The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1885-02-11
MRS. DE LONGS STORY.
The Pathetic Narrative or the wife OF che
Arctic Explorer.


Arctic Explorer.
Men who are happily married never ought
to go to war or on perilous expeditions of
exploration or discovery, There ought to
be enough single men and men who have
wives with whom they are not happy for
all ordinary purposes in this way What
two more pathetic figures in our history than
Mrs. Custer and Mrs. De Long? Mrs.
Greedy narrowly escaped being another. It
is strange thing that man who has
wife to whom he is attached will start of
on two or three years. trip to the Arctic
regions, as did De Long aud Greedy. Poor
Mrs. De Long! Was there ever sadder
task undertaken by woman than the narra-
tive of her unfortunate husbands suffering
and death that she prepared for publication /?
L shall never forget with what feelings
read the closing pages of her brave hus-
bands diary. De Long had some serious
faults. He was too rigid in discipline for
the expedition over which he had command
and did much to precipitate his own dis
tressing fate, but over all there shone sub
lime fortitude and courage that will always
be one of the most admirable pictures Of
! human heroism that the world has ever
seen. He kept record up to the very
hour OF his death amid the pathless SHOWS
of the Lena delta. think he died on the
S0th of October, 1881. He and his com
panions had left the crushed Jeanette on
the 18th of June previous. They had been
sailing about in open boats and wandering
through strange, comfortlesB, uninhabted
lands for over three months. Nearly every
body had died. De Long saw his compan-
Ions fall one by one. As last desperate
effort he sent his two strongest men on
ahead to see If they could find shelter and
something to eat. He never saw their faces
again. He kept Dr. Amber aud the China
man. He saw them die and knew he must
go next. Not human soul in all that bleak
world was left. Not face to look upon,
nor voice to break the silence that reigns
there forever and forever. Not even bird
to sing. In all that vast oppressive soil
tude he wrote his daily record with as firm
hand as if he had been at homo compos-
ing an invitation to friend to dinner Not
tremor Of either hand or heart. The
manuscript was found by his bedside, lust
as he had dropped it from his stiffened fn
gers. He had written "Oct. Is. DR..
Amber is dying" That was ALL He him.
self was the next victim. In oil those days
of suffering he had not put down one word
of complaint. He had not given way ut
one single moment 10 the emotions that
must have crowded upon him when he real
lied his desperate condition. Every days
record, however brief, was written down
with military precision and when one reads
over what he said on Oct. %, ~ Oct. &c, !"
"Oct. 81, g Oct. %, -" Oct. 29,e the en-
tries growing shorter each day, until . Oct.
30 " is reached, where are but four words
:" DIR. Amber is dying Tho is almost as
deeply impressed rs il he were standing
over the sinking form of the braye-hearted
explorer as no dropped his manuscript in
the snow aud met the inevitable without a
shudder. have many time imagined the
feelings of poor Mrs. De Long as she reno
over these last pages of her husbands diary,
1t was terrible cruelty that she should
have been first tortured with the long sus.
pense, then hear the news of his death. then
see months after his body brought home
for its final interment, and then, after oil
to read the touching record of all his fruit
less endeayors to escape terrible fate.
nm here reminded of the story Of Mrs. DE-
Longs parting from her husband on the
sth of July, 1870. The Jeanette lay in the
barbor Mt San Francisco, steam was up and
she was ready to sail away to the North.
Mrs. De Long went out in u steam launch.
When she got aboard she and her husband
went into the cabin alone. When she came
out, q few moments later, there was look
of calm resignation on her face that those
who saw her will never forget. The image
OF it must have gone with De Long to his
dying moment far off in the Lena delta,
over two years later. As she stepped into
the launch that was to bear her back to the
city tho Jeanette steamed away forever
She said Let's 60 home," and then waved
last adieu to her brave husband, who stood
leaning over the side OF his ship. For the
first time she burst into tears. There was
prophecy in her heart OF what WIS to occur
on the 30th of October, 1881. Mrs. De
Long now lives on the scanty provision OF
$50 month granted her MS IL pension by
the Government H
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