AustLit

Author's note: The following incident is the experience of a small party of the Greely American Arctic Expedition, 1881 : On pitching their tent at nightfall they found that they only had one match with which to light their oil lamp. On the warmth of this lamp their lives depended, as without it they could not endure the intense cold of the Arctic night. It can easily be imagined with what agony and apprehension the experiment of lighting the lamp was watched. The precious match was struck and triumphantly applied to the wick, but the latter, being damp, fizzed and sputtered, while the flame burnt rapidly down to the numbed fingers of the holder. Just as the match was expiring, a young man sprang forward and held a paper to the dying glow. It cuaght and the lamp was lit. But the paper was far more precious than anything documentary. It was, in fact, the last loving letter from the young man's sweetheart. He had worn it next to his heart as an amulet, and had sacrificed it only to save the company from certain death.

A Bibliography of Australasian Poetry and Verse: Australia and New Zealand (1925) by Percival Serle states 'On the cover the author's name appears as "J.S. Neilson," but his son, John Shaw Neilson,(q.v.) has informed me definitely that his father's full name was "John," the secon initial being a printer's error.'