we sold to our
landlord whatever we could spare, in order to raise money enough to pay
our way back to Boston.

During our stay in Buffalo, our renowned countrywoman, Jenny Lind,
happened to give a concert there. We were standing on the street where
we could see the people crowd into the theatre, but that was all we
could afford, and we never heard her sing. Our host advised us to go and
ask her for help; but our pride forbade it.

At this time the Swedes were so little known, and Jenny Lind, on the
other hand, so renowned in America, that the Swedes were frequently
called "Jenny Lind men," this designation being often applied to myself.

Having purchased tickets for Albany, we returned East in the month of
August. I still remember how we rode all night in a crowded second-class
car, listening to the noisy merry-making of our fellow-passengers; but
we understood very little of it, for up to this time we had lived
exclusively among our own countrymen, and learned only a few English
words--a mistake, by the way, which thousands of immigrants have made
and are still making.

Arriving at Albany, we sat down by an old stone wall near the railroad
depot, to talk over our affairs. Fate had been against us while we
remained together, and we probably depended too much upon each other.
Accordingly, we decided to part for some time and try our luck
separately; and if one of us met with success he would, of course, soon
be able to find a position for the other. We decided by drawing lots
that Eustrom should go to Boston and I to New York. When we had bought
our tickets there remained one dollar, which we divided, and we left for
our respective places of destination the same evening.

Our landlord in Buffalo had given us the address of a sailors'
boarding-house in New York, which was also kept by a Norwegian by the
same name of Larson. So when I left the Hudson River steamer early the
next morning, I paid my half-dollar to a drayman, who took me to said
boarding house. I found Mr. Larson to be a kind, good-natured man, told
him my difficulties right out, and asked him to let me stop at his house
until I could find something to do. He agreed to this, and for a week or
so I tried my best to get work. But, when asked what kind of work I
could do, I was compelled to answer that I had learned no trade, but
that I would gladly try to learn anything and do anything whatever, even
sweep the streets, if necessary. As a result of my prot