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Now the rest of the story. Most every youngster in school has heard of the Arctic explorations of Robert Edwin Perry. It was in 1898 that Perry announced his intention to explore the North Pole. He would be frustrated in that pursuit for more than a decade. He even had an ice breaking ship built to his specifications. Yet he could only steam and then sled his way to within 175 miles of his elusive goal. What few remember about Perry's expeditions is that he was always accompanied by a personal aid, a black man named Matthew Alexander Henson. When Perry embarked on his final arctic journey in 1908, Matt went with him as usual. Others on the expedition included scientists and athletes. Even as the adventurers departed New York Harbor, Perry made it clear that if he failed to reach the Pole on this trip, he would never try again. Well, the icebreaker plowed its way northward, farther north than any ship had ever sailed, all the way to the northern shore of Ellesmere Island. A thousand miles of drifting, shattered ice lay between the explorers and the North Pole. It was early September, two months out of New York. It would be another six months before the men were even within striking distance of their objective. Six months of sledding and trudging over a frigid, desolate landscape which was no land at all. The adventurers battled their way to within 132 miles of the Pole. No man had ever drawn so near to that imaginary point at which the Earth's axis intersects the surface. The temperature was now 50 below. Perry determined that all but six must return to the icebreaker at Ellesmere Island. The six who were to complete the journey, thus risking their lives to meet the historic challenge, were Perry himself, his aide Matt Hemson, and four Eskimos. This last leg of the journey was the most treacherous. Perry had once said that he doubted he could reach the Pole without Henson's help. And now Matt was proving himself indispensable. Nobody knew more about the Arctic than did he, not even the Eskimos, who were more skilled at sled driving. On April 6, the party reached the Pole. Men had been trying for three centuries, but now at last, half a dozen men were standing someplace where south was the only direction on Earth. And then the explorers returned home. Matt was hailed for his participation in the polar expedition, but that applause died very quickly. Matt wrote a book about the adventure, but few cared to read the book. Within three years, he, Matt Henson, was a forgotten man. Everybody knows about Perry in the Pole. A learned few are aware that a black man named Matthew Henson went along. But how many until this moment ever knew the rest of the story? That the morning of April 6, 1909, an exhausted Robert Perry pitched camp and took a nap. He took a nap, and his aide, Matt Henson, took a walk. Later, measurements would show that Matt. Matt Henson, on his stroll, had encountered the Pole. That's right. While Perry was asleep. Matthew Henson was the first man ever to stand at the top of Robert Perry for his ascent to the Earth's northernmost. Wound up in the history books. Matt Henson, who got there first, wound up in Brooklyn parking cars. And now you know the rest of the story.