Omaha daily bee., 1900-12-16

be very thankful for a return of books and
papers"
Private Whisler-he also died Of starva-
this word: THE owner will not
be great loser II he never sees what this
box contains. The box he considers the
most valuable part Of his property"
Lieutenant Peary gathered up all the
private papers. letters and personal be-
longings left in the camp and packed them
into boxes. He was careful about these
precious packages. No sealed bundles
were opened, no letters read. And thus,
seventeen years after the hands Of those
who had written these old diaries and d.
rected the letters and packed the personal
effects had last touched them, they were
being opened In a quiet Brooklyn parlor
on q blustery February afternoon.
One of those present at the opening was
J. P. Kislingbury Of Rochester, N. Y,
brother Of Lieutenant Fred +. Kisling-
bury, second in command of the Inflated
expedition, who rad died only few days
before the arrival Of the relief party, and
who, as his brother asserts bitterly was
partly eaten. l shall not soon forget the
tears that streamed down his face when the
first box was opened and the yellow pack
ages were taken out. Most Of them were
tied up firmly with twine and bore the
names Of their owners outside. One pack
age contained little pair Of baby shoes
tipped up. wrinkled and worn at the toes
from the stumbling activity Of some family
pet. These had been carried, secretly,
perhaps. for a man does not easily dis
close ouch sentiment, thousands Of miles
away into the Arctic cold to keep alive a
mans love.
From the Dead to the Dead.
There were letters. a few In almost every
package, brown with age, stamped with
OLD, green scent stamps, now obsolete and
many directed to the names OF those long
| dead. Most OF the men of the expedition
we're unmarried and some Of these letters
were to their sweethearts. Some OF them
have since been delivered to married. mid
dle-aged women with children and some
will never reach their destination. Mr.
Bridgman has used diligence in delivering
| these letters and the task is not vet COM
pleted.
Perhaps the saddest OF all tho letters in
the box was one from Mrs. Emma W. De
Long, written In 1881, to her husband
commander George W. DeLong of the
Jeanette expedition. This letter was
carried north in 1881 by Lieutenant Greely
the nope that he might get an oppor-
| 'uh'y W uVilNtT IL somewhere in that
vast waste Of ice. But De Long himself
was then dead in the snow and his w,fe's
letter has now been returned. nineteen
years later. with seals unbroken. TO the
| writer.
A large proportion of the men kant
diaries. most OF them written in little blank
books, much worn. One or two were
bound with sealskin with the hair outside
Others were written in the form OF letters
to friends at home and manifolded with
| carbon paper Some OF these stopped short
off In the middle Of a page and one actually
in the middle OF a sentence, as IL the order
to march had come hurriedly and every.
thing had been dropped and left as II was
1t is a rule of Arctic expeditions that all
information concerning the events OF the
trip shall come through the commander, ex.
clusively, and oftentimes the men are re.
Quired to give up their diaries but these
diaries escaped that fate. and here they
were, giving rare and intimate picture
OF the daily life. desperately humdrum al
II was, in an Arctic camp. How well al
the men came to know one another, ant
how all their little chickering's crept intC
these private journals; how the characters
OF the officers shone out in strong con-
trasts, as the men saw them. One glancins
over these old papers will see all thes,
small difficulties and disagreements which