96 PEARY FINDS THE POLE 



vanced and remains to be verified. Happily both claimants are citizens of the 

 United States and one possible reason for bitterness does not exist. In any 

 case, the American stars and stripes float literally or metaphorically in the 

 coveted breezes of the northernmost point of the globe.*' 



A Chicago scientist, Prof. T. C. Chamberlain, of the University of Chi- 

 cago, said: 



"A message that had the real ring back of it, the ring of solid gold, was the 

 one to Peary's wife in which he declared, according to one dispatch from her 

 home, that he had found 'the darn old pole.' 



"One has to appreciate the hardships and trials which Peary has suffered in 

 his former defeats to know just how much the success means to him. The mes- 

 sage to his wife was the typical outburst of enthusiasm which I should expect 

 after the success of his long-attempted discovery. 



'T have known Peary for a long time and I know him to be a man of his 

 word. He is ambitious and it was always his great desire to be the first to plant 

 the American flag on the most northern spot in the world." 



To show how those closest to Commander Peary received the news there 

 must be told here the manner in which it came to Mrs. Peary. She was stay- 

 ing in Eagle Island, Me., across a bay from South Harpswell, the village in 

 which Mrs. Cook was passing the summer, — another of the singular coin- 

 cidences of this remarkable history. 



A newspaper correspondent, just provided with the news from New York, 

 had hurried to Eagle Island, and to the cottage of the Pearys. There he found 

 Marie A. Peary, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the explorer. The girl cried 

 "Glory, mamma. Papa has been heard from." 



And then, seizing the message containing the news of Peary's discovery 

 from the hands of the correspondent. Miss Peary rushed upstairs to bear the 

 glad and wonderful tidings to her mother, who only a few minutes before had 

 gone to her room with a headache. 



An hour and a half later, Arthur Palmer, the storekeeper at West Harps- 

 well, arrived at Eagle Island with a personal telegram from the intrepid Arctic 

 explorer to his wife and family. 



When Mrs. Peary arose that morning and looked out across the broad ex- 

 panse of the Atlantic Ocean to be seen from the Peary summer home she was so 

 impressed by the beauty of the day and the scene before her that she remarked 

 to her daughter : 



"With such a beautiful day as today we surely ought to hear good news." 



