164 



A CHEERFUL EVENING. 



I go ashore for ? " said he, one day, to some of the offi- 

 cers who were reciting to him the wonders of the land. 

 " Me go ashore ! De land be very good place to grow 

 de vegetables, but it no place to be. 1 never goes 

 ashore ven I can help it, and please my Hebenly 

 Fader I never vill." 



I have passed an hour of the evening very pleas- 

 antly with the officers in their cabin, have had my 

 usual game of chess with Knorr, and now, having 

 done with this journal for the day, I will coil myself 

 up in my nest of furs and read in Marco Polo of those 

 parts of the world where people live without an effort, 

 know not the use of bear-skins, and die of fever. 

 After all, one's lines might fall in less pleasant places 

 than in the midst of an Arctic winter. 



"^ 



