us's Lent Lectures, I would humbly recommend
as a guide for those who may be inclined to take the good work in hand.

[Headnote: _WINTER OCCUPATIONS._]

A theatre, a casino, and a saloon, two Arctic newspapers, one of them
an illustrated one, evening-schools, and instructive lectures, gave no
one an excuse for being idle. The officers and men voluntarily imposed
on themselves various duties in connection with the different
departments; one was scene-painter, and under his talented pencil the
canvas glowed with pictures one almost grieved to see thus employed.
Decorators and statuaries produced effects which, with such limited
means, were really astounding; vocalists and musicians practised and
persevered until an instrumental band and glee-club were formed, to our
general delight; officers and men sung who never sang before, and
maybe, except under similar circumstances, will never sing again;
maskers had to construct their own masks, and sew their own dresses,
the signal flags serving in lieu of a supply from the milliner's; and,
with wonderful ingenuity, a fancy dress ball was got up, which, in
variety and tastefulness of costume, would have borne comparison with
any one in Europe.

Here, editors floundered through a leader, exhibiting French ingenuity,
in saying their say without bringing themselves within the grasp of the
censors; here, rough contributors, whose hands, more accustomed to the
tar-brush than the pen, turned flowing sentences by the aid of old
miscellanies and well-thumbed dictionaries. There, on wooden stools,
leaning over long tables, were a row of serious and anxious faces,
which put one in mind of the days of cane and birch,--an Arctic school.
Tough old marines curving "pot-hooks and hangers," as if their very
lives depended on their performances, with an occasional burst of
petulance, such as, "D---- the pen, it won't write! I beg pardon, sir;
this 'ere pen will splutter!" which set the scholars in a roar. Then
some big-whiskered top-man, with slate in hand, reciting his
multiplication-table, and grinning at approval; whilst a "scholar," as
the cleverest were termed, gave the instructor a hard task to preserve
his learned superiority.

In an adjoining place, an observer might notice a tier of attentive,
upturned faces, listening, like children to some nursery-tale. It was
the first lieutenant of the "Resolute," my much-loved, faithful friend;
he was telling them of the deeds of their forefathe