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. [Image: 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.