p0584_05437

ST. OLAF COLLEGE
NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA

O E. RÖLVAAG
DEPARTMENT OF NORWEGIAN

Jan. 14, 1922.

My Dear Doctor Blegen:--

It was a great pleasure indeed to receive your kind
and appreciative letter. Thank you very much!

We are using "Norsk Lasebok II" as a "First Reader"
in one of our beginner courses in Norse, and
find the book more satisfactory for creating interest
and appreciation than any other book we have
tried so far.

Yes, I would urge you strongly to publish a
volume of real "Amerika breve". Such a volume
has a mission in America, for it would prove
clearer than anything else I could think of, to our
yankee brother that a decent Norwegian is a
good American already before he emigrates. The[?]
must of necessity be so, as the ideals of the two
countries are so much the same. The plan is
worth while -- decidedly! Furthermore, that book,
if published by an Eastern firm, would make
you some money.

But I am still more anxious about your History
of Immigration! I have this year forth students
enrolled in my Immigration course; it may
be possible in time to have one hundred and
forty. -- You must make that book so simple
that it can be used as a text-book! -- We are
a little ahead of time at St. Olaf, but before long
we shall have courses in immigration at
all our schools. And surely, our own state university
ought to have such a course.

It goes without saying that I am
equally interested in the third book
you have planned, because I am so enthusiastically
interested in everything that touches on