nd
sounds well, if nothing more. Of course we women are all much elated,
and talk of "our claims" very glibly, but a few sunken prospect holes
will tell the story of success or failure better than anything else.

This has been a busy day in the house until I went at half-past two in
the afternoon to Mollie's to find her ill in bed with a very bad throat.
I gave Jennie and Charlie two hours of my time, and went home, to return
in the evening at Mollie's request. The poor woman was suffering
severely, and I did what I could for her, rubbing her throat with
camphorated oil and turpentine and wrapping it in thick, hot flannels.
Then I assisted her to bed, rubbing her aching bones, and left her less
feverish than when I went in. The thermometer is above zero, and the
weather is pleasant.

Two men from Topkok came in to see the Recorder's books, and searched
all through them without finding what they wanted and expected to find,
and then went away with sober and disappointed faces. "Curses not loud
but deep" come to our ears each day about the Commissioner's work of
recording, and many say he is now deep in dissipation at Nome, instead
of attending here to his business as he should. Miners declare him
unfitted in every way for his position, and affirm that they will depose
him from office.

I went out this morning and bought a student lamp at the store, paying
six dollars and a half for it. This, with my case of coal oil, will
light my room nicely, besides giving a good deal of heat.

The Marshal and men are home from the Koyuk River, after four weeks of
winter "mushing," and say nothing about their trip. They did not manage
to pull harmoniously together, and Mr. L. returned before them.

January ninth: When I went today to the hotel to teach my pupils, I
found the men in the room cleaning the big heater, and ashes and dirt
drove us out of the place, so we went upstairs to another room in which
Mollie sometimes sews, and where we found her at work on a white parkie
for the musician. I played with Jennie for a time before the lesson, and
Ageetuk came in on an errand, while Polly, the Eskimo servant, jabbered
in a funny way and wabbled over the floor like a duck, as is her habit
when walking. This girl is short, fat and shapeless, with beady black
eyes, and a crafty expression, certainly not to be relied on if there is
truth in physiognomy.

At the hotel all is excitement and bustle, getting the men off for the
Kuskokqui