Decorah-posten og ved arnen., 1909-09-28
g%rGfioent MeIaas' 9aIe bioiGttes
! fin $eIbeo. Zen Ieo iom felger:

jul 9elDeo. Sen LOO loft 1plger.
Delegates and Members of The
National Norwegian Pisneer Asso-
~ciatton of Amerika: - Friends
1t affords me very great pleasure
to-day, to have the honor of greeting
you on this interesting and impor-
tant occasion, the Biennial meeting
of our National Association.
1t is not my purpose to address
you at any lenght, but / cannot for
bear expressing the pleasure and
pride we must feel at the steady
growth in numbers and influence of
our society. 1t is an organization
that ought to command the interest
and good will Of every thinking Nor
wegian American who still feels his
heart warm at the mention of his ia
therland, and who appreciates the
part his countrymen have played in
developing the resources and upbuild-
ing the industries of this, the land of
our adoption, our well beloved Anne
RIGA.
Our society does we'll, / believe, to
keep alive the memory of our pioneer
relatives and countrymen, to honor
their courage, their ambition for bet
terment, their faithful toll.
1t is not in Wisconsin and Mime
sofa alone, that the hardy Morse pio-
neers have proven their industry and
zeal. In the entire west our country
men have been a power in the strug-
gle to subdue the forests, make fer
tile the wilderness, develop the re-
sources and upbuild the civilization.
No historian can truthfully record
the history of the Making of the
West" without ascribirn to the Nor
wegian a great part in this glorious
work.
1t is but a few brief years since the
first emigrants from Norway settled
in the West. 1t will do us good to
think for a moment of what they had
to endure. Think of their battles
with poverty, with a strange and to
them dangerous climate, with a
strange people, speaking an unknown
language.
Was not this a combination of ele-
ments that would have terrorized the
average man2 Think of the dreary,
virgin forests, the wide, uncultivated
prairies, travelled only by the wild
Indian in his pursuit of FISH and
game. Think of a land with no
schools, no churches, no railroads, no
markets, no homes. How my me-
mory makes me see the csene os of it
were before my eyes this moment,
the first little rude huts, the green
patches of garden, the n COW, the
pig. the yoke of oxen. I can see the
sweaty brow of the hardy settler in
his strenuous efforts to conquer the
wilderness. I can see the even
h e roi struggle of the pioneer
Norwegian woman to supply the
wants of her family from the meagre
crops gathered of the night when the
mans work is over. bending over her
sewing in the dim candle light, tot
ling at the making and mending Of
the clothing for the little household,
with only the rudest materials at her
disposal.
Think of the changes between now
and then, and are we not filled with
the spirit of wonderment and thank
f~ulness &c the sturdy men and women
who have done so much for us and
for the country Of which we are citi-
zens.
To-day you will find the American
born N~orwegians a class of people
fully Americanized, loyal to the
Stars and Stripes. You will find
them occupying positions of trust and
honor; in the Congress OF the United
States, in the State executive man
sion, on the bench and in our legis-
latures, in positions of trust in bust
ness and mer In the war of
the Rebellion and in the late war
with Spain, thousands of our
trymen proved their love and layalty
to America. But while we yield to
none in our devotion of the glorious
land of our adoption, we still love
and want our children to love the old
land. the land of the fjords and wa
terfalls, the land of the mountains
and valleys, the land of our forefa-
theirs, the valiant old vikings of the
north.
We wish this society to be the
means of keeping alive the very best
traditions of our race and of inspir-
ing in our young people something of
the spirit of those, who in the past,
have proven themselves both in this
and the old land. to be a race of
people, strong, fearless and I'M
daunted.