Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Future Hopes—Farm Life—Norwegian Pioneers—The Condition of the Immigrant at the Beginning of the Fifties—Religious Meetings—The Growth of the Settlement—Vasa Township Organized—A Lutheran Church Established—My Wedding—Speculation—The Crisis of 1857—Study of Law in Red Wing—I am admitted to the Bar and elected County Auditor—Politics in 1860—War is Imminent
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ss Story of an Emigrant.
102
justice of the peace, and I succeeded in getting the
appointment to this position, which brought me a couple of dollars
now and then, thus improving our financial condition
considerably. Early in the summer I was appointed city clerk,
with a salary of $12.50 a month, which was quite a fortune
for us at that time. After one year’s hard study I was
admitted to the bar, and my honored teacher accepted me as
his partner on good conditions. My profession seemed to be
well chosen ; I had plenty to do, and met with all the success
I could expect.
My first case in the district court was before Judge
McMillan, who afterwards became chief justice of our supreme
court, and then United States senator. In opening the ease
I became nervous and excited and would have broken down
entirely had it not been for the kindly manner in which the
judge overlooked my diffidence, and helped me out of the
embarrassment by leading me on and putting the very
words in my mouth ; this was only natural to his kind heart,
and he probably never remembered it, but to me it was an
act of great kindness, never to be forgotten, especially not
when more than twenty years after the little incident he
■needed all his friends to rally for his return to the United
States senate, his most formidable opponent being the
venerable and beloved statesman, Alexander Ramsey.
My law practice lasted only a few months, as I was
appointed county auditor to fill a vacancy, and soon afterwards
elected to fill the regular term of office, and again re-elected
two years later. Before that time no Swedish-American had
occupied such responsible civil office in the United States.
But I probably made a mistake in accepting this office and
thereby turning my back 011 a profession at which I would
undoubtedly have made more easy and rapid progress than
by anything else. But for the time being it produced great
economical improvements in our private life. Our little
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