The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1954, Qupperneq 55

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
53
that man out last week showing him
the water around here. He’s a good
fisherman. Now if you come out here
again, watch how I turn into the tide.
That way you don’t lose ground and
are back again where you started.
“Turn the other way and the tide
at this point will carry you ’way out
and you’ll have quite a time getting
back.”
He has his favorites in guiding, too,
those who come back year after year
and insist on Halldor taking them out.
One of them is Mr. Gibbs, a famous
fishing spoon manufacturer from Van-
couver. “He’s a good joe,” Halldor af-
firms, “but I like to try and catch a
fish on a spoon that he doesn’t make.
Just for the fun of it. He’s pretty good
though.”
Asking around the district about
Halldor Erickson, we were met with
“Oh, the fishing guide. He’s pretty
good.” Which in itself is a fairly good
recommendation from a bunch of fish-
ermen.
We also found out later from his
wife and family that Halldor is an ac-
complished musician, playing the
piano and violin. In fact in the earlier
days in the district he was one of those
rare creatures who could “call” and
play violin, too, for the local dances.
There is so much in the background
of Halldor Erickson, that much must
be left out; his homesteading days in
Manitoba, his work as a postmaster
while farming, his work on his present
garden, and the worry about the rasp-
berries and the tomatoes and his con-
stantly looking out towards the Bay to
see who is fishing there.
A nice life!
Icelandic lalional League Convention
The Icelandic National League com-
pleted its thirty-fifth annual conven-
tion on Wednesday, February 24th,
concluding three days of well attended
interesting and entertaining meetings
and concerts, under the chairmanship
of its president, Rev. V. J. Eylands.
Delegates attended from many Iceland-
ic districts, including Mountain, N.
Dakota, Selkirk, Lundar, Gimli, Mor-
den, and Arborg. The delegate com-
ing the greatest distance was Rev.
Eirfkur Brynjolfsson from Vancouver,
B. C. Among newcomers attending the
meetings were Rev. Bragi FriSriksson,
minister of the Lutheran church at
Lundar, having arrived from Iceland
last November, and Rev. Robert Jack,
the “Scotch Icelander”, minister of the
Lutheran church at Arborg. An old
friend, Rev. Theodore Sigurdson, also
attended the meetings.
The usual routine of business, in-
cluding resolutions, discussion, pro-
nouncements ,and plans for the future,
was followed. A committee was ap-
pointed to look into the matter of
building an Icelandic memorial hall.
A resolution was passed urging active
support of the Icelandic papers,, with
the suggestion that they were the main-
stay of the Icelandic community and
strongest cohesive influence. An inter-
esting innovation was introduced the
first day of meetings when Prof. Finn-
bogi GuSmundsson invited all out of
town delegates and visitors to the Uni-
versity to inspect the Icelandic section
of the library. He provided a bus for
transportation. It was an enjoyable and
a much appreciated gesture.
The evening entertainments were,
as usual, the highlights of the meet-
ings. The chapter “Fron” sponsored
the first evening, in the First Lutheran
Church, opening with an address by