New-York tribune., 1907-06-05
LIFE IN ALASKA.
DR.. and Mrs. CampbelPs Isolation on
st. Laurence Island.

A large audience turned out at yesterdays month
~ meeting Of the Wouans Board OF Home MIS-
sions Of the Presbyterian Church, held at No l56
Fifth avenue. The speakers were Dr.. and Mrs.
E o. Campbell, from St Lawrence Island Alaska.
St Lawrence Island is probably the loneliest mis-
sion station On the face OF the globe, and people
were anxious TO hear how life with the Two
missionaries who live there seeing white faces
but each others and receiving their mail just
year.
A woman in the audience asked Mrs. Campbell.
who spoke first II she went calling in St.
Lawrence Island.
often" she said. But instead of putting on
my best clothes put on my worst The Esquimau
hUts not very clean. II requires some deXterity
10 hut till you learn how. When you've
made your way through the outer hut which IS
built of rubbish YOU find yourself low hole.
which is the entrance TO the living room, a tent
Of skins. You lift up the flap, duck your head,
draw your knees Up to your chin and plunge in.
Sometimes several dogs jump at you, and some
times they don't
when you get inside You blink around til you
become used 10 the darkness. Then you aware
of room about feet by 9, and feet high. with
three or four women perhaps sitting around with
their babies. each by little whale oil lamp. This
IS the only light they have for eight months in
the year, and there they SIT and sew.
But they be polite these Esqumaus. Once
when I calling / threw my fur mittens down
beside I sat like all Of them. on the floor
One Of the mittens ripped. a noticed
st. She didn't say anything, but she reached out
Tor the n1itten, mendeG il and il back again
Now, call that real politeress"
Mrs. Campbell had with her some Of the fnery
worn by Esquimau women, and she made DR..
Campbell model while she displayed the
things One rainCoat of aesthetic yellow,
made of the intestnes Of the walrls and trimmed
with brown aux feathers. The color scheme was
beautiful. though much could be said for the
cut DR.. Campbell wriggled into it gngerly. "I
don't think much OF this he remarked. 1T wasn't
made for me" a minute later a long split up the
back testified to the correctness Of his opinion
To top off the coat DIT. Campbell donned a hood
which had yellow fur all around the face. exactly
like false bangs. The fur. blowing across the
face. protects it from the cold" said Mrs. Camp
bell.
What do you call cold up there?" some one
asked.
When it's 80 degrees below zero we think it
rather cold. When It's g c. say, you do
in New York of bad weather. that its unusual 20
Then Mrs Campbell hung around DIT Campbell's
neck baby's fur coat, 20 show how the Esquimau
women carry their infants. IT was q taUt little
garment with small opening at the top. A
in the audience asked if the baby ever
taken out of its coat TIL # burst the seams.
'Once I'm while" said Mrs. Campbell cautious
ly. They take 1t cut and cleanse It after their
own fashion"
The Campbels actually have frame house built
of lumber carried there. Of course. by ship There
IS not tree six inches high the island. No
vegetables can be grown, because there is soil.
il is just a shoal Of gravel. washed by waters
of Behring Strait. Sibearia is only forty miles
away once a year vessel comes from Cape
Nome. bringing the mail Once the vessel brought
a sewing machine for Mrs. Campbell. The spring
in the shuttle broken It was a year before
Mrs. Campbell could get another spring-and the
cost Of the spring p cents.
Around the house where the missionaries live,
and where the school IS much Of the life OF the
island gathers. Children come TO play; old people
come 10 ask advice. The missionaries do all man
ner OF things for them from saving souls to mend
ing clocks.
we try to have the best Of everything in that
house Or. Campbell said ITO attract the natives
We have the best lights, pretty things TO look at
and lots OF loving kindness.
You want 10 know what we do for water? I've
when water & Is needed take trip to lake about
ice is seven feet deep the surface of the lake
and , we have to chop hole in it
they melt over their whale oil lamps It is cold
and you can Imagine how much Of the oil they can
wash on OF their hands. as they have soap but
what we give them. Aren't they dirty? They are
those huts seven feet by ten solid row Of mem m,
women and children, lying wedged together. with
feet. They live in those huts, almost naked and
don let ANYBODY make you believe there isn't
fancy that those folks v-ry innocent, but
DR.. Campbell exhibited what he said was one of
ms greatest treasures II vas white fox skim
An old Esqumau, sick old Esquimau, owned
and pray the Spirit of the Fox 20 make him well.
We visited him. took and then a prune a
raisin for the baby. or tTi1e of canned stuff.
Gradually as they acquired confidence in Us, they
lost confidence in the fox skin, andaOne day he old
mans wife asked me If wouldn't trade some tea
for IL.
THE old people cling to their fetiches. but the
young want to break away The rule in the VII
lsges is absolutely patriarchal, and customs are
hard TO break. / remember one young fellow who
longed to smash certain idol Finally his father
consented, and with great joy the boy brought a
heavy ice pick and smOte that idol nip and thigh.
You should have seen his eyes dance when lie told
about it,
Samuel Davis, a native Escuimau, who accom-
panied the Campbells their visit New York,
gave a brief talk. Mr. Davis belongs 30 a tribe
whose name sounds like one Of the popular brands
OF candy, but no al the meeting would com
NIT himself 10 its spelling
I've been thinking he said. how we'd be in
country II the Russians had bought it. I'm
sent US people 10 make us different from what we
have been"
Then Mr.. Davisssh some EsQuirnau devices
for catching seals: their rude but effective fish
women out Of cedar roots. fragile, apparently,
that they be bent IN the hands, vet in early
times the Esquimaus cooked in them by Of
heaied stones lie showed a little OF what Is
a dencacy St Lawrence lSland-some
potatoes about inch IN diameter. In the rare
bits OF soil on the island these potatoes found
ana the natives rob the nests Another native
food Mr. Davis displayed was bark from a certain
kind Of drtf wood. u use that for medicine. Ia
rather give It baby than patent medicine be
cause know II Is usually made Of alcohol and
such things, and this is only bark I often think
the outbreaks of sickness in the schools for Esqu-
food, are put on other food There ought TO be
some native food in the schools
Mr.. Davis is impressed by the skyscrapers and
other wonders OF New York. but he is quite ready
has his baby there