q NORTH SHORE BREEZE 59 
“ROCK MAPLE FARM’’—Continned from Page 8 
contains many fine bits of old Empire furniture, which 
were brought from Italy, and the magnificent marble 
fireplace and mantel, with its carvings of Medusa’s head, 
arranged in the centre of the connecting wall space, 
originally stood in the old Crowninshield mansion in 
Boston. Directly above it hangs a fine old gilded mirror 
with blue ornaments, and adorning the walls are rare 
pieces of old tapestry, which formerly hung in the 
splendid Brancaccio palace at Rome, occupied by the 
Meyers during their stay in the ancient city. 
Glazed doors connect this room with the adjoining 
apartment, which is known as the Marble Room, where 
numerous dinner fetes are held during the season. It 
is finished in white and gold, with white Corinthian 
columns, and few rooms possess as many strikingly 
beautiful features. Its inlaid floor, of differently colored 
marbles, arranged in geometrical patterns, with numer- 
ous allegorical figures, as well as the fine white marble 
fireplace and mantel, decorated with a frieze of stand- 
ing figures dancing, elegantly carved in bas-relief, came 
irom the Palazza Torlonia, in Venice, formerly the win- 
ter residence of the Duke of Torlonia, and weré pur- 
chased by Mr. Meyer when the decree went forth that 
this stately pile must be torn down, in order to make 
room in the square in front for a statue of Emmanuel 
Il. The furniture in this apartment, is pea-green and 
gold, and like most of the other contents, came from 
Rome. 
Opening from here is the library, a rectangular 
apartment, forty feet in length, paneled throughout in 
dark oak. Below its plain ceiling, is a deep-coved cor- 
nice above the wood panelling, richly detailed in low 
relief. At one end is a handsome pink and white marble 
fireplace, brought from the Torlonia Palace, and on the 
wall space directly above hangs the Imperial arms of 
Carles V. in carved wood. The furniture in this room 
is splendid, consisting of richly carved tables and com- 
iortable chairs, together with numerous interesting or- 
naments brought from abroad, while adorning the wall 
spaces are some boar-heads shot by Mr. Meyer while 
hunting with the King of Italy. 
At the extreme right of the Marble Room is the 
owner’s den, notable for its collection of autograph 
prints of all the Governors of Massachusetts, from Goy- 
ernor John Endicott, of the Bay Province, down to the 
present time. The walls of this apartment are lined 
with book shelves, and nestled into the alcoved space 
is a pretty Dutch fireplace, with lining and hearthstone 
of blue Duteh tiles. 
The house in every particular is truly ideal, and it 
is little wonder that the fortunate owners delight to 
spend as much of the summer season as possible within 
its pleasant environment. 
09000000000 00000 000000000000 OOOOOOOOOOOOOO re SS ONES. 
To Penetrate Icy Fastnesses 
Former Manchester Teacher Only American and Geolo- 
gist of Party to Explore Ice-Bound Arctic Island. 
$O0000H000000000000000000 000 00000000000H0000000000005000005 
tomb for the party should they fail 
S 6 to leave before the ice closes in. 
Q The nature of the ice pack at Jan 
$ Mayen is determined, scientists and 
g whalers say, by the ice formations 
$ at Iceland. If there is much ice 
drifting to the shores of Teeland, it 
$ is a sign that Jan Mayen is com- 
paratively free; should ice be 
0000000000 
From t! « Boston Post of last Sun- 
day, we reprint the following con- 
cerning Prof. W. 8. C. Russell, for- 
mer principal of the Story High 
school, Manchester: 
Facing the neril of having barely 
an hour between himself and im- 
prisonment on the perpetually ice- 
bound island of Jan Mayen, in the 
Arctic, and with other dangers even 
greater than those of the average 
Aretiec explorer threatening, Water- 
man §. C. Russell, geologist of the 
Springfield High School faculty, is 
on his way to join his party on a 
trip into the frozen north. 
This remarkable island, known to 
Aretie travelers as being accessible 
to human beings only about once in 
a period of twenty years, is the goal 
of this intrepid man and his com- 
panions, who hope to increase the 
knowledge of birds and their eggs 
as well as of the geologic structure 
of the island by their researches. 
Difficult as the island of Jan 
Mayen is to reach, a delay of a 
single hour in getting away from it 
may mean imprisonment on the des- 
olate spot, and imprisonment there 
is synonymous with death. 
Great care will have to be taken 
by the party to see that it is suffi- 
ciently open to allow them to reach 
the island and to get away. Should 
they miscalculate, or be carelass in 
observations, the floe may close 
round them unawares and their fate 
may be sealed. 
Kaiser William of Germany, inter- 
ested in this expedition, has lent his 
personal attention and patronage to 
this journey and has sent as a com- 
pliment a special representative to 
join the party. 
The party will start from Eng- 
land, and Mr. Russell sailed the 
other day for Glasgow to meet the 
others, who are all men of the high- 
est standing in the world of science. 
The lowest forms of plant life 
alone are possible on the island and 
aside from birds and seals most. liv- 
ing ereatures are absent. No men 
live on the place, for few have ever 
had the courage to go there. 
Without light, other than that of 
the aurora borealis, or the midnight 
sun, in the intense cold, walled in 
by miles of ice, without food, com- 
panions, warmth—it would be little 
more than a great refrigerator or 
scarce at Iceland, however, it indi- 
cates that Jan Mayen is still ice- 
bound, and a place to steer clear. 
Mr. Russell takes the expedition 
in the most matter-of-fact way, dis- 
cussing the geologic possibilities 
with the true ardor of an enthusias- 
tic man of science. 
“Jan Mayen Island’’ said Mr. 
Russell, before he left, ‘“was  dis- 
covered as far back as 1667 by old 
Hendrik Hudson, and it was ealled 
by him ‘Hudson’s Tutehes.’? The 
seasons were more open then, and 
for a time the island was used by 
the Dutch as a whaling station. 
“The handle of ‘the ‘frying pan’ 
which is descriptive of the shape of 
the island, is about 25 miles long, a 
narrow, voleanic reef, comprised of 
a series of supposedly small vol- 
canie cones. 
‘The island is within the limits of 
pepetual pack ice. 
“Only once in about twenty years 
is a steamer able to approach Jan 
Mayen. This year the possibilities 
of approach seem very favorable. 
“It is a well known scientific fact 
that when the floe ice does not come 
down upon the coast of Iceland, 
