The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2005, Qupperneq 29

Vol. 59 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
115
now I think that I love Hermann just as
much. She is very nice and tender, and she
is fairly intelligent - a lovely child - but he
is somehow different from all other chil-
dren whom I have ever known. He seems
to be highly intelligent, and he has now
started to speak. He talks a lot and he talks
clearly. Often, he shows us a great deal of
tenderness, but upon deciding that he has
carried on long enough he says, "dona nu"
(that's enough"), and immediately all his
affectionate interests disappear, and all of a
sudden he is very serious. He is inflexible
and hot tempered, and I do anticipate a lot
of difficulties in raising him.
I was sorry to learn from your last let-
ter that you have not received any letters
from us except the one which my wife
wrote while I was on my trip on Lake
Winnipeg. Between my return and New
Years I sent you a letter each time the mail
boat sailed for Iceland, i.e. four letters alto-
gether. One of the letters included pictures
of myself and my wife. It is most unlikely
that all these letters have been lost, but
since you had not received them on the 2nd
of December some of them have obviously
gotten stuck somewhere for a long time.
In these letters I told you about what hap-
pened in New Iceland this summer and fall,
i.e. rain, floods, etc. I also mentioned the
common transfer anticipated at that time.
Most do still keep their former intentions
in that respect, except many are less emo-
tional and not as hasty about the whole
thing as before. All the inhabitants of
South Vidines have established settlements
in Township 6 R. 14 West, located in N. W.
T. just west of the border of Manitoba.
Only a handful of people will remain in the
northern part of Vidines, i.e. maybe some
10 or 12, and there are going to be a few left
in the Arnes settlement. Most of those
who leave Arnes go to Dakota. A few are
moving from the Fljot settlement, but most
of the Fljot people will remain. I think
that there are very few going to move from
Mikley, but that population has become
sparse. How do you like New Iceland?
Dear Friends, at this point in my letter
I had to go to Winnipeg. I took it with me
in order to complete it. Yesterday,
Sigtryggur and I drove from Lundur, the
homestead of Kristjan Jonsson - 50 miles to
Winnipeg. We are talking business. I
wrote to you before that Victoria had been
a success last summer. In general terms,
we see bright prospects ahead. There are
some plans concerning a German entrepre-
neur going into business with us. His
name is Osenbrugge. I believe that you
have heard about him. He is a nice man,
he has a good reputation, and he is consid-
erably well off financially - both of which
are of great value in this world. We are
planning to build a sawmill by the Icelandic
River. I am convinced that with a little
luck this business can prove profitable,
maybe more so than most enterprises that
the average man can manage. Sigtryggur
and I had in mind to finish the negotiations
today, but Osenbrugge is not at home.
Therefore, we are waiting here until tomor-
row or rather until Monday since today is
Saturday and I am becoming strict con-
cerning taking Sunday off. I believe that
each Christian has a commitment to keep
the Sunday holy and I consider it to be sin-
ful to violate that commitment, and besides
one needs to rest from one's everyday
work and one should enjoy this rest each
Sunday. I want people to work diligently
and conscientiously and then to have prop-
er rest. One of the things that you have to
do, dear friend, is to preach against the des-
ecration of the Sunday in Iceland.
If the building of the mill up north
becomes a reality, I will probably stay in
New Iceland for a year at least, because I
will probably be in charge at first. Now I
can see, in my mind's eye, your faces telling
me that you think that I am about to take
leave of my senses. Well, I am not going to
try that excuse myself. I leave it up to you
to do that. You know that I am one of
those who wants to become rich. I am
aware of the dangers accompanying such
desires, but I also see that the average man
cannot accomplish much if he has no
money. If God makes me a man of con-
siderable means, I intend to use my money
to do something good and useful as best I
can, mostly to educate my children, pro-
vided they turn out to be educable. I take
it for granted that the mill business will be
more profitable than anything that I could