DR. COOK

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2696, 29 December 1909, Page 5

DR. COOK

COOK’S STRUGGLE FOR EDUCATION. The following story of'lpr. jCook’s life is taken from a London rpdper: ‘HUs father was a German, a Dr. emigrated to the United,Spates whbn a young man, and practised in a .jcural district in the State of New York-.: He changed his name to ‘Cook,’ doing what many thousand others have done when they found that ail Anglo-Saxon name was an advantage in America. —Of a Jewish Family.—

“It seems fairly certain that Dr Koch was a Jew —a member of a well-known family of Frankfcrt-on-Main. This information was given to the ‘Jewish World’ newspaper, and we understand that it came from a quite trustworthy source. Dr. Koch, or Cook, died when his son, the explorer, was six years old, leaving a tmy farm for the support of a widow and four children. Obviously they must have had a hard time. At length they moved to Brooklyn, part of the great city of New York.

“Here young Cook’s fortunes were at their lowest ebb. He had to earn money, and sold vegetables m the market. In.what little spare time he had he read. He saved all that he could, and with his savings started a milk business. He himself delivered th© milk to his customers, beginning work at one o’clock in the morning, and working until seven. —Hard-won Diploma.—

“Then, at nine o’clock, he went to Columbia University, attending classes until four in the afternoon, when he ’ returned to Brooklyn and read u **tu. ; night-time. Think of the life. Ihe tiresome journeys from Brooklyn to the university and back alone took a considerable slice out of each day, and. yet the boy was up an hour after midnight in order to obtain money for his education. Only on Saturdays and Sundays when there were no classes, did; lie get an opportunity for proper sleep. “This life went on for six years, and then the young man received his physician’s diploma. This was in 1891, and immediately afterwards Dr. Cook succeeded in obtaining an appointment as surgeon with the Peary expedition to North Greenland, being chosen out of the entire graduating class. When ho returned to America he practised as a. pliysiean in Brooklyn for six years, and then when he heard a rumor that a. surgeon was wanted on the Belgian Antarctic expedition he cabled-to the promoters, offering himself as a volunteer. His offer was accepted by cable, and he joined the expedition at Rio de Janeiro. Ever since then he seems to have been engaged in one hazardous exploit*after another.” —Peary and Cook.— The same authority states than Peary’s book of the expedition which. Dr. Cook accompanied as surgeon contains many references to Dr. Cook, to whom were given some of the most arduous duties counected with the expedition. The author savs in Volume* 1: “To Dr. Cook’s care may be attributed the almost complete exemption of the party from even the mildest indispositions, and personally I owe muck to his professional skill and unruffled patience and coolness in an emergency.”