A Labrador Doctor: The Autobiography of Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

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 . Click on the images to see a larger version. 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 ToList A LABRADOR DOCTOR THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILFRED THOMASON GRENFELL M.D. (OXON.), C.M.G. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 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 coöperated 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…