Director, GAINES DOG RESEARCH CENTER
P/ERREPE BEAUMARCHAIS, great iqts
CENTURY WIT WHO WROTE "THE BARBER
of Seville; was so fond of hisPOG
'mlle.follette’that he had engraved on
HER COLLAR,"BEAUMARCHAIS BELONGS TO ME*
' 4i 7*
/LL/NOfS SPECIFIES
WHILE IN COMMAND OF AMERICAN FORCES THAT DOGS BE BURIED
IN BERLIN,GEM. LUC/USPCLAY HAD AT a DEPTH OF 36INCHES
his SCOTTISH TERR/ER named i
GEORGE AS HIS DAILY COMPANION
ICE SENTINEL
.<'/> «*r*‘■'
© 1950. Gaines Dog Research Center. N. Y. C.
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I Lights of The Caribou I
BY LELA OMAN <
( Continued from last issue)
“We became very quiet with
the dead man among us. Hanah
sat close to him like she was
guarding, so no harm will come
to him, when he could not defend
himself. Bessie, for once, was
speechless, as she now and then
glanced over the still form. Was
the atmosphere pregnant with
death a little too' much for her,
too?” My father continued.
“There was a rustling movement
on the outside of the door flap,
which was a caribou skin. We all
noticed it at once. Was Kahruk’s
soul coming in through our door
way?
“ ‘Who are you?’ my mother
asked.
“ ‘I am Kahruk’s aunt, I’ve come
to be with you while he is away.
I always come when he needs
help. He remembers me with food
and water many times!’
“ ‘Won’t you come in?’
“ ‘Yes, I will come in.’ The car
ibou skin door flap moved like
she had touched it. ‘Perhaps I had
better not come in. 1 feel that I
am not presentable to the living.
I was not remembered with new
clothes last fall.’ Referring to the
Eskimo Potlatch, when the young •,
are fed and dressed with new
clothes in the names of some dead
relatives. No one had been dressed
in her name. ‘But please give me
some water to drink.’ My mother
gave her some water in a wooden
dipper. We heard her drink noisi
ly, after which she handed back
the dipper through the bottom
corner of the door flap.
“ ‘I can see Kahruk (Doctor
Charlie), he is not far from the
caribou.’ Sinister silence hung
over us^ I could hear my heart
pound against my eardrums. In
our desperation we could have1
done anything for someone who
would lead us out of our predica
ment. Having a ghost as our look
out was not an everyday event.
“ ‘Now he is coming this way.’
Mentioning names of certain
mountains, she let us know where
he was.
“Presently she said, ‘He will be
here soon, I better leave you, and
thanks for the drink. Do not wor
ry too much, everything will be
alright.’
“This aunt of Doctor Charlie
had been dead for many years.
After he lost his parents he had
stayed with her. Strong medicine
woman in life, she had guided
Charlie, when he started noticing
signs of becoming a medicine doc
tor. She had crashed through,
what we believe now, the great
abyss of the unknown. Proving
one who had supernatural power
in life can contact the living after
death. I have seen her skeleton
in a primitively made grave. That
time the dead were not buried.
The beliePwas that the soul could
not escape from the body if bur
ied. Although her grave was many
miles away she had answered the
call of her nephew. Also proving
that the soul traveled constantly
and nothing is hidden from it on
the face of the earth.
“From far away we could hear
Charlie’s soul coming. He was still
happily shouting and talking like
he was not alone. When he came
upon our tent we saw the hatchet
he had taken with him coming
down from the opening. Hanging
by the rope, which Hanah had
tied around the handle. It swayed
a while and thudded on the dirt
floor. On its sharp blade adhered
fresh blood and hairs of the cari
f.-:
bou. Did Doctor Charlie’s soul kill
caribou? ‘Just the souls of the
animals,’ Mother later explained
to us younger folks. ‘Their bodies
are still alive.’
“There were wierd sounds and
moans from the stretched-out
body and even Hanah did not
touch him. Presently he sat up
like waking up from a sound
slumber. Blinking around at us.
Not one of us said a word. Even
my mother, who had talked to the
ghost did not make a move. ‘Don’t
be afraid, all will be well.’ With
these words he put us at ease.
Hanah then gave him his pipe.
“There was no sleep for us that
night, we sat around the now
brightly burning fire. None of us
speaking of what had come to
pass. Charlie, stretching now and
then, quietly puffed smoke from
his long pipe, with a thin stem.
He gave us instructions not to
touch a certain item among our
meager possessions. This certain
item was a twisted rope made
from the sinewy barks of the
water willows. If one of us touch
it, his performance would be in
vain, or someone in the family
would be dead.
“ ‘We will stay here and wait
for the caribou to come. They are
far away, it will take them two
days to get here. I killed enough
caribou souls to last us all winter.’
No one informed him of his aunt
who visited us while he was away.
“Our tent was close to a high
mountain, and in two days this
mountain was black with the
moving caribou. We butchered for
many days. Bessie and Hanah
worked side by side. They picked
out the best skins to make Charlie
new clothes. This was not his fee
for the performance. The medi
cine-doctor-ancestors, who helped
him, must have their pay. So in
their names Doctor Charlie was
dressed and fed.
“On our way back to the Kobuk
we met many starving people.
Some had left a trail of death be
hind them. To the living we gave
meat and skins.
“A year later Hanah had run
away after one and the last quar
rel, and shortly after she sent
word to Charlie that some men
were asking for her hand in mar
riage. If Charlie did not come to
her, she made it plain that she
was going to take one of them. ‘As
long as you are with Bessie I’ll
never have anything to' do, with
you again.’ She at last wanted her
rights understood.
“ 'Hanah is my first wife, I can’t
imagine another man taking my
place with her. Perhaps, if I don’t
go to her now, I’ll never forget
her.’ He left Bessie, now weeping
in grief over losing him. Did she
in her own selfish way learn to
love him? Or was she angry be
cause Hanah was winning? Char
lie probably realized his future
would be a stormy one if he
stayed with beautiful Bessie. She
is now married, and unlike Hanah
and Charlie, they have many chil
dren. They are now living down
White Mountain way. Many older
1 people in this Noorvik village owe
| their lives to Doctor Charlie.
No'orvik Village was a large Es
kimo settlement of four to five
hundred people in 1926 at^the
time my father told us this story.
Kahruk was an old man now.
! He was one of the most prominant
! citizens. A marshall to a native
| judge. When he went out to make
: an arrest, I am sure the culprit
surrendered peaceably. Some
I times he was called by frightened
12th Day Of Hearings
In Army-McCarthy Row
WASHINGTON, UPi — Secretary
of the Army Stevens swore today
that Sen. McCarthy’s aides threat
ened him if Pvt. G. David Schine
failed to get favored treatment.
They made “exceedingly ser
ious” threats, Stevens told the
Senate subcommittee investigat
ing the McCarthy-Army row.
And, Stevens declared, he had
a distinct impression from Mc
Carthy, as well as from the sen
ator’s aides, that the more the
Army did for Schine the less
“hammering” the Army would be
subjected to from the McCarthy
committee.
McCarthy hammered questions
at Stevens and the usually mild
mannered secretary, in his 12th
day in the witness chair, snapped
back with a sharpness not dis
played before.
McCarthy Cries Perjury
WASHINGTON, UPI—Sen. Me
Carthy cried “perjury” Thursday
at Secretary Stevens and Demo
cratic senators called for prosecu
tions as a result of what ■ one
called McCarthy’s “fraudulent let
ter” episode in the McCarthy
Army hearings.
Adding fuel to the fire under
McCarthy, Atty. Gen. Brownell
ruled that the letter, and the long
er confidential report from which
it apparently came, must not be
made public. He said publication
would be harmful to the national
interest.
McCarthy had introduced the
letter, saying it was written by
Director J. Edgar Hoover of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
to an Army general concerning an
investigation of possible espion
age. Testimony was given Wed
nesday that Hoover had not writ
ten the letter, but that it appeared
to be a summary of an FBI mem
orandum to the general.
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children to settle a family quarrel.
Many times I have seen him, in
his store-bought clothes, sitting in
the Church. Respectable, large in
stature, although well-advanced
in age he was very good looking.
His kind face betrayed none of
his nature.
His lifetime companion always
sitting by him in her Sunday best,
pink calico covering her fur par
ka. She always peered over her
celluloid-rimmed glasses as the
leader called out numbers of the
sc»gs: Ng‘w and then focusing the
specs to her songbook. She was
still going to school as she had
been for many years passed. Al
ways content being a first-grader.
I remember being in the same
grade with this old lady. Now,
looking back, I wonder why her
husband sent her to school. She
came and went as she pleased.
Never interested in her progress.
Or was he in his own way making
sure we were treated well?
This whole school w*as filled
with his beloved “Grandchildren.”
Everyone was welcome, in their
large log cabin, that was always
well furnished with good things
to eat. Their dog team was one of
the fastest in Town, and Hanah
acted as an engineer when they
sped away to their fish camp or
to Kotzebue in the orange-colored
power boat.
Accuemee
(The End)