Evening star., 1938-11-13
By Mary Garter Roberts
ALONE. BY R1chard z. BYRD. N
York: G. P. Putnam S Sons.

York: G.. P. PutnamS Sons.
It was nice mild evening on
which the reviewer began to read
this book-Novemberish, to be sure,
but in the yard the water in Bill the
settlers pan did not skim over with
ice and Bill himself, when he finally
consented to come indoors, disdained
the hearth and stretched out in an
opposite corner. But it was 10 below
when the reviewer finished at about
] the following morning, 10 below
and falling. Furthermore, the re-
viewer had a bad headache and her
eyes were hurting her, though not
from reading The drop in temper
ature and the pains came from the
same cause.-The cumulative vivid
ness of this narrative of solitary SUI
fering at the bottom of the world. If
you want to read the book, and it is
we'll worth reading, pick warm
afternoon, sit where you can see the
sunshine and by all means quit be-
fore dark. Otherwise you are going
to suffer with the author by SYM
pathy, even as the reviewer did.
The book is Admiral Byrd's per-
sonal narrative of the time which he
spent alone at Advance Base on his
second expedition to the Antarctic.
It'll good thing that he has finally
written the account. His publishers
tell us that he has been four years
deciding whether he would or not:
one assumes that the reason against
writing which has had most effect on
him has lain in the old notion that
men of action must properly be silent
about any personal suffering which
they may undergo. In this case,
there would seem to be little validity
In the argument. The whole coun-
try took lively interest in the ex-
pedition, and to cloak the very cli-
max Of the business with silence or
mystery would be out of keeping
with the procedure which governed
the rest of it. 1t is better to make
very clear exactly what did happen
not simply to put an end to gossip.
but for the sake of the general
good feeling which our country holds
toward its explorers.
That there was gossip of a dis
pleasurable nature, however, is made
clear early In the course of the book.
II happen to be privy to several
Of the gospel truths circulated about
Advance Base" writes Admiral
Byrd in the plaintive irony. God
knows, there may be others, but
these could hardly be improved
upon. One is that I was exiled
by my own men. Another is that
I went out there to do some quiet
but serious drinking. In the past,
such tales would have shocked me;
most certainly they would have
made me mad. But not now"
The most serious charge con-
nected with the admiral's occupa-
ton of the lone post, however, was
that, by taking over the RESPONSE
bility for himself. he left his ex-
pedition leaderless. 1t should be
obvious to any one. of course, that
a leader is. himself, the best judge
of such matters. Admiral Byrd dis
poses of this accusation in the fol-
lowing terms:
"As to the moral aspects of my
leaving SIS men leaderless at Little
America. that did not trouble me
bit. My officers had compre-
henSiye idea of what was expected
Of them during my absence. We
talked almost steadily from mid
night to dawn. In charge, with the
title of Second-in-Com 1 put
DR.. Poulter, the Senior Scientist -
"Poulter would have under him
a hard-bitten crew, who were
well able to take care of them
selves ~
He goes on to tell, then, of the
great value of Advance Base to the
expedition. 1t had been planned
to man it with three men origin
ally, but unforeseen conditions made
this out of the question. If it were
not to be abandoned, one man would
have to take it over. The admiral
decided, for a number of reasons,
that 1t was a job for himself.
To the reviewer, the reasons for
this decision, which were least con-
nected with the expedition, were the
most interesting. These are highly
personal, and, one supposes, it is
their personal nature which has
made the admiral hesitate so long
to write this book. He says that
he wanted solitude. He wanted to
take stock of himself, after his many
years of living in the public eye
and of being constantly involved
in organization. 1T was," he OBJ
serves, "all that simple
This is surprising and, coming
early in the course of the narrative,
creates curiosity as to how the
stock taking turned out. The sue
ceeding events, however, cast a
highly determining light on the proc
ess. Admiral Byrd went to Advance
Base in March, at the beginning
of the South Polar winter. In the
latter part of May he was struck
down by poison from the fumes of
his stove-hterally struck down, that
is, rendered unconscious for several
hours-and reduced to invalidism
thereafter. 1t was not until Au-
gust II that he was rescued. In
the more than two months that
followed the original accident he
was never himself again. He lost |
weight from 180 pounds to 125 and |
was just barely able to drag himself |
about and give the necessary atten-
ton to the instruments which, by |
duty. he was obliged to care for. |
He did not report his condition,
however, for he did not want his
men to attempt to reach him at |
a dangerous season for travel
The book is made up of excerpts
from the diary which he kept.
together with passages of ,remi-
niscence and comment. The picture
of misery which it furnishes can
hardly be equaled, though no one
can justly accuse the writer of self
pity. 1t is an objective account.
The dark, the cold, the solitude,
the illness-the cumulative effect