Word: aleutions
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Shortly before his retirement, Whatmough talked to one of his last classes about what he would do this year. One of his plans, it seems, was to go to Alaska and study Aleut. "I'd really have to learn to ride a horse to do that properly," he mused. "and my friends tell me that would finish me." He paused a moment, then gave a roguish grin and said with finality, "But I think with my constitution...
...write," says Author Wheaton in this light, gay record of her year-long (1935) honeymoon in the bleak Aleutians, "can possibly . . . show [me] to be a woman of strength and initiative." As wife of the local prekaska (storekeeper), and the only white woman on Atka, Helen regarded her Aleut neighbors with amazement streaked with alarm. The black haired, giggling, almond-eyed Aleuts, smelling strongly and permanently of fish, regarded Helen in turn with open admiration...
...Much Fun. One of Helen's first tasks was to hang out an accumulation of family wash. As the intimate objects sailed out one by one along the pulley line stretching from her kitchen window, Helen heard a spirited commentary from dozens of Aleut women, who had assembled on the square below. "Is funny pants," shouted one when Husband Thornie's pajamas appeared. "What is?" When Helen's blue net dressing gown sailed out, it drew a tremendous round of applause. "Is pretty!" shouted the gallery. "To dance...
Discouraged with laundry, Helen advertised for help. Three women promptly appeared. After a long day, Helen asked what she owed. "No moneys at all," they answered happily. "Is much fun come wash in house of Prekaska's wife. . . . We like tell other Aleut womens about your house...
...Aleut males shared their wives and money with equal unconcern. Every member of the community received an equal share from the sale (to Husband Thornie's company) of the island's blue-fox pelts, whether or not he had helped in the trapping. Chief Dirks, who invariably retreated to his bed when any trouble loomed, explained the system: "Mike Creveden very lazy, no catch foxes, only two or three. We say shouldn't do that but he say he lazy and can't help...