New-York tribune., 1873-05-13
ARCTIC EXPLORATION

If we know enough already of this round
globe of ours if we have reached the ultima
thule; or if not having reached it we are
content with so much knowledge as we have,
and have fully made up our minds to indulge
no strivings for broader acquisitions of learn
ing, then we may well accept the dictum of
the current commentator that the Polaris ex-
pedition shall be the last effort to penetrate
the dark and dangerous mysteries of the
frozen Pole. Because this last expedition,
half equipped as it was, and containing in
itself elements of discord, has not succeeded
to the full extent of its projectors hopes, and
because the leader died, as all men some time
must, and score of men were shipwrecked
and compelled to endure hardship and priya-
ton, as scores Of men are doing and have done
through every rolling year, shall we say,
"There, now, let us have an end Of this. 1t
"comes to nothing but just pushing forward
"a hairs breadth on the map of the field of
"human discovery, at the price Of discom-
"fort, distress, and death. and it does
"not payfn Shall adventure be given up or
the field Of discovery abandoned because
there's peril in it and some men suffer and
others die for sake Of itf There's very little
of the spirit Of the old Ulysses in
this kind of talk; nothing of the pluck and
daring and quenchless thirst for knowledge
that bid his mariners "push of, and sitting
| well in order smite the sounding furrOws."
Nothing here of the purpose to "sail beyond
/" the sunset and the baths of all the western
stars until he died. This is rather the
echo of the Pintas mutineers.
1t is not unnatural, to be sure, that sitting
by our fresides reading of the long Winter on
the ice foe, of the six months drifting under
Arctic night and in stormy sea, of the
disabled ship and broken crew, and
Of all the perls and privations of
the voyage, we should conclude that
it does not pay, and that men ought not be
allowed to incur such dreadful risks for so
small results. All, well. what is life worth
| Death closes ALL Are We doing better than
those adventurous souls who at such large
sacrifice widen ever so little the boundaries of
| knowledgef We die some time. Some
| time in the midst of our ledgers and cash
| books and stocks, bonds and investments,
we lay all these things by and stop. They
do no mo re. They do no less than that
| on the ice-hoe or in the wreck, OF
on the desolate shore. Only human
thought goes further; human knowl-
| edge takes wider range. Science gathers
new harvests. All the worlds experience is
enriched and ennobled and made rounder and
fuller because these men have lived and done
and dared. But for us playing games of chance
with each other, living softly and easily and
gathering comforts to ourselves, what do we
do here that widens knowledge or enriches
experience, or In any grand way makes living
worth the while of anybody that comes after
us I And yet we undertake to say, sitting in
easy chairs and growing selfish and narrow
every day. that men shall not go into dangers
and privations to slake their thirst for knowl-
edge; that they shah stay with us in safe
places. and be comfortable and haDDY and