The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-05-07
TWO PATRIOTS DIE
| In THE SAME WEEK.
Sturdy steen and Elegant KEEL
land Mourned by ALI .s.,
Norwegians.
BY s. c. Hammer.
Correspondence of The Journal.

y BY S. c. Hammer.
Correspondence of The Journal.
Christiania, Norway, April 22.-sel.
dom. IT ever, within the compass Of
single week has Norway sustained
greater loss than that. which befell her
in the first week Of April. On the first
day, Johannes Steen, the old liberal
leader, passed away at the ripe age of
70. On April Alexander Kielland,
whose splendid works will live forever,
died suddenly, 81 years old. Mr..
Steen s death took place at Vosse-
vangen, near Bergen, where he lived at
the house of his son-in-law. Mr.. Kiell-
and died at Bergen, far away from his
dear ones, at the public infirmary,
operation. On the day before his
death he was among the spectators who
thronged the streets of Bergen to see
the, procession which conducted Mr..
Stems remains to the steamboat pier.
On the following morning Mr.. Kjelland
himself was found dead in his bed, and
today, simultaneously with Mr.. Steen's
imposing funeral in Christiania Mr..
Kjelland's remains will be brought
from the Bergen steamboat pier to
Stavanger to be inferred in the KEEL
land family vault in his native town..
In Norway, where politics and liter
allure are interviewer in manner
rarely found elsewhere, the decease Of
two leaders like Steen, and Kjelland
calls forth interesting "reminiscences
1T is easy to follow the current Of his
tory thru their life work, notwithstand-
ing their different fields, personal quail
ties which left no room for comparison.
Z - Become Democrats.
Born in Ghristiania in 1927, Mr.. Steen
was a, young man of % with a record as
ski sportsman and a Latin scholar
when Mr.. Kjelland was born in lS49.
Ten years later, when Kjelland as a
schoolboy underwent the Latin training
wildly in his famous novel "Poison, -
Mr.. Steen entered the storthing as a
member for Tromsoe. The death of
King Oscar I, father of the king de-
throned last summer, brought about {.
change which had long been in prepare
tlon. and within short time the peace
which was the characteristic feature Of
the reign of the first Oscar was followed
by one of the sharpest conflicts in the
history of the union. In this conflict
Mr.. Steen took has stand on the left
sverdrup, the famous liberal chief
whose political genius is unsur.
passed in this country up to the
years he co-operated with him in all the
important questions Sof national and
democratic interest which covers that
stormy period Of our recent history.
In this period Mr.. fKjelland grew to
manhood. Apparently unaffected by
the turbulent contest about him, Mr..
Kjelland's keen intellect pierced thru
the surface of things and a deep dis
gust at the conventional and official
humbug about him filed his mind and
made his heart beat in sympathy for
Steen and the liberals were toiling.
,Kjelland's Fame Grows.
In 1879 the last phase opened in the
struggle. between the liberals and the
crown. ,Itnwas a struggle Of life and
death and onSthe outcome depended the
fate Of Norway for years. In this con-
f1ict the versatile genius Of John Sver:
drup was supported by the unfinching
steadfastness of Mr.. Stcen. @eIn the
same year Kjelland made his afrst ap-
pearanee in literature, and within the
next five years down to the famous de:
feat of the government in 1884, Kjel,
lands literary star. was constantly ris-
ing. He was writing with. a whip, as
it were, and its lash smarted to THE
quick. Like an. elegant frondeur with
"a pointed rapier, sudden and unsparing
in his attacks, Mr.. Kjelland entered the
ranks. at the head Of which Mr.. Steen
was fighting in his heavy armature of
unimpeachable honesty, untiring work
and broad mass Of knowledge, and his
share in the result, tho not yet melted
out by history, will not be disputed by
any one familiar with that period.
The result of the liberal victory, how
ever, did not come up. to the expecta-
tions. At the formation Of Mr., Sver-
called upon to become a member, a
political mistake which soon proved to
be Of grave consequence: No one had
to suffer more for this mistake than Mr..
Kjelland himself During the reaction
in the later half Of the sos, Mr.. KEEL
land was refused the so-called "poets
pension "a yearly gift of honor of
about 1920 granted to Ibsen, Bjornson
and Lie. No one denied that he w1s a
splendid author, but his "viewsn Of.
Tended the reactionaries and clerics.
He took his revenge in a novel which
always will stand as q document not
oh!J " .AVoAo y, D"o - hAo ooAASot anu
cultural Importance. But his work was
done, and in 1891. the same year in
which Mr.. Steen finally was called on
to form a second liberal administration
in Norway, Mr.. Kjelland wrote his last
novel. As he had first appeared in
literature a perfect: artist, he laid
down his pen at the height of his fame
when he understood that he had nc
more to say to his countrymen and was
appointed a burgomaster in his native
town under Mr.. Steen s first admins.
tration. During his second admins.
tration at the turn Of the century, Mr.
Kielland became provincial governo,
or amtmand - Of Romsdal in west
steen "a Teacher.
Mr.. Steen was asteacher born and
bred, and thru his long life he was in
structing his people in the difficult les
son of true democratism and unselfisf
patriotism. Mr.. Kjelland appeared
among us as a revelation, perfect, ele
CANT and sarcastic and disappeared
with the same suddenness> as a meteor
in the night. But his task as a teache,
is no more obvious than that of Mr.
Steen. As sworn enemy of reaction
and humbug in any form, he, too, was s
noble champion for the cause espouse6
Eby Mr.. Steen and Norway will forever