Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-08
TWO CONTINENTS
AT THE LOW COST OF S13
of Vicarious Travelling Will Be
Appreciated by Readers of the Books of
Stuck, Franck, Street and Bird
ONE of the most agreeable ways of

KONE of the most agreeable ways OF
travelling is 70 stay at home and
read what other men have written
bbout their wanderings over the face
ot tho earth" remarked as INlaid
down Harry A. Franck's entertaining
book, "Vagabonding Down the Andes"
"Why don't you say something orig.
inal?" said the Lady. who feels free
to be impertinent when the mood is
on her.
Originality, my dear woman said
III, rs the vice OF little minds. In
striving for 1t they say either foolish
things which are neither new nor
true or true things which they are 50
foolish as to believe no one ever
thought of before The only original.
! ity there is consists in arranging the
old thoughts in new pattern-putting
them in different relations This passes
for creative work, but the connoisseur
in antique tiles can put his finger on
the one which came from ancient
Greece, and the one which was first
fabricated in France In the Dark Ages
and the one which had its birth in the
seventeenth century in England. to
say nothing Of those which came from
} China and India and Persia"
The Lady turned to Doctor Nc.
! F'abre with a tolerant smile. THAT
! Is the way he always tries to get out
/ OF II when I have corncred him." she
said.
But he extrcated himself, didn't
he?" the clergyman said with n wink
at me. He is sometimes worldly
enough to wink.
"The clannishness of you men Is
disgraceful." said Mrs. McFabre.
I'VE have to hang together" said
Doctor McFabre. you'll be with us,
too, Owen. when you abandon your
single cussedness or cussed singleness
and discover how weak thing Is man
unsupported by his fellows"
| But I was talking about vicarious
| travelling" said I. I'VE must not get
| too far from the subject or these So
cratic evenings will lead us nowhere.
| was about to say when I was in
terrupted that have made tour
this week from the Arctic circle almost
| to the lowest extremity Of South
| America at a cost Of $l3. have not
| lost a single meal and I have been
| able to sleep every night in good
| bed. I have been taken to places that
could not have seen in ordinary
| travel, and have been introduced to
| persons whom l could not have met
IL I had gone about alone. If I had
| made the tours of which 7 have read
| It would have taken years Of my time,
| instead of only few days.
You certainly have saved both
money and time, remarked owen.
| "Yes. and I have escaped innumera-
i BILE Inconvenience also. I started in
Alaska, with Archdeacon Hudson
Stuck as a guide. He is the man. you
know. who climbed Mount Mckinley.
| He has lived in Alaska for about thir.
| teen years, and his profession requires
that he travel almost continuously.
There Is probably no living man who
has gone over more miles Of the rivers
and land trails of that interesting
country. He has gathered information
along the way and he has put part
| Of II in Voyages on the Yukon and
Its Tributaries He takes the reader
from Seattle through the inside pass
lge to Skagway and thence by rail-
over the the mountains to the head
waters Of the Yukon Then he carries
one down the whole length of that great
river to the sea. making interesting
remarks on the way. l felt as If
were sitting in the boat beside him
and he was telling me about the towns
that we passed and was discoursing
on the history Of the country and its
people. saw with him the midnight
. sun at Fort Yukon, but ! was not
pestered by the mosquitoes which in
| fest the country in the summer.
heard him talk about the misrepre'
sentation of the territory in the novels.
| He said. for example, that Jack Lon.
don's Call Of the Wild is entertaining,
but that neither the dogs nor the men
| in 1t are like those to be found in
Alaska. l had suspected as much and
was glad to have my impression verb
. ned by a man who knows. I rejoiced,
too, that did not have to live there
when he told of conducting funeral
with the mercury so degrees below
zero. After he finished with the Yu.
kon he took me sailing on the Tanana
and the Porcupine and several other
big tributary rivers. And I was in
terested, too, In his story of the way
. Count Nesselrodeh and the British
boundary commissioners drew the
boundary between British and Russian
territory. / do not know whether the
boundary was drawn before the Gar
| laid ruler on the map of Russia ana
drew line between st. Petersburg
and Moscow and told his engineers to
. build a railroad in that place, but Mes.
selrode laid his ruler on the map Of
. North America and drew a straight
line from Mount St. Elias to the Arctic
Ocean and suggested that that be the
a.-sx..at,nnaI haunIary Ao ~ pasSa1