hat they requested no sign designating the
building as a store be placed upon it. That, they declared, would make
the traders angry, and no one knew to what lengths these former
slaveholders might go to have revenge upon them. It is no easy matter
to shake oneself free from the traditions of generations and it was
hard for these trappers and fishermen to realize that they were freed
from their ancient bondage. But Doctor Grenfell fears no man, and,
with his usual aggressiveness, he nailed upon the front of the store a
big sign, reading:

RED BAY CO-OPERATIVE STORE.

It was during the winter of 1905-1906 and ten years after the
launching of the enterprise and the opening of the store, that I drove
into Red Bay with a train of dogs one cold afternoon. Skipper Tom was
my host, and after we had a cheery cup of tea, he said:

"Come out. I wants to show you something."

He led me a little way down from his cottage to the store, and
pointing up at the big bold sign, which Grenfell had nailed there, he
announced proudly:

"'Tis _our_ co-operative store, the first on the whole coast. Doctor
Grenfell starts un for us."

Then after a pause:

"Doctor Grenfell be a wonderful man! He be a man of God."

As expected, there was a furore among the little traders when the news
was spread that a co-operative store had been opened in Red Bay. The
big Newfoundland traders and merchants were heartily in favor of it,
and even stood ready to give the experiment their support.

But the little traders who had dealt with the Red Bay settlement for
so long, and had bled the people and grown fat upon their labors, were
bitterly hostile. They began a campaign of defamation against Doctor
Grenfell and his whole field of work. They questioned his honesty, and
criticised the conduct of his hospitals. They even enlisted the
support of a Newfoundland paper in their opposition to him. They did
everything in their power to drive him from the coast, so that they
would have the field again in their own greedy hands. It was a
dastardly exhibition of selfishness, but there are people in the world
who will sell their own souls for profit.

Grenfell went on about his business of making people happier. He was
in the right. If the traders would fight he would give it to them. He
was never a quitter. He was the same Grenfell that beat up the big boy
at school, years before. He was going to have his way about it, and do
what he went to Labrador to do.