Sketches of Labrador Life

Kerry Abel is a professor of history at Carleton University. She is the author of Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History, co-editor of Aboriginal Resource Use in Canada: Historical and Legal Aspects, and co-editor of Northern Visions: New Perspectives on the North in Canadian History.

In 1894, missionary Arthur Waghorne sent a school-child’s exercise
book to an elderly Labrador woman and asked her to write about her life.
He published her stories in an English newspaper as an object lesson to
readers on how a life might be full of trials and yet bring true
contentment. Ninety years later, Them Days magazine republished the
stories as a celebration of early life in Labrador. Now, they appear in
yet another guise to suit changing times, giving Labrador residents a
sense of personal heritage and advertising the work of contemporary
Labrador artists.

Lydia Campbell’s account of her life is a brief but fascinating
document with many insights into the experiences of a little group of
mixed Inuit and British settlers around Hamilton Inlet. She details a
round of trapping, fishing, visiting, caring for children, and survival
that focuses on a woman’s experiences and perspectives. The deaths of
children, husbands, friends, and family punctuate the narrative with a
sad frequency, yet Campbell is still able to find beauty in the sight of
the children’s gravestones among the cranberry bushes beyond her
winter home. Humor, pathos, suspense, and mystery are interwoven in a
compelling account.

The book is very attractively produced. In addition to the family and
archival photographs that accompany the text, there are full-page color
plates of the work of Labrador artists who are introduced in extensive
captioning. Campbell’s warm and charming stories are just as valuable
today as they were when she first set them down.