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42 HE STOOD On the TOP of the WORLD By Roscoe Holloway Only Six Men Have Stood at the North Pole--Five of Them Are Dead, Leaving Only Matthew Henson to Tell the Story of How this Difficult Feat Was Accomplished [[image]] MATTHEW A. HENSON, who helped Admiral Peary plant the United States flag at the North Pole in 1909, is all but forgotten by his country and his countrymen. LAST year a strange thing happened in New York. It was April, and early breezes brought romance to young hearts, and memories to old ones. Matthew Henson had just returned to his modest home at 901 Grant Avenue, Bronx, from a particularly trying day in the Customs office where he works. He was in a weary mood and had just confided to his faithful wife, Mrs. Lucy Henson, that he was going to retire early. "One doesn't feel quite as pert at 62 as he did at 24, and this is especially true when one observes that the world is slipping past with monotonous regularity of years, and that he, at last, must recognize the fact that beaten paths are not made to your door as readily as has been written." Matthew Henson was not bitter. He had recalled suddenly that the date was April 6, and that on April 6, 20 years before, he, then a young man and filled with hope, enthusiasm, and a justifiable sense of pride, had stood bareheaded in the biting cold of the artic, and had watched Robert Edwin Peary plant the American flag at the North Pole! Peary now was dead. The four other persons who stood at the pole with Henson and Peary--all Eskimos--were also dead. The natives of the North had died as they probably would have cared to die, had they given the matter any thought at all. And Peary had died wrapped in glory--a hero to the world. When he had made the journey to the North Pole, Peary was just an engineer who had interested an institution in financing the expedition. At his death in 1920, he had received all the plaudits a doting world could heap upon him. A Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, a Grand Officer of the French Legion of Honor were titles which came to Peary in rapid succession. Other honors there were: Congressional Medal of Honor with the thanks of Congress, delegates to the International Polar Commission at Rome and Chairman of the National Aerial Patrol Commission of the United States during the world war were just a few of the honors which came to Commander Peary after his exploit. Yet, to Matthew Henson, the only other American to reach the Pole, there was nothing. True, he was given a job as a clerk in the Customs Department, but he would have found some sort of job had he never seen the North Pole, and this job was not an honorary one. He has to report just as other clerks do, and fulfill the duties assigned to him by superior clerks, so this cannot be called an honor. No wonder Mr. Henson felt blue that evening when he arrived home. His mind had gone over the hardships he had endured--not [[for-the?]] money he received, but for the love of his country and the respect and admiration he held for his Commander--as he trudged home from work that evening. He was a little bit wearied of waiting for that which was obviously not to come. 43 [[image]] ADMIRAL ROBERT EDWIN PEARY stood at the North Pole with Matthew Henson and four Eskimos--No man had ever done this before, and no man has done it since, though many have died trying. Then, there was a knock at the door. Mrs. Henson, small like her husband, and, like him, usually cheerful, opened the door to admit a delegation of white men. They were all smiles. Slowly they filed into the little comfortable sitting room. Henson knew some of them ; they represented the biggest business men of the Bronx. There was Logan Billingsley, President of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, leading the delegation. Mr. Billingsley carried a large silver loving cup, and he beamed joyously upon the two brown faced occupants of the room as he handed the cup to Henson. THE little man accepted the token, turned its engraved side to the light and read: "To Matthew A. Henson. "As a token in recognition of his service to science as a member of the Peary expedition which discovered the North Pole April 6, 1909. "Presented by the Bronx Chamber of Commerce on the twentieth anniversary of that great achievement, April 6, 1929." Matthew Henson was overwhelmed. In all the 20 years that had elapsed since that memorable occasion when he had stood at the top of the world with frozen feet, snow-blind eyes, and fingers numbed from cold, this was the first group of American citizens that had taken [[image]] It was a sad crew on the Norwegian ship, Braatvaag, that returned to Norway last summer bearing the 33 year old skeletons of Dr. August Andree and one member of his fatal North Pole balloon party of 1897.
Transcription Notes:
By Roscoe Holloway initially at bottom. placed near title for readability.
