The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1955, Page 47

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
45
of a seemingly divided love and
loyalty is vividly portrayed in “Tvo
minni”, “Two Toasts”, parts of which
follow:
Island
hu mikla drotning, moSir, astmey,
kona;
vi8 metum [jig og prlsum allt jjitt raS,
og rneSan islenzk hjortu ei haetta aS
von a
i hljoSri bam [jig felum drottins naS.
Canada
Svo [jess vegna hofum ver lagt Jier
vort lift,
og londin fun fagaS og [jrytt,
og svariS J>er trunaS. hu gafst okkur
griS,
viS gdfum J>er utsyni nytt.
Loptson Appointed
Stanley Loptson
Stanley Loptson, who operates a
1700-acre farm in the Bredenbury,
Saskatchewan district, was sworn in as
The poet but echoes the sentiment
of all Icelanders of the West in the
last two lines of his poem to Maria
Markan:
hu verSur as islenzkum Vesturheimi
vonarstjarna i myrkum geimi.
There is an addenda which the
author calls “RokkurljoS”, a group of
poems which came into existence dur-
ing the church controversy. The pur-
pose, no doubt, in putting them on
the record, was not to establish merits
or demerits on either side but rather
to show that the wounds which such
controversies create are slow to heal
and may re-open if people forget the
inevitable toll if such controversies
should be staged again. W. J. L.
Grain Commissioner
a commissioner of the board of grain
commissioners by Mr. Justice Paul Du-
Val in the Law Courts Building, Win-
nipeg, on Friday, March 11, 1955. He
succeeds John Vallance who retired
Thursday. D. G. McKenzie, chief com-
missioner of the Board, witnessed the
official appointment.
In addition to his farming oper-
ations and membership in the Sask-
atchewan Farmer’s Union Mr. Lopt-
son was a director of the United Grain
Growers of Canada, a post he vacated
Thursday.
Mr. Loptson is a son of Mr. and
Mrs. Asmundur (Mundi) Loptson of
Yorkton, Sask., who were among the
earliest pioneers in Eastern Sask-
atchewan. Mr. Lqptson Sr. has recent-
ly retired from the leadership of the
provincial Liberal Party in Saskat-
chewan. (See I cel. Can. Vol. 12, No. 2.
—Olafs. Almanac, 1920, page 50. —
“Bondinn a HeiSinni” by GuSlaugur
Jonsson, page 149.)