OCR Text |
Show Norwegian Anniversary Mingled Shade and Sun- :i shine-The Speech H 1 Until the rains decended and the ;H Hoods came about five o'clock Satur- ''1 day afternoon the Norwegian eclcbra- Vl tlon of their Independence day was 1 carried out most successfully. About ijl 100 of the country men of Ibsen and ' Grieg came together In the clfy park !H at 2 o'clock, all loyal and loving Amer- 'iH leans and yet with their hearts full of t tender affection for tho land of their ijj nativity, the land of pine trees and jJ rocky coasts! of high thinking and ': plain living. Bishop August Schou, j of Richmond, was the orator of the ! day and In his address gave the his- tory of the event they were celcbrat , M lug.. Many pcoplo think that Inde- j pendence day in Norway meansthe M anniversary of the. recent separation M or Sweden and Norway. It has, how- iH ever, a far older and more Important H history. It dates baok to the winter H of 1814, when Bernadottc, the French- H man, ascended tho throne of Sweden. jH Norway was then but a province of -H Denmark and the Norwegian people ijH assembled and made a constitution lH which is binding to this day. By It H Norway was made a separate kingdom but ruled by the same king as Sweden jjH and, as It was ratified on May 17, this '1 date has become precious to all true il Norwegians, as much as July 14tojhe !jH .French, or our own July 4. After this i ablo and patriotic address a quartette jH sang two Norwegian songs, one by jH BJornsen and the other a folk song. lfl Then Prof. A. J. Hansen read an epic , poem by Ibsen which was especially jH apropos as it dealt with events taking ' place in 1814 and was written by one 'H whom many consider the greatest man H Norway has produced. Mr. Hansen jH read with much feeling and vigor but !JH his hearers were getting anxious about :j the weather and as soon as he had H finished they were obliged to dee to 11 cover with their boiled eggs and M smoked sardine sandwiches while the 41 elements prepared a cold rain and fog 11 that would not have been out of place t' on tho coast of Norway. It was a fH truly Norwegian finish but was not 'H Just the touch that the sons of the tM Viking desired. i H |