That made me glad, although afterwards I said to myself: It
probably will remain a want, he has other things to think of. But
the very next day I met him in full creative joy: 'It's going
excellently. It shall be a song for all the youth of Norway. But
there is something at the beginning that I haven't yet got hold of
-- a certain wording. I feel that the melody demands it, and I
shall not give it up. It must come.' Then we parted. The next
forenoon, as I was giving a piano lesson to a young lady, I heard a
ring at the entry-door, as if the whole bell apparatus would rattle
down; then a noise as of wild hordes breaking in and a roar;
'Forward! Forward! Now I have it! Forward!' My pupil trembled like
an aspen leaf. My wife in the next room was frightened out of her
wits. But when the door flew open and Bj?rnson stood there,
glad and shining like a sun, there was a general jubilee, and we
were the first to hear the beautiful new poem."
Note 38.
THE MEETING. The Student Meetings, i.e., conventions of university
students in the three countries, were originally an important part
of "Scandinavism" (see Note 21). The first was held in 1843; that of
1862 was the last to have a distinctly political character.
After 1864 the chief aim of these gatherings was to improve the
position and strengthen the influence of the student in the
community. In 1869 Christiania invited the Danish students to meet
there with their Swedish and Norwegian comrades, in the interest of
culture, better acquaintance with one another, people, and land, and
cooperation in general for the future of the kingdoms.
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