THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN SUMMER 164

THE STRATHCONA 192

THREE OF THE DOCTOR'S DOGS 198

A KOMATIK JOURNEY 202

THE FIRST COOPERATIVE STORE 218

ST. ANTHONY 226

INSIDE THE ORPHANAGE 250

FISH ON THE FLAKES 272

DRYING THE SEINES 272

A PART OF THE REINDEER HERD 296

REINDEER TEAMS MEETING A DOG TEAM 296

A SPRING SCENE AT ST. ANTHONY 304

DOG RACE AT ST. ANTHONY 304

ICEBERGS 320

COMMODORE PEARY ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE POLE, 1909 340

THE INSTITUTE, ST. JOHN'S 354

DOG TRAVEL 368

THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN WINTER 406

ENTRANCE TO ST. ANTHONY HARBOUR 418

A LABRADOR DOCTOR

CHAPTER I

EARLY DAYS

To be born on the 28th of February is not altogether without its
compensations. It affords a subject of conversation when you are asked
to put your name in birthday books. It is evident that many people
suppose it to be almost an intrusion to appear on that day. However,
it was perfectly satisfactory to me so long as it was not the 29th. As
a boy, that was all for which I cared. Still, I used at times to be
oppressed by the danger, so narrowly missed, of growing up with undue
deliberation.

The event occurred in 1865 in Parkgate, near Chester, England, whither
my parents had moved to enable my father to take over the school of
his uncle. I was always told that what might be called boisterous
weather signalled my arrival. Experience has since shown me that that
need not be considered a particularly ominous portent in the winter
season on the Sands of Dee.

It is fortunate that the selection of our birthplace is not left to
ourselves. It would most certainly be one of those small decisions
which would later add to the things over which we worry. I can see how
it would have acted in my own cas