The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1912-06-13

are enjoying their second va
cation since 1901, when they went
there TO engage In social work among
the Eskimos. Their work is similar
to that of DR.. Grenfell, though their
isolation is even greater than that of
the workers on the coast of Labrador.
Situated in the Behring Sea, two
hundred miles from Nome and forty
miles from Siberia, in the shadow of
the Arctic Circle, st. Lawrence is in
accessible eight months in the year,
and the other four the only connec-
ton with the outside world is the
arrival of the United States revenue
cutter, the supply ship, and a chance
whaler now and then, and vi one or
w occasions a gasoline boat from
Nome.
The island is a government reindeer
reservation and the most remote sta
ton Of Alaska except Point Barrow,
which is the northernmost post Office
in the world. Yet Point Barrow has
e reindeer mail service three times In
the winter, while st. Lawrence has
but one regular mail a year.
LAS you know" said DR.. Campbell,
81 am employed by the government to
teach the Eskimos and superintend
the care Of the reindeer. For five
years my wife, who had been reared
in Southern California, where she
never saw a snow fall, vas the only
white oma on the island, but when
we returned from our first vacation
the government sent with us a lady
assistant teacher.
There is no authority on the ISL
and" continued the doctor, religious
or civil" The man who catches the
most whale may be called chief, but
he has no more control than others.
The d~evil-doctors have a certain kind
OF power through their sorceries, by
working on the fears and superstitions
CT the people. but not otherwise. The
language is not that of the Eskimos
of the mainland, but Of Siberia"
DR.. Campbell has done what no
man has ever done before, for he has
reduced their vocabulary to a writer
language-and has published a book
= SOilldAlAlhS llO ptStuiSo
of simple objects and translations
from the Bible. 1t is a language of
many syllables. A sentence Of six
English words of one syllable each.
has t~wenty-three syllables in Eskimo.
The Whole Thing.
In the absence of mayor, council,
school board, police force, lighting,
water and sanitary commissioners.
banker, architect and builder, black
smith and the rest, DR.. Campbell at
tends to any such matters as may
arise in addition to being physician.
& school teacher, preacher, and
reindeer superintendent. He has a
most able assistant in Mrs. Campbell.
who has thrown herself, heart and
soul into the work.
What do we teach the n~atives?"
asked Mrs. Campbell. 20, everything,
from how to wash their faces, to a
knowledge Of God" she explained.
They must be taught the simplest
things-to cook and sew and wash
their clothes and care for the children
and clean their houses and keep their
bodies free from vermin.
But few of them have stoves In
which bread can be baked, and for
fuel for these the men go in their
boats fifty or s~eventy-five miles for
drift wood"
Mrs. Campbell was trying one time
to persuade tie I'M to discard the
Salome indoor costume-which, in
their case often consisted OF little
more than a string of beads. in favor
of the American costume. She was
told we're too poor. II you'll give us
clothes we'll wear them" Upon be-
Ing told they should trade their water
boots TO the whalers for clothing in
stead of tobacco. they said well, u
stomachs like tobacco"
Besides the time and peril Of secur-
ing the seal skins. and curing them
and making the thread, 1t takes a
woman two or three days to make a
pair of boots and five pair Of these
they will trade for a box OF tobacco"
said Mrs. Campbell.
THE first few years there was a
great deal Of drunkenness. but be-
tween the doctor and the government
has been almost entirely elimi-
mated"
Once when DR.. Campbell searched