Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-03
DANCE HALL
CALLED MYTH BY GIRL
Mildred H. Lane, Who Went
North for Lecture Material,
Describes Country

The dance hall of Alaska the dance hall
in which the bellies of the town stand
around the bar between dances, is a thing
of the past except in the movies" accord
ing to Miss Mildred ETansell Lane daughter
of Alexander Fl. Lane. $40 South Seven
teenth street, who recently returned from a
trip to Alaska, where she ate caribou meat
and stayed in gold-mine camps to study
conditions.
Miss Lane who is a Smith College Eradu-
ate of the class of 1909, accompanied by
Miss Margaret Denniston. daughter OF Mrs
T. L. Deaniston, of School House lane, Ger
mantown, went thousand miles up the
Yukon and then 500 miie5 up one of its
tributaries, the Tauaua River, to Ncnana,
tho youngest town in the great north
country.
Saturday she will give n lecture on the
trip at the Commercial Museum as the
only woman appearing on the course this
spring,
Miss Lane, who is well known in Phlla-
delphia on account of her six years with
the Consumers League, part of the time
as secretary and part OF the time as lee
turer, went to Alaska for the sole purpose
of getting material for lectures.
Alaska that you see in the movies is
the Alaska of the winter time" she said
today But the Alaska of the summer is
different. 1t is wonderful beautiful and
the flowers there are remarkable The grass
is green, the trees are lovely and the wild
flowers of Alaska rival any you ever saw.
1t gets hot there, too, 5metmes. 1t was
1O1 in July. The summer lasts from May,
when the ice breaks in the Yukon, to Sep
tember, when it forms again. During that
time the people in the cities make mag
nifcent gardens, and the agricultural op-
portunties are marvellous, The people raise
lots of lettuce, carrots and cabbage
Alaska is the land of opportunities for
miners engineers, agrlCuturistS and hus-
bands, according to Miss Lane, who says
that most of the married women in the
country are stenographers. school teachers
and missionaries, who went there to earn
S10O 10 $3.50 a month in their particular
vocatlons and met splendid young engineers
and professional men and married.
'The men of Alaska are fine specimens of
manhood" she said enthusiastically. Most
of the men, in the cities especially, are pro-
fessional men. They go there with the
avowed purpose OF opening up wonderful
country. They are the spirit Of the country.
Always you will hear people talk of the
Spirit of Alaska II is different than any
other spirit you have ever met. This IS the
pioneer country of the United States now.
They seem 10 have mission, these men
who have gone to open this new country.
And they are doing it, The resources Of
this country are unlimited The opportun-
tiles beyond comparison"
Miss Lane says the food and the cooking
in the gold mine camps she studied are
excellent. In fact she said, IL the men do
not have good food they viii not work and
If they will not work there VIII be no gold,
She says the miners welcQme strangers and
treat them with all courtesy, A meal in
gOld-mining camp consists OF soup, roast
meat, four yegetables-one fresh, the others
canned-tea or coffee. and always pie She
is enthusiastic about caribou meat, and
says it is far superior TO yenson.
Miss Lane and Miss Denniston Travelled
In khaki suits, wearing skirts and hob
nailed leather boots which reached to their
hips They had no foot troubles, Miss Lane
says, because they were warned before leav-
ing 10 wear heavy wOOlen stockings and
avoid blistered heels.