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Show B WHY XAHS JENSEN FAILED. B A touching story was often told, twenty-five fl years ago, of how Abraham Lincoln in the poverty fl of his childhood was wont, in his zeal to acquire B knowledge, to lie on the rude hearth of his father's B cabin and study by night with no light save that fl supplied by the blazing hickory logs in the primi- B-w ttve fireplace; how he thus pursued his studies B and, with the swelling hopes which his increased I learning kindled in his soul, he was cheerful and B happy notwithstanding the degredatlon and squalor B of his surroundings; for that lowly hearth was fl indeed but the ante-chamber to the infinite hall I of knowledge, glimpses of the splendor of which fl flashed now and then upon his excited mind, and fl those glimpses were filled with promise of what fl was to be, when the inner doors should be-swung I back for him to enter and he, with clear brain fl and strong arms, should be given an even chance fl to make his way among men who did not love I knowledge for its own sake and who were of no B clearer brain or braver soul than he himself pos- B sessed. B We suspect that quite as touching a story will fl be told in this region in the near future. Antici- B P&ting it we give the outlines as follows: Hans Jensen was one of the units of Utah's best crop. He was the seventh son of the seventh wife of his sire and at his birth was most comely to look upon. He had the flaxen hair and the blue eyes of the Norse kings, and when his meals were delayed he had a fashion of protruding his nether lip and howling in tones which a Norse lady who lived in the same block declared were but an echo of a sea king's battle hymn which her great grandmother, grand-mother, whose veins were filled with Viking blood, was wont to croon above her cradle when she was a baby, a .lullaby to compose her to sleep. As Hans progressed ho began to notice things. At seven months his first tooth appeared and then all the old ladies on that side of the block were called in, and one expressed the sentiments of the whole company by asking: "Did anyone ever see so fine a tooth in the mouth of so young a child?" Then all the others cackled appreciately, while the fond mother kept the saying in her heart. At ten months Hans began to creep and his first great exploit was to pull the tail of the family cat until it howled worse than a northeast gale along the Grand Banks. Hans was three years old when he stole his first tumbler of jam. That the elderly ladies in the block united in ascribing to the first movements of a germ of genius that would eventu- '; iJ!fl ate in making Hans an alderman from the Sugar Hifl House ward. As seven years of age Hans fell out j 'faifl of a box elder tree that he had climbed in search " t ffjjfl of sparrow eggs. His life was saved by falling 'l JBH in a sitting posture upon soft ground, and the fact lllfPfl that the ground just at that spot was soft was held Slliifl as direct evidence that there was a destiny that Tplllfl was shaping his end rough. j LfSifl At eight years of age Hans blacked the eye of I Pflfl his sister, aged nine, whereupon ancient Scandi- II fcflffl navian literature was searched for a precedent and i nEfl it was found that Berig, one of the earliest of 11 SkS!! their ancient kings the one who first navigated a J PbPB ship across the Baltic, did the same trick at his j ifipfl sister's expense some sixty-six generations ago. JPSSllfl Hans fought his way through the measles, chick- jflawifl en pox, mumps, croup and whooping cough sue- 'SBfll cessfully. The last mentioned disease, indeed, fjffifl brought him much fame, for the whloe block ad- UnJUBW mitted that no such whoop as his had been heard JBflHfl since the first Indian reservation was established. (EflBfl Hans grew and grew. Ho learned his letters from fftflGBfl blocks and when finally he could read his tlifrst BflBfl for learning was wonderful to see. He had to work 99BB9 by day, but he was an insatiable reader at night, jJBflfifl un., .-' Piflflfl Hl M and the advances ho made presaged for him un- HfgLflSf 1 fadirnr laurels. HfifffifUJIIf 1 j But at length he began to complain that his HbjPJ m i eyes hurt nIm; they grew worse and worse and in HbBkI m the second winter became so inflamed that a phy- H3l JSj i sician was called in who pronounced their con- Spf I ; ' dition most serious. Had the surgeon been taken Hrol w f ill, Hans might have recovered, but alas! he called Bjflbf I! . twice a day and in a month the boy's sight was Hmf ij J gone forever. About the time that Hans finally HHf 1 j I lost his sight, his sister began also to complain of IHPl 1 ' her eyes, and a second physician was called. He HH$1 I looked at the child's eyes, asked a few questions HE ' and then told the mother that the eyes were over- H I I strained and to buy some common candles for the B Si child to read by. Wm if i e Rpv! I i ,' The mother tried the old fahisoned tallow-dips HhvJ; ' i and the child was well in three days. Hans now Bjjffi I' f stands upon the street corner and plays a hand HnSf! & organ all the day long, but one air he resolutely H $j jj refuses to play is "Lead, Kindly Light." H II ; i j Moral Tallow dips or hickory torches are far HSj ; j j safer for children to read by tnan the light sup- H Li ; j I plied by the Ogden and Salt Lake Light and Power BH ! 1 1 company. |