Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-05-31

/ Europe, each contributing its physical
! and intellectual traits and character
/ isticS.
! The ScandlnayianS have, abundantly
earned the right of American citizen
ship around the camp-fireS of patriot
ism. They, too, marched to the front
when it was necessary to save this
nations life. They. too, starved in
the prisons of the south. Their blood
colored the waters of southern swamp
and river. Their bones lie strewn on
southern battlefields. Yes. Scandina-
vians, too, responded to the call Of
! this nation in distress, and will do so
again in the hour of danger Till
Stamina svalt, till Stamina kamp, till
samma dod de gaar!'
And to maintain this spirit OF paui-
otto duty in the Scandinavian youth,
we who have their education in
charge-both parents and teachers
must see to it that they are schooled
in this country's history and traditions.
They shall not help to swell the ranks
of the impatient anarchistic for
eigners and their ilk in our large
cities, who think this government of
the people is a failure. Those men
have not learned the lessons of Amer
icas patient struggles tor liberty
| They do not understand the genius of
the American people. They do not
know and cannot feel that this coun-
try has reserve force of patriotic
strength, which, in the face of real
and impending danger is simply IRE
sistible.
Americans are not the needless, I'M
reasoning and Indifferent people that
foreigners often imagine them. They
are at heart a conservative people, and,
moreover, a people slow to anger, pa
tient and fOrbearing even under the
fOutS and StingS and threats of for
eign ingrates who have fed the old
worlds poverty and scorn.' SO pa
tent, indeed, that veterans of the late
civil war sometimes doubt the slumber-
ing patriotism of today. But let the
occasion come, as it came to them in
81, and the young men of this land
will fly to their country's rescue with
spirit of patriotism that will thrill
the heart-strings of the battle-Scarred
heroes of Chicamauga and Gettys-
burg.
Let us not then, as ScandinavianS, |
join the army of diScOntents Though |
the times are hard, and the future I'M !
certain, and we see many wrongs that !
should be righted, let us take courage. |
Let this nations past inspire US with
faith in the ultimate justice of the
American people.
Here, it is written, Toll shall have |
its wage,
And Honor honor, and the humblest |
man
Stand level with the highest in the
land"
And so l say again, let US not only |
instruct the Scandinavian youth Of this !
land in the patriotic virtues of their |
fathers, but let us teach them to WOr-
ship at the shrine of American liberty, |
teach them to revere the name OF |
Washington, to do honor to the heroes |
who won this cOuntry's freedom, to
keep in sacred remembrance the il
lustrious dead, who, as it were but
yesterday, gave their lives that this |
nation might liye,-teach them TO bow
with reverence to the name Of Abra-
ham Lincoln, the ularIyreu presIuenU,
who bore the burdens of this land
as though he were its conscience, and
whose life from the cradle to the grave
was consecrated to human liberty. |
His name is a tower Of strength to !
this republic, and his saga should be
an oft-told tale at every Scandinavian
fireside in Vinland the Good.
And now a word for Norway and
the day we celebrate. AS grateful
children in a foreign land we owe her !
a reverend thought on the day that
commentaries the birth of her free
dom, and l know that every Norwegian
Bjornson's song:
Yes, we love with fond devotion !
Norway's mountain domes,
Rising StOrm-laShed DER the ocean
With her thousand homes"
Since the days Of the Roman En-
pite, the political development i'll
Europe mas been along the lines Of ma
tional indiyidualiSm. Nations, like in
dividuals, prize liberty and independ-
ence. They wish to shape their own
destiny. But about a century ago,
France dreamed of an empire like
Caesars or Charlemagne's. An at
tempt to realize that dream, lit the
torch Of war throughout all Europe.
AS an incident in the terrible struggle
that ensued, the bond between Nor
way and Denmark, which had existed
for over four long and dark centuries,
was severed, and Norway stood alone,
but without the protecting arm OF
Harald, Haakon, or a Sverre.
Imbued with the spirit Of the
French Revolution, and inspired by
their heroic past as revealed in the
Old Morse sagas, the Norwegian PEG
pie resolved upon their political
sovereignty, in the very teeth Of the
monarchs Of Europe, who had sold
their country as a chattel. Their reso
luton, therefore, meant a struggle
for existence, at time, too, when the
industrial conditions Of the country
were at their lowest ebb. But in spite
of poverty, hunger and distress, thou
sands of brave Norwegian men-like
the American heroes of Bunker Hill
and Valley Forge-were prepared to
Law down their lives if need be- fOr