The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-03-12

ing whittier. Little by little l saw the
sky, and soon | struck a good route; we
were only mile from the house. On
entering we found Father ROgarOu, who
had come to make a short visit, laughing
heartily at our appearance, for we were
quite wet through"
The people of the Yukon district are
entirely dependent on what the steamers
bring during the summer of everything
in the line of what may be called civil
lied provisions" The loss of one cargo
is very serious matter, especially if the
loss occurs late in the season. The
steamer Arctic, which had on board the
sisters winter store, ran upon rock,
and the journal continues:
mo lives were lost, bat all the prOyi-
sions which should have come to us are
now at the bottom of the sea. You may
well imagine that, in spite of our sub
nilsson tO the designs of Providence, we
could not help being little uneasy for
the future: our daily bread for whole
year was lost to us like the rest. That
evening we had for meditation Abandon
ment TO Divine Providence, and think
the subject was never so profitable. He
who watches over the birds of the air,
and who clothes the lilies of the field in
all their glory, he will surely not desert
his children who pray him continually:
Give us this day our daily bread.
But the sisters were not the only suf-
ferers. The great destitution and hard
ships, vague echoes of which got into
the American papers, were caused by
this accident. Uader December 8 we
find the following entry:
'tIt is incrn6ibla tba nupn bar nF non
pie who are in distress. We hear that
at Nulato, at Nucklaquayet, and, | be-
lieve, all along the river, the miners are
almost starving. Over two hundred of
them have gone down to st. Michaefs,
as they had absolutely nothing to eat
There the company must support them
if they do not want to have a revolution
As Mr. Greenfield Tone of the agents of
the company, said last summer to
mother superior: We must give if we
would save our lives. A refusal would
be the signal for our death There are
miners above us on the river who have
had but one sack of -four all the year
They depend altogether on hunting and
fishing. Poor fellows! All this misery
has been caused by the wreck of the
Arctic For ourselves we cannot com
plain. We have lost much, it is true,
and we have to draw the lines very tight
ly to make ends meet. The rabbits as
well as the fish begin to get scarce. Not
being able to buy anything with flour |
do not know what we shall do. Flour is
what the Indians like best. What can
we do? We have none to spare. As
ever, we count on the assistance of our
good Lord. He has helped us already,
and in ways We should never have
thought of. Now he will not desert u.s."
And later, under the first Sunday in
Lent, we read of an incident which
would be laughable were it not for the
consequences of it in that country
Father Rogarou is eaten ont of house
and home:
about p. m. we heard the noise of
train Of dogs. 1t was about Father
Rogarou who had come from st.
Michaels, where he had been to buy
provisions. He had enough for the
ear, but eil hty miners got in'o Nulato
half dead with hunger and cold, and he
had to feed them until they were in q
condition to continue their journey.
Now they are at st. Michaels, where
they are living at the expense of the
company"
In December they begin to get the
real hard weather. The following gives
us an idea of life on the Yukon near
Christmas:
Time is precious and the days are
short. At two o'clock we leave off all
manual work because it gets so dark.
The lamps are in use all the time. The
sun rises at eleven and sets at two. The
view of the armament is magnificent.
You remember what told You last year.
Nothing could be grander. 1t SHOWS,
| freezes, and blows all at a time. The
cold is uOt excessive. The thermometer
is generally 10 degrees to % degrees be-
low zero. LSSrifg the novena before
Christmas it Vt down once to A de-
greGs. We nave big fire going day and
night to keep MS warm.
"Th6r5 are many holes in the roof of
our house, hence we have lots of leaks.
We put pots and pans and dishes under
them, but with all this the rain gets on
to the floor and has stained the lining of
the chapel. The other night | heard
tok, tok, tok; it was annoying, and
got up to see what was the matter.
found two of the children almost
drowned in their beds, so had to take
them-bed and clothes and ALTO the
fire to get them dry.n
Near Christmas time the Indian child
rem who hld left them in the summer
begin to return:
To-day the externs came in. e..
the Indians of the village. They have
been only two or three days in their
winter clmp. | was happy to see them
again. 1t must have been the Child
Jesus who brought them, for it was Just
the first day of the nOvcna before Christ.
mas. Poor children! they knew their
prayers so well when they left us last
spring, but now they have forgotten
them quite. They come to school at
half past five in the morning-the latest
ut seven. What | wrote last year of
their filthy condition is still true. How
ever, it docs not matter. Let us thank
God ard try to do them some good
And now Christmas comes, and there,
away in the wilds, they try to carry out
the pleasant traditions of their youth:
after BenedictiOn of the Blessed
Sacrament we had our Christmas tree.
Our poor children had never seen the
like before. The tree looked pretty and
was well decorated. Each child had
handkerchief, an apron, some TOYS and
pictures. For the girls Sister NJ Pauline
had made little bundles containing three
needles and four pins. How happy they
were! What memorable day for all!
Andrew has performed his part cf Santa
Claus very well indeed. There was an
agreeable surprise for ourselves on the
tree, namely, some cloth slippers which
mothcr-vicar had sent us last year, and
which only arrived on the last steamer
this year. Mother Superior reserved
them for the Christmas tree. In all
truth we could receive them as coming
directly from home. Moreover, in one
of the slippers mother superior found
two letters, written last year after the
Feast of st. Anne. Notwithstanding
their old date we were jubilant over
them. After Santa Claus had dlstribut-
ed the presents he opened his pack,
where he had in reserve for each child
little bag with three beans, few cakes,
and three Jumps of sugar. Our Indians
who were present were not forgotten;
we had for each of them handkerchief
and cracker We ended our little fes-
tival with hymn to the child Jesus.
After that there were admiration and
wonder, general and particular, over the
presents. The happiness of the children
was complete, and we had general uproar
till supper"
We wonder will any of our young
friends next Chr stmas, when they are
merry round their Christmas tree and
are filled with good things, think of their