Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-26
Mrs. Peary Chats About Her Life in
the Dreary Arctic.
HER RETURN TO CIVILIZATION
She Wants to Go Back Next Year
if Possible.
LIE U 7. PEARY'S PLANS

A tall, pretty and charming woman,
whose intrepidity had led her to brave
the dangers of arctic discovery on several
occasions and who has just returned from
over a years habitation in the land of ice
and mystery, threw up her hands depre-
catingly this morning and turned face
marked with fear toward a Star reporter
who happened to mention that her expe-
riences had been used as an additional
argument in favor Of granting her sex
equal rights with men.
"Oh, N.Y." she exclaimed, "they certainly
do not regard me as woman's rights
woman. do they?' she exclaimed with
anxious alarm.
She was Mrs. Peary, the wife of Lieut..
Peary, the arctic explorer, whom she left
in Greenland several weeks ago. Mrs.
Peary, with her little daughter. Mary
Ahnegite Peary. who was born something
more than year ago among Greenland's
icy mountains. and an Esquimo nurse ar
rived on the Falcon at Philadelphia yester-
day evening and taking leave Of the other
members OF the party came at once to
Washington. as the guest of her mother.
Mrs. Magdalene Diebitsch, at No. 2Ol4 18th
street northwest.
Abundance of Food.
In the simple parlor, containing several
relics IL the north country, Mrs. Peary
received the reporter She has winning
manners and converses about her arctic
experiences as nonchalantly as If she was
talking about shopping trip. Storms,
tidal waves, threatening icebergs, and
crushing foes. never. apparently, disturbed
her sang froid. and the only trepidation she
showed was when she imagined that she
might be- considered what she character
lied as strong minded" The most strik-
Ing thing about her conversation was it's
impersonal nature. She plainly would not
talk about herself.
Il am at a loss to understand the stories
being printed about the scarcity of food
suffered by the party" she remarked
There was plentitude of provisions and
only once in last May when the weather
was too bad for the hunters to go out after
deer for two or three days did the supply
of deer meat run out. Then we had seal
meat. No, 1t Is not SO bad when properly
cooked. but 1 shouldn't like it as a steady
diet. The sealers consider it excellent, how
ever. The first time l went to the arctic
On the Kite, the captain-Captain Pike
shot seal and had it cooked for my
pecial benefit. So you can readily see that
short period of such fare was not SO aw-
fully bad We had an abundance of vege-
table and farinaceous food and plenty Of
tea and coffee, and really 1 cannot over
come my surprise at the ridiculous stories
about their shortage. l left Lieut.. Peary
with a plentiful supply of everything. To-
gether We went over the food and made an
| inventory of everything and IL anything
had been needed it would have been fur
nished from the ships stores before the
Falcon left. Lieut. Pearys companions
now are Mr.. Lee and Mat. Henson, the col
ored boy. 1 did not want to come back
1 regretted leaving very much'
Terrible Winter.
What kind of winter did you have?"
1T was terrific. The storms were inde-
scribable The loss Of a portion of our oil
supply made our experience harder than it
up in Greenland before my room was
heated by oil, while for the rest Of the
house coal was burned. The oil fuel pro-
vided such an even temperature that last
winter Lieut. Peary concluded to heat the
entire house with oil. You have probably
read OF the tidal wave we experienced.
Well, this wave washed off all our oil bar
rels and many of them were crushed or
swept entirely away. The result was we
lost half our oil supply, and were compelled
to put up with short rationS of fuel This
made every one more or less miserable, and
in such a state of nervousness, you know a
person is liable to make mountains out of
little things that wouldn't be noticed If
good spirits prevailed.
1.-The unusually bad weather." continued
Mrs. Peary, land the sickness that broke
out among the dogs, prevented my hus-
hand from prosecuting his work in north
ern Greenland as he desired but he is con-
ident of future success. He believes a re-
currence Of such weather as we had East
year will not be repeated again next; and
then, again, the trouble with the dogs will
not occur. A singular characteristic of the
disease that afflicts the Eskimo dogs is that
it never attacks them two years in success
sion; consequently, next year they will be
free from tie malady.
Not After the North Pole.
1T is a mistake" Mrs. Peary went on, "to
allude to my husband as a seeker for the
north pole. His object has been. and still
land. No one can tell how far Greenland
extends northward. and Lieut.. Peary says
that If 1t goes to the pole he will go there
too. but no matter how high it runs he is
determined to follow 1t.
"Will you return to your husband next
year? queried the reporter
THAT depends upon the American peo-
ple," responded the energetic woman with a
CHEEKY smile. MY husband and myself
have about reached the end of our resources
| in outfitting the expeditions, and have eX-
pended something over $4,000 l have made
no plans yet, but will the president of
the American Geographical Society in New
York shortly. If it is possible shall fit out
ship next summer and return to Green
| land"
She might have been talking of fitting a
dress for all evidence of feminine fear or
hesitation.
"At any rate no effort will be spared to
carry out that intention. THE baby?" she
repeated with a bright mother glance in her
eyes, when the reporter inquired about Miss
Mary. She was never sick day in her
life until we reached st. Johns, and some
of the party jokingly said that civilization
didn't agree with her. 1 am inclined TO
think 1t was stale condensed milk and the
change of water and the warm weather.
She is getting along very nicely now."
Emil Debitsch, Mrs. Peary's brother was
a member of the Falcon auxiliary expedition
and accompanied her to Washington, where
he also resides with his mother
Timber in the Burned Districts.
Commissioner Lamoreux of the general
land office has decided to embody in his
annual report a recommendation that Con-
gress should Immediately take some action
for the relief of the settlers on homesteads