milkmaid with a family in the neighborhood of
New York. With the linguistic talent peculiar
to her people, she soon learned the English
language and even spoke it well. From her
countrymen, she kept as far away as possible, not
for her own sake, but for that of her boy; for
he was to grow great and strong, and the knowledge
of his birth might shatter his strength and
break his courage. For the same reason she
also exchanged her picturesque Norse costume
for that of the people among whom she was
living. She went commonly by the name of
Mrs. Brita, which pronounced in the English
way, sounded very much like Mrs. Bright, and
this at last became the name by which she was
known in the neighborhood.

Thus five years passed; then there was a great
rage for emigrating to the far West, and Brita,
with many others, started for Chicago. There
she arrived in the year 1852, and took up her
lodgings with an Irish widow, who was living
in a little cottage in what was then termed the
outskirts of the city. Those who saw her in
those days, going about the lumber-yards and
doing a man's work, would hardly have recognized
in her the merry Glitter-Brita, who in
times of old trod the spring-dance so gayly in
the well-lighted halls of the Blakstad mansion.
And, indeed, she was sadly changed! Her features