Ch. XI. FRANKLIN & RICHARDSON'S SECOND JOURNEY. 421 



for the seamen and the various residents of the 

 house, whose want of education rendered it more 

 difficult to provide for. The plan adopted by 

 Franklin is thus described : — 



" As the days shortened, it was necessary to find employ- 

 ment, during the long evenings, for those resident at the 

 house, and a school was, therefore, established, on three 

 nights of the week, from seven o'clock to nine, for their in- 

 struction in reading, writing, and arithmetic ; and it was 

 attended by most of the British party. They were divided 

 in equal portions amongst the officers, whose labour was 

 amply repaid by the advancement their pupils made : some 

 of those who began with the alphabet learned to read and 

 write with tolerable correctness. Sunday was a day of rest ; 

 and, with the exception of two or three of the Canadians, the 

 whole party uniformly attended Divine service, morning and 

 evening. If, on the other evenings for which no particular 

 occupation was appointed, the men felt the time tedious, or 

 if they expressed a wish to vary their employments, the hall 

 was at their service, to play any game they might choose ; 

 and on these occasions they were invariably joined by the 

 officers. By thus participating in their amusements, the 

 men became more attached to us, at the same time that we 

 contributed to their health and cheerfulness. The hearts 

 and feelings of the whole party were united in one common 

 desire to make the time pass as agreeably as possible to each 

 other, until the return of spring should enable them to 

 resume the great object of the expedition." — pp. 54, 55. 



Matters went on pretty well till the conclusion 

 of the year ; but owing to the extreme severity of 

 the weather in January and February, the sources 

 from which they had hitherto derived subsistence 



