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Subject: Diary of Elisabeth Koren - 141-149
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 10:53:15 -0700
Acknowledgment
The following selection is taken from "The Diary of Elisabeth Koren"
translated and edited by David T. Nelson and published by the
Norwegian-American Historical Association (NAHA) in 1955. The Volume is
still in print and available from NAHA at http://www.naha.stolaf.edu
where you will also find the first 33 volumes of Studies and Records
online as well as Theodore C. Blegen's 2 volumes on Norwegian Migration
to America. This chapter is published with the kind permission of NAHA.
The book this selection is drawn from is under copyright and permission
has been granted for educational purposes and it is not to be used in any
way for commercial purposes.
Saturday, January 21. I read a sermon aloud and spent all morning
reading. It has been so cold today, I was glad to stay inside instead of
going to Katterud's; it does not look as if I shall get there. My
thoughts wander early and late to Paint Creek. Ugh! how cold it must be
at Sivert Vold's! Vilhelm will certainly catch a bad cold.
Erik went to Aarthun's this afternoon. Just after he left we had a visit
from Suckow, with whom I had an entertaining conversation on paintings,
landscape painters, nature, and flowers. He is really not so bad to talk
to; he has a little notion of everything and does not pretend to
understand and know things he does not; he likes to learn about them. At
least he does not say "Yes, yes," and repeat exactly what I say; that is
fearfully tiresome.
I hope there may be better weather tomorrow (this evening there is such
lovely, bright starlight), so Erik can get away to Decorah and learn
whether or not there are letters. How I long to receive them! It does not
look as if I shall be able to surprise Vilhelm, when he comes home, with
the good news that our baggage has arrived; yet, who knows?
It is really ridiculous to go to bed when it is barely eight o'clock ---
one will certainly get fat from such laziness --- but what am I to do? It
is so cold and unpleasant to sit here alone; moreover, I disturb the
others when I am up longer. I shall have to console myself with the
thought that I am up early in the morning.
Monday, January 23. This morning I was awakened by the pleasant news that
the weather was good enough for Erik to go to Decorah; now we may soon
expect his return, for it is four o'clock. I was at Katterud's today. I
returned a couple of hours ago --- unfortunately, just as the floor
scrubbing was about to begin. Monday is one of Helene's busy days. First
she bakes bread; then she washes clothes; then the floor simply must be
scrubbed with "that good lye water," which I wish were in Blocksberg; and
now I hear her down in the cellar, cutting and sawing with all her might
to repair something on the cellar steps. {8} Every moment or two I must
look up from my work to see that Per does not fall through the opening.
I probably would not have gone to Katterud's today except to borrow an
eyestone, as they call it, to see if it can make little Kari's eye well
again. {9} Apparently she has something in it. It was a little past eight
this morning when I set out. The sun shone brightly enough, but had no
warmth in its rays. It was so cold that I glanced neither right nor left
but hurried on as fast as I could. When I reached Sørland's I thought at
first of going in to warm my feet but did not do so; instead, I took a
short cut, thinking to make better time. I might have spared myself the
trouble; the road had not been used and was so drifted over that I found
it hard to make my way through the deep snow and keep off the
irrepressible Sørland dogs. It was pleasant and warm in the Sørland
woods, but the road got no better. A man had gone there before me, and I
made the most desperate efforts to step in his tracks, but with my best
exertion could not escape plumping down between each footprint. He must
have been a giant!
At last I got through and paused on the hill, taken completely by
surprise by the charming view. The land behind Nils's house and the
ridges on the horizon were lighted up beautifully by the morning sun.
When I reached the fence, the road became really bad; I have never seen
such bad roads. But I found it a very interesting experience, and stopped
at last, good and warm, with my big shoes full of snow, outside Nils's
door. Here, as usual, I found the family sitting about the stove freezing
and was received with much wonderment that I was out in such cold. I did
not get away from there until after dinner; I was treated to
melkevælling, which I had not tasted in five months. While that was being
made, I had a good visit with Mother Katterud, in which Nils also took
part while he was reviving his old crafts and sewing a vest. {10}
Evening. Erik has returned --- there are no letters! I must be patient!
He brought along Emigranten, however, with a little in it about Europe.
The Turk, God be praised, is still winning against that odious Russian,
but all the dispatches are so vague, and from the second of November. How
does it look now? {11}
Well, Vilhelm will have no letter to cheer him when he gets home; I hope
the cold weather does not prevent him from returning as he planned. We
really have reading matter in the house for a long time now in
Emigranten. Helene, using her index finger, is reading half-aloud a
fearful story which makes her forget it is long past her customary
bedtime, while Erik is lost in amazement at the price at which some bulls
were sold in England.
Tuesday, January 24. Today I had a surprise. In the morning I had been
busy teaching the A B C's to Kari and trying to give her some idea of
knitting. Then there was a visit from a very reticent man who wished to
talk with Erik. Then for a while after dinner I was busy with the account
of our journey and was just thinking of laying it aside to take a walk
while the sun was still up. At that moment I chanced to look out the
window and whom should I see but Vilhelm driving in at full speed and
stopping just outside the door. I ran out at once --- walking would
hardly be the term for it. I had not expected him for a day or two. It
was delightful to be surprised in this way. He was hale and hearty and
had not even caught a chill; but it had been wretchedly cold. He had
traveled thirty miles alone in that biting wind Friday without knowing
the road; and at Sivert Vold's it had been so cold that the sheet had
frozen between him and his bedfellow, and the pillow was covered with
frost.
He will not be home long this time. He is to be away Thursday and Friday
and leaves again Saturday to be gone several days; but I shall rejoice
that he is home now and that he returned so early. I am so glad when he
comes. He has so much to tell me, and reads my diary to learn how I have
fared while he was away. And once we get our own home, it will be even
better; then I shall really be able to take care of him and then we shall
have everything cozy. How I look forward to that time --- and Vilhelm not
less than I!
Wednesday, January 25. It is already evening, but I really do not know
where the day has gone. This morning I was writing, but did not
accomplish much. This afternoon I helped Helene make communion wafers.
Vilhelm and I took a walk over to John Dysja, or some such name, where we
had not been before. The road (if it can be called a road) went uphill
all the way and I became very tired; I am unaccustomed to hills now.
Outside the house we met John's father, the same friendly old man who
asked for work and calls me "Mother." We went there to learn how John
was; he had had trouble with his eye. His wife came over to us yesterday
to learn whether Vilhelm or I might know a remedy for it. When we asked
whether there were not some other people, older, more experienced, whom
he might consult, she answered it would hardly be of any use to go to
others if we did not know what to do; she thought she could not find
anyone better than we. Yet she could hardly have turned to anyone more
inexperienced in such matters. {12}
John was better, as it turned out. Conditions were fairly good there,
and, best of all, the people were cheerful. They wanted us to stay for
supper, but we did not do so, fearing it would become so dark that we
would lose the only existing trace of the road, namely, the track left by
Erik's sleigh. This morning a cold wind was blowing; while we were out,
it was very mild, with fog and a drizzle of rain. The weather is
extraordinary! Well, there comes Helene with the cloth to cover the table
and I must vacate my place.
Thursday, January 26. Today I am alone. Vilhelm set out this morning to
go seven miles, I do not know where, to hold services. {13} I ironed a
little and kept busy with my work as usual in the morning and had dinner
just at noon. After dinner I took my knitting and buried myself
completely in Alhambra's ruins, with its mysterious secret chambers,
enchanted treasures guarded by petrified Moors, and the marvelous legends
about most beautiful princesses. This so occupied my mind that I did not
notice the time, and it became so late I had to hurry to get in my walk
before sundown.
So I went out to the road, turned my nose to all four corners of the
earth to find where the wind was from, and then took my bearings. The
result was that I steered my course directly east, where there was a kind
of road across a field (that is, a sleigh had been through there), barely
passable in the snow. I followed that road until I discovered the traces
of a sleigh headed directly north; I had not been there before, so I had
to investigate, and followed the tracks until I saw John Dysja's house
straight ahead of me on the hill. I did not attempt to go farther, but
returned home well pleased with my new road. It will be a pretty walk in
summer. The weather was fresh and delightful. I reached home hungry as a
wolf and had to go straight to the cupboard and get a biscuit.
A little after dark Vilhelm returned. He was rather offended that I had
not worried over his not getting home until dark. Now he is in the midst
of his writing and talks to himself about sections and such tiresome
matters, and I keep thinking he is speaking to me and become confused in
my work. Helene, whose talkativeness knows no bounds when the
conversation concerns the place where her two sisters live (where Vilhelm
was today), chatters and asks questions in her shrill voice, but it can
scarcely be said that she gets much of an answer. Now she stands with a
cloth on her arm and for the third time asks if she may set the table.
But Vilhelm is stubborn and will not give in.
I hope we shall have good weather tomorrow, for I am to go with him to
Thrond Lommen's. I cannot imagine how I shall be able to ride in that
absurd sleigh; I suppose what it will come to is that I shall be sitting
in the bottom toward the front, half buried in hay. Tonight I shall no
doubt be chased to bed at nine o'clock, since Vilhelm is to sit up and
work. He is really mean.
Friday, January 27. I went along to Lommen's just the same, and without
sitting in the bottom of the sleigh, either. Yet I almost stayed home,
scared out by the rather strong wind this morning. But I wanted to make
the trip and already had my things on before I really noticed how cold
the wind was. "Never mind," thought I, "you can ride as far as Katterud's
at least, and see how it goes." So, tucking myself in as well as I could,
I took my seat in the sleigh, which is so narrow that Vilhelm had
scarcely any room. That made little difference, however, for he had to
walk the greater part of the way to keep the sleigh from overturning. By
the time we came to Nils's place, I had decided to continue; it did not
seem to blow so hard as at Erik's. Here the horse was watered and we had
a chance to ask Nils about the road. He wanted to go with us, but did not
dare because he was not feeling well. But he accompanied us some distance
until we reached the right road. From there we had to fend for ourselves.
As a great deal of snow had fallen, Vilhelm had his hands full with the
sleigh, though it is light as a feather. Then, too, he made many
complaints about what a nuisance it was to transport clumsy, bundled-up
women, who just sit wherever they plump down. I comforted myself with the
thought that it was his own fault I was with him. Moreover, it seems to
me I managed all right; I kept a good firm hold and balanced myself as
well as I could. When the road sloped a little to the side Vilhelm was
on, I sat quite comfortably; but if the slope was in the opposite
direction, it often looked dangerous. "You need not worry, we'll come out
all right; when the sleigh leans like that, it is no trick to stay on
unless, of course, you fall out of your own accord," said my lord husband
very wisely. Well, that was just the question --- whether I should fall
out or not. Fortunately I escaped and we came safely through the snow to
the traveled road.
This one had been driven on quite a little and for a time all went well,
until we reached a place where it followed the side of a sharply sloping,
slippery hill. Here Vilhelm had to get out, go round to the other side,
and support me and the sleigh, just as farmers do when they get to a
slippery hill with a big load of wood which they fear their horses cannot
manage alone. We got past that difficult spot safely and on to the main
road, as people here call a kind of lane with hedges on both sides. We
followed that until we came to the "white house," which was our mark of
identification for Ola Lommen's house, where we were to get more detailed
directions. {14}
Here we met a little boy who was not afraid to use his vocal organs, and
in a high-pitched voice he explained to us "that we should go neither to
right nor left of the fence, but just straight ahead." With that
information we set off for the fence and drove straight into a valley
full of snow. Then we came to the top of a hill. At the foot of this
there was a cabin situated very conveniently to help us choose aright
among the many roads we now discovered. While I stayed on the crest,
Vilhelm went down to the cabin. He went in and came out at once with a
woman with whom he began violent gesticulations, the meaning of which I
was attempting to grasp when they suddenly ceased, and Vilhelm, turning,
beckoned to me. "Go along, Peter," I said and drove very nicely down the
hill until Vilhelm met me.
We had not gone much farther before the horse plunged into snow up to his
belly; it was dreadful how the snow had accumulated in that valley. We,
that is, Vilhelm and his stifflegged traveling companion, worked their
way through as best they could; I sat like a bundle of traveling clothes,
and balanced from side to side. It was not long before we stopped again,
in doubt as to which of three roads to choose. We decided on the middle
one, which brought us along a ridge and into a valley where, according to
Vilhelm's reckoning, Thrond ought to be living. We soon realized that it
was not so, for we saw a brook with trees on either side; besides, the
hills near Thrond's are not so rocky. But we decided to follow the road,
in the hope it would lead to a house. We drove and drove until we ran
squarely into a big haystack, which stood there as if to make fun of us;
the road went no farther.
There was now nothing else to do but turn around and try to get over the
hill. We succeeded. "What sort of creature has passed here?" said
Vilhelm, and indeed the tracks in the road did look unusual. We followed
another road some distance until we saw a cabin; there an American woman
informed us that she understood Lommen lived two miles back in the
direction from which we had come. Now, then, back over our tracks we went
as fast as we could; Peter was not spared. I wonder how long a detour we
made. The weather had become so lovely that the delay would have made no
difference, only Vilhelm was expected at a definite hour. It was twelve
o'clock by the time that we reached Thrond's house.
After the services and a chat with the people (so much was a little
pretentious, which I do not like) we had to eat dinner, and we got Ola
Bergan and his family to wait for us and show us the road home. I sat on
a sheepskin in the bottom of Ola's sleigh until we reached his house; in
this way Vilhelm was sure of not overturning me on that part of the road.
I sat and talked with Kari (she was that pretty Valdres woman) while Ola
was getting his oxen ready. Vilhelm drove round and paid us a visit now
and then, and at last whipped up Peter and vanished. We were not far
behind, either; I have never seen oxen trot and actually gallop as these
did. Consequently we were not on the road long before we got to Ola's
house, where we found Vilhelm busy watering his horse. {15} From there we
proceeded in Vilhelm's sleigh again; it was so dark we could scarcely
follow our tracks. At last we reached Katterud's gate, where Ola let us
in, and we arrived at home without an upset or other misfortune. We found
Knud here; he ate supper with us and finally left at a late hour; he is
always so slow in leaving. {16}
Saturday, January 28. Vilhelm should have gone to Whisky Grove today, but
the weather was so horrid, with wind and drifting snow, that it was
impossible to see the road. {17}} As it became worse later in the day, he
postponed his journey until tomorrow, and I am glad. In such drifting
snow what might not happen to one who has never gone that road before?
Now he has gone for Suckow, who perhaps will accompany him and show him
the way. He is to leave tomorrow morning at seven and will not come back
until Thursday; then he is to go to Minnesota and will be away a long
time, I imagine. It is just one trip after another.
I do not know what has come over me to make me so industrious this
evening; I have neither read nor written as usual, but have crocheted and
crocheted without even looking up, save when Vilhelm disturbed me by
speaking English.
<8> Blockberg refers to the Brocken, summit of the Harz Mountains in
Germany. In legend the Brocken is the haunt of witches. To wish someone
or something in Blocksberg was a common expression.
<9> An eyestone is a small, smooth, lens-shaped object, such as a
crabs-eye or the operculum of a small marine shell. Formerly used to
remove a foreign substance from the eye. It was placed under the eyelid
at the inner corner and worked its way out at the outer corner, often
bringing the substance with it.
<10> Melkevælling is a milk soup made by boiling milk and thickening it
with flour, rice, or barley.
<11> She is anxious about the progress of the Crimean War.
<12> John Dysja, formerly of Telemark, Norway, lived on the east half of
Section 6 in Frankville Township, Winneshiek County. The Bauder farm is
now in approximately the same spot; information received from William
Linnevold.
<13> The pastor probably went to Glenwood Township; later in the account
of January 26 it is mentioned' that he went where Helene's two sisters
lived. Mrs. Eggebraaten was one of them; she lived in Glenwood Township.
<14> A. O. Lommen and his wife Seigie settled on the northwest quarter of
Section 2, Springfield Township, Winneshiek County, in June, 1850;
Sparks, History of Winneshiek County, 26. For many years the family has
spelled the name "Lomen."
<15> On Ola Bergan, see chapter 7, footnote 15.
<16> The gate was opened by Ola Katterud, brother of Nils Katterud. Knud
was probably Knud Aarthun.
<17> Whisky Grove was an early name for Calmar, Iowa, twelve miles
southwest of Decorah.
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