ady. She and I make paper dolls
by the dozen, and cloth dresses for her real dolls, which, so late in
the season, are getting quite dilapidated and look as though they had
been in the wars.

Many natives are now bringing beautiful furs into camp for sale, and
among others one man brought a cross fox which was black, tipped with
yellow, another which was a lovely brown, and a black fox valued at two
hundred dollars which the owner refused to sell for less, though offered
one hundred for it. I have never seen more lovely furs anywhere, and I
longed to possess them.

It seems almost like having a hospital here now, for we have another
patient added to our sick list. Joe, the cook, is ill, and thinks he
will die, though the doctor smiles quizzically as she doses him,
thinking as she does so that a few days in bed and away from the saloons
will be as beneficial as her prescriptions.

Today the hills surrounding the bay were lovely in the warm sunshine
both morning and evening, pink tinted in the sunrise and purple as
night approached.

Mail came in by dog-team from Nome, going to Dawson and the outside, so
I mailed several letters. I wonder if they will be carried two thousand
miles by dogs--the whole length of the Yukon, and finally reach Skagway
and Seattle.

What a wicked world this is anyway! My two fox skins were stolen from
the living room of the hotel last night, where I hung them, not far from
the stove, after having had them tanned, and forgetting to take them to
my room. I can get no trace of them, and am exceedingly sorry to lose
them. The captain thinks the skins will be returned, but I do not.

The Commissioner from Council came into the hotel, and he, with the
resident official, proceeded to celebrate the occasion by getting
uproariously drunk, or going, as it is here called, "on a toot," which
is very truthfully expressive, to say the least.

February eighteenth: The doctor went home several days ago. Mollie is
better, and wore, at the Sunday dinner yesterday, her new grey plaid
dress made by Alma, which fits well and looks quite stylish. I sat with
her at the long table which was filled with guests, employees and
boarders--a public place for me, which I do not like over much, but what
can I do? The two Commissioners are sobered, look sickly, and more or
less repentant; the resident official declaring to me he would now quit
drinking entirely, and buy me a new silk dress if he is ever seen to
take liq