Monday, September 7, 2009

Among the Deep Sea Fishers: II


Volume 10, Issue 4 (January 1913): Items from the New England Grenfell Association:
  • "St. Anthony is losing this year the services of our beloved friend, chief of outside workers, and "private parson," the Rev. Jesse Halsey. His house stands empty, and we lament his absence every time we look at it. We have never had any man whose Christ-like spirit in everything he touched has more gripped the love and imagination of our men. It is only a question of finances which makes us obliged to cut down this small salary. The price of a single dinner in so many of the large houses would add a year of his invaluable work.
  • "The coming of the schooner Geo. B. Cluett for the winter supplies was anticipated by Boston friends with more interest than usual. Her passenger list was a large one for this time of the year, among the passengers being Dr. and Mrs. John Mason Little, Jr., with their infant son of three months; Mrs. Halsey and her two boys (the youngest two months of age), and two native children whose father is a reindeer herder at St. Anthony and whose mother is not living. These two children (a girl and a boy) Mr. and Mrs. Halsey are to shepherd: the girl being old enough to act as a nursery maid, and both will attend school in Southampton, N.Y., which is the home of the Halseys this year!
The voyage was the longest and most tedious ever reported by any of the Mission schooners, because of the constant and continuous head winds, and occupied twenty-one days between St. Anthony and Boston: the boat arriving on October 15th at noon . . . Beside a small amount of freight, the Cluett brought from St. Anthony a young black bear in the hold. The bear was for the Zoo in the Franklin Park of Boston. It was no small amount of labour to take the bear from the schooner to the park, and although it was all done in a scientific manner, by three of the men from the Zoo, the time occupied was no less than three hours, and young bruin showed some fight before he was finally placed behind bars in the cage brought in which to transport him.


  • Rev. Jesse Halsey returned early in November after superintending the building of the little home for the medical officer at St. Anthony, which was begun early in the season. The house was roofed before Mr. Halsey left, and the work in the interior will go on early in the spring. It is hoped that it will be ready for Dr. Little upon his return in the coming summer. Mr. Halsey's three years of service have increased the possibilities for greater efficiency not only in the hospital but also the school, the orphanage, and the homes for the general workers. He has been the one man able to teach the native men about the plumbing, etc., etc. He is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary with a decided turn for mechanics--indeed, he might be called the Christian plumber of the Mission, for he has put furnaces into the orphanage and hospital at St. Anthony and has constructed a reservoir from which he has brought running water into these buildings. Skillful as he is in the mechanical line, he was no less successful when acting in the capacity of Christian teacher, in the absence of Dr. Grenfell, on Sundays in the church and hospital, and in teaching winter evening school, preparing the young men coming to Pratt Institute. It was a fortunate happening for both the Mission and the man when Mr. Halsey heard Dr. Grenfell lecture as he was graduated from Union Seminary, and he at once decided to join the volunteers in the Mission.

Volume 11, Issue 1 (April 1913): Items from the New England Grenfell Association:
  • Because Dr. Grenfell is in charge of St. Anthony Hospital this winter, deep in surgical and medical work and the running of his various institutions, while the regular doctor at St. Anthony is having a much needed vacation, the Rev. Jesse Halsey, who has served as a helper at St. Anthony of four years, has been helping at this end of the line this winter by giving lectures with and without the lantern slides. Dr. Grenfell has so many responsibilities in the North that he can do nothing about raising money this winter at such along range and under such a handicap. Mr. Halsey has proved himself a real friend to the Mission and is an earnest man with long experience at St. Anthony. He has spoken at Dartmouth and Wellesley Colleges and before a few Men's Clubs as well as the Women's club in Dudham, Mass. He is available still by making appointments a few weeks in advance.

Volume 12, Issue 4 (January 1915): The Candy Lady, short story by Jesse Halsey, winner of a $25 Satterlee Prize

  • "One day in mid October, when the rush of early monthly accounting was over . . ."
Volume 16, Issue 4 (January 1919): The World Wide Influence of Grenfell by Jerome Davis
  • I have just come back from service in Russia, which would be one of the last regions that one would expect to find influenced by Dr. Grenfell. Yes here we find American men who have caught the vision of service to others in work with Dr. Grenfell who are now translating this same spirit into deeds of love and kindness for the Russian people.
  • Dr. Halsey, a former Grenfell man, was up in the North, amid the darkness and the ice and snow, working for the English, French, American and Russian men. He was rendering a typical Association service to men who had no other place to go except the Association, and incidentally he was showing the same spirit of friendship which he had seen demonstrated by Dr. Grenfell in the North.
  • This little illustration of how the spirit of Jesus Christ, as it has been translated into action by Dr. Grenfell, has permeated even the throbbing life of the far off Russian revolution, is typical as showing how Dr. Grenfell's spirit is coming in every country throughout the world.
  • The wealth of man is the number of things he loves and blesses, which he is loved and blessed by.
Volume 38, Issue 2 (July 1940): Alumni News
  • The REV. JESSE HALSEY was host to Sir Wilfred during the latter's visit to Cincinnati in April. Though he did not accept the position, Dr. Halsey was recently offered a Professorship of Practical Theology at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Chicago.
Volume 38, Issue 4 (January 1941): The Adventure (In Memoriam, Sir. Wilfred Grenfell, from the Presbyterian, October 24, 1940), by Jesse Halsey

  • "It started in a Moody meeting, "his Adventure," as he called it.

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