The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1908-04-13
A rATHEh s LOVE.


Morris Christensen. of 1925 South
Twentv-ffth street heroicallv gave
M his life Sunday afternoon in res
cuing his little son from drownding
in a ~cistern. His dying thought as he
stood with his head two feet above
water. was that he must keep the lit
tie fellows head above water until
assistance arrived, and he succeeded
in this keeping his arms stretched
above his head until he lost conscious
ness. The man could easily have saw
ed his own life if he had let the child
go, but with the greatest presence of
mind and courage sacrificed his own
life willingly for the babe. When
n~eighbors arrived and grasped the
baby from his outstretehed arms, just
as it was sinking below the water, his
arms evidently giving out, he fell to
the bottom of the %eistern, and by the
time they were able to get hold of him
with a rake and pull him out he was
evidently lifeless. Doctors worked
over him for an hour with no sign of
returning life. He was probably under
water fifteen minutes, says the Omaha
World-Herald.
The child was saved and Christensen
died, standing firmly on his feet and
lifting his boy to safety. None of
us can picture the thoughts that were
in his mind, the keen life that he lived
in those dying minutes. But we can
realize better, because of the deed, the
beauty and nobility of the spirit Of
goodness with which God has implant-
ed humanity.
To the little boy whose life was
saved at so fearful a sacrifice, this
story of his fathers deed will be a
precious legacy. But it should be a
legacy as well to all sons and dau
ghters of all ages and conditions, for
It discloses how deep and true is the
tenderness and love which dwells in
a parents heart. To all humanity
it is a legacy; a lesson impelling us
to love our fellows, who have such
good in them; a revelation of the di-
vine spark in man, inspiring us with
faith in humanity land its future in
this world and in the next.
There has been many deeds of
heroism and lf-sacrifiee immortaliz-
ed in song and story and with paint
er's brush; deeds that for all time will
command the reverence and respect OF
all men. In the roar of battle count
less soldiers have died for their coun-
try, ~zealots have consented to be lash
ed to the stake and be burend rather
than recant a conviction; fathers,
husbands and sons have given their
lives freely for their loved ones, and
for that loves sake counted the world
well lost. But no one of them acri-
feed himself so superbly, under more
trying circumstances that did Morris
Christensen of Omaha last Sunday af-
ternoon.
For here thher was nothing but
love, nothing but absolute devotion to
nerve Christensen to his awful task
while he slowly smothnred - uncon-
Seriousness and certain death. No
pomp or pageantry, no plaudl $ OF
spectators, no instant 5 wild impulse
kept Christensen grimly on his feet at
the bottom of the well, with the water
two feet above his head, while with
arms extended he held his little son
high above his head. He wa. a man,
and mans compelling instinct of self
preservation must have been clamoring
in his ears, in his heart, everv minute
every second that he stood there, cv-
cry nerve thrilling, every irop Of mis-
blood throbbing, every ounce aad atom
of his body sending to his brain the
imperative summons to ,et his read
above the water and saw himself
Alone, but for the babe, in silence and
darkness, he stood there and fought
that awful battel in which devotion
%triumphed over selfishness, ana the
soul proved itself mightisr than the
body.