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Show ' - r . r j ABOUT THIS, THAT AND T'OTHER By D. J. G. i Ogden Chautauqua patrons who heard Stefansson. Uk arctic explorer, give his lecture In Kden ar ago. will recall his three or four sarcastic references to the work of missionaries amon the Eskimo. I have just read his largo and Interesting book In which he describes hi life anion lb.0 peoples of the far north and it Is plain that the explorer believes that the missionaries have worked grew, havoc among tlie Eskimo, whom he greatly .admirers In their uncivilized state. Stefansson's first allusion to the work of th missionaries in the north CQD1H early In the book when ho describe de-scribe his Journey down the Mackenzie Mack-enzie rlier of northern Canada. Indians, In-dians, there .he sayy, nre induced to abandon their tepeeB to live In houses and the change has jrlven tuberculosis tubercu-losis a tine field In which to operate oper-ate He blames the missionaries for causing this change In the natural mode of living and the consequent heavy death rate He sarcastically points out that one branch of a missionary mis-sionary SOClety Is seeking to Christianize Chris-tianize and clillize th Indians, thereby there-by (he claims) causing tuberculosis, while mother branch of the same society Is organized In an endeavor to stop iho spread of the white plague. Stefansson says that If the missionaries mission-aries withdrew and the Indians were forced to return to their we-enti-Ifcted tepees, the disease would soon disappear. Iter he tells what missionaries are doing with the Eskimo much farther north- The Eskimo, he says, from his experiences In the cold r- ion in which he lives, builds a low-lying sod house with a cave-like entrance through which he crawls to his main room. There Is a hole in the roof of this main room and this hole and the ' ntranee hole always are left open, even In the coldest weather, insuring in-suring fine ventilation In this sod house one or two oil lamps keep It r.t a comfortable temperature. This is the permanent home of the Eskimo In his natural state. When on a hun: or migration he lives in the snow house If It Is winter or in tents made of skins ii It is tn summer Now comes the missionary with his hat t Iron stov and frame house. The Eskimo thinks the missionary Is all- w is. ;i iir i a ire n i or uoa. so ne abandons his comfortable and well ventilated s.nl house, heated by oil lamps, and turns to the frame house which the missionary inspires. In weather 50 ief-r'-os below zero it Is pretty hard to heat a frame shack and the Eskimo suffers from cold, despite the uheet Iron staves and their fires of drift wood. So the Eskimo shuts every crack and crev ice In his frame house and promptly contracts tuberculosis. Sl"fansson diUii'es Hint the Eskimo I in the districts where there are no missionaries or othei whites, is honest, polite, healthy, comfortable and industrious. Around the missionary mission-ary and trading posts he finds him unhealthy and lazy, knowing. Stefansson Stef-ansson says, that if he does not go out and wrest a living from the woilil the missionaries will take care of him. The explorer says the Eskimo I? qulok to adopt the teaching that no work should be done on Sunday. Since the Eskimo's life work is to hunt for food, he does not hunt on Sunday. Stefansson points out that the summer hunting season is not more than about six weeks and that the danger of some bands of Eskimo starving in the winter is Increased because be-cause of the number of days tho Eskimo refrains from hunting by reason of the Sunday prescription. Stefansson tells of one broad-; broad-; . j.i.f'-.l nii:isii.nar . physician, who tan the danger of muklng the Esklin i abandon the form of living which was Ideal for i he country and adopt tho wMt- i;...n's idea which vvus bad for that part of tho wor d. When this missionary tried to show the Eskimo It was in iter to hunt on Sunday than that his children and wives should he hungi y t In Eskimo v aghast. They told hlni that while It was not pl ctsant to be hungry It was better ) be hungry than to endanger their s,u'- - ...JA.J.- This same missionary shocked tho Christianised Eskimo because he took off his heavy coat when he entered the warm Eskimo homes. 11 seems that the natural Eskimo, man or woman, strips to the waist when he I comes In from the Intense coid to tho j warmth of the home. Eany missionaries, mission-aries, however, taught that the body was Vile and must not bo exposed as the Eskimo had been doing for generations, gen-erations, so the Eskimo followed the missionary advice and kept the clothing cloth-ing on in his house heated lo 65 degrees de-grees abovu zero which he wore when outdoors in from 20 to 60 degrees oe-low oe-low zero. Thus they were shocked when this missionary, who was a phy-I phy-I sietan ,'dld w hat other missionaries told them was improper. Stefansson ;iays the Eskimo s-nt u petition to tho Pretfhyterlan, board asking that the medical missionary be recalled. The explorer Sajfa he was recalled, but does not know whether It was because Of the Eskimo complaint or not. Writers and orators properly keep us reminded of the remarkably flno featuro of tho United States that ' there Is unlimited opportunity for the mpn or woman with the right mental make-Up and the necessary Industry and ambition. We know that this (s I true from our first-hand knowledge and from what we have road of great i men and women who bad humble be- I ginning. Through opportunity which! Is open to them In the United Statos, j and perhaps not open In any othor country', these men and women of fine t&lnds have reached the top where they tan perform the best service for society .and be happy In tho knowledge knowl-edge that they have succeeded These men and women who ha e battled their way to the top are men and women who were born with good minds minds which enabled thero to overcome obstacles. But what about t!. men nnd women born with In-r In-r minds minds which remain child-size through life? Army figures show there ore hundreds of thousands of them They are the folks who cannot can-not learn skilled trades, who cannot can-not assume responsibility, who will work hard under direction but ar not self-starters This Is the class first laid off in dull times and the last put to work again 1 believe the man or woman with good minds are given a square de.il under present conditions' in the United States, but I do not believe be-lieve this ohr great class gets a square shake. We have gone tho old world one bettor throwing the raco to success open to every two-legged man. We have not said 'No. Mr Peasant, this race Is for the aristocracy only; none of common birth may hope to reach the goal." But what shall we do vtth the one-iepged men In the same race The man of fine mind can find his own opportunity. bis o--n Job. He needs and deserves no looking after. To keep this other claas working and earning tho year r.round. howe rer, somebody has got to provide the Job And that seems T'ncle Sam's bl task today. Then we shaU not hare jo manv sob atorlrs for the newspapers at Christmas time. |