Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-01-28
"The Christmas Ship"
The winter Play of Two Little Girls
who Were Ice-Bound on an Arctic
WhaIer.

The winter Play of Two Little Girls
who Were Ice-Bound on an Arctic
whaIer.
''The Christmas Ship, by II. II. Bennett,
in st. Nicholas, is a story about two little
girls who we're on board ice bound whaling
vessels, near Herald Island, in the Arctic
ocean Mr.. Bennett says:
Dolly and Jessie found plenty of ways to
play when the mercury did not drop down
to 40 degrees below zero, as it did, fire.
quently for days together. Sometimes the
sailors bundled them up on Eskimo sledges,
and hauled them for miles over the ice at
other times they went fishing, dropping
their lines into holes which the sailors cut
through thin places in the ice, where it was
not more than three or four feet thick.
There were Eskimo dogs on the ships, and
the sailors trained them to act as pack
mules: two bags were hung on each dog,
one on each side, and the fish which were
caught were put in these bags; then the
dogs trotted along very carefully, so as
not to drop the fish. When they got tired
they would lie down on the ice to rest, and
would get up and trot off without losing
fish. Sometimes the dogs were hitched to
sledges, and the girls were whirled over
the ice so fast that they chung to the sides
of the sedge to keep from falling off.
When Dolly went outside the ship she
looked more like little Eskimo than like
the girls at home She wore the heaviest
of wooden clothes in the cabin, but these
were not enough to keep her warm when
she and Jessie went on the sledges or went
fishing. At such times she put on a coat of
deerskin, which went TO her feet; it was
lined with flannel and trimmed with fur,
and ad a hood which could be pulled over
her head and face the hood was lined
with wool and trimmed with the fur of the
wolverine. Wooden stockings and gloves
covered her feet and hands, and on top of
these she wore E.kimo boots Of fur, and
deerskin mittens lined with wool. Jessie
dressed in the same way; but her coat was
trimmed with mink, and her boots were Of
sealskin
Out on one of the ice hi Is, old Tom Banks
the boatswain of the Backbird, who made
it his special duty to look after Dolly and
Jessie, made them toboggan slide, down
which their sledges would rush to sweep
far out on the ice plain: then some of the
sailors would haul them back to the top
again, for another swift, breathless dash
down the CLASSY slope In the mornings
there were lessons TO be learned and recited,
| Tor Dolly 5 aunt ulu not DelleNe III all pay
and no work" so Dolly, and Jessie too,
had geography and spelling and arithmetic
and reading, Just as though they were not
| hundreds of miles away from any school.
Dolly studied French, also; and both Of
| them were learning to play on the mando-
lin and guitar, for several of the captains
wives had their instruments with them,
and were accomplished musicians.
one day Captain Ferry had killed a great
white bear and Dolly and Jessie had
watched the hunt from the top Of the deck
| house, and had been SO excited that they
nearly fell off The bear had been prowl-
ing around the ships all the night before,
and Captain Ferry said he was going after
it because he wanted its shaggy, white
furred skin for a rug, and because 1t was a
dangerous animal in the neighborhood of
the ship So in the morning he started
of, going in boat part of the way, for
the wind had caused wide crevasse %
open in the ice not far from the ship. The
bear was lying down behind a hummock
of ice when the captain shot it; it did not
seem to mind the bullet, but got up and
started after the captain, who ran as hard
a. he could toward the boat, into which he
jumped and the sailors pushed off. The
angry bear did not stop at the water, but
plunged in and began to swim after tbs
boat The sailors had not got good start
and the bear swan so fast that it got one
paw on the boat before the captain coulC
shoot it,