Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1931-11-26

l first saw Mrs. LaFOllette in Madi-
son at the celebration of the fiftieth
anniversary of the University of Wis
consin, when her husband was COVER
nor of the state and the wisconsin
PLAN was in its first flush Of success
with the cooperation of the legis-
lature and the university. had been
in so-called social work long enough
to see the irreparable mischief men
of good will had done through their
ignorance, with social schemes which
either made no appreciable difference
to the evils they were supposed to
difficulties with which the poor con-
stantly struggle. Mrs. La Toilette
seemed to me an epitome of the better
methods: Her identification with
the university, her understanding of
the people in the state, and with the
Wisconsin plans. so new, so vigorous,
so beneficent, and above all so founded
upon adequate knowledge" This i'm
preston never changed after longer
and wider acquaintance which | ven
ture to hope ripened into a friend
ship.
never a fanatic eXacting moral rules
at the expense of human nature be-
cause she knew actual people living
on farms, in cities and towns, and
was in sympathy with life itself. She
was thus a realist in the finest sense
talities and incertitudes, she was al
ways ready to sacrifice a traditional
Good that stood in the way of the
Best. Such action became necessary
from time to time, if only because her
distinguished husband, perhaps beyond
lieved in the capacity of democratic
government to meet the difficulties
which may arise in our complex so
cial order if legislation is not founded
upon precedent in an industrial order
which belongs to the past but is adapt
opment of our own age. The modern
world in it's flux and complexity is
naturally seeking it's own adjustments,
but we all know that progress is not
automatic and that the world grows
better only when intelligent steps are
shared her husbands painstaking
preparation for any new legislation
which he might recommend. 1 recall
one summer when 1 gave course of
lectures at the University of Wisconsin
that l saw Mrs. La Toilette several
times on the farm bordering the shore
of beautiful lake. She showed me
the mass of records and files among
which so much of her time was at the
moment being spent, but the strenuous
labor was all so infused by devotion
to her husband and to their mutual
causes that l caught no hint of that
curious incongruity which often harsh
ly strikes one when our dull human
efforts inadvertently measure them
selves against the serene beauty in the
outer world. The two were congruous
that evening, for her great spirit, with
ITO ehiISSllOii uCNOelohs 1OLhd1uCu
unchallenged by the high-arched sky
itself.
She was always ready to stand by
unpopular causes and although eau
tious reformer, her high-hearted at
titude towards life never deserted her.
An organization of women founded in
Washington in 1915 dedicated to the
interests of International comfy and
peace found her naturally among it's
membership and when, two years
later, the organization was reduced to
minimum she quite inevitably stood
with the survivors in spite of the war
spirit flooding the capitol.
Those lines from Millions "Cosmus,"
which we learned at school and there
fore cannot forget, might have been
applied to her in this crisis as in many
others: .--.s..
Virtue could see to do what virtue
would ......
By her own radiant light, though sun
and moon
Were in the flat sea sunk"
Her children and grandchildren
have the fragrant memory of a life
which was IAN unending commerce
of fine deeds and great thoughts" so
that even in this hour of sorrow and
loss we congratulate them upon this
goodly possession.
1t is given to but few in any coun-
try to possess so fine heritage from
both father and mother and to al
most none to so adequately live up to
that heritage.
"The dead are not dead if we have
loved them truly, if in our own lives
we give them immortality, take up the