ERNESTINA 127 



at Okak, although we had an ordinary fount of type, 

 we had to write for an extra supply oi k's before we 

 could print any of the hymns and pamphlets which 

 we had in view ! K abounds everywhere on an 

 Eskimo page. " Kanga kainiarkorka ?" (When will 

 he be likely to come ?) says the Eskimo, or he talks 

 about making a new ' ' kakkivak ' ' (trout spear) . 



But so much for Eskimo names. We are talking 

 of a poor girl who has a name that is not a Bible 

 name, nor has it a fe in it ; I suppose that she is 

 called after somebody who was called after one of 

 the old missionaries as a compliment. She is Ernes- 

 tina, and she lives at Okak in Labrador. 



The Ernestina I have in my mind is a cripple girl, 

 and added to her lameness she suffers from an incur- 

 able form of nerve disease which has affected her 

 speech. The doctor has told her friends plainly that 

 there is no medicine that can cure her ; she will 

 always be defective. Something can be done to ease 

 the pains, and that is all, and her friends must be 

 very kind and patient with her. 



She lives with her grandmother in a little house 

 on the Okak sea front. She minds the house and 

 mends the fire, and sometimes on her bright days 

 she is well enough to play the harmonium. What 

 wonderful things harmoniums are ! I asked Ernes- 

 tina where it came from. The old grandmother 

 answered : " It was a present from an old missionary 

 who lived in Labrador." After a long pause she 

 found herself unable to count the years, but she was 

 able to tell me his name and I know that he died 

 before ever I was born ! In spite of its many years 



