The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-04-09

the sun burned them, Kor-ko-ya killed
in single combat a lean white bear
whose hunger had given it the strength
of ten, and then calmly gave part of his
share of the eagerly coveted meat to a
neighbor whose leg had been broken by
a sled.
For this act of charity men said Kor-
ko-ya was under a spell, and that the
white glare had entered his brain.
A few months later, when plenty be-
gan to come, and the ice broke and the
seal dotted the edge of the spreading
waters, one of the tribe living in that
village slipped into a, crevice while
hunting and was lost. He left a widow
and a small babe at the breast, and ac-
coriing to the custom. it came to pass
that she set forth to kill the child.
Among these gentle people, for III
truth they are gentle, the sacrifice of
the infants is part of their belief. LII
the regions of the north, where every
thing, even nature is hard, the law OF
the survival of the fittesG obtains to the
last degree.
The weak go to the wall and kindli-
ness is strangled by hunger. The cold of
the ice is reflected in the hearts of the
people; death itself has no terrors. like
the gnawing of famine. To die is good
because it is the entrance to place of
Uldily SELLS dilii IluCu DIuDDSI eiilu SfAlli
clothing ever soft.
The widow set forth to Kill her babe
as she had seen other widows go in her
time. She was of the age when a nus
band is necessary for sustenance. She
could not work, because young women
did not labor, save for their lords. And
she could not marry with child, be-
cause no man would take her thus bur
dened. 1t was meet and right and the
lou a. Lii INn1e heahg
KoRKOYA'S FIRST WIFE.
The trodden snow about the igloos
held the greater part of the village
when she started on her errand. There
were sorrowing faces and some of the
spectators beat their breasts as they
watched her thread the narrow ways.
She was comely of feature, but grief
made her old, and as she staggered on
hugging the tiny bundle in her arms,
she seemed as a stranger to the specta-
tors.
Kor-ko-ya's igloo was on the out
skirts of the village. AS the widow
passed it he appeared and gazed into
her face. Then he stopped her.
'Lutangwa." he said, simply, will
you make an igloo with me?"
Those who heard marveled. An Es-
kimo never asks woman to marry
And LutangWa was not a bargain. Her
teeth were rather scant, and she had
suffered with a trouble at one time.
Then, to make it more wonderful, ko-
ko-ya was a hunter whose fame was
growing. And he had some blubber and
bear meat already stored in the ice
nearby.
The widow nodded. Her SPECIFICATION
was too great for words. After a mo-
ment she recalled her errand and
started to move away, but Kor-ko-ya
stopped her again.
Where is Lutangwa going?" he
asked.
The woman made gesture toward
the child III her arms Then she looked
up at the stolid Eskimo with all her
mother love reflected in her face. She
had no hope that the rigorous custom
would be broken for her sake, but the
babe was her all.
Come with me, Lutangwa," said
Kor- ko-ya.
But my child
Kor-ko-ya took her by the arm and
led her to his igloo into which they dis
appeared. There was no comment made
by the spectators. They doubted the
testimony of their eyes, and it was not
until they saw Lutangwa installed with
the sucking babe in the skin pouch at
her back that they realized the truth.
From that time what Kor-ko-ya did
was accepted as inspired. When he
built a hut of stone and moss, instead
of ice, his neighbors considered it all
right-for him. When he made a tube
of bits of stray wood and inserted it
in the roof for the purpose of ventila-
ton they commented not, but when, in
.iIce, he bought a cabin window from
an ice-bound whaleT, paying for it
many fox and reindeer skins. and
placed it in the wall of his igloo, the
news spread far and wide that Kor-ko-
va was dead, and that the soul of a
white mans devil had come in his
place.
But he continued on in the tenor of
his way, and hunted and fished and
saved and waxed rich. AS the years
passed his fame spread, and men came
from beyond the water to see his riches
and to step inside his hut to look out
through the glass window, and to go
outside to look in.
He became well knwn to the hardy
whalers, and today his doings form
subject of comment and interest in more
than one country. And that is why the
news that he had placed another win
dow in his house was carried over 1000
miles of ice and water, to be discussed
over pipes and ale in a dozen civilized
seaports.
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