232 VIKINGS OF TO-DAY 



which might have been prevented if treated in time, 

 and thus much personal suffering spared, and also 

 a great loss to the community. During the season 

 the medical men were able to render such aid that 

 several who had been compelled to give up work 

 found themselves capable of resuming their duties. 

 When sick persons are thus saved from losing their 

 season's work, or saved the time and expense in- 

 volved in returning to Newfoundland for advice, in 

 cases of minor importance ; or when, as happened 

 in several instances during the season, the lives or 

 limbs were saved, or, in some hopeless cases, life 

 was prolonged so as to allow them to reach home 

 and end their days in the bosom of their families, 

 the value of this hospital work becomes more ap- 

 parent. 



To the sick of Labrador these hospitals will be 

 an inestimable boon. Only those who have known 

 what it is to toss on a bed of pain, perhaps unable 

 even at night to find rest, their tongue parched with 

 thirst, and fever raging in their system, can pro- 

 perly appreciate the meaning of the skilful help of 

 the physician, the delicate attention of the trained 

 nurse, the hushed house, the subdued voices and 

 the gentle light of the half-darkened room. When 

 this is contrasted with the sad sight so often wit- 

 nessed on Labrador, of delicate women, and even 

 children, undergoing sufferings, which are hard to 

 bear even amid the comforts and gentle attentions 

 of home, on the dreary coast of Labrador, far from 



