The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1883-10-18
THE NORTH POLE.

THE NORTH POLE.
The North Pole is supposed to
be situated somewhere north OF
anywhere-but it has not been dis
covered to any alarming extent,
though numerous parties have been
sent out for that purpose. These
parties have uniformly failed to
reach the Pole, the principal reason
being that they ''took the back
traiP' prematurely. Arctic explora-
tion is an expensive sort of suicide,
to say the least +; and the attempt
to reach the North Pole is the
crowning farce of modern times.
1t is strange that morbid curiosity
and thirst for notoriety, should lead
men to throw away their lives in
arctic SHOWS, under the pretence that
they are serving Science. The
Neo0s and Courier thinks that men
endure the hardships Of these ex-
plorations, that they may become
acquainted with the physical con-
ditions of the Arctic regions but
that is all CANNON. The majority
of those who compose the exploring
parties care no more about science
than a cat cares about gravitation.
And our observation is that when
they reach high degree of North
latitude, they show a much deeper
interest in their own physical con-
ditions' than in those of the Arctic
regions so much SO that when the
top of the Pole is just about to
CLEAN above the horizon, these adj
yenturous explorers, with one ac-
cord, turn about and come scudding
southWard-exploring for the South
Pole, or the mild climate Of a tem-
perate zone.
When preparations were making
for the jeanette expedition, eighteen
men were needed, and there we5s
some fifteen hundred flcants.
A wanderfshsit in scientific
pursuits, verify! Besides, the world
seemsto have made up its mind, that
arctic explorers should perish in the
Arctic SHOWS. It has no mild treat
ment for the man who lives to get
back. The jeanette was lost with
most Of its crew. Melville, poor
devil, succeeded in reaching home,
where he was tried for his life-his
chief offence being that he refused
to freeze to death with the other
fools of his party. The Proteus
was crushed, and no sooner was it
ascertained that Darlington was
safe, than an effort was made to
crush him. He, too, found it neces-
sary to yindieate himself-because
he lived to tell the tale to Science I!
There is a difficulty in this bus
mess which, strangely enough,
seems to have been overlooked,
There is but one North Pole-only
one. Who ever heard of North
Poles, or the North Poles ? Now
the question is, will the polar natives
be willing for these greedy Yankees
who have poles by the million, to
rob them Of their one only Pole I?
Assuredly not. With what would
they go fshing-or how could they.
knock down persimmons-or what
would serve them as a liberty pole
at their may parties ? We have
scientific evidence that they do use
the North Pole for these several
purposes. The variations Of the
magnetic needle prove conclusively
that the North Pole is not station
ary-and this doubtless renders its
discovery more difficult.
1t has been asked, What will we
do with the North Pole when we'
get it ? Easily answered. We will
bring it home, in tug erect it on
Boston Commons, or in Central
Park, New York ; and make Eng
land so green with envy that she
will forthwith put her hand into her
breeehes (no, dress) pocket, and
send for the South Pole. Cheap
excursion rates will be fixed by the
Railroad Commission, and we shall
go to see the spectacle before it
melts.
In a future editorial We may tell
what else we do not know about the
North Pole. Meantime, if we have
any very dear friend who is exceed
ingly anxious to see the North Pole,
we shall be happy to put his finger
on it. Our Arctic explorations.
have, since our school-boy days,
been strictly confined to an atlas