Elation—Promise to a Dying Friend—Gratuitous Fulfillment in Manti Temple. Page 33.

CHAPTER VII.

Completion of Salt Lake Temple—His Work Therein—Sister Corradi Inspired to Apply to Him—Devoted Work for her Kindred—His Severe Afflictions—Saving Work for 2200—Graceful Old Age. Page 37.

CHAPTER VIII.

Modern Stoic—His Modest Obscurity—What Religion Has Done for Niels—Philosophic Way in Which He Views Death. Page 40.

A WOMAN WITH A PURPOSE

Purpose Essential to Success—Birth and Parentage of Carolina Corradi—Her Mother's Prescience—Preparation for Future Career—Devoted Work in Behalf of Dead Kindred. Page 47.

AN EXCEPTION

A Rich Man's Handicap—Wealth Not Essentially Bad—But Qualities its Possession Develops a Bar to Salvation—Typical Case of a Man Reared in Affluence—Unpromising Start in Married Life—How He Became Interested in Temple Work—Worthy Example in Recent Years. Page 55.

MY MOTHER

CHAPTER I.

Prediction from Malachi Fulfilled—Birth and Childhood of Mary Alice Cannon—Cannon Family Embrace the Gospel—Migrate—Mother's Death at Sea—Arrival at Nauvoo—Father's Death—Her Marriage. Page 65.

CHAPTER II.

Strenuous Life in Nauvoo—City Besieged—Thrilling Experience—Miracle of Quails—Run Over by Wagon—Wagon Sinks to Bottom of River—Life in Utah—Mission Abroad—Her Posterity. Page 74.

EXAMPLES OF RIGHTEOUS ZEAL

Night Workers Who Serve in the Temple During the Day—Many Women Serve at Great Personal Sacrifice—Temple Work a Boon to the Blind. Page 89.

A MODERN STOIC

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH OF NIELS—OBSCURE CHILDHOOD—CRIPPLED, HELPLESS CONDITION—GOSPEL PREACHED—TAUGHT NEEDLEWORK—TRAINING IN BIBLE AND LUTHERAN CREED—A PROPHETIC PRIEST—REMARKABLE PREDICTION CONCERNING NIELS.

Perhaps no better example of unselfish service in the interest of others, of patience and forbearance under the burden of a serious physical handicap and courage and persistence in a labor of love and sacrifice can be found than is afforded in the life of the hero whose portrait is herewith presented.

Niels P. L. Eskildz was born May 31, 1836, at Lindholm, County of Aalborg, Denmark, only a few miles from the city of Aalborg, which is celebrated as being the birthplace of President Anthon H. Lund. The parents of Niels were unassuming, country folks, with nothing to distinguish them from their industrious and respectable neighbors except their rather unusual size and a certain pride of bearing and correctness of speech, due to their superior education, and the fact that they were both descendants in a direct line from noble, titled families.

They had a small farm, the cultivation of which furnished them little more than a modest living, and the father combined the occupation of butcher with that of farmer, by slaughtering animals and selling meat in the village market place every Wednesday and Saturday.

Niels P. L. Eskildz

Niels was the youngest of the family, having two brothers of almost gigantic stature and a sister who, when grown, was the largest woman in that part of Denmark. Niels also, would doubtless have grown to be an unusually large man had he not met with an awful accident when ten years of age.

Denmark is a country almost without fences, the farms being separated one from another by imaginary lines. Instead of the cows and sheep owned by the farmers being allowed to range at will in pastures, the custom was and still is to stake them out individually, and lead them in at night. As a rule the cows are models of decorum, and one of the prettiest as well as commonest sights of the country is to see a boy or girl marching a number of cows, like so many soldiers, in double file and close rank from the pasture to the barn.

Niels, having been sent by his parents to thus bring a cow in from the field, the creature, though usually docile, suddenly became fractious and, running around the boy, tangled him up in the rope, and then frantically dragged him through a grain field and against numerous obstructions before she could be stopped. When released the poor boy was found to have a broken thigh and other serious injuries, from the effects of which he was bedfast for more than three years. It was feared he never would recover, but his patient mother gave him the most devoted attention and relieved the tedium of his helplessness by teaching him needlework, at which she was an adept, and by reading to him. In course on time he grew strong enough to be propped up in a chair and thus carried into the open air, but the exertion was probably too much for him, as he soon had a relapse, and during the ensuing two years spent most of his time in bed. His spine by degrees became so curved and deformed that, while his legs were nearly of normal length, his body had the appearance of having been crumpled down thereon, and his large, well-shaped head crowded down between his shoulders.

In the year 1850 Apostle Erastus Snow arrived in Denmark as a missionary. He had not been there long when the Gospel influence began to be felt and converts to flock to his standard. One family among the residents of Lindholm embraced the Gospel, and soon found themselves somewhat notorious because of the attention they received from the local Lutheran priest, near whose chapel the family lived, and his frequent public comments on their abandonment of the Lutheran faith and acceptance of the unpopular doctrines of "Mormonism."

In those days the Lutheran church held almost undisputed sway throughout Denmark, and the invariable rule was for children to be diligently taught the Bible and drilled in a knowledge of the Lutheran creed from their infancy. When the children attain the age of about thirteen years they are required to appear before the priest for a series of examinations, as to their knowledge of these subjects before being confirmed as members of the Lutheran church.

When Niels was fourteen years old, and was barely able to hobble about a little on crutches, he was cited to appear with a class of dozen or more children before the priest, to be catechised. This they did many times until they were able to answer satisfactorily all the questions propounded to them. At about the first of these meetings