Eskimos do not whip or punish their
children. They treat them rather, as comrades, and the boy's effort is
to do as nearly as he can the things his elders do and in the manner in
which they do them.
And this was the case with Abel and Mrs. Abel and Bobby. They never
punished Bobby. It was the case also with Skipper Ed and Jimmy. Skipper
Ed, from the first, called Jimmy his partner, and talked to him and
treated him very much as he would have done had Jimmy been a grown-up.
From the very beginning Bobby had his escapades, which usually included
adventures. During the first summer after his arrival he fell into the
water with due regularity, but always, fortunately, within reach of
Abel's or Mrs. Abel's strong arms. Once he climbed into the big boat,
undid the painter, and the tide had carried him well out to sea before
his plight was discovered and he was rescued by Abel in the skiff. And
once he was lost for a day in the forest, with Abel, Mrs. Abel, Skipper
Ed, and Jimmy searching frantically for him. They found him, quite tired
out with his wanderings, peacefully sleeping on the forest moss.
With these escapades and a thousand others, Bobby kept his foster
parents pretty constantly varying between a state of suspense and a
state of joy, for they were vastly delighted when he emerged from an
adventure, usually not much the worse for his experience.
Bobby's age was, of course, a matter of conjecture. Abel and Mrs. Abel
must needs have a definite date set down as his birthday, in order that
it might be duly and appropriately celebrated each year, and as a
convenient date they chose December 1 of the year in which he came to
them as his fourth birthday.
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