Yet he was not cast down when he became aware of the fact, for he had anticipated it.

“People pity me and think me unfortunate,” he remarked; “but I think myself the happiest of missionaries.”

In 1889, sixteen years after landing at Molokai, Father Damien died.

When he was nearing his end, he wrote of the disease as a “providential agent to detach the heart from all earthly affection, prompting much the desire of a Christian soul to be united—­the sooner the better—­with Him who is her only life”.

During his last illness he suffered at times intensely; yet was patient, brave, and full of thoughtfulness for his people through it all, and looked forward with firm hope to spending Easter with his Maker.  He died on the 15th April, 1889.  “A happier death,” wrote the brother who nursed him in his illness, “I never saw.”

There, far away amongst those for whom he gave his life, lie the remains of one of the world’s great examples, whose name will ever be whispered with reverence, and who possessed to a wonderful extent “the peace which the world cannot give”.

A GREAT ARCTIC EXPLORER.

THE STORY OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

The passage to the North Pole is barred by ice fields and guarded by frost and snow more securely than Cerberus guarded the approach to the kingdom of Pluto.

For three centuries and more the brave and daring of all nations have tried to pass these barriers.  Hundreds of men have been frozen to death, hundreds have died of starvation; and yet men continue to hazard their lives to find out this secret of Nature.

One of the bravest arctic explorers was Sir John Franklin, who, after many wonderful adventures, finally died with his companions amid the frozen seas of the north.

As a little boy, “life on the ocean wave” was to John Franklin a delightful day-dream.  Once when at school he walked twelve miles to get a sight of the sea and a taste of the salt air; and such was his desire for a seafaring career that although his father was at first very much opposed to the idea, yet when he found how strongly Franklin had set his heart upon a sailor’s life, he got him a place on a war-ship where John took part in the battle of Copenhagen.

Then he was shipwrecked on the coast of Australia, did some fighting in the Straits of Malacca, and was present at the great battle of Trafalgar.

After this he had his first taste of Arctic adventure, having received a commission from the Government to explore the Coppermine, one of the great rivers of Canada, which discharges its waters into the Arctic Ocean.  Down this river sailed Franklin and his companions.  They encountered rapids and falls, and all kinds of obstacles, and met with many dangers and disasters.

The first winter they were nearly starved to death.  They stayed at Fort Enterprise; but, long before the spring returned, they found their food was all but finished, and the nearest place to get more was five hundred miles away, over a trackless desert of snow.  One of their number, however, tramped the whole weary way, and brought back food to his starving leader and companions.