The National tribune., 1909-10-28
SEEKING THE MIDNIGHT sun.
One of The National Tribune People Touring to the Far North

ucti. vi CtuISe. hcoi ~
and usually some of these are trotted
in to show the visitors These animals
furnish the Laps with their principal
article of diet, and are only MIXED
twice a week Worlds would not tempt
me to taste this milk. They say 1t is
very rich and quite decidedly gamy, and
that even the Laps have to water it be-
fore they drink 1t. 1t is so thick that 1t
looks as if it had been beaten up with
eggs. Ugh! Can't you see the nasty
stuff? The Laps make cheese of it,
which they keep for Winter use, so 1
was told, and one can understand that
no one, even a Lap, could live with that
cheese except in an Arctic atmosphere.
They are themselves very small people,
the women scarcely taller than children,
who wear an exceedingly short skirt
and small shawl over their shoulders.
That is, some of the women did this,
but they all give you the impression Of
having much dirty fur about them, and
you keep at a respectful distance from
them. There were number of chill
dren and some Lap babies about, the
latter looking very picturesque and
bright-eyed in their canoe-likc cradles.
The same fur slippers, bags, purses,
dolls. etc, as those we had seen in
Tromso, and quite as smelly. were Of
fered us for sale by the women, who
carried them around strung all over
their bodies, and at one end was Il for
tune teller, around whom the young
people of our party crowded. Large
black kettles held by two poles were in
front of many of the tents, but we saw
no preparations for any meal.
The view from the settlement was
magnificent OFF in the distance was a
little bit of heavenly blue water between
high, snow-covered rocks on one side
and those green nearly to their tops on
the other. Our Scotch friends told us
that the general character of the view
reminded them very much of Scotland
We saw a good many birches around,
particularly on our walk back to the
boat. which was by n different road,
but these were generally small and
stunted. with an unheaithy-!ooking
bark
That evening the stewards of the
Amazon gave us n minstrel show. AS
il was within two days Of our leaving
the ship for good and all, Elizabeth and
l thought we would give the Amazon
ians a treat by putting on our best
! looking gowns, which. up TO that time
We had not worn. Elizabeth looked
very fine. and l was properly proud OF
her, and she said / would pass,
which l took to mean that j was
fairly creditable 10 our beloved
! country. in appearance at least
You know how. unconsciously. you try
/ to hold UP your end as an American
when in a foreign land and among for.
eignerS; how hard you endeavor TO i'm.
press them with the idea that everyone
at home is as nice as you are. Got
needn't smile.) ! suppose this Is be.
| cause there are so many OF our coun
! trymen and women floating around ovei
! here who are distinctly, l regret to say
not n credit to us. some of whom yol
frequently cannot seem TO place at all
/ You wonder where they came from, Ol
what could possibly have brought then
over. The little married couple from
Chicago that have previously mention
ed, who occupy the ''luxey" cabin, witt
its suite of rooms. belong TO the undesir'
able class These children have nearly
given Elizabeth nervous prostration
| The boy-husband, who cannot be mor'
| than 90 or so, has bold black eye ant
an 'up-to-snuff'' expression She wear:
her hair tied with a ribbon and skir
which reaches only TO her ankles, anC
| it does seem scandalous to see then
about without any older person who il
in any way responsible for them. The.
sit at a table not very far from us, ant
we can often hear the loud voice o.
the young husband boasting Of some
thing we have in Chicago that beati
that all t holler," or giving utteranc,
to something equally vulgar. A younf
and very MISUNDERSTANDING Englisi
couple at the same table pay much at
tention to the Chicago pair, and 1t j!
the attitude of the former that fill
Elizabeth with silent rage. The Eng
llish couple especially the man, evident
ly deliberately draws the Chicagoan OIL
to saying things. which are then re
peated to the other English on the ship
who have great sport out of them. They
the American couple, are considered
very amusing" The evening of tn
lpeople sat together. the Eng
lish couple and the American
couple, and II was easy to rea'
what was going on in the Engiishman'
brain from his expression as he laughed
at the noisy remarks of our country
man. Elizabeth and L both feel as
we must say something TO these chill
dren, and yet. of course. II is none o
our business, and our bIack-eyed frien'
from the Windy City would not be lon
in telling us so.
The show was very good, indeed
some of the singing excellent. Roya
our room steward, who has n very swee
tenor voice, which 1 have no doub
serves him we'll in his onslaughts o
the feminine heart, had several song
on the program, and we clapped hir
heartily whenever he appeared. Bu
Iall the time our eyes kept straying ffor
the stage in the direction of the SUI
which was still doing splendid worl
tho most of the time out Of sight, an
we were made wretched by the fear tina
the great rocks would hide him froI
our vision at the all-important momen
once we came to Il large open spac
r between two rocks, where his majeSt
5 could be seen perfectly, and someOn
} went TO the Captain and asked him
he would not stop the ship, that theT
might be no chance OF our missing I'll
, spectacle. But the ship did not stol
| which we thought most unkind on III
part of the Captain, who was, howeve
entirely exonsrated by subsequeI
events. Finally, just before midnigh
: of Tromso, visited by us only a few day
: ems could not be surpassed. We an
! chored. Everyone took as advantageou
a position as possible. It was tens
= excited-looking gathering of peopl
= that stood there almost breathlessI,
watching this wonderful phenom.
! non. The sun was just on the edge {
the horizon when we anchored, and
, do not know the exact time, but
could not have been far from II n
: when it dropped below. Then we stoo
silent, waiting for that other part {
I the performance which has made tn
one of the great shows in the natur;
world, its temperance In the sam
place in the clear asure of the SIX.
= Little by little IT began to come u
c again. We could see II quivering, tren
bling, behind vailing cloud, CROWN
8 brighter every moment, until. finally,
4. a .aH oh -