The times., 1898-03-06

Cause OF the Disease.
Il may he a matter OF wonderment 20
intelligent people why any man should
want to 90 away to a region of snow and
ice and live on canned things and boil
ed dog when he could get d comforta-
ble living at home. But the fact is,
the search for the North Pole is "A
thing as inexplicable from any practical
point OF view as kleptumania. " hen il
began men may have supposed that the
Pole Is a thing --he BARRIERS pole, stick
ing up out OF the snow SO that the for
Junate discoverer could chip pieces out
Of ii for souvenirs and write his name
on ii for IuIure generations to see if they
happened 10 lie coming that way. But
that has been an exploded idea for some
time. It is now understood that the
North Pole is a place on which il would
Be useless TO Try TO write one name,
and that even If it were written there
the only Inhabitants Of the neighborhood
are seals Arctic birds whales and Es
kimo, and none OF them have had
public school education.
A. for excursion parties being made up
10 visit the Pole. and the country being
opened up 10 the benehcent Influences OF
civilization and enlightenment and rail
ways and SeTen-stoTy buildings and the
telephone. and patent medicines, and So
da water. and shaVing-soap. and stove
pipe hats and grand opera. that il out Of
the question. Nobody viii ever boom the
North Pole as real estate. by several
hundr@ miles. III is not worth q cent
as advertising space. The most enter
priSinc theatrical man would never con
slider 81 worth his while 10 paste a bill
on "a block Of ice anywhere near IT, The
ONLY thing the successful explorer will
be able 10 do Is 10 stand on top Of IT,
and feel happy because he is standing.
as the congressman said. where the
hand Of man never put foot and ii that
f. al be wants. he may safely. inexpen-
siyelv and much more usefully do il by
staying right al home and digging a
deep hole and planting himself therein
No: this North Pole hunt is very much
like the quest Of the Holy Grail. which
for three or four hundred years in the
Middle Ages occupied the energies Of men
who had nothing else TO do. People went
= gf=dlinc. not because they had any real
expectation OF bringing down the grail or
because they clearly understood what
they meant 10 do with il if they ever
came across IT. they merely went When
it came to anything really useful, such
as reforming their neiehboFs. or furnish
lng better ventilation for castles, or wild
euiug the streets. or painting pictures or
building cathedrals. the erailer simply
was not there. lie had no time for those
things. Ana the Inconsistent part Of it
was that as hard as ne worked and as
much time as be spent ne never found
one single grail If he had. the grailing
industry would have stopped then and
there But he never did. lie came home
without any gTails but with marvellous
tales ~ dragons, and unicorns. and hasi-
lisks, and dog-faced girls. and taree-head-
ed and hEndred-legged things which he
said he had seen, and after reading few
dozen Of the tales reeled off by this en-
1erprisiug graileT FOR the edi1ica tiun OF
his friends. one is caused 10 remember
that in those days goblets and drinking
horns were not made 20 stand alone
They must be drained AT one draught, OF
two AZ most.
That was one Of tine things which was
good for the lion and the unicorn market.
The knights told their stories therefore.