Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-12-24
EXPLORER NANsEN'S WIFE.
She Teaches Music and Has a Most
Beautiful Home.

New York Press: Nansen's recent
voyages of exploration into the Arctic
and his safe return have given fresh
! interest to everything connected with
him. There can be nothing closer to
him than his wife, SO that a glance at
her life in her beloved Norway home
is really an introduction to the great
traveller in his most intimate relation.
When DR.. hansen married Eva Sars,
in 1889, 1t was agreed between them
that there should be NO material
change IN the methods of their two
| lives. The husband was to continue
his work of exploration, as he thought
well, and the wife was to teach music
as she had done for years. This plan
they have pursued with few excep-
lions. Sometimes Mrs hansen has ac-
companied her husband in his winter
ski runs n the mountains, and valleys
of Norway, and it was her intention to
accompany her husband ON his last
trip into the Arctic, but was dissuaded
at the last moment.
SO she let him &c without her, and
Wnen he is away she teaches music
and cares for her little daughter. Liv,
or Life, who was only a baby when her
father went away.
The Nansen home is in Christiana,
Norway. 1t is a beautiful house, at
the foot of wooded hill, with fair
meadows ard fragrant pine woods, and
is an ideal rereat for one whose life
work takes him away into the bleak
cheorlessness of Northern winters so
often. The home is called Godthaab
Villa When Frau Manson was found
at her home q few weeks ago she was
singing an aria from an opera. She
has the reputation of being the finest
romance singer in Norway She is a
petite woman of brunette beauty, with
the sparkle of merriment shining in
her rich, red cheeks and the evidence
of good nature in her welcoming voice.
She wore a dark serge skirt, a cross
over blouse, with full sleeves, accord
ing to the English style, and her hair
was brushed back from her broad,
intellectual forehead.
Her house is filled with works of art
and curiosities from all parts of the
world, including trophies of DR.. Nan
SENS Greenland and other explora-
tons. The house is constructed OF
pinewood trunks of trees giving 1t
most picturesque appearance, inside as
well as out. The furniture harmonizes
with it. There are the carved dragon
heads of the Morse people in the fur
niture as well as the projections of the
house itself, and one is taken back to
the days of medievalism at a leap as
one enters this ancient shelter for
modern science. The most modern
thing in it is the grand PIANO that
stands in the center of the parlor. This
piano has all the latest improvements,
and Mrs. Nansen plays it with the sue
cess and taste of an artist. Although
her husband is away from her SO much
this little brave woman makes the best
of it, She knew before marriage that
her husband haG a lifework before
him, and that she must be prepared
to make sacrifices in The cause Of sci
ence. She makes them and complains
not although she would be less than
a woman aid she not wish that some
day her husband will feel that he has
done enough for the world and is en-
titled to rest in peace for the balance
Of his days by his own hearthstCne