Page images
PDF
EPUB

AN AMERICAN IN
IN NORWAY.

CHAPTER I.

Nu er det Vintertid, min Ven,

Og graanet er vor Lok,

Men i vort Hjærte har endnu

Vi Sommer Varme nok,

Ja! Sommer Varme nok, min Ven,

Til mange, mange Aar.

We're at winter's age, my friend,

And gray is now our hair.

But in our hearts lives yet

A summer warmth to spare.

Yes, summer warmth to spare, my friend,

For many, many years.

P. HANSEN.

Letter from Mr. Hans Tyssen, of New York, to the Amtmand, Oscar Nordal, Nordal, Nordby, Norway. HONOURED FRIEND,

Your letters are not frequent, but when they do reach us they are welcome. The simplest thing you write to us about our fatherland is dear to us, and not the less

so that you write in Norse. The sustained interest you have felt during thirty-five years for the friend of your youth has led to a desire to keep fresh in our minds the language of gamle Norge. This, too, has been the more easy from the number of Scandinavians coming to us as assistants and servants. Many come with your recommendation, and they are those that awaken an interest in myself and wife. We are glad to see them, and we are grateful to think that we have assisted so many to independent and happy positions. This thought has been a comfort to us. They have, however, repaid us a hundredfold, for they have brought with them their kindly Norse natures. When one or the other has left us I have felt the same feeling as when I saw Norway for the last time from the ship's deck, now thirty-five years ago. I have for years longed to return to Norway, and die there; but my wife has become accustomed to her life and surroundings here, and my only son, who is now twenty-five years old, has acquired a passion for travel, which, of course, time will cool. He has also many English acquaintances, who talk much of the way the English sports of fishing and shooting are conducted. Of late he has been interested in a book by an American called Prime, entitled I go a-Fishing. I have read the book, and to a young fresh mind like his there is much in it to attract. He has his rooms full of English books on similar subjects, and, his mind being so occupied, it has

« EelmineJätka »