INTRODUCTION 



The Address of President Roosevelt on his presentation 

 of the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic 

 Society to Commander Robert E. Peary, at the annual 

 banquet of the Society, December 15, 1906. 



/ count myself fortunate in having been asked to he 

 present this evening at such a gathering and on behalf of 

 such a society to pay a tribute of honour to an American 

 who emphatically deserves well of the commonwealth. 

 Civilised people usually live under conditions of life so 

 easy that there is a certain tendency to atrophy of the 

 hardier virtues. And it is a relief to pay signal honour 

 to a man who by his achievements makes it evident that 

 in some of the race, at least, there has been no loss of 

 hardy virtue. 



I said some loss of the hardier virtues. We will do 

 well to recollect that the very word virtue, in itself, origin- 

 ally signifies courage and hardihood. When the Roman 

 spoke of virtue he meant that sum of qualities that we 

 characterise as manliness. 



