Evening star., 1896-11-28

luxury Of every outdoor sport Till he was
sixteen years old Nansen never received
mere than AN, q, SIX pence month pocket
boyish inclination to self-indulgence check
ed and combatel. On the other hand
everything that could develop manliness,
self-reliance and courage was fostered with
the greatest care and attention. Fridtjof
was taught to swim WHEN he was four
years old and was nearly drowned at the
first lesson.
Not long afterward he was able to save
the life Of his brother who was drowning
in the icy river at the bottom of the Frozen
Park. the first act of a long series of life
saving acts. which alone should commend
him to the affection and gratitude of his
fellows. Johansen, his companion on the
ice fees, has described in conversation
one of the last of these acts of heroism.
II was ahead of Nansen, who was out OF
sight" he said, when a huge polar bear
got on to me and knocked me down with a
blow of his paw. 'Nansen,' L cried, IL
you don't shoot this second I'm done for
The instant after 1 heard the crack Of his
rifle and the bear went over" He added.
"the blow did me more good than harm,
for It cleared some of the filth off my
face"
His Splendid Nerve.
He tells this story as proof of the splen.
cid alertness and promptitude and nerve
of his leader. Nansen tells II. too. but. as
is his way. to show what fine, cool-nead-
ed companion he had In Johansen. There
is not a more courageous. level-headed fell
| low In the world than this giant by my
| side. You ought to have heard the tone in
which he said, 'Nansen, II you don't shoot
at once just as though he were asking
| me the time OF day." Here. as on every
| occasion, one finds NaLsen deprecating
credit to himself in favor of another One
may allude In this connection to the atti-
tude he has all along maintained towards
the scheme OF Prof Apdree, whom many
have described his rival Ii has been
one of sympathetic interest of hope for his
I,.v;1 D,
| result to be expected was not a great one.
| In what good stead his physical training
has stood him in his life has been proved
hundred times over since he first began
| his adventurous life. Whtn food was TO be
| had IL was no Christian diet and water was
| a luxury. Already in Greenland he had
| shown what a man can do in straits. and
| VINO mas forgotten his accounts OF the dish
| OF raw horse meat which turned the stom-
achs of the lapps who accompanied him,
or of the cooker, which was licked clean by
| the tongue of BALTIC. One commends these
\ accounts of endurance and priyation disre-
| garded and overcome TO the gentlemen who
| write about the degeneration of the human
| race, tc The pessimists who curiously
enough look to this very Norway for the
light.
The Ability to Plan.
More than these qualities which have
been described is, however, needed to carry
to q successful issue such an enterprise a 3
has made Nansen world famous. 1t is the
| QuaHty OF beng able to work out In each
minute detail the plan that is to be follow
| ed, of leaving nothing TO chance OF fore
| seeing everything with mathematic pre-
| cision-the quality, In fact, which carried
| Napoleon so far. till neglecting il, he fell.
1 Before Nansen left Norway his calculations
| had been made with such scientifc accu-
| racy that he was able to hand to a friend
| chart, on which was indicated the route
| that the Fran would take. Ii indicated al
| most exactly the route that the Fran did
take, as far as the ship was able to pro-
| greSs.
| There is a story of an egg which Fridtjof
| was eating at breakfast, which strongly
| manifested that ii was not Christian diet
| The boy had noticed nothing, and his wits
| were certainly not wool-gat herring. These
| periods of mental absorption may be no.
1 ticed even today by any one who watches
| him, even when his attention might be sup
| posed TO be most vividly engaged. His
| eyes seem to go out the head droops and
the hands turned outward. When having
landed from the Fran on the decorated
pier. he was standing, waiting for his COM
| panions to join and follow him up to the
| pavilion, where all that is foremost in Nor
way waited to give him greeting. thou.
sands shouting welcome, guns werS
booming from the forts and frgates. wo-
men were in ecstasies Of hysterical well
coming, and there he stood, unconscious,
who knows where?