Wendy Pooler, age 10, of Portland, Maine, for her question:

Why don't the Eskimos come and live comfortably with us?

Human beings love to share their lives with others. When they find a pleasant place, they tell all their friends and ask. them to come join them. This is fine and generous. But even generous gestures can go too far. Sometimes they get way out of hand and do more harm than good. We forget that others may not agree with our ideas of a pleasant life. We even may forget that people of other realms love their homelands just as much as we love ours. Home is home and everyone has his or her own idea where this magical place is located.

The Eskimos are at home in the frozen north. To us, their surroundings seem too harsh to endure. But not to the Eskimos. Their ancestors have been coping with the Arctic for countless ages. We could not master it or enjoy it. But the Eskimos can. Scholars and travelers assure us that the Eskimos are among the most contented people of the world and remarkable for their happy cheerfulness. Our way of living is right for us, and very different. But we cannot say with honesty that all our friends are as contented and happy as the Eskimos.