A SCRUBBING-BRUSH EPISODE 



inspired to build a new house. Now it happened 

 that Sarah used to do odd bits of work for us, and 

 we used to pay her mostly in kind. Her quaint 

 requests for payment would fill a page once she 

 came and asked for a tin of Swiss milk (!) because her 

 son's wife had got a baby, and Sarah wanted to 

 celebrate the tremendous occasion that had made her 

 a grandmother, and a very young and blooming 

 grandmother too, by giving the baby a tasty and 

 appropriate present. I hoped, however, that the new 

 arrival would get fed as Eskimo babies ought, and 

 very likely the big members of the household would 

 eat the Swiss milk off their fingers. But to get 

 back to my story : on this particular occasion Sarah 

 giggled and was shy. 



" What do you want, Sarah ? " (More giggles !) 



This was strange, and I wondered whatever could 

 be in Sarah's mind. After much coaxing, out it 

 came. "My son," said Sarah, " has built a new 

 house, you know, and we have got a wooden floor. 

 1 should like to keep it clean, and scrub it often. 

 Will you give me a scrubbing-brush ? " 



Never have I given anything more willingly! 

 I rushed off to get that scrubbing-brush, blessing 

 Sarah's good Eskimo heart for its spontaneous long- 

 ings after cleanliness. 



One of the great difficulties that has always con- 

 fronted those who have spent their lives in teaching 

 the Eskimos is that the people, in the natural 

 conservatism of their minds, nearly always resent 

 new ideas and new suggestions. My own experience 

 has been that they are far more teachable and tract- 

 able when they are in a good humour. A certain 

 degree of good humour is the natural Eskimo state 



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