Decorah-posten., 1897-11-26

g ouAAlNLdlLt al ia
him il was reserved by IA single Ell
| fort. 10 double the grand total OF ali ad-
yancements made during four centuries
Of repeated and heroic efforts 10 reach
the North Pole.
hansen did not reach the coveted
goal. Had his theories and calculations,
based in part upon the knowledge ana
experience Of his predecessors, proven
entirely true and correct, he might with
his good ship, Fran, frozen IN the zee, or
riding upon il. have drfted across the
Pole in a blaze OF electric light with
solid deck beneath his feet and with
good luck as his guiding star. Nansen
did a more wonderful thing, and accom-
piished a feat more astounding. Ata
point already farthest north he left his
ice-bound ship, and on the broken,
rough and drifting ice of an unknown
sea, with a single cOmrade, J~ohanson,
and two dog teams, made a dash for the
North Pole. They set out for a nifty
DAYS Journey n~orthward. They were
gone more than fifty weeks, yea htteen
months, and only failed by w hundred
md twenty-sIx miles of reaching the
Pole. What they saw, what they SUI
fered, and what they endured are now
matters of history. At our home IRE
sides to read of their adventures IS IN
~tensely interesting. But to have expert
enced them, and survive, required al
most superhuman courage, resourcetul
ness, endurance and perseverance.
And, what did hansen accomplish!
From the heights to which he attained
it may be truly said that he saw nearly
all that is worth knowing of the polar
regions. This knowledge he has given
to mankind. He has satisfied geograph-
ic and scientific demands, if not heroic
sentiment He has demonstrated the
possibility of reaching the Pole. He has
also dispelled an illusion, and shown,
that in the vast and deep sea surround
ing the North Pole, there are no worlds,
only broken, rough and drifting ice
to conquer.
That Nansen's expedition has been of
surprising interest and value to science
we doubt not. That it has necessitated
a new map of the polar regions We know,
and we prophcsy that the moral effect of
the literature that he has furnished to
the world, the stories of his trials and
hardships. his dangers and triumphs,w Will
reach down to generations yet 10 come,
and mpart heroic spirit to future man.
4 A AdhC SSNh IMAM yA@Noh
ties" said Isaac Newton in his modest
way, st is because | have stood on the
shoulders of giants" When Nansen
looked and saw farther north than Lock-
wood. of the Greeley expedition, it is
because he, too, stood on the shoulders
of giants, and he admits il, as modestly
as did the great philosopher. Let us
not" said Nansen in his toast on the
Er,,, ygban thew haA raoChpl q rpDt
then the farthest north, forget our pred
eceSsOrs. Let US admire them for the
way in which they struggled and ens
dured. Let US remember that it is only
through their labor and achievements
present voyage"
But it was not altogether from the
heights to which Parry, and Mares, and
Greeley and other Arctic giants had at
tanned, that Nausen looked out upon the
sea. whose rough and frozen expanse
embraces the North Pole. 1t was. in
part, from the heights to which Norwe
gian stock and Spartan-like training en-
ablcd him to Climb, that he viewed the
"Farthest North"
1t COMFORTS with the eternal fitness of
things, that the most successful of all
/ SAlOllA CABAOlNIS ptlA LIZ q ANSA" GGAdlts
For centuries the N~orwegians have been
the sea-kings of the world. Their Iove
of adventure, their intrepldity and skill
have made them so. 1t has been said of
them that they could not rest content
so long as they did not know, what it
was that the setting sun shown upon, so
long as there was an eXpanse of white
crested waves that did not W them as
/ 4bNfr r,aa-fa- " II 1E-aS thrC hold and rart
less spirit that led them to the shores of
Vineland, centuries before Columbus
showed the world where its commerce
was to go. 1t was the same spirit, sup
plemented BY scientific interest, that i'm
pelled DR.. Nansen to the 'Farthest
North" Nansen, himself a Norwegian,
represents in heroic form the evolution
of the Viking. To him, therefore, it was
given to behold, from the crystal foes
and packs of the polar sea, the longest
night and the longest day. To him it
was given to verify the couplet of Bjein-
son:
"Where never before a name was spoken.
BY Norwsy's name is the siien-e broken"
What wonder, then, that the Norwe-
gians are proud Of DIR. Nansen. Figur-
atively, they would even now carry him
in triumph upon their shoulders. To
carry forward the standard and advance
the glory of Norway 1t wa in a meas
ure, that the Nansen expedition was set
on foot. This factor It was, as much as
thirst for geographic or scientific knowl.
edge, that sustained Nansen in his bat,
/. ties with the elements and with hcklena.
r ture. This it was that gave him the
!. courage and perseverance hat aston,
ished the world.
But the results of DR.. Nansen's tn.
umphs are not the property OF a single
country or nation. They are rather the
property of the world, whose citizen
Nansen now is. Americans, as well al
{ Norwegians, are therefore here to receive
and 10 honor the guest and the hero OF
!, the hour. Though it was not our banner