Honors for Amundsen 



57 



science, in art; in literature, and in states- 

 manship in the United States, but here 

 are gathered the representatives of the 

 greatest countries upon this globe. The 

 representatives of the chief nations of 

 the earth are met here to do you honor. 

 It has seemed to me always, as I have 

 read the familiar story of the efforts 

 and sacrifice of the explorers of all coun- 

 tries in the Arctic regions, that there is 

 something in it of the heroic, when we 

 contemplate the countless money that has 

 been spent and the scores and scores of 

 lives that have been sacrificed in extend- 

 ing the boundaries of our knowledge in 

 that inhospitable quarter of the earth. I 

 have believed that those who have laid 

 down their lives there are entitled to the 

 same honor the soldier wins when he lays 

 his life down upon the battlefield of his 

 country. 



It is a felicitous fact that a Norseman 

 should have first sailed through the 

 Northwest Passage in his own vessel. 

 We have a hospitality for him in this 

 country. Many of our countrymen who 

 dignify and honor American citizenship 

 are fellow-countrymen of yours. 



As I said before, this medal is given to 

 you by this great Society because of what 

 you have accomplished in science and in 

 the extension of the domain of geo- 

 graphic knowledge. It is also presented 

 to you because of the esteem of the So- 

 ciety for you personally. I have the' very 

 great honor, my dear sir, to present to 

 you this mark of the respect of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Society of America. 



response; by capt. roaed AMUNDSEN 



Mr Vice-President, Mr President, and 

 Members of the National Geographic 

 Society, Ladies and Gentlemen : I am 

 highly honored and justly proud of 

 the very high distinction which the 

 National Geographic Society so gra- 

 ciously has bestowed upon me in pre- 

 senting me with the Society's gold 

 medal. This I have had the honor to 

 receive from the hands of the Vice-Presi- 

 dent of this great Republic. I am no less 

 grateful for the Society's demonstration 



of honor by electing me an honorary 

 member of this the largest geographic- 

 society in the world. For this splendid- 

 token of distinction I have the great- 

 honor to express my very sincere grati- 

 tude to the members of the Society, 

 among whom there are so many brilliant- 

 gentlemen, famous for achievement in 

 scientific research. I see here tonight one 

 whom I think I can say is the most ex- 

 cellent of the scientific explorers in the 

 United States — in fact the most experi- 

 enced scientific Arctic traveler of the- 

 day — Commander Robert E. Peary. I 

 thank you from the bottom of my heart 

 and wish the National Geographic So- 

 ciety all success. 



THE TOASTMASTER 



In the development of geographic" 

 knowledge on this continent there was 

 one nation that was preeminent in ex- 

 ploring the vast interior of what was a 

 great wilds only a hundred years ago. 

 The interior of our country has pre- 

 served the names of many of those who- 

 first explored it, and given them to its 

 cities. Marquette, Joliet, and La Salle 

 will always be famous as the names of 

 French explorers who entered at the 

 mouth of the Saint Lawrence and passed 

 through the Great Lakes and down the- 

 long stretches of the Father of Waters. 

 Now it is appropriate that the ambassa- 

 dor from that nation which had so much 

 to do with carrying a Christian civiliza- 

 tion into the interior of this continent 

 should be here to honor us with his pres- 

 ence. He will speak to the toast of the- 

 "Northmen's Travelings." 



THE AMBASSADOR PROM FRANCE, 

 HON. J. J. JUSSERAND 



Once more a deed of valor, of pluck T . 

 and endurance has been performed by a 

 Norseman. Valor, pluck, and endurance 

 are highly appreciated in America, where- 

 so many connoisseurs and practicers of 

 the same exist. It is in the nature and 

 fitness of things that a Norseman be here- 

 tonight and be applauded and recom- 

 pensed, as he has been, not only by the- 



