Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-10-19
New England Is
Found Interesting
Continued from Page u

Human activity by the sea retains
the fascinating air of adventure. The
wharves with the business of un-
loading bulky sacks from a freighter
or the deep-sea catch from fishing
schooner got is share of attention.
But the most gripping impression was
the breath of war that came to us
at the sight of two freighters at an
Choir in the bay with their country's
flag painted in huge dimensions on
the side. The one was a Norwegian
boat that had turned back from the
middle Atlantic at the outbreak of the
war to protect its cargo of coal in a
neutral port while awaiting further
orders.
Many Surprises.
The Middle Westerner notices two
things in New England. The one is
the persistent and intimate beauty of
nature. They say that there is sur
prise around every curve, and we
believe it, for although the stretch
of U. S. No. from Boston to Port
hills, we were kept in constant sus-
pense by the varying views, now hills
and woods, now villages and towns,
now ocean beaches and harbors. The
other feature is the age and histor-
lefty. The villages boast houses dated
back a hundred years or two, and
they practically all have the typical
colonial church with its large Win
dows and the slender spire. We
didn't have much time to explore
Boston, but we did drive through the
downtown section with its extremely
narrow and congested streets and past
the Commons. We caught a glimpse
of Old Ironsides and visited Bunker
Hill. In Portland we saw Longfel-
lows birthplace, and here in Hart
ford we have the homes of Harriet
Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain
Everywhere we saw huge cemeteries
with their old plain slabs, and some
day we are going on tombstone ex-
petition to read the old inscriptions
| There are other sides to the pic
ture, however, and also these we
notice. The ruins of the hurricane
catastrophe of year ago are largely
cleaned up, but there are still many
wrecks to be seen, and occasionally
we run across an opening in the for
est where thousands of trees lie felled
as if by a gigantic scythe. History
is abused and exploited by people
too. Antique stores are a nuisance
and wear on the nerves with their
recurring signs. Bunker Hill is
squeezed in by unsightly tenement
houses, and limitations abound. The
killing mark of artifciality can ruiz
copies of older architecture, if it is
not used with discretion. In the
Avon mountains close to Hartford is
a prep school built in imitation OF
an English village Millions have
been lavished upon it, and the re-
suit is tremendously interesting tc
see. The consistency and the luxury
of the institution are marvellous but
the stamp of artificiality cannot be
shaken off. The patina of old age is
charming and splendid results can
be reached by undermining of old
ideas, but uncritical copy can kill
the intended result.
| About the Churches.
The church life is apparently
strong, but perhaps it is only ap-
parently; we do not know as yet
We live in a section dominated by
Catholic groups, and there are three
large Catholic grade schools in the
neighborhood. There are five Luth-
eran churches close together, the
Swedish being by far the largest
1t is celebrating its 50th anniversary
this month. They still have Swedish
services and the Germans still have
the German services. The four Luth-
eran churches collaborate in spon-
soring a training school with four
classes every Monday evening where
the Sunday school teachers are taught
Our church takes part in this. The