

AND KAYAK 89 



the darkness we have known the presence of 

 God, that Great Father who keeps his children, 

 of whatever people and language they be. 



Once when a caravan of sleds was crossing 

 the mountains my drivers made a big snow 

 house, and we called the people together and 

 sang hymns. It must have been a strange 

 sight, if there had been anyone to see it 

 the rounded snow hut, with the crevices in 

 the walls all lighted with the candlelight 

 within ; and a strange sound it must have 

 been in those mountain solitudes, the sound 

 of lusty voices singing hymns. But there were 

 no listeners save, perhaps, the wandering 

 wolves ; none to see but the owls, if they were 

 about, or the great buzzards that sometimes 

 c d out upon the rocky crags as we passed 

 thv, i by. 



Snow houses were never very comfortable. 

 For one thing, a snow house is cold, never 

 much better than freezing ; and for another 

 thing, sled drivers always misjudged my length, 

 at least until they got used to me. They 

 persisted in building snow houses to fit 

 Eskimos, and I had usually several inches of 

 spare leg to tuck away into some cramped 

 and awkward position. Julius and Johannes 

 got to know my measure, so to say, and used 

 to build me a house in which I could at least 



