CHAPTER XXI 



STARTING THE HOSPITAL THE CROWD AND THE SINGING 



AS the village was pretty well filled with people, 

 jfX and most of the actual building work was 

 finished, I thought it a good plan to open the 

 hospital without further delay, and so allow things 

 to shape themselves before the busiest of the winter's 

 bustle began. 



The simplest plan would be, I thought, to have 

 the opening announced to the people in church after 

 one of the evening meetings, and the missionary 

 kindly agreed to do this. 



The wording seemed ordinary enough to my 

 mind 



"To-morrow the doors of the hospital will be 

 opened at nine o'clock in the morning " 



Put into literal Eskimo ; but it must have been, 

 in some way or other, too blunt, for the people were 

 amazed beyond belief. 



I see quite clearly that it would have been better 

 to make a long speech of explanation, because the 

 idea of a hospital was quite new to them; but I 

 know the Eskimo and the working of his mind in a 

 way that I did not at that time. The fact remains, 

 that the people were mystified. I was called back 

 into the church after the meeting, and found a rather 

 excited congregation, all eager to speak at once. 



66 Why must the people come to hospital at nine 



o'clock ? " 



264 



