Let's move on to page VI which has something a bit more macabre to offer. Among the lists of information that he decided to copy down here there is one recounting the various places that had experienced major earthquakes along with the year they occurred and the number of people who perished. The other half of page VII also lists the various forms of currency that were being used while Niels still resided in Denmark.
However, back to the earthquake data. I won't be relisting them here since what they say isn't as interesting as where they came from. The dates span hundreds of years and the locations are litterally scattered all over the world. I sat for the longest time and contemplated why exactly he would have chosen to copy these down. Once again I found myself in the position where I couldn't fully put myself in his shoes but I was certainly capable of attempting to draw parallels between his writing process and my own. When I set out to translate this text I chose to do so by employing pencil and paper. Rather than using a computer, which granted would have saved a lot of time, I told myself that if Niels had taken the care and time to write down his thoughts and memories in longhand then I owed him, and myself to put the same kind of care into my work. I attempted to walk a mile in another man's shoes so to speak. Truth be told I usually try to do any sort of writing related work with pencil and paper. It allows for a better opportunity to connect with the material. While working with this book I enjoyed being able to handle the book. Seeing the places where pages had been earmarked, the flow of the handwriting and even the smell of the paper which had a scent of nostalgia, but I digress. I had for a few years used a leather bound book to jot down certain facts, figure, quotes and ideas that crossed my mind. They were a random patchwork of information that was completely without use to any rational human being, unless they were preparing to be a contestant on Jeopardy. I can of course not be a hundred percent sure as to why he chose to copy this information down, but perhaps it was simply something that sparked an interest in him.
During my research I was also able to ascertain the source of the earthquake data. He copied it from; “The Standard Reference Work, for the Home, School, and Library, Volume 3,” which was a desktop encyclopedia published by the Minneapolis and Chicago Standard Education Society in 1922. I've attached a link at the bottom of this post in case people want to check it out themselves. Now the fact that I found the source is actually quite interesting. On one hand it underlines the fact that he was a very (self)educated person who was always learning new things. The fact that the book was published in 1922 tells us that he wrote this entire text around or after his 86th birthday. However, what I found really interesting, and what I think speaks greatly to his motivations for writing all of this down is that he is looking at Volume 3 from an encyclopedia series. This volume shares information about many words, starting with DEER and ending with Halifax. The interesting part here, to me at least, is that the D-section also contains a rather detailed description of the country of Denmark.
I think that he started writing all of these facts down in this book because he found them to be interesting. Then, somewhere along the line something occurred, perhaps he felt that the end was nigh or maybe he began feeling homesick and nostalgic in his twilight years. Whatever his reasons may have been, he switched gears and focused more on creating a written account of things that he remembered from his youth. A simpler time. Back when he still had both feet firmly planted on the dirt roads of Zealand. Maybe he never got to go back to the old country and this literary trip down memory lane was as close as he could get.
Page VII cont.
The Danish monetary system was made up of 1/2 Schilling, 1 Schilling and 2 Schilling coins that were all made of copper. There were also silver coins which consisted of 3 Schilling, 4 Schilling, 8 Schilling and 16 Schilling. However, 16 Schilling was also called 1 Mark and 3 Mark made up 1/2 Thaler. 6 Mark, which was also two half Thaler, made up one Thaler. 2 Thaler were a Specie but there was also 8 Mark, 4 Mark and 16 Mark, however these last three were German currency. In paper money we had 5 Thaler, 10 Thaler, 20 Thaler, 50 Thaler, 100 Thaler and 500 Thaler. All were printed on blue paper and considered legal tender.
For documents to be legal they needed to be written on paper carrying the right stamps and have a wax seal on them.
https://books.google.com/books?id=V8lGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PT105&dq=Catania+Sicily+1137+15000+Syria+1158+20000&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjz1Kbo1dDLAhVEw2MKHRTwB54Q6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Catania%20Sicily%201137%2015000%20Syria%201158%2020000&f=false
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