DANIEL'S HOUSE 



Daniel's house is an architectural curiosity. For 

 some reason, or perhaps for no reason at all, it is at 

 the very end of the village, furthest from the church, 

 furthest from the store, furthest from the jetty where 

 the boats are moored. In front is the usual porch, 

 open to the weather and tenanted by the dogs. The 

 door is fastened by a wooden latch, which you can 

 lift from the outside by pulling a bobbin that dangles 

 from a thong of seal-hide. Inside you find yourself 

 in a square space where stands an iron stove, and 

 from a big bubbling pot on the top of the stove 

 there is generally rising the savoury smell of seal- 

 meat stew. Seals and skins and wooden pans of 

 blubber are strewed about the floor ; a keg of water 

 stands near the wall, and a rough bedstead fills a 

 corner. 



But this is only the smaller part of Daniel's 

 house ; the larger part lies further in. It is a big 

 oblong shack, with a sloping roof and walls hung 

 with dingy illustrated papers ; and it is placed cross- 

 wise, so that the little square part of the house looks 

 into it from one side. In the middle of the oblong 

 is a table, surrounded by the customary wooden 

 boxes that serve for seats and storage places ; at 

 jthe two ends are sleeping places, roughly partitioned 

 joff. A peep behind the partitions discloses an array 

 'of bunks, where the children sleep ; a variable array, 

 sometimes one above the other like berths on board 

 ship, sometimes side by side. I have seen the bunks 

 without sides, and once I found one of them missing 

 altogether, but this was after one of our Labrador 

 storms had kept everybody indoors for a couple of 

 days, and the stock of firewood had dwindled. 



jAfter the storm one of the boys drove away to 



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