THE MAGIC LANTERN 



of mind, and it takes but a little to bring the amount 

 to an effervescent, bubbling over stage. 



Then was the time to point a moral ; then was 

 the time to propose some sanitary reform; then 

 was the time to teach some wholesome lesson. The 

 magic lantern was a great help in this direction : the 

 people shouted with glee to see their own faces on the 

 screen, and sat quietly listening while I told them 

 some Bible story or talked of better houses and ideal 

 home life. 



I must confess that it took me some time to 

 understand their sense of humour. I thought that 

 anything obviously grotesque would make them 

 laugh, so I drew a caricature of a reindeer on a glass 

 slide and showed them that. I know that it was 

 funny, because the missionaries laughed ; but the 

 Eskimos received it in stony silence. "Come," thought 

 I, " this is a funny thing, you ought to enjoy this : " 

 and I left the grinning, knock-kneed thing on the 

 screen for a minute or two, and finally put in an 

 explanatory suggestion " Tuktu-ai " (a reindeer, eh). 

 Big Josef's small voice broke the silence : he is 

 the mighty hunter of Okak, and spoke with weight. 

 ' That is not like a reindeer : now we know that you 

 lave never seen one. Come to the hunt with me 

 jxt Easter, and you will see what a reindeer looks 

 like ; then you will be able to make a better likeness." 

 The first laugh I got out of them was at a picture 

 >f one of the Nain Eskimos crouching behind a rock, 

 ing at an imaginary seal with his gun. They 

 id with glee, and rolled about in their seats 

 shouting " Look at him ai-ai, just see it is Joas of 

 ain, and he is shooting left-handed." I had put 

 ie slide in the lantern wrong side about ! 



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