Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1912 — Polar Privations. [ARTICLE]

Polar Privations.

Mr. Amundsen tells of his winter quarters in the antarctic regions having been equipped with a plain bath and a steam bath. It is evident that hunting poles isn’t much more trouble nowadays than going riding on one of the fast trains. We do hope that Amundsen had in his party one of those people who are always telling about taking their cold plunge every morning. It would reconcile us to climbing over ice mountains, eating pemmican and things like that, just to hear him object to any one wanting a steam bath with the temperature at the nice, stimulating point of 140 below. Some wonder having been expressed at Amundsen’s reaching the pole so quickly, we hasten to point out that as there are no* Eskimo in the antarctic regions he did not have to carry a car load of gumdrops. Among other questions his records are expected to settle is the vexing one of whether it is “antarctic” or “antartic.”