Evening star., 1950-05-18
By George Kennedy


Peary came downstairs and made
a perfect picture when she sat on
the sofa under the big American
flag. She had made the flag in
1891 for her husbands first Arctic
expedition, and he carried it on
them all.
She is visiting her daughter
Mrs. Edward Stafford, at 1905
Allison street NV. Mrs. Peary
will be 81 on Monday. Her home
is in Portland, Me.
She was born here during the
Civil War and she remembers rest
ing her elbows on the top of the
Washington Monument before its
construction was renewed, after a
lapse of years.
She talked about training for
that first Arctic expedition, which
came not long after her marriage
. in 1888.
1--WE were living in Philadelphia
in $780," she said. 1--WE used to
spend our Sundays walking. We
would take a train 20 miles out
and walk back, or walk out of
town 20 miles and take a train
back. My husband said I would
have to be a good walker for the
Arctic"
Night of Terror Ashore.
She remembered that first ex-
pedition vividly, how her hus-
bands leg was broken off Green
land, when he was struck by the
tiller of the Newfoundland sealer
they had chartered; how she stood
off the captain and others when,
failing to persuade the injured
leader to turn back, they told her
the decision was up to her.
Not unless Bert says So" she
told them.
She remembered rigging mir
rors so he could watch the shore
line from his cot under a sky
light, and she remembered her
terror during the first night she
spent in tent ashore alone with
her helpless husband. She discov-
cred she had forgotten to bring
a rifle.
THE others were in the ship,
half mile offshore," she said.
II was afraid of polar bears. Of
course, polar bears will never
bother you, but 1 didn't know
that"
She spent the long night of the
Arctic winter with the expedition,
cooking for the party of seven. 1t
was the first of three winters
she spent in the north. On the
second expedition her daughter,
Mrs. Stafford. was born in Sep
tember, 1893, at a camp called "77"
-13 degrees from the North Pole.
Defies Protest.
Her third trip to the Arctic was
a pathetic one that had a happy
ending. Her husband had sailed
from New York in July, 1898. That
winter she bore second child, who
died after four months. When the
supply ship returned the next sum-
mer, it brought word that Comdr.
Peary had had eight frozen toes
amputated. Despite the protests
Of her mother and brother she set
out in 1900 with 7-year-old Marie
(Mrs. Stafford) to join her hus-
band.
The supply ship grounded on a
rock in a harbor in Ellesmere
Island and almost capsized. An
iceberg lodged at the harbor mouth
and made 1t impossible for the
ship to leave.
There We were in August" she
said. "and 1t was showing like six
bits"
They had to stay there all win
ter. and the only word of her hus-
band were Eskimo assurances that
he must be dead.
The full moon makes winter
travel possible on the Arctic ice
cap, and during every full moon
she would organize an Eskimo
group to look for her husband.
They thought it was useless. They
would go away for a week, eat the
supplies given them, and then
return to say open water made
travel impossible.
Made Christmas Tree.
She recalled the Christmas tree
she made for Marie. The ships
carpenter bored holes in broom
handle and grated on branches.
Then she covered them with
chopped hay dyed green, attach
ing one needle" at a time with
wax.
All this time her husband was
wintering $50 miles away. He
hadn't returned to pick up the
stocks that were left by the supply
ship because he had enough to
10