The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-02-28
Children Under the Snow.

Children Under the Snow.
Far away up in the north, on the
shores of that great frozen ocean lying
beyond Europe and Asia, you may
sometimes catch sight Gas did once)
OF a huge, gray, pointed thing, stand
ing all alone in the midst of the snowy
plain, just like an immense pear with
the stalk upward. l should have been
puzzled had l not seen a thin curl
creeping from the top of it; but that let
me into the secret. This queer-looking
thing was Samoiede tent.
The tent of Samoiede is almost as
| simple an affair as that of an Arab. All
you have to do is to plant dozen long
poles in the ground, slanted so as to let
their tops meet; cover this framework
with reindeer skins, leaving a hole at
the top, to let out the smoke; pile the
snow up high around the lower part to
keep off the wind-the " house" is COM
plete.
But, outlandish as it looks, this little
burrow is worth something in a Ireal
Russian frost, which freezes the very
breath on ones mustache; so / go right
up to the door (Which is simply a thick
skin hanging over hole in the side),
lift it up and step in.
The inside is certainly warm enough
rather too warm. in fact, being al
most as hot and choky as bake-house.
There is fire burning in the middle,
the smoke going anywhere to every
where; and beside it sat three things
Gone can hardly call them human fig
| nrooN q Hoo1 lornav. fho,, no othn,,
two.
There being no light but the glare of
the fire, it is not easy for me to see
where l am going; and the first thing l
do is to stumble over something which
seems like skin bag, unusually full.
But it is MOTT is child, wrapped or
rather tied up in huge cloak of deer
skin, and rolling about the floor like a
log.
In these out-of-the-way places, where
a man may 60 for days without seeing
a human face except his own, people
call upon each other without waiting
to be introduced; and my sudden en-
trance does not seem to disturb my
new friends in the least. They greet
me cordially enough, and bid me well
come in Russian, which most of the
Samoiedes speak little; and, seating
myself on chest, look about me.
AS my eyes get used to the half-light,
l see that the group by the fire consists
of woman and two little girls, mutfied
in skins from head to foot. Papa is
away somewhere with his sledge and
his reindeer, leaving mamma. to mind
the house and take care of the children.
Funny little things they are, with great
round heads, and dark-brown skins,
and small, restless, black eyes,, and
faces as if somebody had sat down upon
them; but, queer as they look, they
have learned to make themselves useful
already, for they are hard at work
stitching their own clothes. They are
not bit shy, and in another minute
have them scrambling up into my lap,
and wondering at the ticking of my
watch, which take out to show them,
while they clap their hands and shout
"Pat, pail" which is their word for
"good."
The tent is not a very large one, but
every inch of its space has certainly
been made the most of. The floor is
carpeted with thick sheets of gray felt,
and Uttered with chests, sacks, baskets,
bark shoes and bits of harness; while
hanging from the tent poles, or thrust
into the folds of the skins that cover
them, are a perfect museum of things
OF every sort-caps, pouches, fish
spears, knives, hatchets, WITHSTAND
last, but certainly not least, the face of
baby, which has been thrust into a
kind of pocket in the skin, like knife
into the sheath. 1 stoop to stroke the
little brown face, while the round eyes
stare wonderingly at me out of the
folds of the skin.
Meanwhile the lady of the house Cor
rather tenD hospitable, like all Sa-
moiedes, hastens to set before me some
black bread mixed with bark, and a
lump of terrifically strong cheese, made
of reindeer milk.
The reindeer supplies the Samoiedes
with plenty of other things besides
cheese; indeed, almost everything that
they have got comes from it in some
form or other. They eat reindeer meat,
they drink reindeer milk; their fish
spears are tipped with reindeer horn;
their clothes, and the very tents in
which they live, are made of reindeer
skin; the needles wherewith they stitch
them are of reindeer bone, and the
thread of reindeer sinew; and when
they wish to move from place to place,
it is the reindeer that draws them along
the Samoiede would be as badly off
without his reindeer as the Arab with
out his camel.-Ddvid Ker, in Wide
AUGEe.