A GREENLAND SUNDAY. 211 



Greenlanders that happy independence of a contented people 

 will be forfeited. 



It was the novelty of the situation that induced the 

 American contingent of that singularly strange congregation 

 to be present at a service than which nothing but the spirit 

 in which it was held could be appreciated. 



At ten o'clock we were all at the church a whitewashed 

 stone building with a wooden front, the wood having been 

 brought irom Denmark whose spire, surmounted by a cross, 

 manifests in a strong and beautiful way how in every tribe 

 and kindred the symbol of Christianity is being uplifted. It 

 was not long ago that these people were pagans, and farther 

 north and on the eastern coast many still hold to the crude 

 belief of their forefathers. In the spring of 1894 the first 

 missionary station on the eastern shores was established. 

 The work and zeal of missions are spreading, though marked 

 results are hard to determine. The first bell had called to- 

 gether a motley number, who stood idly about the doors of 

 the church, smiling good-naturedly, and maintaining a re- 

 spectful silence. At the ringing of the second bell more 

 church-comers hurried from their little igloos. No one 

 entered until Mr. Petersen first went in. Mr. Petersen, a 

 half-breed, studied at Copenhagen for two years, and is the 

 licensed catechist of the parish, as well as the village school- 

 master. His father, an old man with a kind face, assists 

 him. The service is Lutheran. Once each year a regular 

 priest visits the parish to confirm, administer the sacraments, 

 and perform the marriage rites. Marriage is the outcome of 

 an exceedingly brief courtship, during which there is no time 

 allowed for "Huyler's" or flowers to be sentimentally be- 

 stowed ; in fact, there is nothing pathetically civilized about 

 an Eskimo engagement, but, through Christian influence, let 

 it be said, marriage is honorably regarded. 



At the service on this morning in question Mr. Petersen, 



