Lögberg-Heimskringla - 04.07.1963, Blaðsíða 2

2
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 4. JÚLÍ 1963
íslendingadagsræða
RæSa íluit af prófessor Lofii Bjarason þann 17. júní við
samkomu Vesiur-íslendinga í Fairfax, California.
Heiðraðir gestir, góðir vin-
ir og landar. Þegar mér var
boðið að halda ræðu hér í
dag, var mér alls ekki aug-
ljóst hvort ég ætti að tala á
íslenzku eða á ensku. Fyrr á
dögum voru slíkar ræður
altaf fluttar á íslenzku. En af
því að enskan er mér nú orðin
miklu tamara, og af því að
það leikur nokkur vafi um
hvort unga fólkið hér skilur
málið forfeðranna, skal ég
tala á ensku. En fyrst er það
mér skylda svo sem hin
mesta ánægja að færa ykkur
innilegar árnaðaróskir og
kveðjur og óska ykkur til
heilla á þessum söguríka degi,
hinum 19. afmæli endurvakn-
ingar lýðveldisins á Islandi og
152. afmæli fæðingardagsins
Jóns Sigurðssonar, „óska-
barns íslands, sóma þess,
sverðs og skjaldar". Það er
einmitt til að heiðra hann og
hans störf að við erum hér
saman komnir.
far west as the Mississippi
valley and maybe even
farther.
It is not our purpose today,
however, to discuss in any
detail the Icelandic explor-
ation of this country during
the Middle Ages. I propose
to treat briefly another chap-
ter of Icelandic immigration
to the new world—one which,
* * *
When I was a boy in school,
it was common knowledge
that Columbus discovered
America in 1492. It has now
become common knowledge
that Leif the Lucky discover-
ed America almost 450 years
before Columbus was born. If
this were a gathering of the
Irish instead of Icelanders I
might possibly add that it
now appears possible that
Irish hermits had visited the
shores of North America even
before Leif the Lucky found
it in 998. As everyone knows,
the Icelanders have consider-
able Irish blood in their veins
and may therefore take pride
in the exploits of their neigh-
bors to the south. Perhaps it
is not out of place to mention
their explorations after all. In
any event, we know that the
Icelanders, sailing the stormy
Atlantic in their open vessels,
reached the eastern shores of
this, our great continent, by
about the year 1000, that they
established at least one col-
ony, possibly in the vicinity
of present-day Boston, and
that for generations the Ice-
landic colony in Greenland
made frequent trips to North
America in order to obtain
timber for building their
houses and ships.
If one is inclined to place
credence in some of the
alleged Scandinavian remains
that have been dug up
or come to light in the past
few fears—things such as the
Kensington stone, the New-
port tower, the various
swords and axes that have
been found and the inscrip-
tions discovered, he would
assert that the Icelanders, or
at least the Scandinavians,
sent many expeditions to this
country and explored it as
Prófessor Loftur Bjarnason
in its own way, is every bit
as interesting as the events
related in Eiríks saga rauða
or in Vínlands saga hins góða.
I propose to relate the story
of how small groups of Ice-
landers left Iceland after
having heard of Joseph Smith
and the new church which he
had established, how they
came to the new world,
speaking a foreign language,
how with no friends to aid
them or to act as interpreters
they made their way across
the plains—many of them on
foot and some pulling hand-
carts behind them—, and how
they established themselves
in their new home, how they
prospered there, and how they
eventually contributed to the
intellectual and cultural life
of their adopted country. I
propose briefly to discuss the
history of the Icelandic set-
tlement of Utah. I shall not
do it literarily; that has been
done before. I shall do it,
however, sincerely and hon-
estly, for it is a subject very
near to my heart. My grand-
father and grandmother
played key roles in this great
drama, and I remember
seeing as a boy and becoming
acquainted with many of the
pioneers who bad helped to
found the Icelandic com-
munity of Utah.
Before the curtain goes up
on our drama, however, per-
haps it might be well to re-
view as a sort of prologue
the reason for the Icelandic
settlement in Utah. Everyone
knows, of course, that the
Mormon Church—the popular
name for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints—
was organized by Joseph
Smith (1805-44) in the year
1830. In the years that follow-
ed, a great many people were
attracted to the new faith,
and, under the leadership
first of Joseph Smith himself
and upon his death in 1844;
that of Brigham Young, the
new church prospered. Mis-
sionaries were sent by the
Church to various parts of
the United States, to nearby
Canada, and to more distant
countries to preach the
gospel. The Germans, the
English, the Scandinavians,
and particularly the Danes
were quite receptive to this
new faith. Many of them
joined the Church, great
numbers of them making their
way to Utah soon after the
middle of the century. It is
precisely in Denmark that
the curtain rises on our
drama.
Among the Icelanders liv-
ing in Copenhagen in 1850
and ’51 were two young men
who had left Iceland and had
gone to Denmark as apprent-
ices to study their trade.
These two men, Thorarin
Hafliðason and Guðmundur
Guðmundsson, became
acquainted with members of
the Mormon Church who
were in Denmark preaching
the gospel. Neither Þórarinn
nor Guðmundur was uni-
versity educated, nor was
either of them wealthy. Both,
however, were highly in-
telligent, and the fact that
they had the means to go
abroad to study a trade in-
dicates that they were by-no
méans destitute. I make this
point quite clear because it
has been asserted by some
that the early recruits to
Mormonism were drawn from
among the lower stratum of
Icelandic society. Such a
legend has little basis of fact.
After some hesitation and a
great deal of soul searching
and careful investigation of
the new faith they became
converts—apparently in 1851.
Our records are somewhat in-
complete at this point, but it
would appear that both of
them returned to Iceland
probably in 1852 or possibly
as early as 1851. At least it
is in Iceland and more pre-
cisely in the Westman Islands
that we find them when the
next act of our drama begins,
preaching the new religion to
their friends and kinsmen.
Here we shall leave them for
a few moments while we
flash back to the United
States to see what has
happened to the Mormons
there.
The problems facing Brig-
ham Young when he assumed
the leadership of the Church
in 1844 were many and
serious. There were dissen-
tions within the Church on
many points. The most
weighty problem was what
to do with the great numbers
of converts who were coming
to settle near the head-
quarters of the Church. For
several reasons the Mormons
were not particularly popular
with their non - Mormon
neighbors. First of all, Mor-
monism, then as now, was as
much a new social order as
it was a new theological
belief. The Mormons have al-
ways been taught that they
must share with each other.
This was true in the early
days of the Church as indeed
it is now. In the great de-
pression of the thirties, for
example, no Mormon—so it
is asserted—ever went on
relief. Those who had, shared
with those in need. This is, of
course, fine for those within
the Church, but it presented
serious problems for out-
siders to compete. Moreover,
particularly in Missouri, the
Mormons were abolitionists
living among slave-owners.
There was constant friction,
resulting finally in the
murder of Joseph Smith in
1844. Brigham Young wisely
decided to lead the Mormons
into unsettled land west of
the Mississippi and to found
a new colony where the
Mormons could be to them-
selves. In April, 1847 he led
the vanguard of what was to
become a great migration
from Nauvoo, Illinois, across
the great plains and over the
Rocky Mountains to the
valley of the Great Salt Lake.
On July 24th, a day that has
since become a state holiday,
the advance party of this
intrepid band entered the
valley. They were soon fol-
lowed by others, man after
man, wagon after wagon,
company after company, the
Latter Days Saints trekked
across the plains, clawed their
way over the rugged Wasatch
Mountains, and plodded
wearily into the valley.
I wish I had time to tell
you of the trials and tribula-
tions that confronted these
brave pioneers and of the
dangers and the difficulties
that they faced and over-
came. I should like to tell
you, for ex'ample, how sheer
and dangerous the cliffs are
in the eastern part of the
Rocky mountains, how dif-
ficult it was to get the wagons
over those mountains, and
how swift and treacherous
the mountain streams are. I
should also like to tell you of
the groans of discouragement
that were uttered when, after
reaching Salt Lake valley, the
men set their plows to the
ground to break earth pre-
paratory to seeding only to
see the plows broken by the
sun-baked adobe-like clay.
Everyone knows the story of
how in desparation they dug
canals and flooded the earth
with water in order to soften
it sufficiently for plowing,
thereby initiating the use of
irrigation, the first time that
Framhald á bls. 3
Kennara yantar
Manitoba mun þarfnast margra nýrra kennara á hverju ári
eins lengi og börnum á skólaaldri fjölgar eins og nú og að
öðrum aðstæðum óbreyttum.
Kennarastaðan hefir að bjóða:
• Kostnaðarlágt nám
• Námsstyrkir og lán veitt þeim, er þess þurfa
• Alls konar kennarastöður hingað og þangað um fylkið
• Hæstu grundvallarlaun, sem nokkurn tíma hafa verið boðin
fullnuma kennurum
• Ágæt tækifæri til að komast hærra í starfinu
• Tækifæri til að láta gott af sér leiða.
Námsfólki í XII. bekk og öðrum, sem hafa í hyggju barna-
skólakennslu, er boðið að senda umsóknir um inngöngu fyrir
1963-64 tímabilið í Teachers College, sem hefst 9. september
1963. Umsóknareyðublöð og aðrar upplýsingar fást hjá School
Inspectors, High School Principals, The Director of Teacher
Training, Department of Education, 52 Legislative Building,
Winnipeg 1, eða Principal, Teachers College, Tuxedo, Manitoba.
Þeir, sem hafa lokið háskólaprófi og hafa áhuga fyrir kennslu
í miðskólum, sendi umsóknir sínar til The Dean, Faculty of
Education, University of Manitoba, Fort Garry, Manitoba, eða
The Director, Faculty of Education, Brandon College, Brandon,
Manitoba.
Um frekari upplýsingar, gerið svo vel og skrifið Mr. H. P.
Moffat, Director of Teacher Training, Room 52, Legislative
Building, Telephone Number, WHitehall 6-7370.
MANITOBA DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
AUTHORIZED BY HON. STEWART E. MclEAN,
Minitter of Education, Provinco of Manitoba.