Decorah-posten., 1879-05-28

without doubt. be especially true of
these remarks.
While these people have been walk
ing in the procession, or listening to
the o~ratioBs and to soul and heart.
stirring music and singing, their coun-
tenances-wrinkled and weather-beat-
en-. many Of them are, yet honest and
true faces-baye worn an earnest,
thoughtful expression that would seem
10 indicate that their minds we're far
away among scenes that they have !
long since left, and that they were oc-
cupied with events far in the past
And it is well that on such an occasion
these gray-haired fathers and mothers,
in their minds wander again among
their native hills and mountains, float
again on the serene bosom Of the mir
ror-like fjords, that they listen again
TO the deafenIng cataract or to the
huider's mournful song that often
lulled them to sleep, Not only for
these old men and women, who are one
by one going to that rest which they
have so well and faithfully earned but
for us younger ones also, who must
o take their places, is it well to be
carried in thought, once a year at least,
to the land where rest the hallowed
remains OF our illustrious ancestors;
and to review, as we have done to-day,
the fair history Of eur race and its IN
cient hOme--the only country and
people Of all Europe hat has not bow
ed in submission to the couqueror.
The chief good which shall come to
US from all this, is an increased love
for the land Of our adoption, a fuller
consciousness Of our ability and fitness
to benefit this land Of our new lealty,
where we are to live and labor, and
where our efforts for the good OF men
are to be put forth.
A man who lives chiefly by himself,
not associating with his neighbors, will
naturally be filed with more or less Of
prejudice toward them This preju-
dice, injurious both to himself and to
others, can be overcome only by &C
qu~a:ntance with his fellows. The
same is true Of nations. 1t is but
| Ildlu1dl anu Hulldb litb VIC SliOulu
have brought with us some prejudices
towards these many nationalities
among whom we have come to live.
But if we will we can remove these
obstacles TO our usefulness here. Let
us seek the acquaintance Of our neigh
bors, learn to know them and their
ways. But we must also let them
know US; for it would be strange
should they not have some similar
feelings towards us, which could thus
be corrected. Gathering on this an
niversary, as we have done to-day, will
help in doing all this for us, and give
us our proper place among the citizens
Of this favored land.
There was a time when our forefath-
ers were the terror Of the nations
about them, and the priests chanteG
before the affairs Of God: From the
fury of the Mortimer deliver us, {
Lord" May our conduct here never
be such that men shall breathe a pray
err to their Maker to free them from
the fury Of the Mortimer. Ii we may
Judge by appearances there is no one
now wishing del%iverance from us. W.
have won the respect OF u fellow
citizens at the same time that we have
learned more highly to prize the worth
Of our own nationality. The tim'
when a Norwegian thought it a dis
grace to have a genuine ~old-country
name, or in the presence of others t
: speak the language in which he could
express what he felt and thought--th'
time when it was his chief concern t.
conceal or destroy the evidences of hi,
nationality, is now happily past ant
gone.
These are the results both OF the
knowledge others have gained concern
ing US and Of our own increased self
consciousness and we have but wisel,
and constantly TO perseyere in tn,
} way We have begun, and it shall b.
our privilege, as it always has been tn
/ privilege of our people, to improv'
and ennoble the character Of thos,
among whom we have come to live.
!. Anglo-Saxon. German and North
, manfred and proved members o
the sturdy old stock--have here unite,
' IN building up this new-world empire
i Let all these but be ~deyontly faithful
q in the discharge Of their trust, an
this nations progress, already SO sic
q nal, is but the dawn of a career at tn
possibilities ef which the boldest imag
l%nation must stagger. Let each {
these, while the inevitable fusion int
; one people is going on, and in fri
i allegiance to the divine Ruler abov,
d cherish the high qualities that ar
>, theirs by inheritance, and there sha
be developed here a national characte
Of cnnL GtrnnntL nnl rrunInotrr q