, as I thought, a very impressive portion of Scripture for
Prayers, and the children were as quiet as mice. But they never let
their eyes wander from me for a single moment, until I began to feel I
ought at least to have a smut on the tip of my nose.

The alluring advertisement of Newfoundland, as "the coolest country on
the Atlantic seaboard in the summer," is all too painfully true. It is
very, very cold at present, and the sun, if sun there be, is safely
ensconced behind an impenetrable bank of fog. If this is summer
weather, what will the winter be!

I started to write this to you in the morning, but the day has been
one long series of interruptions. The work is all new to me and not
exactly what I expected, but the spice of variety is not lacking. I
find it very hard to understand these children and it is evident from
their faces that they fail to comprehend my meaning. Yet I have a
lurking suspicion that when it is an order to be obeyed, their desire
to understand is not overwhelming. The children are supposed to do the
work of the Home under my superintendency, the girls undertaking the
housework and the boys the outside "chores." Apparently from all I
hear my predecessor was a strict disciplinarian, an economical
manager, an expert needlewoman, and everything I should be and am not.
The sewing simply appalls me! I confess that stitching for three dozen
children of all sizes had not entered into my calculations as one of
the duties of a "missionary"! Yet of course I realize they must be
clad as well as taught. What a pity that the climate will not allow of
a simple loin cloth and a string of beads. And how infinitely more
becoming. Then, too, how much easier would be the food problem were
we dusky Papuans dwelling in the far-off isles of the sea. This
country produces nothing but fish, and we have to plan our food
supplies for a year in advance. How much corn-meal mush will David eat
in twelve months? And if David eats so much in twelve months, how much
will Noah, two months younger, eat in the same period of time? If one
herring satisfies thirty-six, how many dozen will a herring and a half
feed? Picture me with a cold bandage round my head seeking to emulate
Hoover.

A little mite has just come to the door to inform me that her dress
has "gone abroad." Seeing my mystified look, she enlightened me by
holding up a tattered garment which had all too evidently "gone
abroad" almost beyond recall. Throwing the foo