Afterwards [pp. 482]

AFTERWARDS.
and Creoles who are not clergymen.
These readers drone lazily through the
appointed services, and preside on feast
days. The number of members of the
Church is, doubtless, placed too high,
and does not really exceed seven or
eight thousand.
Speaking generally, it may be said
that, except among the Aleuts, who have
become thoroughly Russianized, the
Russian Church never acquired any
strong hold upon the natives of Alaska.
Many of the Aleuts write and speak
Russian, and are able to follow the
church services, which are conducted in
the old Slavonian language. But the
preaching of the Russian clergy, with
the exception of Veniaminof, made very
little impression on the savage Koloshes
and Kadiakers, who retain most of their
old superstitions and practise Shamanism to the present day. The Kadiakers
have had missionaries among them since
I794, but they show little interest in
religious observances. Under Baranof's
administration the priests were held in
scant respect, even by their own countrymen. During the sermons the rough
traders and hunters squatted down and
smoked, and sometimes even laughed so
loudly that the priest could not go on
with his duty. The priests baptized a
few natives every year, and visited
such of the villages as were situated
near to the trading-posts, but they did
very little to spread the word of God or
to help and comfort the poor in their
hours of suffering and distress: nor did
they make any serious efforts to induce
the natives to adopt more settled and
industrioushabits. Sir George Simpson
and other travelers accuse them of being
hard drinkers, and Mr. Dall mentions
one, who, after serving for seven years
as a missionary on the Yukon, thanked
God, that he was about to return to
Russia, where a glass of rum could be
bought for twenty-five kopecks.
Yet on the fog-begirt Pribylof islands
and in other dreary parts of the vast
territory of Alaska, the brilliant services
and numerous festivals of the Greek
Church lend a few touches of brightness
to the hard, dull lives of the natives,
and help to save them from utter stagnation.
Arthur Inkersley.
AFTERWARDS.
SHATTERED ship sailed in from sea;
Wild were the seas thro' which she'd passed,Her sailors laughed and danced with glee;
For they were home at last.
And so they furled the tattered sails;
They chaffed the Storm King in defeat;
They made of dangers merry tales,
And bitterness turned sweet.
Frederick A. Bisbee.
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