Having made acquaintance with Johnny Blossom in his native land of Norway through the stories about him by Miss Dikken Zwilgmeyer, the desire to introduce the amusing, sound-natured boy to American. children has resulted in this translation. Some liberty has been taken with the original text, chiefly to eliminate circumstances or incidents which would not be clear to child readers in a different environment but I have taken pains to keep the translation faithful to the original in spirit and expression, appreciating that in these lies much of the wholesome power of the book. Johnny Blossom is not local but universal. Interest in him is not even limited to boys. When the book first appeared, a Norwegian reviewer wrote Our most popular author of books for little girls has this year forsaken them, and apparently gone over to the boys, since her book is about a boy ... but I have yet to see the little girl who would not be glad to read of such a boy as Johnny Blossom. .-. . Although a genuine boy, he is a right-minded little fellow with earnest childlike spirit and he can never be thoroughly content until he has had his mothers full forgiveness when he has been naughty, or, if he has wronged any one, until he has made restitution. With confidence that such a child will be a good story-book friend for our children, and a favorite with them as he is among his little compatriots, I send Johnny Blossom forth to meet his welcome. HOPKINTO M N A , SS., 1 912 EMILIE POULSSON 111. I v. v. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. X I. XII. XIII. PAGE I. TOHNNY BLOSSOMS I l lustration Teilef s Grandmother . . . . . . . Frontispiece Johnny Blossoms Christmas Presents . Facing page 78 A Present from Uncle Isaac . . . . . . . 90 One Day in Vacation . . . . . . . . . 114 J O H N N Y BLOSSOM CHAPTER I His Fighting H Everything was so horrid That stupid Tellef Olsen Always boasting and bragging about his muscle as if he - - - were the only one in the town who had muscle. Well, anyway, he wouldnt be coming around here any more to brag about it. Johnny Blossom thrust his arm out fiercely and drew it slowly in again with his teeth set and his face getting very red. Ha That was awfully good muscle there, just what muscle ought to be - rounding up in your arm and as hard as iron to feel of. How tired he had been of the other boys bragging about Tellef, too. It seemed as if they never talked of anything else. That was why he had been out of patience yesterday. Well, he had shown them, once for all, who was the strongest. My, oh, my How he had pounded Tellef But he would really like to know whether any 3 4 JOHNN Y BLOSSOM one wouldnt be a little angry if, when he was sitting on a fence not thinking of a thing, some one should come and poke him in the back with a long stick For that was just the way the trouble began. He had been walking on his tallest stilts the whole afternoon-the stilts that were exactly, to the dot, one yard fifteen inches and a half tall - and then had sat himself on the fence along the back alley. He was facing the yard. with his back toward the alley, and that disgusting Olsen boy came past and gave him a dig in the back with that sharp stick. Just think of it Wouldnt anybody say it was unbearable Like a flash, John had slid down from the fence and rushed after Tellef and then came the fight. Gracious how that boy had yelled Well, a good pommeling was just what he deserved. It was rather a pity, though, that there had come a great split in his jacket and that his fishpole had got broken to bits in the fight...