The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-03-13

OF The Y. NJ. {. A.
AN INTERESTING MEETING HELD
YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AT Y.
M. c. A. TO COMMEMORATE THE
TWENTY FIFTH ANNIVERSARY
OF ORGANIZATIONS BIRTH.

1t was a large and interested au-
dience that gathered yesterday after
noon at the Y. M. c. A. to attend the
anniversary ceremonies which were
held to commemorate the twenty fifth
birthday Of the local Young Mems
Christian association. There were
many interesting and beneficial talks
given, mostly reminiscent in character,
which were especially engaging to
those Of the former days who struggled
to make the organization what 1t Is
now.
A. L. Wall spoke of the difficulty Of
maintaining the old building and of the
immense amount of Indebtedness on it.
He made special reference to the note
Of $500 on the building which four
teen men signed and raised, many Of
who did without certain necessities
and little luxuries in order to meet the
note.
One Of the most interesting talks Of
the afternoon was that of Capt e. c..
Gearey, jr., who went into great detail
on the question of gymnastic features.
Captain Gearey mentioned the crack
hose team of the association which
made the record of the country, and
which has never been broken since.
He spoke of the basketball games and
the track events and of the manner
Of the direction of physical culture
classes where every man was his own
physical director, or sometimes the
general secretary or the janitor acted
in that capacity.
| An enjoyable talk was given on the
records of the general secretaries of
the association. many of whom have
gained wide reputation over the
country.
| Frank Pearson was the speaker and
referred In particular to Harry Bascom,
4 now general secretary of the Massa
chusetts association and who is con-
Quoting the building of the magnificent
new 100000 structure for the associa-
ton in the heart OF the most select
section Of Boston; to w. H. Day, now
in charge of the railroad work of the
international committee and supervisor
of this phase of the work for the en-
tire northwest to Thomas Lippy. who
formerly ran a shooting gallery, be-
came a member of the Y. M. c. a. it's
| general secretary, and who later went
| 10 the hIOnulke WnSTe ne was success
ful in stalking out one Of the richest
claims in that region, with his wife
the firht white woman in the Yukon
country. Mr.. Lippy is now multi
| millionaire, residing in Seattle and is
said to be the largest contributor to
the cause of the Y. M. G. A. work in
the United States.
Henry Amerland spoke of the re-
Iligious work, referred to the work OF
John Soaring, for years with The Fo-
rum business Office He then men
toned the great good done by the orig
inal members of the association who
supplied reading material to the lum-
Der jacks, assisted the reformed pris-
oners in the state prison and helped
them to start anew In life. Many OF
these men who had served a term In
the pen in those days and who were
helped by the local association have
become prominent business men in Thu
state and Montana.
The anniversary celebration of the
association will be held the first week
lin June and will be one of the greatest
undertakings which has yet been at
tempted.