Where the bitter winds of the north Atlantic sweep over the coast of Labrador, and the giant icebergs slowly sail in their opalescent majesty through the waters of the ocean, like phantom ships or dream palaces, lies a country inhabited by very poor fisherfolk, who depend upon the scanty harvests gathered from the waters for their living. When the “catch” is poor there is much suffering, and the children are clothed and fed more poorly than usual. The warm, bright days are few, and there are no swimming holes or long, delightful summer vacations and picnics for boys and girls.
Far away in merry England under its soft and sunny skies, a boy was born in 1865—Wilfred T. Grenfell. When he became a young medical student he heard Dwight L. Moody, the great American evangelist, so interpret the old, old story of Jesus in terms of loving service for others, that he resolved to devote his life to the poor and desolate. With such a vision of love the young physician left his home and friends, and sailed away up into the North Sea among the poor fishermen, where there were no doctors to cure them when they were ill or set their broken bones when the cruel sea dashed them upon the rocks. Later, when others came to help, Doctor Grenfell decided to go where no one else cared to go. He again sailed away, this time to Labrador and the coast of Newfoundland. How cheerless and desolate that country appears, how far away from England and America! Think of the coldest day and bitterest storm you ever knew, and that is what Doctor Grenfell found when he arrived, all alone, and where he has worked so long and hard to make life happier and to help the poor Eskimos understand something of the unselfish love of the Christ-life, which is his ideal. He found them ignorant, poor, and miserable. When they were ill there was no one to help. When they fell over the mountain spurs and broke their bones, they must die or be crippled for life, for no one knew how to put the bones in place. Along three thousand miles of coast this good man goes in summer in his little steamboat, fighting the cruel waves, dodging the icebergs, always in peril, but never caring as long as he can reach the sick and ease their pain and suffering. In winter the water is frozen, and he must take his long, perilous journey by sledge. With his teams of dogs hitched to his stout sledge “Lend-a-hand,” he drives over those snow-covered fields where there are only tall poles set up to mark a trail, often being lost in the storms or breaking through the ice into the waters of half-frozen streams, or being dashed over the side of the steep path, or being buried under an avalanche of snow from which he must dig himself and his dogs out. But he is never discouraged. With a keen sense of humor he sees the funny side of things and in those cheerless, miserable homes he laughs and tells his experiences, plays with the little ones, and makes every one around him happy. He is Santa Claus to the children, and “Good Samaritan” to the man by the wayside. Often “Lend-a-hand” is his only bed, for although the dogs are trained to watch for the poles set to mark the path, they sometimes miss them in the storm, and stray from the trail, and then Doctor Grenfell turns his sledge up on the side, digs a hole in the snow, lights a fire, and crawls into his sleeping-bag and spends the night out-of-doors, while the dogs dig a place in the snow for themselves, to wait for the morning light to help them to find the lost trail. Through Doctor Grenfell a hospital has been erected on the coast, where trained physicians and nurses care for the poor people who are shipwrecked or who can be taken away from their wretched homes to be cared for. Do you wonder that the people love this bright, cheerful Englishman, with the endurance of a man and the tenderness of a woman, who is translating his life into love, and trying to follow John Wesley’s golden advice in the simple familiar lines?
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.