for Cape Prince of Wales in a small boat and been
overtaken by disaster. Many were dying of fever on shore, and nurses,
doctors and drugs were in great demand.

Many tales of interest now reached our ears, but not many can here be
given.

One of the first American children to open his eyes to the light of day
in this bleak and barren place--Nome City--was Little Willie S. His
parents lived in a poor board shack or house which his father had built
just back of the golden beach sands. Here the surf, all foam-tipped,
spread itself at the rising and falling of the tides, and here the
miners toiled day after day washing out the precious gold.

It was here that Willie's papa, soon after the baby came, sickened and
died. He had worked too long in the wind and rain, and they laid him
under the tundra at the foot of the hill.

For a time the baby grew. The mother and child were now dependent upon
the community for support, but the burly and generous miners did not
allow them to want. Willie was a great pet in the mining camp; the men
being delighted with a peep of his tiny, round face and pink fingers.

The little child could have easily had his weight in gold dust, or
anything else, had he wanted it. Big, shining nuggets had already been
given him to cut his teeth upon when the time came, but that time never
came.

Willie died one day in his mother's arms, while her hot tears fell like
rain upon his face.

Then they laid him to sleep beside his papa under the tundra, where the
shining wheat-gold clung to the moss roots and sparkled as brightly as
the frost and snow which soon covered everything.

When spring came Willie's mamma found the baby's tiny grave, and put
wild flowers and grasses upon it, and there they nodded their pretty
heads above the spot where Willie and his papa quietly sleep.

Passengers for San Francisco were now coming on board with their
luggage. Several men were brought on board on spring beds, being ill
with no contagious disease. A box containing the body of a man, who had
shot himself the day before, was placed upon the hurricane deck, lashed
down, and covered with tarpaulins. Strong boxes of gold bullion, with
long, stout ropes and boards attached in case of accident, were stowed
away in as safe a place as could be found. Copies of the first issue of
the "Nome News" were bought at fifty cents a copy; size, four pages
about a foot square. Beach sand and pebbles, were handed about in many
funn