The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1886, Page 43

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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.”

‘<Why does the uncertainty of another state
give you no concern ?””

“Because God has said: ‘Fear not; when
thou passest through the waters, I will be with
thee.’””

The poor victim, perhaps, treasured the
page, read, and reread it, and gazed on it un-
til the mists of death crept over him. He
was not found, but the page told those who
were searching how one, at least, of those
braye seamen had died.

——
NEVER count a temptation so triumphed

over, so beaten off that it will never assault
you any more.