would fall into my bunk at night with my clothes on, I
am so weary.

_Ragged Islands
Sunday night_

Just aboard again after Prayers at the little church. It is a quaint
and crude little edifice, and the people were so kindly and the
service so hearty that one feels "wonderfu' lifted up." To be sure,
during the sermon I was suddenly brought up "all standing" by the
amazing statement that the "Harch Hangels go Hup, Hup, Hup." One felt
in one's bones that this was a misapprehension. The very earnest
clergyman may have noticed my obvious disagreement, for at the close
he announced, "We will now sing the 398th hymn"--

"Day of Wrath, oh! Day of Mourning,
See fulfilled the Prophet's warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning."

This goes off into the blue on the chance of its reaching you before I
come myself and share a secret with you; for to-morrow we are due at
the Iron Bound Islands, and there I leave the Northern Light, and end
the chapter of my life as a member of the Mission staff. The
appropriateness of the closing hymn in the little church last night is
borne more than ever forcibly in upon me with the chill light of early
morning, for I verily feel as though my world were tottering about my
ears.

I am still optimist enough to know that life will hold many
experiences which will enrich it, but in my secret heart I cherish the
conviction that this year will always stand out as a keynote, and a
touchstone by which to judge those which succeed it. My greatest
solace in the ache which I feel in taking so long a farewell of a
people and country that I love is that I shall always possess them in
memory--a treasure which no one can take from me. As I look back over
the quickly speeding year I find that I have forgotten those trivial
incidents of discomfort which pricked my hurrying feet. All I can
recall is the rugged beauty of the land, the brave and simple people
with their hardy manhood and more than generous hospitality, and most
of all my little bairns who hold in their tiny hands the future of Le
Petit Nord.

[Illustration: P.S.]

The Riverside Press
Cambridge . Massachusetts
U.S.A.

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