Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1875 — Hans Christian Andersen. [ARTICLE]

Hans Christian Andersen.

The cable conveys news of the death, at Copenhagen yesterday, of Hans Christian Andersen, the celebrated Danish novelist. He was something over seventy years ot age, having been born at Odense in 1805. His father was a shoemaker, too poor to give the boy any better education than was to be had at the charity school of the town, and even this meager opportunity was denied him after he was nine years old. Soon after this he had the good fortune to be taken into the house of a clergyman’s wife and employed to read aloud to her, and in this way his first knowledge of literature was gained. Subsequently, while working in a neighboring manufactoiy for the support of his widowed mother, he acquired a taste for reading plays, using his leisure hours in this way, and at last, becoming ambitious for the career of an actor, he applied for a position at the Copenhagen Theater, but was unsuccessful, and, being unable to obtain employment as a joiner, and having been so unfortunate as to lose his fine voice, he was reduced to dire straits of poverty. He tried writing tragedies, but without success in attracting attention, until at last an influential gentleman, perceiving genius in the young man, secured for him free admission to one of the Government institutions of learning. From this start he made rapid progress, and afterward took a full collegiate course, soon becoming favorably known as a poet. A journey to Italy formed an epoch in his career, and under its inspiration he wrote his “ Improvisa. tore.” In “ Only a Fiddler” he described his own early struggles. Andersen visited the court of Denmark in 1844 by special invitation, and soon thereafter he was granted a liberal annuity from the Government, whereby he was enabled to follow freely the impulses of his genius. The divine fire was not subdued by royal patronage in Andersen’s case. His improved circumstances gave him the means with which to travel extensively, and he has since repaid the world with his charming tales, which have been translated into English, German, French, Dutch and even Russian. —Chicago Tribune.