The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1995, Side 49

SPRING /SUMMER 1995
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
159
A Brief Autobiography
of Jon Einarsson (1862-1935)
Translated, from the Icelandic by Keneva Kunz
I was born at Kvllaselur in Hrutafjorbur,
February 18, 1862. My parents were ex-
tremely hard-working, but very poor
throughout their lives due to the fact that
they lived all their years together alongside
the public highway, and the fruits of their
labours went all towards accommodating
guests and travellers — a custom which is
still common in Iceland and a considerable
economic burden to the people. They lived
in BorSeyri for many years, quite near the
commercial centre by that name. My
brother, Guhni, and I were still quite young
when we were able to read well, as we had
no lack of books of the sort then most com-
mon in the country. I could also mention
especially that nowhere did we borrow as
many books as from the neighbouring farm
at Kjorseyri. The farmer who lived there at
that time (and still does) was young and
well-read on many subjects, as was his wife.
The couple, Finnur Jonsson and Johanna
Matthiasdottir, were always willing to loan
books, and they possessed a sizeable library,
which was unusual for a farm at that time.
But they were by no means the only ones
willing to help us out on that point — we
were loaned books from all our neigh-
bours. Our parents went to great lengths
to provide us with sufficient reading mate-
rial. We were also taught to use a pen at an
early age. Ink made from coal, soot and
calf s blood was common in those days, and
as conditions improved, India ink. Quill
pens were for many years the main writing
instrument. I remember how grateful I was
when the Rev. Jon Blondal, who ran the
store at Borbeyri then, once gave me a
beautiful gift penholder with a silver nib.
My brother and I learned to write from
addresses on envelopes, and the alphabet
we learned from various people, not always
the best examples. I soon began to write
various ornamental characters, for in-
stance, printed (gothic) type and various
‘hands.’ We copied out all sorts of stories
and poems. Guhni liked the rhymed po-
ems better than I and he usually knew them
by heart when he had finished writing
them. But this taught me to put my time to
good use, and I still have a lot of books,
especially notebooks and summaries of
medical books and other textbooks, which
I could never have acquired otherwise.
Most of the time we spent writing was time
used by others for resting at night.
When I was in my sixteenth year, I went
to work as hired man for Jon horharson, a
farmer in Skalholtsvik. Fie was getting on
in years by then. By some he was consid-
ered a hard master, and rather eccentric.
This was because he was a man who thought
more than he spoke, made the most of his
resources, and read considerably more
than most other farmers and generally
other books than usual, actually only select
books or else none at all. In his thinking
he was ahead of his time for the district and