Alaska -- Description and travel; Frontier and pioneer life -- Alaska
From being lodged above a bar-room in Nome, I had come to a parlor in
the Mission, and I was well pleased with the changed atmosphere, as well
as the reduction of charges; for, whereas I had paid five dollars per
week for my small, unfurnished room there, I now paid nothing, except
such help as I could give the women in the house.
I felt, too, that I had earned, by my hard work during the summer, all
the rest and comfort I could get, and I thoroughly enjoyed the change.
Where among the drones and laggards is one who can find such sweets as
well-earned rest and comfort after labor? What satisfaction to feel the
joy all one's own. None assisted in the earning, and consequently none
expected a division of reward. It was all my own. If this is
selfishness, it is surely a refined sort, and excusable.
I was not, however, the only one in the Mission who enjoyed a
well-earned rest. Each one of our party of seven had worked for months
as hard and harder than I, and all found a vacation as pleasing, while
the Mission people had the same round of work and as much as they could
accomplish all the year round.
The day after our arrival at Golovin was Sunday. The weather was clear
and sunny, but cold. We were now not only to have a vacation ourselves,
but could give our working clothes a rest as well, and I took great
pleasure in unearthing a good black dress which was not abbreviated as
to length, surprising my friends by my height, after being in short
skirts so long. It was really Sunday now, and we wore our Sunday clothes
for the first time in months, not having had an opportunity for Sabbath
observance in the work we had done at Nome.
To complete our enjoyment of the good day, there was the organ in the
sitting-room, and upon my first entering the room, and seeing the
instrument I had drawn a deep sigh of inward delight. To find an organ,
yes, two of them, for there was also one standing in the schoolroom, or
little church, was to feel sure of many bright and happy hours during
the coming winter, and I felt more than ever that for strangers in the
Arctic world we were, indeed, highly favored.
It was not long before I discovered that with at least two of our party
of seven music was a passion, for Ricka, as well as Mr. B., could never
have enough, and it was a pleasure to see the real and unaffected
delight upon their faces when I played. We were really quite well
supplied with musical instruments, for there were now in the Mission
two guitars, one mandolin, a violin and a few harmonicas, besides the
two organs, while as for vocalists everybody sang from Mr. H. down to
the Eskimo boys, girls and the baby.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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