northern parts of Norway, they may do so in this short report, and they may depend upon it that what is here written is the truth.

I. EARLY YEARS.

I, Anthon L. Skanchy was born in Trondhjem, Norway, September 17, 1839, the seventh child of Elling Lornsen Skanchy and Mina Ansjon. My father was a sea-faring man, well known, and much sought after as a pilot in northern Norway. He, as many other sea-faring men of that day, became addicted to strong drink, and consequently, though he earned well, there was poverty in the home. My dear mother was compelled to work both day and night to keep the children, who numbered seven in all.

From the time I was eight years old, I had to work and earn something for the family. My boyhood was spent by the water, where the great fjord comes in from the ocean. The shore was low and level, and great sand-spits ran out into the water. There the water ebbed and flowed every six and one half hours, through a distance of eight or ten feet. When the water was low, we could go out to the sand-spits into the fjord, and there I used to fish with one hundred hooks on my line, baited with sand worms. The line was left on the sand, with the end secured, and after fifteen hours, the water again was low and the lines lay in the dry sand with the fish that had been caught by the hooks. The fish thus caught furnished some means to the support of the family. As I grew a little older I was employed by a fisherman, who owned his own boat, and with him learned how to fish. I also worked between times in the rope factory, where I later became apprenticed and learned the trade well.

The school naturally was neglected, and I was there only once in a while. When I was thirteen years old I began, however, to see the necessity of taking proper hold of my schooling, and determined to use my whole time in the attempt to win back what I had lost. My mother could not earn all the necessaries of life for me and herself, and during this period I learned to know the gnawings of hunger and the effects of hunger upon my system. A young school boy as I was could not grow and develop without proper and sufficient food. Those days I can never forget. My mother had a little house of three rooms, built on rented ground. In a little garden around the house she raised potatoes with which to pay the larger part of the rent on the land. Because of broken health and the weakness of my aged father, he had been compelled to quit the sea-faring life, and had journeyed to his oldest son who lived far up in Nordland. There my father resided until his death.

I gave all my time to schooling during three years. I was determined to win back what I had lost, and my interest was centered on the school, and as a result I made good progress. Among other things I was taught the Lutheran religion, and we had regular lessons in the history of the Bible, and explanations of the events and doctrines found in both the Old and the New Testaments. These books on Bible history we were obliged to learn by heart, and I learned my lessons well. This became a good foundation for me in the practice and preaching of my dear religion of the future and, through this knowledge of the Bible, I learned to understand a little of the Lord's dealings with the children of men, which became a great blessing and relief to me in the mission field and at home.

After three years of school work I was confirmed, with a very good grade, in the Lutheran church. I had worked now and then in the rope walks and had become greatly interested in this work. I then apprenticed myself to a rope factory, the owner of which was T. H. Berg. I was permitted to remain at home with my mother, and received about $1.12 a week for my support in return for my service. This was pretty good, and occasionally I earned something extra between times. As I remained at home it was possible for me to have a little more liberty than I would have had, had I remained with the other apprentices in the household of the master.

Since I had now left the school, in which I had been so intensely interested, I became possessed of a kind of melancholy which led me to seek the Lord and to study religion more closely. I went for help to the Lutheran priest who had confirmed me, and he loaned me several books on religion and other books containing much useful information, in which I interested myself for some time. Nevertheless, I found no satisfaction as a result of my reading; in fact, I hardly knew what I was reading.

One Sunday, in the summer of 1860, I went to the church located a short distance beyond the city. A little valley lies by the side of the main road. I went into this valley, under some trees, and bent upon my knees and prayed to the Lord with a loud voice. Immediately came a moment of great exaltation, but followed quickly by a voice which spoke to me in a contemptuous tone:

"What is wrong with you? What do you want? You come here and bend upon your knees as a child; you, who have learned your profession so well; you, who have so many friends, and have so much honor and respect! Are you not ashamed?"

Under the influence of this voice I began to feel almost ashamed of myself, and of what I was doing. Presently, however, I broke through the mist, and was given power to rebuke the evil spirits and to compel them to draw back. Then a great joy rested upon my soul. I prayed for light. From that time on, I felt as free as a bird in the air.

In the fall of 1860, I finished my apprenticeship. In accordance with the contract, I received my last year's pay, $14; a suit of new black clothes; new shoes; a silk velvet hat of the best kind, and, in the evening, a splendid dinner. It was customary at the end of the apprenticeship to do a piece of work as a proof that the business had been thoroughly learned. I was required to make a long rope, used by ships in measuring the number of knots traveled per hour. I made such a rope, and it was accepted as very good by the shipping committee. After my apprenticeship was over I was offered work in the same factory, but with the difference that I was to receive the pay of a master workman. In those days there was great traffic in rope, because wire cables had not yet been introduced, and there was much building and travel of ships in the city of Trondhjem.

II. I ACCEPT THE GOSPEL.

My uncle Cornelius and his wife, who owned a house in the city, a short time before had been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by the brothers Dorius, who were the first missionaries in the northern part of Norway. I visited this aunt and presented her with a clothes line which I had made. My aunt was a well spoken lady, very fervent in her faith, and she immediately began to bombard me with "Mormonism." In fact, she lent me a lot of tracts and Scandinavian Stars for me to read. These I began to read, and compared what I read with the Bible.

I had my own room in our home and spent all my spare time in the study of the Bible and the "Mormon" books. I soon borrowed more gospel literature and studied it, with the Bible, both day and night, and prayed to God for aid and guidance in the investigation. The testimony that I had the truth came to me more strongly, until, as it were, I became transformed both in body and spirit through the saving message of the gospel.

In those days, many kinds of spirits made themselves known, but this had no influence upon me, for I had seen even the evil one in the days that I attended school. This may sound peculiar, but I have, in truth, seen with my material, eyes, evil spirits in different appearances, and under such varying conditions that I am absolutely convinced of their existence among us. Both good and evil spirits are among us even here in the valleys of the mountains. I am ever grateful to the Lord that he has permitted me to see and hear such things, as they have been of great use to me in my life's journey. When I investigated