Decorah-posten og ved arnen., 1922-07-14

Came peeping in at morn.
How dear to my heart are the scenes
OF my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them
to view!
The. orchard, the meadow, the deep
tangled wildwood,
And every loved spot which my in
fancy knew.
The wide-spreadins pond, and the mill
that stood by it,
The bridge and the rocks where the
CATARACT fell;
Tte,cot Of my father, the dairy house
nigh it
And cen the ride bucket that hung
IN the well.
So strong is this love for the haunts
of childhood that merely thinking of
them by oneself is % enough; and
'sowe have. the.reunion and the home
coming. But where circumstances
aprevent,such pilgrimages to the com
mon shrine, there have sprung up the
club and the lodge in which people Of
like associations may at times in spirit
revisit theirneariy home. In New York
there are California clubs and in
California there are New York clubs.
Why, even in Chicago, which is not
more than fifty miles from borders of
Wisconsin, there Is a Wisconsin club
which convenes at, stated intervals for
"reminiscences OF old times in Wis
consin.
So much a part of human nature is
this feeling that it,can not be stamped
out by any effort Of the will. And l
believe that the, strength of it is in
direct proportion to the distance that
separates the old home from the new.
II is this natural and legitimate
human craving that has led to the
organization of such lodges as the
Sons of Norway. That Americans
who were born and bred across the
sea occasionally feel the need of
coming together to talk about their
old home, in the old ~vernacular may
be, is no more a reflection on America
than the Wisconsin Club in Chicago
is a reflection on Chicago. The fact
that its members have chosen to live
in Chicago should d~isprove n such
Interpretation.
When one t~ransplants an old tree,
one must take with it some of the
old soil about the roots, if it is not
10 die in the process. Human beings
can not live without memories. Any
new home is strange until one has
lived in it long enough to lay UP a
store of memories to bind one to il
and make one feel a part of it.
In Genesis we read:
Therefore shall a man leave his
father and his mother and cleave unto
his wife; and they shall be one flesh
These words give us a picture of the
Americanization process. The Ameri-
can-to-be leaves his parent country,
and cleaves unto the land of his
choice and they become one. But
must he forget that he ever had a
motherf Can he ever forget it2 May
he not with perfect propriety have
her picture in his new home. May he
not speak of her to his children and
teach them her songs? Is every
thought he sends his mother dis
loyalty TO his wife? Or has each her
own peculiar place in his affections
Eon which the other must not en-
croach1 AS to the children, their
smother will always be their mother.
;iThey will naturally love their grand
mother, too, but in a different way.
by lifetime she has become a great
tgfandmother or a g~reat-great grand
smother she will have become vague
Tenough TO suit'the most ardent melt
Tsing-pot l~zealot.
The more respect the new American
has for himself, for his individuality,
Lfor the race from which he springs
1.-The, more iloath will he be to lose his
sgacial identity, He can not bring
khimselfi to knock at Americas door
ssaying. "Here I am beggar. Take
sme in, feed me, clothe me mentally
land spiritually in your ready-made
Egarb. Make of me a Mayhower de-
ascendant" If he is of the right stuff
he will rather say: II come to JON
my fortunes to yours. The treasures
oflmy rae | will give to you. | wist
to give as we'll as to receive"
Give? Ay, there's the rubl The
less thinking American of British
descent does not perceive that other
nations have anything to give &c
America. He prefers the role of Lady
Bountiful graciously dispensing aims
40 mendicants and paupers. 1t j:
more blessed to give than TO receive
That being the case, no one shoult
want the monopoly on that blessing
One should be willing to receive a.
we'll as to give. Giving TO anything
or any cause makes for a sense o.
ownership, both subjective and objec,
tive, which is most conducive Il
solidarity.
Great Britain is not today on,
mother country in the sense that sh,
was in colonial days. America has
dozen mother countries or she ha
none.
All Americans have much for whicl
TO be thankful TO England and to tn
Englishmen who laid so wisely TIL
foundations of our great common
wealth. 1t is we'll, indeed, that som
one nation did get here first" an,
that the rival claims of England an
France were settled so early in on
history, Sc that too many cooks wer
not allowed TO spoil the broth, and S
that one language became frml
established as the language of GU