to the human
+race, is certain. They do not by any means destroy the land over which
+they rove. On the contrary, the deep ruts made by their feet, like the
+ponies' feet in Iceland, serve to drain the surface water and dry the
+land. The kicking and pawing of the moss-covered ground with their
+spade-like feet tear it up, level it, and cut off the dense moss and
+creeping plants, bring the sub-soil to the top, and over the whole the
+big herd spreads a good covering of manure.
+
+Reindeer-trodden barrens, after a short rest, yield more grass and
+cattle food than ever before. No domesticated animal can tolerate the
+cold of this country and find sustenance for itself as can the deer.
+It can live as far north as the musk-ox. Peary found reindeer in
+plenty on the shores of the polar sea. The great barren lands of
+Canada, from Hudson Bay north of Chesterfield Inlet away to the west,
+carry tens of thousands of wild caribou. Mr. J.B. Tyrrell's
+photographs show armies of them advancing; the stags with their lordly
+horns are seen passing close to the camera in serried ranks that seem
+to have no end.
+
+Our own experiment is far from being a failure. It has been a success,
+even if only the corpse is left in Newfoundland. We have proved
+conclusively that the deer can live, thrive, and multiply on the
+otherwise perfectly valueless areas of this North country, and furnish
+a rapidly increasing domesticated "raw material" for a food and
+clothing supply to its people.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE ICE-PAN ADVENTURE
+
+
+On Easter Sunday, the 21st of April, 1908, it was still winter with us
+in northern Newfoundland. Everything was covered with snow and ice. I
+was returning to the hospital after morning service, when a boy came
+running over with the news that a large team of dogs had come from
+sixty miles to the southward to get a doctor to come at once on an
+urgent case. A fortnight before we had operated on a young man for
+acute bone disease of the thigh, but when he was sent home the people
+had allowed the wound to close, and poisoned matter had accumulated.
+As it seemed probable that we should have to remove the leg, there was
+no time to be lost, and I therefore started immediately, the
+messengers following me with their team.
+
+My dogs were especially good ones and had pulled me out of many a
+previous scrape by their sagacity and endurance. Moody, Watch, Spy,
+Doc, Brin, Jerry, Sue, and Jack were as beautiful beasts as ever
+hauled a komatik over our Northern barrens. The messengers had been
+anxious that their team should travel back with mine, for their
+animals were slow at best, and moreover were now tired from their long
+journey. My dogs, however, were so powerful that it was impossible to
+hold them back, and though I twice managed to wait for the following
+sledge, I had reached a village twenty miles to the south and had
+already fed my team when the others caught up.
+
+That night the wind came in from sea, bringing with it both fog and
+rain, softening the snow and making the travelling very difficult.
+Besides this a heavy sea began heaving into the bay on the shores
+of which lay the little hamlet where I spent my first night. Our
+journey the next day would be over forty miles, the first ten lying on
+an arm of the sea.
+
+   [Illustration: A SPRING SCENE AT ST. ANTHONY]
+
+   [Illustration: DOG RACE AT ST. ANTHONY]
+
+In order not to be separated too long from my friends I sent them
+ahead of me by two hours, appointing as a rendezvous the log tilt on
+the other side of the bay. As I started the first rain of the year
+began to fall, and I was obliged to keep on what we call the
+"ballicaters," or ice barricades, for a much longer distance up the
+bay than I had anticipated. The sea, rolling in during the previous
+night, had smashed the ponderous layer of surface ice right up to the
+landwash. Between the huge ice-pans were gaping chasms, while half a
+mile out all was clear water.
+
+Three miles from the shore is a small island situated in the middle of
+the bay. This had preserved an ice bridge, so that by crossing a few
+cracks I managed to get to it safely. From that point it was only four
+miles to the opposite shore, a saving of several miles if one could
+make it, instead of following the landwash round the bay. Although the
+ice looked rough, it seemed good, though one could see that it had
+been smashed up by the incoming sea and packed in tight again by the
+easterly wind. Therefore, without giving the matter a second thought,
+I flung myself on the komatik and the dogs started for the rocky
+promontory some four miles distant.
+
+All went well till we were within about a quarter of a mile of our
+objective point. Then the wind dropped suddenly, and I noticed
+simultaneously that we were travelling over "sish" ice. By stabbing
+down with my whip-handle I could drive it through the thin coating of
+young ice which had formed on the surface. "Sish" ice is made up of
+tiny bits formed by the pounding together of the large pans by the
+heavy seas. So quickly had the wind veered and come offshore, and so
+rapidly did the packed slob, relieved of the inward pressure of the
+easterly breeze, "run abroad," that already I could not see any pan
+larger than ten feet square. The whole field of ice was loosening so
+rapidly that no retreat was possible.
+
+There was not a moment to lose. I dragged off my oilskins and threw
+myself on my hands and knees beside the komatik so as to give a larger
+base to hold, shouting at the same time to my team to make a dash for
+the shore. We had not gone twenty yards when the dogs scented danger
+and hesitated, and the komatik sank instantly into the soft slob. Thus
+the dogs had to pull much harder, causing them to sink also.
+
+It flashed across my mind that earlier in the year a man had been
+drowned in this same way by his team tangling their traces around him
+in the slob. I loosened my sheath-knife, scrambled forward and cut the
+traces, retaining the leader's trace wound securely round my wrist.
+
+As I was in the water I could not discern anything that would bear us
+up, but I noticed that my leading dog was wallowing about near a piece
+of snow, packed and frozen together like a huge snowball, some
+twenty-five yards away. Upon this he had managed to scramble. He shook
+the ice and water from his shaggy coat and turned around to look for
+me. Perched up there out of the frigid water he seemed to think the
+situation the most natural in the world, and the weird black marking
+of his face made him appear to be grinning with satisfaction. The rest
+of us were bogged like flies in treacle.
+
+Gradually I succeeded in hauling myself along by the line which was
+still attached to my wrist, and was nearly up to the snow-raft, when
+the leader turned adroitly round, slipped out of his harness, and once
+more leered at me with his grinning face.
+
+There seemed nothing to be done, and I was beginning to feel drowsy
+with the cold, when I noticed the trace of another dog near by. He had
+fallen through close to the pan, and was now unable to force his way
+out. Along his line I hauled myself, using him as a kind of bow
+anchor--and I soon lay, with my dogs around me, on the little island
+of slob ice.
+
+The piece of frozen snow on which we lay was so small that it was
+evident we must all be drowned if we were forced to remain on it as it
+was driven seaward into open water. Twenty yards away was a larger and
+firmer pan floating in the sish, and if we could reach it I felt that
+we might postpone for a time the death which seemed inescapable. To my
+great satisfaction I now found that my hunting knife was still tied on
+to the back of one of the dogs, where I had attached it when we first
+fell through. Soon the sealskin traces hanging on the dogs' harnesses
+were cut and spliced together to form one long line. I divided this
+and fastened the ends to the backs of my two leaders, attaching the
+two other ends to my own wrists. My long sealskin boots, reaching to
+my hips, were full of ice and water, and I took them off and tied them
+separately on the dogs' backs. I had already lost my coat, cap,
+gloves, and overalls.
+
+Nothing seemed to be able to induce the dogs to move, even though I
+kept throwing them off the ice into the water. Perhaps it was only
+natural that they should struggle back, for once in the water they
+could see no other pan to which to swim. It flashed into my mind that
+my small black spaniel which was with me was as light as a feather and
+could get across with no difficulty. I showed him the direction and
+then flung a bit of ice toward the desired goal. Without a second's
+hesitation he made a dash and reached the pan safely, as the tough
+layer of sea ice easily carried his weight. As he lay on the white
+surface looking like a round black fuss ball, my leaders could plainly
+see him. They now understood what I wanted and fought their way
+bravely toward the little retriever, carrying with them the line that
+gave me yet another chance for my life. The other dogs followed them,
+and all but one succeeded in getting out on the new haven of refuge.
+
+Taking all the run that the length of my little pan would afford, I
+made a dive, slithering along the surface as far as possible before I
+once again fell through. This time I had taken the precaution to tie
+the harnesses under the dogs' bellies so that they could not slip them
+off, and after a long fight I was able to drag myself onto the new
+pan.
+
+Though we had been working all the while toward the shore, the
+offshore wind had driven us a hundred yards farther seaward. On closer
+examination I found that the pan on which we were resting was not ice
+at all, but snow-covered slob, frozen into a mass which would
+certainly eventually break up in the heavy sea, which was momentarily
+increasing as the ice drove offshore before the wind. The westerly
+wind kept on rising--a bitter blast with us in winter, coming as it
+does over the Gulf ice.
+
+Some yards away I could still see my komatik with my thermos bottle
+and warm clothing on it, as well as matches and wood. In the memory of
+the oldest inhabitant no one had ever been adrift on the ice in this
+bay, and unless the team which had gone ahead should happen to come
+back to look for me, there was not one chance in a thousand of my
+being seen.
+
+To protect myself from freezing I now cut down my long boots as far as
+the feet, and made a kind of jacket, which shielded my back from the
+rising wind.
+
+By midday I had passed the island to which I had crossed on the ice
+bridge. The bridge was gone, so that if I did succeed in reaching
+that island I should only be marooned there and die of starvation.
+Five miles away to the north side of the bay the immense pans of
+Arctic ice were surging to and fro in the ground seas and thundering
+against the cliffs. No boat could have lived through such surf, even
+if I had been seen from that quarter. Though it was hardly, safe to
+move about on my little pan, I saw that I must have the skins of some
+of my dogs, if I were to live the night out without freezing. With
+some difficulty I now succeeded in killing three of my dogs--and I
+envied those dead beasts whose troubles were over so quickly. I
+questioned if, once I passed into the open sea, it would not be better
+to use my trusty knife on myself than to die by inches.
+
+But the necessity for work saved me from undue philosophizing; and
+night found me ten miles on my seaward voyage, with the three dogs
+skinned and their fur wrapped around me as a coat. I also frayed a
+small piece of rope into oakum and mixed it with the fat from the
+intestines of my dogs. But, alas, I found that the matches in my box,
+which was always chained to me, were soaked to a pulp and quite
+useless. Had I been able to make a fire out there at sea, it would
+have looked so uncanny that I felt sure that the fishermen friends,
+whose tiny light I could just discern twinkling away in the bay, would
+see it. The carcasses of my dogs I piled up to make a windbreak, and
+at intervals I took off my clothes, wrung them out, swung them in the
+wind, and put on first one and then the other inside, hoping that the
+heat of my body would thus dry them. My feet gave me the most trouble,
+as the moccasins were so easily soaked through in the snow. But I
+remembered the way in which the Lapps who tended our reindeer carried
+grass with them, to use in their boots in place of dry socks. As soon
+as I could sit down I began to unravel the ropes from the dogs'
+harnesses, and although by this time my fingers were more or less
+frozen, I managed to stuff the oakum into my shoes.
+
+Shortly before I had opened a box containing some old football clothes
+which I had not seen for twenty years. I was wearing this costume at
+the time; and though my cap, coat, and gloves were gone, as I stood
+there in a pair of my old Oxford University running shorts, and red,
+yellow, and black Richmond football stockings, and a flannel shirt, I
+remembered involuntarily the little dying girl who asked to be dressed
+in her Sunday frock so that she might arrive in heaven properly
+attired.
+
+Forcing my biggest dog to lie down, I cuddled up close to him, drew
+the improvised dogskin rug over me, and proceeded to go to sleep. One
+hand being against the dog was warm, but the other was frozen, and
+about midnight I woke up shivering enough, so I thought, to shatter my
+frail pan to atoms. The moon was just rising, and the wind was
+steadily driving me toward the open sea. Suddenly what seemed a
+miracle happened, for the wind veered, then dropped away entirely
+leaving it flat calm. I turned over and fell asleep again. I was next
+awakened by the sudden and persistent thought that I must have a flag,
+and accordingly set to work to disarticulate the frozen legs of my
+dead dogs. Cold as it was I determined to sacrifice my shirt to top
+this rude flagpole as soon as the daylight came. When the legs were at
+last tied together with bits of old harness rope, they made the
+crookedest flagstaff that it has ever been my lot to see. Though with
+the rising of the sun the frost came out of the dogs' legs to some
+extent, and the friction of waving it made the odd pole almost tie
+itself in knots, I could raise it three or four feet above my head,
+which was very important.
+
+Once or twice I thought that I could distinguish men against the
+distant cliffs--for I had drifted out of the bay into the sea--but the
+objects turned out to be trees. Once also I thought that I saw a boat
+appearing and disappearing on the surface of the water, but it proved
+to be only a small piece of ice bobbing up and down. The rocking of my
+cradle on the waves had helped me to sleep, and I felt as well as I
+ever did in my life. I was confident that I could last another
+twenty-four hours if my boat would only hold out and not rot under the
+sun's rays. I could not help laughing at my position, standing hour
+after hour waving my shirt at those barren and lonely cliffs; but I
+can honestly say that from first to last not a single sensation of
+fear crossed my mind.
+
+My own faith in the mystery of immortality is so untroubled that it
+now seemed almost natural to be passing to the portal of death from an
+ice-pan. Quite unbidden, the words of the old hymn kept running
+through my head:
+
+    "My God, my Father, while I stray
+    Far from my home on life's rough way,
+    Oh, help me from my heart to say,
+      Thy will be done."
+
+I had laid my wooden matches out to dry and was searching about on the
+pan for a piece of transparent ice which I could use as a
+burning-glass. I thought that I could make smoke enough to be seen
+from the land if only I could get some sort of a light. All at once I
+seemed to see the glitter of an oar, but I gave up the idea because I
+remembered that it was not water which lay between me and the land,
+but slob ice, and even if people had seen me, I did not imagine that
+they could force a boat through. The next time that I went back to my
+flag-waving, however, the glitter was very distinct, but my
+snow-glasses having been lost, I was partially snow-blind and
+distrusted my vision. But at last, besides the glide of an oar I made
+out the black streak of a boat's hull, and knew that if the pan held
+out for another hour I should be all right. The boat drew nearer and
+nearer, and I could make out my rescuers frantically waving. When they
+got close by they shouted, "Don't get excited. Keep on the pan where
+you are." They were far more excited than I, and had they only known
+as I did the sensations of a bath in the icy water, without the chance
+of drying one's self afterwards, they would not have expected me to
+wish to follow the example of the Apostle Peter.
+
+As the first man leaped on my pan and grasped my hand, not a word was
+spoken, but I could see the emotions which he was trying to force
+back. A swallow of the hot tea which had been thoughtfully sent out in
+a bottle, the dogs hoisted on board, and we started for home, now
+forging along in open water, now pushing the pans apart with the oars,
+and now jumping out on the ice and hauling the boat over the pans.
+
+It seems that the night before four men had been out on the headland
+cutting up some seals which they had killed in the fall. As they were
+leaving for home, my ice-raft must have drifted clear of Hare Island,
+and one of them, with his keen fisherman's eyes, had detected
+something unusual on the ice. They at once returned to their village,
+saying that something living was adrift on the floe. The one man on
+that section of coast who owned a good spy-glass jumped up from his
+supper on hearing the news and hurried over to the lookout on the
+cliffs. Dusk though it was, he saw that a man was out on the ice, and
+noticed him every now and again waving his hands at the shore. He
+immediately surmised who it must be; so little as I thought it, when
+night was closing in the men at the village were trying to launch a
+boat. Miles of ice lay between them and me, and the angry sea was
+hurling great blocks against the land. While I had considered myself a
+laughing-stock, bowing with my flag at those unresponsive cliffs, many
+eyes were watching me.
+
+By daybreak a fine volunteer crew had been organized, and the boat,
+with such a force behind it, would, I believe, have gone through
+anything. After seeing the heavy breakers through which we were
+guided, as at last we ran in at the harbour mouth, I knew well what
+the wives of that crew had been thinking when they saw their loved
+ones depart on such an errand.
+
+Every soul in the village was waiting to shake hands as I landed; and
+even with the grip that one after another gave me, I did not find out
+that my hands were badly frostburnt--a fact which I have realized
+since, however. I must have looked a weird object as I stepped ashore,
+tied up in rags, stuffed out with oakum, and wrapped in the bloody
+dogskins.
+
+The news had gone over to the hospital that I was lost, so I at once
+started north for St. Anthony, though I must confess that I did not
+greatly enjoy the trip, as I had to be hauled like a log, my feet
+being so frozen that I could not walk. For a few days subsequently I
+had painful reminders of the adventure in my frozen hands and feet,
+which forced me to keep to my bed--an unwelcome and unusual interlude
+in my way of life.
+
+In our hallway stands a bronze tablet:
+
+    "To the Memory of
+    Three Noble Dogs
+    Moody
+    Watch
+    Spy
+    Whose lives were given
+    For mine on the ice
+    April 21st, 1908."
+
+The boy whose life I was intent on saving was brought to the hospital
+a day or so later in a boat, the ice having cleared off the coast
+temporarily; and he was soon on the highroad to recovery.
+
+We all love life, and I was glad to have a new lease of it before me.
+As I went to sleep that night there still rang through my ears the
+same verse of the old hymn which had been my companion on the ice-pan:
+
+    "Oh, help me from my heart to say,
+    Thy will be done."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THEY THAT DO BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS
+
+
+Contrary to her ungenerous reputation, even if vessels are lost on the
+Labrador, her almost unequalled series of harbours--so that from the
+Straits of Belle Isle to those of Hudson Bay there is not ten miles of
+coast anywhere without one--enables the crew to escape nearly every
+time.
+
+In 1883, in the North Sea in October, a hurricane destroyed
+twenty-five of our stout vessels on the Dogger Bank, cost us two
+hundred and seventy good lives, and left a hundred widows to mourn on
+the land. In 1889 a storm hit the north coast of Newfoundland, but too
+late in the season to injure much of the fishing fleet, which had for
+the most part gone South. But it caused immense damage to property and
+the loss of a few lives. As one of the testimonials to its fury, I saw
+the flooring and seats of the church in the mud of the harbour at St.
+Anthony at low tide even though that church had been founded entirely
+on a rock. We now concede that it is good economy on our coast to have
+wire stays to ringbolts leaded into rocky foundations, to anchor small
+buildings. Our storms are mostly cyclones with wide vortices, and
+coming largely from the southwest or northwest, are offshore, and
+therefore less felt.
+
+We were once running along at full speed in a very thick fog, framing
+a course to just clear some nasty shoals on our port bow. There was
+nothing outside us and we had seen no ice of late, so I went below for
+some lunch, telling the mate to report land as soon as he saw any, and
+instructing the man at the wheel, if he heard a shout, to port his
+helm hard. The soup was still on the table when a loud shouting made
+us leap on the deck to see the ship going full tilt into an enormous
+iceberg, which seemed right at the end of the bowsprit. This
+unexpected monster was on our starboard bow, and the order to avoid
+the shoal was putting us headfirst into it. Our only chance was full
+speed and a starboard helm, and we actually grazed along the side of
+the berg. It seemed almost ludicrous later to pick up a large island
+and run into a harbour with grassy, sloping sides, out of which the
+fog was shut like a wall, and then to go ashore and bargain over
+buying a couple of cows, which were being sold, as the settler was
+moving to the mainland.
+
+Among the records of events of importance to us I find in 1908 that of
+the second real hurricane which I have ever seen. It began on
+Saturday, July 28, the height of our summer, with flat calm and
+sunshine alternating with small, fierce squalls. Though we had a
+falling barometer, this deceived us, and we anchored that evening in a
+shallow and unsafe open roadstead about twenty miles from Indian
+Harbour Hospital. Fortunately our suspicions induced us to keep an
+anchor watch, and his warning made us get steam at midnight, and we
+brought up at daylight in the excellent narrow harbour in which the
+hospital stands. The holding ground there is deep mud in four fathoms
+of water, the best possible for us. Our only trouble was that the
+heavy tidal current would swing a ship uneasily broadside against an
+average wind force.
+
+It was blowing so strongly by this time that the hospital yawl Daryl
+had already been driven ashore from her anchors, but still we were
+able to keep ours in the water, and getting a line to her, to heave
+her astern of our vessel with our powerful winch. The fury of the
+breeze grew worse as the day went on. All the fishing boats in the
+harbour filled and sank with the driving water. With the increase of
+violence of the weather we got up steam and steamed to our anchors to
+ease if possible the strain on our two chains and shore lines--a web
+which we had been able to weave before it was too late. By Sunday the
+gale had blown itself entirely away, and Monday morning broke flat
+calm, with lovely sunshine, and only an enormous sullen ground sea.
+This is no uncommon game of Dame Nature's; she seemed to be only
+mocking at the destruction which she had wrought.
+
+Knowing that there must be many comrades in trouble, we were early
+away, and dancing like a bubble, we ran north, keeping as close
+inshore as we could, and watching the coast-line with our glasses. The
+coast was littered with remains. Forty-one vessels had been lost; in
+one uninhabited roadstead alone, some forty miles away from Indian
+Harbour, lay sixteen wrecks. The shore here was lined with rude
+shelters made from the wreckage of spars and sails, and the women were
+busy cooking meals and "tidying up" the shacks as if they had lived
+there always.
+
+We soon set to work hauling off such vessels as would float. One, a
+large hardwood, well-fastened hull, we determined to save. Her name
+was Pendragon. The owner was aboard--a young man with no experience
+who had never previously owned a vessel. He was so appalled at the
+disaster that he decided to have her sold piecemeal and broken up. We
+attended the auction on the beach and bought each piece as it came to
+the hammer. Getting her off was the trouble. We adopted tactics of our
+own invention. Mousing together the two mastheads with a bight of
+rope, we put on it a large whoop traveller, and to that fastened our
+stoutest and longest line. Then first backing down to her on the very
+top of high water, we went "full speed ahead." Over she fell on her
+side and bumped along on the mud and shingle for a few yards. By
+repeated jerks she was eventually ours, but leaking so like a basket
+that we feared we should yet lose her. Pumps inside fortunately kept
+her free till we passed her topsail under her, and after dropping in
+sods and peat, we let the pressure from the outside keep them in
+place. When night fell I was played out, and told the crew they must
+let her sink. My two volunteer helpers, Albert Gould, of Bowdoin, and
+Paul Matheson, of Brown, however, volunteered to pump all night.
+
+While hunting for a crew to take her South we came upon the wreck of a
+brand-new boat, only launched two months previously. She had been the
+pride of the skipper's life. He was an old friend of mine, and we felt
+so sorry for him that we not only got him to take our vessel, but we
+handed it over for him to work out at the cost which we had paid for
+the pieces. He made a good living out of her for several years, but
+later she was lost with all hands on some dangerous shoals near St.
+Anthony on a journey North.
+
+With fifty-odd people aboard, and a long trail of nineteen fishing
+boats we eventually got back to Indian Harbour, where every one joined
+in helping our friends in misfortune till the steamer came and took
+them South. They waved us farewell, and, quite undismayed, wished for
+better luck for themselves another season.
+
+The case of one skipper is well worth relating as showing their
+admirable optimism. He was sixty-seven years old, and had by hard
+saving earned his own schooner--a fine large vessel. He had arranged
+to sell her on his return trip and live quietly on the proceeds on his
+potato patch in southern Newfoundland. His vessel had driven on a
+submerged reef and turned turtle. The crew had jumped for their lives,
+not even saving their personal clothing, watches, or instruments. We
+photographed the remains of the capsized hull floating on the surf.
+Yet this man, in the four days during which he was my guest, never
+once uttered a word of complaint. He had done all he could, and he
+"'lowed that t' Lord knew better than he what was best."
+
+"But what will you do now, Skipper?" I asked.
+
+"Why, get another," he replied; "I think them'll trust me."
+
+One of our older vessels started a plank in a gale of wind in the
+Atlantic and went to the bottom without warning. In an open boat for
+six days with only a little dry bread and no covering of any sort, the
+crew fought rough seas and heavy breezes. But they handled her with
+the sea genius of our race; made land safely at last, and never said a
+word about the incident. On another occasion two men, who had been a
+fortnight adrift, had rowed one hundred and fifty miles, and had only
+the smallest modicum of food, came aboard our vessel. When I said,
+"You are hungry, aren't you?" they merely replied, "Well, not
+over-much"--and only laughed when I suggested that perhaps a month in
+the open boat might have given them a real appetite.
+
+One October, south of St. Anthony, we were lying in the arm of a bay
+with two anchors and two warps out, one to each side of the narrow
+channel. The wind piled up the waters, much as it did in Pharaoh's
+day. We were flung astern yard by yard on the top of the seas, and
+when it was obvious that we must go ashore, we reversed our engines,
+slipped our line, and drove up high and dry to escape the bumping on
+the beach which was inevitable. There we lay for days. Meanwhile I had
+taken our launch into the river-mouth and was marooned there. For the
+launch blew right up on the bank in among the trees, and strive as we
+would, for days we could not even move her out again.
+
+Another spring we had a very close squeak of losing the Strathcona.
+While we were trying one morning to get out of a harbour, a sudden
+gale of wind came down upon us and pinned us tight, so that we could
+not move an inch. The pressure of the ice became more severe moment by
+moment, and meanwhile the ice between us and the shore seemed to be
+imperceptibly melting away. Naturally we tried every expedient we
+could think of to keep enough ice between us and the shore rocks to
+save the vessel being swept over the rocky headland, toward which the
+irresistible tidal current was steadily forcing us. To make matters
+worse, we struck our propeller against a pan of ice and broke off one
+of the flanges close to the shaft. It became breathlessly exciting as
+the ship drew nearer and nearer to the rocks. We abandoned our boat
+when we saw that by trying to hold on to it any longer we should be
+jeopardizing the steamer. Twisting round helplessly as in a giant's
+arms, we were swept past the dangerous promontory and to our infinite
+joy carried out into the open Atlantic where there is room for all.
+Our boat was subsequently rescued from the shore, and we were able to
+screw on a new blade to the propeller.
+
+Just after the big gale in 1908 His Excellency, Sir William MacGregor,
+then Governor, was good enough to come and spend a short time
+surveying on our north coast. He was an expert in this line, as well
+as being a gold-medallist in medicine. Later he changed over from the
+Strathcona to the Government steamer Fiona. I acted as pilot among
+other capacities on that journey, and was unlucky enough to run her
+full tilt onto one of the only sandbanks on the coast in a narrow
+passage between some islands and the mainland! The little
+Strathcona, following behind, was in time to haul us off again, but
+the incident made the captain naturally distrust my ability, and as a
+result he would not approach the shore near enough for us to get the
+observations which we needed. Although we went round Cape Chidley into
+Ungava Bay I could not regain his confidence sufficiently to go
+through the straits which I had myself sounded and surveyed. So we
+accomplished it in a small boat, getting good observations. Our best
+work, however, was done when His Excellency was content to be our
+guest. The hospital on board was used for the necessary
+instruments--four chronometers, two theodolites, guns, telescopes,
+camp furniture, and piles of books and printed forms. Mr. Albert Gould
+of Bowdoin was my secretary on board that year, and was of very great
+value to us.
+
+   [Illustration: ICEBERGS]
+
+Though the work of an amateur, Sir William's surveying was accepted by
+the Admiralty and the Royal Geographical Society--his survey in
+Nigeria having proved to have not one single location a mile out of
+place when an official survey was run later.
+
+Many a time in the middle of a meal, some desired but unlucky star
+would cross the prime vertical, and all hands had to go up on deck and
+shiver while rows of figures were accumulated. Sir William told us
+that he would rather shoot a star any time than all the game ever
+hunted. One night my secretary, after sitting on a rock at a movable
+table from 5 P.M. till midnight, came in, his joints almost creaking
+with cold, and loaded with a pile of figures which he assured us would
+crush the life out of most men. My mate that year was a stout and very
+short, plethoric person. When he stated that he preferred surveying to
+fishing, as it was going to benefit others so much, and that he was
+familiar with the joys of service, he was taken promptly at his word.
+It was a hot summer. The theodolite was a nine-inch one and weighed
+many pounds. We had climbed the face of a very steep mountain called
+Cape Mugford, some three thousand feet high--every inch of which
+distance we had to mount from dead sea-level. When at last Israel
+arrived on the summit, he looked worried. He said that he had always
+thought surveying meant letting things drop down over the ship's side,
+and not carrying ballast up precipices. For his part he could now see
+that providing food for the world was good enough for him. He
+distinctly failed to grasp where the joy of this kind of service came
+in--and noting his condition as he lay on the ground and panted I
+decided to let it go at that.
+
+The Governor was a real MacGregor and a Presbyterian, and was
+therefore quite a believer in keeping Sunday as a day of rest. But
+after morning prayers on the first fine day, after nearly a week of
+fog, he decided that he had had physical rest enough, and to get good
+observations would bring him the recreation of spirit which he most
+needed. So he packed up for work, and happened to light on the unhappy
+Israel to row him a mile or so to the land. "Iz" was taken "all
+aback." He believed that you should not strain yourself ever--much
+less on Sundays. So from religious scruples he asked to be excused,
+though he offered to row any one ashore if he was only going to idle
+the hours away. After all, however, our Governor represented our King,
+and I was personally horrified, intending to correct Israel's position
+with a round turn, and show him that we are especially enjoined to
+obey "Governors and Rulers"--as better also than the sacrifice of
+loafing. But the Governor forbade it, quietly unpacked, put his things
+away, and stayed aboard. Israel subsequently cultivated the habit of
+remaining in bed on Sundays--thereby escaping being led into
+temptation, as even Governors would not be likely to go and tempt him
+in his bunk.
+
+I have had others refuse to help in really necessary work on Sunday.
+One skipper would not get the Strathcona under way in answer to a
+wireless appeal to come to a woman in danger of dying from hemorrhage
+forty miles distant. When we prepared to start without him, he told me
+that he would go, but that it would be at the price of his soul and we
+would have to be responsible for that loss. We went all the same.
+
+Our charts, such as they were, were subsequently accepted by the Royal
+Geographical Society of England, who generously invited me to lecture
+before them. They were later good enough to award me the Murchison
+Prize in 1911. Much of the work was really due to Sir William, and as
+much of it as I could put on him to the Sabbatarian "Iz."
+
+In connection with the scientific work on the coast I well remember
+the eclipse of October, 1905. All along the land it was perfectly
+visible. A break in the clouds occurred at exactly the right moment:
+one fisherman, to console the astronomers, said that he was very
+sorry, but that he supposed it did not much matter, as there would be
+another eclipse next week. The scientific explorer, who was devoting
+his attention to the effect on the earth's magnetism, spent the time
+of the eclipse in a dark cellar. Most wonderful magnetic disturbances
+had been occurring almost every night, and the night before the event
+a far from ordinary storm had upset his instruments, so that the
+effect of the eclipse on the magnetic indicators was scarcely
+distinguishable. He had just time after the thing was over to peep out
+and see the light returning. He had watched his thermometer and found
+that it fell three degrees during totality.
+
+The year 1908 at the mill we had built a new large schooner in honour
+of that devoted friend of Labrador, our secretary in Boston, and had
+named the vessel for her, the Emma E. White. She fetched Lloyd's full
+bounty for an A 1 ship. This was a feather in our caps, since she was
+designed and built by one of our own men, who was no "scholard,"
+having never learned to read or write. Will Hopkins can take an axe
+and a few tools into the green woods in the fall, and sail down the
+bay in a new schooner in the spring when the ice goes. To see him
+steaming the planking in the open in his own improvised boxes on the
+top of six feet of snow made me stand and take off my hat to him. He
+is no good at speech-making; he does not own a dress-suit, and he
+cannot dance a tango; but he is quite as useful a citizen as some who
+can, and his type of education is one which endears him to all. He
+gave me the great pleasure of having our friend come sailing into St.
+Anthony in the middle of a fine day, seated on the bow of her
+namesake, the beautiful and valuable product of his skill, just when
+we were all ready on the wharf to "sketch them both off," as our
+people call taking a photograph.
+
+Our increasing buildings being all of wood, and as the two largest
+were full of either helpless sick people or an ever-increasing batch
+of children, we wanted something safer than kerosene lamps to
+illuminate the rooms. The people here had never seen electric light
+"tamed," as it were, and to us it seemed almost too big a venture to
+install a plant of our own. Home outfits were not common in those days
+even in the States, and we feared in any case that we could not run it
+regularly enough. No one except the head of the machine shop, a
+Labrador boy and Pratt graduate, knew the first thing about
+electricity, and he would not always be available.
+
+However, with the help of friends we were able to purchase a hot-head
+vertical engine to generate our current; for our near-by streams
+freeze solid in winter. That engine has now been running for over ten
+years, and has given us electricity in St. Anthony Hospital for
+operating and X-ray work as well as all our lighting. Until he died,
+it was run the greater part of the time by an Eskimo boy whom we had
+brought down from the North Labrador, and who was convalescing from
+empyema. The installation was efficiently done by a volunteer student
+from the Pratt Institute, Mr. Hause.
+
+On my lecture trip the previous winter a gentleman at whose house I
+was a guest told me that when quite a youth he had fought in the Civil
+War, been invalided home, and advised to take a sea voyage for his
+health. He therefore took passage with some Gloucester fishermen and
+set sail for the Labrador. The crew proved to be Southern
+sympathizers, and one day, while my friend was ashore taking a walk,
+the skipper slipped out and left him marooned. He had with him neither
+money, spare clothing, nor anything else; and as British sympathies
+were also with the South, he had many doubts as to how the settlers
+would receive a penniless stranger and Northerner. So seeing his
+schooner bound in an easterly direction, he started literally to run
+along the shore, hoping that he might find where she went and catch
+her again. Mile after mile he went, tearing through the "tuckamore" or
+dense undergrowth of gnarled trees, climbing over high cliffs,
+swimming or wading the innumerable rivers, skirting bays, and now and
+again finding a short beach along which he could hurry. At night, wet,
+dirty, tired, hungry, penniless, he came to a fisherman's cottage and
+asked shelter and food. He explained that he was an American gentleman
+taking a holiday, but hadn't a penny of money. It spoke well for the
+people that they accepted his story. He told me that they both fed and
+clothed him, and one kind-hearted man actually the next day gave him
+some oilskin clothing and a sou'wester hat--costly articles "on
+Labrador" in those days. So on and on and on he went, till at last
+arriving at Red Bay he found his schooner at anchor calmly fishing. He
+went aboard at once as if nothing had happened, and stayed there
+(having enjoyed enough pedestrian exercise for the time being) and no
+one ever referred to his having been left behind. He was now, however,
+forty years later, anxious to do something for the people of that
+section of the shore, and he gave me a thousand dollars toward
+building a small cottage for a district nurse. Forteau was the village
+chosen, and Dennison Cottage erected as a nursing station and
+dispensary. The people at first each gave a week toward its upkeep;
+and even now every man gives three days annually. The house has a good
+garden, little wards for in-patients, and is the centre of much useful
+industrial work, especially the making of artificial flowers. For
+twelve years now, Miss Florence Bailey, a nurse from the Mildmay
+Institute in London, has presided over its destinies, endeared herself
+to the people, and done most unselfish and heroic work in that lonely
+station, which she has greatly enlarged and improved by her untiring
+efforts. It forms an admirable halfway house between Battle and
+Harrington Hospitals, each being about a hundred miles distant. A
+local trader once wrote me: "Sister Bailey did good work last year.
+That cottage hospital is a blessing to the people of this part of the
+shore. Who would think that by a little act of kindness done forty-odd
+years ago to an old soldier, we would now be reaping the benefit of
+such an act."
+
+Only one longer journey on foot on the Labrador coast is on record.
+The traveller started from Quebec and walked to Battle Harbour. There
+he turned north and walked to Nakvak Bay. The distance as the crow
+flies is about fourteen hundred miles. But the man had no boat of his
+own and only in one or two places accepted a passage. One bay on the
+east coast runs in for some hundred and fifty miles. Over this he got
+a boat fifty miles from the mouth. Round Kipokak and Makkovik, and the
+bays south of Hopedale, he walked most of the way, and these run in
+for forty miles. He carried practically nothing with him, and depended
+on what boots and clothing the people gave him, eating berries and
+whatever else he could find while he was in the country. Those who
+housed him told me that they did not see any signs of madness about
+him, except his avoidance of men and refusal to go in boats or mix
+with others if he could in any way avoid it. He carried no gun. No one
+knew who he was nor why he went on such a "cruise." Long before he
+reached the North the theory that he was a murderer fleeing from
+justice got started, and at some places a very careful watch was kept
+over him. Arrived at Nakvak, he went to the house of everyone's
+friend, George Ford. That is one of the most inaccessible places in
+the world. No mail steamer ever goes there, and no schooner ever
+anchors nearer than a few miles. It is at the bottom of a fjord
+twenty-five miles long, with very precipitous cliffs two thousand feet
+high on each side and bottomless water below. It was then thirty miles
+from the nearest house, with ranges of mountains between, and was the
+most northerly house on the Labrador. Here this phenomenon celebrated
+his arrival by climbing up onto the ridge of the house, when lo! most
+prosaic of accidents, he fell off and broke his neck. The puzzle has
+always been why he elected to carry an unbroken neck at such cost all
+that long distance.
+
+Many inexplicable things happen "on Labrador." Thus, one year while
+visiting at the head of Hamilton Inlet, a Scotch settler came aboard
+to ask my advice about a large animal that had appeared round his
+house. Though he had sat up night after night with his gun, he had
+never seen it. His children had seen it several times disappearing
+into the trees. The French agent of Revillon Freres, twenty miles
+away, had come over, and together they had tracked it, measured the
+footmarks in the mud, and even fenced some of them round. The stride
+was about eight feet, the marks as of the cloven hoofs of an ox. The
+children described the creature as looking like a huge hairy man; and
+several nights the dogs had been driven growling from the house into
+the water. Twice the whole family had heard the creature prowling
+around the cottage, and tapping at the doors and windows. The now
+grown-up children persist in saying that they saw this wild thing.
+Their house is twenty miles up the large Grand River, and a hundred
+and fifty miles from the coast.
+
+An old fellow called Harry Howell was one winter night missing from
+his home. He had been hunting, and only too late, after a blizzard set
+in, was it discovered that he was absent. In the morning the men
+gathered to make a search, but at that moment in walked "old Harry"!
+He told me later that he was coming home in the afternoon when the
+blizzard began. It was dirty, thick of snow, and cold. Suddenly he
+heard bells ringing, and knew that it was fairies bidding him follow
+them--because he had followed them before. So off he went, pushing his
+way through the driving snow. When at last he reached the foot of a
+gnarled old tree in the forest, the bells stopped, and he knew that
+was the place where he must stay for the night. So he laid some of the
+partridges which he had killed into a hole in the snow close to the
+trunk, crawled down and used them for a seat, and placed the rest of
+the frozen birds at his feet. Then he pulled up his dickey, or kossak,
+over his head, and with his back to the tree, went to sleep while the
+snow was still driving. There was no persuading that man that the
+ringing bells were in his own imagination.
+
+Many years ago a Norwegian captain on the Labrador told me the
+following story. One day the carpenter of his schooner, a man whom he
+had known for three voyages, and trusted thoroughly, was steering on
+the course which the mate had given him. All at once the mate came and
+found the man steering four points out. When he upbraided him, he
+answered, "He came and told me to." "Nobody did," replied the mate.
+"Go northwest."
+
+Three times the experience was repeated, and at last the mate reported
+the matter to the skipper. He immediately suggested, "Well, let us go
+on running in the direction he insists on taking for a while and see
+if anything happens." At the end of two hours they came upon a
+square-rigger with her decks just awash, and six men clinging to her
+rigging. As they came alongside the sinking vessel the carpenter
+pointed aghast to one of the rescued crew and cried out, "There's the
+man who came and told me the skipper said to change the course."
+
+In medicine, too, things happen which we professional men are just as
+unable to explain. A big-bodied, successful fisherman came aboard my
+steamer one day, saying that he had toothache. This was probable, for
+his jaw was swollen, his mouth hard to open, and the offending molar
+easily visible within. When I produced the forceps he protested most
+loudly that he would not have it touched for worlds.
+
+"Why, then, did you come to me?" I asked. "You are wasting my time."
+
+"I wanted you to charm her, Doctor," he answered, quite naturally.
+
+"But, my dear friend, I do not know how to charm, and don't think it
+would do the slightest good. Doctors are not allowed to do such
+things."
+
+He was evidently very much put out, and turning round to go, said, "I
+knows why you'se won't charm her. It's because I'm a Roman Catholic."
+
+"Nonsense. If you really think that it would do any good, come along.
+You'll have to pay twenty-five cents exactly as if you had it pulled
+out."
+
+"Gladly enough, Doctor. Please go ahead."
+
+He sat on the rail, a burly carcass, the incarnation of materialism,
+while the doctor, feeling the size of a sandflea, put one finger into
+his mouth and touched the molar, while he repeated the most mystic
+nonsense he could think of, "Abracadabra Tiddlywinkum Umslopoga"--and
+then jumped the finger out lest the patient might close his ponderous
+jaw. The fisherman took a turn around the deck, pulled out the
+quarter, and solemnly handed it to me, saying, "All the pain has gone.
+Many thanks, Doctor." I found myself standing alone in amazement,
+twiddling a miserable shilling, and wondering how I came to make such
+a fool of myself.
+
+A month later the patient again came to see me when we happened to be
+in his harbour. The swelling had gone, the molar was there. "Ne'er an
+ache out of her since," the patient laughed. I have not reported this
+end result to the committee of the American College of Surgeons,
+though much attention is now devoted to the follow-up and end-result
+department of surgery and medicine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+MARRIAGE
+
+
+It was now the fall of 1908, and the time had come for me to visit
+England again and try and arouse fresh interest in our work; and this
+motive was combined with the desire to see my old mother, who was now
+nearing her fourscore years. I decided to leave in November and return
+_via_ America in the spring to receive the honorary degree of LL.D.
+from Williams College and of M.A. from Harvard, which I had been
+generously offered.
+
+My lecture tour this winter was entrusted to an agency. Propaganda is
+a recognized necessity in human life, though it has little attraction
+for most men. To me having to ask personally for money even for other
+people was always a difficulty. Scores of times I have been blamed for
+not even stating in a lecture that we needed help. The distaste for
+beating the big drum, which lecturing for your own work always appears
+to be, makes me quite unable to see any virtue in not doing it, but
+just asking the Lord to do it. If I really were convinced that He
+would meet the expenses whether I worked or not, I should believe that
+neither would He let people suffer and die untended out here or
+anywhere else. Indeed, it would seem a work of supererogation to have
+to remind Him of the necessity that existed.
+
+The fact that we have to show pictures of the work which we are doing
+is tiresome and takes time, but it encourages us to have pictures
+worth taking and to do deeds which we are not ashamed to narrate. It
+also stimulates others to give themselves as well as their money to
+similar kinds of work at their own doorsteps, to see how much like
+themselves their almoners are. Only to-day my volunteer secretary told
+me that he honestly expected to meet "a bearded old fogey in
+spectacles," not a man who can shoot his own dinner from the wing or
+who enjoys the justifiable pleasures of life.
+
+The religion of Christ never permitted me to accept the idea that
+there is "nothing to do, only believe." Every man ought to earn his
+own bread and the means to support his family. Why, then, should you
+have only to ask the Lord to give unasked the wherewithal to feed
+other people's families?
+
+Lecturing for philanthropies, only another word for the means to help
+along the Kingdom of God on earth, is in England usually carried on
+through the ordinary missionary meetings; and in my previous
+experience they were not generally much credit to the splendid objects
+in view. The lectures were often patronized by small audiences largely
+composed of women and children.
+
+That particular winter in England I had the privilege of addressing
+all sorts of workmen's clubs and city lecture-course audiences, people
+who would have "the shivers" almost if one had asked them to attend a
+"missionary" lecture. The collection, or even the final monetary
+outcome, is far from being the test of the value of the address. To
+commend Christ's religion by minimizing in any way the prerogative He
+gave men of carrying on the work of His kingdom in their human efforts
+is to sap the very appeal that attracts manhood to Him. I never wanted
+to sing, "Oh! to be nothing, nothing." I always wished to sing, "Oh!
+make me something, something"--that shall leave some footprints on the
+sands of time, and have some record of talents gained to offer a
+Master whom we believe to be righteous.
+
+When spring came and the lectures were over, a new idea suddenly
+dawned upon me. If I were going to America to festive gatherings and
+to have some honours conferred, why leave the mother behind?
+Seventy-eight years is not old. She was born in India, had lived in
+England, and suppose anything did happen, why not sleep in
+America?--she would be just as near God there. The splendid Mauretania
+not only took us safely over, but gave me also that gift which I
+firmly believe God designed for me--a real partner to share in my joys
+and sorrows, to encourage and support in trouble and failures, to
+inspire and advise in a thousand ways, and in addition to bring into
+my distant field of work a personal comrade with the culture, wisdom,
+and enthusiasm of the American life and the training of one of the
+very best of its Universities.
+
+We met on board the second day out. She was travelling with a Scotch
+banker of Chicago and his wife, Mr. W.R. Stirling, whose daughter was
+her best friend. They were returning from a motor tour through Europe
+and Algeria. The Mauretania takes only four and a half days in
+crossing, and never before did I realize the drawbacks of "hustle,"
+and yet the extreme need of it on my part. The degrees of longitude
+slipped by so quickly that I felt personally aggrieved when one day we
+made over six hundred miles, and the captain told us in triumph that
+it was a new record. The ship seemed to be paying off some spite
+against me. My mother kept mostly to her cabin. Though constantly in
+to see her, I am afraid I did not unduly worry her to join me on the
+deck. When just on landing I told her that I had asked a fellow
+passenger to become my wife, I am sure had the opportunity arisen she
+would have tumbled down the Mauretania's staircase. When she had the
+joy of meeting the girl, her equanimity was so far upset as to let an
+unaccustomed tear roll down her cheek. That, at least, is one of the
+tears which I have cost her which brings no regrets. For she confesses
+that it often puzzles her to which of our lives the event has meant
+most.
+
+The constant little activities of my life had so filled every hour of
+time, and so engrossed my thoughts, that I had never thought to
+philosophize on the advisability of marriage, nor stopped to compare
+my life with those of my neighbors. There is no virtue in keeping the
+Ninth Commandment and not envying your neighbour's condition or goods
+when it never enters your head or heart to worry about them; and when
+you are getting what you care about no halo is due you for not falling
+victim to envy or jealousy of others. I have not been in the habit of
+praying for special personal providences like fine weather in my
+section of the earth, or for head wind for the schooners so as to give
+me a fair wind for my steamer, except so far as one prays for the
+recognition of God's good hand in everything.
+
+I can honestly protest that nothing in my life ever came more "out of
+the blue" than my marriage; and beyond that I am increasingly certain
+each day that it did come out of that blue where God dwells.
+
+I knew neither whence she came nor whither she was going. Indeed, I
+only found out when the proposition was really put that I did not even
+know her name--for it was down on the passenger list as one of the
+daughters of the friends with whom she was travelling. Fortunately it
+never entered my head that it mattered. For I doubt if I should have
+had the courage to question the chaperon, whose daughter she
+presumably was. It certainly was a "poser" to be told, "But you don't
+even know my name." Had I not been a bit of a seaman, and often
+compelled on the spur of the moment to act first and think
+afterwards, what the consequences might have been I cannot say.
+Fortunately, I remembered that it was not the matter at issue, and
+explained, without admitting the impeachment, that the only question
+that interested me in the least was what I hoped that it might become.
+Incidentally she mentioned that she had only once heard of me. It was
+the year previous when I had been speaking at Bryn Mawr and she had
+refused in no measured terms an invitation to attend, as sounding
+entirely too dull for her predilections. I have wondered whether this
+was not another "small providence."
+
+A pathological condition of one's internal workings is not unusual
+even in Britons who "go down to the sea in ships," but such genius as
+our family has displayed has, so history assures us, shone best on a
+quarter-deck; and on this occasion it pleased God ultimately to add
+another naval victory to our credit. It is generally admitted that an
+abnormal mentality accompanies this not uncommon experience of human
+life, and I found my lack of appreciation of the rapid voyage
+paralleled by a wicked satisfaction that my mother preferred the brass
+four-poster, so thoughtfully provided for her by the Cunard Company,
+to the risks of the unsteady promenade deck.
+
+When the girl's way and mine parted in that last word in material
+jostlings, the custom-house shed in Manhattan, after the liner
+arrived, I realized that it was rather an armistice than a permanent
+settlement which I had achieved. Though there was no father in the
+case, I learned that there was a mother and a home in Chicago. These
+were formidable strongholds for a homeless wanderer to assault, but
+rendered doubly so by the fact that there was neither brother nor
+sister to leave behind to mitigate the possible vacancy. The
+"everlasting yea" not having been forthcoming, under the
+circumstances it was no easy task for me to keep faith with the many
+appointments to lecture on Labrador which had been made for me. The
+inexorable schedule kept me week after week in the East. Fortunately
+the generous hospitality of many old friends who wanted the pleasure
+of meeting my mother kept my mind somewhat occupied. But I confess at
+the back of it the forthcoming venture loomed up more and more
+momentous as the fateful day drew near for me to start for Chicago.
+
+This visit to my wife's beautiful country home among the trees on the
+bluff of Lake Michigan in Lake Forest was one long dream. My mother
+and I were now made acquainted with the family and friends of my
+fiancee. Her father, Colonel MacClanahan, a man of six feet five
+inches in height, had been Judge Advocate General on the Staff of
+Braxton Bragg and had fought under General Robert E. Lee. He was a
+Southerner of Scotch extraction, having been born and brought up in
+Tennessee. A lawyer by training, after the war, when everything that
+belonged to him was destroyed in the "reconstruction period," and
+being still a very young man, he had gone North to Chicago and begun
+life again at his profession. There he met and married, in 1884, Miss
+Rosamond Hill, who was born in Burlington, Vermont, but who, since
+childhood and the death of her parents, had lived with her married
+sister, Mrs. Charles Durand, of Chicago. The MacClanahans had two
+children--the boy, Kinloch, dying at an early age as the result of an
+accident. Colonel MacClanahan himself died a few months later, leaving
+a widow and one child, Anna Elizabeth Caldwell MacClanahan. She and
+her mother had lived the greater part of the time with Mrs. Durand,
+who died something more than a year before our engagement.
+
+The friends with whom my fiancee had been travelling were almost
+next-door neighbours in Lake Forest. They made my short stay doubly
+happy by endless kindnesses; and all through the years, till his death
+in 1918, Mr. Stirling gave me not only a friendship which meant more
+to me than I can express, but his loving and invaluable aid and
+counsel in our work.
+
+In spite of my many years of sailor life, I found that I was expected
+among other things to ride a horse, my fiancee being devoted to that
+means of progression. The days when I had ridden to hounds in England
+as a boy in Cheshire stood me in some little stead, for like swimming,
+tennis, and other pastimes calling for coordination, riding is never
+quite forgotten. But remembering Mr. Winkle's experiences, it was not
+without some misgivings that I found a shellback like myself galloping
+behind my lady's charger. My last essay at horseback riding had been
+just eleven years previously in Iceland. Having to wait a few days at
+Reikkavik, I had hired a whole bevy of ponies with a guide to take
+myself and the young skipper of our vessel for a three days' ride to
+see the geysers. He had never been on the back of any animal before,
+and was nevertheless not surprised or daunted at falling off
+frequently, though an interlude of being dragged along with one foot
+in the stirrup over lava beds made no little impression upon him.
+Fodder of all kinds is very scarce in the volcanic tufa of which all
+that land consists, and any moment that one stopped was always devoted
+by our ponies to grubbing for blades of grass in the holes. On our
+return to the ship the crew could not help noticing that the skipper
+for many days ceased to patronize the lockers or any other seat, and
+soon they were rejoicing that for some reason he was unable to sit
+down at all. He explained it by saying that his ponies ate so much
+lava that it stuck out under their skins, and I myself recall feeling
+inclined to agree with him.
+
+The journey from Lake Forest to Labrador would have been a tedious
+one, but by good fortune a friend from New York had arranged to come
+and visit the coast in his steam yacht, the Enchantress, and was good
+enough to pick me up at Bras d'Or. Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, who had
+previously shown me much kindness, permitted us to rendezvous at his
+house, and for a second time I enjoyed seeing some of the experiments
+of his most versatile brain. His aeroplanes, telephones, and other
+inventions were all intensely interesting, but among his other lines
+of work the effort to develop a race of sheep, which had litters just
+as pigs do, interested me most.
+
+Francis Sayre, whom I had heard win the prize at Williams with his
+valedictory speech, was again to be my summer secretary. On our
+arrival at St. Anthony we found a great deal going on. The fame as a
+surgeon of my colleague, Dr. John Mason Little, had spread so widely
+that St. Anthony Hospital would no longer hold the patients who sought
+assistance at it. Fifty would arrive on a single mail boat. They were
+dumped down on the little wharf, having been landed in small punts
+from the steamer, as in those days we had no proper dock to which the
+boats could come. The little waiting-room in the hospital at night
+resembled nothing so much as a newly opened sardine tin; and to cater
+for the waiting patients was a Sisyphean task without the Hercules.
+Through the instrumentality of Dr. Little's sister a fund of ten
+thousand dollars was raised to double the size of the hospital, and
+the work of building was begun on my return. Although the capacity was
+greatly increased thereby we have really been unable ever to make our
+building what it ought to be to meet the problem. The first part,
+constructed of green lumber hauled from the woods, and other wings
+added at different periods of growth, the endeavour to blast out
+suitable heating-plant accommodations--all this has left the hospital
+building more or less a thing of rags and patches, and most
+uneconomical to run. We are urgently in need of having it rebuilt
+entirely of either brick or stone, in order to resist the winter cold,
+to give more efficiency and comfort to patients and staff and to
+conserve our fuel, which is the most serious item of expense we have
+to meet.
+
+But at that time with all its capacity for service the new addition
+was rising, sounding yet one more note of praise in better ability to
+meet the demands upon us.
+
+And _pari passu_ came the beautiful offer of my friend, Mr. Sayre, to
+double the size of our orphanage, putting up the new wing in memory of
+his father. This meant that instead of twenty we might now accommodate
+forty children at a pinch. Life is so short that it is the depths of
+pathos to be hampered in doing one's work for the lack of a few
+dollars. Of great interest to my fiancee and myself was the selection
+of a piece of ground adjoining the Mission land, and the erection for
+ourselves of the home which we had planned and designed together
+before I had left Lake Forest. We chose some land up on the hillside
+and overlooking the sea and the harbour, where the view should be as
+comprehensive as possible. But we feared that even though our new
+house was very literally "founded upon a rock," the winds might some
+day remove it bodily from its abiding-place, and therefore we riveted
+the structure with heavy iron bolts to the solid bedrock.
+
+One excitement of that season was Admiral Peary's return from the
+North Pole. We were cruising near Indian Harbour when some visitors
+came aboard to make use of our wireless telegraph, which at that time
+we had installed on board. It proved to be Mr. Harry Whitney. It was
+the first intimation that we had had that Peary was returning that
+year. Whitney had met Cook coming back from the polar sea on the west
+side of the Gulf, where he had disappeared about eighteen months
+previously. I had met Dr. Cook several times myself, and indeed I had
+slept at his house in Brooklyn. He had visited Battle Harbour Hospital
+in 1893 when he was wrecked in the steamer in which he was conducting
+a party to visit Greenland. We had again seen him as he went North
+with Mr. Bradley in the yacht, and he had sent us back some Greenland
+dogs to mix their blood with our dogs, and so perhaps improve their
+breed and endurance. These, however, I had later felt it necessary to
+kill, for the Greenland dogs carry the dangerous tapeworm which is
+such a menace to man, and of which our Labrador dogs are entirely free
+so far.
+
+The picture of this meeting on the ice between Cook and Whitney gave
+us the impression of another Nansen and Jackson at Spitzbergen.
+Whitney had welcomed Cook warmly, had witnessed his troubles at Etah,
+and his departure by komatik, and had taken charge of his instruments
+and records to carry South with him when he came home. But his ship
+was delayed and delayed, and when Peary in the Roosevelt passed on his
+way South, fearing to be left another winter Whitney had accepted a
+passage on her at the cost of leaving Cook's material behind. He had
+met his own boat farther south and had transferred to her. He left the
+impression very firmly on all our minds that both he and Dr. Cook
+really believed that the latter had found the long-sought Pole.
+
+A little later, while cruising in thick weather in the Gulf of St.
+Lawrence, my wireless operator came in and said: "There can be no harm
+telling you, Doctor, that Peary is at Battle Harbour. He is wiring to
+Washington that he has found the Pole, and also he is asking his
+committee if he may present the Mission with his superfluous supplies,
+or whether he is to sell them to you." Seeing that it is not easy to
+know whence wireless messages come if the sender does not own up to
+his whereabouts, I at once ordered him to wireless to Peary at Battle
+the simple words: "Give it to them, of course," and sign it
+"Washington." I knew that the Commander would see the joke, and if the
+decision turned out later to be incorrect, it could easily be
+rectified by purchasing the goods. A tin of his brown bread now lies
+among my curios and one of his sledges is in my barn.
+
+   [Illustration: COMMODORE PEARY ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE POLE,
+   1909]
+
+On our arrival at Battle Harbour we found the Roosevelt lying at the
+wharf repainting and refitting. A whole host of newspaper men and
+other friends had come North to welcome the explorer home. Battle was
+quite a gay place; but it was living up to its name, for Peary not
+only claimed that he had found the Pole, but also that Cook had not;
+and he was realizing what a hard thing it is to prove a negative. We
+had a very delightful time with the party, and greatly enjoyed meeting
+all the members of the expedition. Among them was the ill-fated Borup,
+destined shortly to be drowned on a simple canoe trip, and the
+indomitable and athletic Macmillan who subsequently led the Crocker
+Land expedition, our own schooner George B. Cluett carrying them to
+Etah.
+
+My secretary, Mr. Sayre, was just about to leave for America, and at
+Peary's request he transferred to the Roosevelt with his typewriter,
+to help the Commander with a few of his many notes and records. I dare
+say that he got an inside view of the question then agitating the
+world from Washington to Copenhagen; but if so, he has remained
+forever silent about it. For our part we were glad that some one had
+found the Pole, for it has been a costly quest in both fine men and
+valuable time, energy, and money. It has caused lots of trouble and
+sorrow, and so far at least its practical issues have been few.
+
+Our wedding had been scheduled for November, and for the first time I
+had found a Labrador summer long. In the late fall I left for Chicago
+on a mission that had no flavour of the North Pole about it. We were
+married in Grace Episcopal Church, Chicago, on November 18, 1909. Our
+wedding was followed by a visit to the Hot Springs of Virginia; and
+then "heigho," and a flight for the North. We sailed from St. John's,
+Newfoundland, in January. I had assured my wife, who is an excellent
+sailor, that she would scarcely notice the motion of the ship on the
+coastal trip of three hundred miles. Instead of five days, it took
+nine; and we steamed straight out of the Narrows at St. John's into a
+head gale and a blizzard of snow. The driving spray froze onto every
+thing till the ship was sugared like a vast Christmas cake. It made
+the home which we had built at St. Anthony appear perfectly
+delightful. My wife had had her furniture sent North during the
+summer, so that now the "Lares and Penates" with which she had been
+familiar from childhood seemed to extend a mute but hearty welcome to
+us from their new setting.
+
+We have three children, all born at St. Anthony. Our elder son,
+Wilfred Thomason, was born in the fall of 1910; Kinloch Pascoe in the
+fall of 1912, two years almost to a day behind his brother; and lastly
+a daughter, Rosamond Loveday, who followed her brothers in 1917. In
+the case of the two latter children the honours of the name were
+divided between both sides of the family, Kinloch and Rosamond being
+old family names on my wife's side, while, on the other hand, there
+have been Pascoe and Loveday Grenfells from time immemorial.
+
+Nearly ten years have now rolled away since our marriage. The puzzle
+to me is how I ever got along before; and these last nine years have
+been so crowded with the activities and worries of the increasing
+cares of a growing work, that without the love and inspiration and
+intellectual help of a true comrade, I could never have stood up under
+them. Every side of life is developed and broadened by companionship.
+I admit of no separation of life into "secular" and "religious."
+Religion, if it means anything, means the life and activities of our
+divine spirit on earth in relation to our Father in heaven. I am
+convinced from experience of the supreme value to that of a happy
+marriage, and that "team work" is God's plan for us on this earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+NEW VENTURES
+
+
+No human life can be perfect, or even be lived without troubles. Clams
+have their troubles, I dare say. A queer sort of sinking feeling just
+like descending in a fast elevator comes over one, as if trouble and
+the abdominal viscera had a direct connection. Some one has said that
+it must be because that is where the average mind centres. Thus, when
+we lost the little steamer Swallow which we were towing, and with it
+the evidence of a crime and the road to the prevention of its
+repetition, it absolutely sickened me for two or three days, or, to be
+more exact, during two or three nights. It was all quite unnecessary,
+for we can see now that the matter worked out for the best. The fact
+that troubles hurt most when one is at rest and one's mind unoccupied,
+and in the night when one's vitality is lowest, is a great comfort,
+because that shows how it is something physical that is at fault, and
+no physical troubles are of very great importance.
+
+The summer of 1910 brought me a fine crop of personal worries, and
+probably deservedly so, for no one should leave his business affairs
+too much to another, without guarantees, occasionally renewed, that
+all is well. Few professional men are good at business, and personally
+I have no liking for it. This, combined with an over-readiness to
+accept as helpers men whose only qualifications have sometimes been of
+their own rating, was really spoiling for trouble--and mine came
+through the series of cooperative stores.
+
+To begin with, none of the stores were incorporated, and their
+liabilities were therefore unlimited. Though I had always felt it best
+not to accept a penny of interest, I had been obliged to loan them
+money, and their agent in St. John's, who was also mine, allowed them
+considerable latitude in credits. It was, indeed, a bolt from the blue
+when I was informed that the merchants in St. John's were owed by the
+stores the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, and that I was being
+held responsible for every cent of it--because on the strength of
+their faith in me, and their knowledge that I was interested in the
+stores, having brought them into being, they had been willing to let
+the credits mount up. Even then I still had all my work to carry on
+and little time to devote to money affairs. Had I accepted, on first
+entering the Mission, the salary offered me, which was that of my
+predecessor, I should have been able to meet these liabilities, and
+very gladly indeed would I have done so. As it was I had to find some
+way out. All the merchants interested were told of the facts, and
+asked to meet me at the office of one of them, go over the accounts
+with my agent, and try and find a plan to settle. One can have little
+heart in his work if he feels every one who looks at him really thinks
+that he is a defaulter. The outcome of the inquiry revealed that if
+the agent could not show which store owed each debt, neither could the
+merchants; some had made out their bills to separate stores, some all
+to one store, and some in a general way to myself, though not one
+single penny of the debt was a personal one of my own.
+
+The next discovery was that the manager of the St. Anthony store, who
+had been my summer secretary before, and was an exceedingly pious
+man--whose great zeal for cottage prayer meetings, and that form of
+religious work, had led me to think far too highly of him--had
+neglected his books. He had given credit to every one who came along
+(though it was a cardinal statute under his rules that no credit was
+to be allowed except at his own personal risk). The St. John's agent
+claimed that he had made a loss of twelve thousand dollars in a little
+over a year, in which he professed to have been able to pay ten per
+cent to shareholders and put by three hundred dollars to reserve.
+Besides this, the new local store secretary had mixed up affairs by
+both ordering supplies direct from Canada and sending produce there,
+which the St. John's agent claimed were owed to the merchants in that
+city.
+
+These two men, instead of pulling together, were, I found, bitter
+enemies; and it looked as if the whole pack of cards were tumbling
+about my ears. I cashed every available personal asset which I could.
+The beautiful schooner, Emma E. White, also a personal possession,
+arrived in St. John's while we were there with a full load of lumber,
+but it and she sailed straight into the melting-pot. The merchants,
+with one exception, were all as good about the matter as men can be.
+They were perfectly satisfied when they realized that I meant facing
+the debt squarely. One was nasty about it, saying that he would not
+wait--and oddly enough in ordinary life he was a man whom one would
+not expect to be ungenerous, for he too was a religious man. Whether
+he gained by it or not it is hard to say. He was paid first, anyhow.
+The standard of what is really remunerative in life is differently
+graded. The stores have dealt with him since, and his prices are fair
+and honest; but he was the only one among some twenty who even
+appeared to kick a man when he was down. I have nothing but gratitude
+to all the rest.
+
+I should add that the incident was not the fault of the people of the
+coast. Often I had been warned by the merchants that the cooperative
+stores would fail and that the people would rob me. It is true that
+there was trouble over the badly kept books, and a number of the
+fishermen disclaimed their debts charged against them; but with one
+exception no one came and said that he had had things which were not
+noted on the bills. I am confident, however, that they did not go back
+on me willingly, and when my merchant friends said, "I told you so," I
+honestly was able to state that it was the management, not the people
+or the system, that was at fault. Indeed, subsequent events have
+proved this. For five of the stores still run, and run splendidly, and
+pay handsomer dividends by far than any investment our people could
+possibly make elsewhere.
+
+With the sale of a few investments and some other available property,
+the liability was so far reduced that, with what the stores paid, only
+one merchant was not fully indemnified, and he generously told me not
+to worry about the balance.
+
+This same year, on the other hand, one of our most forward steps, so
+far as the Mission was concerned, was taken, through the generosity of
+the late Mr. George B. Cluett, of Troy, New York. He had built
+specially for our work a magnificent three-masted schooner, fitted
+with the best of gear including a motor launch. She was constructed of
+three-inch oak plank, sheathed with hardwood for work in the
+ice-fields. She was also fitted with an eighty horse-power Wolverine
+engine. The bronze tablet in her bore the inscription, "This vessel
+with full equipment was presented to Wilfred T. Grenfell by George B.
+Cluett." He had previously asked me if I would like any words from the
+Bible on the plate, and I had suggested, "The sea is His and He made
+it." The designer unfortunately put the text after the inscription; so
+that I have been frequently asked why and how I came to make it,
+seeing that it is believed by all good Christians that in heaven
+"there shall be no more sea."
+
+To help out with the expenses of getting her running, our loved friend
+from Chicago, Mr. W.R. Stirling, agreed to come North on the schooner
+the first season, bringing his two daughters and three friends. Even
+though he was renting her for a yachting trip, he offered to bring all
+the cargo free and make the Mission stations his ports of call.
+
+Mr. Cluett's idea was that, as we had big expenses carrying endless
+freight so far North, and as it got so broken and often lost in
+transit, and greatly damaged in the many changes involved from rail to
+steamer, and from steamer to steamer, if she carried our freight in
+summer, she could in winter earn enough to make it all free, and
+possibly provide a sinking fund for herself as well. There was also
+good accommodation in her for doctors, nurses, students, etc., who
+every summer come from the South to help in various ways in the work
+of the Mission.
+
+All our freight that year arrived promptly and in good condition,
+which had never happened before. Later the vessel was chartered to go
+to Greenland by the Smithsonian. On this occasion her engine, never
+satisfactory, gave out entirely, which so delayed her that she got
+frozen in near Etah and was held up a whole twelvemonth. Meanwhile the
+war had broken out, and when she at last sailed into Boston, we were
+able to sell her, by the generous permission of Mrs. Cluett, and use
+the money to purchase the George B. Cluett II.
+
+Illustrating the advantage of getting our freight direct, among the
+many instances which have occurred, that of the lost searchlight for
+the Strathcona comes to my mind. As she had often on dark nights to
+come to anchor among vessels, and to nose her way into unlit harbours,
+some friends, through the Professor of Geology at Harvard, who had
+himself cruised all along our coast in a schooner, presented me with a
+searchlight for the hospital ship and despatched it _via_ Sydney--the
+normal freight route. Month after month went by, and it never
+appeared. Year followed year, and still we searched for that
+searchlight. At length, after two and a half years, it suddenly
+arrived, having been "delayed on the way." Had it been provisions or
+clothing or drugs, or almost anything else, of course, it would have
+been useless. It has proved to us one of the almost _de luxe_
+additions to a Mission steamer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For a long time I had felt the need of some place in St. John's where
+work for fishermen could be carried on, and which could be also
+utilized as a place of safety for girls coming to that city from other
+parts of the island. My attention was called one day to the fact that
+liquor was being sent to people in the outports C.O.D., by a barrel of
+flour which was being lowered over the side of the mail steamer rather
+too quickly on to the ice. As the hard bump came, the flour in the
+barrel jingled loudly and leaked rum profusely from the compound
+fracture. When our sober outport people went to St. John's, as they
+must every year for supplies, they had only the uncomfortable schooner
+or the street in which to pass the time. There is no "Foyer des
+Pecheurs"; no one wanted fishermen straight from a fishing schooner in
+the home; and in those days there were no Camp Community Clubs. As one
+man said, "It is easy for the parson to tell us to be good, but it is
+hard on a wet cold night to be good in the open street" and nowhere to
+go, and harder still if you have to seek shelter in a brightly lighted
+room, where music was being played. The boarding-houses for the
+fishermen, where thousands of our young men flocked in the spring to
+try for a berth in the seal fishery, were ridiculous, not to say
+calamitous. Lastly, unsophisticated girls coming from the outports ran
+terrible risks in the city, having no friends to direct and assist
+them; and the Institute which we had in mind was to comprise also a
+girls' lodging department. No provision was made for the accommodation
+of crews wrecked by accident, and our Institute has already proved
+invaluable to many in such plights.
+
+Seeing the hundreds of craft and the thousands of fishermen, and the
+capital and interest vested against us as prohibitionists, it would
+have been obviously futile to put up a second-rate affair in a back
+street. It would only be sneered at as a proselytizing job. I had
+almost forgotten to mention that there was already an Old Seamen's
+Home, but it had gradually become a roost for boozers, and when with
+the trustees we made an inspection of it, it proved to be only worthy
+of immediate closure. This was promptly done, and the money realized
+from the sale of it, some ten thousand dollars, was kindly donated to
+the fund for our new building.
+
+After a few years of my collecting funds spasmodically, a number of
+our local friends got "cold feet." Reports started, not circulated by
+well-wishers, that it was all a piece of personal vanity, that no such
+thing was needed, and if built would prove a white elephant, to
+support which I would be going round with my hat in my hand worrying
+the merchants. We had at that time some ninety thousand dollars in
+hand. I laid the whole story before the Governor, Sir Ralph Williams,
+a man by no means prejudiced in favour of prohibition. He was,
+however, one who knew what the city needed, and realized that it was a
+big lack and required a big remedy.
+
+A letter which I published in all the St. John's papers, describing my
+passing fifteen drunken men on the streets before morning service on
+Christmas Day, brought forth angry denials of the actual facts, and my
+statement of the number of saloons in the city was also contradicted.
+But a saloon is not necessarily a place licensed by the Government or
+city to make men drunk--for the majority are unlicensed, and a couple
+of experiences which my men had in looking for sailors who had
+shipped, been given advances, and gone off and got drunk in shebeens,
+proved the number to be very much higher than even I had estimated it.
+
+Sir Ralph thought the matter over and called a public meeting in the
+ballroom of Government House. He had a remarkable personality and no
+fear of conventions. After thoroughly endorsing the plan for the
+Institute, and the need for it, he asked each of the many citizens who
+had responded to his invitation, "Will you personally stand by the
+larger scheme of a two hundred thousand dollar building, or will you
+stand by the sixty thousand dollar building with the thirty thousand
+dollar endowment fund, or will you do nothing at all?" It was proven
+that when it came to the point of going on record, practically all who
+really took the slightest interest in the matter were in favour of the
+larger plan--if I would undertake to raise the money. My own view,
+since more than justified, was that only so large a building could
+ever hope to meet the requirements and only such a comprehensive
+institution could expect to carry its own expenses. I preferred
+refunding the ninety thousand dollars to the various donors and
+dropping the whole business to embarking on the smaller scheme.
+
+That meeting did a world of good. It cleared the atmosphere; and it is
+only fresh air which most of these things really need--just as does a
+consumptive patient. The plan was now on the shoulders of the
+citizens; it was no longer one man's hobby. Enemies, like the Scribes
+and Pharisees of old, knew better than to tackle a crowd, and with the
+splendid gift of Messrs. Bowring Brothers of a site on the water-side
+on the main street, costing thirteen thousand dollars, and those of
+Job Brothers, Harvey and Company, and Macpherson Brothers of
+twenty-five hundred dollars each, the fund grew like Jonah's gourd;
+and in the year of 1911, with approximately one hundred and
+seventy-five thousand dollars in hand, we actually came to the time
+for laying the foundation stone. The hostility of enemies was not
+over. Such an institute is a fighting force, and involves contest and
+therefore enemies. So we decided to make this occasion as much of an
+event as we could. Through friends in England we obtained the promise
+of King George V that if we connected the foundation stone with
+Buckingham Palace by wire, he would, after the ceremony in Westminster
+Abbey on his Coronation Day, press a button at three in the afternoon
+and lay the stone across the Atlantic. The good services of friends in
+the Anglo-American Telegraph Company did the rest.
+
+On the fateful day His Excellency the Governor came down and made an
+appropriate and patriotic speech. Owing to the difference in time of
+about three hours and twenty minutes, it was shortly before twelve
+o'clock with us. The noonday gun signal from the Narrows was fired
+during His Excellency's address. Then followed a prayer of invocation
+by His Lordship the Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda--and then, a
+dead silence and pause. Every one was waiting for our newly crowned
+King to put that stone into place. Only a moment had passed, the
+Governor had just said, "We will wait for the King," when "Bing, bang,
+bang," went the gong signifying that His Majesty was at the other end
+of the wire. Up went the national flag, and slowly but surely the
+great stone began to move. A storm of cheering greeted the successful
+effort; and all that was left for our enemies to say was, "It was a
+fake." They claimed that we had laid the stone ourselves. Nor might
+they have been so far off the mark as they supposed, for we had a man
+with a knife under that platform to make that stone come down if
+anything happened that the wire device did not work. You cannot go
+back on your King whatever else you do, and to permit any grounds to
+exist for supposing that he had not been punctual was unthinkable. But
+fortunately for all concerned our subterfuge was unnecessary.
+
+I have omitted so far to state one of the main reasons why the
+Institute to our mind was so desirable. That was because no
+undenominational work is carried on practically in the whole country.
+Religion is tied up in bundles and its energies used to divide rather
+than to unite men. No Y.M.C.A. or Y.W.C.A. could exist in the Colony
+for that reason. The Boys' Brigade which we had originally started
+could not continue, any more than the Boy Scouts can now. Catholic
+Cadets, Church Lads Brigade, Methodist Guards, Presbyterian Highland
+Brigade--are all names symbolic of the dividing influences of
+"religion." In no place of which I know would a Y.M.C.A. be more
+desirable; and a large meeting held in the Institute this present
+spring decided that in no town anywhere was a Y.W.C.A. more needed.
+
+In another place in this book I have spoken of the problem of alcohol
+and fishermen. A man does not need alcohol and is far better without
+it. A man who sees two lights when there is only one is not wanted at
+the wheel. The people who sell alcohol know that just as well as we
+do, but for paltry gain they are unpatriotic enough to barter their
+earthly country as well as their heavenly one, and to be branded with
+the knowledge that they are cursing men and ruining families. The
+filibuster deserves the name no less because he does his destructive
+work secretly and slowly, and wears the emblems of respectability
+instead of operating in the open with "Long Toms" under the shadow of
+the "Jolly Roger."
+
+As a magistrate on this coast I have been obliged more than once to
+act as a policeman, and though one hated the ill-feeling which it
+stored up, and did not enjoy the evil-speaking to which it gave rise,
+I considered that it was really only like lancing a concealed
+infection--the ill-feeling and evil-speaking were better tapped and
+let out.
+
+On one occasion at one of our Labrador hospitals a beardless youth,
+one of the Methodist candidates for college who every year are sent
+down to look after the interests of that denomination on our North
+coast, came to inform me that the only other magistrate on the coast,
+the pillar of the Church of England, and shortly to be our
+stipendiary, who had many political friends of great influence in St.
+John's, was keeping a "blind tiger," while many even of his own people
+were being ruined body and soul by this temptation under their noses.
+
+"Well," I replied, "if you will come and give the evidence which will
+lead to conviction, I will do the rest."
+
+"I certainly will," he answered. And he did. So we got the little
+Strathcona under way, and after steaming some fifteen miles dropped
+into a small cove a mile or two from the place where our friend lived.
+In the King's name we constrained a couple of men to come along as
+special constables. Our visit was an unusual one. To divert suspicion
+we dressed our ship in bunting as if we were coming for a marriage
+license. When we anchored as near his stage as possible, we dropped
+our jolly-boat and made for the store. The door was, however, locked
+and our friend nowhere to be seen. "He is in the store" was the reply
+of his wife to our query. We knew then that there was no time to be
+lost, and even while we battered at the door, we could hear a
+suspicious gurgle and smell a curious odour. Rum was trickling down
+through the cracks of the store floor on to the astonished winkles
+below. But the door quickly gave way before our overtures, and we
+caught the magistrate _flagrante delicto_. We were threatened with all
+sorts of big folk in St. John's; but we held the trial on board
+straightaway just the same. When court was called, the defendant
+demanded the name of the prosecutor--and to his infinite surprise out
+popped the youthful aspirant to the Methodist ministry. When he
+learned that half of his fine of seventy dollars had to be paid to the
+prosecutor and would be applied toward the building of a Methodist
+school, his temper completely ran away with him; and we had to
+threaten auction on the spot of the goods in the store before we could
+collect the money. We left him breathing out threatenings and
+slaughter.
+
+   [Illustration: THE INSTITUTE]
+
+Only once was I really caught. Two mothers in a little village had
+appealed to me because liquor was being sold to their boys who had no
+money, while people were complaining simultaneously that fish was
+being stolen from their stages. No one would tell who was selling it,
+so we had a systematic search made of all the houses, and the guilty
+man was convicted on evidence discovered under the floor of his
+sitting-room. The fine of fifty dollars he paid without a murmur and
+it was promptly divided between the Government and the prosecutor. It
+so happened, however, that he had obtained from us for a close
+relative a new artificial leg, and there was fifty dollars owing to
+us on it. Unknown to us at the time, he had collected that fifty
+dollars from the said relative and with it paid his fine. To this day
+we never got a cent for our leg, and so really fined ourselves. Nor
+could we with any propriety distrain on one of a poor woman's legs!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+PROBLEMS ON LAND AND SEA
+
+
+The year 1912 was a busy season. The New Year found us in Florida with
+the donor of the ship George B. Cluett, consulting him concerning its
+progress and future. Lecturing then as we went west we reached
+Colorado, visited the Grand Canyon, and lectured all along the Pacific
+Coast from San Diego to Victoria--finding many old friends and making
+many new ones.
+
+At Berkeley I was asked to deliver the Earle Lectures at the
+University of California; and I also spoke to an immense audience in
+the open Greek theatre--a most novel experience. At Santa Barbara a
+special meeting had been arranged by our good friend Dr. Joseph
+Andrews, who every year travels all the way from California to St.
+Anthony at his own expense to afford the fishermen of our Northern
+waters the inestimable benefits of his skill as a consulting eye
+specialist. Many blind he has restored to sight who would otherwise be
+encumbrances to themselves and others. Only last year I received the
+following communication from an eager would-be patient: "Dear Dr.
+Grandfield, when is the eye spider coming to St. Anthony? I needs to
+see him bad."
+
+While we were at Tacoma a visitor, saying that he was an old
+acquaintance of mine, sent up his card to our room. He had driven over
+in a fine motor car, and was a great, broad-shouldered man. The grip
+which he gave me assured me that he had been brought up hard, but I
+utterly failed to place him. With a broad grin he relieved the
+situation by saying: "The last time that we met, Doctor, was on the
+deck of a fishing vessel in the North Sea. I was second hand aboard,
+sailing out from Grimsby." The tough surroundings of that life were
+such a contrast to his present apparently ample means that I could
+only say, "How on earth did you get out here?"
+
+"A friend," said he, "gave me a little book entitled 'One Hundred Ways
+to Rise in the World.' The first ninety-nine were no good to me, but
+the hundredth said, 'Go to Western America,' so I just cleared out and
+came here." He was exceedingly kind to us, even accompanying us to
+Seattle, and his story of pluck and enterprise was a splendid
+stimulus.
+
+Six weeks of lecturing nearly every single night in a new town in
+Canada gave me a real vision of Canadian Western life, and a sincere
+admiration for its people who are making a nation of which the world
+is proud.
+
+In April a large meeting was held in New York to reorganize the
+management of the Mission. The English Royal National Mission to
+Deep-Sea Fishermen was no longer able or willing to finance, much less
+to direct, affairs which had gone beyond their control, and was hoping
+to arrange an organization of an international character to which all
+the affairs of the enterprise could be turned over. This organization
+was formed at the house of Mr. Eugene Delano, the head of Brown
+Brothers, bankers, whose lifelong help has meant for Labrador more
+than he will ever know.
+
+The International Grenfell Association was incorporated to comprise
+the Labrador branches of the Royal National Mission to Deep-Sea
+Fishermen as its English component, the Grenfell Association of
+America and the New England Grenfell Association to represent the
+American interests, the Labrador Medical Mission as the Canadian name
+for its Society, and the Newfoundland Grenfell Association for the
+Newfoundland branch. Each one of these component societies has two
+members in the Central Council, and together they make up the Board of
+Directors of the International Grenfell Association. These directors
+ever since have generously been giving their time and interest in the
+wise and efficient administration of this work. To these unselfish men
+Labrador and northern Newfoundland, as well as I, owe a greater debt
+than can ever be repaid.
+
+On the 1st of May I was due to speak at the annual meeting of the
+English Mission in London, and the swift heels of the Mauretania once
+more stood us in good stead; for we reached England the evening before
+May 1, arrived in London at 2 A.M., and I spoke three times that day.
+After a day or so at my old home with my mother we ran about in a Ford
+car for a fortnight, lecturing every evening. The little motor saved
+endless energy otherwise lost in endeavouring to make connections, and
+gave us the opportunity to see numbers of old friends whom we must
+otherwise have missed. One day we would be at a meeting of miners at
+Redmuth in Cornwall, on another at Harrow or Rugby Schools. At the
+latter, an old college friend, who is now head master there, gave us a
+royal welcome. During the last fortnight at home a splendid chance was
+afforded me to visit daily the clinics of an old friend, Sir Robert
+Jones, England's famous orthopedic surgeon. He is one of the most
+wonderful and practical of men, and he opened our eyes to the
+possibility of medical mission work in the very heart of England--for
+if ever there was an apostle of hope for the deformed and paralyzed he
+certainly is the man. His Sunday morning free clinics crowded even the
+street opposite his office door with waiting patients of the poorest
+class. Equally beneficent also is the large and wonderful hospital
+built specially for derelict children on the heather-covered hills
+just above our home in Cheshire. But most unique of all was his
+Basschurch Hospital, constructed mostly of sheet iron, standing in the
+middle of a field in the country forty miles away from Liverpool.
+Every second Sunday, Sir Robert Jones used to motor over there and
+operate "in the field." No expedition have I ever enjoyed better in my
+life than when he was good enough to pick us up on his way, and we saw
+him tackle the motley collection of halt and lame, whom the lady of
+the hospital, herself a marvellous testimony to his skill, collected
+from the neighbouring town slums between his visits. The hospital was
+the nearest thing I know to our little "one-horse shows" scattered
+along the Labrador coast; and there was a homing feeling in one's
+heart all the time at these open-air clinics.
+
+As commander-in-chief of the orthopedic work of the British Army in
+the war, I am certain that Colonel Sir Robert Jones has found the
+experiences of his improvised clinics among the most valuable assets
+he could have had. One day he has promised that he will bring his
+magic wand to Labrador; for he is a sportsman in the best sense of the
+word as well as a healer of limbs.
+
+The quickest way back to St. John's being _via_ Canada, we returned by
+the Allan Line, and lectured in the Maritime Provinces as we passed
+North.
+
+It would appear that one must possess an insatiable love of lecturing.
+As a matter of fact, nothing is farther from the truth. But the
+brevity of life is an insistent fact in our existence, and the
+inability to do good work for lack of help that is so gladly given
+when the reasonableness of the expenditure is presented, makes one
+feel guilty if an evening is spent doing nothing. The lecturing is by
+far the most uncongenial task which I have been called upon to do in
+life, but in a mission like ours, which is not under any special
+church, the funds must be raised to a very great extent by voluntary
+donations, and in order to secure these friends must be kept informed
+of the progress of the work which their gifts are making possible.
+
+For the first seven years of my work I never spent the winters in the
+country--nor was it my intention ever to do so. Besides the general
+direction of the whole, my work as superintendent has meant the
+raising of the necessary funds, and my special charge on the actual
+coast has been the hospital ship Strathcona. Naturally, owing to our
+frozen winter sea this is only possible during open water. Since 1902
+it has been my custom when possible to spend every other winter as
+well as every summer in the North. The actual work and life there is a
+tremendous rest after the nervous and physical tax of a lecture tour.
+At first I used to wonder at the lack of imagination in those who
+would greet me, after some long, wearisome hours on the train or in a
+crowded lecture hall, with "What a lovely holiday you are having!" Now
+this oft-repeated comment only amuses me.
+
+It was just after the first of June when again we found ourselves
+heading North for St. Anthony, only once more to be caught in the jaws
+of winter. For the heavy Arctic ice blockaded the whole of the eastern
+French shore, and we had to be content to be held up in small
+ice-bound harbours as we pushed along through the inner edge of the
+floe, till strong westerly winds cleared the way.
+
+Having reached St. Anthony and looked into matters there, we once
+again ran south to St. John's to inspect the new venture of the
+Institute. To help out expenses we towed for the whole four hundred
+miles a schooner which had been wrecked on the Labrador coast, having
+run on the rocks, and knocked a hole in her bottom. She had a number
+of sacks of "hard bread" on board. These had been thrown into the
+breach and planking nailed on over them. The bread had swelled up
+between the two casings and become so hard again that the vessel
+leaked but little; and though the continual dirge of the pumps was
+somewhat dismal as we journeyed, we had no reason to fear that she
+would go to the bottom.
+
+Flour resists water in a marvellous way. On one occasion our own
+vessel in the North Sea was run into by another. The latter's cutwater
+went through her side and deck almost to the combing of the hatch, and
+the water began to pour in. By immediately putting the vessel on the
+other tack, the rent was largely lifted out of water. A heavy topsail
+was hastily thrown over her side, and eventually hauled under the
+keel--the inrushing water keeping it there. Then sacks of flour were
+rammed into the breach. The ship in this condition, favoured by the
+wind which enabled her to continue on that tack, reached home, two
+hundred miles distant, with her hand-pumps keeping her comparatively
+free, though there was the greatest difficulty to keep her afloat
+directly she was towed into the harbour and lay at the wharf.
+
+On another occasion when a Canadian steamer, loaded with provisions,
+ran into a cliff two hundred feet high in a fog on the northeast end
+of Belle Isle, and became a total wreck, her flour floated all up and
+down the Straits. I remember picking up a sack that had certainly been
+in the water some weeks; and yet only about a quarter of an inch of
+outside layer was even wet.
+
+The opening of the Institute was a great day. Dr. Henry van Dyke had
+come all the way from New York to give an address. Sir William
+Archibald, chairman of the Royal National Mission to Deep-Sea
+Fishermen, had travelled from England to bring a blessing from the
+old home country; and the merchants and friends in St. John's did
+their best to make it a red-letter day. Sir Edward Morris, the Prime
+Minister, and other politicians, the Mayor and civic functionaries
+were all good enough to come and add their quota to the launching of
+the new ship. There were still pessimistic and croaking individuals,
+however, as well as joyful hearts, when a few days later we again ran
+North.
+
+We started almost immediately for our Straits trip after reaching St.
+Anthony. On our way east from Harrington, our most westerly hospital,
+commenced in 1907, a telegram summoning me immediately to St. John's
+dropped upon me like a bolt from the blue. Without a moment's delay we
+headed yet again South, full of anxiety as to what could be the cause
+of this message.
+
+On arrival there we found that trouble had arisen concerning the funds
+of the Institute and a prosecution was to follow. It was the worst
+time of my life. Things were readjusted; the money was refunded,
+punishment meted out--but such damage is not made right by
+reconstruction. It left permanent scars and made the end of an
+otherwise splendid year anxious and sorrowful.
+
+The work on East Labrador was also extended this year. While walking
+down the street in New York with a young doctor friend who had once
+wintered with me, we met a colleague of his at the College of
+Physicians and Surgeons. In the conversation it was suggested that he
+should spend a summer in Labrador, and we would place him in a virgin
+field. As a result Dr. Wiltsie, now in China, came North, started in
+work with a little school, club, and dispensary, at a place called
+Spotted Islands, in a very barren group of islands about a hundred
+miles north of the Straits of Belle Isle. His work became permanent as
+the summer mission of the Y.M.C.A. of the College, which organization
+now carries all its expenses. It has a dwelling-house, school,
+dispensary, small operating room, and accommodation for a couple of
+patients, all under one roof, and owns a fast motor boat called the P.
+and S., which has made itself known as an angel of mercy, every summer
+since, over a hundred miles of coast and islands. It is only a summer
+work, and is mainly among a schooner population; but as a testimonial
+to the value of pluck and unselfishness I know of no better example.
+
+Among other ways to help Labrador we had always tried to induce
+tourists and yachtsmen to come and visit us. Mr. Rainey's Surf, Mr.
+McCready's Enchantress, Dr. Stimson's Fleur de Lys, Mr. Arthur James's
+Aloha, and a few other yachts had come part of the way, but no one had
+yet explored north of Hopedale--the latitude at which the fine
+Northern scenery may be said only to begin. The large power vessels or
+even the best type of yacht are by no means necessary for a visit to
+Labrador. For the innumerable fjords and islands make it much more
+interesting to be in a smaller boat, which allows one to go freely in
+and out of new by-ways, even when the survey is only that of your own
+making. The most sporting visits of that kind have been the honeymoon
+of a Philadelphia friend, who, with his wife, one man, and a canoe,
+went by river to James's Bay, then _via_ Hudson Bay to Richmond Gulf,
+then by portage and river to Ungava Bay, and thence home by way of the
+Hudson Bay Company's steamer; the canoe trips of Mr. Kennedy all along
+the outside eastern coast, and those of Mr. William Cabot on the
+section of the northeastern coast between Hopedale and Nain. In this
+year of 1912 a new little yacht appeared, the Sybil, brought down from
+Boston by her owner, Mr. George Williams. I had promised that if ever
+he would sail down to see us in his own boat, we would escort him up
+a salmon river for a fishing expedition--a luxury which we certainly
+never anticipated would materialize. But on arriving North, there was
+the beautiful little boat; and in it we sailed up into the fine salmon
+stream in the bay close to the hospital. Subsequently Mr. Williams
+came year after year, pushing farther North each time. The Sybil he
+eventually gave to the Mission, and built a large boat, the Jeanette,
+in which I had the pleasure later of exploring with him and roughly
+charting three hitherto unrecorded bays.
+
+One unusual feature of our magisterial work in 1912 was the settlement
+of a fisherman's strike "down North." It would at first seem difficult
+to understand how fishermen could engineer a strike, they are so
+good-natured and so long-suffering. But this time it was over the
+price of fish, naturally a matter of immense importance to the
+catcher. The planters, or men who give advances to come and fish
+around the mouth of Hamilton Inlet, were to ship their fish on a
+steamer coming direct from England and returning direct--thus saving
+delay and very great expense. But the price did not please the men,
+and they knew if they once put the fish on board at $3.50 per quintal,
+the amount offered, they would never recover the $5, which was the
+price for which fish was selling in St. John's that year. The more
+masterful men decided that not only would they not put the fish on
+board till they had cash orders or Revillon agreements for their
+price, but they would not allow any of the weaker brethren to do so
+either. There were but few hard words and no violent deeds, but when
+one blackleg was seen to go alongside the waiting steamer, which was
+costing a hundred dollars a day to the fish-carrying merchant, a crowd
+of boats dashed out from creeks and corners and pounced like a vulture
+on the big boat, fat with a fine load of fish, and not only towed her
+away and tied her up, but hauled her out of the water with the cargo
+and all in her, and dragged her so far up the side of a steep hill
+that the owner was utterly unable without assistance to get her down
+again.
+
+Each day we had a conference with one side or the other, the
+Government having asked us to remain and see things settled. While
+each side was fencing for an advantage, a good-sized schooner sailed
+into the harbour, brought up alongside the steamer, and was seen to
+begin unloading dry fish. A dash was made for her by the boats as
+before; only this time it was the attack of Lilliputians on Gulliver.
+We on the shore could not help laughing heartily when shortly we saw a
+string of over a dozen fishing boats harnessed tandem in one long line
+towing the interloper--as they had the blackleg--away up the inlet
+where they moored and guarded her. It appeared that the buyer had sent
+her to a far-off anchorage, and unknown to the strikers had had fish
+put into her there. The steamer might have followed and got away with
+the ruse. But the skipper underestimated the enemy, always a fatal
+mistake, and lost out.
+
+The agreement made a day or so later was perfectly peaceful, and
+perfectly satisfactory to both sides, for the fish turned out a good
+price, and the buyer did not lose anything on the transaction but the
+demurrage on his steamer and a little kudos, which I must confess he
+took in very good spirit. Even if he did have a grasping side to his
+character, he was fortunate in possessing a sense of humour also.
+
+The fall brought yet another call to go South to St. John's, and once
+more in the little Strathcona we ploughed our way through the long
+miles to the southward. This time it was for the reorganization of the
+Institute government, to form a council and to install the new
+manager from England. This was Mr. Walter Jones, a man whose wide
+experience among naval "Jackies" had been gained in a large institute
+of much the same kind. This gave him the credentials which we needed,
+for he had made it not only a social but an economic success. He has
+been much sought by the various churches in St. John's as a speaker to
+men, and his Sunday evening lantern services and lectures at the
+Institute are a real source of uplift and help to men of every
+religious denomination.
+
+The fall of the year was very busy. Dr. Seymour Armstrong, formerly
+surgical registrar at the Charing Cross Hospital in London, an able
+surgeon, and a man of independent means, joined me for that winter at
+St. Anthony. He had already wintered twice at our Labrador hospitals,
+and was fully expecting to give us much further help, but two years
+later the great war found him at the front, where he gladly laid down
+his life for his country.
+
+One sick call that winter lives in my memory. It was a case where a
+nurse was really more needed than a doctor. The way was long, the wind
+was cold, and the snow happened to be particularly deep. One of the
+nurses, however, volunteered for the journey, and I arranged to carry
+her on a second komatik, while my driver broke the path with our
+impedimenta. Things did not go altogether well. Since I have enjoyed
+the luxury of a driver, or a "carter" as we call them, my cunning in
+wriggling a komatik at full speed down steep mountain-sides through
+trees has somewhat waned. Comparatively early in the day we looped the
+loop--and we were both heavy weights. It was nearly dark when we
+reached the last lap--an enormous bay with a direct run of seven miles
+over sea ice. We should probably have made it all right, but suddenly
+fog drifted in from the Straits of Belle Isle, and steering with a
+small compass and no binnacle, while attending to hauling a heavy
+nurse over hummocky sea ice in the dark, satisfied all my ambition for
+problems. At length the nature of the ice indicated that we were
+approaching either land or the sea edge. We stopped the komatiks, and
+it fell to my lot to go ahead and explore. Finding nothing I called to
+the driver, and his voice returned out of the fog right ahead of me,
+and almost in my ear. I had told them not to move or we might miss our
+way, and I reminded him of that fact. "Haven't budged an inch" came
+the reply from the darkness. I had been describing a large circle. I
+can still hear that nurse laughing.
+
+At last we struck the huge blocks of ice, raised on the boulder rocks
+by the rise and fall of tide in shallow water, and we knew that we
+should make the land. The perversity of nature made us turn the wrong
+way for the village toward which we were aiming, and we found
+ourselves "tangled up" in the Boiling Brooks, a place where some
+underground springs keep holes open through the ice all winter.
+Suddenly, while marching ahead with the compass, seeking to avoid
+these springs, the ground being level enough for the nurse to act as
+her own helmsman, a tremendous "whurr! whurr!" under my feet restored
+sufficient leaping power to my weary legs to leave me head down and
+only my racquets out of the snow--all for a covey of white partridges
+on which I had nearly trodden. At length we made a tiny winter
+cottage. The nurse slept on the bench, the doctor on the floor, the
+driver on a shelf. Our generous host had almost to hang himself on a
+hook. The dogs went hungry. But as we boiled our kettle, all agreed
+that we would not have exchanged the experience for ten rides in a
+Pullman Car.
+
+Largely through the zeal of my colleague, Dr. Arthur Wakefield, of
+Kendal, England, and that of my cousin, Mr. Martyn Spencer, of New
+Zealand, a band of the Legion of Frontiersmen had been brought into
+being all along this section of coast, in spite of the scattered
+nature of the population. The idea was that having to depend so
+largely on the use of their guns, and being excellent shots with a
+bullet, the men would make good snipers and scouts if ever there were
+war. True, most of our people called it "playing soldiers," and no one
+took seriously that we were ever likely to be called upon to fight;
+but all Dr. Wakefield's hopes and fears were realized and our lads
+made both brave soldiers and excellent marksmen.
+
+   [Illustration: On the Way Home
+   DOG TRAVEL]
+
+   [Illustration: Carrying a Sick Dog
+   DOG TRAVEL]
+
+Dr. and Mrs. Wakefield have given several years of both medical and
+industrial work for the people of this coast, both in St. Anthony,
+Forteau, Mud Lake, and Battle Harbour.
+
+Alas, the functions of superintendent involved executive duties, and I
+had once again to run to St. John's, during the following summer, for
+a meeting of the Board of Directors. With true Christian unselfishness
+these men come all the way from Ottawa, New York, and Boston, to help
+with their counsel so relatively unimportant a work as ours. Sir
+Walter Davidson again lent his heartiest cooperation. The people owe
+him, Sir Herbert Murray, Sir Henry MacCallum, Sir William MacGregor,
+Sir Ralph Williams, Sir Alexander Harris, and all the long line of
+their Governors, more than most of them realize. They bring all the
+inspiration of the best type of educated, widely experienced, and
+travelled Englishmen to this Colony. They are specially trained and
+specially selected men, and can give their counsel and leadership
+absolutely untrammelled by any local prejudices.
+
+One excellent outcome of this particular meeting was the
+reorganization on a larger scale of the Girls' Committee for the
+Institute. The success of it has been phenomenal. Together with its
+protective work it has aimed at that most difficult task of creating
+in them sufficient ambition to make the girls receiving very small
+wages want to pay for a better environment. The committee has always
+been strictly interdenominational, with Mrs. W.C. Job and Mrs. W.E.
+Gosling as its presidents. It has made a "show place" of the Girls'
+Department of the Institute, and that department has become
+self-supporting--a most desirable goal for every philanthropy.
+
+The lumber mill and schooner building work were in slings. Our men,
+made far better off by the winter work thus provided, had acquired
+gear so much better for fishing than their former equipment that they
+could not resist engaging in the more remunerative work of the fishery
+in the summer months. For two years previous they had left before the
+drive was complete and the logs out of the woods. Now the local
+manager had also decided to fish during the three summer months--which
+is really the only time available for mill operations also. I was
+fortunate enough on my way North to persuade an expert lumber operator
+from Canada, and an entirely kindred spirit, Mr. Harry Crowe, to come
+down and help me out with the problem. We spent a few delightful days
+together, in which he taught me as many things that every mill man
+should know as he would have had to learn had he been dabbling in
+pills. Like myself, Mr. Crowe is an ardent believer in Confederation
+with Canada for this little country. Before Mr. Crowe's efforts on our
+behalf had materialized, a new friend, Mr. Walter Booth, of New York,
+well known in American football circles as one of the best of
+all-American forwards, came North and carried the mill for a year. The
+one and only fault of his regime was that it was too short. The field
+of work was one for which he was admirably equipped, but home reasons
+made him return after his time expired. He has often told me since,
+however, that he has fits of wishing that he could have put in a life
+with us in the North, rather than spending it in the more civilized
+circles of the New York Bar.
+
+Many invitations to speak, especially at universities in America, and
+through a lecture agency in England to numerous societies and clubs,
+led me to devote the winter of 1913-14 to a lecture tour. My wife
+induced me also to renew my youth by a holiday of a month on the
+Continent.
+
+A lecture tour includes some of the most delightful experiences of
+life, bringing one into direct personal contact with so many people
+whom it is a privilege to know. But it also has its anxieties and
+worries, and eternal vigilance is the price of avoiding a breakdown at
+this the most difficult of all my work. One's memory is taxed far
+beyond its capacity. To forget some things, and some people and some
+kindnesses, are unforgivable sins. A new host every night, a new home,
+a new city, a new audience, alone lead one into lamentable lapses. In
+a car full of people a man asked me one day how I liked Toledo. I
+replied that I had never been there. "Strange," he murmured, "because
+you spent the night at my house!" On another occasion at a crowded
+reception I was talking to a lady on one side and a gentleman on the
+other. I had been introduced to them, but caught neither name. They
+did not address each other, but only spoke to me. I felt that I must
+remedy matters by making them acquainted with each other, and
+therefore mumbled, "Pray let me present to you Mrs. M-m-m." "Oh! no
+need, Doctor," he replied. "We've been married for thirty years."
+Shortly after I noticed at a reception that every one wore his name
+pinned onto his breast, and I wondered if there were any connection.
+
+It is my invariable custom in the North to carry a water-tight box
+with matches and a compass chained to my belt. One night, being tired,
+I had turned into bed in a very large, strange room without noting the
+bearings of the doors or electric switches. My faithful belt had been
+abandoned for pyjama strings. It so happened that to catch a train I
+had to rise before daylight, and all my possessions were in a
+dressing-room. I soon gave up hunting for the electric light. It was
+somewhere in the air, I knew, but beating the air in the dark with the
+windows wide open in winter is no better fun in your nightclothes in
+New York than in Labrador. A tour of inspection discovered no less
+than five doors, none of which I felt entitled to enter in the dark in
+_deshabille_. The humour of the situation is, of course, apparent now,
+but even one's dog hates to be laughed at.
+
+An independent life has somehow left me with an instinctive dislike
+for asking casual acquaintances the way to any place that I am
+seeking. The aversion is more or less justified by the fact that
+outside the police force very exceptional persons can direct you,
+especially if they know the way themselves. On my first visit to New
+York I could see how easy a city it was to navigate, and returned to
+my host's house near Eighth Street in good time to dress for dinner
+after a long side trip near Columbia University and thence to the
+Bellevue Hospital. "How did you find your way?" my friend asked. "Why,
+there was sufficient sky visible to let me see the North Star," I
+answered. I felt almost hurt when he laughed. It is natural for a
+polar bear not to have to inquire the way home.
+
+The aphorism attributed to Dr. John Watson, of "Beside the Bonnie
+Briar Bush," suggests itself. "My fee is one hundred dollars if I go
+to a hotel, two hundred if I am entertained, because in the latter
+event one can only live half so long." I conclude that he made the
+choice of Achilles, for he died on a lecture tour. So far fate has
+been kinder to me.
+
+The greatest danger is the reporter, especially the emotional
+reporter, who has not attended your meeting. I owe such debts to the
+press that this statement seems the blackest of ingratitude. On the
+contrary, I must plead that doctors are privileged. My controversy
+with this class of reporters is their generosity, which puts into
+one's mouth statements that on final analysis may be cold facts, but
+which, remembering that one is lecturing on work among people whom one
+loves and respects, it would never occur to me to slur at a public
+meeting. No one who tries to alter conditions which exist can expect
+to escape making enemies. I have seen reports of what I have said at
+advertised meetings, that were subsequently cancelled. I have followed
+up rumours, and editors have expressed sorrow that they accepted them
+from men who had been too busy to be present. But "qui s'excuse,
+s'accuse"; and my conclusion is that the lecturer is practically
+defenceless.
+
+Since our marriage my wife has generously acted as my secretary,
+having specially learned shorthand and typewriting in order to free me
+from carrying such a burden, and has helped me enormously ever since
+on this line. But lecture tours used to make me despair of keeping
+abreast of correspondence. I sometimes was forced to treat letters as
+Henry Drummond did--who allowed them to answer themselves--if I wished
+free mornings in which to visit the hospitals, just at the time that
+all their professional work was in progress. These clinics are
+invaluable and almost unique experiences. They persuaded me more than
+ever how much depends in surgery as well as in medicine on "the man
+behind the gun"; and that mere mileage is not the real handicap on
+members of our profession whose fields of work lie away from the
+centres of learning. They also imbued me with the profoundest spirit
+of respect for the leaders of the healing art.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+To no one but myself did it seem odd that a plain Englishman should be
+invited to perform the function of best man at the wedding of the
+daughter of the President of the United States of America at the White
+House. The matter was never even noticed either in the press or in
+conversation. The only citizen to whom I suggested the anomaly merely
+said, "Well, why not?"
+
+My long-time fellow worker and one of my best of friends, Francis B.
+Sayre, was to be married on November 25, 1913, to Miss Jessie Wilson.
+Her father, who, when first I had had the honour of his acquaintance,
+happened to be the President of Princeton University, was now the
+President of the United States. So we had all the fun of a White House
+wedding. Not less than fifty of our fishermen friends from Labrador
+and North Newfoundland were invited, and some members of our staff
+were present.
+
+We started the wedding procession upstairs, and came down to the
+fanfare of uniformed trumpeters. Our awkwardness in keeping step,
+though we had rehearsed the whole business several times, only
+relieved the tension that must exist at so important an event in life.
+
+Trying to dodge the reporters added heaps of fun, which I am sure that
+they shared, for they generally got the better of us; though the
+thrill of escape from the White House and Washington, so that the
+honeymoon rendezvous should not be known, was practically a victory
+for the wedding party. As it would never be safe to use the tactics
+again, I am permitted after the lapse of many years to give them away.
+As soon as dark fell, and while the guests were still revelling, the
+bride and groom were hustled into a secret elevator in the thickness
+of the wall, whisked up to the robing chambers, and completely
+disguised. Meanwhile a suitable camouflage of automobiles had arrived
+ostentatiously at the main entrance, to carry and escort the
+illustrious couple in fitting pomp to the great station. From the
+landing the couple were dropped direct to the basement to a
+prearranged oubliette. The password was the sound of the wheels of an
+ordinary cab at the kitchen entrance. The moments of suspense were not
+long. At the sound of the crush on the gravel a silent door was
+opened, two completely muffled figures crept out, and the conspirators
+drove slowly along round a few corners where a swift automobile lay
+panting to add _liberte_ to _egalite_ and _fraternite_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+A MONTH'S HOLIDAY IN ASIA MINOR
+
+
+After the fall spent in America in raising the necessary funds, it was
+the now famous Carmania which carried us to England. In spite of a few
+days' rest at my old home, and the stimulus of a Grenfell clan
+gathering in London, my wife and I were both in need of something
+which could direct our minds from our problems, and Boxing Day found
+us bound for Paris, Turin, Milan, and Rome.
+
+Just before Christmas I had had a meeting at the famous office of the
+Hudson Bay Company in London, and attended another of their
+interesting luncheons where their directors meet. My old friend Lord
+Strathcona presided. I could not help noting that after all the lapse
+of years since we first met at Hudson Bay House in Montreal, he still
+retained his abstemious habits. He was ninety-three, and still at his
+post as High Commissioner for a great people, as well as leading
+councillor of a dozen companies. His memory of Labrador and his days
+there, and his love for it, had not abated one whit. Hearing that the
+hospital steamer Strathcona needed a new boiler and considerable
+repairs, he ordered me to have the work undertaken at once and the
+bill sent to him. He, moreover, insisted that we should spend some
+days with him at his beautiful country house near London, an
+invitation which we accepted for our return, but which we were never
+fated to realize, for before the appointed date that able man had
+crossed the last bar.
+
+It is said to be better to be lucky than rich. We had expected in Rome
+to do only what the Romans of our pocket-book do. But we fell in with
+some old acquaintances whose pleasure it is to give pleasure, and New
+Year's night was made memorable by a concert given by the choir of the
+Sistine Chapel, to which we were taken by the editor of the
+"Churchman" and later of the "Constructive Quarterly," an old friend
+of ours, Dr. Silas McBee. A glimpse into the British Embassy gave us
+an insight into the problem of Roman modern politics and the factions
+of the Black and White.
+
+Rome is always delightful. One is glad to forget the future and live
+for the time in the past. Sitting in the Coliseum in the moonlight I
+could see the gladiators fighting to amuse the civilized man of that
+period, and gentle women and innocent men dying horrible deaths for
+truths that have made us what we are, but which we now sometimes
+regard so lightly.
+
+I confess that religious buildings, religious pictures, religious
+conventions of all kinds very soon pall on my particular temperament.
+It is possibly a defect in my development, like my inability to
+appreciate classical music. On the other hand, like Mark Twain, I
+enjoy an ancient mummy just because he is ancient; and were it not for
+the irritation of seeing so much religious display associated with
+such miserable social conditions in so beautiful a country, I should
+have more sympathy with those who would "see Rome and die." The
+sanitation of the one-time Mistress of the world suggests that it
+could not be difficult to accomplish that feat in the hot weather.
+
+Brindisi is a household word in almost every English home, especially
+one like ours with literally dozens of Anglo-Indian relatives. I was
+therefore glad to pass _via_ Brindisi on the road to Athens. Patras
+also had its interest to me as a distributing centre for our Labrador
+fish. We actually saw three forlorn-looking schooners, with cargoes
+from Newfoundland, lying in the harbour.
+
+One poignant impression left on my mind by Greece, as well as Rome,
+was its diminutive size. I almost resented the fact that a place
+civilized thousands of years ago, and which had loomed up on my
+imagination as the land of Socrates, of Plato, of Homer, of Achilles,
+of Spartan warriors, and immortal poets, all seemed so small. The
+sense of imposition on my youth worried me.
+
+In Athens one saw so many interesting relics within a few hundred
+yards that it left one with the feeling of having eaten a meal too
+fast. The scene of the battle of Salamis fascinated me. When we sat in
+Xerxes' seat and conjured up the whole picture again, and saw the
+meaning to the world of the great deed for which men so gladly gave
+their lives to defeat a tyrant seeking for world power, it made me
+love those old Greeks, not merely admire their art.
+
+On Mars Hill we stood on the spot where, to me, perhaps the greatest
+man in history, save one, pleaded with men to accept love as the only
+durable source of greatness and power. But every monument, every
+bas-relief, every tombstone showed that the fighting man was their
+ideal.
+
+The idea of sailing from the Piraeus reconciled us to the very mediocre
+vessel which carried us to Smyrna. Our visit to Asia Minor we had
+inadvertently timed to the opening of the International College at
+Paradise near Smyrna. This college is the gift of Mrs. John Kennedy of
+New York. Mr. Ralph Harlow, our host and a professor at the college,
+with Mr. Cass Reid and other friends, made it possible for us to enjoy
+intelligently our brief visit. It was just a dream of pleasure. Time
+forbids my describing the marvellous work of that and other colleges.
+Men of ambition, utterly irrespective of race, colour, creed, or sect,
+sit side by side as the alumni. The humanity, not the other-worldliness,
+of the leaders has made even the Turks, steeped in the blood of their
+innocent Christian subjects, recognize the untold value of these
+Christian universities, and kept them, their professors, and buildings,
+safe during the war.
+
+Dr. Bliss, of Beyrout, once told us a humorous story about himself. He
+had just been addressing a large audience in New York, when
+immediately after his speech the chairman rose and announced, "We will
+now sing the one hundred and fiftieth hymn, 'From the best bliss that
+earth imparts, we turn unfilled to Thee again.'"
+
+The preservation of Ephesus was a surprise to us, though of late the
+Turks have been carrying off its precious historic marble to burn for
+lime for their fields. One large marble font in an old Byzantine
+baptistry was broken up for that purpose while we were there. We stood
+on the very rostrum in the theatre where St. Paul and the coppersmith
+had trouble--while at the time of our visit, the only living
+inhabitant of that once great city was a hungry ass which we saw
+harboured in a dressing-room beneath the platform.
+
+The anachronism of buzzing along a Roman road, which had not been
+repaired since the days of the Caesars, on our way to Pergamos, in the
+only Ford car in the country, was punctuated by having to get out and
+shove whenever we came to a cross-drain. These always went over
+instead of under the road--only on an exaggerated Baltimorian plan.
+One night at Soma, which is the end of the branch railroad in the
+direction of Pergamos, we were in the best hotel, which, however, was
+only half of it for humans. A detachment of Turkish soldiers were
+billeted below in the quarters for the other animals. Snow was on the
+ground, and it was bitterly cold. The poor soldiers slept literally on
+the stone floor. We were cold, and we felt so sorry for them, that
+after we had enjoyed a hot breakfast, in a fit of generosity we sent
+them a couple of baskets of Turkish specialties. Later in the day we
+noticed that wherever we went a Turkish soldier with a rifle followed
+us. So we turned off into a side street and walked out into the
+country. Sure enough the soldier came along behind. As guide to speak
+the many languages for us, we had a Greek graduate of International
+College, a very delightful young fellow, very proud of a newly
+acquired American citizenship. At last we stopped and bribed that
+soldier to tell us what the trouble was. "Our officer thought that you
+must be spies because you sent gifts to Turkish soldiers."
+
+At Pergamos, a Greek Christian--very well off--invited us to be his
+guests on Greek Christmas Eve. It was the occasion of a large family
+gathering. There were fine young men and handsome, dark-eyed girls,
+and all the accessories of a delightful Christian home. When the outer
+gates had been locked, and the inner doors bolted and blinds drawn
+down, and all possible loopholes examined for spies, the usual
+festivities were observed. These families of the conquered race have
+lived in bondage some four hundred years, but their patriotism has no
+more dimmed than that of ancient Israel under her oppressors. Before
+we left they danced for us the famous Souliet Dance--memorial to the
+brave Greek girls who, driven to their last stand on a rocky hilltop,
+jumped one by one over the precipice as the dance came round to each
+one, rather than submit to shame and slavery. From our friends at
+Smyrna we learned subsequently that when, a few months later, and just
+before the war, the German general visited the country, making
+overtures to the Turks, the blow fell on this family like many others,
+and they suffered the agony of deportation.
+
+At Constantinople the kindness of Mr. Morgenthau, the American
+Ambassador, and the optimism bred by Robert College and the Girls'
+School, left delightful memories of even the few days in winter that
+we spent there. The museum alone is worth the long journey to it, and
+when a teacher from the splendid Girls' School, herself a specialist
+on the Hittites, was good enough to show it to us, it was like a leap
+back into the long history of man. It seemed but a step to the
+Neanderthal skull and our Troglodyte forbears.
+
+Owing to shortage of time we returned to England through Bulgaria,
+passing through Serbia, and stopping for a day at Budapest and two at
+Vienna. We would have been glad to linger longer, for every hour was
+delightful.
+
+The month's holiday did me lots of good and sent me back to England a
+new man to begin lecturing again in the interests of the distant
+Labrador; and with the feeling that, after all, our coast was a very
+good place for one's life-work.
+
+We helped to lessen the tedium of the lectures by doing most of the
+travelling in an automobile of my brother's, in which we lived, moved,
+and had our meals by the roadside. The lectures took us everywhere
+from the drawing-room of a border castle on the line of the old Roman
+Wall--which Puck of Pook's Hill had made as fascinating for us as he
+did for the children--to the Embassy in Paris.
+
+Once more the Mauretania carried us to America. April was spent partly
+in lecturing and partly in attending surgical clinics--a very valuable
+experience being a week's work with Dr. W.R. MacAusland, of Boston, at
+his orthopedic clinics in and around that city. He and his brother
+"Andy" had passed a summer with us in Labrador. May found us in Canada
+visiting our helpers, and stimulating various branches by lectures.
+While loading the George B. Cluett in early June in St. John's,
+Newfoundland, we organized an education committee to work with the
+Institute Committee, to give regular educational lectures throughout
+the winter. Dr. Lloyd, our present Prime Minister, and Sir Patrick
+McGrath, always a stanch friend of the Mission, helped materially in
+this new activity.
+
+The Institute at the time was housing some of the crew of the
+Greenland, who had come through the terrible experiences at the seal
+fishery in the spring of 1914. Caught on the ice in a fearful
+blizzard, almost all had perished miserably. Some few had survived to
+lose limbs and functions from frostburns. The occasion gave the
+Institute one of the many opportunities for a service rather more
+dramatic than the routine, which did much to win it popularity.
+
+Midsummer's Day and the two following days we were stuck in a heavy
+ice-jam one hundred miles south of St. Anthony. My wife and boys had
+arrived in St. Anthony before me, and to find them in our own house,
+and the hospital full of opportunity for the line of help which I
+especially enjoy, afforded all that heart could wish.
+
+Early in July the Duke of Connaught, the Governor-General of Canada,
+paid us a long-promised visit. It was highly appreciated by all our
+people, who would possibly have paid him more undivided attention had
+he not been kind enough to send his band ashore--the first St. Anthony
+had ever heard. The resplendent uniforms of the members totally
+eclipsed that of the Duke, who was in "mufti"; but he readily
+understood that the division of attention was really not attributable
+to us. He proved to be a thorough good sport and a most democratic
+prince.
+
+The war having broken out in August, we had only one idea--economy on
+every side, that we might all be able to do what we could. We had not
+then begun to realize the seriousness of it sufficiently to dream that
+we should be welcome ourselves. We closed up all activities not
+entirely necessary, and even the hospital ship went into winter
+quarters so early that my fall trip was made from harbour to harbour
+in the people's own boats or by mail steamer or schooner, as
+opportunity offered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE WAR
+
+
+In the fall of 1915, I was urged by the Harvard Surgical Unit to make
+one of their number for their proposed term of service that winter at
+a base hospital in France. Having discussed the matter with my
+directors, we decided that it was justifiable to postpone the lecture
+tour which had been arranged for me, in view of this new need.
+
+We sailed for England on the Dutch liner New Amsterdam and landed at
+Falmouth, passing through a cordon of mine-sweepers and small patrols
+as we neared the English shores. My wife's offer to work in France not
+being accepted, since I held the rank of Major, we ran down to my old
+home, where she decided to spend most of her time. My uniform and kit
+were ready in a few days; and in spite of the multitudinous calls on
+the War Office officials, I can say in defence of red tape that my
+papers were made out very quickly. I was thus able to leave promptly
+for Boulogne, near which I joined the other members of my Unit, who
+had preceded me by a fortnight.
+
+It was Christmas and the snow was on the ground when I arrived in
+France. There was much talk of trench feet and the cold. Our life in
+the North had afforded experiences more like those at the front than
+most people's. We are forced to try and obtain warmth and mobility
+combined with economy, especially in food and clothing. At the request
+of the editor, I therefore sent to the "British Medical Journal" a
+summary of deductions from our Northern experiences. Clothes only keep
+heat in and damp out. Thickness, not even fur, will warm a statue, and
+our ideal has been to obtain light, wind-and water-proof material,
+and a pattern that prevents leakage of the body's heat from the neck,
+wrists, waist, knees, and ankles. Our skin boots, by being soft,
+water-tight, and roomy, remove the causes of trench feet. Later when I
+returned to England I was invited to the War Office to talk over the
+matter. The defects, either in wet and cold or in hot weather, of
+woolen khaki cloth are obvious, and when subsequently I visited the
+naval authorities in Washington about the same subject, I was
+delighted to be assured that on all small naval craft our patterns
+were being exclusively used. Who introduced them did not matter.
+
+I had also advocated a removable insert of sheet steel in a pocket on
+the breast of the tunic, this plate to be kept in the trenches and
+inserted on advancing; and a lobster-tail steel knee-piece in the
+knickers. Of this latter Sir Robert Jones, the British orthopedic
+chief, appreciated the value, knowing how many splendid men are put
+_hors de combat_ by tiny pieces of shell splinters infecting that
+joint. But the "Journal" censored all these references to armour. A
+wounded Frenchman at Berck presented me with a helmet heavily dented
+by shrapnel, and told me that he owed his life to it. Later at General
+Headquarters, General Sir Arthur Sloggett showed me a collection of a
+dozen experimental helmets, each of which stood for a saved life.
+
+One of the soldiers who came under my care had a bullet wound through
+the palm of his hand. I happened to ask him where his hand had been
+when hit. He said, "On my hip. We were mending a break in our barbed
+wire at night, and a fixed rifle got me, exactly where it got my chum
+just afterwards, but it went through him."
+
+"Where did your bullet go?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered.
+
+An examination of his trousers showed the bullet in his pocket. It
+was embedded in three pennies and two francs which he happened to be
+carrying there, and which his wounded hand had prevented his feeling
+for afterwards.
+
+Pathos and humour, like genius and madness, are close akin. One of the
+boys told me of a chum who was very "churchy," and always carried an
+Episcopal Prayer Book in his pocket--for which he was not a little
+chaffed. For a joke one day he was presented with a second that a
+messmate had received, but for which he had no use. His scruples about
+"wasting it" made him put it in his pocket with the other. Soon after
+this, in an advance, he was shot in the chest. The bullet passed right
+through the first Prayer Book and lodged in the second, where it was
+found on his arrival at hospital for another slight wound. He at least
+will long continue to swear by the Book of Common Prayer.
+
+One day, walking with other officers in the country, we stumbled
+across a tiny isolated farm. As usual the voice of the inevitable
+Tommy could be heard from within. They were tending cavalry horses,
+which filled every available nook and corner behind the lines at a
+period when cavalry was considered useless in action. Having learned
+that one of these men had been body servant to a cousin of mine, who
+was a V.C. at the time that he was killed, I asked him for the details
+of his death. The Germans had broken through on the left of his
+command, and it was instantly imperative to hold the morale while help
+from the right was summoned. Jumping on the parapet, my cousin had
+stood there encouraging the line amid volleys of bullets. At the same
+time he ordered his servant to carry word to the right at once.
+Suddenly a bullet passed through his body and he fell into the trench.
+Protesting that he was all right, he declared that he could hold out
+till the man should come back. On his return he found that my cousin
+was dead. But help came, the line held, and the German attack was a
+costly failure. His servant had collected and turned in all the little
+personal possessions of any value which he had found on the body.
+
+"I think that you should have got a Military Cross," I said.
+
+"I did get an M.C.," he answered.
+
+"I congratulate you," I replied.
+
+"It was a confinement to barracks. A bullet had smashed to pieces a
+little wrist watch which the captain always carried. It was quite
+valueless, and I had kept the remnants as a memento of a man whom
+every one loved. But a comrade got back at me by reporting it to
+headquarters, and they had to punish me, they said."
+
+It is true, "strafing" was at a low ebb at the time that I arrived in
+France; but even I was not a bit prepared for the amount of leisure
+time that our duties allowed us. There were in France hundreds of sick
+and wounded for every one in the lonely North; but in Labrador you are
+always on the go, being often the only available doctor. Our Unit had
+at the time only some five hundred beds and a very strong staff, both
+of doctors and nurses. In spite of lending one of our colonels and
+several of our staff to other hospitals, we still had not enough beds
+to keep us fully occupied. It gave me ample time to help out
+occasionally in Y.M.C.A. activities, and to do some visiting among the
+poor French families and refugees in Boulogne, close to which city our
+hospital was located. I could also visit other Units, and give lantern
+shows, which had, I thought, special value when psychic treatment was
+badly needed. Shell-shock was but very imperfectly understood at the
+beginning of the war. The football matches and athletic sports did not
+need the asset of being an antidote to shell-shock to attract my
+patronage. Never in my life had I realized quite so keenly what a
+saving trait the sporting instinct is in the Anglo-Saxon--a strain of
+it in the Teuton might have even averted this war.
+
+My stay in France enabled me to enjoy that which life on the Labrador
+largely denies one--the contact with many educated minds. It was the
+custom, if an officer needed a lift along the road, to hail any
+passing motor. While walking one day, I took advantage of this
+privilege, and found myself driving with Sir Bertrand Dawson, the
+King's physician, with whom I thus renewed a most valued
+acquaintanceship. On another occasion our host or guest might be Sir
+Almroth Wright, the famous pathologist, or Sir Robert Jones would pay
+us a visit, or Sir Frederick Treves. In fact, we had chances to meet
+many of the great leaders of our profession. Sir Arthur Lawley, the
+head of our Red Cross in France, gave me some delightful evenings.
+Unquestionably there is an intense pleasure in hearing and seeing
+personally the men who are doing things.
+
+Food grew perceptibly scarcer in Boulogne even during my stay. The
+_petits gateaux_ got smaller, the hours during which officers might
+enter restaurants for afternoon tea became painfully shorter. But they
+were not a whit less enjoyable, reminding one as they did of the dear
+old days, long before the war was thought of, and before the war of
+life had taken me to Labrador. If one had hoped that a life in the
+wilds had succeeded in eradicating natural desires, those relapses in
+the midst of war-time completely destroyed any such delusion. Every
+day was full of excitement. Bombs fell on the city only twice while I
+was there, and, moreover, we were bitterly disappointed that we did
+not know it till we read the news in the morning paper. But every day
+flying machines of all sorts sailed overhead. My interest never
+failed to respond to the buzzing of some hurrying airship, or the
+sight of a seaplane dropping out of heaven into the water and swimming
+calmly ashore, waddling up the beach into its pen exactly like a great
+duck.
+
+One day it was the excitement of watching trawlers from the cliffs
+firing-up mines; another, hunting along the beach among the silent
+evidences of some tragedy at sea, or riding convalescent horses that
+needed exercise, flying along the sands to see some special sight,
+such as the carcass of a leviathan wrecked by butting into
+mine-fields.
+
+Close to us was a large Canadian Unit. They were changing their
+location, and for three months had been in the sorry company of those
+who have no work to do. The matron, however, told me that she found
+plenty to occupy her time--in such a beehive of officers, with
+seventy-five nurses to look after.
+
+When at the close of the period for which I had volunteered I had to
+decide whether to sign on again, my whole inclination was to stay just
+another term; but as my commandant, Colonel David Cheever, informed me
+that he and a number of the busier men felt that duty called them
+home, and that there were plenty of volunteers to take our places, my
+judgment convinced me that I was more needed in Labrador.
+
+I shall not say much of the Y.M.C.A. They need no encomium of mine,
+but I am prepared to stand by them to the last ditch. They were doing,
+not talking, and were wise enough to use even those agents whom they
+knew to be imperfect, as God Himself does when He uses us. The folly
+of judging for all cases by one standard is common and human, but it
+is not God's way. This conviction was brought home to me in a very odd
+manner. I had gone to lecture at an English Y.M.C.A. hut at the
+invitation of the efficient director, who knew me only for a "medical
+missionary." On my arrival he most hospitably took me to the cupboard
+which he called "his rooms." It was a raw, cold night, and among other
+efforts to show his gratitude for my help, to my amazement he offered
+me "a drop of Scotch." Astonishment so outran good-breeding that I
+unwittingly let him perceive it. "I am not a regular 'Y' man, Major,"
+he explained. "I'm an Australian, and was living on my little pile
+when the war began. They turned me down each place I volunteered on
+account of my age. But I was crazy to do my bit, and I offered to work
+with the Y.M.C.A. as a stopgap. The War Office has commandeered so
+many of their men that they had to take me to 'carry on.' I'm afraid
+I'm a poor apology, but I'm doing my best."
+
+The freedom from convention lent another peculiar charm to the life in
+France. The mess sergeant of a headquarters where I was dining one
+night, close behind the lines, presented the colonel with a
+beautifully illustrated monograph on a certain unmentionable and
+unwelcome member of war camps and trench life. The beautiful work and
+the evidences of scientific training led me to ask who the mess
+sergeant might have been in civil life. "Professor of Biology at the
+University of ----," was the reply.
+
+The most inspiring fact about the Channel ports at that time was the
+regularity with which steamers arrived, crowded with soldiers, and
+returned with wounded. We could see England on clear days from our
+quarters, and could follow the boats almost across. The number of
+trawlers at work all the year round, even in heavy gales that almost
+blew us off the cliffs, was enough to tell how vigilant a watch was
+being kept all the while. One morning only we woke to find a large
+stray steamer, that had entered the roads overnight, sunk across the
+harbour mouth, her decks awash at low water--torpedoed, we supposed.
+Another day a small patrol, literally cut in half by a mine, was towed
+in. But though both in the air and under the sea all the ingenuity of
+the enemy from as near by as Ostend was unceasingly directed against
+that living stream, not one single disaster happened the whole winter
+that I was out. Our mine-fields were constantly being changed. The
+different courses the traffic took from day to day suggested that. But
+who did it, and when, no one ever knew. The noise of occasional
+bomb-firing, once a mine rolling up on the shore, exploding and
+throwing some incredibly big fragments onto the golf links, the
+incessant tramp of endless soldiers in the street, the ever-present
+but silent motors hurrying to and fro, and the nightly arrival of
+convoys of wounded, were all that reminded us that any war was in
+progress. Had it been permitted, the beach would have been crowded as
+usual with invalids, nursemaids, and perambulators.
+
+The second marvel was that in spite of the enormous numbers of people
+coming and going, no secrets leaked out. We gave up looking for news
+almost as completely as in winter in Labrador. We seemed to be shut
+off entirely in an eddy of the stream, as we are in our Northern
+wastes.
+
+The spirit of humour in the wounded Briton was as invaluable as the
+love of sport when he is well. On one occasion a small party were
+going to relieve a section of the line. The Boches had the range of a
+piece of the road over which they had to pass, and the men made dashes
+singly or in small numbers across it. A lad, a well-known athlete, was
+caught by a shell and blown over a hedge into a field. When they
+reached him, his leg was gone and one arm badly smashed. He was
+sitting up smoking a cigarette, and all he said was, "Well, I fancy
+that's the end of my football days." One very undeveloped man, who had
+somehow leaked into Kitchener's Army, told me, "Well, you see, Major,
+I was a bit too weak for a labouring man, so I joined the army. I
+thought it might do my 'ealth good!" One of the English papers
+reported that when a small Gospel was sent by post to a prisoner in
+Germany the Teuton official stamped every page, "Passed by the
+Censor."
+
+The practice of listening to the yarns of the wounded was much
+discouraged, chiefly for one's own sake, for their knowledge was less
+accurate than our own, while shell-shock led them to imagine more. The
+censor had always good yarns to tell. The men showed generally much
+good-humour and a universal light-heartedness. Our wounded hardly ever
+"groused." They hid their troubles and cheered their families, seldom
+or never by pious sentiments. One man writing from a regimental camp
+close to Boulogne, after a painfully uneventful Channel crossing,
+announced, "Here we are in the enemies' country right under the
+muzzles of the guns. We got over quite safely, though three submarines
+chased us and shelled us all the way. Food here is very short. I
+haven't looked at a bun for weeks. A bit more of that cake of yours
+would do nicely, not to talk o' smokes. Your loving husband." Another
+letter was quoted in the "Daily Mail." It ran: "Dear Mother--This
+comes hoping that it may find you as it leaves me at present. I have a
+broken leg, and a bullet in my left lung. Your affectionate son."
+
+Yet the men were far from fatalists, and the psychic stimulus of being
+able to tell your patient that he was ordered to "Blighty" was
+demonstrable on his history chart. One poor fellow whose right arm was
+infected with gas bacillus was so anxious to save it that we left it
+on too long and general blood poisoning set in. He was on the dying
+list. The Government under these circumstances would pay the expenses
+of a wife or mother to come over and say the last good-bye. After the
+message went, it seemed that our friend could not last till their
+arrival, and the colonel decided as a last chance to try intra-venous
+injections of Eusol, the powerful antiseptic in use at that time in
+all the hospitals. On entering the ward the next morning the nurse
+told me with a smiling face, "B. is ever so much better. I think that
+he will pull through all right." "Then the Eusol injection has done
+good, I suppose?" "His wife and mother came last night and sat up with
+him"--and I saw a twinkle in the corner of her eye. Eusol injections
+are now considered inert.
+
+With so many patients who only remained so short a time, there was an
+inevitable tendency to relapse into treating men as "cases," not as
+brothers. To get through their exterior needed tact and experience.
+But if love is a force stronger than bayonets and guns, it certainly
+has its place in modern--and all time--surgery. I have a shrewd
+suspicion that it is better worth exhibiting than quite a number of
+the drugs still on the world's pharmacopoeias. Many of the nurses kept
+visitors' books, and in these their patients were asked to write their
+names or anything they liked. The little fact made them feel more at
+home, as if some person really cared for them. One could not help
+noticing how many of them broke out into verse, though most of them
+were labouring men at home. Although some was not original, it showed
+that they liked poetry. Some was extempore, as the following:
+
+    "Good-bye, dear mother, sister, brother,
+    Drive away those bitter tears.
+    For England's in no danger
+    While there are bomb throwers in the Tenth Royal Fusiliers."
+
+The following effusion I think was doubtless evolved gradually. It
+runs:
+
+    "There's a little dug-out in a trench,
+    Which the rainstorms continually drench.
+    With the sky overhead, and a stone for a bed,
+    And another that acts for a bench.
+
+    "It's hard bread and cold bully we chew;
+    It is months since we've tasted a stew;
+    And the Jack Johnsons flare through the cold wintry air,
+    O'er my little wet home in the trench.
+
+    "So hurrah for the mud and the clay,
+    Which leads to 'der Tag,' that's the day
+    When we enter Berlin, that city of sin,
+    And make the fat Berliners pay."
+
+I have never been in any sense what is generally understood by the
+term "faith healer," but I am certain that you can make a new man out
+of an old one, can save a man who is losing ground, and turn the
+balance and help him to win out through psychic agencies when all our
+chemical stimulants are only doing harm. That seemed especially true
+in those put _hors de combat_ by the almost superhuman horrors of this
+war. It seemed to me to pay especially to get the confidence of one's
+patients. Thus one man would be drawn out by the gift of a few
+flowers, a little fruit, cigarettes, as so many of the kindly visitors
+discovered. One man with shrapnel splinters in his abdomen expressed a
+craving for Worcester sauce. It appeared to him so unobtainable in a
+hospital in France. From the point of view of his recovery I am
+convinced that the bottle which we procured in Boulogne was a good
+investment.
+
+We eagerly awaited the illustrated papers each week for the same
+reason. But personal interest shown in themselves, by the time spared
+for chatting, was far the most appreciated. We had been very rightly
+warned against listening to the wounded men. It was with them in the
+base hospitals that the story of the angels of Mons originated. I
+never met any one personally who saw anything nearer the supernatural
+than that marvellous fight itself--the pluck and endurance of our
+"contemptible little army." But some claimed to have seen a spirit but
+visible army, such as Elijah at Dothan showed to his servant, or
+Castor and Pollux at Lake Regillus, fighting in front of our lines. A
+Canadian in command of the C.A.M.C. contingent, who treated thousands
+of the wounded as they came back from the front, told me that early in
+the day he heard the rumour, and ordered his men to ask as many as
+possible if they had seen any such phenomenon. Not one claimed to have
+done so. Yet a few days later from the base he heard a great many of
+these same men had declared that they had seen the "angels." He
+considered that the whole matter arose originally through some
+hysterical woman, and then was augmented by the suggestion of the
+question which he himself had put to them, made to men shell-shocked
+and in abnormal mental conditions.
+
+Among other deductions from voluminous notes I judged that the Saxons
+really did not want to fight, the impression coming from so many
+different sources. Some said that they let us know, shouting across
+"No Man's Land," that they did not wish to fight, that they were
+Christians, had wives and children of their own, that they did not
+want to kill any one, and would fire in the air when forced to fire,
+were keen to renew the Christmas "pour-parlers." Our men claimed that
+it was comparative peace when the Saxons were in the trenches
+opposite, and they made friendly overtures as often as they dared.
+They were capable of attributing honour to others, and those who came
+over into our lines asserted that hundreds were anxious to do so, only
+they were so watched from behind. Moreover, the outrages committed by
+the Prussians under flags of truce had made it impossible for our men
+to allow any one to approach. To sit opposite a Saxon regiment for a
+month and not exchange shots appeared to be not uncommon. One man told
+me that they poked up a notice on their bayonets saying, "We are not
+going to fight"; and another said that once when "strafing" somehow
+commenced, they shouted from the opposite trenches: "Save your
+bullets. You'll need them to-night when the Prussian Guard relieves
+us"--which proved perfectly true. One day an elderly man crawled out
+of their trench, came to our barbed wire, and called out for bread. We
+threw him a loaf. He wrapped up something in his cap and threw it
+over. We tossed it back with more bread, but when he went back he left
+the watch behind.
+
+After an especially brutal piece of treachery, our men were too
+maddened to give quarter, and one said, "A Saxon might have had a
+chance with us even then, but a Prussian would have had about as
+little as a beetle at a woodpecker's prayer meeting!" The Saxons, on
+the other hand, displayed the individual courage of the Anglo-Saxon
+that helped to lessen our losses by enabling us to attack in open
+formation. Every animal will fight when forced to do so. The cowardly
+wolf will attack only in packs; and one of the main reasons for the
+wholesale holocausts of mass attacks seems to have been that same lack
+of real courage in the boastful and militarist element. He dare not
+advance alone.
+
+A colonel in command at the first battle of the Aisne described to me
+an incident that I at least did not hear elsewhere. He said that the
+Germans opposite him came on sixteen abreast, arm in arm, rifles at
+the trail or held anyhow. They were singing wildly, and literally
+jumping up and down, as if dancing. Fire was reserved till they came
+within a few hundred yards, when machine guns started to mow them
+down. Hay-pooks, or rather man-pooks, were immediately formed, and the
+advancing column, instead of coming straight on, went round and round
+the ever-increasing stacks. He believed that they had been filled with
+too much dope or too much doctored grog of some kind.
+
+It was my great desire before returning from France to see the
+conditions at the front. I was told that members of American Units
+were discouraged from visiting the trenches. Dr. Carrel had twice most
+kindly invited me to Compiegne to see his new work on wounds, but
+permission to accept had been denied me. Being a British subject and
+wearing a British decoration on an American uniform only seemed to
+worry the authorities. I had almost abandoned hope, when one day an
+automobile stopped at our headquarters, just at the close of my term
+of service, and a colonel, a distinguished scientist, jumped out. He
+told me if I could get to Medical Headquarters, then at St. Omer, he
+could arrange for me to visit each of the four armies I wished to see.
+I had no permission to leave the base, though my term of service
+expired the next day. I had no passes, and our British commandant
+would not on his own responsibility either give me leave or lend me
+the necessary outfit. He would only agree to look the other way if I
+went.
+
+Passing the sentries was not difficult, but once arrived in St. Omer,
+it was essential to have permission from Headquarters before one could
+enter any house or hotel. I was accordingly dumped in the dark streets
+of a strange town and told to be at that exact spot again in two
+hours, waiting my sponsor's return. Nor did he say where he was going,
+in case we failed to meet, for no one was allowed to mention the
+whereabouts of the G.H.Q. After two hours were over, I was at the
+appointed spot with that pleasurable sense of excitement that seldom
+comes after one has settled down in life. I could then understand
+better how a spy must feel. The town naturally was unlit for fear of
+aircraft, and yet there was a queer feeling that every one was looking
+at you as you walked up and down in the dark. My colonel friend was at
+the rendezvous with all the precision of a soldier, not only with the
+necessary papers and arrangements for the tour of inspection, but also
+a genial invitation to dine at Headquarters. General Sir Arthur
+Sloggett and his exceedingly able staff opened my eyes very
+considerably before the evening was out as to the methods of the
+R.A.M.C. in war-time. It was such a revelation to me that I felt it
+would be an infinite comfort to those with loved ones in the trenches
+to realize how marvellously efficient the provision for the care of
+the soldier's health had become. The main impression on my mind was
+the extraordinary developments since the days of the Lady of the Lamp.
+Formerly, so long as he was fit to fight, the soldier was always
+looked after. Now the soldier unfit to fight had exactly the same
+rights, just as after the war let us trust that the broken soldier
+will be "seen through" back into civil life. I was honestly surprised
+that he no longer depended on voluntary gifts to a charitable society
+for a bandage when he lay wounded or for a nurse if sickness overtook
+him. The marvellous system of the medical intelligence department,
+even the separate medical secret service, worked so efficiently that
+in spite of the awful conditions the health of the men in the line was
+twice as good as that when at home in civil life. Even disease
+approaching from the enemy's side was "spied," and as far as possible
+forestalled. All sanitary arrangements, all water supplies, and all
+public health matters from the North Sea to the Swiss border were
+handled by regular army officers. For the first time in history the
+medicals were considered so intimate a part of the fighting force that
+doctors held the same rank as executive officers. I was a major--no
+longer a surgeon major or just a sanitary official. Those in command
+were even trusted in advance with information as to what would likely
+be required of them on any part of the front by some manoeuvre or
+attack, though I do not think that even the general of the R.A.M.C.
+was admitted to the council of war.
+
+The chart-room of the G.H.Q. was another revelation. The walls from
+ceiling to floor were occupied with the usual large-scale maps, with
+flags on pins; while long, weird, crooked lines of all colours made
+elaborate tracings over the charts, like those used in hospitals.
+These flags and lines indicated the surgical and medical front, where
+battles with typhoid, trench feet, and wounds were being waged by the
+immense army of workers under General Sloggett's direction.
+Laboratories in motor cars, special surgeons and ambulances were
+racing here and there, new hospitals for emergencies were being pushed
+in different directions, so that though within range of the enemies'
+guns, men wounded in the chest or abdomen could be treated in time to
+give them a chance for their lives. Typhoid recurring in any section
+of the line might mean the reprimand of the medical officer there;
+trench feet became a misdemeanour, so excellent were the precautions
+devised and carried out by the N.C.O.'s.
+
+I ventured at table to say quite truthfully that I, a surgeon from a
+base hospital, where we saw endless Red Cross motor ambulances, and
+received so many kindnesses in supplies, and especially luxuries for
+our wounded from the Red Cross officials, had been under the
+impression that the R.A.M.C. was a sort of small tail to a very large
+Red Cross kite, owing to our little army and general unpreparedness
+when the war broke out. I could see that to my surprised hosts I
+appeared to be mentally deficient, but I was able to assure them that
+there were tens of thousands who knew even less than that, and thought
+that the chances still were that if their loved ones were hurt, they
+might be left to die because some one had not given their annual
+contribution to a society. It seemed a very serious omission that the
+public had not the information that would carry so much consolation
+with it. The British Red Cross has every one's love and support, but
+its function in war, as one officer said, must increasingly become, in
+relation to the R.A.M.C., that of a Sunday-school treat to the staff
+of the school.
+
+The officialdom of Germany and even of France had always contrasted
+very unfavourably in my mind with our English methods. I was surprised
+in America that so many hospitals were Government institutions, and
+yet worked so well.
+
+At Melville we turned aside to inspect what was apparently a second
+Valley of Hinnom. It was a series of furnaces, built out of clay and
+old cans, efficiently disposing of the garbage of a town and a large
+section of the line. At West Outre an officer found time to show us
+his ingenious improvised laundry. His share was to fight the enemy by
+keeping our boys decently clean; and for this purpose he collected
+their dirty linen into huge piles. He had diverted the only available
+brook so as to put a portable building over it. His battalion
+consisted of the whole female strength of the country-side, and had
+to be prepared to advance or retire _pari passu_ with the other
+fighters. The chattering, shouting crowd, almost invisible in the fog
+of steam as we walked through, made me realize how difficult a command
+this regiment of washerwomen constituted. The triumph was that they
+all appeared to be contented and fraternal.
+
+As every one knows one of the worst problems of the trenches was
+vermin. We entered a huge building used in peace-time for the purposes
+of dyeing. A Jack Johnson had only just exploded in the moat that
+brought the water to the tanks, but provision was made for trifles of
+this kind. When we peered over the edge of a steaming vat, it was to
+discover a platoon of Tommies enjoying the "time of their lives,"
+before they joined the line of naked beings, each scrubbing the now
+happy man ahead. An endless stream of garments advanced through
+electric superheaters in parallel columns. There seemed as much
+excitement about the chance of every man getting his own clothing back
+as there is in the bran pie at a children's Christmas party.
+
+While visiting the mud and squalor of a front trench in Flanders, only
+a few yards from the enemy's lines, the cheery occupants offered to
+brew some tea, exactly as we "boil our kettle" and have a good time in
+the safety of our Northern backwoods. One day I picked up some bright
+blue crystals. They proved to be "blue-stone," or sulphate of copper.
+When my pilot noticed that its presence puzzled me, he remarked
+casually, "There was a regimental dressing-station there a day or so
+ago. Probably that is the remains of it."
+
+On a siding at Calais station a veritable pyramid of filth met my
+eyes. On inspection it proved to be odd old boots dug from the mud of
+the battle-fields, and, sorted out from the other endless piles of
+debris, brought back as salvage. To attack one pair of such boots is
+depressing. Melancholia alone befitted the pile. Yet I saw close at
+hand, through a series of sheds, this polluted current entering and
+coming out at the other end new boots, at the rate of a thousand pairs
+a day--the talisman not being a Henry Ford of boot-making, but just a
+smiling English colonel in the sporting trousers of a mounted officer.
+
+The ground was still under snow, and we drove over much ice and
+through much slush as we returned to our base at Boulogne. My
+colleagues had gone back to America and it was a terribly lonely
+journey to London, though both steamer and train were crowded. The war
+was not yet won, and I could not help feeling an intense desire to
+remain and see it through with the brave, generous-hearted men who
+were giving their lives for our sakes. Loneliness scarcely describes
+my sensations; it felt more like desertion. One road to despair would
+be the awful realization that one is not wanted. The work looming
+ahead was the only comforting element, with the knowledge that the
+best of wives and partners was waiting in London to help me out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+FORWARD STEPS
+
+
+My return to the work after serving in France was embittered by a
+violent attack made upon me in a St. John's paper. It was called forth
+by a report of a lecture in Montreal where I had addressed the
+Canadian Club. The meeting was organized by Newfoundlanders at the
+Ritz Carlton Hotel, and the fact that a large number from the Colony
+were present and moved the vote of thanks at the end should have been
+sufficient guarantee of the _bona fides_ of my statements. But the
+over-enthusiastic account of a reporter who unfortunately was not
+present gave my critics the chance for which they were looking. It was
+at a time when any criticism whatever of a country that was responding
+so generously to the homeland's call for help would have been
+impolitic, even if true. It subsequently proved one factor, however,
+in obtaining the commission of inquiry from the Government, and so far
+was really a blessing to our work. In retrospect it is easy to see
+that all things work together for good, but at the time, oddly enough,
+even if such reports are absolutely false, they hurt more than the
+point of a good steel knife. Anonymous letters, on the contrary, with
+which form of correspondence I have a bowing acquaintance, only
+disturb the waste-paper basket.
+
+The Governor, the representatives of our Council, the Honourable
+Robert Watson and the Honourable W.C. Job, and my many other fast
+friends, however, soon made it possible for me to forget the matter.
+If protest breeds opposition, it in turn begets apposition, and a
+good line of demarcation--a "no man's land" between friend and
+foe--and gives a healthy atmosphere in so-called times of peace.
+
+In the year 1915 a large cooperative store was established at Cape
+Charles near Battle Harbour, which bred such opposition amongst
+certain merchants that it proved instrumental also in obtaining for us
+the Government commission of inquiry sent down a few months later.
+After a thorough investigation of St. Anthony, Battle Harbour, Cape
+Charles, Forteau, Red Bay, and Flowers Cove, summoning every possible
+witness and tracing all rumours to their source, the commissioners'
+findings were so favourable to the Mission that on their return to St.
+John's our still undaunted detractors could only attribute it to
+supernatural agencies.
+
+My colleague at Battle Harbour, Dr. John Grieve, who with his wife had
+already given us so many years' work there, and whose interest in the
+cooperative effort at Cape Charles was responsible for its initial
+success, had worked out a plan for a winter hospital station in Lewis
+Bay, and had surveyed the necessary land grant. Through the
+resignation of our business manager, Mr. Sheard, and the selection of
+Dr. Grieve by the directors as his successor, only that part of the
+Lewis Bay scheme which enables us to give work in winter providing
+wood supplies has so far materialized.
+
+In 1915 also, at a place called Northwest River, one hundred and
+thirty miles up Hamilton Inlet from Indian Harbour, a little cottage
+hospital and doctor's house combined was built, called the "Emily
+Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital." Thus the work of Dr. and Mrs.
+Paddon has been converted into a continuous service, for formerly when
+Indian Harbour Hospital was closed in the fall, they had no place in
+which they could efficiently carry on their work during the winter
+months. Before Dr. Paddon came to the coast, Dr. and Mrs. Norman
+Stewart gave us several years of valuable service, spending their
+summers at Indian Harbour and returning for the winter to St. Anthony,
+according to my original plan when I first built St. Anthony Hospital.
+
+An old friend and worker at St. Anthony, Mr. John Evans of
+Philadelphia, who had helped us with our deer and other problems,
+having married our head nurse, the first whom we had ever had from
+Newfoundland, found it essential to return and take up remunerative
+work at home.
+
+The increasing number of patients seeking help at St. Anthony made it
+necessary to provide proportionately increasing facilities. As I have
+stated elsewhere, the sister of my splendid colleague, Dr. Little, in
+1909 had raised the money for the new wing of the hospital for the
+accommodation of the summer accession of patients. The clinic which
+had now grown so tremendously, due to Dr. Little's magnificent work,
+was maintaining a permanent house surgeon, Dr. Louis Fallen, who had
+faithfully served the Mission at different times at other stations. We
+had also regular dental and eye departments.
+
+The summer of 1917 was saddened for us all by the loss to the work of
+my beloved and able colleague, Dr. John Mason Little, Jr., who had
+given ten years of most valuable labour to the people of this coast.
+He had married, some years before, our delightful and unselfish
+helper, Miss Ruth Keese, and they now had four little children growing
+up in St. Anthony. The education of his family and the call of other
+home ties made him feel that it had become essential for him to
+terminate his more intimate connection with the North, and he left us
+to take up medical work in Boston. The loss of them both was a very
+heavy one to the work and to us personally, and we are only thankful
+that we have been able to secure Dr. Little's invaluable assistance
+and advice on our Board of Directors in Boston. This coast and this
+hospital owe him a tremendous debt which can never be repaid, for it
+was he who put this clinic in a position to hold up its head among the
+best of medical work, and offer to this far-off people the grade of
+skilled assistance which we should wish for our loved ones if they
+were ill or in trouble. For Dr. Little offered not only his very
+exceptional skill as a surgeon, but also the gift of his inspiring and
+devoted personality.
+
+The winter of 1917-18 was extremely severe, not only in our North
+country, but in the United States and Canada also. I was lecturing
+during this winter in both these latter countries, though during the
+months of December and January travelling became very difficult owing
+to the continuous blizzards. I was held up for three days in Racine,
+Wisconsin, as neither trains, electric cars, or automobiles could make
+their way through the heavy drifts. Had I had my trusty dog team,
+however, I should not have missed three important lecture engagements.
+Life in the North has its compensations.
+
+At Toronto I was unfortunate enough to contract bronchitis and
+pleurisy, and I understand from competent observers that I was an
+"impossible patient." Be that as it may, so much pressure was brought
+to bear on me that at last I was forced to obey the doctors and leave
+for a month's rest in a warmer climate.
+
+Owing to ice and war conditions we did not arrive in St. Anthony until
+the first of July. In arriving late we were all spared a terrible
+shock. The previous day some of the boys from the Orphanage had gone
+fishing in the Devil's Pond, about a mile away, and a favourite
+resort with them. Unfortunately that afternoon they were seized
+with the brilliant idea of kindling a fire with which to cook their
+trout. Greatly to the astonishment of the would-be cooks, the fire
+quickly got beyond the one desired for culinary purposes, and,
+panic-stricken, they rushed home to give the alarm. Every man ashore
+and afloat came and worked, and the obliteration of the place was
+saved by a providential change in the wind and wide fire-breaks cut
+through few and ill-to-be-spared trees. Everything had been taken from
+our house--even furniture and linen--and dragged to the wharf head,
+where terrified children, fleeing patients, and heaps of furnishings
+from the orphanage and elsewhere were all piled up. Schooners had been
+hauled in to carry off what was possible, and the patients in the
+hospital were got ready to be carried away at a moment's notice. Only
+the most strenuous efforts saved the entire station. Now all our
+beautiful sky-line is blackened and charred. All day long the gravity
+of the debt was in our hearts, for if the wooden buildings had once
+had the clouds of fiery sparks settle upon them, the whole of those
+dependent upon us would have been homeless. Surely in a country like
+this, the incident of this fire puts an added emphasis upon our need
+of brick buildings. Gratitude for our safe return, for all God's
+mercies to us, and joy over the outcome of the at one time apparently
+inevitable disaster, made our first day of the season a
+never-to-be-forgotten event.
+
+   [Illustration: THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN WINTER]
+
+Mr. W.R. Stirling, our Chicago director, who had personally visited
+the hospitals, insisted that a water supply must at all costs be
+secured both for hospital and orphanage. This was not only to avert
+the reproach of typhoid epidemics, two of which had previously
+occurred, but also to better our protection for so many helpless lives
+in old dry wooden buildings, and to economize the great expense of
+hauling water by dogs every winter, when our little surface reservoir
+was frozen to the bottom. This water supply has only just been
+finished; and now we cannot understand how we ever existed without it.
+But it is an unromantic object to which to give money, and the total
+cost, even doing the work ourselves, amounted to just upon ten
+thousand dollars. According to the Government engineer's advice we had
+a stream to dam and a mile and a quarter of piping to lay six feet
+underground to prevent the water freezing. It is only in very few
+places that we boast six feet of soil at all on the rock that forms
+the frame of Mother Earth here. Hence there was much blasting to do.
+But the task was accomplished, and by our own boys, and has
+successfully weathered our bitter winter. The last lap was run by an
+intensely interesting experiment. The assistant at Emmanuel Church in
+Boston brought down a number of volunteer Boy Scouts to give their
+services on the commonplace task of digging the remainder of the
+trench necessary to complete the water supply. When they first
+arrived, our Northern outside man, after looking at their clothes of
+the Boston cut, remarked, "Hm. You'd better give that crowd some
+softer job than digging." But they did the work, and a whole lot more
+besides. For their grit and jollity, and above all their readiness to
+tackle and see through such side tasks as unloading and stowing away
+some three hundred tons of coal were real "missionary" lessons.
+
+The ever-growing demand for doctors as the war dragged on made it
+harder and harder to man our far-off stations. The draft in America
+was the last straw, doctors having already been forbidden to leave
+England or Canada. Dr. Charles Curtis had taken over Dr. Little's work
+at St. Anthony, and stood nobly by, getting special permission to do
+so. Dr. West, who had succeeded our colleague, Dr. Mather Hare, at
+Harrington, when his wife's breakdown had obliged him to leave us, had
+already given us a year over his scheduled time, for he had accepted
+work in India at the hands of those who had specially trained him for
+that purpose.
+
+We had been having considerable trouble in the accommodation of the
+heavy batches of patients that came by the mail boat. They were left
+on the wharf when she steamed away, and only the floors of our
+treatment and waiting-rooms were available for their reception. For
+all could not possibly go into the wards, where children, and often
+very sick patients, were being cared for. The people around always
+stretched their hospitality to the limit, but this was a very
+undesirable method of housing sick persons temporarily. Owing to the
+generosity of a lady in New Bedford and other friends, we were enabled
+to meet the problem by the erection of a rest house, with first and
+second class accommodation. This was built in the spring of 1917, and
+has been a Godsend to many besides patients. It makes people free to
+come to St. Anthony and stay and benefit by whatever it has to offer,
+without the feeling that they have no place to which they can go.
+Moreover, this hostel has been entirely self-supporting from the day
+that it opened, and every one who goes and comes has a good word for
+the rest house. It is run by one of our Labrador orphan boys, whose
+education was finished in America, and "Johnnie," as every one calls
+him, is already a feature in the life of the place.
+
+Among the advances of the year 1918 must also be noted that more
+subscribers and subscriptions from local friends have been received
+than ever before. Our X-ray department has been added to. We have been
+able also to improve the roads, a thing greatly to be desired.
+
+Look where we will, we have nothing but gratitude that in the last
+year of a long and exhausting war, here in this far-away section of
+the world, the keynote has been one of progress.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE FUTURE OF THE MISSION
+
+
+What is the future of this Mission? I have once or twice been an
+unwilling listener to a discussion on this point. It has usually been
+in the smoking-room of a local mail steamer. The subtle humour of W.W.
+Jacobs has shown us that pessimism is an attribute of the village
+"pub" also. The alcoholic is always a prophet of doom; and the wish is
+often father to the thought.
+
+In our medical work in the wilds we have become a repository of some
+old instruments discarded on the death of their owners or cast aside
+by the advancing tide of knowledge. Seeing the ingenuity, time, and
+expense lavished on many of them, they would make a truly pathetic
+museum. Personally I prefer the habits of India to those of Egypt
+concerning the departed. If the Pharaoh of the Persecution could see
+his mummy being shown to tourists as a cheap side show, I am sure that
+he would vote for cremation if he had the choice over again.
+
+It sounds flippant in one who has devoted his life to this work to
+say, "Really I don't care what its future may be." I am content to
+leave the future with God. No true sportsman wants to linger on, a
+wretched handicap to the cause for which he once stood, like a fake
+hero with his peg leg and a black patch over one eye. The Christian
+choice is that of Achilles. Nature also teaches us that the paths of
+progress are marked by the discarded relics of what once were her
+corner-stones. The original Moses had the spirit of Christ when he
+said, "If Thou wilt, forgive their sin--and if not, I pray Thee, blot
+me out of Thy book." The heroic Paul was willing to be eliminated for
+the Kingdom of God. It seems to me that that attitude is the only
+credential which any Christian mission can give for its existence. If
+I felt that my work had accomplished all it could, I would "lay it
+down with a will."
+
+As in India and China the missionaries of the various societies are
+uniting to build up a native, national Church which would wish to
+assume the responsibility of caring for its own problems, so when the
+Government of this country is willing and able to take over the
+maintenance of the medical work, this Mission would have justified its
+existence by its elimination. All lines along which the Mission works
+should one day become self-eliminating. Until that time arrives I am
+satisfied that the Mission has great opportunities before it. I am an
+optimist, and feel certain that God will provide the means to continue
+as long as the need exists.
+
+Some believe that the future of this population depends solely on the
+attention paid to the development of the resources of the coast. Not
+only are its raw products more needed than ever, but even supposing
+that unscientific handling of them has depleted the supply, still
+there is ample to maintain a larger population than at present. This
+can only be when science and capital are introduced here, combined
+with an educated manhood fired by the spirit of cooperation.
+
+In large parts of China a famine to wipe out surplus population is
+apparently a periodical necessity. An orphanage in India for similar
+reasons does not seem to be as rationally economic as one for the
+Labrador children. I never see a cliff face from which an avalanche
+has removed the supersoil and herbage without thinking in pity of the
+crowded sections of China, where tearing up even the roots of trees
+for fuel has permitted so much arable land to be denuded by rains
+that the food supply gets smaller while the population grows larger.
+
+The future of all medical work depends on whether people want it and
+can arrange to get it paid for. If all the world become Christian
+Scientists, scientific--which we believe to be also Christian--healing
+will everywhere die a natural death--and possibly the people also. But
+history suggests that the healing art is one of considerable vitality.
+My own belief is that in the apparently approaching socialistic age,
+medicine will be communized and provided by the State free to all. If
+education for the mind is, why not education for the body?
+
+Certain subtle and very vital psychic influences are probably the best
+stock in trade of the "Doctor of the old school." These qualities
+appear at present less likely to be "had for hire" in a Government
+official. The Chinese may yet return the missionary compliment by
+teaching us to adopt their method of paying the doctor only when and
+as long as the patient is cured.
+
+Out of the taxes, the major part of which is paid by the people of the
+outport districts in this Colony, the Government provides free medical
+aid in the Capital, presumably because those who have the spending of
+the money mostly reside there. The Mission provides it in the farthest
+off and poorest part of the country, Labrador and North Newfoundland,
+because there is no chance whatever at present for the poor people to
+obtain it otherwise. Our _pro rata_ share of the taxes, if judged by
+the paltry Government grant toward the work, would not provide
+anything worth having. The people here pay far better in proportion to
+their ability for hospital privileges than they do in Boston or
+London; the Government pays a little, and the rest comes from the
+loving gifts of those who desire nothing better, when they know of
+real need, than to make sacrifices to meet it.
+
+One feels that the Chinese and Japanese and all nations will be able
+some day to pay for their own doctors, whether they do it on
+individualistic or communistic principles. In the present state of the
+world I believe the missionary enterprise to be entirely desirable, or
+I would not be where I am. But being a Christian with a little faith,
+I hope that it may not be so forever. If anything will stimulate to
+better methods, it is example, not precept, and perhaps the best work
+of this and all missions will be their reflex influences on
+Governments through the governed.
+
+To carry on the bare essentials of this work an endowment of at least
+a million dollars is necessary. Toward this a hundred and sixty
+thousand dollars is all that has been contributed, and in addition we
+can count annually upon a small Government grant. Even if this million
+dollars were given, it would still leave several thousand dollars to
+be raised by voluntary subscription each year, a healthy thing for the
+life of any charitable work. On the other hand, the certainty of being
+able to meet the main bills is an economy in nerve energy, in time and
+in money.
+
+Among our patients brought in one season to St. Anthony Hospital was
+the mother of ten children on whom an emergency operation for
+appendicitis had to be done--the first time in her life that a doctor
+had ever tended her. She came from a very poor home, for besides her
+large family her husband had been all his life handicapped by a
+serious deformity of one leg caused by a fall. She reminded me of how
+some years before a traveller had left her the rug from his dog
+sledge, as, without any bedclothes, she was again about to give birth
+to a child; how she had actually been unable at times to turn over in
+bed, because her personal clothing had frozen solid to the wall of the
+one-roomed hut in which she lived.
+
+In April, 1906, in northern Newfoundland I found a young mother near
+St. Anthony. She was twenty-six years old, suffering from acute
+rheumatic fever, lying in a fireless loft, on a rickety bedstead with
+no bedclothes. She had only one shoddy black dress to her name, and no
+underwear to keep her warm in bed in a house like that. The floor was
+littered with debris, including a number of hard buns which she could
+not now eat, but which some charitable neighbour had sent her. She had
+a wizened baby of seven months, which every now and then she was
+trying to feed by raising herself on one elbow and forcing bread and
+water pap, moistened with the merest suspicion of condensed milk, down
+its throat. None of her four previous children had lived so long. She
+had been under my care three years before for sailor's scurvy. Her
+present illness lasted only a week, and in spite of all that we could
+do, she died.
+
+The desire of the people to be mutually helpful is undoubted, whether
+it is to each other or to some "outsider" like ourselves. I question
+if in the so-called centres of civilization the following incident can
+be surpassed as evidencing this aspect of their character.
+
+In a little Labrador village called Deep Water Creek I was called in
+one day to see a patient: an old Englishman, who was reported to have
+had "a bad place this twelvemonth." As I was taken into the tiny
+cottage, a bright-faced, black-bearded man greeted me. Three children
+were playing on the hearth with a younger man, evidently their father.
+"No, Doctor, they aren't ours," replied my host, in answer to my
+question. "But us took Sam as our own when he was born, and his mother
+lay dead. These be his little ones. You remember Kate, his wife, what
+died in hospital."
+
+After the cup of hot tea so thoughtfully provided, I said, "Skipper
+John, let's get out and see the old Englishman."
+
+"No need, Doctor. He's upstairs in bed."
+
+Upstairs was the triangular space between the roof and the ceiling of
+the ground floor. At each end was a tiny window, and the whole area,
+windows included, had been divided longitudinally by a single
+thickness of hand-sawn lumber. Both windows were open, a cool breeze
+was blowing through, and a bright paper pasted on the wall gave a
+cheerful impression. One corner was shut off by a screen of cheap
+cheesecloth. Sitting bolt upright on a low bench, and leaning against
+the partition, was a very aged woman, staring fixedly ahead out of
+blind eyes, and ceaselessly monotoning what was meant for a hymn. No
+head was visible among the rude collection of bedclothes.
+
+"Uncle Solomon, it's the Doctor," I called. The mass of clothes moved,
+and a trembling old hand came out to meet mine.
+
+"No pain, Uncle Solomon, I hope?"
+
+"No pain, Doctor, thank the good Lord, and Skipper John. He took us in
+when the old lady and I were starving."
+
+The terrible cancer had so extended its ravages that the reason for
+the veiled corner was obvious, and also for the effective ventilation.
+
+"He suffers a lot, Doctor, though he won't own it," now chimed in the
+old woman.
+
+When the interview was over, I was left standing in a brown study till
+I heard Skipper John's voice calling me. As I descended the ladder he
+said: "We're so grateful you comed, Doctor. The poor old creatures
+won't last long. But thanks aren't dollars. I haven't a cent in the
+world now. The old people have taken what little we had put by. But
+if I gets a skin t' winter, I'll try and pay you for your visit
+anyhow."
+
+"Skipper John, what relation are those people to you?"
+
+"Well, no relation 'zactly."
+
+"Do they pay nothing at all?"
+
+"Them has nothing," he replied.
+
+"What made you take them in?"
+
+"They was homeless, and the old lady was already blind."
+
+"How long have they been with you?"
+
+"Just twelve months come Saturday."
+
+I found myself standing in speechless admiration in the presence of
+this man. I thought then, and I still think, that I had received one
+of my largest fees.
+
+Ours is primarily a medical mission, and nothing that may have been
+stated in this book with reference to other branches of the work is
+meant in any way to detract from what to us as doctors is the basic
+reason for our being here, though we mean ours to be prophylactic as
+well as remedial medicine.
+
+St. Anthony having so indisputably become the headquarters of the
+hospital stations, there can be but one answer to the question of the
+advisability of its closing its doors summer or winter in the days to
+come. For not only is our largest hospital located there--its scope
+due in great measure to the reputation gained for it by Dr. Little's
+splendid services, and continued by Dr. Curtis--but also the
+Children's Home, our school, machine shop, the headquarters of various
+industrial enterprises, and lastly a large storehouse to be used in
+future as a distributing centre for the supplies of the general
+Mission. Moreover, the population of the environs of St. Anthony,
+owing to their numbers and the fact that they can profit by the
+employment given by the Mission, should be able increasingly to
+assist in the maintenance of this hospital, though a large number of
+its clinic is drawn from distant parts. These patients come not only
+from Labrador, the Straits of Belle Isle, and southern Newfoundland,
+but we have had under our care Syrians, Russians, Scandinavians,
+Frenchmen, and naturally Americans and Canadians, seamen from
+schooners engaged in the Labrador fishery.
+
+Harrington Hospital, located on the Canadian Labrador, must for many
+years to come depend on outside support. I am Lloyd Georgian enough to
+feel that taxation should presuppose the obligation to look after the
+bodies of the taxed. The Quebec Government gives neither vote,
+representation, adequate mail service, nor any public health grant for
+the long section of the coast which it claims to govern, that lies
+west of the Point des Eskimo. It is to my mind a severe stricture on
+their qualifications as legislators. That hospital should, we believe,
+be adequately subsidized and kept open summer and winter. At present
+we have to thank the Labrador Medical Mission, which is the Canadian
+branch of the International Grenfell Association, for their generous
+and continued support of this station.
+
+Battle Harbour and Indian Harbour Hospitals can never be anything but
+summer stations, owing to their geographical positions on islands in
+frozen seas, on which islands there is practically no population
+during the winter months. But gifts and grants sufficient to maintain
+a doctor at Northwest River Cottage Hospital, and one if possible in
+Lewis Bay, winter supplements to these summer hospitals, are to my
+thinking more than justifiable.
+
+As to the future of our hospital stations at Pilley's Islands, Spotted
+Islands, and Forteau, that will depend upon the changing demands of
+local conditions. That the need of medical assistance exists is
+unquestionable, as is evidenced from the many appeals which I receive
+to start hospitals or supply doctors in districts at present utterly
+incapable of obtaining such help.
+
+   [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO ST. ANTHONY HARBOUR]
+
+One still indispensable requisite in our scattered field of work is a
+hospital steamer. In fact, not a few of us think that the Strathcona
+is the keystone of the Mission. She reaches those who need our help
+most and at times when they cannot afford to leave home and seek it.
+Her functions are innumerable. She is our eyepiece to keep us
+cognizant of our opportunities. She both treats and carries the sick
+and feeds the hospitals. She enables us to distribute our charity
+efficiently. The invaluable gifts of clothing which the Labrador
+Needlework Guild and other friends send us could never be used at all
+as love would wish, unless the Strathcona were available to enlarge
+the area reached. In spite of all this, those who would quibble over
+trifles claim that she is the only craft on record that rolls at
+dry-dock! Her functions are certainly varied, but perhaps the oddest
+which I have ever been asked to perform was an incident which I have
+often told. One day, after a long stream of patients had been treated,
+a young man with a great air of secrecy said that he wanted to see me
+very privately.
+
+"I wants to get married, Doctor," he confided when we were alone.
+
+"Well, that's something in which I can't help you. Won't any of the
+girls round here have you?"
+
+"Oh! it isn't that. There's a girl down North I fancies, but I'm
+shipped to a man here for the summer, and can't get away. Wouldn't you
+just propose to her for me, and bring her along as you comes South?"
+
+The library would touch a very limited field if it were not for the
+hospital ship. She carries half a hundred travelling libraries each
+year. She finds out the derelict children and brings them home. She is
+often a court of law, trying to dispense justice and help right
+against might. She has enabled us to serve not only men, but their
+ships as well; and many a helping hand she has been able to lend to
+men in distress when hearts were anxious and hopes growing faint. In a
+thousand little ways she is just as important a factor in preaching
+the message of love. To-day she is actually loaned for her final trip,
+before going into winter quarters, to a number of heads of families,
+who are thus enabled to bring out fuel for their winter fires from the
+long bay just south of the hospital.
+
+Her plates are getting thin. They were never anything but
+three-eighths-inch steel, and we took a thousand pounds of rust out of
+her after cabin alone this spring. She leaks a little--and no iron
+ship should. It will cost two thousand dollars to put her into repair
+again for future use. Money is short now, but when asked about the
+future of the Mission I feel that whatever else will be needed for
+many years to come, the hospital ship at least cannot possibly be
+dispensed with.
+
+The child is potential energy, the father of the future man, and the
+future state; and the children of this country are integral,
+determining factors in the future of this Mission. The children who
+are turned out to order by institutions seem sadly deficient, both in
+ability to cope with life and in the humanities. The "home" system, as
+at Quarrier's in Scotland, is a striking contrast, and personally I
+shall vote for the management of orphanages on home lines every time.
+This is not a concession to Dickens, whose pictures of Bumble I hope
+and believe apply only to the dark ages in which Dickens lived; but
+historically they are not yet far enough removed for me to advocate
+Government orphanages, though our Government schools are an advance
+on Dotheboys Hall.
+
+The human body is the result of physical causes; breeding tells as
+surely as it does in dogs or cows, and the probability of defects in
+the offspring of poverty and of lust is necessarily greater than in
+well-bred, well-fed, well-environed children. The proportion of
+mentally and morally deficient children that come to us absolutely
+demonstrates this fact; and the love needed to see such children
+through to the end is more comprehensive than the mere sentiment of
+having a child in the home, and infinitely more than the desire to
+have the help which he can bring.
+
+The Government allows us fifty-two dollars a year toward the expense
+of a child whose father is dead; nothing if the mother is dead, or if
+the father is alive but had better be dead. It would be wiser if each
+case could be judged on its merits by competent officials. But we
+believe it is a blessing to a community to have the opportunity of
+finding the balance.
+
+Tested by its output and the returns to the country, our orphanage has
+amply justified itself. One new life resultant from the outlay of a
+few dollars would class the investment as gilt-edged if graded merely
+in cash. The community which sows a neglected childhood reaps a
+whirlwind in defective manhood.
+
+In view of these facts--to leave out of consideration my earnest
+personal desire--there can never be any question in my mind as to the
+imperative necessity of the Mission's continuance of the work for
+derelict children. This conclusion seems to me safeguarded by the fact
+that all nations are placing increasing emphasis on "the child in the
+midst of them."
+
+When Solomon chose wisdom as the gift which he most desired, the Bible
+tells us that it was pleasing to God. St. Paul holds out the hope
+that one day we shall know as we are known. But there is a vast
+difference between knowledge and being wise. In fact, from the New
+Testament itself we are led to believe that the devils knew far more
+than even the Disciples.
+
+The school is an essential part of the orphanage. Seeing that the
+village children needed education just as much as those for whom we
+were more directly responsible, and realizing the value to both of the
+cooperation, and that the denominational system which still persists
+in the country is a factor for division and not for unity, it became
+obviously desirable for us to provide such a bond. Friends made the
+building possible. The generosity of a lady in Chicago in practically
+endowing it has, we feel, secured its future. We have now a proper
+building, three teachers, a graded school, modern appliances for
+teaching, and vastly superior results. In these days when the
+expenditure of every penny seems a widow's mite, one welcomes the
+encouragement of facts such as these to enable one to "carry on."
+
+Modern pedagogy has brought to the attention of even the man in the
+street the realization that education consists not merely in its
+accepted scholastic aspect, but also that training of the eye and hand
+which in turn fosters the larger development of the mind. In the
+latter sense our people are far from uneducated. Taking this aptitude
+of theirs as a starting-point, some twelve years ago we began our
+industrial department, first by giving out skin work in the North, and
+later started other branches under Miss Jessie Luther, who
+subsequently gave many years of service to the coast.
+
+The cooperative movement is the same question seen from another angle,
+and is almost contemporaneous with our earliest hospitals.
+
+It is not unnatural that man, realizing that he is himself like "the
+grass that to-morrow is cast into the oven," should worry over the
+permanency of the things on which he has spent himself. Though Christ
+especially warns us against this anxiety, religious people have been
+the greatest sinners in laying more emphasis upon to-morrow than
+to-day. The element which makes most for longevity is always
+interesting, even if longevity is often a mistake. Almost every old
+parish church in England maintains some skeleton of bygone efforts
+which once met real needs and were tokens of real love.
+
+The future is a long way off--that future when Christ's Kingdom comes
+on earth in the consecrated hearts and wills of all mankind, when all
+the superimposed efforts will be unnecessary. But love builds for a
+future, however remote; and at present we see no other way than to
+work for it, and know of no better means than to insure the permanency
+of the hospitals, orphanage, school, and the industrial and
+cooperative enterprises, thus to hasten, however little, the coming of
+Christ in Labrador.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+MY RELIGIOUS LIFE
+
+
+No one can write his real religious life with pen or pencil. It is
+written only in actions, and its seal is our character, not our
+orthodoxy. Whether we, our neighbour, or God is the judge, absolutely
+the only value of our "religious" life to ourselves or to any one is
+what it fits us for and enables us to do. Creeds, when expressed only
+in words, clothes, or abnormal lives, are daily growing less
+acceptable as passports to Paradise. What my particular intellect can
+accept cannot commend me to God. His "well done" is only spoken to the
+man who "wills to do His will."
+
+We map the world out into black and white patches for "heathen" and
+"Christian"--as if those who made the charts believed that one section
+possessed a monopoly of God's sonship. Europe was marked white, which
+is to-day comment enough on this division. A black friend of mine used
+often to remind me that in his country the Devil was white.
+
+My own religious experiences divide my life into three periods. As a
+boy at school, and as a young man at hospital, the truth or untruth of
+Christianity as taught by the churches did not interest me enough to
+devote a thought to it. It was neither a disturbing nor a vital
+influence in my life. My mother was my ideal of goodness. I have never
+known her speak an angry or unkind word. Sitting here looking back on
+over fifty years of life, I cannot pick out one thing to criticize in
+my mother.
+
+What did interest me was athletics. Like most English boys I almost
+worshipped physical accomplishments. I had the supremest contempt for
+clothes except those designed for action or comfort. Since no saint
+apparently ever wore trousers, or appeared to care about football
+knickers, I never supposed that they could be the same flesh as myself.
+It was always a barrier between me and the parsons and religious persons
+generally that they affected clothing which dubbed my ideals "worldly."
+It was even a barrier between myself and the Christ that I could not
+think of Him in flannels or a gymnasium suit. At that time I should have
+considered such an idea blasphemous--whatever that meant. As soon as
+religious services ceased to be compulsory for me, I only attended them
+as a concession to others. The prime object of the prayers and lessons
+did not appear to be that they might be understood. So far as I could
+see, common sense and plain natural feelings were at a discount. A long
+heritage of an eager, restless spirit left me uninterested in
+"homilies," and aided by the "dim religious light," I was enabled to
+sleep through both long prayers and sermons. Justice forces me to add
+that the two endless hours of "prep" lessons after tea had very much the
+same effect upon me.
+
+At the request of my mother I once went to take a class at the Sunday
+School. These were for the "poor only" in England in those days.
+Little effort was expended on making them attractive. I recall nothing
+but disgust at the dirty urchins with whom I had to associate for half
+an hour. An incident which happened on the death of one of the boys at
+my father's school interested me temporarily in religion. The boy's
+father happened to be a dissenter, and our vicar refused to allow the
+gates of the parish churchyard to be opened to enable the funeral
+cortege to enter. My chum had only a legal right to be buried in the
+yard. The coffin had therefore to be lifted over the wall and as the
+church was locked, father conducted the service in the open air. His
+words at the grave-side gave a touch of reality to religion, and still
+more so did his walking down the aisle out of church the following
+Sunday when the vicar referred to the destructive influence of
+anything that lent colour to dissent. Later when father threw up the
+school for the far more onerous and less remunerative task of chaplain
+at the London Hospital, even I realized that religion meant something.
+Indeed, it was that tax on his sensitive, nervous brain that brought
+his life to its early close. No man ever had a more generous and
+soft-hearted father. He never refused us any reasonable request, and
+very few unreasonable ones, and allowed us an amount of
+self-determination enjoyed by few. How deeply and how often have I
+regretted that I did not understand him better. His brilliant
+scholarship, and the friends that it brought around him, his ability
+literally to speak Greek and Latin as he could German and French, his
+exceptionally developed mental as compared with his physical gifts,
+were undoubtedly the reasons that a very ordinary English boy could
+not appreciate him.
+
+At fourteen years of age, at Marlborough School, I was asked if I
+wished to be confirmed. Every boy of that age was. It permitted one to
+remain when "the kids went out after first service." It added dignity,
+like a football cap or a mustache. All I remember about it was
+bitterly resenting having to "swat up" the Catechism out of school
+hours. I counted, however, on the examiner being easy, and he was. I
+am an absolute believer in boys making a definite decision to follow
+the Christ; and that in the hands of a really keen Christian man the
+rite of confirmation is very valuable. The call which gets home to a
+boy's heart is the call to do things. If only a boy can be led to see
+that the following of Christ demands a real knighthood, and that true
+chivalry is Christ's service, he will want all the rites and
+ceremonies that either proclaim his allegiance or promise him help and
+strength to live up to it.
+
+What I now believe that D.L. Moody did for me was just to show that
+under all the shams and externals of religion was a vital call in the
+world for things that I could do. This marks the beginning of the
+second period of my religious development. He helped me to see myself
+as God sees the "unprofitable servant," and to be ashamed. He started
+me working for all I was worth, and made religion real fun--a new
+field brimming with opportunities. With me the pendulum swung very
+far. The evangelical to my mind had a monopoly of infallible truth. A
+Roman Catholic I regarded as a relic of mediaevalism; while almost a
+rigour went down my spine when a man told me that he was a "Unitarian
+Christian." Hyphenation was loyalty compared to that. I mention this
+only because it shows how I can now understand intolerance and
+dogmatism in others. Yes, I must have been "very impossible," for then
+I honestly thought that I knew it all.
+
+About this time I began to be interested in reading my Bible, and I
+learned to appreciate my father's expositions of it. At prayers he
+always translated into the vernacular from the original of either the
+Old or the New Testament. To me he seemed to know every sense of every
+Greek word in any setting. Ever since I have been satisfied to use an
+English version, knowing that I cannot improve on the words chosen by
+the various learned translators.
+
+Because I owed so much to evangelical teachers, it worried me for a
+long while that I could not bring myself to argue with my boys about
+their intellectual attitude to Christ. My Sunday class contained
+several Jews whom I loved. I respected them more because they made no
+verbal professions. I have seen Turkish religionists dancing and
+whirling in Asia Minor at their prayers. I have seen much emotional
+Christianity, and I fully realize the value of approaching men on
+their emotional side. A demonstrative preacher impresses large crowds
+of people at once. But all the same, I have learned from many
+disillusionments to be afraid of overdoing emotionalism in religion.
+Summing up the evidence of men's Christlikeness by their characters,
+as I look back down my long list of loved and honoured helpers and
+friends, I am certainly safe in saying that I at least should judge
+that no section of Christ's Church has any monopoly of Christ's
+spirit; and that I should like infinitely less to be examined on my
+own dogmatic theology than I should thirty-five years ago. Combined
+with this goes the fact that though I know the days of my stay on
+earth are greatly reduced, I seem to be less rather than more anxious
+about "the morrow." For though time has rounded off the corners of my
+conceit, experience of God's dealing with such an unworthy midget as
+myself has so strengthened the foundations on which faith stood, that
+Christ now means more to me as a living Presence than when I laid more
+emphasis on the dogmas concerning Him.
+
+This chapter would not be complete without an endeavour to face the
+task of trying to answer the questions so often asked: "What is your
+position now? Do you still believe as you did when you first decided
+to serve Christ?" I am still a communicant member "in good standing"
+of the Episcopal Church. One hopes that one's religious ideas grow
+like the rest of one's life. It is fools who are said to rush in where
+angels fear to tread. The most powerful Christian churches in the
+world, the Greek and the Roman, recognizing the great dangers
+threatening, have countered by stereotyping the answer for all time,
+assuming all responsibility, and permitting no individual freedom in
+the matter. The numbers of their adherents testify to how vast a
+proportion of mankind the course appeals. And yet we are sons of
+God--and at our best value freedom in every department of our
+being--spirit as well as mind and body. George Adam Smith says: "The
+great causes of God and humanity are not defeated by the hot assaults
+of the Devil, but by the slow, crushing, glacier-like mass of
+thousands and thousands of indifferent nobodies. God's causes are
+never destroyed by being blown up, but by being sat upon. It is not
+the violent and anarchical whom we have to fear in the war for human
+progress, but the slow, the staid, the respectable; and the danger of
+these lies in their real skepticism. Though it would abhor
+articulately confessing that God does nothing, it virtually means so
+by refusing to share manifest opportunities for serving Him."
+
+Feeble and devious as my own footsteps have been since my decision to
+follow Jesus Christ, I believe more than ever that this is the only
+real adventure of life. No step in life do I even compare with that
+one in permanent satisfaction. I deeply regret that I did not take it
+sooner. I do not feel that it mattered much whether I chose medicine
+for an occupation, or law, or education, or commerce, or any other way
+to justify my existence by working for a living as every honest man
+should. But if there is one thing about which I never have any
+question, it is that the decision and endeavour to follow the Christ
+does for men what nothing else on earth can. Without stultifying our
+reason, it develops all that makes men godlike. Christ claimed that it
+was the only way to find out truth.
+
+To me, enforced asceticism, vows of celibacy, denunciation of
+pleasures innocent in themselves, intellectual monopoly of
+interpretation of things past or present, written or unwritten, are
+travesties of common sense, which is to me the Voice within. Not being
+a philosopher, I do not classify it, but I listen to it, because I
+believe it to be the Voice of God. That is the first point which I
+have no fear in putting on record.
+
+The extraordinary revelations of some Power outside ourselves leading
+and guiding and helping and chastening are, I am certain, really the
+ordinary experiences of every man who is willing to accept the fact
+that we are sons of God. Only a child, however, who submits to his
+father can expect to enjoy or understand his dealings. If we look into
+our everyday life we cannot fail to see that God not only allows but
+seeks our cooperation in the establishment of His Kingdom. So the
+second fundamental by which I stand is the certainty of a possible
+real and close relationship between man and God. Not one qualm assails
+my intellect or my intuition when I say that I know absolutely that
+God is my Father. To live "as seeing Him who is invisible" is my one
+ideal which embraces all the lesser ideals of my life.
+
+It has been my lot in life to have to stand by many death-beds, and to
+be called in to dying men and women almost as a routine in my
+profession. Yet I am increasingly convinced that their spirits never
+die at all. I am sure that there is no real death. Death is no
+argument against, but rather for, life. Eternal life is the complement
+of all my unsatisfied ideals; and experience teaches me that the
+belief in it is a greater incentive to be useful and good than any
+other I know.
+
+I have read "Raymond" with great interest. I am neither capable nor
+willing to criticize those who, with the deductive ability of such
+men as Sir Oliver Lodge, are brave enough and unselfish enough to
+devote their talents to pioneering in a field that certainly needs and
+merits more scientific investigation, seeing that it has possibilities
+of such great moment to mankind.
+
+The experiences on which rest one's own convictions of continuing life
+are of an entirely different nature. Even though the first and
+personal reason may seem foolish, it is because I desire it so much.
+This is a natural passion, common to all human beings. Experience
+convinces me that such longings are purposeful and do not go
+unsatisfied.
+
+No, we do not know everything yet; and perhaps the critic is a
+shallower fool than he judges to be the patient delvers into the
+unknown beyond. The evidence on which our deductions have been based
+through the ages may suddenly be proven fallible after all. It may be
+that there is no such thing as matter. Chemists and physicists now
+admit that is possible. The spiritual may be far more real than the
+material, in spite of the cocksure conceit of the current science of
+1918. Immortality may be the complement of mortality, as water becomes
+steam, and steam becomes power, and power becomes heat, and heat
+becomes light. The conclusion that life beyond is the conservation of
+energy of life here may be as scientific as that great natural law for
+material things. I see knowledge become service, service become joy. I
+see fear prohibit glands from secreting, hope bring back colour to the
+face and tone to the blood. I see something not material make Jekyl
+into Hyde; and thank God, make Hyde over into Jekyl again, when birch
+rods and iron bars have no effect whatever. I have seen love do
+physical things which the mere intellectual convictions cannot--make
+hearts beat and eyes sparkle, that would not respond even to
+digitalis and strychnine. I claim that the boy is justified in saying
+that his kite exists in the heaven, even though it is out of sight and
+the string leads round the corner, on no other presumption than that
+he feels it tugging. I prefer to stand with Moses in his belief in the
+Promised Land, and that we can reach it, than to believe that the
+Celestial City is a mirage.
+
+This attempted analysis of my religious life has revealed to me two
+great changes in my position toward its intellectual or dogmatic
+demands, and both of them are reflections of the ever rightly changing
+attitude of the defenders of our Christian faith. "Tempora mutantur et
+nos mutamus in illis." Christians should not fret because they cannot
+escape adapting themselves to the environment of 1918--which is no
+longer that of 918, or 18. The one and only hope for any force,
+Christianity no less than others, is its ability to adapt itself to
+all time.
+
+I still study my Bible in the morning and scribble on the margin the
+lessons which I get out of the portion. I can only do it by using a
+new copy each time I finish, because it brings new thoughts according
+to the peculiar experiences, tasks, needs, and environments of the
+day. I change I know. It does not--and yet it does--for we see the old
+truths in new lights. That to me is the glory of the Scriptures.
+Somehow it suits itself always to my developing needs. Christ did not
+teach as did other teachers. He taught for all time. We find out that
+our attitude to everything changes, to the things that give us
+pleasure and to those that give us pain. It is but a sign of healthy
+evolution (in this chapter, I suppose I should call it "grace") that
+the great churches have ceased to condemn their leaders who are
+unsound on points which once spelt fagot and stake. To-day
+predestination no longer involves the same reaction, even if dropped
+into a conference of selected "Wee Frees." The American section of the
+Episcopal Church has omitted to insist on our publicly and
+periodically declaring that we must have a correct view of three
+Incomprehensibles, or be damned, as is still the case in our Church of
+England.
+
+I am writing of my religion. The churches are now teaching that
+religion is action, not diction. There was a time when I could work
+with only one section of the Church of God. Thank God, it was a very
+brief period, but I weep for it just the same. Now I can not only work
+with any section, but worship with them also. If there is error in
+their intellectual attitudes, it is to God they stand, not to me.
+Doubtless there is just as much error in mine. To me, he is the best
+Christian who "judges not." To claim a monopoly of Christian religion
+for any church, looked at from the point of view of following Jesus
+Christ, is ridiculous. So I find that I have changed, changed in the
+importance which I place on what others think and upon what I myself
+think.
+
+Unless a Christian is a witness in his life, his opinions do not
+matter two pins to God or man. Of course, to-day _we_ should not burn
+Savonarola, any more than we should actually crucify that brave old
+fisherman, Peter, or ridicule a Gordon or a Livingstone, or
+assassinate a Lincoln or a Phillips Brooks, even with our tongues,
+though they differed from us in their view of what the Christian
+religion really needs. Oh, of course we shouldn't!
+
+Perhaps my change spells more and not less faith in the Saviour of the
+world. As I love the facts of life more, I care less for fusty
+commentators. As I see more of Christ's living with us all the days, I
+care less for arguments about His death. I have no more doubt that He
+lives in His world to-day than that I do. Why should I blame myself
+because more and more my mind emphasizes the fact that it is because
+He lives, and only so far as He lives in me, that I shall live also?
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Agriculture, in Labrador, unsuccessful, 217, 290.
+
+Alaska, reindeer experiment in, 291, 294-295.
+
+Albert, the, hospital ship of Dr. Grenfell, 125, 188, 189.
+
+_Among the Deep-Sea Fishers_, magazine, 280.
+
+Andrews, Dr. Joseph, eye-specialist, 357.
+
+Archibald, Sir William, chairman of the Royal National Mission to
+  Deep-Sea Fishermen, 362.
+
+Armstrong, Dr. Seymour, his work at St. Anthony, 367.
+
+Arnold, Thomas, of Rugby, 14.
+
+Athletics, Grenfell's fondness of, 21, 32, 44, 50, 51, 53, 81, 424.
+
+
+Bailey, Florence, nurse, 326.
+
+Barnett, Samuel, of Mile End, head of Toynbee House, 83.
+
+Barter system, the evils of, 131, 132, 133-138, 215-217.
+
+Bartlett, Captain, father of "Captain Bob," 136.
+
+Battle Harbour, Newfoundland, site of hospital, 126, 162, 165, 169, 193.
+
+Beattie, Arthur, 192.
+
+Beetz, Mr., 239.
+
+Begbie, Harold, _Twice-Born Men_, 101.
+
+Bell, Dr. Alexander Graham, 338.
+
+Belle Isle, the Straits of, Labrador, 126, 127, 140, 250.
+
+Besant, Mrs. Annie, associated with Charles Bradlaugh, 81, 82.
+
+Blandford, Captain Samuel, 159, 172.
+
+Bobardt, Dr. Arthur, 126, 159-162.
+
+Booth, Walter, of New York, 370, 371.
+
+Bowditch, William, 275.
+
+Boys' Brigade, the, 101, 353.
+
+Bradlaugh, Charles, religious radical, 81-82.
+
+
+Cabot, John, 120.
+
+Carpenter, Rev. C.C., 241, 242.
+
+Carrel, Dr. Alexis, in France, 397.
+
+Cartier, Jacques, 158.
+
+Cartwright, George, 158.
+
+Catholic Cadet Corps, the, 159, 353.
+
+Cattle-raising in Labrador unsuccessful, 290.
+
+Cawardine, Miss, nurse, 126.
+
+Charity, prophylactic, more important than remedial, 235.
+
+Cheever, Colonel David, 389.
+
+Chester, England, birthplace of Grenfell, 1, 2.
+
+Chidley, Cape, Labrador, 164, 207, 208.
+
+Children's Home, the, 244-253.
+
+Church Lads Brigade, the, 159, 353.
+
+Clark, Sir Andrew, doctor, 65.
+
+Cluett, George B., of Troy, N.Y., 347, 348.
+
+Cook, Captain, 128, 340, 341.
+
+Cooperative system, the, 215-225.
+
+_Corner_, the, magazine, 242.
+
+Crookhaven, seat of a dispensary and social centre, 107.
+
+Crowe, Harry, lumber operator, 370.
+
+Curtis, Dr. Charles, 408.
+
+Curtis, Lieutenant Roger, quoted, 158.
+
+Curwen, Dr. Elliott, 126.
+
+Curzon-Howe, Lady, 191.
+
+Curzon-Howe, Lord, 191.
+
+Cutter, Marion, librarian, 266.
+
+
+Daly, Professor Reginald, head of Department of Geology at Harvard
+  University, quoted, 157, 158.
+
+Dampier, William, 191.
+
+Davis Inlet, Labrador, 154, 155.
+
+Dawson, Sir Betrand, 388.
+
+Dee, the River, 2, 4.
+
+Delano, Eugene, head of Brown Brothers, bankers, 358.
+
+Denominationalism, evils of, 264, 269, 353.
+
+Dogs, Labrador, ferocity of, 198, 289, 290.
+
+Domino Run, Labrador, natural harbour, 120.
+
+Drake, Sir Francis, 191.
+
+Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada, 382.
+
+Durand, Mrs. Charles, aunt of Mrs. Grenfell, 336.
+
+
+Education in Labrador: schools denominational, 254, 269;
+  Grenfell's school, 257-264;
+  moving libraries, 266;
+  founding of undenominational boarding school, 268.
+
+Edward VII, King, Grenfell's private audience with, 284, 285.
+
+Edwards, Antiguan lecturer of the Christian Evidence Society, 82, 84, 85.
+
+Emily Beaver Chamberlain Memorial Hospital, 404.
+
+English, Robert, of Yale College, 277, 278.
+
+Eskimos, the, Grenfell's work with, 129-136;
+  original natives of Labrador, 140, 141;
+  Valentine, king of, 155;
+  suffering of, 155.
+
+Evans, John, worker at St. Anthony, 405.
+
+
+Fallon, Dr. Louis, 405.
+
+Faroe Islands, the, 184.
+
+Fenwick, Harry, 69.
+
+"Fisher Lads' Letter-Writing Association," 97.
+
+Fishermen's Institute, 183.
+
+Ford, George, factor of Hudson Bay Company, 141, 155, 242, 277, 327.
+
+Fox Farm, at St. Anthony, 238-240.
+
+
+George V, King, 352, 353.
+
+Gladstone, W.E., 106.
+
+Gosling, Mrs. W.E., 370.
+
+Gould, Albert, volunteer helper of Grenfell, 318, 321.
+
+Great Cop, the, 4.
+
+Greenshields, Julia, editor of _Among the Deep-Sea Fishers_, 280.
+
+Grenfell, Algernon, brother of W.T.G., 7, 8, 9, 10.
+
+Grenfell, Algernon Sydney, father of W.T.G., 8, 9, 11, 12.
+
+Grenfell, Cecil, brother of W.T.G., 7.
+
+Grenfell, Kinloch Pascoe, son of W.T.G., 342.
+
+Grenfell, Maurice, brother of W.T.G., 7.
+
+Grenfell, Pascoe, of Bank of England, 161.
+
+Grenfell, Rosamond Loveday, daughter of W.T.G., 342.
+
+Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, birth, 1;
+  ancestry, 1, 2;
+  early days, 2-14;
+  school life, 15-36;
+  study of natural objects, 34-36;
+  choice of medical profession, 37-39;
+  college life, 41-44;
+  interest in athletics, 44;
+  religious awakening, 44-46;
+  Sunday-school class and slum work, 46-53;
+  summer cruises, 53-57;
+  camping with boys, 57-63;
+  germination of democratic tendencies, 63;
+  interne in London Hospital, 64-87;
+  father's death, 73;
+  humanitarian ideals, 78, 79;
+  hatred of liquor traffic, 79;
+  association with religious radicals in East London, 81-86;
+  cosmopolitan life, 85;
+  member of College of Physicians and Royal College of Surgeons of
+    England, 87;
+  first work in fisheries of North Sea, 88-98;
+  his religion intensely social, 99-101;
+  medical officer in boys' summer-camps, 102, 103;
+  development of work in North Sea and off Irish coast, 104-114;
+  preparation and departure for America, 113-118;
+  first summer in Labrador, 119-125;
+  success in Labrador, 125;
+  return to England, 126;
+  second voyage to Labrador, 126;
+  founding of cottage hospitals, 126;
+  visits to Moravian Brethren and work among Eskimos, 128-138;
+  lecturing and soliciting in southern Newfoundland and Canada, 159-162;
+  cruising north, 163-170;
+  experience with seal fishery, 173-182;
+  trip to Iceland, 183-187;
+  holiday with Treves on Scilly Islands, 187, 188;
+  third voyage to Newfoundland, 192, 193;
+  requested to establish a winter station at St. Anthony, 194;
+  winter at St. Anthony, 197-214;
+  institution of cooperative system, 218-225;
+  institution of saw-mill in North Newfoundland, 226-238;
+  fox farm at St. Anthony, 238, 239;
+  founding of The Children's Home, 244;
+  founding of common school, 257-265;
+  moving libraries, 266;
+  arrangement of two-cent postal rate, 281, 282;
+  awarded honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine of Oxford, 282;
+  received honorary degree of Doctor of Laws in America, 283;
+  received Companionship in the Order of St. Michael and St. George, 284;
+  reindeer experiment, 288-303;
+  propaganda lecturing in England, 331, 332;
+  courtship, 333-337;
+  enlargement of St. Anthony Hospital, 338, 339;
+  marriage and family, 342, 343;
+  assumption of cooperative store debt, 344-347;
+  founding of Institute at St. John's, 349-353;
+  lecture tour in U.S. and England, 357-361;
+  lecture tour again, 371-374;
+  holiday in Asia Minor, 376-382;
+  winter at base hospital in France (1915), 384-402;
+  attacked by a St. John's newspaper, 403;
+  growth and development of Mission, 404-410;
+  religious life, 424-434.
+
+Grenfell, Wilfred Thomason, Jr., 342.
+
+Grenfell Association of America, the, 280.
+
+Grenfell Town, 161.
+
+Grieve, Dr. John, 404.
+
+
+Haldane, Lord, 256.
+
+Halifax, visited by Grenfell, 159.
+
+Hare, Dr. Mather, work at Harrington, 275-276, 409.
+
+Harrington Hospital, Canadian Labrador, 418.
+
+Hause, Mr., of Pratt Institute, volunteer student helper, 325.
+
+Hearn longliners and trawlers, 183.
+
+Heligoland, visited by Grenfell, 90.
+
+Henley, or Chateau, Labrador, 168.
+
+Henson, Dr. Hensley, Bishop of Hereford, 83, 84.
+
+Home, the Children's, 244-253.
+
+Hopedale, Labrador, 128, 131.
+
+Horsley, Sir Victor, doctor, 72.
+
+Hot-heads, launches used in open sea, 275-279.
+
+Hudson Bay Company, the, 133, 216, 276, 376.
+
+Huxley, Professor, his criticism of English public school teaching, 40.
+
+Hyeres, France, 24.
+
+
+Iceland, 183-187.
+
+Illiteracy, in Newfoundland and Labrador, 255.
+
+Indian Harbour, site of one of Grenfell's hospitals, 126.
+
+Indian Tickle, Labrador, site of a church built by Labrador Mission, 165.
+
+Ingram, Rt. Rev. A.F. Winnington, Bishop of London, 83, 84.
+
+International Grenfell Association the, formation of, 358-359.
+
+Ireland, Archbishop, 268.
+
+Irish Poor-Relief Board, 109.
+
+Irving, Sir Henry, 80.
+
+
+Jackson, Rev. Dr. Sheldon, Presbyterian missionary in Alaska, 290.
+
+Job, the Honourable W.C., 403.
+
+Job, Mrs. W.C., 370.
+
+Jones, Rev. Dr. Edgar, 268.
+
+Jones, Sir Robert, orthopedic surgeon. 359, 360, 385, 388.
+
+Jones, Mr. Walter, manager of Institute at St. John's, 367.
+
+Julia Sheriden, the, Mission steamer, 193, 196.
+
+
+Kean, Captain, of the S.S. Wolf, 180, 181.
+
+Keese, Ruth (Mrs. John Mason Little, Jr.), 405.
+
+Kingsley, Charles, 2, 103, 187, 256.
+
+Komatik, description of a, 202, 203.
+
+
+_Labrador, the Country and the People_, 139.
+
+Labrador, inhabitants of, 139, 140;
+  climate of, 140, 141;
+  fishing industry, 141, 142;
+  poverty of people, 142, 148-153;
+  superstition of people, 142-145;
+  natural characteristics of, 156-158.
+
+Lake Forest, on Lake Michigan, Mrs. Grenfell's home, 336.
+
+Lapps, 292-294.
+
+Leacock, Stephen, his essay, _How to Become a Doctor_, 144, 145.
+
+Leslie, Olive, kindergartner, 260.
+
+Lewis Bay, Labrador, winter hospital station at, 404.
+
+Lighthouses, at Battle Harbour, 273;
+  at White Point, 274;
+  at Indian Harbour, 274.
+
+Liquor traffic, the, Grenfell's hatred of, 79;
+  his suppression of, at St. Anthony, 209-214;
+  at St. John's, 353-356.
+
+Lister, Sir Joseph, 70.
+
+Little, Dr. John Mason, 338, 404, 406, 417.
+
+Lloyd, Dr., Prime Minister of Newfoundland, 382.
+
+Lodge, Sir Oliver, 430, 431.
+
+London Hospital and University, Grenfell's father chaplain of, 37;
+  Grenfell's alma mater, 39.
+
+Loti, Pierre, 186.
+
+Luther, Jessie, 422.
+
+
+MacAusland, Dr. W.R., of Boston, 381.
+
+MacClanahan, Anna Elizabeth Caldwell (Mrs. W.T. Grenfell), 336.
+
+MacClanahan, Colonel, father-in-law of Grenfell, 336.
+
+MacGregor, Sir William, Governor of Newfoundland, 291, 320-323.
+
+Mackenzie, Sir Stephen, 66.
+
+Marlborough School, 15-24, 27, 30-33.
+
+Marquis of Ripon, Minister to the Colonies, 286.
+
+Mason, A.E.W., novelist, 187.
+
+Matheson, Paul, volunteer helper of Grenfell, 318.
+
+McCook, Colonel Anson G., 281, 282.
+
+McGrath, Sir Patrick, 382.
+
+Methodist guards, the, 159, 353.
+
+Meyer, Hon. George von L., Postmaster-General, 281, 282.
+
+Mill, the, on the "French Shore," Newfoundland, 326-238.
+
+Mission to Deep-Sea Fishermen, 90.
+
+Montreal, visited by Grenfell, 160, 161.
+
+Moody, Dwight L., evangelist, 45, 427.
+
+Moravian Brethren, the, their work with the Eskimos, 128, 129, 130,
+ 132, 140, 156, 207.
+
+Moravian Mission, 129-132.
+
+Muir, Ethel Gordon, teacher, 267.
+
+Murchison Prize, awarded Grenfell by the Royal Geographical Society,
+  in 1911, 323.
+
+
+Nain, Labrador, 130, 132.
+
+Nakvak, Labrador, 141;
+  remains of Tunits there, 155.
+
+Napatuliarasok Island, Labrador, noted for its Labradorite, 156.
+
+Nasson Institute, 264.
+
+Needlework Guild of America, the, 251, 419.
+
+Newfoundland, independent colony of England, 139;
+  Labrador owned by, 139;
+  difference between North and South Newfoundland, 250.
+
+Nielsen, Adolph, Superintendent of Fisheries off Labrador, 117.
+
+
+O'Brien, Sir Terence, governor at St. John's, 117, 171.
+
+
+Paddon, Dr. and Mrs., 404, 405.
+
+Parkhurst, Dr. Charles H., of New York, 280.
+
+Peary, Admiral, return of from North Pole, 339-342.
+
+Pomiuk, Prince, Eskimo, 241-243.
+
+Pratt Institute, 256, 258, 264.
+
+Presbyterian Highland Brigade, the, 353.
+
+Prince Edward Island, 240.
+
+Princess May, the midget steam launch, 127, 128.
+
+Public School Camps, 101.
+
+
+R.A.M.C., efficiency of in France, 398-400.
+
+_Raymond_, Sir Oliver Lodge, 430, 431.
+
+Red Bay, Labrador, 218.
+
+Red Bay Cooperative Store, 219.
+
+Reed, William Howell, of Boston, 292.
+
+Reikyavik, capital of Iceland, 184.
+
+Reindeer experiment, the, 290-303.
+
+Ripon, Marquis of, 159.
+
+Rivington, Sir Walter, surgeon, 70.
+
+Roddick, Sir Thomas, 162.
+
+Roosevelt, the, Peary's ship, 340, 341.
+
+Rowland, John, of Yale College, 277, 278.
+
+
+St. Anthony, Newfoundland, 141;
+  poverty of people, 194, 195;
+  Grenfell's first winter in, 197-214;
+  Grenfell's fight against liquor traffic, 209-214;
+  headquarters of hospital stations, 417.
+
+St. John's, burning of, 115, 116;
+  seat of Newfoundland government, 139.
+
+Sands of Dee, the, 1-7.
+
+Sayre, Francis B., secretary of Grenfell, 250, 338, 339, 341, 342,
+  374, 375.
+
+Scilly Islands, 187.
+
+Seal Fishery, the, 172-182.
+
+Seyde Fjord, Iceland, visited by Grenfell, 186, 187.
+
+Sheard, Mr., 404.
+
+Sir Donald, the, mission steamer, 161, 190, 191, 208.
+
+Skiff, Captain, 183.
+
+Sloggett, Sir Arthur, general, 385, 398, 399.
+
+Smith, George Adam, quoted, 429.
+
+Southborough, Lord (Mr. Francis Hopwood), 113.
+
+Spalding, Katie, of The Children's Home, 251, 253.
+
+Spencer, Martyn, 290, 370.
+
+Stewart, Dr. and Mrs. Norman, 405.
+
+Stirling, W.R., 333, 337, 348, 407.
+
+Storr, Eleanor, of The Children's Home, 250, 253.
+
+Strathcona, Lord (Donald Smith), patron of Labrador Mission, 160, 161;
+  donor of the Strathcona, 191, 376.
+
+Studd, J.E. and C.T., 45.
+
+Sutton, Dr., London Hospital, 69.
+
+
+Terschelling, visited by Grenfell, 90.
+
+Tickle, the Grenfell, 209.
+
+Tigris, the S.S., of the Polaris expedition, 178.
+
+Tilt Cove, Newfoundland, 192, 193.
+
+_Toilers of the Deep, The_, magazine, 280.
+
+Tralee, on Kerry coast, seat of a dispensary, 107.
+
+Treves, Sir Frederick, lecturer in anatomy and surgery in London
+Hospital and University, 43, 67-69, 88, 187, 254, 285, 388;
+  _The Cradle of the Deep_, 187.
+
+Trevize, skipper, 114.
+
+Truck Acts, 96.
+
+
+Ungava Bay, Labrador, 164, 208.
+
+
+Van Dyke, Dr. Henry, 362.
+
+Vestmann Islands, Iceland, visited by Grenfell, 184.
+
+Victoria, Queen, 104
+
+Victoria Park, London, 81-82.
+
+
+Wakefield, Dr. Arthur, of England, 368, 369.
+
+_Wall Street Journal_, quoted, 294, 295.
+
+Watson, the Honourable Robert, 403.
+
+Wellington, Duke of, 187.
+
+West, Dr., 275, 409.
+
+White, Emma E., secretary of Labrador Mission in Boston, 279, 324.
+
+White Bay, Labrador, 148.
+
+Whitechapel Road, site of London Hospital, 40.
+
+Whitney, Harry, 340.
+
+Williams, Miss, nurse, 126.
+
+Williams, George, 364, 365.
+
+Williams, Sir Ralph, governor of Newfoundland, 350-352.
+
+Willway, Dr., colleague of Grenfell, 169.
+
+Wilson, Jessie, daughter of President Wilson, 374, 375.
+
+Wiltsie, Dr., his work in Labrador, 363, 364.
+
+Wolf, the S.S., wreck of, 180, 181.
+
+
+Yarmouth, institute for fishermen ashore, and dispensary vessel, 105.
+
+Y.M.C.A. in St. John's, 353;
+  in France, 389, 390.
+
+
+
+
+The Riverside Press
+CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS
+U . S . A
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  13: comimg replaced with coming                     |
+    | Page  96: vicitms replaced with victims                   |
+    | Page 162: sudddenly replaced with suddenly                |
+    | Page 256: runnng replaced with running                    |
+    | Page 303: Reinder replaced with Reindeer                  |
+    | Page 332: aften replaced with often                       |
+    | Page 441: Slogget replaced with Sloggett                  |
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+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
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