WORK FOR HUMANITY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 26, 31 July 1933, Page 6

WORK FOR HUMANITY

GRENtfELL OF LABRADOR-

HIS BATCH OF VOLUNTEERS

(From "The Post's" Representative.) VANCOUVER, July 5. Sir Wilfred Grenfell has sailed for Labrador, taking with him his customary summer batch of volunteers — college men and women from Canada and tho United States —who spend their long vacation working for tho Grenfell Mission. Their only compensation will be the satisfaction of having assisted a humano enterprise. Thorn is no lack of volunteers, year by year. The Doctor, as Grenfell is known throughout Labrador, say's that, since tho mission at Battle Harbour was destroyed by fire two winters ago, a new station has been set up at St. Mary's Kiver. These are hard times down ■North. (In Labrador, as in Arctic Canada, one always speaks of "down North.") Tho white settlers have suffered severely from depression. The price of fish has declined to a level that means added hardship for thoso who depend upon tho sea for a living. Each summer, Grenfell comes out, seeking funds to carry on the mission work. In his quest he has had varied success since, as a young medical missionary, he undertook the task in the early nineties. But the work goes on. Besides stimulating interest in his rnisl sion, Sir Wilfred has, in recent years, eagerly promoted the consumption of Mi. The people of Labrador are never prosperous, as, tho; outside; world measures prosperity. Grenfell hopes that, when more fish is consumed '.^outside," things will be better for his people. One has to visit Labrador,to understand what this modest doctor means to the people of the rugged North. Above the Battle. Harbour Mission had been painted the quotation:—"lnasmuch' as ye have done it under tho least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." This epitomises his philosophy and his associates. It has been their guiding motive for forty years. LIFE OF THE PEOPLE. Grenfell's Labradoreans, or Livyeres, mostly descended from West of England fishermen, live frugally on a staple diet of bread and fish. In summer, there is a good supply of edible wild berries. At some seasons enough birds and rabbits will be shot to furnish two or three meals a week. There are no livestock. Every family has at least ono team of dogs. Hitched to tho koinatik, they are Labrador's only transportation system. Dancing, of the "mauve" generation period, is the chief social diversion. There are no hotels or accommodation houses. As families are large, the visitor is none the less welcome because he shares a bed with two grown-ups or four children. These simplq. people borrow freely from tho customs and methods of the Eskimos. Clothes arc no problem. The "dicky," or hip-length tunic, with triangular hood, always associated with Eskimos, serves men, women, and childrea alike. Made of strong canvas sailcloth, with fur hood, this utilitarian garment is plentifully reinforced by heavy coats and sweators underneath, homeknitted, of coarse yarn. Heavy mackiutiw trousers for «tho men, and skirts for tlie women, with knee-high sealskin boots for all, complete the costume. Hardy people, living a stern but independent life, they know little of civilisation, beyond what they learn from the regular visits of the "Labrador Doctor."