The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-08-20
human Olives

i, Is a common saying that human ma
! tureis pretty much alike and IN the nii-
nor features ofhumanity this may be true
| But there are situations that Try mems
souls and display the difference between
the gentleman and the clod. Such a sit
uation was seen in the Arctic regions last
year. Lieut.. De Long and his comrades,
gallant men in ali respects, slowly toiied
through the snow for weeks, and then,
one after another, grandly died. 1heis
journals tell how they dropped of one
by one,-the survivors giving decent
burial to their remains, and reading the
funeral service over them. Who can
forget the Doctor Ambler's las; letter to
his mother aud sisters-written with
hands freezing il the chill of death! He
was an Amber OF Virginia, a kins-
man of John Marshall's wife, and his
courage came BY Inheritance. Ills last
lines brcathed affection for his people,
faith in his Savior, and request that Ger
tain poor neighbors of the famil in Vr-
GINA should be cared for.
How great the contrast in the case of
Greeley and his greedy crew! They be-
gan quarreling and .narling as 500 as
they reached Fort Conger, well nam
ed after one of the meaIest or men.
Lieut.. kiSlingbury actually quit the par
ty, and hurried back to get on the ship,
| and come home but vas too late, AMI
had to return to the party which event
tually ate him up!
DIR. Pavy also got into bad odor, and
, finally committed suicide by taking En-
got.
Then came the period of human vul-
turism. The Greelyites were not gem
tlemen by either birth or breeding. No
lofty sentiments withheld them from
tapping the blood of one another. The
n. Y. Times says.
In the last days before relief came to
the wretched men it was the doctrine Of
the survival Of the strongest that ruled.
AL sense of honor and of Keeling had
been lost. 1t was Sergeant Long who
first saw the steam launch, and slid
down the snow and ice from the distress
signal to greet the resculng party. His
face and beard were covered with blood
from a duck which he had recently shot
and had been eating raw. 1t Is stated
that he stopped to conceal half the body
of the bird before sliding down the snow.
He was the strongest OF the party, and,
despite the frighttul gale, was able to
walk to the launch. Sergeant Freder-
icks also had considerable strength left,
and clambered on board the Thetis al
most unaided. After so many months
in the desolate Arctic regions, after so
much suffering, aud passing through
such scenes or borrow, it a seldom
that the men stood upright. They crawl
ed about on their hands and knees wei
the rocks and ice, and when Sergeant
Brainerd vas undressed on board the
Thetis his knees were found ~calloused
to a thickness of over half an inch. In
the midst of such horrors it was wonder
ed by the rescuing patty how Greedy
and his few companions kept their rea-
son. About the camp was scattered
bones of the dead, aud dissected and
mutilated bodies were half exposed in
the little burial plot back of the tent.
Sergeant Cross, the first Of the explor-
ing party to die, passed away last New
Years day, according to Commander
Schley's report. He did not die of star
walton, but from the use of liquor. He
would drink anything that had a suspic-
ion of alcohol about it, even paint. This
love FOR liquor was SO strong among some
of the ~sailCrs Of the relief party that the
carpenter, using a little alcohol with
which to mix shellac, was obliged to guard
it as a miser hides away his money. Ser
geant Connell, one of the rescued, says
that Cross died of scurvy on January Is.
At st. Johns it was reported that one of
the two men lost on April 9 died ofscurvy.
With several dead of scurvy and Henry
shot all did not die of starvation. Instead
it is feared that others met death as Hem
ny did. 1t is known that court martials
we're OF frequent occurrence in the Greedy
camp. DIR. Pavy was on trial no less
than three times. There were Gissen-
sions among the men, and as their con-
ditiop grew more desperate these ~incrcas-
ed. Until weakened in body and mind
by privation each did all he could for the
others. But at the last the struggle for
life became single. 1t was each man for
himself.
The officers of the relief vessels still re-
fuse to say anything ON the unpleasant
subject, as is their duty. Sailors talk
freely. But some Of the scenes they de-
scribe are too revealing for repetition.