The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-03-12
BRAVE WOMEN; OR, CHRISTMAS NJ
THE ARCTICS.

BRAVE WOMEN; OR, CHRISTMAS NJ
THE ARCTICs.
1t will be four years next November
since Archbishop Seghers was murdered
in Alaska. Nearly year later when
the news of the death arrived, the whole
world rang with the story of his hero
ism and devotion. Few, however, know
that almost on the spot marked by his
blood noble women are carrying ON the
work which he died to begin.
In the summer of 1888 the Sisters OF
st. Anne left Victoria for the Yukon
River, and on its banks founded their
schools. There were three of them
a reverend mother and two novices. The
Jesuits had been given charge of the
missions in this district. and at their
station of Kossarioifsky, in the widest
part of the wild Northwest in the midst
of savage mountains and trackless for
ests, the sisters began their work.
1t is the custom in their houses to keep
a journal. 1t is more in the nature OF a
simple letter addressed to the sisters i'll
the mOtheT-house than q journal proper
| ly so-called. 1t is not intended for pub
lication, and to me this seems mistake
If there is anything our people in the
| United States should be led to take an
interest in it is mission work. Living
and moving and having our being in the
midst of a gIeat material civilization, 1t
is no wonder that the taint of it has en-
| tered into our souls. Ever busy with
what we shall eat and what we shall
drink and wherewith we shall be clothed,
there is danger that our minds may be-
come Indifferent, the spiritual side of
our nature dwarfed, and we may begin
to lose all care about laying up treasures
where the rust and the moth consume
not and where thieves do not break
| through and steal. The stronger this
temptation to materialism the more
powerful the remedy must be, and it
seems to me there is no specific so efii-
cacious as the consideration of the acts
of those noble men and women who,
leaving behind them all the material
comforts which we prize so much, go
out into the waste places of the earth
and devote themselves to labor-nOt for
hope of praise from those whom they
have left behind, or of reward from those
whom they 60 to benefit, but simply and
entirely for the love Of God and the sal
walton of immortal souls. Surely the
consideration of such examples of de-
NOuI -hbilNEdulpl ~ tilN otiOhfSNob
antidote to the materialism of our time
and country. If the letters of the Cath
olic missionaries that are sent home
more of them should be prepared for
publicatiOn--werc brought to the knowl-
edge of our people through the medium
of the Sunday school and the pulpit; if
the children were personally appealed to
and encouraged in giving something for
the missions. not only would their gen
erosity grow with their growth but they
would lie stronger and better Catholics,
inasmuch as they have identified them
selves with and taken share in the
spreading of the faith.
1t is with the idea of bringing home to
Catholics in the United States the work
which herOines of their own flesh and
blood are doing that we give few GX.
tracts from the journal of the sisters on
the Yukon River. 1t is no long, boast
ing, statistical account of doors
Opened and "SOuls Reached" and
"Bibles Distrihuttd;" neither is it a
record of morbid introspection; but it is
a simple, commons So letter, which
will appeal to simple, comm mJn-senSe
people. 1t flows on from day to day
with the story of their uneventful life,
| their little pleasures, and, now and
again. a hint of their privations. Their
preparations for the great festivals, the
progress of the children, the little visits
paid them ut long intervals-ths is the
sum of it all; but those who have eyes
! to see may read between the lines the
story Of hero'c lives that had almost
| thought were lived no more upon this
earth.
In the beginning we must remember
that the Alaska of the Yukon is not the
Alaska of the summer tourist. As the
or Nv it is twelve hundred miles from
| KOssanOifsky to Sitka and Juneau, and
| this in country marked on the maps as
uneXplOTed. From October to April its
inhabitants are shut out from the world
Ice closes navigation on the river, and
travel by land is possible only on sleds
drawn by teams of dogs. In the summer
months the weather becomes extremely
warm, and mosquitoes aud sandties
make life almost uncomfortable. The
journal opens with August of last year,
1889. The Indians have gone off to
their summer camp to hunt and fish,
and have taken their children with
them. The convent is still occupied by
| he three sisters and a few bOarders.
TIe usual labOriOus house cleaning that
is for ever associated with vacation fills
up the time, but the arrival of the
s. inner or of transient guest are
events t be duly chrOnicled. Incident
ally we get an insight into some of the
amenities of life in Alaska:
after Mass the steamer ST. Michael
arrived. Father Rogarou is on board,
and he brings three new bOar,lers from
Nulato. They are big girls. from four
| teen TO fifteen yeaIs old, and are full
| blooded Indians. The good father looks
well, but il is evident he has suffered
from lack of food. When the survey
party passed through NulatO the father
and the lay biOtl er had been weeks
without flour. The gentlemen of the
party gave them few sacks and also
other pr visions. All these privations
do not prevent him from being as jolly
rs ever. lie is always gay and happy.
In one of his visits to us he said he actu
ally enjoyed the missionary life, as lie
had dreamt of it and prayed for it for
years"
Flour is mentioned particularly, not
only because it is an article of food but
because it is also the great substitute for
money with the ludians, as we shall see
below.
August is the beginning of the rainy
season. The diary continues:
To-day, the 9th, the children and
climbed the mountains. | had never
gone this way before. At the top we
were surprised by heavy rain storm.
, As these mountains are covered with
trees we took shelter under them for
some time; but the ram continued and
we could not remain, as we were great
distance from home. Soon we were wet
through. The children were delighted
with it, and, of course, the mistress had
to be so too. We sang Holy Angels
and Maiden Mother as best we could
while walking. After half an hour the
rain had ceased, but, remember, the
grass was very long, some Of it higher
than our heads. At last we got down in
safety, but did not know the place we
were in or in which direction to turn,
for here one secs nothing but trees and
brushwood. At the foot of the noun
tains the pines and arbutus are so thick
that could not see through them. l
told the children to say a Hail Mary, and
we all recited it together. After that
we went straight ahead without know
| III @\\ II | n u