Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1875-12-11
THE INSIDE WORLD;
STORY OF THE FUTURE,
BY JULIA 8. FEM.
CHAPTER /.

CHAPTER L.
"Around the North Pole there is q region
or over ono thousand miles in diameter with
In which mortal foot has never trod. Forsix
months of zach year, the slant rays of the
sun fall with scarcely perceptible effect upon
the everlasting sum of this vast area, lighting
up landscapes that the eye of man has never
seen. Forsix months of each year, this whole
region Is shrouded in night whose darkness
is as deep and impenetrab BILE as the mystery
which envelopes it. Millions of money have
been spent, scores of vessels have been
wrecked, hundreds of lives have been lost, in
the vain attempt to wrest from this charmed
region its eternal secret but each succeeding
expedition results simply in undoing the
conclusions of that which preceded it and es-
tablishing equally fallible theories of its own.
Kane found an Open Polar Sea- Hayes
showed that there was no open polar sea in
that quarter. but saw one farther north. The
Polaris explodes the old myth forever, and
shows that there is no open polar sea any
where, except it be under the ice."
So reads paragraph from maya
zine article upon Arctic Discovery,
written in the latter part of 1876. 1t
was the article from which this para
graph was taken that was the proximate
cause of the grand discovery of the 10Th
century, discovery before which that
of Columbus pales into insignifcance-
the dicsorery Of the inside Of the Earth.
The magazine containing this article
lay upon the long table of the library
of Harvard College, on the 18th of No
vember, 1875. A number of students
were sitting about the table in various
positions, the attendants were gliding
noiselessly to and fro, or conversing in
whispers. The old clock was ticking
steadily on, like Time, which it meas
ured, waiting not for events nor men,
be they great or small.
And who that saw it would have
called it o great event that Arthur
Thomas, of the senior class, should
come in and sit on the particular stool
that was nearest that magazine? Nor
was there anything strange in the fact
that that magazine opened to the arti-
Gle upon Arctic Discovery. That arti-
Gle had been read, the day before, by
young man who figures in this history
read, thumb-marked and pencil-marked
and re-read, so that the book naturally
fell open at that place. This young
mans name was Victor I. Tuttle. In
complexion and general appearance
these two young men were q complete
contrast. Arthur Thomas was dark,
low-browed, broad-shouldered, mus
cuiar, with face every line of watch
indicated the strength and intensity of
his will, the vigor and firmness Of . his
determination; who, of once friend
and rival OF Arthur's, was, as we have
said, very different in appearance. His
hair was yellow-had it been his sis
ters, it would have been described as
golden-and was worn long, so long
that the boys used to call it the yellow
fag of Hictor I, as it streamed behind
him in the wind. His eyes of course
were blue, and had that dreamy far-a-
way look in them which would always
remind you that Blue eyes only can
see ghosts" It was whispered by
those who pretended to know his fam
lily history, that his mother had been a
Spiritual Medium during the Roches-
ter excitement, following the early de-
monstrations of the Fox girls. But
however this may have been, and wheth-
or Victor Tuttle ever saw ghosts or not,
there was no denying his marked abil-
ity as student and scholar in the Uni
versity. He fell behind his rival Ar
thur Thomas in mathematics, but in
language he seemed to know by intui-
ton things that his friend had TO labor
hours to learn. He did not stand so
high in his classes rs Arthur, but the
chief reason was his disregard Of minor
rules and requirements. He was al
ways late TO his recitations, frequently
| absent. In spite of repeated fines, he
continued to pencil his notes and COM
ments in the books of the library; in
spite Of repeated frowns and reproois.
he continued to converse with the young
ladies employed in writing in the libra
ry hall.
In q misdemeanoro of this kind hewas
engaged during the hour which Arthur
Thomas spent in reading the magazine
article that changed the whole course
Of both their lives.
In an alcove of the library, at the end
] most remote from the long table, be-