one of his favorite authors was james denmark cooper. he had this vision as many scandinavians did that america was the wild west. he said we did not know the difference between east and west. here he is, gets out in a metropolis and there are no buffaloes. the first thing he did was he bought a revolver. he was making fun of himself. he was making jokes in his lecture. this is a funny story about this green kid getting off the boat and buying a revolver he strapped outside of his coat. he was stretching down broadway and a policeman stops him and says you may want to get rid of the gun. it is a funny story. it actually was a very hard time for jacob riis when he first came. he had a lot of difficulty making a living, finding work, he was unable to find steady work. he worked a lot of jobs. he got very depressed. one of the things we are showing from the new york public library is a wonderful early diary of his written partly in danish and then he switches to english. in the diary, it is about his loneliness when he first came here and h

i can denmark, he loved to read american literature and was quite fluent in english. what his favorite authors was james cooper. he had this vision as many scandinavians did that america was the wild west. we do not know the different east and west. out in as, gets metropolis and there are no buffaloes. the first thing he does is by a revolver. buy revolver. this is a funny story about this kid eyeing a revolver -- buying a revolver. a policeman stops him and says you may want to get rid of the gun. it is a funny story. it is a hard time for jacob rees when he first came. he had a lot of difficulty making a living, finding work, he was unable to find steady work. he got very depressed. one of the things we are showing is a wonderful early diary of his written partly in danish and that he switches to english. in a diary it is about his loneliness when he first came here and his pining for his love, elizabeth, which was at that time unrequited. and his suicidal feelings. it was very difficult in the beginning. andeat love story with riis his wife elizabeth. she does succumb to his courtship and they marry 1876 i

denmark. riis was a restless rebellious child left home to america. in his autobiography, he mentioned that he loved james cooper story of american indians. when he arrived in new york, he purchased a gun which he brandished. although, riis's example is more colorful, his desire to reinvent himself a new land with a common 19th century story. america -- between 1870 and 1900, left home for america. this is one of -- these are riis's slides in his own lecture. most dane immigrants traveled to midwest as home setters. they founded their own community by contrast, riis spent five years wondering from place to place, job to job, failing to establish a foothold. the immigrant sense of ail nation was extreme. explaining why he slept on this grave stone in new jersey, riis wrote, the snakes and dogs kept sniffing and growling made me tired of sleeping in the field. the dead were much better company. they minded their own business and left us alone. what motivated riis to continue was his determination to win the hand of elizabeth. a girl from reba who was socially beyond his reach there. she was unmarried when he asked

new york and back in denmark he had loved to read american literature and fluent in english when he came to the united states but one of his favorite authors was james fen more cooper and he had an image as many scandinavians did that america was the wild west. and he said, we didn't know the difference east and west and here he is. he gets out at castle garden and in this metropolis of new york and there are no buffalos but the very first thing he did was he bought a revolver so this is -- he is making fun of himself. often he was telling jokes in the lectures. this is a funny story about this green kid getting off the boat and buying a revolver which he strapped to the outside of his coat and strutting down broadway and a policeman stops him and says, son, maybe you'll want to get rid of the gun. so, it's a funny story. and, it actually was a very, very hard time for jacob riis when he first came. he had a lot of difficulties making a living, finding work. he was unable to find steady work. he worked a lot of odd jobs. and he got very depressed. and one of the other things we're showing from the new york public library is a wonderful early diary of his that's wri