The Washington times., 1924-06-18
CARP IS DEAD.
At NA|NE|NG,
CHINA
Frank G. Carpenter, Noted
D. c. Correspondent and
Traveller Dies Abroad

COrdtng to WORD received mere yes
teFdays Mr.. Carpenter, who was on
his third round.the.world trip, had
been Ill for some time.
Mr.. Carpenter was Americas fore.
most travel writer and one Of the
fathers Of the American newspaper
syndicate. His newspaper writing
covered a period Of forty-five years,
and for nearly half Of that time his
weekly articles appeared In g. group
Of newspapers that included the
largest and best known dailies In
America. Some Of the papers for
which Mr.. Carpenter correspondent
published a travel article by him
for more than fifteen hundred con.
secutive Sundays, a record that is
journalism.
At the time Of his death Mr.
Carpenter was making his third
tip around the world, and was
writing a. series Of articles from
the Far East, covering the Philip
pines, Japan, China and Korea. h
was also gathering material for the
final volumes of the complete story
OF his journeys over the globe
which are now being published
under the title Of ''Carpenter's
World Travels" Ten volumes, OF
about half the series, have already
appeared.
Travelled Widely.
Mr.. Carpenter had been in md
written about practically every
country on earth, visiting most OF
them several times, and estimated
this year that he had travelled halt
q million miles In gathering his
material. He had travelled on every
continent at least twice and had
made thirty trips across the At.
lantic. Death overlook him during
his fifth trip to the Orient. He
often said that he would not cars
to go to any country unless he
could write about it, and only a few
months ago expressed the hope that
he might Idle in harness"
In addition to his newspaper work
and his series Of travel books, Mr..
Carpenter was especially well
known for his work for the schools.
He was sometimes spoken Of as the
man who first made geography in.
teresting, through his geographical
readers, which for many years have
been used in the schools Of Wash.
ington, and, in fact, in nearly every
city in the United States. He was
also the author Of Around the
World With the Children" and a
series Of readers on how the world
is clothed, fed, and housed.
Mr.. Carpenter was born May 8,
1855, at Mansfield, Ohio, and in
1883 was married to Joanna D.
Condict, who died in 1920. Follow.
ing his graduation from the Uni.
versity of Wooster in 1877, Mr.. Car.
penter engaged in newspaper work,
and in 1879 he was legislative cor.
at Columbus, and shortly after was
respondent Of that paper
Sketched Public Men.
During his early years in the
National Capital, Mr.. Carpenter
wrote sketches Of men in public
life in an intimate style that was
at that time entirety new in Ameri
can Journalism. This led to his dis
patches, which were always signed
Carp" being widely copied and the
rise Of a new form of Washington
correspondence. Mr.. Carpenter had
to rare degree the gift of under
standing what the average man and
woman wanted to know and Of tell
ing them in language that was sim
ples direct and easy to understand
In all his travels he wrote OF
abroad in terms Of at home with
the result that he had a large and
devoted following. His weekly let
ters were regularly read aloud in
many homes every Sunday, and
many family scrap book is filled
with the clippings of his travel
stories from foreign lands.
His bent for travel was develop
ed in his early youth. In fact
his first trip abroad was taken al
the result Of the solemn warning
OF his physicians that his heath
was so poor that he had but g
short time to live. He reasoned
that II he was to die soon he
might as well see something OF
this world before he passed on tc
the next, and accordingly made a
trip to Egypt. In defiance of the
doctors edict, he continued to trav
Ell and write for practically hall
q century after that, although he
never enjoyed vigorous health anC
experienced illness in every corner
OF the globe.
Overcame Disbursement.
At the beginning Of. his career
newspaper editors likewise tried t
discourage him from entering jour
nalism. To get rid of him, on,
OF the Ohio editors told him thai
the only job he could give hin
was collecting bills for advertising
and subscriptions. The young mar
promptly accepted, and brought II
so. many news items in addition Il
his cash collections that he sooT
won a place on the reportoria
staff. ...,
It was in 1887 that Mr.. Carpente
undertook his first trip around tn
world, representing a number o
newspapers and magazines. It wa
in the nature ~ a honeymoon jour
ney, as mrs. Carpenter accompanie,
him and served as his typist, hav
ing learned; to operate the crud
machines Of those days. Then fol
lowed in rapid succession, travels Il
Mexico, Russia, Germany and Eng
land, and two years later he toure,
China, Japan and Korea, being on
OF the very first American writer
ever to visit the Hermit Kingdom
In. 1898. he made a complete tou
of all the countries of South Amer
lea, and two years later visited tn
Philippines, China, Java, = Australi,
and New Zealand. In 1902 he Wis
tied every important country Q
Europe. chronicling the beginning
Of the American commercial IN
vasion. His travels abroad contiu
ued until 1915, when he speAt
yeer in writing Of Americas wa