Ever since the attempt to cross or reach the north pole in a balloon was broached in the home papers those thirty-five frozen masses of humanity have flitted across my uneasy mind's eye, In sledge or a boat the man has to work, and that, while ho is awake, keeps his healthy blood aglow. By night he can make himself a snow hut where in his furs he can sleep in safety and cook his scanty food. But seated without protection, without the need or the possibility of hard' Inbour, is it conceivable that any man could pass through twenty-four hours in safety? He can sleep—a delicious sleep like what one can imagine the sleep of the opium smoker. But can he awake again? The little box at the bottom of that balloon could accommodate one—or two at a crush—and itali sleep, were warranted to be taken there, it is conceivable that the peril would be overcome. But who can guarantee that the man of men 6: to the intensely sedative effects of the keen air never able to creep up anything near zero, would continue awake? It was surely'a wild venture.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.