Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - II. Arrival at Boston—Adventures between Boston and New York—Buffalo—An Asylum—Return to New York—A Voyage—On the Farm in New Hampshire
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IS 4.2 Story of an Emigrant.
cheated both him and me and from that hour Captain
Wilson became my friend a^d benefactor.
Afterwards I found out ot the whole crew, which numbered
twenty-six men, nine-tenths were Scandinavians, but they
always used the English language while on board the ship.
Captain Wilson told me to see him in his cabin as soon as
the work was performed. Here he asked me about my
circumstances, and T told him the short story of my life,
which elicited his sympathy to such an extent that he even
asked me to pardon his rude behavior toward me. He
assigned me to a place to sleep in the cabin; told the officers
not to give me any orders as he was going to do that
himself, and treated me with the utmost kindness and
consideration in every respect.
After this I was excused from all work properly belonging
to a sailor, but kept the cabin in order, and helped the
steward in waiting at the table, and the officers with their
calculations. During my spare hours I read and conversed
with the captain and his two mates, one of whom was a
Dane and the other an Irishman, both splendid fellows. The
first mate was preparing the second mate for a captain’s
examination, and I, having recently taken a course in
mathematics, at a military school, was able to assist them in their
studies.
On the table in the cabin was a large English Bible, with
which I spent many happy hours, and by which I learned
the English language. At first I used to pick out chapters
of the New Testament, which I knew almost by heart, so
that I could understand them without a dictionary or an
interpreter. After my first conversation with the captain I
did not speak another word in the Swedish language during
the voyage, and when I returned to Boston, three months
afterwards, it seemed to me that I could talk and read
English about as well as Swedish.
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