"O mother, let us pray! Will not God help us?" cried one of the children. *
The prayer could have been but a very short one, but the presence of mind which the mother showed may have been given as the instant answer to it. Aneekah caught up a piece of moss, stuck it on a stick, set it on fire, and held the blazing mass as close as she could to the nose of the bear.
* This incident of the intrusion of the bear, and the exclamation
of the child, has been given as a fact.
Now fire was a new thing to Mrs. Bruin, and so was smoke, and if the bear had frightened the Esquimaux, the Esquimaux now frightened the bear. With a snort and a shake of her shaggy fur, the animal drew back her head, and, to the surprise and delight of the trembling family, they soon heard their unwelcome visitor scrambling down faster than she had clambered up. Mrs. Bruin trotted off to seek her breakfast elsewhere; let us hope that she and her cubs found a fine supply of fish frozen in a cleft in some iceberg floating away in the sea. At any rate, they never again were seen near the Esquimaux home.
Do you wonder how the poor Esquimaux child had learned the value of prayer? Would any one go to the dreary wilds of Greenland to carry the blessed gospel to the natives of that desolate shore?
Yes, even to "Greenland's icy mountains" have missionaries gone from brighter, happier lands. There are pastors now labouring amongst the poor Esquimaux, for they know that the soul of each savage is precious. The light of the gospel is shining now in Esquimaux homes, and, amidst all their hardships, sufferings, and dangers, Esquimaux have learned to show pious trust when in peril, and thankfulness after deliverance. It is from the pen of a missionary that we have learned the story which I have just related of the Esquimaux woman and the white bear.
"REALLY, Captain Guise, you need trouble yourself no more in the matter; I am quite able to take care of myself!" cried young Cornet Stanley, with a little impatience in his tone.
The speaker was a blue-eyed lad, whose fresh complexion showed that he had not been long in the burning climate of India. Cornet Stanley had indeed but lately left an English home, for he was little more than sixteen years of age. With very anxious feelings, and many tears, had Mrs. Stanley parted with her rosy-checked Norman. "He is so very young," as she said, "to meet all the trials and temptations of an officer's life in India!"