Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1905 — BORN AN EXPLORER. [ARTICLE]

BORN AN EXPLORER.

Comniandcr Peary Has Had the Fever Since Boyhood. A man who set out to reach tha north pole should know how to endure hardships, and Commander Peary long ago began to learn. A prominent citizen of Maine, himself a lover pf outdoor life, relates that when Peary was a young man it was a common thing for him to take “a camping outfit of a blanket and a lunch” and start for the mountains bordering upon Maine and New Hampshire. There, alone, he would pass days exploring ravines, ledges and the deep, secluded spots, cooking his own meala and feasting upon the trout with which the streams abounded. Ho never built a camp; he simply rolled himself in a blanket to sleep, hut he would come out brown and hardy. On one of these occasions he had I'akcn a canoe to the head waters of Cold river, and after passing a few days, eumc down the Saco, and stoppod at about 5 o'clock for a word with those in my camp. We expected to have the pleasure of his compnny for the night, thinking that he would welcome hearty meals and a good bed. But "No,” he said. “I never sleep indoors when on these trips.” It was a cold, windy November night but he bade us goodby and went down the river. The next morning, beside a stone wall, we found his camping place. A few smoky embers told ua where he had cooked his breakfast, and a spot on the grass 0% feet long and free from white frost showed us where he had slept. It’s easy for the average man to b« honest when he doesn’t need tha money. Eggs, like men, are often broke, but, unlike men, they are never too fresh.