Hvorfor min Oldemor Lærte å Sy, Why Great Granma Learned to Sew

     Dette er en historie jeg har fortalte på norskebordet.  Min mor fortalte meg denne historien mange år siden.

     This is a story I told at the Norwegian table.  My mother told me this story many years ago.

     Som foreldrene hennes døde da hun var veldig ung, flyttet Laura, min oldemor. å leve med eldre søstre sine, Ingrid og Margaret, i Chicago.  Hvert år Ingrid og Margaret hyret en sydame å komme til huset for å lage kjoler for treen av dem.


     As her parents had died when she was very young, Laura, my great-grandmother, moved to live with her older sisters, Ingrid and Margaret, in Chicago.  Every year Ingrid and Margaret hired a seamstress to come to the house to make dresses for the three of them.

     Etterpå, giftet Laura min oldefar, Walter. De flyttet fra Chicago til Elgin, Illinois, hvor Walter jobbet som skomaker. Likevel, hvert år Ingrid og Margaret sendte sine sydame til Elgin for å lage kjoler for Laura.  Endilig, flyttet Laura og Walter til Minnesota og kjøpte en gård.  Minnesota war en vilde land da.  Ingrid og Margaret fortalte Laura at de ville ikke sende sine favoritt sydame til Minnesota bare for å bli drept av fredløser eller indianer. Laura matte lage sine egne kjoler.

     Later on Laura married my great-grandfather, Walter.  They moved from Chicago to Elgin, Illinois, where Walter worked as a shoemaker.  As before every year Ingrid and Margaret sent their dressmaker to Elgin to make dresses for Laura.  Finally Laura and Walter moved to Minnesota and bought a farm.  Minnesota at that time was a wild land.  Ingrid and Margaret told Laura that they would not send their favorite dressmaker to Minnesota only to be killed by highwaymen or Indians.  Laura had to make her own dresses.