DR. WILFRED GRENFLLL.• THESE " Yarns from the Labrador "
are, as might be expected, of entrancing interest. Dr. Grenfell begins with some curiosities of Labrador ways, habits, and beliefs. The Eskimo have "virtually vanished from the coast," except in the neighbourhood of the Moravian settlement, but they seem to have left not a few of their characteristics to the Labra- dorians, half-breed brothers, of to-day. One of these is the belief in charms : the "tooth-ache string" and the green ribbon which protects against " the bleeding " are among them. In the hands of a wise woman, or, still better, a seventh son, or, best of all, the seventh son of a seventh son—a world- wide belief—these are most effectual, and the curious thing is that this effectual quality is not a mere fancy. Dr. Gren- fell tells us of a Labradorian who came to him suffering from agonies of tooth-ache. The forceps was produced. The man would have none of it. "No, no, doctor : it's only charmin' her wants." Dr. Grenfell waved his hands over the man's head and touched the tooth. Months after he met him: " Ne'er an ache nor a pain in 'er since you charmed her, doctor." Then there is the providing of the dead with the things that they may want, a habit curiously touched by modern changes. A tomb had had some of its treasures taken from it for a museum, and their place had to be sup- plied. This was done with some razors which a German agent, with less commercial aptitude than might have been expected from his nationality, had brought out for this beardless people.
But the chief charm of the book is in its narratives of unpretending courage and self-sacrifice. There is the story of Skipper Life and the Rippling Wave in " 'Tis Dogged as does it," and that of Danney's Deliverance, with their dramatic contrast. The Skipper holds on for the lives of his crew and of himself, and is rescued at the last gasp ; Danney is a paralysed boy whom the unwearying care of his mission friends restores to health and usefulness. Then there is the " Optimist," partly paralysed, keeping a younger brother, an imbecile sister, and a half-imbecile mother, poor to the last degree, but always eager to serve, without pay or reward, any- one whom he could help. The " Optimist " had brought the Doctor• home to the hospital and was invited to stay the night with his dogs. He refused. And why ? He pointed to a parcel. "'Tie just a bit of mutton what old Aunt Simmonds asked me to carry up to Skipper Alfred. He's sick, they tells me, in the cove." And it was late on a winter night.
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