The Washington herald., 1907-01-18
GLOOMY WHILE NORTH
Peary Describes His Feelings
in Hour Of Triumph.
SAD THAT HE HAD TO GIVE UP
Tells Audience at National Theater
of Arctic ExpeditiOn-PictuFe of
Laughing Babies and Beauty,
Polar Bears and Musk Oxen.

Il
representative audience at the New Ma
tional Theater yesterday, and frequently
applauded as he told Of the successful ef-
forts OF his party 10 plant the Stars and
Stripes nearest the pole"
Fortunately Mr.. Peary had a good
camera with him, and the views shown
on the screen were of deep interest. The
maps were a great aid to the audience in
following the course Of the lecture. IN
part, Mr.. Peary spoke as follows:
Before a society whose founder and
first president. Gardiner G. Hubbard was
an old personal friend OF mine, a society
Of which I have been for years an honor
ary member; which has recently honored
me with it's magnificent Hubbard gold
medal. and whose distinguished President
Moore and able Editor Grosvenor, are
my friends. ] feel that / am talking in
family circle.
When We Own the Top of the Earth.
ITO the popular mind there has been
given the satisfaction of feeling that the
Stars and Stripes stand first, and that
We possess new worlds record In
field I'm which the most enlightened ma
tons OF the world have been striving to
emulate each other for three centuries.
And I do not wonder at It. for all are
aware that any record that represents
a manly test Of brains and body is a dis
tiuct asset to any nation; and they and
you and I know that when the wires tell
the world that the Stars and Stripes
crown the north pole every one of us
vffr from
farm laborer and deliver in the mines up
to the first gentleman in the land. viii
pause for a moment from consideration
OF his own individual horizon and life
interests, 10 feel prOuder and better that
he is an American, and by proxy owns
the top Of the earth.
Feels Blue Nearest the Pole.
AT noon Of April q we had reached
a point which my observations showed
TO be in Sc degrees and 8 minutes north
latitude, the nearest approach yet made
TO the pole. 1t is perhaps an interesting
illustration Of the incongruity Of human
nature that at this time, when il might
be thought that my feelings should be
those OF eXultatiOn only, they were. as a
matter OF fact, just the reverse. While
BILE for what I had accomplished, still
the mere fact Of breaking the record fell
50 far short Of the splendid jewel 20 Sc
cure which 7 was straining my life out
that my feelings were Of the intensest
disappointment, and this, combined. per
haps. with the physical exhaustion re-
sulting from our heart breaking pace on
half ratiOns, gave me the deepest fit Of
the blues"
Thus Commander Robert f. Peary de-
scribed his feelings al the time when he
had set the record for all arctic explOr-
ers- He told how. after a killing dash
across the arctic ice pack from the latter
part of February TO April o. he looked
az the drawn faces Of his men. the skple-
ton shapes Of his dogs. and the scant
provisions on his sIedges. and was forced
To turn back, after cutting the margin
Of endurance as narrow as possible
Types of EsquimO Life.
The stereopticon views with which the
lecture was illustrated were remarkably
good. and were a great factor in making
the story clear and IN calculating the
situation about the pole. Pictures Of the
Eskimos were especially interesting. show
ing women with animation in their faces.
"A quality that seems 10 be absolutely
lacking in the average pictures OF these
people.
Laughing babies. dressed exactly as are
their fathers and mothers were shown.
and one remarkable type of feminine
beauty, the daughter Of q chief. with
whom Peary had become acquainted dur
ing former trips 20 the North. Pictures
Of the animals which are found in the
arctic regions showed strange-looking
musk oxen. huge polar bear, large
white arctic hare. and some beautiful