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32   ABBOTT'S MONTHLY

acquainted with him. We told each other our adventures.  He had been a sailor and had  made trips to China and to Europe. Later he met Admiral Peary. During my frequent visits to the ship to see Henson I made known my desire to accompany him on a polar trip. He tried his best then, and I tried also, to get the consent of Admiral Peary to let me go along. I wanted to serve as an A.B. seaman or steward, chiefly as a friend and companion of Henson, but Admiral Peary would not accept my services in any capacity and gave as his reason that "he did not think a Negro could stand the cold and hardships"; yet none of his Newfoundland sailors left the ship in the Arctic except Captain Bartlett.

I FIRST gained the acquaintance of Henson one Sunday afternoon at the Abyssinia Baptist church, New York city, when he was courting the now Mrs. Lucy Henson, the beautiful choir leader. They were married just before his last trip North. Many months passed before I even heard fo him again. Then came the news of Peary's discovery.  President Roosevelt described it as the greatest feat of our generation and emphasized the splendid physical endurance of Peary and Henson.  America eagerly awaited the story of  the explorers.

it will be necessary for one to visit a library or get Peary's book on the North Pole to get a clear conception of this wonder man--Matt Henson--and to learn of his achievements as an explorer of the first rank. One would, however, have to read between the lines in Peary's book to conceive of the importance of Henson on such a journey, as the admiral has not given many paragraphs to his valuable assistant.  It is my purpose here to relate some of the facts that Peary's book and magazine writers have carefully omitted in paying tribute to Henson.

First, Commander McMillan, an important figure in the Peary party, and this honor brought to American shores, had it not been for the courageousness of Matthew Henson. It must be remembered that when the party got within a hundred and thirty-five miles of the pole, Admiral Peary became somewhat incapacitated. 
Dr. Goodsal and Henson cut away eight of the commander's toes on Wrangel Island on a previous voyage, and now the admiral was almost unable to walk in the final dash because of foot ailments.

PREPARATIONS were completed for the dash to victory.  Six men, four Eskimos and Matt Henson started out with five sleds. One man rode. It was not Matt Henson.  Henson was the only man of the whole crew who could intelligently converse with the Eskimos. He acted as interpreter. He was the only man who left sight of the ship's light the long dark winter nights to hunt and fish to supply the crew, man and dog, with fresh meat. He taught the crew to make sleds that would weather the rugged gaps of the North's ice and snow. He could build igloos with the dexterity of the Eskimos and taught English members of the crew this art.

Henson was a trail blazer for the Peary expedition as he was the only man, with the exception of the admiral, who had had any experience in finding broken and open leads over the ice.  After every trek his duty was to bare his abdomen that Admiral Peary might warm his feet, as they were too tender for any other kind of heat.

Matthew Henson did not accompany Admiral Peary to the North Pole, but led him there, as Peary could hardly walk in the bitter cold weather.  A man with badly frozen feet, and only two half toes could hardly walk down Michigan avenue in Chicago on a very cold day.

MY MISTAKE
By J. LEWIS EVANS

I thought you were a siren;
One of the most heartless kind.
And despite your golden voice,
You troubled the serenest mind.
I thought that men stumbled in 
A mad and frenzied pace;
To answer your beck and call,
Or stare in your deceitful face.
I thought you were a lark,
Singing in the dense,
Dark shadowy forest
Of uncared pretense.
Now, since I have met you
And shared one happy hour,
I find you a rare species
Of earth's most beautiful flower.

MANY scientists and explorers doubt the truth of Peary's last dash to the pole.  They give as their reason that Matt and Peary traveled faster over the last 135 miles than at any other time after leaving the ship. The explanation to this is that in the forward dash they had to stop and build igloos and leave supplies, but on returning they did not have to perform this duty, having already established supply stations. This accounts for the speed they made on the return journey that scientists are not charitable enough to believe.

We know that four civilized men, Admiral Peary, Captain Bartlett, Prof. Ross Marvin of Cornell University, and Matt Henson all passed Nansen's Farthest North.  But Bartlett and marvin, suffering from frozen feet, turned back.  Commander McMillan, another member of the party, made for the ship's deck earlier, having also become physically unfit.

The last seen of Admiral Peary by the last white man to desert the polar party, Captain Bartlett, was 135 miles from the North Pole. Peary was then leaving in the last sled, two hours behind Matt Henson who was trail blazing. Prof. Marvin, on his return trip with four Eskimos, was murdered by them.  The Eskimos said he fell through the ice and were unable to rescue him.  This story was believed for fifteen years when finally one of the Eskimos accepted the Christian religion and confessed to having killed him. He gave as his reason that Prof. Marvin had apparently become mentally unbalanced and threatened to kill the whole party. 

Now, beginning to read somewhere from unwritten history, we find the following facts: After leaving Captain Bartlett, Admiral Peary took his exact location then he would tell Matt when to stop. Matt had estimated his distance, being a quarter fo a mile ahead of Peary.  It was when daylight--the whole twenty-four hours at that time of the year. As the two--Matt and Peary--neared the point where they were to stop and rest, Matt, suspecting that he would be left there, did not stop but kept going until he felt he had actually gone a little too far.  He had at this moment accomplished a feat that thousands of civilized men had perished in trying to do. Henson was standing at the North
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for May, 1931    33

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--Photo by Butler

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They Met The King

Carol Chilton and Maceo Thomas, internationally famed dancers, whose work with AL Jolson in "Der Wunder Bar" has attracted attention of Broadway's leading critics. This youthful pair joined with the famous blackface songster after a tour which carried them into practically every country in Europe.  While in London they were ordered by royal command to appear at Buckingham Palace before King George V and the royal family. 
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