Part 8 (1/2)
Near Orca, Prince William Sound, Alaska, June 27 {1899}
MY DEAR JULIAN,
Since I wrote you at Sitka we have come further north and spent five days in Yakutat Bay and since Saturday in this sound--have seen innue scenes At Yakutat ent into Disenchantone before This bay is a long slender arm of the sea which puts out froe ofand floere bloole barn s ski seal a on here the shi+p rolled a good deal and I was not happy, though not really sick On Saturday we entered this sound in clear sunshi+ne and the clear skies continued Sunday and Monday This hty-ht war waters Hoe all enjoyed it! Far off rose lofty e streaked with snow and next to thee, dark with spruce forests
Orca, where we anchored Saturday night, is a small cluster of houses on an arm of the sound where they can salmon, immense numbers of them Two hundred men are employed there at this season The salmon run up all the little rivers and streams, so parties go out from the shi+p to collect birds and plants and to hunt bears and to stay two or three nights No bears have as yet been seen I stick to the shi+p The mosquitoes are very thick on shore and besides that ood deal, till the sunshi+ne came on Sunday I must have a taste of caht or ten days Yesterday we found estparty we left on Sunday Near us are two islands where two20 We have seen one Eskimo here in his kyack One can read here on deck at eleven o'clock at night We have set our watches back six hours since leaving New York
I a, but keep well I drearapes were a failure I hope drea the currants We get no mail I hope to send this by a steamer from the north, said to be due
We have lectures and concerts and games and the people enjoy themselves much I keep aloof much of the time I hope you both keep well Love to you both J B
Fro” that broke out a the verses up in the s rooerel It hile on this expedition that he wrote, ”Golden Crowned Sparrow in Alaska,” one verse especially:
But thou, sweet singer of the wild, I give ret Strikes deeper chords in ely pathetic and like many of his moods
Kadiak, July 5, '99
MY DEAR JULIAN,
In trying to get off last night the shi+p got aground and h tide I wrote to your , the le Several of theroo it too Mine is best so far We will soon be off now, I trust you are well I try not to worry
Board faithful steamer And show the east your heels New conquests lie before you In far Aleutian fields Kick high, if high you must But don't do so at raceful But I do detest your reels
We're bound for Unalaska And we do not care who squeals But mend your pace a little And show the east your heels But in your waltzing with old Neptune Don't forget the hours of et the hours of meals I'm sure you have no notion How dreadful bad it feels!
Push onward into Bering And hasten to the seals One glance upon their harems Then take unto your heels More stea with the billows Oh regard the hours of ard the hours ofPlease remember how it feels
We're bound for Arctic waters And for the ht sun Then quicken your propeller And your pace into a run We'll touch at lone Siberia To take a polar bear Then hie away through Bering Straits AndOh don't forget our prayer
A noble task's before us And we'll do it ere we go We'll cut the Arctic circle And take the thing in tow And put it round the Philippines And cool 'e, But a chill will seize the foe
And we'll end the war in triumph Go you hoh this was a delightful trip, one ht say, an ideal trip, he was homesick, sea sick, and, as he says of hinorant, the most untravelled, thewith a crowd I know he often spoke of the expedition's cheer, and how they would all give it when they came into stations--
Who are we!
Who are we!
We're the Harriman, Harriman H A E! H A E!
and ”how the people would stare at us!” Father said He liked it, this jolly comradeshi+p and crowd spirit, but it was new to hih no one hadwith hus, no one had less of the crowd spirit As he said, he kept aloof--not from aloofness but from embarrassment and shyness Later he overcame most of this and was able to face a crowd or an audience with composure and sureness With this picture in mind another is recalled, one of hi corn to reen corn that he had picked, I can see him seated and with one of Mother's old aprons tucked under his beard He would carefully cut down the rows of kernels and then with the back of a knife would scrape theyellol He would hold the white ears in his brown hands and deftly cut each row, a look of composure and serenity in his eyes He could eat his share of the cakes, too, and I like to think of those summer days That fall he wrote from Slabsides: