Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VIII. My Reason for Taking Part in the Civil War—The Dignity of Labor—The Firm Mattson & Webster—Svenska Amerikanaren, its Program and Reception—The State Emigration Bureau of Minnesota—Its Aim, Plan and Work
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ss Story of an Emigrant. 102
One day shortly after my arrival home, while walking
along a street in Red Wing, I noticed a former professor of a
university, who had been a captain in the Sixth regiment
working in his shirt sleeves with a plane and helping to
build a house. After saluting him I asked how he liked this
kind of work, to which he answered that another professor
had been appointed in his place while he was in the war, and
being through with the service, he neither liked nor could
afford to be idle. Having acquired some skill in handling
carpenter’s tools in his youth, he said he found it easy to get
work at two dollars a day, and meanwhile he could be on
the look-out for a position as professor of mathematics at
some college or university.
Here is the key to the greatness of this country: Labor is
respected, wdiile in most other countries it is looked down
upon with slight. The former professor and Capt. Wilson was
soon thereafter appointed state superintendent of schools,
while, if he had remained idle and dependent upon his
relatives and friends for assistance, too proud to work, he would
most likelv have been looking around for something to turn
o ~
up to this day.
Another little incident, which occurred about this time
may interest the Swedish reader. The great Gen. Sherman
visited St. Paul, and a banquet was given to him at which
I was present. During the conversation I asked about the
Swedish Gen. Stohlbrand. " Do you know him ?" Gen.
Sherman inquired. "Yes, sir; he is my countryman, and we
served in the same regiment in Sweden," I said. "Then,"
said he, "you may be proud of your old comrade, for a
braver man and a better artillery officer than Gen.
Stohlbrand could not be found in our entire army."
At the same time the general told the following:
Stohlbrand had served in his corps for some time with the rank of
major, and performed such services as properly belong to a
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