17 



most bitter cold it was I can assure you. The snow was 

 never seen half so deep in all our stay in Alaska ; and yet 

 as time, long, anxious time passed on, he did not come. 

 The thirty-five days he expected to be gone were long past. 

 Forty, fifty and sixty days were also gone and everybody 

 began to hint to me that I must live without him. He 

 never could or would return again. They said it was 

 beyond all reason for him to be gone any more if he was 

 still well and alive. Mr. Lind said, and I felt sure of it 

 myself, that he would send us word, if any accident had 

 occurred to detain him. 



The days dragged heavily and seemed a week long, each 

 of them. From this time on we felt that each added day 

 only proved the reality of our fear. Sad indeed were the 

 faces that greeted us at every turn, and sadder still our own. 

 With hopeless despair we would turn from the window, 

 that in spite of our fears held some magic attraction. We 

 soon learned to not expect him even if we did look and 

 look around the island's head, where he would first appear 

 when he did come. 



We had not forgotten the Source of all comfort and 

 peace, and to Him we joyfully fled for consolation and 

 grace to bear, what seemed to us, a burden too heavy for 

 us. We were not disappointed in this kind and loving 

 Friend. Our prayers were most abundantly answered, and 

 as soon as we were willing to say "Thy will, not mine," 

 the blessing came in a tenfold measure. How calm and 

 peaceful were our troubled hearts then. We wondered at 

 the grace that was poured out upon us daily and hourly. 

 Never before did I feel the nearness and dearness of my 

 Saviour so thoroughly. The future and its duty was plainly 

 set before me. Brother Weber and I talked of plans for the 

 future, and I promised to stay here as long as I could be of 

 any use in the work. This seemed to be of much encour- 

 agement to him, for he was not willing to give up, and 

 wished to stay working on, hoping that some one might be 

 sent to Bethel this Spring. Our constant prayer was that 

 the people of our Province would not, when they heard 

 of the Mission's loss, become discouraged and slacken in 

 the work of supporting and cheering the workers in this 



