The Snow Baby: A true story with true picturesPeary, Josephine Diebitsch
General
The Snow Baby: A true story with true pictures
Peary, Josephine Diebitsch
Arctic regions -- Juvenile literature; Eskimos -- Juvenile literature; Peary, Marie Ahnighito, 1893-1978
It required a few more days of labor to get the unwilling monster into
the hold of the ship, and then AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father said they must not
tarry longer, for already the new ice was beginning to form in the bay,
and in a short time it would be too thick for the ship to force her way
through, and they would be obliged to spend the winter in the Snowland.
As no one was prepared to do this, every one felt a little anxious until
the open sea was again reached. But here a new trouble awaited
AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her friends; for a terrible storm arose, and the ship
rolled and tossed about until it seemed as if the iron stone must surely
dash through the ship’s side. Of course AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father had men
watching all the time to notice the slightest change, but everything had
been so securely packed that nothing moved. AH-NI-GHI´-TO was very glad
when at last the storm was over and the big waves calmed down, for she
had had her first attack of seasickness, and did not like it at all.
After the storm the weather grew milder, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father told
her she might visit her birthplace at the head of Bowdoin Bay, which
pleased her very much. She knew the little black house where the stork
had brought her had been burned, but Baby Lake and the gravel bank, the
big black cliffs of Mt. Bartlett, and the great white glacier were all
old friends, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO wanted to see them again. Ere the bay was
reached the snow had begun to fall, and by the time AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S
birthplace was reached several inches of snow-covered everything.
Nevertheless she was taken ashore by her father and mother, and on the
spot where the little black house once stood, she brushed the snow away
and picked a handful of big yellow poppies. Up on the gravel bank she
dug out a few white round pebbles and then paid a visit to the little
lake. Here she found three pretty ducks swimming about; but as soon as
the little fur-clad figure appeared they flew away over the hills and
only the steep brown cliffs of the great mountain frowned down upon her,
and in the distance the surface of the white glacier gleamed through the
fast-falling snow. The storm was increasing in violence, and
AH-NI-GHI´-TO was hurried back to the ship.
[Illustration: _Ah-ni-ghi´-to on the Site of the Little Black House_]
Good-bye was said to all the Eskimos, with promises of a return some
day, and the ship started for home.
This had been a very unusual summer. Much snow had fallen, and many
storms took the place of the usual sunshine. The natives laid all this
to the removing of the iron mountain, and told AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father,
when they bade him good-bye, that they feared they would never see him
again, for they were sure the ship, with all on board, would go to the
bottom of the sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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