THE OLD WIDOW 



the woods with the three dogs and fetched more 

 firewood, and Daniel himself trotted along to the 

 store and got an old packing-case and spent the 

 rest of the day at the necessary piece of plain 

 carpentry. 



I could see with half an eye that Daniel's house 

 had not all been built at one time ; it looked like 

 two small houses joined together; and it was not 

 until Daniel had pointed to an old, old woman 

 crouching on the bed in the little square part, a 

 pathetic figure whom I had overlooked, that I hit 

 upon the real meaning of the queer architecture. 

 " That poor old woman," said he, " was left all 

 alone when her husband died. She had nobody 

 to take care of her, so my boys and I brought our 

 house along and built it up at the back of the old 

 woman's hut takka" and he pointed to the 

 oblong portion. " It was a good thing for us all, 

 for we all have plenty of room, and one stove 

 warms us all." Yes, I thought, and in his un- 

 conscious way Daniel has done that old widow 

 a thoroughly characteristic Eskimo act of kindness. 

 Poor old soul, she is blind and deaf, and can do 

 little else but sit over the stove and enjoy the 

 genial warmth ; but an Eskimo likes to work to 

 the last, and I have seen even that old blind widow 

 sitting behind a snow- wall on the winter ice, patiently 

 jigging for fish, until the sun began to sink and a 

 little child came out to lead her home. 



Such is Daniel's household ; and Daniel himself, 

 an ordinary, everyday Eskimo, goes in and out as 

 he follows his hunting and his daily work. He is 

 just an Eskimo, with his little foresight, and his 

 socialistic openhandedness, and his weaknesses and 



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