# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1886_S43 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) The Lutheran Pioneer. 43 Eskimo Baby-Life. Do you see that Eskimo baby in our pict- ure? It is well taken care of by its mother. Amid the ice and snow it can be as happy as a May morning in that warm hood on its moth- er’s back. Let me tell you what a traveller in the land of the Eskimos relates about Eskimo Baby life. He says: When a baby Eskimo’s mother makes the hood for her reindeer suit, she stretches it into a long sack or bag, that hangs down behind and is supported by the shoulders, and this bag of reindeer’s skin is his cradle and home, where he lives until he knows how to walk, when he gets into his first suit of clothing. This, however, is while the baby Eskimo is out-of-doors or his mother is making a social visit. When at his own home, in order not to trouble his mother while she is sewing or cook- ing or doing such other work, the little babe is allowed to roll around almost without clothing, among the reindeer skins that make the bed, where it amuses itself with anything it can lay its hands on, from a hatchet to a snow-stick. commences melting at the top because it is warmer at the ceiling and cooler near the| floor,—and when two or three drops of cold | water have fallen on the baby’s bare shoulders, his father or mother finds that it is getting too warm, and cuts down the fire. When the water commences dropping, the mother will often take a snow-ball from the floor, where it is colder than freezing, and stick it against the point where the water is drip- ping. There it freezes fast and soaks up the water just like a sponge until it becomes full; and then she removes it and puts on another, as soon as it commences to drip again. Some- times she will forget to remove it, and when it gets soaked and heavy with water and warm enough to lose its freezing hold, down it comes! perhaps right on the baby’s bare back, where it flattens out like a slushy pancake,—or into his face, as it once served me. Nobody knows I am writing to You. I thought You might send us something for a surprise. Hans Braun. P. S.—My hands are so cold I can’t write very well. Katrina’s eyes were filled with tears as she came to the end. She sat for some time with the letter in her hand; as she folded it, she resolved to do something to make the little boy happy. She said, ‘“Whatever his parents may be, this beautiful child-faith must not be de- stroyed.’’ That evening, after dinner, she told several of her friends about the matter, and they were eager to help her make up a box. It was ready in a few days. There were some flannels for the mother and little Hans, comfortable clothes for the father, and toys enough to make the boy believe that the Christ-child did not live in Germany only. At’ the very top lay a crisp ten-dollar bill. As soon as the box left the house, Katrina wrote a letter to Hans. She told him his letter had been received, and that Jesus had sent one of His servants on earth to help him, and that a nice box was on its way out West. You doubtless think little Bo- reas should have a nice time roll- ing around to his heart’s content on the soft, warm reindeer skins; but when I tell you more about his little home, you may not think so: for his Winter home is built of snow. “But won’t the snow melt and the house tumble in?’’ you will ask. Of course it will, if you get it warmer than just the cold- ness at which water freezes; but during the greater part of the year it is so cold that the snow will not melt, even when the Eskimo burn fires in their stone lamps inside these snow houses; so by closely regulating the amount of the fire, they can just keep the snow from melting. In short, it must always be cold enough in their home to freeze. So you can sce that the little Eskimo can not have such a very nice time, and you can’t see how in the world he can be almost naked all day when it is so cold. But such is the fact. Yet, in spite of this, the little fellow really enjoys himself. He gets used to the cold, and has great fun frolicking around on the reindeer skins and playing with his toys: and when I have told you some other stories about the cold these little folks can endure, you can under- stand how they can enjoy themselves in the snow huts, or igloos, as they call them, when it is only a little colder than freezing. At times the fire will get too warm in the snow house, and then the ceiling will com- mence melting,—for you all, perhaps, have learned at school that when a room becomes Warmed it is warmer at the ceiling and cooler near the floor. So with the hut of snow: it The Faith of Little Hans. The following touching story, told by a writer in Harper's Young People, is about a letter found by one of the clerks, a young German girl, in the Dead-Letter Office at Washington: The young clerk had worked her way down through a large heap, and was beginning to think of lunch, when she came upona peculiar little envelope addressed in German to ‘“‘Jesus in Heaven”; she tore it open hastily, and found a soiled sheet written all over in a child’s cramped hand. Some of the words seemed blurred with tears, and she could scarcely make them out. Here is the translation: Dear Jesus:—I have prayed so hard to You, but I guess You could not hear me so far off, so I am going to write You a letter. We came over a big ocean when it was sum- mer time. My mamma has been sick all the time. Can’t You send her somethiug to make her well? And, dear Jesus, please send my papa some work to do, so he can buy us some warm clothes and something to eat, and please do it quick, for we are cold and hungry. Not long after there came a letter, of warm thanks from the father. He explained how they had been in the country but a few months, and had not yet found work. As the weeks went by, another and another letter came, telling of fairer prospects and brighter days. One thing they assured Katrina—‘‘that they could never forget her kind letter and gener- ous help in their time of saddest need.” —— Not Afraid to Die. Almost the only printed matter found in the far North, when the relics of Sir John Frank- lin’s expedition was discovered in that icy re- gion, was a leaf from Todd’s Students Manua with this dialogue on it: : “Are you afraid to die?’’ “No.” ‘