The Washington herald., 1913-12-31
BY MARY n. MULBETT.
Copyright, IslS)

Miss Laura Coates Is curious con-
tradiction. In appearance, voice, and
! manner. she is just the sort of woman
yor would expect to find sticking as
close to her own fireside as she could
possibly get.
As a matter OF fact, however, that
seems to be the ver,' last thing she cares
about doing. What this fair slender. soft
voiced woman especially pines for Is
to plunge into untrodden wildernesses
where hers is the first woman's voice TO
break the solitude.
Did l say "plunge?' That word may
do for male explorers, whose departure
for the wilds generally occasions great
excitement and whose return to civiliza-
ton is accompanied by a loud bang of
publicity.
But It is hardly the one for Miss Coates
although she created a good deal of noise
her elf when she returned to this country
recently after more than a year in the
Labrador. JUS how il was discovered
that this quiet. retiring woman had done
her big stunt is past finding out. But
somehow II did happen and another
woman was enrolled in the ranks Of
hardy explorers
To go back a bit: Miss Coates is English
by birth. But when she was threatened
with a nervous breakdown in 1901 the
doctors advised a change of scene and
she sailed for this country in order to
get one. She certainly has been having
changes Of scene ever since.
Loves America.
Incidentally she has learned to love life
in America so much that she declares
with surprising emphasis she will never
go back TO England to stay. She loves
the American freedom from conventional
ities. She revels in our range OF oppor-
tunities. And more than that, she feels
the lur- OF the great wildernesses which
still remain on this continent.
The first thing she did was TO take a
three years course in Philadelphia and
fit herself to be a trained nurse. Then
she went out West and followed that pro-
fession fo- time. Already 1.-THE lure of
the wild" had her in its net and she be-
came the head nurse OF a mining camp
hospital.
When this was closed by a prolonged
strike she went farther East, and it was
about that time she chanced to hear DR..
Wilfred Grenfell talk on his work among
the Labrador fishermen.
Now, II there is one rival to the wilder
ness in Miss Coates interest, IL is the
sea. Many of her family have been in
the British navy. She has always want
ed to work among fishermen. So at the
close of the lecture she went to DR..
Grenfell and asked him whether she. as
a nurse, could be used in the Labrador.
In time she received letter permitting
her to join the work, and early in 1872
she went to Battle Harbor, where she
stayed for six months Then she was
transferred to Grand Village, on Hamil-
ton Inlet. Many of the fishermen spend
the winter there, but go to the coast in
June when the great thaw comes.
When they go the hospital moves with
them, but Miss Coates stayed behind last
June to nurse a very sick girl. After the
case was over. instead of going directly
to the coast, she took a native guide as
her sole companion and started for the
Grand Falls by route no one else had
ever taken. It was over 800 miles through
the wilderness and was covered in forty
days by Miss Coates.
Strenuous Undertaking.
Travelling through the Labrador wild is
considered a pretty strenuous undertak-
ing even for men. Everybody remem-
bers the tragic Hubbard expedition, on
which Hubbard himself starved to death
and his companions narrowly escaped the
same fate Yet this slender, gentle
woman made so light Of the difficulties
that she begged the guide to continue
clear across to Hudson Bay, something
no white woman has ever done. He re-
fused on the ground that they were not
properly equipped, and Miss Coates re-
luctantly returned to Grand Village.
But am going back there as soon as
can," she said TO me. "And am going
to do four things. am going through
.the wilderness to Hudson Bay. I am go
ing to make the rounds of the Hudson
Bay posts. 1 am going with dog teams
in winter to visit the huts Of the four
hunters, and 1 am going to do one other
thing about which I won't talk in ad-
vance, for It is not permitted by the gov
ernment, and IL they knew my plans
they would try to defeat them.
"A person who doesn't have the in
stinct of exploration cannot understand
why one will endure discomfort, hard
ship, and even danger in such, expedi-
tons. 1 can't explain it. 1 only know
that don't care even IL should
lose my life in going. 1 shall take every
precaution and 1 expect to come through
safely. But rather go, with the chance
of disaster, than stay behind, with the
assurance of safety.
Always Liked Travel.
"All my life have wanted to travel
In England all could do was to 20 10