The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2006, Blaðsíða 14

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 60 #1
dents valued her greatly. This gave him the
idea, that she, only 17 years old at the time,
could take on teaching Icelandic to a well-
to-do young lady in Richmond, Indiana,
The pupil was Miss Caroline Foulke, who
was a niece of Arthur M. Reeves,(1856-
1891) a man of considerable wealth, who
was a great friend of Iceland. He was well
versed in Icelandic and was the author of
Wineland the Good. Teacher and pupil
formed a life-long friendship and they
maintained constant touch through corre-
spondence until Caroline died. All her let-
ters to GuSrun are of course in Icelandic.
(Winter 1956: The Icelandic Canadian).
Miss Foulke became well known as
Caroline Foulke Urie, a friend of Jane
Addams, of Hull House, Chicago, and a
prominent worker for world peace. Her
husband was the medical doctor to the
president of the USA, Theodore Roosevelt.
Willard Fiske, the great friend of
Iceland and beneficiary of Icelandic litera-
ture, visited Iceland between July and mid
October, 1879 and traveled around the
country. Two of his students traveled with
him, one of whom was Arthur M. Reeves.
They came ashore at Husavik, Skjalfandi,
and Fiske’s travelog contains detailed
descriptions written by Reeves on life
there, housing and the excellent reception
they received. After viewing Dettifoss,
Reeves mentioned that it was comparable
to Niagara Falls. Williard Fiske was a pro-
fessor in Old Norse and German at Cornell
University, Ithaca, as well as head librarian
of the university library. The Icelandic
Collection in Ithaca is his accomplishment.
It is the largest collection of Icelandic
books outside Iceland. Arthur M. Reeves
translated Piltur of Stulka, by Jon
Thoroddssen, which he called Lad and
Lass, published in London in 1889. Valtyr
read the translation over and gave good
advice. He also translated Haensnaporir's
Saga, Floamanna Saga and a part of
Eyrbyggja Saga. Valtyr and Reeves became
good friends when Reeves spent the greater
part of the month of May 1889 in
Copenhagen with Valtyr, studying
Icelandic and reading ancient literature.
They had begun translating Laxdaela Saga
when Reeves died in a train accident, in his
home district in 1891. Caroline wanted to
honour her cousin by studying Icelandic.
She donated her university papers, both
Icelandic and English, to the Department
of Icelandic at the University of Manitoba..
It was of great value to the collection.
GuSrun visits Copenhagen and Iceland in
1897.
Valtyr and GuSrun continued their
correspondence and Valtyr wanted
Gudrun to visit him in Copenhagen. He
said that she could stay with him and his
wife Anna for as long as she liked, and they
would try to find ways to get her all the
way to Iceland, when Valtyr has to attend
parliament meetings.
In 1897 GuSrun visited Copenhagen
and wrote a letter to her parents. She told
them that she had seen a play by Henrik
Ibsen in the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen
and even had the privilege of meeting him
and his wife and not only that, but
Bjornsterne Bjornsson. The occasion was
Ibsen's 70th birthday where his play
Brandur was being staged. And she was the
seat mate of George Brandes, while her
brother Valtyr made a speech at the open-
ing of the University of Copenhagen.
There she met with a very tall man and
learned that he was the crown prince of
Denmark, later King Christian the X.
Of course the strong willed GuSrun
and her strong willed brother Valtyr ful-
filled their dream of visiting Iceland. There
she met with her pupil Miss Foulke, who
had acquired a background for her
Icelandic visit partly by her study of Njals
Saga and Laxdxla Saga during the previous
term.
In 1958 GuSrun visited Iceland again,
80 years old at the time, and accompanied
by her granddaughter. She visited the
Althing (Parliament) among other places.
The purpose, among others, was to deliver
a painting of Valtyr which she had asked
the excellent Icelandic artist, Kristin
Jonsdottir (1988-1959), to paint. Kristin
was a daughter-in-law of Stefan
Stefansson's from HeiSi, SkagafjorSur;
Valtyr's friend from his youth who had
actually named his son for him. This paint-
ing by Kristin still hangs in the Althing