The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-03-03
HOW THE ESOUIHAUX LIVE AT
JACKSON PARK.

and, to the visitor, curious people and
things already gathered together for
the great Columbian Exposition at
Chicago, none excite more curiosity
and wonder than the EsquimauX who
have been brought from their homes
in THE land of the midnight SUM-"
In jackson Park, along the lake shore,
inside an inclusure of about ten acres,
is situated the Esquimaux village con-
slStlng OF a dozen or more hutS
built of pine boards, the outside fin
ished with bark covered slabs. Some
| thing essential to our notions of the
ESqulmauX seemed lacking in the alb
Sence or the ice nuts always INSOFAR
| ABLY, associated in our minds with
these people. l think that during my
visit there l heard this absence re-
marked about a dozen times. They
are people small Of stature, with
beautifully formed feet and hands and
resemble the Chinese more than any
other race, since both are MOngOlianS.
In one hut we saw young mother
with her two months old baby that
had been christened Christopher Col
umbus, poor little thing. There were
children of all ages, d happy, jolly
crowd Of little folks, in fact they all
seemed to think life well worth liv-
ing, if one might judge by appearance
eS. Some Of them are unsteady in
clined. We saw a guitar hanging on
the wall In one home. On inquiry we
learned that the mother was the per-
former. We persuaded her to favor
US with some music and what was our
surprise to hear sung in a rather sweet
voice, Jesus, Lover of My Soul" We
knew at once that some good mission
airy had been Sowing the seed" The
husband removed his pipe from his
mouth long enough TO sing the bass
and the children stood near the
mother as she sang. 1t was a pretty
home picture. The story is the same
the world over, where love reigns
! there is happiness.
In another home we found a jolly
old man with violin. He favored
us with selection entirely new to US,
| but somewhat resembling THE Ar
kanSaW Traveller" He seemed famil-
| lar with all the "tur in the tune
though In every home the women
were busy with different kinds of
work, washing, baking or making
sealskin slippers. Some of the rooms
were decorated with paper and feath-
er flowers and bright cOlored pictures.
The men and boys were clothed in
seal skin, the genuine article of
cOurSe-nO sham there and certainly
no beauty. The women wore dresses
SO destitute of decorations that any
good quaker would have been salts
! fed
The sealskin tent that is their
home during the few warm weeks
! they cali their summer was pitched
near the center of the village. In il
We saw their canoes made of seal skin,
| their harpoOIS, stone lamps and other
useful articles. There was their fur
| sleeping bag which must be very com
! Portable in cold weather, and a person
we'll covered in one of them would
suffer 40 inconvenience even with so
| low a temperature that the mercury
would no longer register it.
| We saw their Arctic dogs. They
are Il wolfSh looking lot Of beasts. A
| gentleman who had been in Labrador
! informed us that they are first cOus-
| ms and not brothers of the wolf. We
accepted an invitation extended to us
! by smiling Esko to take ride on
| his Sledge TO which six dogs were har-
messed. There is goOds sized ice
| pond inside the Enclosure and around
! it we went, sailing at a rate to fright
en- one, but We safely landed and the
| pleasant faced nOrUherner accepted
our thanks with an ''all right" and
good by
| We next called upon the interpret
err polite lriShman who had been in
| Labrador sixteen years, in the employ
of the Hudson Bay Co. His wife and
| two children were with him. He told
US the company of EsquimauX were
true representatives of the inhabit-
ants of Labrador and had been select
| ed from villages situated along the
coast, a distance of over eight hun
dred miles intervening between the
FIRST and last villages. All but two
families can speak the English lam
guage, they having had the benefit Of
the mission schools established and
sustained by Uhe Episcopal and Wes-
leyan Methodist churches. We in
Quired concerning the government of
the tribes. The reply was that each
tribe has d chief, but the difference in
poor humanity is very little the world
over, as might makes right generally.
They have no marriage ceremony. If
a man desires a help meet he must
FIRST prove to The satisfaction of the
parents of the one of his choice that
| he is a good hunter and can provide
sufficiently for the wants Of a family,
Ii the Young lady mas no parents it is
the duty OF the nearest relative to
make the matrimonial arrangement.
They are strict observers Of the sab
BATH, no visitors being admitted on
that day They impressed me as be-
ing q quiet, inotfensiye, happy people,
and we took our departure with a
smiling good by' from the old grand
father down to the youngest fodder.
CARL.
Miss Eleanor Thayer began today