2 20 Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



not taken that from the Russian or the English. 

 No, it was Aryan. Those people once milked cows, 

 and then, perhaps, reindeer — if there are other such 

 words, and this one only an accidental occurrence. 

 There is no doubt whatever of their ethnical type. 

 They are Mongol-Tartars. If the gospel had been 

 given to them before a mixture of priestcraft and 

 Russian barbarism, they would now be fit citizens 

 of the United States. The cruelty of the Russians 

 was quite equal to that of the Spaniards. It was a 

 favorite sport with them to set a line of Aleuts close 

 together for the trial of their rifles, to see how 

 many of them one bullet would shoot through — 

 how many they could kill at one shot. As for the 

 women, they would take them on their ships, and 

 when through with them, pitch them overboard. 

 And yet, the Aleuts here are the most priest-ridden 

 churchmen. The fine and exquisitely built Greek 

 church here pays a surplus of four thousand dollars 

 a year to the patriarch in Moscow. There is a 

 Methodist mission here, the "Mary Lee Home." 

 They have only an average of eighteen to twenty 

 ■ children in their schools. I suppose they do some 

 good. The Greek priest speaks no English, but he 

 was very accommodating, allowing me to take a 

 picture of the interior of the church. The Aleuts 

 revere the name of George Washington — are taught 

 that he was a high dignitary in the Greek church. 

 He was a soldier-priest who whipped the hated 

 English. They are taught to believe in the devil, 



