Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958, 1951-09-24

SCANDINAVIAN
AMERICANA
BY
sc A N DY
IlIILEIAnY WI
S c A N D Y
Continued from Page y

for one another during the long
nights, and that cast the spell of
old Iceland over them, the haunt
ing spell that comes from the
windswept terrain of that isolated
island, where sense of desolate
loneliness makes the mind muse.
She taught school on t h e
prairies; she married Isak john
son (who died two years ago. and
in 1908 they came to Seattle with
two sons. Later the family grew
to seven children, including a girl
and a son who died in later years.
Those were pioneering days in Bal
lard, and a woman who liked to
spend spare moments reading was
different. Mrs. Johnson couldn't
get rid of the haunting spell; she
was a steady visitor at the Bal
lard Library, where she re a d
mostly everything. And as the
years crept up on her, and the
instilled in her sought to recap
ture the spell, she turned oftener
to writing, like SO many of her
literary forebears.
At this point, the sweet girlish
smile on her face disappears and
in its place we see a stern eX-
preston with her eyes beaming a
sort of inner intensity, an almost
troubled stare. Then she says, Il
desire to live deeply . the inner
strength is most important =.
it has to do with a touch of the
infinite you, understanding
music, can feel it, can't you? -.
it's developed there in you; it only
needs something from without to
establish the contact like
having a key to fit the lock e"
AS we discuss the strange inner
workings of the spirit, we try to
discern the key with which she
releases that inner power. For
awhile we thought paradoxically
of Dale Carnegie, the slick ready
to-wear formulas, but Mrs. John
son breaks us off with a simple
statement of a mother
Love of children has deepened
this inner strength in me, and
maybe that has deepened an
awareness of the meaning of life
more than anything else"
CLooks like we're gonna have
to be fatherD
After our coffee we sit down
in the living room decorated with
numerous objects, and the femin-
inc approach is further accentu-
ated by the fine delicate lines of
Oriental drawings and art work.
There is sheet music on the piano
by a new Icelandic composer.
What is it? So Mrs. Johnson sits
down beside us and starts reciting
the lines in Icelandic, rolling syl-
tables like heaving waves, up and
down, syllables that seem to have
a sinewy power and it makes
you think of Viking Drawn and
craft. This is really the original
language of the Scandinavian; it's
like getting reacquainted with the
source. Then she sings it, inton-
ing the words softly when they
get sad, a little louder when gaiety
takes over, and then her eyes
sparkle and shine girlishly again.
Yes, she's like a little girl now,
her head tilted to one side, her
body swaying rythmically. Only
the eyes betray an older woman.
the liquid expressiveness of in
fusing memories into the music.
Mrs. johnson has number of
books containing her poems and
translations Of Icelandic poems
and writings in a textbook on
world literature, children's books,
a book of her own, Candlelight
with 40 poems, and poems in the
American Scandinavian Review
quarterly. etc. She has translated
20 Icelandic plays. Her transla-
ton Of the Icelandic national an