|
| THE ADVENTURE OF LIFE. |
| |
| ADRIFT ON AN ICE-PAN. Illustrated. |
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| HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY |
| BOSTON AND NEW YORK |
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A LABRADOR DOCTOR

The Autobiography of
Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

[Illustration: (signed) Wilfred Grenfell]

A LABRADOR DOCTOR

The Autobiography of
Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
M.D. (Oxon.), C.M.G.

With Illustrations

[Illustration]

Boston and New York
Houghton Mifflin Company
The Riverside Press Cambridge

Copyright, 1919, by Wilfred T. Grenfell
All Rights Reserved

PREFACE

I have long been resisting the strong pressure from friends that would
force me to risk having to live alongside my own autobiography. It
seems still an open question whether it is advisable, or even whether
it is right--seeing that it calls for confessions. In the eyes of God
the only alternative is a book of lies. Moreover, sitting down to
write one's own life story has always loomed up before my imagination
as an admission that one was passing the post which marks the last
lap; and though it was a justly celebrated physician who told us that
we might profitably crawl upon the shelf at half a century, that added
no attraction for me to the effort, when I passed that goal.

Thirty-two years spent in work for deep-sea fishermen, twenty-seven of
which years have been passed in Labrador and northern Newfoundland,
have necessarily given me some experiences which may be helpful to
others. I feel that this alone justifies the writing of this story.

To the many helpers who have cooperated with me at one time or another
throughout these years, I owe a debt of gratitude which will never be
forgotten, though it has been impossible to mention each one by name.
Without them this work could never have been.

To my wife, who was willing to leave all the best the civilized world
can offer to share my life on this lonely coast, I want to dedicate
this book. Truth forces me to own that it would never have come into
being without her, and her greater share in the work of its production
declares her courage to face the consequences.

C