Heimskringla - 10.03.1937, Síða 2

í
2. SÍÐA
HEIMSKRINGLA
WINNIPEG, 10. MARZ 1937.
ASPEECH
Delivered at I. O. G. T. Hall at
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada., on
the Occasion of an Entertain-
ment Dedicated to the Younger
People of Icelandic Descent, by
the Icelandic National League.
Delivered February 22, 1937
by H. B. Thorfinnson
lendingum í Winnipeg að sá vitn-
isburður er verðskuldaður. Ef
eg get launað þetta heimboð og
viðtökur með því að flytja erindi
sem vekur hjá ykkur einhverjar
nýjar og verðmætar hugsanir,
þá veður það mér til ánægju.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I have selected as the general
theme of my remarks here this
evening, “Young People of Ice-
! landic Descent and Their Rela-
tion to American Society”. I
Herra forseti,
kæru áheyrendur:
Áður en eg flyt það erindi sem ^eijeve this is a timely and ap-
eg hefi verið beðinn a y ja er propriaie gubject for discussion
í kvöld og sem flutt ver ur a considerable subsequent
ensku vil eg segja aein or a thöiig’ht in view of the fact that
íslenzku. _ , we are gathered here at one of
Samkoma þessi er haldin í thg activities of the annual con-
sambandi við Þjóðrækmsþmg is- ference Qf the Icelandic Nati0nal
lendinga í Vesturheimi, svo þa League which, if I understand
hefði nú átt betur við ac a a correctly> is an organization that
þessa ræðu á íslenzku heldur en a hag for itg primary purpose the
ensku. En af því að eg i i a preservation and perpetuation of
meðal fólks sem hvorki talar ne the icelandic tongue and litera-
skilur íslenzku, þá er mer ekki turg
gefið tækifæri á neinni æfingu .
til að ræða íslenzku. Svo datt 1 use the term American Soci-
mér í hug að forstöðunefndin ety advisedly. I mean thereby
hafi með ásettu ráði haft enskar the Society of the American
ræður á skemtiskránni til að Continent whether it be the
draga athygli yngra fólksins að UnitedT States or Canada of
því sem gerist hjá Þjóðræknisfé- which I speak. The problems of
laginu, af því að sumir af þeim which 1 sPeak’ whlch confront
yngri eru ekki gefnir fyrir að Pe°Ple of Icelandic origin- are
sækja eins vel fundi þar sem alt the same in both countries> for
fer fram á íslenzku, eins og ef both countri°s are peopled with
þar væri eitthvað á ensku með- a P°Pulation of mixed nationah-
fram. Að minsta kosti hefir það ties' A great many different
reynst svoleiðis í fslendinga Bur°P°an natmn« have con-
bygðunum á Mountain og Garð- tributed te our P°Pulatlon so
arogvíðar. Mér skilst að Þjóð-, many 111 fact that hlstorians
ræknisfélaginu sé ant um að fá have referred to the United
yngra fólkið til að taka þátt í fé- jStates as “the melting Pot of the
lagsskapnum, og finst mér það; Nations > and f feei that the
»nauðsynlegt svo að félagið geti'same exPression Wlli aPPly to
haldið áfram sínu starfi og aukið Canada-
sitt góða verk eins mikið og! My discourse will deal with
reynist mögulegt í þá átt að við- jsome of the problems that we as
halda málinu og reyndar öllu því j people of Icelandic origin must
sem gott og verðmætt er hjá ís- face in fitting ourselves into the
lendingum.
Mér þótti vænt um að mér var
boðið hingað norður til Winni-
peg til að taka þátt í samkomu
ykkar, og líka vænt um að eg gat
fengið mig lausan frá starfi
mínu, svo að eg gat þegið heim-
boð ykkar. Mig hefir lengi lang-
að til að geta verið á Þjóðrækn-
isþingi hér, en hefi einhvernveg-
in aldrei fyr mátt taka tíma til
þess. Slæmt þykir mér að mega
ekki vera hér nógu lengi til að
sitja þingið út, en tilfellið er að
eg á að vera á öðrum fundi í
Fargo, N. Dak., sem endist alla
þessa viku, og fer eg því héðan á
morgun til að vera á þeim fundi.
social structure of this contin
ent as either Canadian or United
States citizens. Three import-
ant questions involved may be
stated as follows:
1. Must we turn our backs on
everything that is Ice-
landic ?
2. What shquld be our atti-
tude towards the language.
literature arid customs of
these cðúntries?
3. What should be our atti-
tude toward thé Icelandic
language, literature and
characteristics.
It has never been my feeling
that in order to be good citizens
Eg vil þakka séra Rögnvaldi j we must turn our backs on
Péturssyni og stjórnarsnefnd fé- everything that is Icelandic. I
lagsins fyrir að gefa mér like to illustrate this by the use
þetta tækifæri að koma fram á j of a simple analogy. We all
skemtiskrá þeirri sem fer hér have a mother who is to us the
fram í kveld. Líka vil eg þakka, j best mother in the world. We
fyrir ágætar viðtökur, bæði séra love her and would do anything
Rögnvaldi og fjölskyldu hans, og
eins félagsmönnum sem eg hefi
for her. Likewise we have a
grandmother. Does it mean that
kynst síðan eg kom. fslendingar j we must turn our back on our
hafa lengi verið þektir fyrir, dear old grandmother be^ause
gestrisni og það sannast á fs- ] we love our mother very dearly
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No, certainly not. For though
Mother comes first in our love
and appreciation, there can and
should still be room in our
hearts for our grandmother. —
Had it not been for her we would
not have a mother to love and
cherish. Furthermore, Granny
is wise in lore of various kinds;
she knows a great deal of good
poetry, in fact has composed
some of the best herself; and
she has a twinkle in her eye that
denotes a keen sense of humor.
She hag weathered a great many
storms in life and has a vast ex-
perience which she is only too
willing to give us the benefit of
if we will but seek it. Turn our
backs on her ? No! let us revere
her for the grand old lady that
she is, and make the most of her
while we have her. In so doing
we need not diminish in the least
our love and loyalty for, and ap-
preciation of our mother.
It seems to me the situation as
regards the Icelandic tongue,
literature and characteristics is
somewhat analogous to this. The
country to which we owe our al-
legiance as loyal citizens is as a
mother. Iceland with its langu
age and literature may be term-
ed our grandmother. That lit-
erature with all its treasure of
beautiful poetry, music and in-
tensely interesting folk lore is
ours for the asking if we will but
seek the benefit of it. That
seeking can be accomplished by
knowing the Icelandic language
so that we can speak it and read
it with an intelligent undler-
standing.
Having decided not to turn our
backs on everything Icelandic,
the next point to consider is the
second problem that I mentioned
at the beginning of this discus-
sion, namely: What should be
our attitude toward the langu-
age, literature and customs of
this continent?
Let us first consider the prob-
lem of language. The universal
language of this continent is
English/ I shall outline briefly
what in my opinion may serve
as a standard of minimum re-
quirements as to language. Any-
one who wishes to be classified
as a good citizen should at least
come up to these minimum re
quirements. ,
Firstly, we should learn to
speak the English language with
reasonable correctness and flu-
ency, and try to avoid any no-
ticeable accent that may be ac
qujred from speaking the Ice-
landic language. I know that
this matter of an accent or an
inflection is difficult to cope
with. Many find it hard to
break,, and many others are not
aware that they speak English
with an accent or inflection. I
wish to remind you at this point
that I am speaking of the young
people of Icelandic descent born
in this country, and not those
who were born in Iceland and
had to leam the English langu-
age as a foreign language when
they came to North America.
Let me say, however, to the
credit of those older people, that
many of them have mastered
the English language so thor-
oughly that you can not tell
when they speak it that they are
of Icelandic origin. Educator3
would doubtless disagree as to
whether the two languages
should be taught at the same
time. I feel that the method
does not matter so fundamental-
ly if that purpose of teaching a
child to speak English with rea-
sonable correctness and fluency,
and without toa noticeable an
accent, is accomplished. Person-
ally, I am inclined to favor the
method of teaching the t\ýo
languages at the same time, for
the child thus learns both langu-
ages and their interrelation as
his mental development progres-
ses.
It must be remembered that
much depends on the parents in
teaching the child, for the rudi-
mentary speaking acquaintance
with the language is gained in ;
the home with the help of the
parents before the child attains |
school age. Parents will likewise ,
find that they face certain prob-
lems of the environment in |
which they live. For instance,
the language or mixture of
languages that is spoken by the
children with whom & child
plays will affect the success of
the parents in teaching him Eng-
lish. This problem exists not
only in Icelandic communities
but likewise in any community
where the people are of some
predominant origin, such as Nor-
wegian, Swedish, German or
French. However, I believe the
problem is more acute in an Ice-
landic community, for the child
being of Icelandic descent will
learn the Icelandic more readily
than some other languages men-
tioned, .and consequently the
temptation to mix the two langu-
ages is greater. But whatever
the problem is in this connection
the parents should try to teach
the child to speak the English
without mixing it with the Ice-
landic.
The parents themselves must
set a good example by speaking
either of the languages without
admixture of the other. I think
we can readily understand the
importance of this when we stop
to think of how quickly children
copy their father and mother in
actions, habits or speech. If little
stories, selected with a view to a
childs understanding, are read
to him it will be a help to him by
way of enlarging his vocabulary
and helping him to speak cor-
rectly. Incidentally it will also
help him cultivate an early taste
for literature.
You have undoubtedly noticed
that I have dealtí considerably
with the period in a childs life
preceeding school age. I have
done this because it is during
this period that a child gets its
first concept of the two langu-
ages and their relationship. The
public school system takes care
of the teaching of English after
the child reaches school age. We
shall then leave the child at the
door step of the public school and
turn to other considerations.
Secondly, we should have an
understanding and appreciation
of the literature of this country.
By this I mean that we should
aim to read at least a representa-
tive group of the writings of
English and North American
authors. We should read enough
of the prose to gain an under-
standing and enjoyment of the
best writers. I think we should
likewise read enough of the
poetry to gain an áppreciation
of that. We should know thc
leading poets and some of their
poetry should be memorized. —
Poetry has ever been instru-
mental in developing people
mentally and spiritually. It can
brighten many a dark and
troublesome moment in life, or
inspire people to forge on to
greater accomplishments.
We should also know some of
the songs of the nation. Songs
will lighten the spirits and are
helpful in spending our leisure
time in a worthwhile manner.
Thirdly, we should familiarize
ourselves with the customs of
our country. This need not neces-
sarily mean that we must dis-
card all our Icelandic customs
for many of them are noble and
worth retaining. But we should
know the customs of the land in
which we live and govern our
conduct accordingly especially in
public life in order that we may
not be singled out as being
ignorant of them.
These three points which I
have dispussed may be consider-
ed a brief summary of what
should be our attitude toward
the language, literature and
customs of this continent.
ENGIN FÍNNI TILBÚIN!
TVÖFÖLD ánægja
TVÖFÖLD þægindi
TVÖFÖLD
bókarheft
VINDLINGA PAPPÍR
We come then to the third
problem that I mentioned earlier
in the discussion, namely, what
should be our attitude toward
the Icelandic language, litera-
ture and characteristics.
I realize in discussing this that
no hard and fagt rules can be
laid down. The term young peo-
ple of Icelandic descent includes
those of parentage varying from
what I would call full blooded
Icelanders, namely, those whose
parents are both Icelandic; to
those who may have only a lim-
ited amount of Icelandic blood in
their veins from either or both
sides of the family, by reason of
several intermarriages with peo-
ple either American or Canadian
or else of other nationalities that
have migrated to this continent.
For these reasons I will mention
only those accomplishments in
language and literature which
are desirable if at all possible
but not pretend to set up any
standard of minimum require-
ments.
I feel that we should try to
learn the language so that we
can speak it with reasonable
freedom from admixture with
the English, and that we should
be able to read it with a suffici-
ently intelligent understanding
that the treasure to be found in
the volumes of Icelandic litera-
ture, both old and new may be
our treasure for the reading. The
matter of learning the language
immediately becomes a problem.
It may be taught to children by
their parents with the aid of
such books as they can obtain,
and it may be taughft in Sunday
schools in those communities
that have an Icelandic church.
A combination of the two wiil
likely prove more satisfactorily.
Then there are a few communi-
ties that have established Sat-
urday schools for the teaching
of Icelandic to children. This
last mentioned method is pro-
bably the best one where it can
be brought about. I might add
thafc many a young man oi:
young woman who is beyond the
age of their own accord if they
of these aids can learn the langu-
age of their own accord if they
have the will and perseverance
to achieve, and these two quali-
ties, by the way, have always
been prominent in the make-up
of the majority of Icelanders
After all the treasure is there
awaiting him who is determined
to unearth it. Unlike gold, it is
a treasure which 'is never ex-
hausted, but is always there for
the next one, no matter how
many before him have found it.
One thing that has made it
easier for young people, who go
to college, to learn our language,
has been the addition of a course
in Old Norse in the langúage de-
partment of some of the institu-
tions of higher learning. The
University of North Dakota of-
fers such a course. Our good
friend and neighbor, Dr. Richard
Beck, who is with us at this con-
feren’ce could tell you far more
about that department than I,
as he is connected with it. I
hope to see more institutions fol-
lowing the lead of the University
in this direction. I am not very
well acquainted with what is be-
ing done in Canada in regards to
instruction in Norse languages.
I believe however, that the Uni-
versity of Manitoba offers a
course in Icelandic to those who
choose to take it.
The Icelandic language is a
beautiful language in the sense
that it is a vehicle for the ex-
pression of beautiful thoughts
and word pictures such as we
find in our poetry for instance,
or in our prose for that matter.
Its abundance of figures of
speech lend it both a variety of
expression and a facility for the
expression of ideas, moods and
feelings such as few if any other
languages possess.
The sagas and mythology,
though written hundreds of
years ago have emotional ap-
peal, vividness of description,
and an element of adventure and
suspense that hold the reader
spellbound if he but understands
them. In this sense they equal
most and surpass many of our
modern English books.
The writers of Icelandic prose
fiction have also prodúced litera-
ture which stands second to
none. As for the poetry I can
.truthfully say that insofar as I
can understand and appreciate
it, it is the möst expressive and
euphonious of any that I have
read in English, Icelandic or
French. In this connec^ion I
am reminded of a statement by
a famous poet which I believe
emphasizes the value of poetry
in an unusual way. He said:
Let me but write the poetry
and the songs of a nation and I
care not who writes its laws”. In
other words, he felt that through
poetry the thinking and the
character development of the
people could be influenced to
such an extent that they would
automatically develop a right-
eous system of government.
Because I am not personally
capable of judging poets I am
going to cite here two quotations
to show the rank that poets of
Icelandic origin hold on this con-
tinent. These quotations I am
taking from a copy of Canadian
Overtones by Watson Kirkcon-
nell.
He says: “Easily the most im-
portant IcelandiO-Canadian poet
is Stephan G. Stephansson. ... I
should like to venture the opin-
ion that Stephansson is. beyond
question the equal of any poet,
that Canada has yet produced in
English or French and may ulti-
mately be recognized as superior
to all. That opinion is based on
considerations of prosodic tech-
nique, diction, imagination and
intellectual scope. So far as
craftsmanship goes, he and half
a dozen other Icelandic-Canad-
ian poets can skate circles a-
round our chief Anglo-Canadian
poets. The Icelandic require-
ments of pattern, both in rhythm
and in tone-color, are subtle and
complex beyond anything of
which English is capable.” This
illustrates to you the rank that
is held by poets of our own
nationality as compared to those
of other nationalities, in the
opinion of Mr. Kirkconnell, who
should be very well qualified to
judge. Similar sentiments have
been expressed by others but
time will not permit me to cite
further quotations.