EUROPE GIVES HONOR TO DR. COOK 173 



which had defied the world for centuries and acclaimed him as the 

 victor. Throughout the civilized countries of the earth the returned 

 explorer was the man of the hour. 



Dr. Cook had imagined that he would be able to get back to 

 New York quietly and have a chance to revise his scientific records 

 and put them into shape to lay before the geographical societies and 

 the world at large, little anticipating the ovation awaiting him. On 

 one occasion during the first few days after his arrival he managed 

 to escape the interviewers and ask a few questions on his own 

 account. 



"What was the remarkable play, the 'Merry Widow/ of which 

 he had heard from the Danes in Greenland? What was Taft's 

 majority?" and similar questions. To many this seemed amusing, 

 but to a man cut off entirely from the world for two years, news of 

 any kind was like food to the starving. 



The King of Denmark, acting on carefully considered advice 

 from experts, continued to distinguish Dr. Cook with such honors 

 as never before had been given to a private person. All the Danish 

 newspapers, after a brief period of skepticism, accepted him wholly. 

 There had been some doubt of his claims before his arrival, but one 

 of the strongest factors in the universal confidence with which he 

 was received was the simplicity and earnestness of his manner, his 

 engaging personality and the absolute freedom and candor with 

 which he answered all questions. Instead of avoiding the men of 

 his own profession exploration he spent every possible moment 

 with them discussing eagerly observations, ice-floes and drifts, dogs 

 and supplies, and they accepted him with whole-hearted trustfulness. 



One of the most dramatic incidents of Dr. Cook's first days in 

 Copenhagen was the remarkable trial of the explorer before a jury 

 of fifty representatives of the world's press at the Phoenix Hotel. 

 Of this interview one correspondent said: 



"Dr. Cook had just returned from a reception by Princess Marie 

 at Bernstoff Castle through a crowd of surging, cheering people. 



