sun that blind one, we have the
ever varied, many colored rays of the Aurora Borealis, shooting stars
and electrical displays of all kinds that far surpass even your most
elaborate Fourth of July celebrations.

"One moment the sky will be a sea-shell pink, with bars of vivid
green, lavender and purple playing across it, while in the center will
be a misty golden ball as if the sun was trying to shine through. The
next instant all may be pitch darkness until this too is chased away
by another electrical outburst. These go on constantly for the whole
six months until they become so common an occurrence that the
inhabitants pay no more attention to those magnificent displays than
you do to your sun on a summer day.

"Picture to yourself this wonderful sky, against which huge icebergs
are seen, taller than your tallest church steeple, and more beautiful
to look upon with their lacelike frostwork than your most elaborately
carved white marble cathedral. All of this is reflected in detail in
the clear, cold, deep green waters of the Arctic Ocean, where the big
walruses, whales and seals live, to say nothing of the clumsy white
polar bears that sit idly on a cake of ice waiting for an unwary fish
to swim by so he may catch it and make a breakfast on it.

"In round-topped, oven-like mounds made of ice and snow live our
masters, the Eskimos. They live on whale oil, blubber, fish and the
meat of the musk ox, bear and other animals that inhabit the far
North. You dogs and cats who live so far from us in a country where
there are noisy cities cannot imagine the silence of a cityless
country or a land where the only sounds are the crunching of one
iceberg against another or the roar and thunder of a glacier as it
falls to pieces when melted by the sun. This world of ours seems like
a dead world when compared to yours, but underneath this eternal
covering of snow, down deep in the green water of the ocean are
myriads of living, moving creatures as lively as any in your more
sultry climate.

"But I see I am taking up too much time, so will stop and extend an
invitation to one and all of you to come and visit my Land of the
Midnight Sun, and see for yourselves how things look and how we live.
I thank you for your courtesy in listening to my stupid speech," and
bowing low his head he left the platform.

[Illustration]

His speech was followed by loud barks and meows and a great scratching
of claws upon the bare floor.

At las