New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-09-03
ANOTHER ARCTIC DRAMA.

Tho drama hourlshcS above the Arctic CIR
clio Not that Of mask and wig and painted
scene Of well rohearscd lines spoken across
the dickoring footghts. hut Of actual life I'm
rs most stern realities with rending ice foes
for stage. beneath the wan illumination Of
tho horcal aurora Nowhere else have there
been more thrilling scenes. too often sombre
and tragic. but never unberoic In those vast
solitudos Of frost and gloom whore man seems
50 nunv and ms gnfcant. the nobest traits Of
manhood are developed. one would say that
there man conscious as nowhere else Of his
nbvsical dwar6shness and impotence seeks
with unusual and unique effort to assert his
moral majesty and his spiritual superiority
ovcr all else Of animate inanimate nature.
Tho fate Of Franklin remains to this day
seoled hook But of his successors. from Kane
IN De Long from Greedy to Wellman. the story.
known and read Is one OF heroism-of patience.
If endurance. of generosity Of loyalty in com
rodoshlp. such rs might we'll he at once a re-
hike and nm inspiration to less heroc mortals
in more genial cmcs
There have been polar expeditions Of greater
,mnortance than that Of Mr.. Welman, which
has lust returned though rs practical achieve
roonts were nv no means inconsderahle. We
can recall none marked with an incident more
dromatic more tragic more pathetic and in
deed more heroic Consider the circumstances
already related IN our news columns. Two
members ~ the expedition volunteer 10 remain
IN small hut far from the main party. For
The two Il would have been an experience Of
droadful loneliness between the two illimitable
vildernesses Of Arctic 100 and midnight sky.
This they soon felt and more besides. There
came mon them both an inexorable foreboding.
IN intimatlon OF impending doom. Upon which
If Them II would fall they knew not But
with words that were few because OF the un-
sneakable horror Of the thought, they pledged
each other that each would stand by the other
n the end and even beyond the end. If one
should die the other would not abandon his
hodv nor bury it ont Of sight but keep his
lonely vigil over it until the others came. 80
that they all together might give It fitting
senulture And presently death came, TO Vent
zen. And Bjoervg was left alone 10 keep his
nronise There. in the little snow covered
nrt scarce larger than a tomb ne dwell with
his dead comrade by his side. The Pickering
blubbcr lamp revealed within the hut the Life
less features Of d., friend The ftful fires Of
tho aurora without revealed the Ilfeless wastes
of ice and snow. And over all broOded the
silence or unlNcISdl p'dlH. iii' '''I sun
differing in the cold Arctic sky were not more
silont nor more remote than the one human
being who only yesterday was so friendly ana
50 near Men say that solitary imprisonment
IN dark cell induces madness. But what IS
such Imprisonment 70 ths-his only companions
silence. darkness and corpse? To watch by
tho dead with living comrades. in the full
glare of funeral tnpers, for a single night IS
irving. This man did II alone, In darkness
or IN a wan light more awful than darkness
FOR sixty nights and days
DR. Nansens meeting With Mr. Jackson ri
Cane Flora has become historic. and rightly
So Bur surprising even It In all the dramatic
elements Of pathos and herosm and sublime
slnonlicitv was the meeting Of Bioervig with the
Marty that finally came 70 his relief. He stood
IN rnard az the door If the hut that had been
a. once home and tomb The first words he
was able IN speak 10 p fellow man IN two
uearv months were the brief announcement Of
his comrades death Mr. Wellman asked II
no had buried him "No answered Bioerylg'
81 have kent nv promise" We shall search far
before we find a prouder record than that OF
those Ave words Many have said Il have
<ont nv promise" hut how many in circum-
etancee COMPARABLE with those? We have said
the evnedftion was not without valuable re-
suits II added materially 10 our geographical
and other knowledge If the polar realm. Bnt
If # had resulted in nothing moro than this
one revelation Of manly herolsm IT would not
have been in vain.