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diff --git a/22372.txt b/22372.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..59e9aae --- /dev/null +++ b/22372.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14122 @@ +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 . 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