C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

Two Idle Weeks 89Inuit b?y, his mother, andhis grandmother, withEmma Hatlry Whittaker,wife of ArchdeaconWhittaker. n.d. ACC/GSAGS7S-103-SS-687-out. There was nothing for it but to lighten the mail, so he hung the bag ofletterson a tree and took on the newspapers, thinking that as they were the heaviest itemthey must be the most important. The letters were brought in next season. AtAklavik they sometimes got a Christmas mail in February and then no moreletters until July, and after September there was no more regular mail until thenext year.On one occasion we had a call from Archdeacon Whittaker and CaptainCameron at the same moment. It was not an easy situation to handle. There wasCaptain Cameron, full of polar bears and whaling stories and oaths and forcefullanguage and quite at ease with us, for he had soon forgotten the Crown prosecutor'swarning; and there was the archdeacon sitting opposite our delightfulruffian, looking, by comparison, rather proper and precise. Gwen and I eachtook on one of them by mutual silent agreement. Gwen had the captain and thearchdeacon fell to my lot. I remember pricking my ears apprehensively, towardsthe end of some anti-missionary story, while I was engaged in hearty small-talkwith the cleric.