IN SCHOOL 



were coming round the bend from the sealing-place. 

 Each sledge had four dogs to pull it. How many 

 dogs were there, gathered all together ? " 



That made thinking easy ; the little brains had 

 got something familiar to work upon; there was 

 a picture of sledges in their minds, and like a flash 

 came the answer, " Sixteen dogs they are sixteen." 

 " Yes," said Benjamin, " four times four makes six- 

 teen; don't forget." The little faces were serious 

 again : it was not much of a story, after all ; but 

 they had learnt something without expecting it. 

 Wise man, Benjamin ; he was an Eskimo child 

 himself once, and has had a careful training from 

 the missionaries; he has learnt to present things 

 in a way that the Eskimo mind can grasp. After 

 a few more exercises with the table-book I saw 

 the little eyes becoming restless ; thoughts were 

 beginning to wander; and Benjamin called for a 

 change. Shock -headed little Moses fetched the 

 books out of the cupboard, and handed them round, 

 and the chubby faces brightened again. 



Benjamin announced a psalm, and the little | 

 fingers grew busy as they turned the pages ; and 

 then I saw first one boy and then another stand I 

 up to spell through a verse. It was really wonderful 

 to watch the eager way in which they pursued the 

 alarming strings of letters that stretched from margin 

 to margin, and gathered them into syllables under 

 Benjamin's guidance, and made out the proper I 

 meaning. When the psalm was finished Moses I 

 collected the books ; then the children sang a hymr J 

 and ran out to romp in the snow. 



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