The Dispatch. [volume] (Provo City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1891-03-04
YOUNG HAFEN.
He Intends Making SWitZ-
erland a Visit.
For the Purpose of Spending
a Month Sketching Swiss
Life and Scenery.

to The DISPATCH. lit affords NE
great pleasure to communicate through
the vehicle of your good journal some
news that will be received with hearty
welcome by many, IF not rather all, of
your readers, especially the citizens Of
Springyille, who can be justly proud
of one young man who has grown up
i'll their midst, to be an honor and
credit, not only to them, but also to
the entire Territory: another shining
mark, another star OF pure and bright
effulgence in that golden galaxy,
known as young Utah"
OF course, L refer to John Hafen,
the modestly ambitious and steadily
studlous devotee ef the designing
board and the painters easel, whose
productions with crayon and brush
have, ere this, delighted many who
appreciate the beautiful. 1t will be
remembered that young Hafen Ia good
sketch and speaking likeness of whom
appeared in the Christmas issue of the
Salt Lake Herald went to Paris,
France, last summer in the company
of two other Utah boys, upon whose
broWs the Creator has put the indel-
lible stamp of artistic genius, but who
could not find the nursery" of talent
necessary for the development of their
powers in the humble surroundings of
their youth. Now they are in the
very centre of modern civilization,
the gay and proud, but yet hospitable
and lovable Seine metropolis, studying
art in the Julian school Of painting,
acknowledged by the. art world as the
best school for drawing. That insti-
tuition, as we'll as the magnificent gal
lerieS of the Louvre and Luxembourg
those splendid caskets of past Bour-
bon gorgeousness and luxury COM
bines with many private galleries (all
of which are opened gratuitously to
an admiring public) in affording I'M
excelled opportunities for him who
strives in honest efforts after the at
taInments of the beautiful.
Hafen's early surroundings and i'm
pressions manifest their wholesome
influence in his motto-the same that
we find almost as hollow mockery,
though) on American coins:- ~ Coo
we trust" In his letter to mutual
friend in Midway, he says in his own
and his friends behalf: 80 here we
are, trusting in God for divine aid,
while we diligently and earnestly
apply ourselves to study and grasp
everything pertaining to art. Our
trust in God has not been in vain.
He has blessed us abundantly, so that
our progress is much greater than it
could possibly be by dependence only
upon our own mental strength. p"
Hence his friends can ''be assured"
that he is enjoying splendid oppor-
tunity, realizing his fondest aspira-
tions and hopes.
But friend Hafen also retains warm
loyalty for his native land, the country
of his birth. Speaking of a contem-
plated visit to, and one months stay
next May or JuEe) in Switzerland,
he desires to be directed ito the most
picturesque parts of Switzerland,
especially such as are not far from
Schorzingen, the idyllic village of
Thurgovie. There stood his humble
cradle, in the shade, almost, of the
proud castle of Arenenberg, where
Louis Napoleon (afterward the in
famously perjured Emperor of France)
passed the years of his exiled sboy-
hood under the eyes of his noble
mother, the accomplished Hortense,
eX-Queen of Holland, and sister of the
unfortunate Josephine Hafen, how
ever, has no such historical reflections
to pursue. He aims at something
more satisfactory to an artists soul,
to 4 poetic craving after natures
ch&ste embrace. Let us hear him:
Il have good map and guide book,
bat these direct me in the course of
tourists, where great bare-walled
modern hotels mar the beauties of
nature. | love to go away from the
haunts of fashion into natures Sc
Guided hooks, where nestle quaint
little villages and mirror lakes,
amongst Alpine cottages and curiously
attired peasants; where the spirit and
poetry of nature and humble life, is
free and untrammeled with monot-
onous landmarks OF surfeited sight
seekers" He intends to spend a
month or so in sketching the choicest
bits of characteristic Swiss life and
scenery. 'Of course" he adds, "'there
is beauty all around, but my time is
so limited in this land that | would
not like to lose time in hunting for
such salient spots as will do credit to
my old fatherland. "
With such devotion to God, admira-
ton of nature, loyalty to home, at
tachment to art, to all and each in
their purity and simplicity, young
Hafen is destined for fair and bright
future, not little of the brilliancy of
which will tend to cast CLEAN
around the territory that is his home
of adoption.
In conclusion L add, for the benefit
Of his numerous friends within the
reach of the jurisdiction of THE Dis
PATCH, the aspiring artists present
address; Rue Champagne Premiere,
Paris, France, Europe
LEO HAEFELI.