Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-09-09
DR.. TALMAGE UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN.
The Wondous Spectacle Witnessed CapAn Experenc
That Wrecks Many Nervous People.

Copyright, 1900. Christian Herald. N. W
We take steamer from Trondhjem.
n proper name that you will pronounce
wrongly whichever way you pronounce
1t. unless you were born in Norway. or
have for u long while practiced the
strange accumulation. We are sailing
for the North Cape, or the North end
OF the world, or the Land of the Mid
night Sun. We start with a depressed
spirit, for the voyagers who have just
returned from those regions did not see
the wonderful spectacle. There We're
clouds and fogs which would not lift
their curtain for the solar exhibition.
Indeed, the most of the people who go
to see the midnight sun never see it at
all; and there are thousands or per-
sons who think that promised per-
Torrance n failure and humbug.
They return from the North Cape feel
ing chilly, and with i bad cold in their
heads, and they sneeze violently while
they are describing their disappoint-
ment. 1t was raining as we stepped
aboard the Kong Harold, and If any
one of the party had suggested to us
another route. and that the midnight
moon kept more reasonable hours than
the midnight sun, we would have
changed our itinerary. But fortunate
ly we sailed on toward one of the most
rapt and enhancing experiences OF
lifetime, for we saw the midnight sun
four times out of the five nights we
were in the artics.
Our steamer day after day goes wind
ing among the islands which suggest
the Thousand Islands OF the American
waters, and then among iniets that re-
mind us of Lake Lucerne and Cayuga,
and by waterfalls which make you
nj Of fInSn n tha YOSpmitn md Inv
mountain torrents tangled among the
crags until the frolickng liquids fling
themselves in the sea, and then we go
on between snow-covered rocks which
are great white thrones of lustre and
Domp and our ships gun startles the
seagulls by the millions, and the echoes
of rock which human foot never trod
and when we ask what means that can
nonade we are informed that we have
passed into the Arctic Sen which
ground up the Jeanette, and has
fought back the John Franllins and
the Doctor Kanes and the De Longs
and the NansenS OF the world. and will
keep on defying the explorers until the
great palace of arctic cold will be left
alone, and its keys of crystal are flung
down for the peaceful reign Of eternal
frigidity. The Norway coast is wild
and volcanic. 1t shows that nature has
been In paroXysm. When Ttians play
Ddll tHCy lliiOW iOSfNo.
1t Is summer, but all our blankets
and furs are brought into service.
Good-by to straw hats and thin shawls.
In few hours we have passed from
June into November. Our faith in the
integrity of watches and clocks is very
much shaken. They say it is Q O'clock
and 10 o'clock, and IL o'clock, and yet
not even hint of darkness. But all
the watches cannot be in conspiracy
to deceive, and every man who has a
watch is looking at 1t, and all the
chronometers agree in saying it is ten
minutes of mid night. At this time a
great thick cloud drops over the sun.
We have come four thousand miles
through the isles of the great theater
of nature, and alas! there Is q pros
pect that the main actor will not ap-
pear upon the stage. Having disap-
pointed so many will he disappoint us?
We are transfixed with anxiety, and
are watching and waiting and hoping
and almost praying that we may see
what we have come so far to see. Hush
now everybody and everything! Not
one cough of the smoke-stack. not one
throb of the engine. not one shuttle
of the foot lest it disturb the scene.
Look! The clouds seem parting, dis
solving, passing. Aye! They are
gone, and the midnight sun is before
us.
Our steamer has moved out of the
Fjord into the open sea that nothing
may hinder our view. The shir.1mering
waters OF the polar sea have become
forty miles Of richest mosaic and ali the