The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-29

Although the extraordinary enthu-
siasm with which the cold and unen-
thusiastic Norwegians everywhere re-
ceived Nansen on his return home, may
be attributed largely to national PRIDE
in the success. of. a most difficult under
taking, it was obvious to all who
witnessed this reception-a memoir
able sight indeed-that it was also
stimulated to a high degree by the per-
sonality and the record of man VINO
NAV be set down as one OF the most
striking men OF the daY. hansen IS a
hero in NORWAY, and that simply De-
cause he is a hero, or because at any
rate in his character and achievements
he approaches closer 10 the popular IN
terpretation of that title than any man
that one knows of. He has the build OF
one to begin with. He has been com
pared with the vikings of old by the
poets of his country since his return
but this comparison has been mace
long ago by his cOuntrymen- indeed
the sight of the man, even to one VINO
knows nothing of the extraordinary
feats of endurance and courage which
he has performed, is enough TO remind
one OF the old Morse heroes, who IN
fused into the Anglo-SaXon race those
qualities OF courage and endurance
which have made the English-speaHng
people what it is, the predominant race
of the world. He is a man OF extra
ordinary strength, and as to this there
are a hundred stories current. AS
lad he could hold his own against six
boys of his own age, so his biographers
relate, and as a man he has certainly
maintained his proportions. one mas
heard of the London pickpocket who,
having attempted to snatch DR.. Nan
sens watch, was gripped by the young
Norwegian and held fast with one
hand in a grip so powerful That, as
Mr. Balm l-as related, his wrist was
nearly. crushed and he said that he
would rather go to jail for month
than let that gentleman get hold OF
him again" At Thomson the other day,
when at the Feast of Welcome, he was
proposing Captain SverdruD's health,
he suddenly lifted his shipmate up and
held him aloft with one arm so that
everybody in the crowded hall could
get a sight of the comrade to whom ne
admits so great an obligation. And
these things are as nothing compared
to the feats of sheer muscular strength
which, with characteristic modesty, are
described in his book on THE First
Crossing of Greenland, and in the
book which he is now writing.
There is no country in Europe more
long since as 1913, all titles of nobility
were abolished and it was made a
penal offense for any to use such. Tet
even in the most democratic countries
the respect OF the people viii go out
more readily to the man who comes
of long line of ancestors such as for
centuries have distinguished the name
of hansen. Thousands of those who
shouted themselves hoarse during his
triumphal progress down the coast of
Norway and through the streets of
Christiania remembered, no doubt, with
heightened enthusiasm. the Hans Nam
sen-hiS direct ancestOr-who, in the
first years of the Seventeenth century
"a mere lad-exDlored the White sea,
sailed 10 Petschora and indeed, with
such equipment as he had, fought as
valiant a fight against the ice and
he night of the Arctic regions as
nearly 300 wears after his descendant
vas to do. No doubt his memory was
many times in Fritiof Nansen's mind
IS he pushed on and on, further and
further north, as a spur and an in
eentive, but as a spur and an incentive
alone. There can be few men, if any,
Who are endowed with more mOdesty.
Since his return to Norway, he has
never ceased 10 put forward, what so
many of his admirers have appeared 70
forget. that to his brave companions of
the Fran, an equal share of honor is
due. He has often complained that
the rewards allotted to them are in
adequate as compared TO those which
he has received. He will not wear his
Great Cross of the Order of st. Olaf,
because his crew only received a paltry
silver medal apiece. 1T might at least
have been gold ne says, and although