1 86 RECEPTIONS OF COOK AND PEARY 



"Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for the honor, the music 

 and the welcome !" 



That was all there was to it, but an oration couldn't have drawn 

 out a lustier response. The people, who had stood tnere for from 

 three to six hours to catch a glimpse of this man who says that 

 he has stood at the ninetieth parallel of north latitude, set up a 

 tumult that made their previous efforts sound like the whisper- 

 ing of a lot of children. That was the only chance they got to 

 see him, except the momentary flash as he was whisked away in 

 his automobile. 



When the balcony scene was finished Dr. Cook went back to 

 the room on the fourth floor of the club house, where he was hav- 

 ing dinner with his neighbors. They sat at a U-shaped table, 

 with Dr. and Mrs. Cook at the apex, and the flags and bunting 

 around the room left little doubts as to the nationality of the ex- 

 plorer. The interruption in the dinner had been caused by the 

 arrival of the Brooklyn singers, who had come to give him some 

 of the melody that they gave to the public at Madison Square 

 Garden last winter. 



All the Brooklyn saengervereins met at Arion Hall early in the 

 evening and marched behind a band to the Bushwick Club. Ar- 

 thur Clausen, the director, climbed to an uncertain footing on 

 one of the iron railings and the 500 lusty German-American 

 voices apprised Dr. Cook of their presence with Beethoven's "The 

 Lord's Day." It was when this first number was finished that 

 Dr. Cook came to the balcony and thanked them. 



After that he went back to firiish his dinner. Louis Berger, 

 president of the Bushwick Club, and Samuel S. Whitehouse sat 

 near him, and the rest of the guests were the committee that had 

 been selected to receive him and their wives. When it was over 

 Dr. Cook read a speech, written on the paper of the "Oscar II." 

 This is what he said: 



"You have shown me that it is good to go to the Pole. In re- 



