The Colorado statesman., 1912-04-06
HENSON'S BOOKS ON
TRIP To The POLE
(From the New York Sun. }


springs authors from many points of
view is Matthew Henson, whose book,
"A Negro Explorer at the North Pole"
contains the only personal account
other than Pearys that will ever be
written of the climax of the expedi-
ton. 1t is significant, as Peary has
said, that several races were repre-
sented on the day of the discovery.
1T is an interesting fact" he said.
that in the final conquest of the prize
of the centuries not alone individuals
but races were represented. On that
bitter brilliant day in April, 1909, when
the Stars and Stripes floated at the
north pole Caucasian, Ethiopian and
Mongolian stood side by side at the
apex of the earth in the harmonious
companionship resulting from hard
work, exposure, danger and a common
object
Henson, son of the tropics, has
proven through years his ability to
stand tropical, temperate and the fierc-
est stress of frigid climate and ex-
posure, while on the other hand, it is
well known that the inhabitants of the
highest north, and hardy as they are
to the rigors of their own climate, sue
cumb very quickly to the vagaries OF
even a temperate climate is 1t a
difference in physical fibre or in brain
and will power or is the difference in
the climatic conditions themselves?' &"
Henson, the author who throughout
his good luck shows a love and knowl-
edge of good books surprising when
one considers his limited advantages
B and the restrictions imposed by his
20 years of hardships in exploration,
does not in appearance show an evil
dence of extreme hardihood. Though
virile enough to reach the pole with
Peary, he is no huge Jack johnson
nor anything resembling him, but a
smallish, quiet, observant sort of man.
He is well knit, quick of movement
and clear of eye-like a trained run
ner He wears eyeglasses, carries
himself like competent though mod
est man of affairs and shows an eff
cheney and ease coming from long as
sociation with big men.
There were always a few books
>
( and no one made better use of them
than did Peary's Negro companion. He
tells of the little library on board the
( Roosevelt during the last polar jour
ney.
! "Out on the ice of the polar ocean, "
he says, "as far as reading matter
went, l think DIR. Goodsell had a very
small set of Shakespeare, and l know
that l had Holy Bible. The others
who went out on the ice may have had
reading matter with them, but they
did not read it out loud, and so am
not in position to say what their
literary tastes were.
But on board ship there was quite
an extensive library, especially on
Arctic and Antarctic topics. but as II
was In the commanders cabin 1t was
not heavily patronized.. In my own
cabin | had Dickens's Bleak House,
Kipling's 'Barrack Room Ballads, and
the poems of Thomas Hood; also a
copy of the Holy Bible which had been
given to me by dear old lady in
Brooklyn. ! also had Peary's book,
'Northward Over the Great Ice and
his last work Nearest the Pole
During the long dreary midnights
of the arctic winter l spent many a
pleasant hour with my books | also
took along with me calendar for the
years 1908 and 1909, for in the regions
of MONDAY darkness and midnight
daylight, a calendar Is absolutely ne
cessary. But mostly l had rougher
things than reading to do"
In his book the English used by this
Negro, who had only six years of
schooling in his life, shows the influ-
ence of his constant reading of classi-
cal literature. 1t has been said that
there is no better cultivator of a lit
erary style than the Bible, and the
work of Henson would seem to bear
the statement out Shakespeare is
there, too, seemingly unconsciously
on the authors part. For instance:
I'VE forced the dogs" he writes,
"and they took it on the run, the ice
undulating beneath them the same as
1t does when little wanton boys play
at tickey benders, often with serious
results, on the newly formed ice on
ponds and brooks down in civiliza.
tiou. Our tickey benders were not
done in the spirit of play. but on ac-
count of urgent necessity"
He died alone, he passed into the
great unknown alone. bravely and hon
orably," he writes with Biblical sim
plicity and repetition of the death OF
Prof. Marvin. He is the last of earth's
great martyrs; he is home, his work
is done, he is where he longed to be-
the sailor is home in the sea. 1t is
sad to write this. He went back to
his death, drowned in the cold black
water of the Big Lead. In unmarked
unmarbled grave. he sleeps his last
long sleep"
Having no poetry in my SOUL" he
says in description of northernmost