fare myself when it is plenty. I am very glad, indeed, of the
opportunity to earn my board and room in this way, for my work will only
be with and for the two children, and I love them very much.

January thirtieth: A bad storm came up this afternoon with wind and
snow. At the Mission one of the newcomers is making two strong reindeer
sleds. He says he is used to Alaska winters, has been up into the
Kotzebue Sound country, and is now going again with reindeer as soon as
his sleds are finished. He is exceedingly fond of music, and enjoys my
playing. I wonder if he will offer to stake a claim for me! I will not
ask him.

January thirty-first: This terrible storm continues with snow drifting
badly, and with wind most bitter cold. What about the boys on the Koyuk
trail? I fear they will freeze to death. I have finished six drill
parkies for the storekeeper, but cannot get them to him in the blizzard.

February first: I found when calling upon Jennie today that her mother
was sick in bed with a very bad throat, so I spent most of the day and
evening there. I did all I could for Jennie as well as Mollie, doing my
best to amuse the child, who is still strapped down on her bed, and must
find the day long, though she has a good deal of company. I had a
first-class six o'clock dinner at the hotel tonight,--that is, for
Alaska, at this season of the year.

February second: This is my birthday, and I have been thinking of my
dear old mother so far away, who never forgets the date of her only
daughter's birth, even if I do. I should like to see her, or, at least,
have her know how well I am situated, and how contented I am, with a
prospect before me which is as bright as that of most persons in this
vicinity. If I could send my mother a telegram of a dozen words, I think
they would read like this: "I am well and happy, with fair prospects.
God is good." I think that would cheer her considerably.

It is beginning to seem a little like spring, and the water is running
down the walls and off the windows in rivers upon the floors of the
Mission, which we are glad are bare of carpets; the snow having sifted
into the attic and melted. The warm rain comes down at intervals, and we
are hoping for an early spring.

Mollie is really very sick, and must have a doctor, her throat being
terribly swollen on one side. The pain and fever is intense, and though
we are doing all we know how to do, she gets no better. Some men started
out for th