The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1959, Blaðsíða 49

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
47
are the Bible and the poems of Robert
Burns, both of which are read at the
breakfast table.
The writer now takes us with Ian
and his father to the boats that were
to take them to the new country. They
reach York Factory, and then make
a long inland journey by river and
lake to the place where Fort Douglas
was built on the Red River. Ian’s lone-
liness is relieved by the coming of a
new family in which there was a boy
of his own age, named Don. They be-
come very close friends, and have inter-
esting experiences, such as finding an
Indian pony, which the Governor per-
mitted them to keep at the Fort. They
gave him the name Donian (for Don
and Ian).
An encounter with the rivals of the
Hudson’s Bay Company, the Nor'
Westers; the trials of the settlers and
their dauntless courage; the massacre
at Sevn Oarks, after which Ian was
mistakenly obsessed with the fear that
he had broken his pledge by breaking
the fifth Commandment; the departure
from Fort Douglas and the return to it;
the pow-wow with the Indians, and
their treaty with Lord Selkirk; these
events and situations tie in with the
historical background of the story.
The story is one of absorbing inter-
est from beginning to end, and being
thoroughly wholesome, would be a
valuable addition to any school library.
Mrs. Guttormsson has had a num-
ber of short stories and articles publ-
ished, and during World War 11, a
play written by her, entitled “Moss-
grown Rocks’’ was produced on the
CBC network. This was a story with
its setting in Iceland during the Am-
erican occupation.
—Salome Halldorson
COLD ADVENTURE
by VIOLET INGALDSON
Copp Clark Publishing Co. Ltd.
Garry Moisted has just finished high
school and intends to attend univer-
sity to study to be a fish biologist and
ichthyologist. His Uncle Ben, however,
feels “that a young man should be
able to give a hand to almost any kind
of work”. His folks came from Iceland
and had fished on Lake Winnipeg with
a fair amount of success. But the fish
catch was decreasing. He told Garry.
“I think one of us, a descendent of the
first commercial fishermen on the lake,
should study the life cycle of fresh
water fish and I want that person to
be you. I want you to go winter fish-
ing because ia man to be an authority
on fish should know and sympathize
with the men who earn their living by
fishing. If you can’t survive a few
months of winter fishing you’re not
the makings of an ichthyologist and
studying to be one would be wasted
time.”
Cold adventure is the story of Garry’s
experiences during this winter of fish-
ing on Lake Winnipeg.
It is the story of Garry and Bergiu
caught on an ice floe; the friendship
of Nick, the Boss’ son and Tim which
could have had serious repercussions;
the search for Nick and Tim lost on
the lake and of near death when the
bombardier almost slipped into a
crevice on the lake; the time Garry and
Tim caused the men to burst into con-
vulsions of laughter when they had put
floats on both sides of the nets.
The characters are Icelandic and
one feels the author has skilfully
depicted the workings of the Icelandic
mind. Garry learns that though the