Alaska -- Description and travel; Frontier and pioneer life -- Alaska
"Thank God for those who are above temptation, even in far-away Alaska,"
and again I turned, and slept peacefully.
CHAPTER XIII.
OFF FOR GOLOVIN BAY.
By October twelfth the weather began to be quite wintry, with snow
flurries, cold wind, and a freezing ground. All now felt their time
short in which to prepare for winter, change residence, and get settled.
After many days of planning, in which eight or ten persons were
concerned, it was finally decided that we should go to Golovin Bay. The
head missionary, and one or two of his assistants from that place, had
been with us part of the time during the great storm, so we were quite
well acquainted, and we would be near the Mission.
The "boys," as we called the young men for short, would build a cabin in
which the funds of the women were also to be pooled. Three of the boys
had gone, some weeks before, to Golovin to assist in the erection of a
new Mission Home, twelve miles further down the coast; but as a shipload
of mission supplies had been lost at sea, including building materials,
their work was much hampered, and it was not expected that the new home
would be completed, though sadly needed for the accommodation of the
constantly increasing numbers of Eskimo children for which it was
intended.
In this case, no new helpers could be added to the missionary force,
though Miss L., a tall, intelligent young woman, was to be placed in the
Home kitchen as cook, and would accompany us to Golovin. It was decided,
then, that the restaurant be closed immediately before the last boat
left Nome for Golovin, as it would be impossible to get there after the
last steamer had gone until the ice was solid, and winter trails were
good over the hills. Most of us did not care to remain so long where we
were, and made ready to sail on the small coast steamer "Elk," scheduled
to leave Nome October eighteenth.
On the evening of the sixteenth the doors of the "Star" were formally
closed. We had had a rush up to the last moment, and all hands were
completely tired out. It had been a long pull, and a steady pull, and
the thought uppermost in the minds of us four women was to get to
Golovin and rest. Even Alma sighed for a vacation from hard work,
feeling that the roadhouse, if they opened one, must wait until she was
rested.
Mary wished to remain at Nome for a while, and come later by dog-team
when the trails were good. She would take a day after we had gone to
finish storing away the "Star" outfit for the next summer, and make the
rooms tidy, afterwards visiting acquaintances, and doing shopping.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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