The Ward County independent., 1922-08-03
SONS OF NORWAY PICNIC
AT NO MANS LAND

| II OAc VI Lut IuOSl cuJOydU1c p'CHlCS
that was ever pulled off by the local
lodge Of Sons of Norway was held
on the Old Settlers picnic grounds at
No Mans Land just. above Burlington
last Sunday afternoon and evening.
Between four and five hundred people
were present and the woods were full
Of people in groups either visiting or
lunching when they were not listen
ing to the speechm aking at the grand
stand. The program started with the
singing by the audience of America"
accompanied by the Minot Community
band, after which the gathering was
bid welcome by MI. j. O. Berghein,
President of the local lodge Sons of
Norway. Mr.. Alvin Anderson then
rendered several vocal solos. Mr..
Anderson possesses beautiful bass
voice and was highly appreciated be-
ing encored several times.
| The Minot Community band rem
dered numaer Of fine selections in
their usual efficient manner as did
| also the we'll known Hardanger-
Violinist, Halvor Solum, from Carpio,
who is certainly master at playing
the old country "Spring" and "Hal-
| lingdans" music on violin. The
acoustic qualities of the stage, how
| ever, are not the best and much of 1t
was lost in space, but the writer has
heard Mr.. Solum play under more
! favorable conditions and can testify to
his rare ability. Gov. R. A. Nestos,
who, by the way, was the first presi-
dent and who is still member Of the
lodge in Minot, was present for few
minutes shortly after noon, but, un-
fortunately was obliged to leave on
No. 80 at 2 O'Clock for Grand Forks
where he had an important engage
ment for Monday morning, and, al
though he was scheduled to speak at
the picnic he was unable to do SO.
Everybody was consequently disap--
pointed and particularly so as many
had come long way for the special
purpose of hearing him speak. The
place as main speaker, however, was
ably filled by Mr.. o. L. Aasgaard of
Kringen Lodge No. 25 of Fargo who,
| in well chosen words, spoke at some
length of the aims and benefits of the
Order Of Sons Of Norway. He dwelt
particularly on the rich treasures
found in Morse mythology and litera-
ture, to study and assist in the in
fusion of which into the social and
educational structure of their adopted
land is the principal object of the
order. No one who makes any pre-
tence of being educated or well read
can afford to miss studying Ibsen,
Bjornson, Garborg, Hamsun, Verge
land, Holberg, or any other of the
many bright literary lights Of Nor
way, not to mention those of the
one can deny the great advantage to
! rf,,Iort IN Tho ob;lifv 70 cf,,I1, tbo,,,
| in the original. Of course, when Mr..
Aasgaard went on to say that it was
| the "Johnsons" who won the world war
for the allies we could not quite agree
with him as the records seem to show
that there were also a goodly num-
! ber of "Smiths" and possibly few
of the many other branches of the
American Nation who were more or
less implicated in 4 the conspiracy
against Wilhelm. However, as the
/ writer, himself, is first cousin of a
Johnson, he is willing to presume
| that it is pardonable on an occasion
of this kind to indulge just a wee
little. A few happy remarks by Mr..
John K. Sveen, Grand Secretary of
the fourth district, concluded the pro-
gram and the good natured picnickers
reverted back to visiting and renew
| ing old acquaintances for the balance
| of the evening. A little later, how
ever, Mr.. and Mrs. Thorstein Skar-
ming from Minneapolis, who are on a
concert tour through the country, ar
rived, and treated the audience to
few selections from his magnificent
accordian accompanied by Mrs. Skar-
ming on the piano. The pair were
scheduled to have given concert in
Minot Saturday night of last week
but, owing to an unlucky breakdown
of their automobile, were delayed.
They went on to Williston where they
have date this week.
The entire celebration was in honor
of the fifteenth anniversary of Thor
Lodge No. 81 Sons Of Norway of Mi
not. The committee in charge con-
sisted of the Messrs. M. Ringen, A. M.
Thompson and L. H. HUSKY to whom
is accorded the exclusive credit for
the unquestioned success of the un-
dertaking.
Among out of town visitors, most
of them with their whole families,
were:
From Oberst Hegg Lodge No. 100
of Carpio: E. T. Ellingson, Anton
Moen, Halvor Solum, Lars Melby, Gill
bert Skinningsrud, Martin Ronningen,
Louis Strokness, Andrew Vangsness,
Selmer Hovland, Christ Moe, Andrew
Il. Anderson, P. o. Hall, Oscar Herum,
E. A. Kjontvedt and John Charlson
From Dovre Lodge No. 1914, Mohall:
John O. Peterson, Pres. j. j. Gilseth,
the Mesdames Olga Lee, Anna Saffron,
and Gina Strand, OLAF Tenderness and
Peter p. johnson.
From Odin Lodge No. 81, Rugby:
4. J. Bergman and N. I. Romness
(both residing in Minot).
From Eidsvold Lodge No. 1856, more
than 80 miles away, came Mr.. and
Mrs. 0. L. Gorder and Mr.. and Mrs.
Peter Utgard with their families.
Mr.. T. o. Soine, photographer of
Stanley and member Of Viking Lodge
No. III, was present and took a pic