Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church 
 156 Fifth Avenue, New York 
 
MRS. EUGENE S. WILLARD 
 
 OTH A T the kodak had been with us in those early days of 
 our life in heathen Alaska ! How its snapshots would help 
 you to see the child life as it then was and give you hints 
 also of what it is becoming under the influences of the gospel. 
 
 The awkward, hard-to-focus camera of those days, mounted 
 on a tripod, was an awesome instrument to the bewildered native; 
 and of course any posed, dressed-up-f or pictures would be worth- 
 less as studies from nature such as we wish to give you. We are 
 forced to- depend merely upon word glimpses — pen-and-ink 
 sketches — in trying to make you see and knoiv the little "bears," 
 and "ravens" and "whales" of the big white land. 
 
 BASKET-LIFE OF THE BABY 
 
 The H'lingit mother weaves from the inner bark of the cedar 
 a slipper-like basket, stiffened up the long back with reeds or slender 
 withes, for baby's cradle. This basket work is covered with a 
 cunningly fitted case of 
 strong, coarse muslin 
 made with flaps below 
 the pillow to button over 
 baby when he is tucked 
 cosily in. She gathers 
 quantities of the beauti- 
 ful soft, feathery moss 
 and has it dried and 
 ready to use for packing 
 under and around baby 
 in his basket. 
 
 Also there are soft rab- 
 bit skins to dress for extra 
 wrapping on the wee feet and legs. Bits of blanket are set apart for 
 the chest and shoulders of the new comer, who is first thoroughly 
 oiled, then wrapped about with his little blanket and slipped into his 
 
 The Little Baby Buttoned in from Chin to Toes. 
 
moss-lined nest; the feet are snugged in with the rabbit skins and the 
 moss is packed in about the body, then the flaps are drawn together 
 and buttoned over the folded arms and from under the chin all the 
 way down to the feet. Baby's head is sometimes covered by a little 
 fitted cap, sometimes only by a fold of the blanket, leaving the face 
 alone exposed to view. Baby is now ready to be moved about even 
 by a careless or inexperienced nurse without danger to spine or 
 limb. The basket is easily swung by leathern ropes across a corner 
 
 of the house and, by means of a string 
 attached to the side of the cradle, it can 
 be rocked by a person even too infirm 
 or crippled to do other things. 
 
 "When baby grows old enough to 
 "take notice" his elders often stand 
 him up in his basket against the wall 
 so that he can look about and see" what 
 is going on, though no unnecessary 
 attention is given him, no nerve-taxing 
 effort is made to hurry speech and 
 laughter. He lives in his basket day 
 and night; eats in it, sleeps in it, and 
 travels in it. Occasionally he is taken 
 out and rubbed all over with oil. When 
 he goes abroad in cold weather it is still in his basket under father's 
 or mother's blanket. In summer, during busy times, such as the 
 fishing or berry seasons, he is set up against a rock or tree out of the 
 way. It is at these times that flies and mosquitoes plague the poor 
 little unprotected face, for the baby hands are securely buttoned 
 irside. Still, this is the safest period of a H'lingit child's life, and I 
 have sometimes wondered if the proverbial patience and tractability 
 of the race were not in some measure traceable to this early experience. 
 
 I think all teachers of Alaskan children have been surprised to 
 find them so easily governed, gentle and obedient while yet possess- 
 ing so much of spirit and enterprise. In common with the Indians 
 of our plains, corporal punishment is unknown among H'lingits as a 
 means of family discipline. Physical pain is given to another, 
 whether child or adult, only as "an eye for an eye " retribution, or 
 as a means of driving out an evil spirit which superstition leads 
 them to believe possesses certain persons. 
 
 When a child is about a year old, or, as the H'lingits say, two 
 years old, meaning one summer and one winter, he is released from 
 
the basket life and is thenceforth at the mercy of the world, being 
 mainly in the charge of other children who are but little more than 
 babies themselves. They make a pouch of their blanket and in it 
 carry the baby upon their backs ; even while at play they dart about 
 thus, seeming hardly to notice this precious burden. Very often 
 baby drops out of his pocket during a game of tag and is hurt. To 
 accidents of this kind more than to any other cause can be charged 
 the large number of deformities among the native people. 
 
 KEN-OSH 
 
 "Bobbs" for short. A roly poly dumpling of a boy was he 
 when, on his own sturdy legs — scorning even the convenient aid 
 which his young mother's skirt might have afforded him through a 
 grasping baby hand — he came manfully at the age of four years to 
 find "a place in the minister's house," as he always said. And though 
 it was a pretty full house at all times, he soon made a big place for 
 himself in the house and in the hearts as well. 
 
 There was a rule, of course, that the " Home " children should 
 go to visit their native friends only at certain times and by the 
 express permission of their teachers, but on one bright day soon 
 after the entrance of ' ' Bobbs, " this independent baby took with him 
 another boy of the same age and adventured forth to see his folks 
 and withal to be fed on native dainties. His mother brought them 
 back, sorely distressed at 
 what she imagined as 
 possible results in severe 
 punishment. Her appre- 
 hension was so great that 
 we had her remain to see 
 how the little culprits 
 fared. After telling them 
 of the good God who had 
 made them and who still 
 loved them so much that 
 he wanted them to be 
 
 good and happy, the mis- Children with their "IRssion Mother." 
 
 sion mother added that 
 
 the same good God had made each child a little chief, to be master 
 over his own tongue and hands and feet so that they should be 
 made to say and to do exactly what was right and so be well and 
 
happy, which was good. When the little chief allowed them to 
 do wrong they were sick, that was naughty. Now it was plain 
 these little feet were sick and would have to go to bed until they 
 were better — well again. So the erring little feet were bathed and 
 done up in white bandages, their wondering little "chiefs" regard- 
 ing the procedure with curious and tender interest — all fear having 
 fled away. Then we asked the dear Heavenly Father who made 
 them to bless both the little sick feet and their masters, and to help 
 them to be well and more wise in obeying. 
 
 The amazed young mother, whose hasty temper had been tried 
 to the limit by her little son's offense, looked on with filling eyes 
 and little exclamations that showed a heart as warm as her temper. 
 
 Though "Bobbs" remained in the mission until he became a 
 man, his first disobedience, so far as I can recollect, was his last. 
 He was his own chief monitor as to the observance of the simple 
 rules of the home. 
 
 A year after his coming into the home "Bobbs" had a very 
 serious illness, so serious indeed that we feared he might not get 
 well again. The white mother took him into her own room to nurse 
 and called in his adoring H'lingit mother to stay, that she might 
 have the comfort of helping to care for her only child and also that 
 
 she might see what the missionaries did 
 for him . She was herself scrupulously clean 
 and neat in her new cotton print dress ; 
 and she accepted gladly the white nurse's 
 apron provided for her. It seemed in 
 keeping with the cleanliness of the nursery 
 and of the little white-robed patient in his 
 white cot. The contrast with the condition 
 of the sick in the old-fashioned native 
 house could not fail to be noticed. We 
 expected the baby boy to prefer his natural 
 mother's attentions, but when she brought 
 the nourishment prepared for him, 
 " Bobbs " would ask to be fed by the mis- 
 sion mother. When he became restless 
 There ,f^ e J s a T^ u l la gf as ° J witn P ain te would plead : " Put me in my 
 
 white mother's arms, she makes me 
 better." So the white mother rocked him singing the " Jesus Loves 
 Me " lullaby, until he fell asleep and was taken into the loving 
 bosom of his own mother till he awoke again. 
 
During the rather tedious convalescence, after warm weather 
 had come, it seemed best for "Bobbs" to be much in the open air, 
 and with this in view we had his mother take him to his village 
 home, where she could give him her whole attention and many- 
 pleasures dear to the native heart, such as canoeing, fishing and 
 gathering wild 
 berries. When 
 she made up a 
 little bed for him 
 and said, "See 
 your nice bed and 
 soft feather pil- 
 lows," he an- 
 swered with a 
 homesick quiver 
 in his voice, "But 
 I want my own 
 little white bed, 
 and my dear lit- 
 tle straw pillow!" 
 Nevertheless he 
 said his little 
 night time prayer and went to sleep quietly. 
 
 Each day found him gaining strength under his mother's tender 
 care and the healing of the big out-of-doors, and she proudly, 
 thankfully brought him back to us before the summer was fully gone. 
 
 Quick to learn, reliable, energetic and independent, when he 
 came to be also a disciple of the Lord his influence was very helpful 
 among the younger children and he was able to steady the weaker 
 and less enlightened of the older boys. He became proficient in 
 many kinds of work and was able with his hands to make a good 
 living for his family when such responsibility came to him. But his 
 knowledge of English and the goodly fund of general information 
 that he had attained made him valuable to the Government, and he 
 became court interpreter, a position that he has held with honor 
 for a number of years. 
 
 UNDAH 
 
 A great feast was being held by one of the more southern 
 H'lingit tribes. Kindred clans from a distance bad gathered in 
 large numbers as guests at this celebration in the island settlement. 
 
 Winter Sport in Alaska. 
 
Quantities of "hootsanoo" had been furnished as a part of the enter- 
 tainment and it soon furnished its usual scenes of disorder. The 
 dwellings were filled with men and women who had danced and 
 drank, then drank and danced again, until now, from the combined 
 effects of drink and exhaustion, they lay on the floor in utter stupe- 
 faction, the heavy sleep of drunkenness from which they were soon 
 to awake miserable and quarrelsome. 
 
 Outside the homeless huts, in forlorn groups, huddled together, 
 were the children, tired, hungry and desolate, yet most of all afraid 
 of what would happen when their elders should arouse from this 
 state of stupor. The older girls of from six to twelve years carried 
 babies on their backs in a pocket of the blanket which also served 
 the nurse as an outer robe, while babies that could walk clung to 
 the scant skirt of their big sister, or sat digging toes into the sand of 
 the beach close by. 
 
 Presently a slender, oval-faced girl of eight years arose from 
 where she had been seated alone and apart from the others and came 
 toward them, stopping only to speak a few words quietly to each 
 group as she moved from one to another. 
 
 "Come with me back into the forest," she said, "I am going to 
 bring you food and we shall have a feast too." And taking up into 
 her strong young arms one little toddler who was lame and faint 
 from want of his mother's milk, Undah led the way to a thick cedar 
 grove back of the village, the willing children crowding after her, 
 until, out of sight and hearing of the houses, she stopped, set the 
 little one down on the carpet of moss and spoke to the others who 
 crowded about her. 
 
 "You are all hungry," the child began in a strong but sympa- 
 thetic voice; "your fathers and mothers would not want you to 
 starve, but they are ' hootsanoo dead ' and cannot know till some 
 of you are dead of emptiness, so somebody has got to save you. I 
 am going to do it, but I need help. I am going to steal things to 
 feed you with and I won't have a single boy or girl to help me that 
 ever stole a thing just because they wanted it for themselves ! The 
 ones that never did such a thing as that can step out here at my 
 right hand." When several of the brightest looking boys and girls 
 had in a solemn, awe-stricken way come to her side, she turned to 
 them and in a lower tone said : "There is more for us to do than to 
 feed the children. We must also save our grown-up friends. You 
 know that every man in the village has his hunting knife in his belt 
 and you know, too, what will happen when the people wake up crazy 
 
from this 'hootsanoo' sleep; before I open the chief's store-house 
 for you to get all the food you can carry back to these little ones, 
 you must go with me from house to house and take every knife and 
 killing thing there is in the village. We will hide them in a big 
 hollow log that I know of in the swamp over there till the feast is 
 
 over and the strangers are ready to 
 go away, then there will be nobody 
 killed — you understand ? " 
 
 Satisfied with the intelligence in 
 their faces and with their grunts of 
 assent and approbation, the little cap- 
 tain led the way back to the long row 
 of houses facing the beach. Two 
 children she allowed to each dwelling 
 in turn ; she, herself, directing and 
 encouraging them and receiving into 
 her blanket the collected weapons. 
 
 This rather tedious business being 
 at last completed, she threw the bun- 
 dle over her shoulder and proceeded 
 alone to the hiding place that she 
 had chosen. Having deposited there 
 the entire collection she returned to 
 the children, whose interest and ex- 
 citement had for the moment almost 
 quieted the clamor of their stomachs. 
 The sturdy little aides stood ready at 
 the edge of the swamp to return with 
 her to the raid on the village. When 
 they had reached the store-house of 
 her uncle, the chief (who was also this 
 orphan girl's guardian and master), 
 she took from her neck a little leather 
 string on which was hung a key. This she fitted into the padlock, 
 turned it and opened the door. 
 
 "Stay out here until I come, it will not be long," she said, and, 
 entering, closed the door behind her. Spreading her blanket on the 
 floor she proceeded to throw into it dried berry cakes and bunches of 
 sea weed, bundles of dried salmon and the little candle fish. After 
 folding the edges of the blanket together over this tempting array of 
 provender, she opened the door and called her assistants to gather 
 
 Totem and Paddkt. 
 
up the ends and carry the bundle to those who awaited the promised 
 feast. Then taking a large horn spoon she dipped berries and fish 
 eggs preserved in oil from the big winter boxes recently filled with 
 fresh stores, filling two smaller wooden dishes which she carried 
 herself and fed to the younger of the famishing children. When all 
 had eaten their fill there still remained a few of the dried fish as a 
 common stock, free to any child who might later discover a vacancy. 
 
 Undah then called out a new set of helpers to provide plays for 
 the company, whose spirits had revived, and the work of these also 
 proved successful, keeping the children well entertained for several 
 hours until the welcome sight and smell of smoke from newly replen- 
 ished house-fires assured them that their parents and guardians were 
 recovering their senses and thinking about an evening meal. Then, 
 without provoking much comment, the little nurses re-entered the 
 dwellings, slipped their baby charges into the laps of their mothers 
 and busied themselves in bringing fresh water from the spring and 
 dry sticks from the forest. 
 
 There was great wonderment and some superstitious fear 
 among the people when it was discovered that during their sleep 
 every man had lost his knife and that the few muskets also of which 
 the tribe had been possessed had disappeared from the houses. It 
 was, of course, laid at the door of the witches, some of whom the evil 
 spirit of their great god, the raven, kept 
 always in every village to work mischief 
 and evil. The old people talked much and 
 the children held their peace until the 
 weary people had eaten and again fallen 
 asleep. When all had settled into pro- 
 found quiet for the night, the little maid 
 — Undah — stole out of her master's house, 
 though trembling as any native child 
 would with the fear of evil spirits abroad, 
 and brought again the weapons which she 
 had concealed, placing them in a conspic- 
 uous heap on the common road upon which A utile Girl Rescued from 
 the village doors all opened, for the next muxes i^m^Ber for 
 morning the visitors would disperse and 
 
 return to their own places. Not many months after this great feast 
 (notable among all the tribes because not a single instance of serious 
 quarreling had occurred and so no injuries were to be avenged or 
 paid for), the chief brought his family on a trading trip to Juneau. 
 
His orphan niece — ward and slave — of course accompanied them. 
 The quick intelligence of the child soon brought her into possession 
 of the fact that there was a mission school and home for native chil- 
 dren in this strange white man's town ; also that one day was called 
 Sunday, when the big bell would ring and the natives could come 
 
 and hear singing and a kind of talk not 
 heard elsewhere in the town. 
 
 Consumed with curiosity and interest, 
 Undah gave her guardian no rest until he 
 accompanied her to the mission, when she 
 readily made friends with the happy 
 "Home" children, whose testimony added 
 to her interest and caused her to resolve 
 at any cost to become a mission child her- 
 self. So it was by sheer force of character 
 and indomitable will that she led her un- 
 willing relatives into the presence of the 
 The meksinale i/ulon few missionaries to arrange for her adoption 
 
 into the family. To the missionary thus 
 besieged the man and his wife protested that they did not wish to 
 part with the child ; that she was out of her mind to ask for such 
 a thing; that they loved her and took care of her; that they also 
 needed her services in caring for their younger children and "the 
 babies would cry for her," they added, volubly making their objec- 
 tions. Nevertheless without ever raising her voice above its cus- 
 tomary note of native refinement and without manifesting either 
 resentment or disrespect to her elders the girl finally had her way 
 and became a happy mission child. Not only so, but she managed to 
 retain the good will of her guardians and the loving admiration of 
 their children, whose hearts also turned with desire toward the mis- 
 sion where their Undah lived in such content and whence she 
 brought them stories so delightful. 
 
 In the course of time Undah became a Christian. Strong, sin- 
 cere and lovely, she was also capable, tactful and resourceful — a 
 valuable assistant in the home as well as interpreter for the mission. 
 Housekeeping and the care of children came to her as by natural 
 gift, as. did also the little refinements of manner and dress. She 
 married one of our Christian young men who had been trained as a 
 carpenter in the Industrial School at Sitka, and made the pretty and 
 comfortable house he built for her an object lesson for the natives. 
 When they removed to another village they gave to the missionary 
 
in charge most valuable assistance by both example and testimony, 
 standing as they did for the truth among their own people. 
 
 " SLAVE " 
 
 One summer a native Christian woman of our Juneau people 
 took her little children and went to visit the home of her childhood 
 — far away to the westward. 
 
 While there her heart was touched with sorest pity for a little 
 slave boy who was abused and underfed by the family who held 
 him. Yet it was not until she was almost ready to return to Juneau 
 that she discovered the identity of the child. His mother had been 
 the dearest friend of her girlhood, of high class in the tribe, yet 
 upon her death, the little son, according to native custom, had be- 
 come the property of her clan, and so had become the half -starved, 
 overworked, unhappy little child that was now called " Slave." 
 
 This Christian woman's heart was big with love for her own 
 little boys. She felt sure that her people were doing a wrong and 
 perceiving that the only way to right it was for her to get the child 
 into the hands of the missionaries, she sought an opportunity 
 
 to talk to the boy privately 
 and promised him a hap- 
 pier life if he would hide 
 away among her stuff in 
 the big canoe when she 
 was ready to start for 
 home. This plan was suc- 
 cessfully carried out, and 
 after arriving at Juneau 
 she brought the child to 
 the mission, confident that 
 he would be received and 
 „. , „ . . , „, ,, . cared for. The old mission 
 
 Some Native Women and Baby m Modem Clothing. 
 
 house was very small and 
 very crowded, yet it was made to hold "one more," and poor 
 "Slave" became more comfortable and happy than he had ever 
 been before. 
 
 But as winter came on the man and woman missed more and 
 more their little "hewer of wood" and, suspecting his whereabouts, 
 they came to Juneau to take him again into bondage. Having 
 traced him to the mission these brutal people presented themselves 
 one afternoon at the mission home when an assistant was alone with 
 
the children in the big kitchen. Mr. Willard had been called away 
 a hundred miles or more and could not be expected back for several 
 days. I was upstairs putting my "snow babies" to bed when, 
 upon glancing out of the window, I saw " Slave " being jerked and 
 dragged along the path from the home door, struggling all in vain 
 against the strength of his enraged captors. 
 
 The Modern House Has not yet Displaced the Old Totems. 
 
 Leaving the babies at the window I dashed down the stairs and 
 out, putting myself directly in the way of the kidnappers, where I 
 planted myself without a doubt that they would quail before me. 
 The native giantess, however, was crazy with whiskey ; and as I 
 laid hold of the boy she laid hold of me, fastening the sinewy 
 
fingers of one hand on my throat while she grasped with the other 
 a sharp hunting knife. At this juncture, her husband, who was 
 sober enough to consider the possible consequences of such a deed 
 as the murder of a white woman, grasped the wrists of his wife 
 and forced her to drop the knife and release me. 
 
 In the meantime, finding himself free, Slave had gone back 
 to the home only to find the door bolted and the panic-stricken 
 children crowded together at the window, gazing out at us all in 
 helpless terror. When I could quiet them the door opened and the 
 slave boy was saved for that time, though his "friends" assured us 
 in no mild terms that they would not give him up if they had to 
 burn the house or kill the boy to get him. As soon as possible I 
 went to the town officers in an effort to have the boy made the ward 
 of the missionaries, but " Oregon law as found applicable to Alaska" 
 was very slow and uncertain and often failed to " apply " altogether. 
 Slave was virtually a prisoner in the home for several days, in con- 
 stant fear of recapture and in dread of the punishment which would 
 then be meted out to him; all of which he no doubt fully realized 
 when finally caught, as he was one evening after dark, when he 
 ventured outside the door for a few moments with some of the 
 smaller boys who were unable to defend him. And so one little 
 slave, after a glimpse of paradise, was swept back into the dark- 
 ness and misery of pagan slavery. 
 
 While the lot of an orphan boy is cruelly hard as a slave, the 
 fate of girls is even worse. Not only the orphan but the girl who 
 has parents as well is, in many instances, given as wife to some unloved 
 and unloving old man, whose old wife still lives and who, with him, 
 needs to be waited upon. Some of these orphan slaves have been 
 wholly rescued and to-day are living free and happy Christian lives; 
 some of them are heads of families that are being brought up in the 
 " nurture and admonition of the Lord," while there are others who 
 are still held in bondage, waiting, perhaps, until you send them 
 deliverance. Would not you like to be of those whose "feet are 
 beautiful upon the mountains ? " 
 
THE Wll LETT PRESS 
 NEW YORK