The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1891-04-18
A Quaint Little Woman.
From Baltimore sun April S.

II was Dorm III Ufeeiduu, WIS slt sur
pie sentence with which Miss Olaf Krarer
began description of ''Life in the Frozen
North at the Young Mems Christian As
ISOLATION Hall last night. Miss Krarer is
native Esquimau from the northeast
coast of Greenland. She is thirty-three
years of age and just forty inches in height.
She weighs 100 pounds, but explained that
the warm American climate had pulled her
down, and that the ordinary weight for Il
woman of her height in Greenland is be-
tween 40 and $50 pounds. When she
was fifteen years of age she went to Iceland
with party of Icelandic fishermen, who
had been shipwrecked on the Greenland
coast, and was educated in the missionary
schools there. Thirteen years ago she
went to Canada, and for long time had
to be kept in a room full of ice aud snow,
until she became somewhat acclimated.
From there she went to Minnesota about
six years ago and suffered intensely during
the first summer Since then she has re-
manned in this country, lecturing most of
the time This summer she expects to
pass in Iceland, but seems to have no de-
sire to return to her native Greenland.
In person Miss Krarer might be de-
scribed as of the plump and pleasing
type. Her well-fOrmed little body was
clad in a gown of pale green satin, over
which was draped black lace. Although
dark, her skin is not swarthy, and her light
brown hair was arranged with a curly bang
and loose coil at the back of the head.
Her head is large, about the size Of full
grown Americans, and her plump little
arms are curved from folding them con-
stantly when child. She wears a No. 10
shoe-children' size.
'Tn Greenland" she said, "we have no
schools, no ministers, no doctors, no law
yfrs and no rulers All we know is what
our parents tell us. We live in snow
houses, dress in furs and eat fish, oil and
fat meat. The snow houses are shaped
somewhat like tent. The men cut the
snow into blocks with their spears. These
blocks are put together like bricks and the
cracks filled up with loose snow. Inside
the walls and the floor are covered with
furs. The door is Just large enough to let
a man in, and is covered with fur. There
is no chimney. To make fire five or six
whaleboneS are put in the centre of the
hut, then small bones, lean meat and blub-
Der and large bones. There is no wood in
Greenland-not even 4 match. Some dry
lean meat is pulled apart and mixed with
moss Then a flint is struck against a
walrus tusk until the moss and meat ignite.
Sometimes it takes very long time to make
Il fire. Only the rich have hints. The
poor have to borrow from them. This is
the only distinction between rich and poor.
"Our people in Greeland never wash
themselves. When ! went to Iceland they
gave me piece of soap, and | put it inmy
mouth Instead Of water they rub them
selves all over with grease, and sit in the
thick yellow smoke of the blubber fires,
which causes the grease to settle all over
the body. This is what makes their com
plexion so dark. An Esquimau baby at
birth is as white as any American baby.
"Our day is four months long, our night
six, and for two months We have twilight.
The daytime is the poorest time of the year
for us The people get snow blind. Then
eyes are sore and SWOLLEN, and ready to
burst out of their heads with pain In the
night there are the northern lights, the
stars and sometimes the moon, which give
plenty of light to hunt by.
"The twilight is our best time The ice
then breaks up, and seals, whales and wal
russes come to the surface to get air, and
parties of men go out to spear them. \
wairus tusk is used for weapon. The
men throw themselves on the ice and imi-
tate the noise made by young seal. As
soon as the old seal appears they all thrust
at it, To the first one to spear tie seal
belongs the fur, and the Others share the
meat and fat. Whales, sometimes ninety
and hundred feet long, get tangled up in
the breaking ice, and when one is killed
the men shout and sing in great rejoicing,
for they know there will be plenty for a
while The meat is always eaten raw.
The mode of dining in Greenland is sim
pie. A piece of raw meat is held in one
hand and bit of blubber in the other
When they are eaten the hands are rubbed
all over the face, head and neck, 50 as to
lose none of the precious grease.
"When young man wants wife he
must steal her If he does not succeed in
carrying her off to another snow hut the
parents kill him. If he is successful the
parents think he is smart man, and are
proud of him. That is all there is of it.
If he deserts his wife he is put to death.
"When person gets sick in Greenland
he is put off by himself in snow-house
The people do not bother him any more,
except to throw him occasionally piece of
blubber. They think bad spirit has pos
session of him. If he get well they think
he is a smart man and has conquered the
evil spirit. If he dies they dig hole in
the snow and throw him in, with his spear
and furs They believe in a good spirit
and bad spirit. The bad place, they be-
lieve. is even colder than Greenland A
missionary would gain little by telling the
Esquimaux that the bad place was very
warm, for they would all want to 90 there.
A Greenlander does not get his full growth
until he is twenty-five years of age, A
man four feet high is considered very tall.
Ny father was three feet three inches tall
and weighed one hundred and sixty
pounds"
Miss Krarer made her appearance after
the lecture in native costume, in which
she looked very much like a tiny polar
bear In this costume she sang the song
which the successful lover sings after he
has succeeded in stealing his girl.
His Impudence Cost a Watch.
From the Argonaut.
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