Evening journal., 1909-09-09
DR.. HALL LAUDS
DIR. COOK EXPLORER
Wilmington ArchdeacOn Can
not Believe That American
is Not a Hero
SAYS SKEPTICS HAVE
RlDlCULED OTHER CLAIMS

morning discussed the first and some fol-
lowing verses in the Twelfth cha. ter OF
Genesis, where God calls Abraham to
found a new nation. He spoke OF the age
IN which the patriarch lived. Of his ntel-
lectual and moral or spiritual ca. acter
OF his sublime faith and perfect obedience
of the remarkable tests he bore and of
the splendid fame which he fra ly ac-
quired. Dr. Hal emphasized the fact that
Gods calls we're always TO higher things,
wider fields. larger influence and a renown
that may be worldwide. Dr. Hall in
stanced one American explorer. DR.. Cook.
His name to-day IS so great" sa d the
speaker. because he was so heroic In the
quest upon which he finally entered when
he at Etah. IN Greenland parted from his
aick companion, Rudo ph FranlSey. and
set his face toward the icy north with
eight Eskimos for guardsmen He then
undertook what hardy and courageous
men for four centuries had in van uu-
dertaken. Approximately one tAeusand
lives had been ost in the attempt % reach
the pole. In 1896 Andre. the Nor. eman, had
left his fathers land in an air ship, think
ing he m ght succeed where others had
failed. but no one TO this day knows where
he and his two associates suffered wreck.
Yet does DR.. Cook, on the third Of March,
1905 though well aware that great priya-
tations. intense suferlngs awfui peril,
probably even death .tsen are the way
TO the goa, which no human soul hther-
70 had been able to reach, step into II, and
courageously pursue it unit he achieves
one Of the proudest feats in modern times.
II is so fine that the ent re vllized world
applauds It. While the results 10 the race
win not be comparable to the momentous
results which 10 owed Abraham's cross
ing the Euphrates and finally setting up
his tent 10 Palestine; there ye is much
about the feat in the Arctic regions that
powerfully appeals to the Inhabitants in
the earth.
''The North Pole, as another expresses
II. Is the most unique spot on the globe.
Dr. Cook. standing there. faced Due South
whichever way he looked. He was more
than 20 miles nearer the center of the
earth than IL he stood at the equator His
We ght was greater than anywhere else
on the surface Of the globe. Half tie stars
he could never see. the other half never
went below his horizon. and would have
been Wis ble throughout six months Of
night. The famous cors citation o. Orion
CFtI .NlICltu alOunu Ills MOilINls NiI ~ 2
star stood rectly over his head.
There. too, are the possib benefits to
science from the exploit, which the ma
tions acclaim. \ specimen Of rock with
remains of fossil animals and plants from
the reg ons now so frigid and inhosp't-
able would be Of immense value. II would
solve questions that learned men in every
country discuss without sufficient data to
over. is the chapter in the wor DIS great
est and grandest book, where God yes
this earth TO man for his habtaton. say
Ing that he must not simply enjoy Z but
also subdue it-compel Il to serve his be-
hest in the widest and fullest SENSE go
up and down in it until his knowledge Of
II is complete. exhaustive.
"Yet could men pr or to Ap~i 81. 1873. not
say that one of Their number hal ever e1-
plored the poles. The inference was that
God had given the race command that
the race could not obey; that there were
regions in our dwelling ace so beset
that manhood. could not pentrate them
THAT reprcach now is removed. We can
say that there in Gods earth are no bar
riers that the strong. the confident tho
resolute and the perservering cannot sur
mount
1T is true that there arc ske7t'cs IN
the land. These men say that DIR. Cook
IS a pretender, that he doe Mt tel the
truth. that he has not planted the stars
and stripes where he says he planted
them.
1T, FOR one. as yet cannot ard viii not
believe that our American countryman
is false. that he IS not a hero, but the
basest Of craven.
This fact as 1t seems to me, power
fully supports the verac'ty or his dis
covery. Many things now are den'ed cl1ai-
ienged. There are those who say that
Abraham never lived. that his name at the
most was but the name Of a tribe
when one Of the brave Kanes party
said he had seen the open Po'ar Sea,
critics demurred. When one Of G ee'ey's
men declared how far north he had peue-
trated. the same school again treated the
claim with ridicule.
There aso were tho explorations Of
Livingstone IN Africa, OF Brouce n
Abyssinn'a. and Of Burton in Arabia.
Every one Of these was contrad cted
when Stanley found I,vi tone. and
serpa Pinto crossed the dark cont ncnt,
their claims we're secuted.
But the WorLnleS / now nave udtneu
were in each instance vnd'eatsd. Ths
veraclty Of their splendid exploits is SC
clearly and fully established that no one
anywhere disputes It. expect as complete
justification for the explorer who yes
terday received the plaudits Of kirg, his
princes and his people because they be-
iieve him to be one OF the worlds great
est heroes.
The 'essons in careers like those OF
Abraham, the shepherd war; or; OF Liv-
ingstone. the AngI can apostle to the b.
nighted in Africa. and Of Cook. the peer
less American explorer, are many, ble I
now may not enlarge upon them. one
cannot think OF men like these without
becoming proud Of our race. They con-
firm the fact that We are created in the
image OF God and that Il is IN our power
TO make names for ourselves that viii
be honored and loved by our fellows"