The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-02-20

j. | AAS 10 hOu sAS AASsNAJ AOA RAA
|, LEGATION. But that part of it which bes
4; reports. his own personal agency, an
r would most justly psesent the man t
o the reader, will of course be suppressed
a We would gladly supply it, but as yeI
this is impossible to US. His journal i
: private property, the extracts which W
/, may expect will be only too shy of ego
, tism, and his companions have not spo
ken yet, as some day they will speak, o
his conduct throughout the terribl,
f struggle which together they endured.
To form anything like an adequat'
+ estimate of his last achievement, it is t.
be recollected that his whole company
numbered but twenty men, and that O
; this corps or crew he was the command
er, in naval phrase and when we are
apprised that his portfolio of scenery
sketched on the spot in pencil, and in
water colors kept over spirit-lamp
amounted to over three hundred sketch.
es, we have hint of the extent and va
riety of the Offices he filled on this voy.
age. He was in fact the surgeon, sail
ing master, astronomer and naturalist,
as we'll as captain and leader of the ex-
pedition.
This man of all work, and desperate
daring and successful doing, is in height,
about FIVE feet seven inches; in weight,
say one hundred and thirty pounds or
if health and rest would but give him
leave to fill up his natural measure
His complexion is fair, his hair brown,
and his eyes dark gray, with hawk
look. He is a hunter by every gift and
grace and instinct that makes up the
character, an excellent shot, and a
brilliant horseman. He has escaped
with whole bones from all his adven-
lures, but he has several wounds which
are troublesome and with such gener-
al health as his, most men would call
themselves invalids, and live on fur
lough from all the active duties of life /;
yet he has won the distinction of being
| the first civilized man to stand in lati-
tude $50 30i and gaze upon the open
Polar Sea-to reach the northermost
point of land on the globe-to report
the lowest temperature ever endured
the heaviest sledge journeys ever per-
sormndAand The widest life THAT as-ei+ii-
lied man has successfully undergone;
and to return after all and tell the sto-
ry of his adventures.
The secret spring of all this energy is
in his religious thusiasm-discovered
alike in the generous spirit of his ad-
ventures in pursuit of science; in his
enthusiastic fidelity to duty, and in his
heroic maintenance of the point of hon.
or in all his intercourse with men.
In his department there is that mix
ture of shyness and frankness, simplici-
ty and fastidiousness, sandwiched rath-
er than blended, which marks the man
OF genius, and the monk of industry
He seems confident IN himself but not
Of himself His manner is remarkable
for celerity of movement, alert atten-
tiveness, quickness of comprehension,
rapidity of utterance and sententious
compactness of diction, which arises
from habitual watchfulness against the
betrayal of his own enthusiasm. He
seems to fear that he is boring you, and
is always discovering his unwillingness
to sit for your admiration. If you
question him about the handsome off,
cial acknowledgements of his services by
the British and American governments,
or in any way endeayor to turn him up
on his own gallant achievements, he bur
ries you away from the subject to some
point of scientific interest which he pre-
sumes will more concern and engage
yourself; or he says or does something
that makes you think he is occupied
with his own inferiority, in some matter
which your conversation presents to him.
One is obliged to struggle with him to
maintain the tone of respect which his
character and achievements deserve
and when the interview is over, feel
ing of disappointment remains for the
failure in your efforts to ransack the
man as you wished, and to render the
tribute which you Owed him.
We wish we could be sure that he
will not. in his forthcoming work, give
US the drama without its hero or we
wish the expedition and its hero had a
chronicler, as worthy as he would be
were he not the principal character in
the story.
DR.. Kane's Narrative of the Expedi-
tion, now preparing, and in process of
publication by Messrs. Childs g. Peter
son of Philadelphia, will embrace tho
important discoveries made in the fro
zen regions far beyond the reach of all
the predecessors of the American explo-
ring party, and their perilous adventures,
crowded with romantic incident, which,
in the language Of the Secretary of the
Navy, not only excite our wonder, but
borrow novel grandeur from the truly
benevolent considerations which anima-
ted and neryed him to his task
-e<~e-.h<-
IL A very wicked individual has
lately defined love to be nothing more
than !" an insane desire to pay weman's
board"