Life — May 27, 1926 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Lire Polar Expedition Special Correspondence from Robert Benchley ) ROUTE w Polar Expedition We chose this through Mt. Vernon, Scarsdale, because we it might be Lire’s Bicycle May 24 route northward, Tuckahoe and figured ont that ff at my house in Scarsdale for maybe a bite to pleasant to stop eat, or, in case there was not time for that, at rate to let the But I guess now that we take the any boys see our bicycles would have done better to Hudson River road We reached Scarsdale late yesterday afternoon, intending to put in at my side ta drink of cool water and perhaps a pocketful of Rosa's cookies, show my two boys how the gyro-bal- yard, ancer works, and then push on to White The cool-water- part of the plan worked - dot, but in demonstrating the Plains for the night and-cookies out to th gyro-balancer to the boys we ran into snag which has held us up for an en- tire day. ted- nelly He in- his gyro-balancer from the frame of his to show Nat how It was really due to the kind-t ness of Lieut.-Commander C that the whole thing happened. sisted on removin “bike” in order niel, my older boy, just as he laid the loose nuts on a piece of paper on the ground. Robert, my six and so mustn't be blamed too much), claims that he didn’t gi And he probably doesn’t realize that he did. But one of the nuts was found over a nail on a boat that he was work- ing on a few feet away, and the other had disappeared completely it worked, and did so, he younger boy (who is only near the paper or the nuts mediately instituted which covered every square inch of the those darkness’ came A search was ii lawn and extended into the street things roll so. But when we were no nearer to finding it than we had been at the beginning, and it was to telephone back into New York for an extra nut, which they said they would send out the first thing in the morning. It is now 4:17 in the afternoon and the man hasn't come yet. We are very discouraged. necessary It was while we were searching for the r that a neighbor came up and asked us if we had heard anythi about the Byrd expedition’s having flown over Pole. I got him aside out of ear- shot of the other men and asked him if He said no, but that he had seen a cartoon in some paper which he was sure. seemed to have reference to a success- ful flight by Byrd. I, however, laughed his fears away and went back to the search, Even if Byrd does beat us to it, his victory will have been by flying machine, while ours will be by bicycle. two entirely different things. {AP SHOWING GREAT STRIDES MADE BY EXPEDITION TO DATE. The trip from Mt. Vernon to Scars- dale was one of great beauty and was accomplished without a mishap. The route led along the Bronx River Park way, through woods and across streams, h made up in a way for the rough time we had in the traffic in New York City. While passing through Lieut.-Commander Connelly saw a scar- let tanager perched on a bush over- hanging the stream. Thinking that it might be interesting to have it for our collection of flora and fauna which we are making for the Museum, we dis- mounted and crept up very quictly be- side it, thinking to bag it before it could collect its wits. But it heard us coming and flew awa: There is a particularly odd family of ferns which grows along the bank of the Bronx River, and, ferns not being as agile as birds, we were able to pi great quantities of it. I wish that some of my readers could tell me what the name of It is green, like other ferns, but it seems to have a sort of flower which looks like a carnation. The blossom was still in bud and so we were unable to tell exactly what it does look like, but I should say that a carnation would just about fit it. Any naturalist have run across this fern, and who knows what it it is who happens to is, would relieve our minds considerably if he, or she, would write to the Lire Polar Expedition, General Delivery, White Plains, N, Y., and tell us. Justa regular fern, with carnation blossom. We are now going out into the side- yard again with a flashlight to take another look for the missing nut, as evidently the man from town isn't going to bring out that extra one to-day, and we st get started early to-morrow morning. Every cloud, they say, has a silver lining, and, as a result of our being held up here in Scarsdale like this, we have been able to have some of Rosa's ex- cellent baked-beans. I find it almost impossible to get real New England baked-beans in this region, unless you tell some one just how they should be done. In the first place, it must be a California pea-bean that is used, and these should be put to soak the night before and then baked in a slow fire all the next day. If we had got away when we expected, the beans would not have been ready. So perhaps we were a little harsh with Bobbie. comicbooks.com