Thanksgiving-day, with its games, sports, and dinner, gave them a pleasant variety. First, came the snow-shoe race of one hundred yards, Brainard, victor. Next, the foot-race, with many contestants, but Ellis coming out ahead. Then the dog-team race to Dutch Island and return, under the Esquimaux Jans and Frederick, the latter, victor. And, finally, a shooting-match, necessarily at short range, and with torches, Henry, victor. These and other out-door exercises were followed by the grand feature of the day, the Thanksgiving dinner, and not a poor one either, even for a lower latitude than eighty-two degrees. In the evening Lieutenant Greely gave out prizes to the victors and second best, Rice acting as master of ceremonies, rigged out in swallow-tail coat, black pantaloons, white vest, and “boiled” shirt. The mercury froze on that day, and Lieutenant Greely brought in a teacupful, which looked like lead as it comes from the mold. The moon also made its appearance, and all fully appreciated the blessing of this luminary.
“What a change,” exclaimed Lockwood, “when she comes forth in all her beauty and loveliness, flooding the landscape with her refulgent beams and cheering the drooping spirits of benighted mortals! Even the poor dogs feel her influence!” On the 1st of December, they had an almost total eclipse of the moon, more remarkable there than an eclipse of the sun elsewhere. During the phenomenon, the exposed part of the disk was of a dull-red color. Lockwood took the altitude of the moon while crossing the meridian, using a saucer of molasses as an artificial horizon. She flooded the whole region with a light, electric in appearance, and causing deep shadows. In the evening they were treated to a display of mock moons, with a circular band of bright light connecting them, and several bands or ribbons of light at various angles, but all passing through the moon.
The Esquimaux, Jans and Frederick, having of late been much depressed, efforts were made by kindly attentions on the part of Lieutenant Greely and others to dispel their gloom and assure them of the friendly feeling entertained toward them by all. These good offices, however, all failed. Dr. Pavy said this state of mind was not infrequent among the natives of lower Greenland, and often resulted in the wandering off of the subjects of it, and, if not followed, by their perishing in the cold. One morning Jans was missing, and at once his tracks were followed by Dr. Pavy, Brainard, Rice, and Whistler, with the dog-sledge. Late in the afternoon they returned with poor Jans, who was found nine miles away, following at a rapid pace the ice-foot around Cape Murchison. He returned unwillingly, and gave no reason for his strange conduct. Rice and Whistler were both rendered hors de combat by the journey, the former by a fall from an ice-hummock, the latter by congestion of the brain owing to having shaved before going out. Both Dr. Kane and Dr. Rink (in his book on Greenland) refer to hallucinations similar to that of Jans, and the frequent fatal consequences.
On the 14th of December appeared the second number of the “Arctic Moon,” which was thought to be an improvement on number one, and was well received. Lieutenant Greely gave a lecture on the “Polar Question.”
On the same day also, Esquimaux Frederick came to Lieutenant Greely and asked permission to leave the station, and, when asked why, said some one was going to shoot him—a strange hallucination!
On the 20th Lockwood writes: “The sun now begins his journey to the north; the backbone of the winter is broken! Walking out at noon to-day, I was just able to see the hands of my watch by holding it close to my eye. The profound silence of this region is quite as striking, and almost as disagreeable, as the darkness. Standing still, one can almost hear his heart beat. The sense of solitude is sublime.” Speaking of Arctic literature, he says that “Hayes’ book, though beautifully written, is far below that of Kane as to information and reliability. No one who has been up Smith’s Sound can fail to notice this.”
On the 24th of December, after eating a birthday dinner, the Christmas presents from an unknown friend to every one of the party, were distributed. The rooms were appropriately decorated, and everything was done to render the occasion cheerful and pleasant. Those articles not specifically assigned by the donor were disposed of by lottery.
Lockwood indulged in the following reflections: “How suggestive of home and of the dear ones there! How often do my thoughts wander away to them! Has Providence been equally kind to them as to me? The day with me suggests alternately the past and the future. Will next Christmas find me here, with everything around as auspicious as now, and shall I then be able to look back with satisfaction and self-complacency on my labors along the Greenland coast? Or will the future bring a record of dreams unsatisfied, of efforts unproductive, of labor in vain? My mind is far away with that group at home assembled together and doubtless regretting that the absent one is not of their number. Could I but see them for an hour, or know that all is well with them, I should rejoice, indeed!”
The “Lime-Juice Club” gave an entertainment on the same evening, at which Snyder affected Jans to tears by his personation of an Esquimaux lady, and Connell brought down the house as a martinet captain, by exclaiming, when a soldier who had shot himself was brought in: “Very sad affair, very sad, indeed! Charge him with two cartridges expended, Sergeant.”
Lieutenant Greely also gave the party as a lecture, “Reminiscences of the Battle of Fredericksburg,” which was interesting and two hours long, though entirely ex tempore; and Lockwood was announced to lecture on “Arctic Sledging.”