The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-09-15
MIN OF &T:SlCRF|E.
TArHER DARSCM's LONELY WORK
o. THE Yukon.
Teo Years Ago = wealthy Resident
- Baltimore, He Donates His Era
tire Property 10 the Jesuits and
Goes Int m Evnngeiisffc Exile.

FAtheE Earnam. wias recently returned
70 Seattle aster aaYtng beeI 8 pssssngef
% The United States revenue cutter Bear
ia asr E@r.iosas expedition. <sr tte resisf Of
tsse Arctic TisaisTe. l. by 10 nzsans an or
esnary nsan. In ancestry. education and
nauaYal ability rs is well Up III abs scale.
Tsn years ago Father TsaEnsssn occupied
q rosl;;o4 os esss ard wealth. He be-
foDss9 - Cue If the prona,aen. families Ut
East;nsore. He had reee9xes an education
which gave him entrance 10 the highest
unfyessssy circles. he had q fortune which
piaEes HIN beyond ire possibility o. want.
ard wa.ea would have afforded him ample
means 20 pursue u literary or artistic ca
reer independent Of al patronage or yag.
Jusa at that tsa4s. however, be became
convinced OF ais duty TO enter the priest
hood. " beu ne had cIce taken als reso-
luton nothing could stand in TIE xay of IT.
lie Joined Ia. Jss igi,s, and At oyace turned
ovar 20 that soeiety his large property.
aaisng fer himself nothing ia reiaEn save
q huEussl@ place Ia t1esf ranks. lbs bad
occupied a prominent position In the Prot
estaai Eliseops. church. ard wasD ne
ala.sG his change Of faith the newspapers
from ono end OF the land 70 ths other we're
1uH Of .gle story.
With The sto.eai resolution Of the true
Jesuit, ae coveted the hardest place that
could hs Assigned him. and In this desire
he was gra:ifIsd, being assigned promptly
70 "a sniaaion oa this far OF shores u North
west Alaska. II that barren aJd lonely
field he has spsnt the Intervening years.
with solitary visit 10 his Eastern home.
When he boarded the overland train yes
ferday, bound Last, laa really looked but
little older than when Re left Baltimore,
nearly ten years ago. HIS short. curly
hair u now Geeke1 with gray. but his syes
have lost none Of tae sparkle and his face
none Of the good nature 80 thoroughly
characteristic Of him He has been IN
Alaska aimee 1870 engaged in the mission
airy w9rk os the Roman Catholic church.
ard IL now stationed at Ealato. about ~
nliles up the Yukon.
Ia the interim Of his missionary Iaoors,
or rather his srangssistie Work. be- has
devoted himself with scholarly taste and
aptitude TO the preparation Of dictionary
and grammar of the Eskimo language.
which bids fair 10 be accepted as the stan
dard work IN that branch If etymology.
Already he has cataiogaed and defined
more than sea words. yet le says that his
task IL only begun. inasmlacn as the lam
guage has q rich vocabulary. He has the
great task before him OF writing a gram
mar upon bases which do net exist al all
IN our i2EEH4As. r Or IiS&8slGs. an CASA
there are bat two numbers. In the Ina!t.
or Eakirno II the hebrew. there arc
three numbers, singular. dual and plural.
IN tEe conjugation CT the verb there arc
also radical differences, and II arrang TX
the various moods and lenses 1t had been
Necessary for Father BarT1m 10 create
Bew forms and schemes which are not 10
be found In the English paraasgms.
Father Barnum has been out bat once
since he went north. That was last year.
lie is an interesting convcrsationalist On
all themes save that which mos; interests
his listener. lie will not talk about HIM
seif. lie speaks OF the country in which
he has been Iaboring, and OF the objects
of interest and beauty he nas found there.
The EEkimos, ne says. are the happiest
and best natured people In the world. The
affection that exists between the elders
and the children, he says. might well ba
emulafed by more civilized countries.
Father Barnum's long and scholarly
study OF the Northern Indians has made
him an authority upon them. It Is his
theory thai the Indians came here from
the interior OF America. being driven fur
Their and further north By more powerful
tribes. IIe takes no stock in the theory
that they have a common ancestry with
the Mopaolians.