Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-04-21
LOYALTY TO THE TRUTH.

There are not a few Baptists nova
days, it is to be feared" says the New
York Examiner (Bapt.), who are
members of our churches not SO much
because of an intelligent comprehen-
sion of the peculiar truths for which
we stand, as from the circumstances of
birth, environment, or some other rea-
son than the one that should control
in so serious a matter-loyalty to the
truth as revealed in the New Testa-
ment. They do not have a firm grip
upon the great principles which under
lie and compel our separate existence
as denomination. In the days when
1t cost something to be Baptist, those
who became such did so because con-
science compelled. They accounted
stripes, Imprisonment, fines, social os-
tracism, the sneering accusation of
narrowness and bigotry as nothing in
comparison with the joy of obedience
to the commands of Christ. Now,
when it costs nothing to be Baptist,
many have lost this strong conscience
grasp upon the truth, and cast off their
allegiance to the denomination-that
is, to the principles for which it stands
whenever convenience or inclination
prompts, as though 1t made no real
difference whether they were Baptists
or something else"
A young man who is in charge of a
party of gold-seekers on the route to
the Klondike sends full account by
letter to a companion in Spokane OF
the means by which he has been trans
porting his supplies northward. One
Of these means was a pack-dog which
has been denominated, on account of
his Importance, a "Klondike freight
var"
He Is not large dog, either" says
the letter-writer, but he will pack
seventy-fve pounds through the snow
after the snow-shoes have made the
trail. Dogs that will pack forty or
fifty pounds are common.
THE Indians at Madison Creek
move everything with dogs. They
handled something like a million feet
of logs in that way last season. Some
Of the logs were forty feet long and five
feet in diameter. They use no horses
in this country in winter. The dogs
are fed only at night, and then but half
Of dried salmon. The natives live on
The same food.
THE priest is the high ruler among
them. 1t was he who caused this years
extra supply Of fish to be kept; he told
them to put up enough for two years.
Now they eat the fish they caught the
summer before last 1t Is not uncom-
mon to see fish piled as high as TWEEN
ty-five to thirty feet, all dried. It
rests on posts set in the ground, and
on the top of the posts are kettles to
keep mice and squirrels from getting
at the fish,
Another Klondike "freight-car"
which this expedition came across was
a "klootchman," or Indian woman,
who did not weigh more than one
hundred and twenty-five pounds, but
who would, nevertheless, carry a bar
rel of provisions, weighing not less
than one hundred and fifty pounds,
nailed to a board and the board strap
ped out on her back. With this burden
she marched thirty miles between day.
light and dark, making camp at night,
and keeping it up.
The Americans who have taken the
Klondike trail need no convincing that
the notion that IAN Indian won't
work. is fallacy. But for Indian
packers, male and female, no gold
would have been brought out of Alas
ka, for no supplies for TIE miners
could have been taken in