in in civilization. Soon Mr. H., the head
missionary, whom I had already met in Nome, came in with Miss J., the
teacher of the Mission children. She also had spent some days with us at
Nome. These all made us very welcome, and our party of seven was soon
sitting together before a good, smoking hot breakfast, to which we did
real justice.

When entering the house I had, upon first removing my wraps and
"fascinator," given my friends another surprise equal to the one of the
muckluks on the steamer. The day before leaving Nome I had
(surreptitiously again) made a visit to the hairdresser, and when I left
her room I appeared another woman. My head now, instead of being covered
with long, thin hair, done up hastily in a twist at the back, had short
hair and curled all over, a great improvement, they all voted, when the
first surprise was over.

My hair, all summer, had been like that of most women when first in
Alaska, falling out so rapidly that I feared total baldness if something
was not done to prevent. This was the only sure remedy for the trouble,
as I knew from former experience, and as I again proved, for it entirely
stopped coming out. Ricka soon followed my example, and we, with Miss
J., who had been relieved of her hair by fever the year before, made
almost a colony of short-haired women, much to the amusement of some of
our party.

After we had eaten our breakfasts, several of us set to work at writing
letters to send out to Nome by the "Elk," which would remain a few hours
unloading freight, as this might be our last opportunity for many weeks,
or until the winter mails were carried by dog-teams over the trails. We
fancied our friends on the outside would be glad to hear that we had
arrived safely at Golovin, and our pens flew rapidly over the paper.
These letters, finally collected, were placed in the hands of one of the
"Elk's" crew for mailing at Nome, and the steamer sailed away.

Not all, however, wrote letters. The business head of the "Star" firm
had not been idle, nor writing letters, and while I wrote Alma was
deeply engaged, well seconded by Ricka, in making arrangements with Mr.
H. by which we could remain in this Mission House all winter. Before
noon it was decided that we should stay, assisting the missionaries all
in our power until such time as they could move to their new station, as
soon as the ice was firm enough in the bay to travel upon and the Home
was far enough toward completion. It wa