The tired business man leaves his home in the country just in time to catch the next train. By ten o'clock, at the latest, he is in his office, having ridden up to the thirteenth floor in an express elevator and so gained a distinct advantage over his London competitors who are in the habit of walking up to their offices on the third floor. He finds his mail opened and sorted on his desk. He glances over the most important letters, puts aside those requiring immediate attention, and has his shoes shined. At eleven o'clock he calls up on the telephone and, in the course of fifteen minutes' conversation, transacts a great deal of business which has to be confirmed by letter. His father would merely have written the letter.
Ignoring the primary rule of health which forbids the mingling of work and recreation,he makes a business appointment for lunch, and between one o'clock and half-past three he puts through a deal on which his father would have spent at least half an hour during his busiest hours. Returning to his office he dictates several letters which he dictated the day before and into which a number of vital errors have been introduced in the course of transcription. This necessitates repeated reference to a card catalogue, an operation which takes some time because the young man in charge has been brought up on the phonetic system and experiences some difficulty in determining the proper place of the letter G in the alphabet. From 3:30 to 4:30 the business man is interviewed by an agent who demonstrates the merits of a new labour-saving letter file. Donning his overcoat hastily he runs to make an express which takes eight minutes to reach Grand Central Station, whereas the local trains sometimes take as much as eleven minutes.
Later, exhausted by his efforts of the day, he just manages to purchase two seats on theaisle from a speculator, and staggers to his chair at 8:30 as the curtain rises on the first act of "The Girl and the Eskimo."
The Lady: It's so good of you to come. It must be wonderful to have been at the Pole. Do you know, when the news first reached us, I was so excited I insisted on calling up all my friends on the telephone and asking them if they had heard. It must have been a wonderful trip. Won't you sit down and tell us all about it?
The Explorer: Thank you. We left our winter camp in latitude 83 degrees 7 minutes on October 24, with five men, four sledges, and thirty-two dogs. The long wait was spent in laying in stocks of seal-meat for the dogs, constructing sledges, breaking the dogs to harness, making meteorological observations, bathing, sleeping, and attending to the dogs. In the cold of the Polar night, workmoves on rather slowly, but I always enjoyed the restful half-hour I devoted to winding up my watch. On August 24 we caught the first sign of spring.
The Lady: Of course.
The Explorer: But it was not till October 24 that the sun rose and the Polar day began.
The Lady: How very interesting!
The Explorer: We had been getting impatient. We were afraid the dogs would grow too fat. We were glad when the edge of the sun's disk showed above the horizon.
The Lady: It must have been like the first day of creation; it must have been like the radiant illumination of a great love.
The Explorer: It was indeed. We immediately harnessed the dogs and set out. The sledges had been loaded several days before. The dogs were in excellent physical condition. The ice was smooth. The temperature was minus 28 degrees Centigrade. What this is when expressed in terms of Fahrenheit, madam, you will of course readily ascertainfor yourself by multiplying by 9, dividing by 5, and subtracting 32.
The Lady: It is all too wonderful!
The Explorer: On our first day's march we covered forty-three kilometres, the kilometre being equal, as you are aware, to .62121 of a mile. Part of the way we rode upon the sledges. Then the ice grew rough, and we took to our skis. We camped in 83 degrees 29 minutes, and built an igloo, which you will recall is a hut made of ice-blocks and snow. First we fed the dogs. The daily ration for the dogs was one and a half kilogrammes of seal-meat, the kilogramme, I need not tell you, being equal to 2.2046 pounds. Then we turned in.
The Lady: Your first night in the unknown!
The Explorer: As you say, madam. The next day we camped in 83 degrees 53 minutes, fed the dogs as usual, and built an igloo. The day after, we camped in 84 degrees 29 minutes and built another igloo, after feeding the dogs. Nothing happened for thenext ten days. The dogs were in good condition. The sledges held well. We made an average daily march of 36 kilometres. But on the eleventh day, at the conclusion of a fairly good march, one of the dogs in sledge number 2—we called him Skraal—attacked and bit a dog we called Ragnar. We parted them with great difficulty. The two days that followed were uneventful, but on the third day Ragnar attacked and bit Skraal. We had to club them apart. On the fifteenth day out Ragnar and Skraal attacked and bit a third dog named Skalder, but he eventually recovered. That was in latitude 85 degrees 87 minutes, at an altitude of 3,700 feet, and the temperature was minus 27 degrees Centigrade. It occurred just after we had finished building an igloo and were preparing to feed the dogs.
The Lady: And always you were drawing nearer the goal!
The Explorer: Naturally, madam. All this time we were busy laying down depots of food for the dogs and the men. Becauseonce we reached the goal we must, of course, get back as fast as we could. We built a depot at every degree of latitude, or, roughly speaking, every 100 kilometres. Our depot in latitude 87 degrees 25 minutes was situated amidst very picturesque surroundings.
The Lady: In that wonderful landscape!
The Explorer: Yes, the spot had some very extraordinary ice-formations. Setting out from that point we marched 37 kilometres over rough ice, fed the dogs, and built an igloo. The next day we marched 70 kilometres over smooth ice, and, having attended to the dogs, built another igloo. The next day we marched 50 kilometres over ice that was partly rough and partly smooth, and had a good night's rest, after putting up an igloo and caring for the dogs. The next day the ice was very soft, and the dogs hung back and complained. However, we managed to cover 27 kilometres that day, reaching 88 degrees 14 minutes. There we camped and—
The Lady: And built another igloo!
The Explorer: No, madam, a food depot. It was on the following day that I first had reason to feel anxious for my men. Skaarmund, my chief assistant, froze his ears. That was in latitude 88 degrees 36 minutes, and the temperature was minus 40 degrees Centigrade. After being vigorously rubbed for several minutes, he was all right again. Almost immediately Knudsen complained of headache and we had to give him some phenacetine. Half an hour later Lanstrup fell down a crevice in the ice.
The Lady: Horrors!
The Explorer: Fortunately the crevice was only two feet deep, and after we had applied peroxide and vaseline, Lanstrup was as well as ever. Owing to the high altitude we all experienced some difficulty in breathing. It was very much like being stalled on a crowded train in your Subway. It was our ambition to reach the Pole on the fifth day after, because that was our national holiday. But we found the going too rough. However, we celebrated the day by givingan extra half-kilogramme of seal-meat to the dogs and a whole cup of coffee to the men. Skaarmund had some cigarettes hidden about his person and we smoked and took an extra hour's rest. Two days later, we were at the Pole.
The Lady: Where no man's foot had trod before! Alone amidst that infinite stretch of virgin snow!
The Explorer: Quite so, madam. Immediately after taking observations and noting the temperature and the velocity of the wind, we built an igloo and picketed the dogs. We remained there for three days, taking additional observations, repairing the sledges, and resting up the dogs. On the third day after we raised the flag over the Pole, we set out on our return journey.
The Lady: What thoughts must have been yours! You were coming back with the prize of the centuries, to find the world at your feet.
The Explorer: Exactly, madam. Not one of the dogs had failed us. Having saidfarewell to the flag waving proudly at the apex of the globe, we marched fifty-two kilometres. At the end of the march we built an igloo and fed the dogs. At the end of the next day's march we killed two dogs: we gave one to the other dogs, and the other we ate ourselves. It tasted not unlike fresh veal. The following morning we had hardly commenced our march when Malstrom cut his foot on a sharp piece of ice which penetrated his boot. We washed his foot out with witch hazel and made him ride for a mile or two on a sledge. The pain thereupon disappeared. At exactly 89 degrees we built an igloo and slept for ten hours in one stretch. Rising, we killed a dog for breakfast, took our observations, and set out. Malstrom's foot gave him no trouble. That day we camped at 88 degrees 23 minutes, built another igloo, and killed another dog. Our appetites were very active. On the way to the Pole we had allowed ourselves two and one-half kilos of food per day. Now we were consuming over four kilos a day.
The Lady: Fancy eating four kilometres a day.
The Explorer: No, madam, kilogrammes. But at the same time we were travelling at a much faster pace; one day our record was ninety.
The Lady: That was a great deal, wasn't it, ninety kilogrammes a day?
The Explorer: No, madam, kilometres. And in this manner we arrived safely at our winter camp. Five days later we were on board our ship, on the way to civilisation.
The Lady: How happy you must have been!
The Explorer: We were. But perhaps madam may be interested in some of the photographs illustrating incidents of our journey to the Pole?
The Lady: How can you ask!
The Explorer: This picture, you will see, shows our permanent camp, situated in the midst of a snow plain stretching to the horizon in every direction. This is a picture of the South Pole, similarly situated, you willobserve, in the midst of a snow plain stretching as far as the eye can see. This is the sledge upon which I travelled to the Pole. The next picture shows the same sledge viewed from the rear and a little to one side, and this is still the same sledge as seen at a distance of 200 feet to the left and from a slight elevation. The next picture shows the sledge with its load, and the one after that shows the load itself resting close to the walls of an igloo which is just going up. In this picture you see the igloo completed and with the dogs lying in front. The next picture shows the same group of dogs with two of the leaders missing. The next two pictures show the sledge as it was before the accident and after. The remaining pictures deal with similar subjects.
The Lady: This has been so delightful! Do you know, your English pronunciation is wonderful for a foreigner!
FOOTNOTES:[1]I.e., eighty-seven years ago. The Gettysburg Address was delivered Nov. 19, 1863. Lincoln is here referring to the Declaration of Independence.[2]Figuratively speaking. To take "fathers" in a literal sense would, of course, involve a physiological absurdity.[3]The western continent, embracing North and South America.[4]"A new nation." This is tautological, since a nation just brought forth would necessarily be new.[5]"Proposition," in the sense in which Euclid employs the term and not as one might say now, "a cloak and suit proposition."[6]See the Declaration of Independence in Albert Bushnell Hart's "American History Told by Contemporaries" (4 vols., Boston, 1898-1901).[7]The war between the States, 1861-65.[8]I.e., the United States.[9]See Elliot's Debates in the several State Conventions on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, etc. (5 vols., Washington, 1840-45).[10]Gettysburg; a borough and the county seat of Adams Co., Pennsylvania, near the Maryland border, 85 miles southwest of Harrisburg. Pop. in 1910, 4,030.
[1]I.e., eighty-seven years ago. The Gettysburg Address was delivered Nov. 19, 1863. Lincoln is here referring to the Declaration of Independence.
[1]I.e., eighty-seven years ago. The Gettysburg Address was delivered Nov. 19, 1863. Lincoln is here referring to the Declaration of Independence.
[2]Figuratively speaking. To take "fathers" in a literal sense would, of course, involve a physiological absurdity.
[2]Figuratively speaking. To take "fathers" in a literal sense would, of course, involve a physiological absurdity.
[3]The western continent, embracing North and South America.
[3]The western continent, embracing North and South America.
[4]"A new nation." This is tautological, since a nation just brought forth would necessarily be new.
[4]"A new nation." This is tautological, since a nation just brought forth would necessarily be new.
[5]"Proposition," in the sense in which Euclid employs the term and not as one might say now, "a cloak and suit proposition."
[5]"Proposition," in the sense in which Euclid employs the term and not as one might say now, "a cloak and suit proposition."
[6]See the Declaration of Independence in Albert Bushnell Hart's "American History Told by Contemporaries" (4 vols., Boston, 1898-1901).
[6]See the Declaration of Independence in Albert Bushnell Hart's "American History Told by Contemporaries" (4 vols., Boston, 1898-1901).
[7]The war between the States, 1861-65.
[7]The war between the States, 1861-65.
[8]I.e., the United States.
[8]I.e., the United States.
[9]See Elliot's Debates in the several State Conventions on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, etc. (5 vols., Washington, 1840-45).
[9]See Elliot's Debates in the several State Conventions on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, etc. (5 vols., Washington, 1840-45).
[10]Gettysburg; a borough and the county seat of Adams Co., Pennsylvania, near the Maryland border, 85 miles southwest of Harrisburg. Pop. in 1910, 4,030.
[10]Gettysburg; a borough and the county seat of Adams Co., Pennsylvania, near the Maryland border, 85 miles southwest of Harrisburg. Pop. in 1910, 4,030.