The Wrangell sentinel. (Wrangell, Alaska) 1909-current, 1928-01-05
MODERN SOCIAL CUSTOMS
OLD STUFF TO ESKIM0s
CLAIMS ALASKAN WRITER

Dut II ~ tlAue=uDAuAEu @aaAaAA IA
the neighborhood Of the Arctic cir
Gle and al points north" The as
kimos have been trying the plan for
many centuries and ct works. &C
cording to Arthur Eide, author,
educator and missionary, who has
returned to Berkeley after a dozen
years spent in the Far North. says
the Oakland, California Tribune.
Eide. who is a graduate of Berke-
ley Seminary was for several years
work at Point Barrow. In his edu-
cational. missionary and medical
in charge of medical and missionary
activities among the Eskimos he
learned that many of the social Gus
toms which white races have fondly
believed constituted their own con
tribution to civilization have been
N vogue in the Arctic for centuries
In the matter of companionate or
trial marriage. the custom has
worked out satisfactorily to all CON
eerned, according to Eide. When an
Eskimo couple marry they live to-
gether for a few months or a year
and if they do not harmonic. the
bride returns to the tgloo of her par
ents. A marital misadventure of
this kind in no way impairs the
womans stock in the matrimonial
market, for the Eskimos realize that
allowances must be made for the
difficulties of temperamental ad-
justment.
Sex equality is another modern"
condition that is a time honored one
among the Eskimos. If anything,
the balance of power swings in the
womans favor. The social and fam
lily system is matriarehial rather
than patriarchial. A man cannot
enter into important buying or trad
ing deals without the sanction of
his wife or his mother. On the 9TH
er hand the wife is free in such
matters.
Eide has played an important
role in the history of Alaska. Of
the start of his educational work
on Diomede Island in 1917, Eide has
this to say: 1T was a beautiful May
day in 1917. It was my third year
en- Diomede as teacher to the ma
tives. 1 was the only white man
there. I took my gun and walked
to the highest point on the island,
from where had a glorious view of
the Arctic ocean and the Boring sea.
Far below, whales and walruses
slept on the ice. while here and
there whales were spouting. Boats
from Siberia, boats from Alaska,
and our own boats were pursuing
the game and as l sat watching the
hunters l began to wonder If there
was not better way of teaching
these natives how to take care OF
their meat supply. Here was the
birth of my dream for industrial
schools that later was adopted by
the U. S. Government.
Before leaving for Alaska for the
first time, Eide was married to Prin-
cess Goodalook, daughter of one of
of the most powerful Eskimo chiefs.
She had been adopted by Sheldon
| Jackson, the man VINO is cFeuleeu
with introducing reindeer into Alas
ka. She was given fifteen years of
schooling in the United States, five
of which were spent in San Fran
cisco.
Margaret, one of Eides children,
was the first white to die in the
diphtheria epidemic at Nome two
years ago. Eide was in Seattle at
the time, and weather conditions
made it impossible for him to return
to his family at Nome.
Eide has taken up his residence
in Berkeley again, and plans to de-
| ,,o+n h Sc tiyoo RI literary work for