A Labrador Doctor

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A Labrador Doctor, by Wilfred Thomason

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Title: A Labrador Doctor The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
Author: Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

Release Date: August 22, 2007 [eBook #22372]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | | been preserved. | | | | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | | | +-----------------------------------------------------------+

+-------------------------------------------------+ | By Wilfred T. Grenfell | | | | | | A LABRADOR DOCTOR. The Autobiography of | | Wilfred Thomason Grenfell. Illustrated. | | | | LABRADOR DAYS. Tales of the Sea Toilers. | | With frontispiece. | | | | TALES OF THE LABRADOR. With frontispiece. | | | | THE ADVENTURE OF LIFE. | | | | ADRIFT ON AN ICE-PAN. Illustrated. | | | | HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY | | BOSTON AND NEW YORK | +-------------------------------------------------+

A LABRADOR DOCTOR
The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
[Illustration: (signed) Wilfred Grenfell]
A LABRADOR DOCTOR
The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell M.D. (Oxon.), C.M.G.
With Illustrations

[Illustration]
Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company The Riverside Press Cambridge
Copyright, 1919, by Wilfred T. Grenfell All Rights Reserved

PREFACE
I have long been resisting the strong pressure from friends that would force me to risk having to live alongside my own autobiography. It seems still an open question whether it is advisable, or even whether it is right--seeing that it calls for confessions. In the eyes of God the only alternative is a book of lies. Moreover, sitting down to write one's own life story has always loomed up before my imagination as an admission that one was passing the post which marks the last lap; and though it was a justly celebrated physician who told us that we might profitably crawl upon the shelf at half a century, that added no attraction for me to the effort, when I passed that goal.
Thirty-two years spent in work for deep-sea fishermen, twenty-seven of which years have been passed in Labrador and northern Newfoundland, have necessarily given me some experiences which may be helpful to others. I feel that this alone justifies the writing of this story.
To the many helpers who have co?perated with me at one time or another throughout these years, I owe a debt of gratitude which will never be forgotten, though it has been impossible to mention each one by name. Without them this work could never have been.
To my wife, who was willing to leave all the best the civilized world can offer to share my life on this lonely coast, I want to dedicate this book. Truth forces me to own that it would never have come into being without her, and her greater share in the work of its production declares her courage to face the consequences.

CONTENTS
I. EARLY DAYS 1
II. SCHOOL LIFE 15
III. EARLY WORK IN LONDON 37
IV. AT THE LONDON HOSPITAL 64
V. NORTH SEA WORK 99
VI. THE LURE OF THE LABRADOR 119
VII. THE PEOPLE OF LABRADOR 139
VIII. LECTURING AND CRUISING 159
IX. THE SEAL FISHERY 171
X. THREE YEARS' WORK IN THE BRITISH ISLES 183
XI. FIRST WINTER AT ST. ANTHONY 197
XII. THE CO?PERATIVE MOVEMENT 215
XIII. THE MILL AND THE FOX FARM 226
XIV. THE CHILDREN'S HOME 241
XV. PROBLEMS OF EDUCATION 254
XVI. "WHO HATH DESIRED THE SEA?" 270
XVII. THE REINDEER EXPERIMENT 288
XVIII. THE ICE-PAN ADVENTURE 304
XIX. THEY THAT DO BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS 315
XX. MARRIAGE 331
XXI. NEW VENTURES 344
XXII. PROBLEMS ON LAND AND SEA 357
XXIII. A MONTH'S HOLIDAY IN ASIA MINOR 376
XXIV. THE WAR 384
XXV. FORWARD STEPS 403
XXVI. THE FUTURE OF THE MISSION 411
XXVII. MY RELIGIOUS LIFE 424
INDEX 435

ILLUSTRATIONS
WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL Frontispiece
VIEW FROM MOSTYN HOUSE, THE AUTHOR'S BIRTHPLACE, PARKGATE, CHESHIRE 2
OXFORD UNIVERSITY RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL TEAM 44
THE LABRADOR COAST 120
ESKIMO WOMAN AND BABY 128
ESKIMO MAN 128
ESKIMO GIRLS 132
BATTLE HARBOUR 140
A LABRADOR BURIAL 156
THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN SUMMER 164
THE STRATHCONA 192
THREE OF THE DOCTOR'S DOGS 198
A KOMATIK JOURNEY 202
THE FIRST CO?PERATIVE STORE 218
ST. ANTHONY 226
INSIDE THE ORPHANAGE 250
FISH ON THE FLAKES 272
DRYING THE SEINES 272
A PART OF THE REINDEER HERD 296
REINDEER TEAMS MEETING A DOG TEAM 296
A SPRING SCENE AT ST. ANTHONY 304
DOG RACE AT ST. ANTHONY 304
ICEBERGS 320
COMMODORE PEARY ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE POLE, 1909 340
THE INSTITUTE, ST. JOHN'S 354
DOG TRAVEL 368
THE LABRADOR DOCTOR IN WINTER