The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1974, Qupperneq 16

14
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SPRING 1974
What a pleasure it was to sit placidly
in the coach watching the beautifully
forested landscape, the verdant fields,
and the comfortable-looking, cozy
homes flit past my window! Life has
its pleasurable interludes. A couple
from Eyjafjord in Iceland, Kristinn
and his wife, Katrin, left the train at
Cobourgh where shortly afterwards
their child was born. At Toronto the
Ontario-bound group left the train in
such haste that we could not bid them
farewell. It was sad to witness the de-
parture of so many fine people, many
of whom we would never see again.
Such is life:
“Ships that pass in the night,
And speak to each other in passing.
Only a signal shown,
And a distant voice in the darkness.”
Early next morning, August 28, we
crossed the border into the United
States at Port Huron. We were order-
ed out of our coaches while the cus-
toms officials inspected our luggage.
Everywhere the standard cost of each
of the following was 5 cents; a cup of
coffee, as well as each of glasses of
milk, beer, or wine. At long last the
inspection of our belongings was com-
pleted. The only customs duty collect-
ed was 10 cents for each eider-down
quilt. That evening we Icelanders
were ordered out of our coaches to
spend a part of the night in a hostel
provided by the railway company for
that purpose. Later that night the
train that was to take us to Grand
Haven on the eastern shore of Lake
Michigan arrived. Words cannot des-
cribe the plush interiors of the coaches
to which we were assigned, the padded
seats with their gilt coverings! Over-
whelmed by all this splendor, I fell
into a deep sleep from which I awaken-
ed the next morning refreshed and
high-spirited, happily anticipating
what awaited me that day. Alas, the
vanity of human expectations! Little
did I suspect that misadventure would
befall me that day.
Some time after I awoke at 6 a.m.
the next morning I became aware of
a strange commotion in the coach.
People, apparently terror-stricken, were
frantically rushing out, some scream-
ing, some cursing. Why hadn’t I no-
ticed this before? I must have been in
a reverie. I grabbed my shoes, hat, and
valise which I had laid aside before
I went to sleep, and rushed like light-
ning to the nearest door, but could
not get out because of the frenzied
throng that blocked the exit. I then
hurried to the next coach, but I have
only a vague recollection of what hap-
pened at first after arriving there. The
heat was unendurable; the perspiration
was dripping from me in rivulets; the
coach was permeated with steam; vis-
ibility was practically zero. All this
happened almost instantaneously. In
desperation I threw myself out of the
window landing on my feet, an action
that in all likelihood saved my life.
There I stood semi-conscious, without
shoes, my face and hands bloody, one
of my socks scorched, the sole and toe
of one foot badly burned. In my state
of stupor I was scarcely aware of those
around me, some of them as afflicted