Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-12
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the BOOkLOper.

American readers who wish to be
thrilled by the achievements and to
realize the hardships Of earlier gen
erations OF their countrymen in
settling the great Middle West should
read part of the story as told by a
Norwegian. Johan Bojer, after spend
ing some time in North Dakota, has
written a novel of the early days of
that State, 1.-THE Emigrants," which
could not be eXcelled in realism and in
power by the most skillful of our
American realists who best know the
Middle West, say Villa Gather her
sell. The building of their sod hutS
by the little band of Norwegian set
tiers during the first days after they
take up their homestead quarters
on the broad prairie is the first step
In the growth of a prosperous town,
eventually the seat of a university.
But even before the settlers cut out
the sod for their homes they pillow up
the ground for planting. That is the
reason why they have crossed the
ocean all the way from NorWay-to
own land, much land, and to grow
wheat and corn, SO much of il that
they shall never again suffer the mar
row poverty which has driven them
from their homes in the old country.
kal Skaret, stopping his covered
wagon on his own quarter" the
farthest west of those taken up by
the party, looks about him and draws
deep breath. "a hundred and sixty
acres. all his own, And in the middle
or their land stood the wagon, a
little room on four wheels, their first
mouse out here. The grass reached
nigh up it's sides, and Kal's first job
must be to get scythe and do some
moving, to make bit more elbow
room. Soon he was swinging his
scythe vigorously; yes, this was the
sort of stuff to feed animals on. lie
wished he had a thousand cows"
x !: 4 X
Prairie fires are among the destruc-
tive forces Of nature which menace
the settlers. Erik Foss, leader of the
little colony, has warned them all of
this danger and told them what to do
II 1t should come. One scorching after
noon OF their first Summer, while kal
is walking behind his pillow and tell
ing the oxen that they were damned
rascals." he notices flock after flock
OF birds flying past him. Then the
prairie itself seems to become alive.
Hares and rabbits scurry in the same
direction as the birds One or two
coyotes, then, astonishingly, scores of
them tear by. And what the dickens
was that? Rattlesnakes, gliding along
the ground, kissing with fear, And
that? A gray wolf In the distance
he could see herds of long-legged ante
lopes galloping along with their heads
thrown back" Then his cows come
running in from the plain in terror.
kal and his neighbors on the other
sections do not understand what it all
means. Never in their mountain
homes in Norway have they seen any
thing like it, They see q dense cloud
off in the West and think perhaps
rain is coming to break the long
drought. But the cloud grows dusky
red and the odor of smoke becomes
heavy in the air. Then as the cloud
comes nearer the plain beneath it APP
pears to be A sea. of fire. Erik Foss
comes running into kal'S quarter -
shouting: Pillow around your quarter
az quick as you can. The prairie fire S
coming! Burn away the grass around
the house" Then he dashes off to in
struct his other neighbors. The chap
ters of THE Emigrants' which
describe this prairie fire and the des-
perate efforts of the settlers to fight
ii and save their homes, beasts and
crops, form perhaps the most dramatic
part of a book full OF the drama of
real life. After the fire has passed,
leaving the prairie a blackened, smok-
ing plain. where the sections of the
settlers are like green GASES, Erik
Foss asks his neighbors if they are
not ready to give up and go back to
the old country. Several of them have
their feet bandaged in wet cloths be-
cause of burns; all are ,haggard and
exhaust ed from the fight with the fire
monster. They look at one another
questioningly. For a time no one
speaks. Then kal stammers: Does
that mean that I've got to give up my
hundred and sixty acres" And his bent
little wife. Karen, says hesitatingly:
Viewed begun to feel quite at
home here. Besides, everything will
be all right" That settles it. Kal
and Karen are the Oldest. of the col
ony and have a family of children. If
they can hold out, the others can. SO
they stay.
The conflict in the hearts of the
settlers between inconsistencies for
Norway, with its mountains. woods.
high pasture lands and f1ords, and a
growing love for their prairie homes,
where land is abundant and easy to
till. is one of the elements which
make this story an epic. Per Foil
makes a mound of earth at little dis
lance from his hut and whenever the
monotony Of the plain almost drives
him mad he throws a few more spade
fuls of earth on the mound and tries
to remember the fir-clad knoll at
home After the first good harvest
Karen Skaret has the men bring her
from the town, over 100 miles awav
a few oak and birch saplings to plant
in a circle near her hut, just as they
grew back in Skaret. OF all the set
tiers. Morten Kvidal feels the strug-
gle most. for he has left behind in
Norway a mother, brothers and sisters
and the small farm of kvidal, which
he has dreamed of making into one of
the big farms of the district. Finally.
after some years on the prairie. his
longing draws him back to Norway
and the little farm of kvidal. He
loves the mountains and the sea as
much as ever, but now the farms
seem smaller than ever and the land
stony and almost impossible to clear.
The class distinctions. too, have be-
come intolerable to him. For weeks
he debates with himself whether to
remain or to go back to his prairie
farm. Then he receives a letter from
the settlement: North Dakota has
been admitted to the Union: road
has been begun over the prairie from
the town: a railway is being talked
about. He can stay no longer. He
must go back He knows that he has
secretly intended to go all along. and
that this time it will be for good.
Years after. when he is the owner of
a huge Dakota farm, a new Kvfdal,
and is a patriarch in the community,
one of the old settlers asks him.
Are you still homesick. Morten?" He
replies: do you suppose there has
been a single day, in all these long
years, when I didn't say to myself,
I'm going home soon to buy back
Kvidal?' We who came out here have
two souls, and two countries. OF
course I'm a stanch American now.
But think of all I've meant to do in