Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-04-01
LARRY HO


the silver tongue and the gifted
pen of Larry Ho" Hodeson. four
times mayor of st. Paul and news
paper writer. He had been ill for
several months before his death
terminated his career.
1t is said that he became known
as Larry Ho while a boy in school.
He was signing his name TO some
class papers when his pen, il
broke at the completi of Larry
Ho' and right then a name was
born which was TO mean much
in the political life of Minnesota's
capitol city and in the journalistic
profession.
Mr.. HOdgson'S Easter editorial,
written before he died for the St.
Paul Sunday Pioneer Press, best
expresses his personality and his
quality of writing. 1t was entitled
casters Gift to Humanity" and
follows:
Easter. most glorious of all the days
of time. flames with white wings be-
fore our troubled hearts and tunes
our souls to anthems Il at with i'm
mortal music sweep away the doubts
of time All things in heaven and
earth are hushed to an abiding music
and the humblest human heart arises
from the dust to ascend the mountain
tops of God and pray in newborn joy
There is a new glory on the skies
and hills. The world still wears an
old familiar look, but there is sud-
den new radiance that touches old
and faded things and redeems the
very dust to loneliness.
The whole world is an altar on
Easter morning, and kneeling by it
the humblest and weariest man
touches the hem of the garment Of
God and is healed of his temporary
Commissions and despairs. There is
no other day like Easter. 1t probes
a man to his final faith; it Lays bare
to his own gaze the height of his
own aspiration and the depth of his
own destiny.
On Easter day we are on trial,
tested not for our achievements but
for our simplicities and certainties,
not for our mas cry of philosophy but
for our mastery of affection, not for
our prideS but for our humilitieS. If
we dare to stand naked to the winds
of Easter and be swept clean of the
accumulations of dust and doubt that
we gather on our difficult journey
between the cradle and the stars, we
shall be made clean to claim daily
cOmradeship with God.
1t is good that Easter comes at the
time when spring is bursting into
bloom and praising God with its thou
sand voices of bird and brook and
opening flower, thus reminding us
that it is cleansing time and urging
us to put on new raiment of life, and
new ecstacy of faith.
This year Easter should, and doubt
less will, mean to us greater re-
vival than it ever has before. The
sad world stands in puzzled doubt
before the spectacle of strife and fear
and bitterness and selfishness and in
tolerance, leagued in a confederacy
= of hate, and preparing to tear down
the sane foundations of the world.
Which way to turn? There is only
one way, just as there always has
been. We have placed our reliance
on temporary things, changing from
one promise to another only to find
them all vain and mCcking. And
easter comes to remind us that there
. hn Aft ha
The wise men have tied us to NOR
tally and it's certainty of death, Jesus.
the Man of the Cross, stands waiting
to lead us out of bondage into the
glorious freedom of Immortality.
Come unto Me, all We that labor and
are heavyladen, and l will give you
rest Thus He pleads with men to
escape defeat by allying themselves
with the unconquerable hosts of
Righteousness, to enter into complete
victory by abandoning forever the de-
ceits and the pretenses of those who
march toward death, lured by the fri
vclities of materialism
Today the leaders of the world pre-
pare for slaughter. They revel in
encouraging hatreds and creating
shams which tarnish the soul of man
and lead him finally to spiritual
death. The cross is still the way of
life and, shining beside the empty
tomb, calls us to follow the path that
leads from death to eternal life. When
all the wars are ended and all the
hates are dust, the cross will shine
in the morning sun pointing the way