The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-07
THE LIFE IN ALASKA
INTERESTING LECTURE
 BH DIR. STUCK.
Archdeaeon of The Frozen Lands De-
 lighted Large Audience At st. John's Church Last Night f With Illustrated story.

One of the most delightful evenings of the congregations of St. Johns Episcopal church and the Church Of the Holy Comforter to spend in some time was in listening to Archdeacon Hud- son Stuck. of Alaska. last night in the chapel at St. Johns church. ( Archdeacon Stuck arrived in Mont gomery yesterday morning from Mobile and during his stay here Is the guest of Rev. E. E. Cobbs, rector of St Johns church. He comes to Montgomery to tell of the wonderful mission field in the frozen land of Alaska.
 When the venerable Archdeacon was introduced to the audience by Rev. Cobbs the chapel at St. Johns was well filled with women. men and children. Arranged at convenient and advan-' tageous point was screen on which the illustrations which were used dur ing the course of the lecture were thrown. The pictures from powerful stcriopticon were about the best ever seen in Montgomery, and added color and interest to tho wonderfui lecture delivered. E
 pr. Stuck took the audience through his three years arduous serVlcc III through the thousand miles of the "in- land passage" of Southeastern Alaska, beautiful. picturesque and entrancing as was ever Japan's famed Inland sea, 10 SkaRuaY. Intn OfSt tho ShS1s mountain ranges into the Tanana and Koyukuck countries. sometimes preast- ing the waters of the wonderful rivers, but most times over the dreary. H. .limitable wastes of snow that are mis- tress of Alaska for nine months or the year. The pictures were beautiiuiiy tinted, and under the earnest. pleasing words and gestures of Dr. Stuck one could almost see the cold waves in the air, hear the crackle of the ice and feel the whip of the snowflakes as the wind flung them into the faces or the furclad travellers.
 . Stopping here and there to visit an Indian village, to watch the almost coincident rising and setting Of the sun. to marvel at the beauties of re- flected light as they were thrown across the heavens from the Aurora Borealis. to witness the christening or a native child. to inspect the mission buildings and imaginatively hear the intoning words of the holy communion for those who had been bereft of them through years of solitude in the wilder ness of snow, the listeners were taken to the farthest Northern point in all the world where men have, gone In the search for gold. Then steps were re- traced along the snow and fce-covered channel of the Yukon. which has It's source within twenty-three miles or the Arctic ocean, meanSering 2,500 miles to empty it's waters into the same ocean. It was an interesting. fascinat- ing lecture. Illustrating an interesting, fascinating country, to which nave been drawn a few faithful missionaries or the Episcopal church, to be doctor, teacher minister and guide to the widely separated settlements of natives and isolated whites.
 Dr. Stuck was formerly Dean or the Cathedral at Dallas. Texas. His work is the supervision of the missions Tn the valley of the Yukon. and its tribu- taries, and he also visits number or mining camps. In the summer he travels on the steaufboats and in the winter with dog teams. Some of the stations are seventy five or 100 miles apart. There are seven mission stations on the Yukon. three on it's tributaries and ten in the interior.
 At some of the mining camps visit ed by Dr. Stuck he Is the only minister who has ever been there. some ot them can be visited but once year, which gives the white men there their only chance for public worship.
 Koyukuk is the most Northern gold mining camp in the world. It Is sixty or seventy miles directly North from the arctic circle. and between the S7th and 6Sth parallels. The climate of the interior IS ike InAt OI NortuerH SipSfia' and is differentafrom that of the coast. On the coast there Is q snowfall of forty feet in year, hut in the interior only four
 pr. Stuck resides at Fairbanks. which is the chief town in the interior, and has a population of 1000 to 5000 in the center of & mining population of 10.- 900 or 12.000.
 At 3:sO o'clock this afternoon Dr. Stuck will address the Womans Auxilliaries of St. Johns and the Church of the Holy Comforter. and all others who care to attend. In this lecture he will tell of, the work that is being done in Alaska by the women missionaries. many of whom are South ern woman
 This evening at o'clock a banquet will be rendered to the Archbishop at the Exchange Hotel. This banquet is given by the Church Club of St. Johns Dr. Stuck will be the only speaker Of the evening.
 Tomorrow morning at il o'clock. Dr. Stuck will preach at he Church of the Holy Comforter and at 7:30 o'clock to- morrow evening will preach at St. Johns.
 Benefit School Improvement Fund.