gly retort, "O, you need not laugh at me. See that crowd of
women out there in the yard, expecting you to go out and kiss them!" It
was surprising how much work that day kept me shut in my study; or if
that expedient would not avail, I used to select a dear old sweet-faced,
white-haired grandma, the mother of the chief, and say, "Now I am going
to kiss grandma; and as I kiss her you must all consider yourselves
kissed." This institution is more ancient among them than shaking
hands, about which they knew nothing until it was introduced by the
whites.

For weeks before New Year's Day great preparations were made for the
feast. A council would be called, and the men would have recorded what
they were willing to give towards it. Some, who were good deer-hunters,
promised venison. Others promised so many beavers. Perhaps there were
those who knew where bears had made their winter dens, and they agreed
to go and kill them for the feast. Others, who were good fur-hunters,
stated their willingness to exchange some of the furs they would catch
for flour and tea and sugar at the trading post.

Thus the business went on, until enough was promised, with the liberal
supplies given by the Hudson's Bay Company's officials and the
missionary, to make the affair a great success. An outbuilding of the
Mission, called "the fish house," was the place where all these various
things, as they were obtained, were stored. Months were sometimes
consumed in collecting the meat. But Jack Frost is a good preservative,
and so nothing spoiled. A few days before the feast, Mrs Young would
select several of the Indian women, and under her superintendency the
various supplies would be cooked. Very clever were these willing
helpers; and in a short time a quantity of food would be piled up,
sufficient for all, although it is well known that Indians have good
appetites.

When the great day arrived, the men quickly removed the seats out of the
church, and there put up long tables. Great boilers of tea were made
ready, and every preparation was completed for a good time. But, before
a mouthful was eaten by any of the eight hundred or thousand persons
present, the chief used to ask me for a pencil and a piece of writing
paper; and then, standing up on a box or bench, he would shout out, "How
many of our people are aged, or sick, or afflicted, and cannot be with
us to-day!" As one name after another was mentioned, he rapidly wrote
them down