The daily sentinel., 1909-04-14
THEY TELL OF
NOTABLESTRI


+ Out OF the land OF the great :
+ white silence" Capt. w. A. !
+ Reid. an old-time friend and !
+ former fellow worker of VIII !
T. A. House. general secretary of :
4. the Grand Junction y. NJ. G. A., J
= and Capt. Reid's plucky wife !
+ reached New York last week to =
+ tell his stock company" the !.
+ woman's auxiliary OF the inter- +
= national committee of the Y. NJ. =
(. c. A, the story of their 5000 +
I. mile journeys up and down the !.
+ Yukon in the little launch, the +
E Helen Gould, which was built +
E by friends of Mr.. Reid in De- +
+ troit One of the chief donors i
+ was Mrs. Helen Newberry, the =
4. mother of the former secretary +
+ of the navy. The soldiers in 1.
+ Alaska named her for ''their +
+ friend,' the Helen Gould. ].
-. $3.50 -. i.E.a i j.
On the invitation of Miss Gould.
over 200 friends who are backing
this kind of enterprise the Y. NJ. c.
A. is projecting among the soldiers
and isolated men around the world,
met at her home on Fifth avenue,
New York, and Mr.. Reid had great
story to tell from his naviga tions for
three summers up and down the Yu-
kon river. a distance equal to that
from New York to Liverpool and
back again. The little boat touched
at every place where there was an
army post. a wireless telegraph sta
ton, mounted police barracks. n
trapper's shack. settlers cabin or a
mining camp. They carried nothing
TO sell; but gave away what was
most wanted and least TO be had in
this dreary country of snow, cold and
grIesomeness-good reading, and es-
pecially magazines, music and friend
iiness
Men came 200 miles on horseback
or on foot over rough trails and snow
fields, fording rivers and down rough
mountain trails for the sake of a few
back numbers of popular magazines,
to listen to good music. sing some
Gospel songs with people" listen to
illustrated lectures, or a sermon in
song and story, pictured with the
stereopticon, and to take "A cup of
tea from clean china and white linen
from the hands of a Christian wom-
an.
Alaska is the country where men
so daffy." from sheer loneliness and
isolation in this land of the great
white silence with its night of three
months of dreary darkness or three
months of unbrollen daylight. In
one remote telegraph post Reid found
three men who had grown to so hate
the sight of one another that they
would not speak save when absolute
iy compelled to by their duties. At
ter one had cooked his own break
fast he would dash a pail of water
over the fire rather than to have the
other get the benefit of it, These
men would only come down to his
entertainment one at time.
Five hundred miles from civiliza-
tion they came across the shanty of
an old trappor and prospector. who
had immersed himself for thirteen
years in Alaska. The man thought
he had gone nutty" when he heard
she music of a brass band beloved
through the big brass horn music
machine from the launch at the land
ing. The old trapper was prevailed
upon TO come down to the boat to
meet Mrs. Reid, the first woman he
had seen for four years. The old
trapper was educating his four
daughters in Eastern colleges.
The Helen Gould" is IS feet keel
with 9-foot beam, carries provisions
for three months, a ton or more of
HdbhAiltSt AitNtllliS llpldIltS VI ~
60 100 volumes. its talking machine,
the stereopticon pocket Testaments
and Christian literature, and is man
ned only by Mr. Reid and his wife.
Mrs. Reid is as enthusiastic as her
husband in this business of bringing
cheer and breaking the monotony OF
life on the Yukon. Their winters
are spent at Fort Seward, where Mr.
Reid is the active secretary of the
soldiers Y Nj. c. A.. and supervlses
the associations at other posts. Ev'
cry man but three of the post arc
members In one post, and in another
only one remained outside, and h'
was in the guard house. From herr
he takes long trips with his dog team
or "mushes" through the snow Il
other posts to hold services, give en-
tertainments. "chirp up the boys,
and save them from despair and dis
sipation The errand which brough
Mr.. Reid East was to ask for NOR
assistants and their support, for NOV
ing picture films. Illustrated lectures
stories and songs, travelling librarie
TO be sent from post to post by do
teams, for popular magazines an
other literature. and to bring tn
thanks of the isolated people of tn
fnrtherest northern frontiers of Am
erican civilization. He passes thi
word on to the reading public, Mag
azines are scarce at the North Pole
What do you do with yours afte
reading7 Why not mail them Mort
TO hungry readers2 Uncle Sam will
carry magazine by dog team to tn
very heart of Alaska for four cents