The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1875-12-25
From III, Nicholas, for January
CHRIsTMAs IN THE ALTO ne
GIONs.
nv j. H. WOODBURY.

he coast IN camden HAy 70 lhr horlH'
ward of all our northern posrcssionsi
within the Arctic Circle, whore there IL
one long winter night ior months, unbro'
ken by u rising sun,
We had fingered too long on that nor
thcrn shore, whore we had been cruising |
through the short summer season Tor
TO feed the lamps At home, /
llomol home The full meaning OF
the word came 10 lls, ~ we sal round our
own din-burnng lamps down IN our
wcllprOtcctod quarters in the stecrnge
md talked OF the loved Ones whom W.
had left there, Should we ever return
to thcmY Yes; every one believed II,
and We were still cheerful,
The sun had been long gone, aud II
was Chistmns-tino' and because II wnH
ChiNmns-tiinc We thought the more OF
those we had left Ut home. Santa Claus,
too, and the stockings he used TO I'LL
when we were there, came to our minds
and the sleiplrrides, thesltaiing, coasting
and the dear girls who used to be such
II help to M in enjoying it alive re-
mcmbcred Them you may well believed
and we talked of Them ~ well, Every
man--of course, we were all men, though
some were u little under ngc-told about
his own particular girl and il YOU could
have heard u.s. you would have thought
each one hud an angel at home, sure!
You can't imagine how lovely the girls
become so far away Just 90 beyond the
Arctic Circle and get frozen in, and
you'll know all about it,
The girls--thc dcOr girlsl-wc could
only talk about them but that was some
comfort. We were all resolved to carry
home something nice for them, ut least,
and to that end we had been "sclim-
shaving whalebone ever since the sun
had set
don't think youwill find Scrimsho,omg
in the Dictionary, forthe word ism used
much ON shore. | means, cutting, ctcl'
Ing scratching carving-makingall sorts
of pretty things out Of whalebonc, We
had made juggling knives, and things to
keep the girls straight, and things which
we had no names for, and were still
working away on our whalebone fix
| ms When christmas came,
will tell You how ne were fixed -
The ship lay not far from the shore, with
in blight Of the opaSt rs have snid so
| that there was a seml-clrCle OF snow-coy,
cred hills in full view from our decks;
the nearest being hardly more than II
mile distant. Although we had no sun,
the moon was with ~, round and full,
Mt Christmas time, and the snow-covered
hills glistencd in its light We often
walked as far as the hills, and sometimes
over them, to give our limbs the cxef-
else they needed but rs yet had never
found anything very attractive in that
direction.
We suffered less from the cold than
you might suppose. The ship was well
provided with all sorts of warm clothing,
and the captain gave ~ all the extra
garments we needed, at the ships cx-
pcnse. The quarters of the foremost
hands had been changed from the fore
castle 10 the Stccrage--the space in
which had been sufficiently enlarged to
accommodate them rs well as the boat.
stecrers--and all, but the officers in the
cabin, now lived there together The
cabin was separated from the stecrage
only by bulkhead
The cabin contained a stove, in which
q fire was always kept going, giving that
apartment II moderate degree OF warmth.
The galley range had been lowered
into the stcerage, where it stood little
to one side of the hatchway, and having
plenty of tuei, consisting in part OF
whale-scrps, a fire was kept constantly
going in that also Besides, the walls OF
our apartment were lined all around
with sails-of which we had large sup
ply, besides those We had unbcnt from
the yards after the Ice had fastened
upon us-'and all around, outside, the
ship had been banked with snow, almost
~ high ~ the rail Indeed, we did not
suffer much with cold but the moisture
accumulated in our close quarters to such
an extent az to cause some discomfort
from that source.
The few light duties we had to per-
form occupied hut q small portion of our
time, and we Easo allowed to pass the
remainder of it pretty much in our own
way. 1t was almost worth while to be
frozen in, for one reason at least we
We're not obliged to turn ont every four
hours to stand watch on deck. Still
we had regular hours for sleep, and were
called opt at an appointed time. We
still felt that Wa were under our cap
tain's control, though his authority was
much relaxed.
After ALL il was not such n very bad
thing to be frozen in, except for its keep
ing us so much longer from home, and
from all the world besides ourselves. On
the whole, the time passed rather pleas
antly. Having plenty Of whalebone,
both white and black, and tools to work
il with---and withal turning lathe-we
passed more time in making fancy arti-
cleS for home than in any other way.
But as Christmas drew near there was
some talk about visit from Santa Claus.
From certain indications he might rea
sonabiy be expected and it was even
proposed that we should all hang N, our
Stockings. Several of our number were
making caps, mittens, muiliers, and such
things, with which they were taking UNI
usual pains; more than they would be
likely to II they were going to wear the
articles themselves; and this was what
suggested to us that Santa Claus might
possibly come.
Uncle Jim, our oldest man was inclin.
ed to laugh at the idea, however lie
was of the opinion that Santa Claus
wouldn't come away up there Just to
please few half-frosen whalemen; but
ii ne shouM come, he would want some
thing bigger than stockings to put his
nick-nacks in, He advised hanging up
our trousers, with the bottoms Of the legs
tied together with rope.Yarns.