CHAPTER XXIII 



LIZETTA " BROKEN " NATIVE DOCTORS SUPERSTITIONS 



MY story of the starting of the hospital would 

 be sadly incomplete if I did not bring in the 

 name of Lizetta. 



She is a bright, brisk little Eskimo mother, who 

 gives one about as good an idea of an Eskimo house- 



i wife as can be got. 



She spends the day in working at the seals that 

 her husband brings home, and in making boots and 



I clothing from the skins ; and she has to be pretty 

 busy if she is to keep the hard-working husband and 

 the active little brood of chubby toddlers properly 

 clad. Scraping skins, cutting out, chewing leather 

 to soften it, stitching and mending these are her 

 household duties ; and besides them there are only the 

 floor-scrubbing, and the wood-chopping for the stove, 



; to make any real demand on her time. She wastes 

 no time over cooking food tastes ever so much 



i better raw, she says : she is not hampered in the 



, morning by having the beds to make they need no 

 making ; just roll up the reindeer skin and spread 

 the coloured counterpane, and there you are ! 

 Like other Eskimo mothers, she leaves the children 

 a great deal to themselves, and trusts them to 

 grow up strong and hardy. But unfortunately, 

 though in the way of caring for them she does what 

 other Eskimo mothers do, keeping them well-fed and 

 well-clothed, the little folks in Lizetta's house are 



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