The Iola register., 1901-04-12
OFFICIAL PAPER OF ALLEN COUNTY
THE MESSIAH ON THE PRAlRIEs.


To one who has long since got past
the point of travelling for the mere
sake of going somewhere, railroad
Journey of three hundred miles in a
crowded excursion train, involving a
night without sleep and various other
Inconvenience, is something to shrink
from. But it is not too high a price
to pay for the exquisite privilege OF
hearing the greatest of the worlds
oratorios as It is rendered by the
students and faculty OF Bethany
College, at Lindsborg, out in central
Kansas, on the very edge of the
"Great American Desert"
Lindsborg is the center of the Kan
sas Sweden. Walk down its one
short business street and the names
on the signs will tell you that. Swan
son. Nelson, Carlson, Bergstrom,
Sogerstrom, Beckstrom, Olafson,-
that is the way they run. And the
community of which this clean, wide
spreading little village is the center,
is one of the most thrifty and intelli-
gent, and therefore one of the hap
piest in Kansas. incidentally it is
Republican to the backbone.
Bethany College is the center OF
Lindsborg. An institution which the
people themselves have built, and of
which they are intensely and justly
proud. An institution which is doing
magnificent work in the training ofthe
eye, the hand, the mind and the heart
of hundreds of young men and women
who, without it, could have but scant
opportunity to lay hold of the higher
life. 1t was the first of the Swedish
Lutheran schools to introduce co-edu-
cation, and the conservative elders
of the church we're shocked when the
proposition was laid before them
"Why Brother Swensson," they said,
this experiment car not possibly sue
coed. You will but have u school for
scandal" Perhaps you are right. "
replied Brother Swensson suavely,
but as long as the Good God allows
boys and girls to be born into the
same family together, I do not know
why | should not allow them to go to
school together And in three years
the conservative elders acknowledged
that Brother Swensson was right.
Bethany College does not pretend to
be university. But it is most
thorough-going college, and the
student who completes its course with
credit is well equipped for the fight.
And the center of Bethany College
is DIR. Carl Swensson. A great stal.
wart man, with frame that any of his
Viking ancestors might well have
boasted of, with a mind in which fine
original fiber has been trained to the
last degree of efficiency, with a res
ponsive and sympathetic heart, with q
blithe spirit, with treless energy,-a
human dynamo. One doesn't have tC
be there long to see that DR.. Swenssor
is the King. His hand Is on the throt
ties. From the hamsandwich which IL
sold at the refreshment stand to the
Messiah, Carl Swenson directs ant
controls and inspires,
But the Messiah. Fancy il you car
a perfectly balanced chorus of Al:
fresh young voices, reinforced by
pipe organ and an orchestra of fift,
pieces, rendering with the perfection
Which comes from years of the mos
assiduous and conscientious practice
the most exalted and inspiring musi
ever written in the world! 1t may b
imagined but it cannot be described
And one who has heard it doesn'
wish to even try to describe it. Al
he wishes is that the divine harmon
of il may ring in his soul forever!
MPS NATION pASU AND pr NSENT