A Labrador Doctor

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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 cooperated 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 COOPERATIVE 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