The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-10-02
DARLING ON NORTH POLE
Collector Darling Talks or comman-
der Peary and his Explorations

liiA suns 6tAlbfAAA IA NV HetiACAH VI lily
College Street church last evening az
20 for the purpose OF hearing the
Hon. c. H. Darling lecture upon the
subject Of Commander Peary and his
Arctic explorations But the life and
achievement of the famous explorer
did not occupy the whole attention
Of the assemblage for an excellent
supper was served before the lecture
and when it was over everyone was
In good humor and ready 10 be pleas
ed
Prof. C. Fl. Perkins said grace be-
fore supper and after that meal the
Hon. Robert Roberts did duty as chair
man. Mrs. S. b. Bassett accompan-
led on the piano by Miss Lois Smart
sang very delightfully."- and then AR.
Roberts introduced Mr. Darling who
at once plunged into his lecture which
was illustrated with lantern slides by
DR.. II. f. Perkins. These were from
photographs taken and owned by Com
mander Peary and which are now IN
the possession OF Mr.. Darling.
Mr.. Darling began by speaking of
the controversy which is now on be-
tween the two alleged discoveries of
the North Pole and he said that
though his association with Peary
made him wish that explorer success,
he would pass over the questions of
who is the true discoyerer. Mr.. Oar
ling then went on to cover briefly the
early ife and work of Peary which is
more or less familiar TO all readers of
the daily press and gave a resume of
polar expeditions preceding the time
when Peary became interested in the
work.
Some matters were brought out
which perhaps are not generally
known in reference to the early work
of Peary. II seems that up to the
time of his first expedition north the
socalled American route had been
practically given up, owing to the I'M
fortunate fate of several parties, not
ably that of Greedy Peary crossed
the famous ice cap of Greenland and
explored the coast of that country
thoroughly, adding materially to the
worlds knowledge of its shores.
incidentally it may be said that on
the expedition of 1s99-1900 Peary had
VIC WI ~ SADNA VI mo eAtNAf
as he lost four toes from each foot
by freezing and has since labored with
this serious handicap After going
over the history of the various ex-
petitions of the commander, Mr.. Oar
ling took up, one after another some
of the charges which have recently
been made against Peary.
1t is said that Peary claims proprie-
torship over the North Pole and the
adjacent regions. Mr., Darling ans
wered this charge by calling attention
to the fact that Peary was the first to
take up the American route after it
had been abandoned and that 1t was
through his efforts that its possible
ties were shown.
Peary has been accused of not
wishing to have others share with him
the glory of standing at the top of the
earth. This may perhaps be explain
ed by his unfortunate experience in
the past. On the trip Of 1883 he took
with him a young Norwegian who
crossed the ice cap Of Greenland and
made such a good showing that the
commander again took him north in
1891. This time the young man
httltu 10 ipSt HIS hfthu At Aht ld9l
moment and remained in winter quar-
tiers while the explorer went on far
Their He employed his spare time in
writing an account of his experiences
in the north and when the expedition
returned to civilization he stole a
march on Peary and published them.
This, in the light of the fact that the
commander depended partly upon his
writing for revenue, was rather bad
taste. II is not strange that he has
learned to care only for the society
of Eskimos and dogs, when he is leap
ing from berg to berg in the vicinity
of the Pole.
The accusation has been made that
Peary has shown himself to be bonn
bastic, both on the lecture platform
and in his writings in the past. This
may be accounted for by the fact that
he had to blow his own horn in order
TO rouse the people to a sufficient de-
gree OF enthusiasm. Money was need
ed to carry on the work OF pushing
the American flag toward the North
Pole and Peary did not have 1t him
self, the government had little faith
after its previous disastrous attempts
and advertising was necessary in or
der to get the backing of the public.
To the assertion that Peary is re-
vengeful and selfish Mr.. Darling re-
piled that the explorer had forgiven
the young Norwegian who had got
ahead of him in publishing his book
and even went so far as to praise
him. The commander has also prcyi
ously praised Dr. Cook very highly
Mr.. Darling described Peary as or
,vous man, sanguine of temperament
but fearless and outspoken.
The slides were very good and clear
and gave one AN accurate idea of the
far North. Several Eskimos appear
ed. but they were not especially beau
tiful. in fact good. respectable
sledge dog has more points than the
average Eskimo. And the dogs, by
the way, are quite interesting The
pack which Peary had at the begin
ming of the trip across the ice cap of
Greenland was shown, and then he
sole survivor was thrown on the
screen. He had satisfied look,
which Mr.. Darling said, was due to
the fact that parts of the other dogs
were inside him