The Icelandic Canadian - 01.08.2002, Side 22

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 57 #1
The Hola School
parents decided to come to the North West
Territories. So in the spring of 1889 they
set forth, bound for Calgary, which was the
railroad terminus at that time. The family
consisted of my parents, their three young
sons and my paternal grandmother. Their
destination was what is now the
Markerville District some ninety miles
north of city, where a group from Dakota
had gone the year before. My father set out
to locate a homestead and to build a home
while the family stayed in the city.
In August my father returned and so
began the sojourn to the homestead, which
would take four or five days with a team
and wagon. Crossing the Red Deer River
was often a stumbling block in those days
as it floods in the summer when the moun-
tain streams which feed it, melt. My father
led the horses across the river but in mid-
stream he felt as though he was about to be
swept downstream. He looked back at
mother and she smiled at him and he
regained his footing and all arrived safely
across. Later he composed a poem in which
he attributed their good luck to the encour-
aging smile that my mother gave him. “I
was not a bit afraid” my mother told me.
On October sixth that fall mother gave
birth to twin daughters. Her next door
neighbor did midwifery so she officiated
and all fared well.
My mother perhaps had some duties that
were not common to all pioneer women.
My father was a poet and in addition to
being “a tiller of the soil” he devoted any
time off such as rainy weather days when
he couldn’t farm and wakeful nights to the
pursuit of his hobby, as he called it. It was
imperative that my mother see to it that he
was not unduly disturbed when engaged in
his literary work. When he was preparing
his manuscripts for the publishing of his
poetry he worked most of the night in
order to meet the deadline for the publica-
tions. My mother would get up in the night
and brew my father some coffee, which I’m
sure was greatly appreciated.
The first school in the community was
built just east of my parents’ home on the
homestead. Several young people stayed
with my parents for a period of time in
order to avail themselves of a bit of educa-
tion. School teachers quite often boarded