Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-11
POLAR PARTY F|NDS
SOLACE IN READING
Byrd and Fellow Explorers
Spend Winter Hours
With Books.
ny wireless to The Star and the New York
Times,

pearance of books that have given good
service and have added something to
existence.
There are about 1900 books arranged
on the shelves that cover three sides Of
our library room. 1t Is room at one
end Of the administration building.
Comdr. Byrd's room opens from It.
The library is also the place where
Charlie Lofgren pounds out all the on
cial communications of the expedition,
by which the commander keeps in touch
with his units In New Zealand and New
York, and the room in which the stories
are written.
An iron stove stands in one corner,
beside the commanders washStand.
There also Is space for number Of
chairs, which are nearly always filled In
the evening.
There are several hundred volumes
of fiction, an extensive polar library
scores of volumes of the classics of Eng
lish literature and some excellent trans
lations from other languages: volumes
OF history, travel. biography, poetry,
essays and plays and shelf full of
works on philosophy and psychology.
There are also several sets of text
books, and last. but far from least. a lot
of detective stories. for 1t is difficult to
say what books have been the most pop
ular and here, as at home. the taste Of
individuals Is expressed by the books
they read.
Varied Tastes Shown by Men.
The reading Of some men Is confined
almost entirely to one type OF book,
while others show catholicity in the way
they wander from one subject to an
other, browsing to their hearts desire In
books of widely differing content. OuI
reading is governed also by one or two
other factors not present at home.
There is, Of course, q limitation to
our library and 1t does not contain some
books for which We occasionally look
But that is not so important in govern
ing the choice Of reading as a feeling
which some of us have that at last there
is time to read something too long OF
too weighty for the short periods which
might be devoted to 1t at home.
John Galsworthy's "Forstye Saga" has
been read by many for this reason and
so have a number of old books which
are looked upon as, forming the back
ground for so much OF English liter
ature.
The book which, however. has been
read the most here is probably Green
Mansions" by w. H. Hudson. This
beautiful story has been passed from
hand to hand all Winter, and some still
are waiting for It, Whether 1t is the
exotic setting in the South American
jungle which is so great contrast to
our life or the Characterization OF the
book itself, it has been a JOY even TO
those of us who have read 1t for the
second or third time.
Don Byrne Popular Author.
The most widely read author is prob
ably Don Byrne, although Joseph G.
Lincoln-an odd contrast-runs him a
close second. Byrne's poetic fancy
seems to strike a responsive chord in
most every one here, and Lincoln
stories Of Cape Cod. with their atmos-
phere Of quaint people and comfortable
read a great deal, and so are Mark
Twain and Booth Harrington.
The greatest reader is probably Har-
old June, the Navy aviation pilot, who
devours books, mostly stories Of adven-
ture and activity. Tom Mulroy, the
chief engineer, is not far behind, and
close to him are Frank T. Davies, the
physicist; Dean Smith, another flyer;
Kenneth Bubier, an aviation mechanic,
and Charlie Lofgren, our personnel Oh
ncer.
The last three wander widely in their
reading. But nearly every one reads
good deal, and there Is only one who
has not read at all, this being Chris
topher Braathen, q seaman and ski
man. who has been building a boat.
But Braathen's bunkmate, Arthur
Walden. the veteran dog driver, has
perhaps the oldest fancy in camp. One
finds in his selections CaStiglione,
Chaucer. MUSES. Pageant" the "Olaf
Saga" and Peer Gynt."
Alexander" Causes Discussion.
One book which for time caused
lot Of discussion was Konrad Bercovicl's
Alexander" which went the rounds
and caused numerous arguments as to
Alexander was that sort of
man and how Bercovici knew so much
about him. But every one liked 1t and
when they started 1t could not put 1t
Comdr. Byrd's work for a day or two.
The commander has two weaknesses
In reading-philosoph and detective
stories. He sticks to philosophy most
Of the time, but once in while he gets
of on q spell Of detective story reading
and comes in to browse around and
ind one he has overlooked.
This is awful" he says. IT mustn't
get this habit again." But for a few
nights he will take a new murder to
bed with him and try to figure out
who did 1t and then swear or for
while.
We all get the detective story fever
occasionally and rlmmage through the
shelves in the hope Of finding a new
one. Just now Larry Gould is going
through q spell Of criminal hunting
as an antidote to his usual diet Of
poetry, Shakespeare, the Bible and
books like Green Mansions" ''Messer
Marco Polo" and the Crock Of Gold"
by James Stephens.
incidentally the reception of the
Crock Of Gold" is on Of the most in
teresting studies down here. Nobody
Just likes it. They either rave about
1t or don't like it at all, and for some
It is a never-failing delight.
Another odd thing is that so few
read Kipling or Dickens. although we
have an excellent set Of each. It Is
possible because so many have already
read both so often. But that cannot
be the only reason.
Classics Used Great Deal.
The set Of Harvard classics is used
q great deal and for some reason q
set of Modern EloQuence," volumes
containing modern speeches appeal to
some very much, and the Encyclopedia
Britannica and the World Almanac bear
the marks of hard usage.
That encyclopedia exercised o curious
on a few when 1t was first
opened and one man raSflly stated
that he YVES going to read It all through.
He started, but didn't get very far.
The Polar library is unusually good,
for Comdr. Byrd searched for long
time to get some Of the books which
It contains volumes on both North
and South Polar exploration. That
fascinating work of Nansen's, "FartheSt
North" Is one. Then there are the
books Of Peary, Greely. Amundsen and
on the North and those OF
Scott, Shackleton, Mawson,
Amundsen and others on the South.
The best story Is generally conceded
20 be Shackleton,s South. but SCOTS