CONCLUSION. 869 



the forces of nature. The ship gave way ; the men 

 surmounted the obstacles, and kept their courage and 

 faith to the end. It is, above all, the record of a leader 

 of men who entered the service in which he fell with 

 an honorable purpose and a lofty aim ; who endured 

 the disappointment of a noble nature with a patience 

 which was the conquest of bitterness ; who bore the 

 lives of his comrades as a trust reposed in him ; and 

 who died at his post with an unfaltering faith in God 

 whom he served and loved. 



The voyage of the Jeannette is ended. The scien- 

 tific results obtained were far less than had been aimed 

 at, but were not insignificant. Something was added 

 to the stock of the world's knowledge ; a slight gain 

 was made in the solution of the Arctic problem. Is it 

 said that too high a price in the lives of men was paid 

 for this knowledge ? Not by such cold calculation is 

 human endeavor measured. Sacrifice is nobler than 

 ease, unselfish life is consummated in lonely death, and 

 the world is richer by this gift of suffering. 



