The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-10-31
A Lamb for Labrador

WITH DIR. GREENFIELD ON THE
LABRADOR. Fullerton L. Waldo.
Fleming H. Revell Company
A spirit of real adventure is the
dominant note in the book Fullerton
l.. Waldo, a Philadelphia newspaper
man, has written about DR.. Wilfred
Grenfell. the missionary-p physician
whose work among the fisherfolk Of
the North is bright page in present
day chronicles. 1t is the result of
Mr.. Waldos personal investigation of
the inhabitants of that bleak and bar
rem land. 1t gives rather more than
IAN outline of the undoubted wonders
already accomplished in ameliorating
the conditions of the long neglected
inhabitants.
The doctors house Is at st. Anthony,
we are told. and 1t is made to appear
so attractive that 1t seems a shame
that the doctor and his wife see so
little of it.
THE soul of II is the living room,
with a wide window at the end that
opens out upon a prospect of the wild
wooded hillside, with an ivy vine grow
ing across the middle, so that 1t seems
Il
could step right out into the clear,
pure air. There Is a big. hearty fire.
place. there is a generously receptive
sofa: there is an upright Steinway
piano, where a blind piano tuner was
working at the time of my visit" says
Mr.. Waldo.
Once. when DR.. Grenfell was lectur-
ing upon his work in the States. a
good woman heard him say that lambs
were unknown In Labrador, and that
he had to speak of seals instead when
reading the Scriptures. She accord
ingly sent the doctor lamb and some
birds, stuffed, so that the people might
understand. She meant well. but in
transit the lambs head became sadly
twisted to one side, and when the birds
arrived they were decrepit specimens
indeed, with bedraggled plumage, and
so, as object lessons, they were some
thing of a failure.
The doctor lays great stress upon
fresh air and fresh food as medicines
for his people. Mr.. Waldo tells of
emerging from beneath four blankets
in the nipping cold of early morning
on board the doctors yacht. the
Strathcona, to hear his host joyfully
cry: i've Just had my bucket on
deck You could have had one. too
but I lost the bucket overheard" Mr.
Waldo shivers thankfully. 1t is a
pastime of DR.. Grenfell's. we are told
to row with boatload of physicians
and nurses to an iceberg and go in
swimming from the sea washed plat
IT. ~ -
Coney Island have nothing on this
hardy band.
The utter restitution of some of the
dwellers on the Labrador is almost be-
yond belief A woefully poor woman
sent this appeal to Dr. Grenfell from
White BAY;
my husband got about / qtl of FISH
Il quintal--pronounced "kental"-oi
112 pounds. worth at most s11.20) this
summer, and I have four children 10
10. II, years, and his Father, and we
are all naked as birds with no ways
or means TO get anything. What can
I do? If you can do anything for me
I hope God will bless you. 1t is pretty
hard TO look at house full OF naked
children"
Mrs Grenfell went to White Bay
soon afterward and in the two villages
there found a number Of people all but
utterly destitute. They were living on
loaf" DREAD and tea. Six OF the
bread winners managed to get work
at st. Anthony. There were but a few
pairs Of shoes in the two villages, and
in several instances their footgear was
fashioned OF the sides OF rubber boots
tied over the feet with bits Of Irvine
Despite their poverty Mr. Waldo de-
clares that the people of White Bay
arc OF the highest character and richly
deserving.