Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-29

| dish of raw horse meat which turned the
stomachs of the Lapps, who accompanied
him, or of the cooker which served for
all purposes, and which was licked clean
by the tongue of BALTIC. One commends
these accounts of endurance and prlyation
disregarded and overcome to the gentlemen
who write about the degeneration of the
human race, to the peesimsts who curiously
enough, look to this very Norway for the
light.
More than these qualities which have been
described is, however, needed to carry TO a
successful issue such an enterprise as has
made Nansen world-famous. 1t is the quail
ity of being able to work out in each min
ute detail the plan that is to be followed, of
leaving nothing to chance, of foreseeing
everything with mathematical precision
the quality in fact, which carried Ma
poleon so far, till negeCting it, he fell. Be
fore Nansen left Norway his calculations
had been made with such scientific ac
curacy, that he was able to hand to friend
chart on which was indicated the route
that the Fran would take. 1t indicated al
most exactly the route that the Fran did
take, as far as the ship was able to pro-
gress.
He is a deep thinker-one need but look
at his massive head to believe that-and
1t has been suggested that IL is just on ao-
count of this habit of his of absorbing him
self in some thought or train of thought,
that he is able-being entirely taken up
to rise superior to all physical incon-
NenlenCe ana even suffering. his people
tell of him that already as a child when
In those fits of mental abstraction, he
seemed obliviOus of all physical impress
siOns. There is a story of an egg which
Fridtjof was eating at breakfast, which
strongly manifested that II was not Chris-
tlan diet. The boy had noticed nothing, and
his wits were certainly not wool-gathering.
These periods of mental absorption may be
noticed even today by any one who watches
him, even when his attention might be
eItp IN hn vi
eyes seem to go out the head droops and
the hands turn outwards. / observed this
several times during my stay in Chris
tiania and at no time was | more impressed
thereby than when having landed from the
Fran on the decorated pier he was stand
ing waiting for his companions to join and
follow him up to the pavilion, where all
that is foremost In Norway waited to give
him greeting Thousands were shouting
welcome. guns were booming from the
forts and frigates, women were in ecstasies
of hysterical welcoming and there he stood,
unconsciops who knows where?
No doubt such exceptional qualities OF
head and ARMAND II may be said Of heart
also-were needed for the success OF the
great and perilous enterprise, and this being
So few Will begrudge this man the eXcep-
tional rewards which his success has won
for him. Honors have been showered upon
him and. Gs to money, all the largest pub
fishing firms in the world have been com
peting to enrich him. He can count the
sums which his book will bring him, not by
thousands, but by tens OF thousands OF dol
lars. He was able to refuse from a German
impressarlo an offer OF $4,000 for 100 lee
lures, and from a publisher In Denmark a
sum OF 100. 900 krOners for the Scandinavian
rights of HIS book. And so on, and when he
left Norway three years ago he was a poor
man. for he had put his all into this patri-
otic enterprise. The harvest is a golden one
II Is true but when one remembers the
times OF sowing, he wonders II even this
golden harvest is a fair reward.
II. H. SHERARD.
Brides OF distinction have been carrying
an iyory-bound prayerbook set with tur-
quoise or other stones instead OF a bout
quet little sheaf. that is, a handful OF
white blooms, surrounded by greenery and
tied up as a sheaf. Is another notion, and
a notably beautiful bride not long since
had shoe slung from her arm filled with
flowers. while another had bali OF orange
blossoms suspended from the wrist by inch