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"'•^••'■,j^&. ^.<^:^: -H-' ■ '^iP^^ v';^*&:'' ■-^^ <- :ir %■■::- ■ ■■%. : .•^r' . »!5;- ■ '•' - '■" ;. ,'■ _ ^•^^_^^-i^ :'; • >. -■■;■'■. -* -•■ ■* ?; '^■■^''^iiji^ ■■■;-•-_ ' . "-JL" ■- •I^ ■■: -..Jt^ •.^^^•^'ftK:: :'1& • »•■ „.J^Vi" • •ij.i.-.c'JK. .<^ . j^ij^-. .' fl •T;- ■:r-' :jr-< ' ;n i-*- .ViV- ■mmmm^^"- Life in Alaska. LETTERS OV MRS. EUGENE S. WILLARD. 1^ EDITED BY HER SISTER, M RS. EVA McCLINTOCK, PHILADELPHIA : PRESHYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, ,334 CHESTNUT Si'REET. 1 ' - .-■.'> " *. --^ ■•J.,) U9 -^ COPYRIGHT, 188/), BY IIIK TIUISTEKS OH IIIK PRF.SBYTERIAN HOARD OF I'U.HMCATION AIL Kicirrs Ki-.si-.RyiiD. Westcott & Thomson, Stereotypgrs and Electroty(>ers, Philatia. Life in Alaska -Mmmmmmmmm^mr^^ TO SHELDON JACKSON, D.D., Alaska's Chiff Missionart, ITS MISSIONARIES' CHIEF FRIEND, THESE LETTERS ARE (JRATEEULLY DEniCATKIJ ^y THE ^UTHOR, INTRODUCTION. THE world is often tempted to think that the age of faith has passed away. In the midst of the greed of money-mak- ing-, the rivalries of social display and the selfishness of pleasure-seeking, even the Church herself is almost surprised at high heroic sacrifice for the cause of Christ and the salvation of men. Perhaps this may partially account for the pleased surprise with which many have perused these let- ters as they have come fresh from the front of missionary operations on the re- mote borders of our own land. But as the great Head of the Church is " the same yesterday, to-day and for ever," so his he- roic spirit of sacrifice springs to life eter- nally beautiful in the heirs of his grace. Surely, in nothing is the spirit of our 6 /A'/'A'ODl/('//(>X. blessed Master more clearly evinced than in flyin throb widi the loyalty of Christian devotion and are redolent with the perfume of native re- finement and womanly grace. As we read on, our hearts are touched, our sympathies are enlisted, criticism is disarmed and pre- judices melt away ; we are in no mood to demand the felicities of an elaborate rhet- oric, and we are quite content that the Christian wife and mother shall tell the story of her loving service in her own way. The very circumstances of the case for- bid that the writer of these letters should now give her personal care to their re- vision. The collection and the publica- tion of these "voices of the heart" have been the work, not of their author, but of others, who have gladly assumed not only the labor, but also the responsibility, of this litde venture. Wll«0i»i|l»jjfli,uj'' .jLlii 8 INTRODUCTION. The desire to know something of a writer's personaUty is very natural to all readers, and yet delicacy forbids that we should say much of the living. Mrs. Wil- lard was born in Nev/ Castle, Pennsylvania, May 3, 1853. Her maiden-name was Car- oline McCoy White. Very early in life she showed a decided disposition for missionary work, formed a missionary society of little girls and delighted in reading the stories of missionary labors and trials. In her eleventh year she had a protracted sick- ness, during which all hope of recovery was given up by her friends, and by her- self all desire to live. In this condition she lay waiting and longing day by day to depart and be with Christ, but after being, to all appearance, dead, she re- vived and rapidly recovered. The assur- ance, given to her by her parents, that the Lord must have work for her to do, reconciled her to life, and while yet too weak to visit her companions she ad- dressed them with letters on the subject of religion. When she was sufficiendy recovered to be carried into the church, INTRODUCTION. she publicly made a prolvjssion of her faith in Christ. Owing to delicate health, her education was not so full and varied as her parents desired, but she was fond of reading and acquired much valuable information whilst receiving a sweet and gentle culture under the sheltering, fostering care of a refined Christian home. Having a taste and a talent for drawing and painting, she early began to take lessons under the instruc- tion of a teacher in her native place. Her art-studies were afterward pursued in the academy at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the Na- tional Academy, in New York, and later still she took lessons in portrait-painting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In September, 1874, she became the teacher in drawing and painting in the IJniied Presbyterian College, at Mon- movth, Illinois, where she spent two years. In Mrs. Willard's graphic, picturesque style many will detect one of the fruits of her artistic studies. On the 24th of April, 1879, she was married to Mr. Eugene S. Willard, and '-'^iSiltJmiitxtiiiUXi-.-. \Mi^oiii>tii^tli&)rffr- 10 liXTRODUCTION. in the summer of the same year she ac- cepted, with her husband, a position as missionary teacher in Alaska under the Board of Home Missions of the Presby- terian Church. Of her subsequent expe- riences in trial and triumph, in joy and sorrow, the following letters may best tell. They are not published as detailing any- thing peculiar in missionary experience— for many others, doubtless, are called to pass through similar trials — but because they set forth, with a graphic power rare- ly surpassed, the daily-recurring scenes in those " dark places of the earth " that are " full of the habitations of cruelty." G. N. u .V and the folks drank Hoochinoo and caroused all night; so that they could neither sleep nor study, and overslept themselves in the morning, making them late to school. They were at length taken in, and others pleaded for the same privilege ; so the Home be- gan, and was named by the missionaries " Sheldon Jackson Institute," after Dr. Jack- son, who was not only the first American minister to visit this section in the interests of missions, but has also become the " fa- ther of Alaska missions " by his success in securing both missionaries and funds for the work. You must hear of the work of Captain Henry Glass, of the U. S. S. Jamestown, which has been stationed here for two or three years. Captain Glass succeed- ed Captain L. A. Beardslee last summer. It is not often that the government sends out a missionary, but they have sent one in this young commander, and in his lieutenant, Mr. F. M. Symonds. His first move was to abolish hoochinoo. He made it a crime to sell, buy or drink it, or any intoxicating drinks. He prevailed upon the traders to LIFE IN ALASKA. 31 sell no molasses to Indians in quantities, so that they could not make drink. He issued orders in regard to the cleaning up of the ranche (the Indian quarters), which was filthy in the extreme and had been the scene of nightly horrors of almost every description, the yells seeming, as some have said, to come from the infernal re- gions, murder being of common occur- rence and the town filled with cripples. He appointed a polite force from the In- dians themselves, dressed them in navy- cloth, with " Jamestown " in large gilt let- ters on their caps and a silver star on their breast. He made education compulsory in this way : The houses were all numbered, and the children of each house. Each child was given a little round tin plate on which was marked his number, thus : " House No. 17, Boy No. 5." These plates were worn on a string about the neck. As soon as the children come into school they are reg- istered. Whoever failed to send their chil- dren to school were fined a blanket. As soon as they discovered that the captain was in earnest they submitted, and I believe 32 LIFE IN ALASKA. no blanket has been forfeited since the first week. Now, if any are going off on a fish- ing-tour, the head of the house comes and explains why his children will be absent and for how long. In this way the school attendance has been doubled, the highest being two hundred and seventy-one; this is the mission day-school. The Indians, not being able to spend their money for hoochinoo, spend it for food and clothing. Most of the women are clothed right neatly in calico dresses, which they make themselves and keep very clean ; their blankets, which are the univer- sal outside garment, are as white as snow, those that are not dyed. Some of the lat- ter are very handsome. I have seen sev- eral of a beautiful navy-blue with a stripe of crimson, on each side of which was a close scale-row of pearl buttons ; the stripe passed round the neck and down the front. An orange-colored silk handkerchief on the head and a pair of light-colored mocca- sins complete the outfit. Their blankets are worn with peculiar grace, a party of Indians making a most picturesque group. ^ LIFE IJV AL.ISh'A. 33 first fish- and Dsent chool -•hest this They all wear jewelry and prefer silver to g^old. Some of the women wear as many as a dozen pair of bracelets at once. They are generally made of coin beaten out and beautifully engraved. They cost from one dollar and a half per pair to five dollars, the price varying according to the width and weight. The ranche has been cleaned, white- washed and drained. Some pleasant new houses are being put up, and all is peace- ful and quiet where a few months ago it was a place of strife. Hut the work did not stop there : the whole town has been renovated ; bad Indians sent to the guard- house were put to work ; streets have been cleaned, trees planted, a sea-wall built, the common made tidy, etc. The boys who are staying at the school had boarded themselves, but a room has been fixed up a little for them ; they had a tin box-lid tacked up for a looking-glass. This was in the old barracks building where Mr. Austin's are living. Captain Glass had the school removed to another Lrovernment building, (juite large, and in a beautiful lo- 34 LIFE IN ALASKA. cation down the beach. An effort is beini; made now to secure it out and out to the mission. They have been promised the free use of it as long as they occupy it. There is a large and good garden attached, from which, it is hoped, they will have a considerable income over and above sup- plying the Home with vegetables. The captain had the building whitewashed and fixed up generally — had the ship's carpen- ter make the bunks for the boys, and benches, tables, etc. In fact, he has seemed to turn the crew into a mission force, he and his young wife at the head working with their own haiids and encoura 1. 1 IE IN ALASKA. 35 tears of joy, wIkmi I attcndL'tl tluiir meet- inc^, to hear these; children, who but a few months a^o were in savage darkness, now sittini^^ with brii^ht, eaj^er faces Hstening to the tidinjL(s which have j^laddened so many hearts, and in their turn repeatini^ as with one voice the Ten Commandments and the beautiful assurances of God's love, such as " God so loved the world," etc. ; then, with sweetly solemn voices, their hands clasped and heads reverently bowed, they prayed too^ether in the Lord's words. I never be- fore heard the prayer repeated so beau- tifully. And still there is so much to do ; only a beginninjr has been made. The ii^reat house, after all, is very barren, cold and damp, and the boys do not have bed- clothes to keep them warm. They, so far, have found their own blankets, but they are insufficient, and one poor little fellow has none. The weather never gets warm here. We have fire every day and sleep under clothing almost as heavy as in win- ter at home ; so that, at least before winter comes, these boys ought to have some com- fortables. 36 LIFE IN ALASKA. Another opportunity for kind hearts and wilHncarcely stand one good winter storm, for it shakes with walking down the steps. The rafters above have been covered with cheese-cloth whitewashed, which flaps up and down like a sail every time the door is opened. There are so many holes in the shingles that on a sunshiny day this LI IE /A' A/.ASh'A. 49 whitod canopy presents the appearance of the starry heavens, so (kicked with sun- light. It will perhaps do for a year or two. The company's store is kept by their aL,^ent, G whose wi eorLre Dick inson. fe IS a T simpsean an Ind A merican, lan woman who went to school to Mr. Duncan and was convert(;d there. It was she who was workint^ in a little school of their own with Clah in lu^rt Wram^^ell when Dr. Jackson and Mrs. McFarland went there, in 1877. After their arrival she acted as interpreter, until, just a year ago, her husband was sent here by the company, and she was commis- sioned by the Board to open a school for the Chilcats. She is a very i^ood woman, I think, and has done well under the circum- stances. We shall soon need a teacher of larger scope. She is retained for the pres- ent as teacher under Mr. Willard, and in- terpreter. We opened the school on Monday, the 8th of August, after Dr. Jackson left, with twenty-four pupils. Some days since we have had twenty-eight, but only four reg- 50 LIFE IN ALArA'A. IH w \h W u!ar ones. The others came in as they crossed the trail. There are a few bark booths, where they stop when they come to trade. But on every Sabbath canoe- loads come from the villai^es, and we have always had from forty-five to fifty in attend- ance. Monday five other canoes came in for church, having missed a day ; we taught them in our home. These are principally from Chilcoot and the lower villaoes. The others are too far away, and the people too busy, except in the uppermost, where tney have been hindered by war. We have now their promises of peace, and that the people will come down soon. We are hoping to commence regular v/ork by the first of Oc- tober. We have scarcely breathing-time now. We hope to visit all the villages before that time. We have already made the trip to Chil- coot, and I must tell you about it. The "hief, Don-a-wok, of the lower village, has a large canoe, and one day he sent a mes- senger up to ask us to go out with him on the bay. We gladly consented, and at sun- set we pu.shed off with eight paddles. We LIFE IN ALASKA. 53 ■^m^ had a delig-htful time, singing the while, at the chiefs reque?!, some gospel hymns. He offered also the service of his boat to take us to Chilcoot ; so the next day I spent in preparing lunch for the party, and on the second morning, bright and early, we set sail and dipped paddle for Chilcoot, thirty- two souls comfortably seated, and still room for as many more. Putting into a little bay below the rapids, we left the boat and took the trail to the village, about a mile di^t^ant, which we reached about noon, and wnere we found the news of our coming had pre- ceded us lonof enouirh for the chiefs to have everything in readiness. We were con- ducted to the house of the head-chief, who is also a medicine-man, and were received with the ofreatest kindness. The house was exceedingly neat, the hard, burnished boards of the floor being white and clean. Sand was sprinkled over the fireplace, in the centre. We mounted the high steps outside to a low-arched door- way, passing through which we found our- selves on a little platform, from which two or three steps led down to a second plat- 54 LIFE //V ALASKA. form, of oreatcr breadth, extending around the entire buildini^. Two or three feet from its edofc was hunir tent-cloth, curtaininof in sleeping- and store-rooms on the two sides. The end of the room opposite the door, back of the fireplace, is the seat of honor. IMKUKJR OK A CJIII.CAT HOUSE. From a Drawing by Mrs. Willard. In this case it consisted of chests of .-.ome kind covered with white muslin. Back of it, ranged on a platform, were the treas- ures in crockery, some half a dozen large washbowls and a neat platter. I.I IE IX ALASKA. 55 As we entered, the chief sat in state on a small chest at one side of the fireplace, robed in a pair of blue pantaloons, a clean pink calico shirt, and fallinc^ in graceful folds about him a navy-blue blanket with a bor- (l(;r of handsome crimson cloth edged with a row of large pearl buttons. In his hair, which is quite crimped and curling about liis hiirh forehead and hancrs down his back like the tail of a horse (for they are not [)ermitted ever to comb or to plait it), was arranirC'd the whole skin of a little white ermine. On the platform just above him sat his wife with a similar blanket about her and a great many silver bracelets on her arms. They showed us to our seats and gave expression in both smiles and words to their pleasure at our coming. Our entire party occupied the honorable end of the room, but we only had the seats. The old chief said he was so glad that th(! minister had come at last! He wished it might have been when he was boy ; now he was old, he was soon to go dowm to death, but he could go now more happily, 5^> I. HE IX ALASKA. knf)\viiiL( that his people would now have lij^^ht. lie wished that the white man liked Indian's food; then he woidd show us how they loved us. He had salmon-berries: would we eat some of those? We con- sented, and a servant brouL,du the wash- bowls before the chief's wife, who with her hands filh-d up the bowls with the beauti- ful Ixtrries. The first was borne to us, set down on the Iloor before us, the next to l)on-a-wok and Mrs. Dickinson, the oth- ers severally to groups of Indians in our party seated on the floor. We took up our bowls, and after grace began to eat with our fingers. By this time a great many of the people had gathered in. Mr. Wil- lard spoke to them for half an hour, after which, with singing and prayer, we took our d(!parture. W(i then looked about the village, the houses of which are ranijed alonof the bluff and about the rapids. Running out from th(! walk in front of the dwell in"0 on ! We found the [)eople in trouble, and we brought th(;m comf(jrt; w ■ found them warring, and we brought them peace. We found one poor man on the brink of murder and suicide, and Ik; assured us that our coming had saved him from this double sin ; that his heart was broken and he was in the deep dark, but the minister's comiui/ had brought him hope and light. W(; found Clok-won by far the largest bid lan villao'e we hav e seen m Alasl iva, as well as the richest and most substantially built, many of the houses being elegant in their way. The carvings in many of thcMii ar(; worth thousands of l)lank(;ts. Three of th(; largest of these houses belon*'- to sanwPB* LIFE IN ALASKA. 79 in Shat-c-ritch, and the laro^est and costliest one he has given to the mission ; ''n it we held our service on Sunday. The next in \ahie to it (the chief's treasure-house) was nvddv. our lodging-place. We found many of the houses turned into forts, and barri- cades in plenty. There are four distinct tribal families — tlu; Wolves and Whales, which are nearly connected and of low caste ; the Crows and Cinnamon lU'ars, of high caste and connected in like manner by intermar- riatres. It is not lawful for those of the same family to intermarry, though a man may have a woman and her daughter both to wife. The war has been between the Whales, of low caste, and the Crows, of high ; hence the much aggravated trouble, one Crow being worth many Whales. And, of all the peo- ple, the Whales have most of our pity and sympathy. They are weak in numbers and comparatively poor in i)urse. They are afraid to move out of their houses, and are literally prisoners in their own homes, almost everv one of which has been made 8o LIFE L\ A LAS k' A. desolate. Signs of niournin^^ are on every hand ; the beautiful hair of the women is cut close to the head and their fac(."s are blackened ; the carving's covered with red mattinir; the box and moccasins of their dead placed on a shelf over the door from which they went out never to return. We held a separate meeting for them in the afternoon, rs they could not come to the other, in the same house where the whole trouble began ; it was riddled with bullet-holes. The very spots were pointed out to us where this one, t..at one and an- other had been shot down. First, the eldest son murdered a Crow ; he ran away to the Stick country. The Crows retaliated. Then the second son made some show of revenge ; they de- manded his life, and his wife, who was a Crow, defended and protected him. The poor old mother's heart was broken with sorrow and shame. She called on her son to give himself up, but in vain. She even followed the first son to the int(,'rior on the same quest. Not succeeding, she n^turned, and, dressing the'mselves up in their best, I.ll'E /X ALASKA. 8i s she and Ik.t ! 'ucrhtcr went out and de- manded to be shot, that the honor of their family mi^ht Ix; maintained ; so they per- ished at the hands of the Crows. But they two were not sufficient to satisfy the claim, and at last the son came to the door and L^a.' liimself u[> ; but his wife still clung- to him. They have a terror of disfigurement even in death, and she beor<^ed that he be allowed to descend to the foot of the steps, that his body might not fall and be bruised. The Crows suspected her of treachery in this move, as she had so long shielded him, and they shot her down where she stood, alth(jugh she was a Oow. I believe her husband was afterward killed. When we entered the house, I think I never met a more desolate sight. Dirt, cobwebs, ashes and implemtmts of warfare lay all about; a few half-dead coals lay on the unkept hearth, and thc^ only remaining member of the household sat on the floor beside it, his head on his knees and an old hat drawn over \-. — a young man, but one who had evidently lost the hope and pow- er of youth. There, into that bouse, we 82 LIFE IN ALASKA. brought the gospel of light and peace. Bless God, as we did, for such a mes- sage. A way was opened for us to a man in one of the forts upon whose death or re- covery hangs the settlement of the mat- ter between the tribes. We found him very sick, and ministered to him as best we could, as to both temporal and spirit- ual things. A Crow family had lost a son by death after a short ilhiess, and they had just re- turned from the burning of the body when we arrived. W(; brought them word of that world lo them so full of mystery, and of the life to come. The Crows are powerful, rich, arrogant and exceedingly overbearing — at least, some of them are, especially when they have hoochinoo. As a poor Wolf told us, they robbed and ruined their homes and murdered their families, then taunted them with being *' killed like dogs and never making them pay for it," thus try- ing to exasperate them into completing their own ruin. LIFE m AI.ASK'A. 83 Mr. Willard preached for an hour and a half, showing" them how they were Hy- ing in antagonism to the great God, and must p('rish if they did not surrender. He told tliem, too, of the love of God, and how he not only demanded no satisfacdoii for the death of his Son, but freely gave him to save his enemies. Shat-e-ritch is of higher caste than any other chief of the Chilcats, beintr a Cinna- mon l^ear and very rich. He occupies a neutral position in this trouble, except as he is connected with the Crow^ and tries to make peace, though his power does not extend over any but his own tribe. He received us hrst into his own house, ofiv- ing us the place of honor. He soon in- (juired as to how long we expected to stay. Informing him that we had intended to go back that afternoon (for the current is so swift that we come down in two or three hours, when it rec^uires one and someumcs two days to go up) we were tWd that the people's hearts would be too sick if we dii! not stay over Sunday with them ; we ihen told him that we had no food for \\\kX time, 84 LIFE I A' A /.ASK A. or WO would L,daclly stay, I Ic replied that Mrs. Dickinson (our interpreter) could speak for Indian or white man. She must command his house — ask for whatever we needed. His wife brought out wheat-flour and baking-powder, and made bread. They sent us in everything that we could n^quire, and gave us new blankets and pillows for b(!d(ling, fixing us up in the treasure-house. Several other Indians brouLZ-ht and sent in berries and salmon at different times. They always expect a full e([uivalent for every gift they make : still, they give free- ly, and it is pleasant to receive. i')x\ Sabbath, Shat-e-ritch called the head- men of his people together in his house to a feast for the s{)ecial purp''se of making Baby and me Cinnamon Hears and settling on the names th(;y should give us. I knew nodiing about it, until toward evening they brought me my name, and the presents be- gan to pour in from all my relatives, old gray-haired men and women calling me "aunt" and calling Baby "aunt." They had given me the highest name ev(;r held by even Cinnamon Bears — viz., " Nauk-y- I.U'E IN ALASKA. 85 Still " — and Baby's is next in honor, being •''Ilin<^-^"ct vSawye K-Cotz-e." Generations a<^o they first saw copper; it came in bits on the wrecks of some vessels. The people prized it more than o;old ; it was the o^reatest of wonders to them. No man could get enough skins or blankets to pay for more than the least little pieces of it. Thousands of blank^^ts were required to pay for them, and their <>reatest ambition was to <^et these bil.. to'^ether in a carvinof of the Cinnamon F>ear's head, which would bind them strong- ly tog(!ther and make one whole of the many mites. This i;: the meaning of my name, the Cinnamon Hear's head holdinir together anc' making one priceless treas- ure of these bits of copper. I wish you could have seen them as they told me of this, gathered in thai great dark house with its hundreds of carved vessels and boxes of blankets and oil, and every other Indian treasure, their strong, earnest, kindly features lighted up from within by the love the}- h(jr*' me, and from without by the great crackling, blazing fire in the 86 LIIE IN ALASKA. middle of the room. They sat about it, and I stood before them touched by this demonstration. When they were throucrh, I answered that my heart was full ; surely they were my brothers. They had told me the meaning of my name, and now I, the first white woman that had ever borne it, wished to tell them the new and even more precious meaninor which I wished it to bear henceforth. All the Chilcat people wc;re to nie most priceless bits of copper. Their bitterness had kept them apart : the bits were owned by enemies. Now love was brouL^ht, enouorh to buy them all. They had made mc the great Cinnamon Bear's head to bind all these precious pieces into one. Now there should be no more pieces, no more enemies, but all one, till at last the " Nauk-y-stih," with all the bits of cop- per which made it such a treasure, shniild be borne to the great Chief above. I had dear brothers at home ; while I was there it was my thought always how I could do them good. So now, to my Indian brothers, came the ^ame thought, and because they had shown their love for me I wanted to LIFE IN ALASKA. 87 ask th(Mn, as brothers, to help \wv. do them tlie jL^reatcst L,^ood I could think of now: that was to put away that bad drink — a/l had drinks ; they knew what it had done for their villa^re and for their hom(!s. God only knows how much of the seed found a fruitful soil ; but oh, we have his ])romises, and we want to keep them close to our hearts. We came away on Monday loaded with presents and the thanks of all the people. They (.'ven said, "We believe your (iod sent you here at that very hour to save us from war and death ; the [)eople would not fi^ht when they heard the minister was comint;, and now they have heard better." We stopped a few moments, without leavin<^ our canoes, at the middle village. I lere my new relatives had heard of my ''Teat name, and came out bearinof me still other presents of dried-berry cake and dried salmon. It soon beL^an to rain and blow. The waves tossed our canoe and the spray dashed over us, wettini^ the entire crew. Many times it seemed almost impossible 88 LIFE IN ^II.ASKA. to reach the shore that (hiy ; hut we did, and in safety. It was too stormy to attempt crossiniL^ the bar that tlay ; so we took up our (piar- ters in Dona-wok's house attain, where we were shelteri.'d from much of the wind, even thouirh the rain did come throuirh. We had another deho;htful Httle meeting- there, and next day reached home, where we found all thini^^s safely kept for us. We were tirc^d, but none of us sick; all kept safe and well throuiL^h storm and s(!a and war, and (iod nave us in^reat peace;. We did not take the least cold — not even Baby, who enjoyed the trip, in her way, as much as any of us. And I assure you we did enjoy it all ; even danj^cr was robbed of its terror. . . . September IS. — Don-a-wok has been here to-day. He seemed sad, but we see great reason for rejoicinor even in what seems to be a trial to him, for he is standing- by his principles like a man. It seems that the bride which was to have been was willing to come with him, and all her friends were satisfied with the exception of one sister, LIhE IN ALASKA. 89 who (l(!mancl(;(l a slave from Don-a-vvok. Now, he had owned slaves, but some time \v^o he, and Shat-e-ritch too, made them all tree and paid thcMii ; so he refused to <^ive a slav(' and lost his wife. This trip to Sitka seems to have done all the Indians u^ood. They saw the briofht school there, old and youni^ learnini^'- to rc^ad, and they tell us that it made them ashamed. Mr. Willard assured them that if they would only now come toij^ether and set to work th(!y could have a school supe- rior to that of Sitka, for they are a strontj^er p(•opl(^ They seem anxious to do so. l)on-a-wok is a chief of the Crows, hut of the two lower villaij^es ; they have noth- WY^ to do with the fii^htini^ in the upper- most villai(e. Neither do the Crows of Chilcoot, who are nlso very friendly to us, and very peacc^iihle. I)on-a-wok claims Mr. Willard as h- brother, and is cToina to name him soon. I for^j^ot to tell you the meaning of Baby's nauK^ : it is " a mighty city',' where all the people are exempt from sickness, sorrow and poverty — all are ij^reat. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716) 872-4503 au 90 LIFE IN ALASKA. While we were away we discovered some needs ; one was a large hand-bell for call- ing the people togedier. In lieu of it, Mr. Willard and I made a tour of the villao^e, taking it house by house, when we were ready to have them come to meeting. Oh how we wished for our flag ! Another need for our school, the Indian room also, is maps of the United States and of the world, also a globe, and an organ for our church and school. The people are very fond of music, and learn quickly the tunes we have taught them word by word and note by note, but you would hardly recognize our old familiar hymns ; their voices are so strong and they sing with such a will that my voice makes no im- pression at all. I cannot stem such a flood, but an instrument would help this difficulty. Our piano, of course, is for our house ; it cannot be moved back and forth. Another thing we must have : a mission canoe. We have the largest mission field in Alaska, and in many respects the most important. We must go by canoes to reach the greater number of our people. Go we must, and LIFE IN ALASKA. 91 it costs us from five to ten dollars every trip. Mr. Willard expects to go up this winter by skates and snow-shoes, but as soon as the river becomes naviofable attain in the spring we expect to make the rounds once a month. We already see good of our first trip, and feel the importance of this itinerating work. It must be done be- fore we get the people in any great num- bers to come to us. In time we trust that this will become the great centre, but it will be a long time, for the people have good houses and are loth to leave them. Some, indeed, are 7i(nv ready to come, but they are a small minority, and there is so much difficulty as yet about getting ready lumber. It requires an enormous amount of labor to build as they do. September 26. — Still no steamer. We have been in daily expectation of her ar- rival for three weeks, but oh so thankful that our Sabbaths were not broken in upon by her coming ! We are having beautiful weather again. We have such good news from the up- per village ! After vve left they began to 93 LIFE IN ALASKA. make peace in earnest. The last cutting- affray was promptly paid for in blankets ; the wounded man, upon whose fate so much hung in getting a settlement, is now rapidly recovering. The Crows took into their houses the young man in whose house we held ser- vice for the Whales, treating him to the very best of everything they possessed, having him both eat and sleep with them ; and the Whales took into their homes, in the same way, the great Crow terror, " The Murderer." This is their way of express- ing perfect satisfaction, confidence and peace, and now the feasting and dancing are going on. The lower villages have joined them in this ; and if only molasses (for the distillation of ardent spirits) can be kept from them, we hope for a new era. It will indeed be a new and blessed era when the government makes it a crime for men to sell death. They have promised, many of them, to come down to us here when the feasting is over. We hope to be able to begin regular in- door work and study by the ist of October. I I.IFR IN ALASKA. 93 We are exceedingly anxious to get the lan- guage, there is so much we long to say which we cannot get others to say for us. Mr. Dickinson is a very, very kind friend to us. His wife says she has told him to go on and leave her here a while until we learn to speak a little, but he will not con- sent to do that, and Kittie is to go back to the Home by the first safe opportunity ; so that, in case they do go, we will be not only the only whites, but the only persons in all the Chilcat country who speak English. We would not care if only we could make these people understand our mes- sage ; but it is God's work : he will not suffer it to languish. . . . To the Presbyterian Sabbath School in East Springfield, Neu) York. Chilcat Mission, Haines, Alaska, October 24, 1881. My Dear Friends: Three eventful months have passed since our former let- ter was written to you from Sitka, when we knew but little more of our present home and work than did you, so far away. 94 LIFE IN ALASKA. Now we are domiciled, and almost as much at home as thoucfh we had \n'.v.x\ born here, but oh how thankful that ours was a more favored lot ! We spoke of Dr. Sheldon Jackson hav- ing joined us at Sitka by the July st(;am(!r from Portland, Oregon. May God bless that good man, the true friend of mis- sionaries and of Alaska ! In Fort Wrancrell and Sitka the mission- aries are well housed in buildings erecKid and occupied by the Russian governm(!nt during their rule, but here in the Chilcat country no white men had ever liv(rd (!X- cept the trader who preceded us a few months, the husband of our interpreter, Mrs. Dickinson. When we left home, it was with a knowledge of this fact, and with the expectation of living in tents un- til we could get out logs and put up such a house as we could. Dr. Jackson made this unnecessary by giving us the nettdcrd help, and I have no doubt he saved the life of one missionary. In two weeks after our arrival here — which was on the i8th of July — our friends Lllli IN ALASKA. 95 Drs. Jackson and Corlics, with the three carpenters, left us for Hoyd, where they were to put up a schoc^l- and dwelHng- house for Mr. and Mrs. Styles, who have since taken charge of that mission among the Hoonyahs. Mrs. Styles is the younger daughter of Mr. Austin, of the Sitka mis- sion, and was married on the 15th of Au- gust last. Our housreath and literally dying, was car- ried t'^ dt; The mother told us the sad story — how they had given ever/thing, dishes, blankets and all ; how the medicine-men had sung and rattled and charmed, eating fire, etc., but all to no purpose. With tears she said, " Oh, help me, help me ! My chil- dren are all I have." I worked with the little one all afternoon, and it seemed bet- ter, and is still so. There were many others, but I must tell you of only one. Yesterday morning. Sab- bath, among the group of patients waiting in the kitchen was a woman who begged me to come and see her little boy, who was dying. After disposing of the rest and get- ting the house righted, I left Baby with papa ii6 LIFE IN^ ALASKA. (who afterward took her to church with him, where I joined them) and followed the woman, taking with me what I had in the house that might be necessary. But I had nothing for proper food for the child. We had tried to buy oatmeal at the store when ours failed, but they would not sell it. I found the child in what seemed to me to be a dying condition — unable to move, with cold limbs and hot head, the only action apparent in the little body b(*ing the spas modic jumping of the throat and upper part of the chest and the rolling of the eyes. I had them give me blankets and put on water to heat ; then got brandy and went to work. I found that the child had taken no food for ten days, and immediately I de- spatched a messenger to the store saying that they must sell or give me some oat- meal and condensed milk. I would take no refusal ; they must do it. I soon had the pleasure of feeding the famished child (who had already given a sensibh* look) some milk, and in a little while some gruel. Seeing him in a better condition, I left him and went to church with my sunbonnet and LIFE IN ALASKA. 117 \:i\(^ apron on and led the singing. After put- ting Baby to sleep, and with dinner over, I lay down for half an hour and went back, find- ing him no better, if not worse, than he was in the morning. The doctors had been in talking to them, saying all manner of things — tint all their dreams said the child would die, elc. ; that if he got well they would cut off their hair and do nothing more ; that they would believe in God if he showed himself so strong as to heal that boy. You may be sure w^ith this double motive I worked and prayed, and at bedtime, when I left him again, he was much better. After taking the medicine I had left him he rested, slept through much of the night, and this morning is perhaps a little better, but still very sick indeed. I do not know how it is going. I can only do my best and trust that the Lord who reigns will order all things for his own glory. I will believe that, however it is, it will somehow be for his praise, and in that I shall be more! than satisfied. Yesterday the doctor's wife followed me into the hou^:e of the sick child, and sat ii8 LIFE /:: ALASKA. near the door constantly making sneering remarks; and this mornino- her husband came out as I passed his house and com- menced talking at a tremendous rate, ges- ticulating and speaking '^ngrily till he got so close to me as to shake his fist within two inches of my face. I am not afraid of him, nor of all of them ; as long as there are sick whom I can benefit I shall do my duty without a thought of the poor old doctors, except to hope and pray that they may be convinced and converted. May that day come soon ! One of the doctors is here now to get me to do something for him. I have been having a talk with him. Our freight has been gotten into the house in good order from the boat this morning. But now, with very, very much love to all, I must close. The boat leaves us soon. Carrie M. Willard. CniLCAT Mission Mansk, IIainrs, Alaska, November 30, 1881. My Dear Friends : You can scarcely re- alize how those few words of yours in re- LIFE IN ALASKA. 119 o^ard to the increase of zeal for missions among the people at home strengthened and helped us. We have very much to encourage us, and cause for rejoicing with thanksgiving ; yet there are times when it is very hard to keep only these things be- fore us. Again and again we are obliged to force upon ourselves the realization of the fact that it is not for man — ungrate- ful, treacherous man — that we labor, but for Him who did and suffered all things for us all ; and to know that Christians at home are working and praying for the coming of his kinLrdom into all these dark hearts makes it easier to go on. Such sympa- thy is very sweet. There has been a great deal of sickness among our people this fall — a terrible erup- tive disease much like small-pox, though not fatal. A number of deaths occurred, however, before the people began to come to us to build ; and since they came, bring- inir their sick with them in canoes four deaths have taken place, but we have the infinite joy of believing that all are saved and happy souls to-day. They were two I20 LIFR IN ALASKA. little babes, a young woman and a dear lit- tle boy — the one I wrote you of in my last letter as beincr ill. I was amon^r the sick almost day and night for a while, particu- larly with this little boy, who died, and with a woman, who has recovered ; and after it became impossible for me to go to the vil- lage, the children, such as could be carried, were broucfht to the house. For one of the dear little babies who had died first I had done a great deal, and I hoped it would get well ; but oh, it is such unequal warfare, this battlincr with death in such " stroncr houses " as these people have, wind, snow or smoke constantly present. I cannot tell you what I felt when these children died ; that their lives should be spared seemed almost essential to the success of our work here. You know how the case stood, after Mr. Willard's preach- ing against their witchcraft and evil super- stitions on Sunday, and then bringing party after party — medicine- men, chiefs and peo- ple — into our house and showing them the machinery of sewing-machine and clock, tellinQ: them of the more intricate machin- IJFR IN A I. A SKA. 121 ery of the human body, askinor them if they thought witches were in those w^heels because they accomphshed such wonderful things or if they failed to accomplish them, showing them the absurdity of their believ- ing that because the wonderful body got out of order in iheir iornorant hands some one had bewitched it. If some dirt got into the fine wheels of a watch, did they think that all the medicine-men in Chilcat could charm it into running-order without removing that obstruction ? How much less power could they have over the hu- man body ! After this, I say, many of them believed no more in the Indian doctors' ways, and, not knowing what else to do, brou if she had to leave him. I had a lontj comfortinor talk with her and kept her here all day, engag- ing her on a little sewing which I gave her for herself, and to-night she went home a quite cheerful woman. It seemed to en- courage her when I told her what martyrs LIFE IN ALASKA. 131 had suffered for Christ's sake, and what he promises to all who endure persecution from love to him. Mr. Willard witnessed the doctors' dance one ni^ht some time aoo. It is a sort of exorcism. Almost all sickness with the Indians is reorarded as the result of witch- craft. The medicine-man is called, and for ten blankets (their medium of ijx- chancre, and worth from three to four dol- lars apiece) he will scatter the evil spirits. If they are obstinate and the person dies, he accuses some one of having bewitched die dead man, and for certain other blank- ets will tell by divination who the witch is. The latter is then taken, and, with his feet tied together and his hands tied behind his back, is shut up with the corpse and either burned with it or left to starve to deatii, un- less there are relatives rich enough to pay for the exorcism of the evil spirit. Since we have been here this has never gone so far as a pointing out of the witch, and it is not likely to go farther now, so long as the man of-war supports us, as at pres- ent. 132 LIFE IN ALASKA. You have read a description in Dr. Jack- son's Alask-i of the medicine- men and how they are educated. They all (so far as I have observed, and there are about ten in the Chilcat tribe) have a most peculiar, cun- ning, and yet weird, expression. Th(iy are hollow-eyed, but the pupil protrudes and rolls, and there is a keenness, a furtiveness, about them that is most unpleasant. Since the death of the litde boy referred to in a former letter, these servants of Satan have been doing their master's work with a will, but the event which they thus take advan- taore of has not been without ijood results. Had God restored to health and life every one whom we tried to help, it would have been almost impossible for this ignorant people to give all the glory to God ; we could hardly have convinced them that we had no miraculous gift. More and more they would have pressed upon us and have professed faith for the sake of this material life. We foresaw something of this dan- ger then, this materializing of the spiritual, but not as clearly as the Lord has now brought us to see it. There are not nearly LIFE IN ALASK^i, 133 SO many who call upon God, but those who do seem to come up to a higher plane than before ; they see something beyond this lif^ ; so in all our trials we know that God rci'Tns and it must be best. 1 kine of these medicine-men, how- ever, I must not omit one sign of hope for which we have to be thankful. A litde daughter (four or five years of age) of him whom we consider the worst man among them was born with curly hair; so of course she was desdned to the profes- sion, and her hair left uncut, uncombed, to become a matted, repulsive mass like her father's, wh^': ~:he Vv^as adorned with neck- lace of te; y r-:x\ charms of green stone. I so well rem .Tiller the first time I saw her. It was on a Sabbath, while Dr. Shel- don Jackson was here. She walked along from church just before us ; her beautiful iitne child-face in the mass of unkempt hair struck m* vith a sudden pity for the price- less soul); ^1 hMden in that neglected lit- de body, and I exclaimed, " Oh how fearful that she should be destined to such a life !" 134 LIFE IN ALASKA. Dr. Jackson quietly made answer, " Let us hope she may be converted before that." The words came \vi 'ebuke to my weak faith. Some weeks ago that child came to church neat and clean, and — will you be- lieve it? — that sacred matted mass of hair lay on her head in smooth braids ; so now she can never be a medicine-woman, but we pray that she may be a Christian woman. One of the Indian doctors told us the other day that if we would give him some new clothes he would cut off his hair. December I4. — The Chilcats are a supe- rior race to the plain- Indians, and are the strongest people, and this district the larg- est under the care of any missionary, in Alaska. It is not one village, as in the case of the other stations, but four with- in a radius of thirty miles. . . . We feel the urgent need of industries in which the people can engage. They are willing and anxious to work, but we have so little for them to do, and so little means with which LIFE IN ALASKA. 135 to pay them. We hope fish-canneries may be estabHshed on our rivers; these would furnish employment for a great many of them, and thus provide them w^ith means of sustenance. We expect and dread the coming of mi- ners in the spring. Some prospectors took several hundreds of dollars' worth of gold down last fall, and we hear that many oth- ers are coming up. The mines at Juneau (the recently established post-office at Ta- koo) are something like seventy-five miles below us. About thirty thousand dollars' worth of gold-dust was taken from there last season. . . . There is good tillable land here, and we have perhaps an acre grubbed out where we hope to make a garden in the spring. We mean to try raising everything desir- able, if seeds and slips come in time. . . . December 28. — On last Friday evening a little rowboat arrived from Juneau with two naturalist , from Berlin — Dr. Aurel and Dr. Arthur Krause — who intend to study here until spring, boarding at the trader's. The gentlemen brought a package of mail, which 136 LIFE IN ALASKA. they offered with evident pleasure for our Christmas gift. It proved \.<) hi', the Sitka mail for San Francisco, whitlu:r ours may have been sent by mistake ; so we had no letters, but we had a very pleasant Christ- mas, with many thoughts of the loved ones at home. I had work (enough, you may be sure, in providing, from my brain, my wardrobe and my scrap-bag, pres(;nts for sixty-nine schoolboys and girls and wo- men. We graded them all by the number of days they had been in attcMidance, and had something for each one. I would like to tell all about the tree, but cannot now. The gentlemen brought somr; cotton- jeans for pants for the boys; the litde fellows come to school through thf- snow with nothing on bit cotton shirts, the snow sometimes stained by their bleeding feet. The snow is waist-deep on the men, who have to travel on snow-shoes. .Sabbath before last I went to meeting by a path walled with the crystal snow as high as my head. It has snowed much since, and lies piled up against our windows. . . . CaKKIK M. WllJ.AkD. 1,11'li IN ALASKA. 137 To the Sahhalk^ School of the Presbyterian Church of liast Springfield, New York. i.'M\\t s'\ MCisioN Manse, Wss^r-,, Ar,ASKA, Januaiy 23 and 30, 1882. Dear Fkiksm^h: The close of our third quarter in Alaska finds us with not a few tokens of Ciod's pleasure in our work. We are mont and more enjoying it, and more and wvm', its peculiarities and needs open up to us. You have anked us to tell you of these needs, an',WfNr,, with II kr hahe leaning against THK WAT.I,. I'frrm n Drawing by Mrs. Wilhtrd. the Indiunn, under direction, at twenty-five cents per lo^, when white labor no better would cost three dollars and a half per day ; and It would give employment to the people, U)V which they are suffering. This matter given us no little concern — how to 152 LIFE IN ALASKA. employ the people. They are waking up to new wants, they are rapidly becoming dissatisfied with the old life, and they are exceedingly anxious to work that those wants may be supplied ; and that they should be supplied is necessary to the further growth and development of those whom we are trying to bring into the light of Christianity and civilization. There is another thing which grows upon us — the necessity of some more special work for the children. It would make your hearts ache, as mine has ached so many times, to see them. I do not refer to their little naked legs and bare, bleeding feet as they trudge through the snow, often to their waist, to school and church all this winter weather; nor do I refer to seeing them half starved, as we sometimes find them — not these things, although I could not tell you of the pain they have given me. Af- ter all, they are heroic little fellows and make the most of life as they find it, some- times even seeming to prefer nudity, with the mistaken idea that in enduring all this exposure they are growing very strong. LIFE IN ALASKA. 153 No, it Is not these thini^s that have driven us to say, putting our trust in God for the means, " Something must be done for these children." Much of what I have referred to cannot be written in a letter like this. Would that I had every mother's ear in Christian America ! The mothers' hearts would burn at the story. Dozens of these children have been brought to us by their parents, who begged us to take them and teach them something better than they could. As we are situat- ed, it is impossible to do this, however our hearts may yearn over them. We had spoken to Dr. Sheldon Jackson, when he was here, about the natural ad- vantages for a Home here, but he was heavily burdened with personal obligations in getting the mission started at all, and he said, " No ; there is a boys' Home at Sitka, and a girls' Home at Fort Wrangell : let them go there y So with might and main, when they come to us, we tell them of those good Homes, and the good people in charge of them, 154 LIFE IN ALASKA. and beseech them to send their children there ; but invariably come the impatient gathering up the blanket, the averting of the head, and the decided "Clake " ( "No"). They will not do it. Their tribal feeling is very strong, and their pride in their own mission, to a degree, is proper and grati- fying ; and the truth is, after all, that though the Sitka Home is a desirable haven, a par- adise, for Sitka boys, it can be filled from the lower coast. And it is not wholly desir- able that our boys should go there, for, com- paratively, our people are clean and pure. However good the Home, our boys could not come into contact with the united cor- ruption of white and Indian Sitka without learning depths of evil of which they now have only the hint. And another thing : we are fully convinced that a Home could be- come self-supporting in a very few years, and perhaps support all this mission. We have an abundance of good soil — lying well, much of it — that would require almost no labor to prepare for cultivation. We could raise enough "truck" here to supply the whole coast, and our vegetables would find LIFE IN ALASKA. 155 ready market and good prices at the mines. If we had a little steam-launch we could control the whole matter, with no middle- man to eat up profits. Now, we cannot ask the Board for this help; but if any of the churches choose to help us, no one can object, and we believe that it would be the most profitable investment for the work here that could be made — in every sense profitable ; for we think that no other one thincr could have such an influence on the people. The cost to begin with would be comparatively small. The house could be built of logs. We can have the land now for the taking; but if report is true, it will not be so long. A rush of population is predicted for Chilcat in the coming spring. We would require a good practical farmer and his wife — thoroutrh Christian mission- aries — to take charge of the Mome and farm. The very first season the boys could provide their own vegetables and fish, and I believe we could fill such a Home in less than a week from our own villages. Will you not help us ? That God may guide and bless us all 156 LIFE IN ALASKA. in the furtherance of his own blessed work is the earnest prayer of your friend, Carrie M. Willakd. To the Little Mission Band of the Second Presbyterian Church, New Castle, Penn- sylvania, Ciin.cAT Mission, Hainks, Alaska, February 3, 1SS2, My Dear Friends: You cannot know, and I am sorry that I cannot tell you, just how much of good it did us when we heard from one of your number th(!se words : " We have a mission band now, and we are working for Alaska." Of course you know, or you would not be working at all, that doing for " one of these little ones " is doing for Jesus, and you know that nothing done for that dear name is lost. You will have large reward in your own hearts now ; and up there, when we all have gone home, will it not be sweet reward when I see and recognize some of these Chilcat children as they come in, and after they have been to Jesus he lets me take them by the hand to you and say, '* These /.//••/; /A' ALASKA. 157 are the little ones for whom you \vo»*keid so faithfully"? Always pray while you work that God may bless all you do in makin- in-doors, this custom beincr varied when they go to church by the ad- dition of a little calico shirt. In the morning the men and boys go down to the water in the river, break a hole in the ice and dive into it. Then, coming out, they roll in the snow over and over and betake them to th(^ house again. II 1 62 LIFE IN ALAJA'A. They think it makes them strong-, but we know that in some cases it has caused death, and there is ei threat deal of con- sumption among the people. But this, although it often grieves me, is notliing to some other things which trouble me about these children. Oh, my little sisters, thank God with all your hearts that you have been born in a land and in a time made light by his word. These people often show the greatest family affection. In one case it is beauti- ful — in a family of father and five litth- girls, the baby just beginning to walk and the eldest about ten years. Their mother was shot last summer during- the war in the upper village. She came out with her three-months-old baby on her back and told her enemies to shoot her. They took away the child and shot the mother down. The others are here now, and I never saw more manifest love in any family. But their old superstitions make the people very cruel and iieartless. Of all the customs, there is not one, I think, which gives me so much trouble as \j^ LIFE IN ALASKA. 163 that of marryinor their children and selling them. In spite of us, so far, there are in our village several child-wives from nine or ten to thirteen years of age. One dear little girl, whose baby-brother died and was buried some months ago, and whose pa- rents seemed so heartbroken at his loss, and who gave us reason to hope that th'^^y were coming into the light, was given by her parents to her father's brother, a great brutal fellow, who already had a wife, almost blind, with several feeble, id- iotic children. This little one was a cren- tie, delicate and beautiful girl of about nine or ten years. When I see her now, I almost want to run away ; for I feel tempt- ed to do something desperate, tier little face is bruised and swollen ; her eyes are bloodshot, and their expression would bring tears to your eyes. She sits in that dark, cold hut with only those most repulsive beings about her, sewing away for them like a little old woman, all child-life for ever gone. But I did not mean to bring such a shadow on your young hearts. Do not let it rest there long. Only that you 164 l.IIE IN ALASKA. may see the difference betwi.T'n lij^ht and darkness and lonjr more earnestly to help send the word of God into the far corners of the earth. Now, before I close this ainrady lon^ let- ter, I must tell you a little incident to show you how much some of these children ap- preciate their school. Before the people came here and built hous<'s last fall, some of the children woultl brin^^ a lunch of dry salmon on Saturdays and stay all the week, sleeping in an outhouse. At last came the threat fish-festival, the j^ayest time of all the year to the Indians, when they take their fish for winter and at ni^^hts have their mask-dance with much music and fca:;tinor. The children went home for th(!ir food, and only one returned — faithful little Willis, of about ten years of aj^e. We afterward heard the story from tlu! village people. The good times proved too much for the other children, and thc^y determined to stay and enjoy them. It is for these little ones that you and we are working, and for whom we long to have a refuge. If the miners come; here in the IJI'E IN ALASKA. 165 sprin^^ llv! (!vil influences will be jrreatly increaM^rl, and our little girls especially will \ii'. tlM! sufferers. We are thankful that (iod sck that evening. We had no interpreter but Kittie. The poor child did grandly in all the circumstances, which were of a trying nature to all. Hour after hour the loud, violei t charges were made, and the refutation as loudly and angrily given, until we were all tired out. Mr. Willard, after getting the run of the trouble, took paper and pencil, and, charg- LH'E IN ALASKA. 167 inof the m(Mi to tell the whole truth, and nothin<^ else, he proceeded to write down their words for the man-of-war, to which he referred the whole matter. Several times they seemed on the very point of brcakinor over into cutting and shooting. Twice in particular I thought it was come to that, but while I held Baby tight in my arms Mr. Willard had sprung into the mid- dle of the floor, and with a tremendous set- ting down of his feet and bringing down of his fist, and with a voice that almost made me quail, he brought them back to some- thing like order. Then he stood up and talked to them until you could almost have heard a pin drop, except for the often-re- peated " Yug-geh" ("Good"). Old Jack left with angry threats before the good feeling came, when he found that he could gain nothing unjustly through us. We had a delightful gathering of the children to-night ; all seemed to have a good time, and we feel that it must have done L^ood. We made Willis master of ceremonies, and all did so well ! After leavinir their kerchiefs and blankets in the I i08 LIFE IN ALASKA. Indian room, they came to tlie sittinnr-room to shake hands with iis, when we told \\\vw\ each, in their own language, that we were li^lad to see them. There must have been over a hundred, I think ; we played many games, then sang and talked and praved together, and said " Good-night." Last week Mr. Willard probed another of their deepest cancers. The Stick Indians of the interior, from whom these people get all their furs and their wealth, are a simple, and, so far as we can judge by those who have dared to come here, an honest, tribe — much more than these their superiors, who consider them beasts, just as some of the whites esteem these Chilcats. The Chilcats have lied to the Sticks and cheated them, and to pre- vent their comino- to the coast to trade have told them horrid stories of the whites, and that they would be killed if they came. The few who have ventured here have been dogged about by the Chilcats, and look like hunted things. We have, however, gotten hold of every one and told them of Christ. One of the Sticks brought a nice squir- LIFE IN ALASKA. l6(j rcl-robe to Mr. Willarcl last watk, and, as he wanted one, he bought it from him at just the same price that he would pay either our own people or the trader ; he paid him in flour, shot and powder. You can scarcely imaj^ine the hornets' nest that was stirred up; the people were ready to mob us. EaWy next morning, before we could get our breakfast, we were set upon by some of the head-men, of whom Cla-not was spokesman. Many and many a time he had asked prices of goods, and we had told him ; but he wanted us to tell him the truth and everybody else a lie. He charged us with having robbed them ; for, said he, "the Sticks are our money; we and our fathers before us have gotten rich from them. They are only wild : they are not men ; and now you have told them these things and taken away our riches." Mr. Willard told him that he spoke the truth to all men, nor v;ould he lie for any : he told him that a certain advance on prices here was just and right when they carried their goods into the interior, but that it was wrong to hinder the Sticks from coming 170 /,//•■/'; //V ,i/..isa:i. here, and that wh(!ii they broiiL^ht th(;ir skins here it was only rit^ht tluit they should buy and sell at the same prices which the Chilcats did. He asked, too, what they brought into this world and what they expected to take out of it, and tried to show them that they were heaping up wrath against the day of wrath. That one question as to his natural pr(;stig(;, al- though Mr. Willard has used it many times in church to check their pride, secimed al- together new to Cla-not, and touched him more than anything else that was said. I le reminded us of his hii^h class and that iiis father and o^randfather had had wealth be- fore; him ; told us that it had offend(!d him, that he had come to this placi; (expecting us to build him a nice house, as they did in Port Simpson ; there the peo[jle prayed, then told the missionary, and he gave them the things they asked for. The peopUt here could not believe what we preached to thcMii when we gave them nothing, and now we had taken away what they had. He would not stay in this place any longer, H(; has not allowed his wife to com(i to church I.II'E li\ ALASKA. 171 since wc talked to him lien^ about poly^^- amy ; he says if he lets her hear she will give him shame — leave him, 1 suppose he means. He has three wives. You must not for one moment imar such a pur|X)st\ 12 1/8 LIFE IN ALASKA. Of course, in all thes(; talks w(! 1(^11 them why it is wroni^ and what is ri^ht. Another lari^e tirt! was kindled on the beach last week for the |>iirpos(! of burn- ini^ the hair of a little j^irl who had dared to comb it outside \\m\ house. It was im- mediately cut close to h(;r Ixtad and burned to avert catastrophe. I think the saddest of their sufx-rstitions are those which most dirrctly affect the livinir, such as witchcraft. When a \Ax\ is twelve or fourteen years (;ld, she is se- cluded for a lenj^th of time j^aeat in |>ro- portion to her casLe — frr>m six months to two years — in a little dark room, and clur- injT this time is never allowcrd to see the daylight, nor any face save her mother's, who, when necessary, j^oes tUit with the mrl after-niirht, and then the latter is close- ly blankete;d. Some evenings ago a father and mother brought their liirle girl to me in great dis- tress. 1 he people wr-H! so angry because she was not iinprisonctd according to their customs that it was not safe for her to be seen alone. Hu- m(*di< jn'-men declared Lll'li IN ALASKA. 179 that thin vas one cause of the i^reat snow- siorm. She is one of the briolitest and best ^^Jrln in the village, and she recently said, "I know that God knows all things, and that he sees my heart while I say I have nothing to hide." We had a long Uilk, and among other things the father said that, to show me how the people be- lieved thfrse things, he would tell me what was donfr before we came. A girl of high chisH during a time of bad weather was the. subject of this charge by the medicine- men. She denied it. The storm contin- ued. They told her that if she did not confess it they would kill her. They then commenced to torture her by burning her blanket frorr, her by inches to extort her confession. Her blanket was half burned from her body ; still she denied ; still the storm raged. They next killed a slave, but without the desired effect on the girl, and last of all they killed her and burned her body, whf^n immediately the storm abated and they had beautiful weather. When lold that these custonjs w- Ih III 2.2 I '- Ilia 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 "^ 6" — ► V] <^ n ^/w W '> ^>' ^^ .y M y PhotDgraphic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 1 84 LITE IN ALASKA. the material which the Indians use to such poor advantage ; I want to teach them the iitiHty of beauty. After I had finished Baby's fur-lined and trimmed button shoes of the reindeer skin and the litde cloak and bonnet, the women kept repeating, " In- dians know nothing^' and "Mother Nauk-y- stih knows everything ;" which extravagant assertions were the outcome of an energy which afterward wrought something more substantial in the shape of improved cloth- mg. Carrie M. Willard. Extracts from Letters of Rev. Eugene S. Willard. January 26, 1882. Dear Dr. Jackson ; I spent last week at the upper village teaching and visiting among the people. My knowledge of Kling-get was not sufficient to undertake preaching while there. I brought over a dozen people down to spend the Sabbath here ; others have come to stay that their children may go to school. Many of the people are making arrangements to build here in the spring. I wish all the people LIFE IN ALASKA. 185 could collect together, as it would be so much easier reaching them. I made about one-half of the way up the river on a pair of American club skates, and coining back I made about the same distance on snow- shoes. I had difficulty in getting the chil- dren togc ':her. They were willing to come, but had no idea of time. I very much needed a large hand-bell to summon them. We are getting along finely at this point. The school is large, and the congregation on Sabbath completely fills our schoolhouse, so that not a square foot is vacant from the platform to the door. A larger building is needed. I look anxiously for word from you, that 1 may know the signs of the times. March 25, 1882. — We feel certain of receiving word from you by next mail, for the accumulation of five months awaits us at Juneau. The steamer promised for the first of the month has not yet arrived. There will be much to attend to when it does come, for the mail strain is always great, and this, after so long a famine, will be almost too much for poor human na- ture. We had our expectations kindled 1 86 LIFE IN ALASKA. yesterday, when we saw a canoe coming around the south point of the bay, from Juneau ; but no mail was broucrht, thouo-h we have word through the Indians that there are two large sacks for us. The brave Kling-get was afraid to bring it up, not knowing he would get his pay. They will do nothing without pay, but expect us to give them everything and do everything for them for nothing. I am not of the opin- ion of those who believe that this ought to be done. I wanted to get the idea into their heads that we came amoncr them for other reasons than to hire them to be friends to us. The people in a general way are friendly. March 30. — We had the largest prayer- meeting last night that we have had since coming here. Our house was so full of Indians that it was difficult to get from one room to the other. The kitchen and sit- ting-room are connected by folding- doors, so that it is like one large room, equally as large as the schoolhouse. . . . It seems strange when I think of It — this leaving the house sometimes full of red- LIFE IN ALASKA. 187 skins. Before coming among them 1 had thought it would not be safe to turn one's back to them. . . . Eugene S. Willard. Chilcat Mission, Haines, Alaska, April 5, 1882. Rev. Sheldon Jackson — Dear Brother: The Favorite came in yesterday afternoon with mail from the mid- dle of November up to March ; of course it took us till midnight to look over, read and arrange, and then we retired before we were through, but not to get one wink of sleep. We received a flag by express (an ele- gant gift from the young people of Joliet, Illinois), and our piano ; the latter is in the sitting-room, and I have already played some old tunes on it for the Indians, but I think it did me more good than them, though they were so delighted. It came without a case from Sitka, as it alone had barely been rescued by the miners from the fire which utterly destroyed the boys' Home and much of their goods, leaving poor Mr. and Mrs. Austin homeless and 1 88 LIFE IN ALASKA. impoverished again. Oh, I long to give them everything I have ! Dear people ! vi^hat trials they have had ! and how nobly they bear them ! May the Lord show them great light and comfort! What a miner- ling of feelings these letters give us — so much of sorrow, and yet so much of joy! . . . Our village here will soon be left to itself. The Indians are even now com- mencing to separate. Some go to the lower Chilcat, some to Chilcoot and some to Tenany, a fishing-village between this and Chilcoot, about three or four miles by water from here. Others go up the Dy-ya Inlet some fifteen miles, and others to the upper village ; so that Mr. Willard's cir- cuit-riding — or, rather, paddling — will soon commence. Apj^il 8. — The Sunday-school papers are indeed a treasure ; we have had none for a good while, and the people seem hungry for them. I never saw such eagerness, even among white children at Christmas, as these people, old and young, evinced as the papers came out. They are seized and LIFE IN ALASKA. 189 hoarded as the greatest treasure, the pict- ures pored over right side up, upside down and sideways, though the Indians cannot read a line. The school-children, however, pick out the little words and enjoy that. You ask about the animals here. Cin- namon, black and brown bears are said by the Indians to be numerous in the woods all around us. In crossing the trail to the lower villages the men always carry knives or guns with them. Foxes, wolves, wol- verines and many other animals abound. There are many reindeer farther in the in- terior. We have many varieties of birds. I have seen more eagles, ravens and gulls than any other b: ds, but there are grouse of different kinds, the most beautiful being the snow-white. In the waters there are seals, walruses and beaver; halibut and spotted, red, also white, salmon ; a deli- cious litde silver fish, in size and shape resembling the small herring: these are the fish which the people are said to use for candles, sticking the head in the ground and lighting the tail. They also make of them a grease white as lard, which they IQO LIFE IN ALASKA. \h very much prize for food. Ducks are very plenty, from the real mallard down to the little fish-duck ; but we do not get many of them, as the Indians prefer lying around their big fires eating dried salmon to fish- ing and hunting, except for the seal. One day I saw that a man had brought in a young seal. I went down to the boat where he and his wife were unloading and told him I wished to buy a piece. The wo- man shook her head, saying that seal would kill white people ; but I insisted, and at leng-th had the satisfaction of seeinc^- the animal skinned and quartered. Under the skin there is a layer of pure fat from one to two inches thick all over the animal ; this is used for oil. The flesh is almost black ; for bones, there are but the back-bone and ribs. I baked my purchase for dinner; it was not very bad, nor can I say that we liked it very much. The taste is a cross between fish and animal. As I have already mentioned, there have been two brothers here in the Chilcat coun- try since Christmas, by the names of Aurel I and Arthur Krause, both doctors of natu- ; LIFE fN ALASh'A. 193 ral science from th(i University of Berlin, Prussia. They consider the country rich from their standpoint, and in scenery they say it surpasses everything they ever saw before, although they have spent months among the Alps and have traveled exten- sively through the East. They crossed the American continent — last spring, I think — and went on a whaler to Siberia, where they remained some months before coming here. They are indefatigable workers, and have quite upset the old geography of this locality, making a new map of it. I asked Dr. Arthur (the elder brother left for home by the last steamer) if their reports had been printed in America. He said only a few geographical items : the rest were sent di- rect to Germany, with innumerable speci- mens. . . . Carrie M. Willard. Ciiii.CAT Mission, llAiNts, Alaska, April 12, 1882. My Dear Little Sister: Your little let- ter was a treat. I wish you could give us one every month. . . . I cannot v;rite you much of a letter all 13 194 LIFE IN ALASKA. to yourself this time, but I must answer one part of yours. You are anxious to do good, to help along the work of bring- ing the world to Jesus, and I understand perfectly well how, to your mind, Alaska's claims are stronger than others. Yo" love its missionaries ; so your sympathies are quicker, your perceptions of its need keen- er. Owing to your intimate relations to us, your information is fuller ; and that alone would give you a deeper interest in this field. I am glad and thankful that you have an eager interest in our work. But, my little sister, it is all God's work ; do not say that you will not work with the society if they do not work for Alaska. There are heathen in Mexico for whom some one must labor if they are ever brought to Christ. There are missionaries who are working faithfully there whose hearts, I have no doubt, have their discouragements and tri- als, and who need the comfort of loving deeds and cheering words as much as we. Will It not be nobler to say to your society, " Work for Christ, and I am with you with all my heart" ? and if it is their wish to work ^ \ 1" LIFE IM ALASKA. 195 for Mexico, work just as earnestly, ancl juHt as ;:;onerously, as though it were all to tom^j here. It all goes into the same eternal tr(!asury, you know. Your loving inten:<>t is more sweet to us than I can tell, and we should much enjoy having an unbroken family working for the land for which we are willing to lay down our lives, but the other is the truer, broader, nobler thou; o X > 2! r- C/l 2 > > LIFE IN ALASKA. 205 heavily as ever, and I presume some one will soon be in to take me to account for daring to bring into the house on my foot, yesterday, one of my snow-shoes, which I could not readily remove. Another of their complaints was that the minister had made figures of stars on the snow when living the young men a litde out-door lect- ure on astronomy, and so brought bad wea- ther. Upon several occasions we were taken by force, the people filing in until our room was pretty well filled. They came before breakfast; they came in the night and at all hours intervening. We tried reasoning, then ridicule, and lasdy authority, forbidding them to trouble us any more with their complaints or threats. Soon spring will be here, and their trouble on this score will be at an end. We hope and pray that ere the falling of another win- ter's "nows God may have caused the light of his truth to enter their hearts and minds. He has mercifully preserved the lives of all who were out hunting and trading in the interior; though many were ill from ex- posure and two canoes were wrecked in 206 LIFE /A^ A/.ASh'A. the fierce storms, yet all the people were brought back in safety. . . . The Indians call us " the snow-people *' — not because they think we brought the snow, but because we are white. Baby Carrie they call "little snow-woman." Mr. Willard they have named Don-a-wok, which means " silver eye " or " bright eye." . . . Carrie M. Willard. Chm.cat Mission, llAiNKs, Alaska, May 8, 1SS2. My Dear Mrs. Haines : I have not yet heard from Mrs. Downino-, but I have taken the little girl, to do for her all in my power. It was a burden at this time, for my hands are full now to overflowing; but I felt that it was the ordering of God, and that he would strengthen me for every task he gave. A week ago last Saturday (April 29) we found that our village here was almost deserted, the people having gone to Nauk Bay, some ten or twelve miles down the channel, to fish, there being in that place an immense run of herring. Accordingly, we put our things together and followed LIFE IN ALASKA. 207 the people to spend the Sabbath at their fishinir-g^round. Some half dozen persons who had intended remainino^ here till Mon- day went down also on Saturday, as they said they could have no Sunday here with- out us ; so there were left in this villa^^e only a few old people and some children, among them my little girl and her grandparents. They came down to Nauk on Sabbath just in time for church. Some of the people were, I think, very glad to see us, but many looked dark at our coming; they had in- tended to work all that day. On Saturday we saw them fishing. In the stern of the canoe sat a woman or child to paddle ; in the prow, a man with a long pole, through which were driven many sharpened nails. This pole was used much in the same way as a paddle, but with every dip were brought up and dropped into the canoe from one to six fish. In a very short time the canoes were half filled, and then taken ashore and the fish emptied into great basins dug in the pebbly beach, where the women cleaned them and strung them on long sticks to dry. As the tide went 208 LIFE IN ALASKA. out children ran alon«^ the shore, and from among the sea-moss gathered fish by the tubful. The people worked late on Satur- day night; we had our evening worship with a few of the children on the rocks overhanging the workers, where they could hear the hymn. At the dawn of Sabbath six or eicfht ca- noes dropped down into the bay again for fish, but the parties soon returned with emp- ty boats and very long faces. Of course it was the missionary who had driven away the fish (they were all gone). There were still many of the fish left over undressed from the day before, and soon the camp pre- sented as lively an appearance as on that day. They were angry about the fish, so they set about work that they would not think of doing at home, building their drying-booths, whittling fish-sticks, clean- ing fish, etc. My husband had hoisted the flag at wor- ship-time on Saturday evening, and at church-time on Sabbath morning- we took our seats on the rock beneath it and sadly looked on at the busy hands and sullen LIFF. IN ALASKA. 20() faces of the iiiultitude below. A few of thf; school-children, who were allowed to do ho, washed the black paint from their faces and came to us. We then went down and made our way throui^di the busy crowds of jxrople to their very midst, and Mr. Willard, taking a tin pan, drummed for them to stop work. A few did so and gathered closer around us, while the others could not but hear as thifry wc ked ; others came to the afternoon ser- VlCv After church I noticed that my littlti In- rlian girl had been set to work on the fish, I knew that, child as she was, she was work- ing against her conscience, and I called hcrr to come to me. I was impressed with the idea that if we saved her at all from the people, now was the time for the decisive step, and after consulting together we de- cided to take her at once. Her people were only too glad to have the burden of her support lifted from their shoulders ; so on Monday we brought honie with us the filthy, half-naked little child, whom I put into a tub of warm water and scrubbed to entirety with brush and carbolic soap; then, 14 210 LIFE IN ALASKA. braidingr her loni^ soft hair, I pu*^ her first into a clean nig^htdress, then, for the first time in her Hfe, into a good clean bed. The little heart grew very tender in the opera- tion, and I trust that God enabled me to take proper advantage of it; and when I left her, after a bedtime talk and prayer and a good- night kiss, I could not but trust that the good T^ather had planned a noble future for the little one whom he seemed to have given to us. During the week, though it had seemed so full before that I could not possibly get anything more into it, I manaored to make her an entire suit — un- derclothes, skirt-dress and shoes (from deer- skin) and stockings. She has gone all win- ter with nothing on her body except a little ragged cotton slip and but half fed, and she is only one of the many bright little girls here whom I am besouofht to take into our home, and for whom my heart longs and aches. But this poor weak body of mine ! Oh, Mrs. Haines, we must have a home here. God will provide it, for these chil- dren must be saved, and it cannot be done in their hom(,'less homes. It has been grow- LIFE /iV /ii.ASKA. 211 ing upon us ever since we came here, but each day the necessity is more apparent, each day the burden is heavier on our hearts. I did not speak to you of it be- fore, because I knew that the Board was burdened with work still unprovided for. I have had dozens of boys and girls, of the best and brightest of our children, brought to me by their parents, who begged me to take them and teach them better things than they themselves could. . . . Carrie M. Willard. CuiLfAr Mission, Haines, Alaska, April 14, 1882. Dear Dr. Jackson: If Mr. De Groff cannot succeei in sending by canoe my things that are now in the warehouse at Juneau, I will (ry and go down myself to bring them. The Favorite brought only flour enough for the trader, and no pota- toes at all, no bacon or other supplies. Moreover, the boat will not return before fall. . . . We have had Indian Lot, of Fort Wran- gell, with us for neiiHv a week. We were 212 LIFE IN ALASKA. glad to have some one whom we could call on to speak and to lead in prayer. He intends to go below on Monday. I bought from him about one bushel of potatoes for five dollars. . . . Chief Shat-e-ritch sends to his son at Forest Grove a letter, in which he says, " We are so far from the mission that we do not go every day to church, but we will go in the summer. Ler.rn all you can. I do not want you to learn only one haK. learn all. When you are in the school, don't play, but study." . . . You will probably remember the deaf- and-dumb boy whom you hired to work on the house ? W^e have discovered that by putting my watch in his mouth he can hear the singing. He never is absent from church or prayer-meeting. I have thought that perhaps some Christian at home would like to give him an opportunity of hearing the words of life by providing him with a dentaphone. Among our people there are three deaf persons who can all hear a loud sound, though it is impossible to hold a conv^r- LIFE IN ALASKA. 213 sation with them : there is but one who cannot speak. May 9, — I have had several talks with different Indians about taking mail to Ju- neau. They will not go for less than thirty dollars per month ; some want forty. They say they will need a large Hydah canoe and have at least three men in it. If there is any kind of a sea on, they cannot move with the canoes. . . . May 12. — I did not succeed in sending the mail, as I had expected, though it got as far as the middle of the bay, when the Indians said that some of the letters were sent to the storekeepers to tell them what the prices of skins were ; so back came the mail. But this afternoon the Favorite blew her whistle in our harbor, and by her I can send to Sitka. She did not stop at juneau ; therefore our mail is not here and our freight is still in their warehouse. My traveling has commenced, as the Indians are away fishing. On the 30th of April we camped among the Indians, about ten miles down the coast. There was at that time a depth of four or five feet of 214 LIFE IN ALASKA. snow on the ground ; at present there is about one foot. I used a tin pan for a bell and a fine gravel-beach for a meet- ing-house. Don-a-wok's canoe and tent were secured ; so we were comparatively comfortable. I would like to go up the Dy-ya Inlet, where all the people of the village are fishing, but have no way of getting there. I do not like these ii^ood-for-nothinir ca- noes: you must sit just so, look just so and breathe just so, or over they go. . . . I was visited the other evening by the old Crow chief who gave us the house at the upper village. He said he wanted me to take his words and send them to the officers, telling them to have pity on those who want to live in peace, and who do not want to see their friends fiorhtin