Viking Magazine - May 2015 - 11

Tilling the Soil
" I
BY JEFF M. SAUVE
was barefoot, wore a straw hat, a hickory shirt and overalls, but
nothing else, " recalled U.S. Senator Martin N. Johnson from
North Dakota in 1909 about the plowing days of his youth. He added,
" The mind of the man at the plow travels far and fast, and sometimes it
is revolutionary, if he has any mind at all. Many a boy has plotted treason
against the home and the old folks out there in the fi elds among the
johnny-jump-ups, the wild strawberries, and other plant and fl owers. "
Whether behind oxen or horse, the monotony of pulling the plow back
and forth provided lasting memories for Johnson and other NorwegianAmericans
who worked the soil. Family histories tell of long, hard days
of pulling by animals soaked in sweat with tails swishing against the fl ies.
The person behind the plow suffered from heat and sunburn. The heavy,
muddy boots caused aching calves. In his memoirs, George P. Larson
reminisced about his South Dakota days, " I started plowing with
the sulky plow at the age of 8. If you hit a rock it would pitch you into
the plowing. "
One song that captured the feeling of those that tilled the earth,
" The Man Behind the Plow " (1882), included these lines:
For I have been a-ploughing with a lazy team, you see;
They kept me pretty busy with my Git up, Whoa-haw, Gee.
In her autobiography, Ida Hansen Eschenbaum remembered that
during her childhood spent in South Dakota, her father used a pair of
oxen, named Oscar and Haus, to plow their farmland. On one sultry day
the words " gee " and " haw " meant nothing to the overheated oxen. She
wrote, " As they headed for the lake they never stopped till they were in
the middle, no prodding would get them out till they were ready to go
by themselves! "
Jeff M. Sauve serves as an archivist for the Norwegian-American Historical
Association in Northfi eld, Minn.
Smart Cities
In 2014, the IESE Business School in Spain,
with its Cities in Motion Index, ranked
Oslo as one of the world's " smartest "
cities. Smart cities are those that have the
highest levels of innovation, sustainability
and quality of life. Here's a look at the top
10 rankings.
1. Tokyo
2. London
3. New York
4. Zürich
5. Paris
6. Geneva
7. Basel
8. Osaka
9. Seoul
10. Oslo
Knockout on Boxing Ban
Late last year, Parliament lifted Norway's 33-year
ban on professional boxing, allowing Norwegian
boxers to return to the ring. The " Knockout Law, "
which was put into effect in 1982, banned sports
that could be won by knockout because of the
health risk involved. Competitors faced up to
three months of jail time for professional boxing
in Norway, which led many athletes to train
outside the country. The reversal comes as good
news for four-time world champion and Bergen
resident Cecilia Brækhus, who will be allowed to
train and compete in her home country for the
fi rst time in her eight-year career. Prior to this
change in December, Norway was one of only
three countries that banned the sport.
sonsofnorway.com VIKING MAY 2015 11
PHOTO (RIGHT) COURTESY OF NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOC., NORTHFIELD, MINN., (FAR LOWER RIGHT) BORIS STREUBEL/BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES

http://www.sonsofnorway.com

Viking Magazine - May 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - May 2015