 By the early 20th century , formal schooling had again become a feature of the islands , and in 1906 the church was extended to make a schoolhouse . The children all now learned English and their native Gaelic . Improved midwifery skills , denied to the island by John Mackay , reduced the problems of childhood tetanus . From the 1880s , trawlers fishing the north Atlantic made regular visits , bringing additional trade . Talk of an evacuation occurred in 1875 during MacKay 's time as minister , but despite occasional food shortages and a ' flu epidemic in 1913 , the population was stable at between 75 and 80 , and no obvious sign existed that within a few years the millennia @-@ old occupation of the island was to end . 
