Willmar tribune. [volume], December 22, 1909, Image 7

About Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
ttjjW* *t
LL the worM
keeps Christ
mag day. From
the land of the
midnight gun
to the sunny
south of per
petual summer
is a far cry.
But in the long
distance there
is no a
where Christ
as I
kept. Its cele-
bration is a part of the universal
history of the human race. What
ever may have been its origin and
whatever peculiarities may have
gathered about it in its adaptation
to different people and different
circumstances, it is to us Ameri
cans to-day a practically national
feast.
To keep it was at one time, and
in cur own part of the country, it
Is true, a penal offense. It was
thought to savor of prelacy and to
foster unpleasant memories of po
litical servitude But it has grown
with our growth and the broad
mindedness of the American
people is seen at its best in the
hearty commemoration of the na
tivity of the Christ from year to
year.
In sS«ne parts of the country, in
fact, Cnristmas day bids fair to
supplant Thanksgiving day, and it
certainly may already claim an
equality of recognition with the
time-honored national festival of
our New England forbears. People
of every creed and every nation
ality within our borders delight to
participate in the celebration of
the Christmas feast, and many a
scion of old-world stock finds him
self back home again as the church
bells peal and the candles glim
mer on the Christmas trees. It is
a time of universal peace and
good will. It brightens homes,
softens asperities and uplifts us
as it brings "the light that never
was on land or sea."
The Origin Unknown.
The origin of the festival is said
to be lost in antiquity. If, as held
by many, it is a Christian feast grafted on to
lullTJ^'
S S S a
Son n? th 7 as as the celebra
ion of the nativity of Christ dates from
the second century of the Christian era. St.
Chrysostom says that it was observed from
he beginning, according to western practice.
h^J
?C*J°
S a it
But as to the reason for the selection of
December 25 as Christmas day, first arrived at
by the Hippolytes, there is much difference of
opinion It is held by some that the German
name of the festival "Weihnacht," is a literal
translation of the Hebrew "Chanuka," the
Jewish festival of the purification of the
temple by Judas Maccabeus, which begins on
December 17, and that as the Passover and
Pentecost were perpetuated in Easter and
Whitsuntide, so the festival of the Purification
has been preserved in Chrlstmastide and the
practice ot burning candles on the Christmas
\rtes has come from the old Hebrew feast.
Early Festivals.
But the Purification can hardly be num
bered among the greater and important festi
vals of the Hebrews and, as Schaff says, there
is really no Old Testament feast correspond
ing to our Christmas. The weight of opinion
as to the time of year chosen by the Chris
tian church in the west lies in another and
entirely different solution of the question and
links the Christian observance to the ancient
practice of the heathen world.
It must be remembered in this connection
that the particular date was first fixed upon
by the Roman branch of the church, and at
that season of the year a series of pagan fes
tivals occurred which were closely interwoven
'with the civil and social life of the Roman
people. These festivals had an import which
lent itself to the growth of the Christian
faith, and they may have been spiritually
adopted by the church in order to counteract
their evil tendencies and at the same time ad
vance the cause of the new religion.
The Saturnalia, for instance, represented
the peaceful times of the golden age and abol
ished sharp distinctions between citizen and
serf. But it was a time of wild and unholy
revelry. Then the Brumalia—the feast of the
thortest day, or winter solstice—was the com
memoration of the birthday of the new sun
about to return to the earth. It was the "dies
natalis invictl soils In the old mythology of
the sun worshipers it was the birthday of
Methras himself, and, in fact, the time of year
when from unnumbered ages before the Chris-
ac°
Gibraltar, and
ne calls it the most venerable, the mother of
all the rest."
But as to the time of the celebration there
was a diversity of observance. The early
Christian church naturally kept Easter as com
memorative of the resurrection of Christ,
which the apostles were especially chosen and
instructed to proclaim, and the feast of Pen
tecost, which became the birthday of the
church, came next in order. Then to these
were added two others, the one commemora
tive of the baptism of Jesus Christ and the
other of his birth. The first of these, the
Epiphany, or Manifestation, came from the
east to the west. The second, Christmas, or
the nativity, came from the west to the east.
The two were officially recognized and quite
widely kept in both the east and west in the
fourth century. In a sermon preached by the
Golden-Mouthed in Antioch on December 25,
A D. 386, he speaks of the festival of Christ
mas as having first become known there 10
years before and on another occasion he in
vites his hearers to participate in its ap
proaching observance.
BUT ONE MEMBER OF CHURCH
Mary Walter Clings to Worship and
Austere Garb of Early Founders
of Quaker 8ect.
One woman, comprising a congrega
tion and worshiping alone in a meet
ing house that once had its Cull quota
every Sunday, is an evidence that the
gentle Society of Friends is becoming
decimated sadly in the new world.
Sauna Walter, every Suaday
luts^m
i-4'k
HEWiSSAiL ooWL_or av/rwMiirfo •r^OASTBD
tian era pagan Europe, in all its tribes and
peoples, had celebrated its chief festival. So
here we have the double truth of the golden
age and the rebirth of the unconquered sun,
as he breaks the power of darkness, refined
and enriched in the Christian teaching of
"peace on earth and good will to men," as
coincident with the rising of the Sun of
Righteousness in the birth into the world of
the son of the peasant woman who was also
the Son of God.
This view of Christmas accentuates the
true place of the Christian religion In relation
to the ancient and deep-seated religions which
preceded it, and at the same time reveals a
beauty of development in its culmination as
the completed manifestation of God to man.
In the infancy of the race the winter solstice
was everywhere a season of rejoicing. No
matter what the peculiar form which it as
sumed, it expressed the world joy of the time.
So the very idea of the Child God which gives
Christmas its meaning may not only have been
foretold by sybil and seer and prophet, but
prefigured by the infant gods of the Greek and
Egyptian and Hindu and'Buddhist forms of
religion.
These to us imperfect an
conceptions of the Di
\ine may have been the
rude but honest efforts
of the earlier days of the
human race to group the
idea of a God-man which
has been made so real
and so full of joy to us
in the Nativity and the
Epiphany of the Christ.
In this sense the early
church may have been
wiser than she wot of.
Her aim was to select
the best features of the
heathen feasts and em
body them for their puri
fication In Christian
practices and sacred
rites and to wean the
converts from their old
superstitions to the
deeper and more real
truths of the Christian
faith.
But In so doing she
may have been the un
conscious instrument Of
a divinely guided evolu
tion in religious practice
and belief which has en
nobled and enriched the
world. The symbolism
of our Christmas to-day
certainly lends itself in
many ways to this point
of view. In the greenery
with which we deck our
houses and churches and
in the gift-laden fir trees
which gladden our chil
dren's hearts, we still re
tain the symbols by
which our heathen fore
fathers signified their
faith in the power of re
turning sun to clothe the
earth with green and
hang new fruit on the
trees. The Christmas
carol may be a new
birth of the hymns of
the Saturnalia. The
holly and mistletoe
came from the Druid
morning, goes to the meeting house at
her home in Catawissa, Pa., and there
she sits entirely alone, communing
with the spirits, according to the cus
tom of the Friends.
She Is the sole local representative
of the faith that William Penn
brought to the new world and which
in the early stages of the country's de
\elopment had enough followers to
make it one of the moat powerful re-
ftt.^
unsatisfactory
|N EVERY Roman Catholic church and in probably
ninety-and-nine out of every hundred Protestant
churches throughout Christendom this is the sea
son when is heard that grand old hymn whose
tender and solemn strains find an echo in the
universal human heart—"Adeste Fideles" (Come, All Ye
Faithful). It is the anthem sung at high mass at Chrlst
mastide for centuries past, calling Christ's worshipers to
Bethlehem, where the new-born Savior lies.
This naive and beautiful Latin anthem is more ancient
than its history, and goes back six or seven centuries.
Saint Bonaventura, an Italian monk of the thirteenth cen
tury, who died in Lyons, France, in 1274, is credited with
the authorship of the beginning:
Adeste fideles,
Laeti triumphantes,
Venite, Venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte, Regem angelorum.
Venite adoremus,
Venite adoremus.
Venite adoremus Dominum.
Ob, come all ye faithful.
Joyful and triumphant,
Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Bethlehem.
See the new-born Saviour, king of all the angels.
Oh, come le£ us adore him,
Oh, come let us adore him.
Oh, come let us adore him, Christ, our Lerd.
Saint Bonaventura was a Franciscan scholastic philos-
ligious organizations in the country.
Thus keeping alive this one little
meeting house and maintaining a re
ligious life where it would inevitably
have been snuffed out, Emma Walter
really symbolizes the condition of the
Friends in this country.
It is sentiment that keeps alive the
various meeting houses that mark the
homes of the faith in the new world.
They are all modest buildings, for the
objection of the society to ostentation
governed the erection of their build
tags as well as their speech and dress.
Min^LfrOi^ "!£**&"**•&. vi •k.i"»-e«i»i *C v-i^. SalS*. "~J
worship. The banquet
time itself may be a sur
vival, purified and refined,
of the original feast to
the gods and goddesses of
the fabled Olympus. The
"Yule" of "Merrie England" is the old Teu
tonic name of the religious festival of the win
ter solstice, during which Celt and Roman
could trace the movements of their deities as
they walked abroad in the world.
The Story Christmas Telia.
The Christian religion is not merely some
thing built over the old ethnic religions as the
church of St. Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome is
built over the ruins of the old heathen temple
of Minerva, or as the grove sacred to Adonis
was planted by the order of the Emperor Had
rian over "the cave close to the village" which
is now honored as the scene of the Saviour's
birth. It had a larger and a deeper meaning.
Christmas tells the story of a gradual but
complete unfolding of the divine idea of relig
ion as seen in the Christ Child, of its worship
and its merry-making in its at once sacred
and social feast.
The story is told simply but graphically by
two of the four evangelists. St. Mark's gospel
begins with the baptism of the Christ, so log
ically he had no need to tell the story of his
birth and boyhood. St. John wrote near the
close of the first century, and with the domi
nant idea of settnig forth the divinity of
Christ in opposition to the prevailing gnosti-
Philadelphia naturally has more of
these meeting houses than any other
city in the country, though New Eng
land and the middle west, especially
Ohio and Illinois, have their share.
The Real Owner.
A young Brooklyn teacher was ex
plaining to her class of little girls
some of the mysteries of the navy.
She said: "The principal of this
school is like the captain of a ship
and the teachers may be looked upon
as the bluejackets or sailors. Now*
cism of the time. But St. Matthew,
whose narrative bears traces of hav
ing been gleaned from Joseph and St.
Luke, who probably got his informa
tion from Mary, have given us the
story with a directness and a human
ness which the grotesque and often
meretricious wonder-tales of the apoc
ryphal gospels have but served to ac
centuate as a dark background to a
touching and reverent picture.
Around the story legends natu
rally gathered. It was the custom in
early days to decorate in this way
the graves of heroes and some of
these legends are no doubt the off
spring of the "vulgar tattle" of the
apocryphal gospel stories. In some
parts of the world the bees are said
to sing on Christmas eve. The cattle
kneel in honor of the manger-bed at
Bethlehem. The sheep go in proces
sion in commemoration of the angels'
visit to the shepherds. The Indians
creep through the winter woods of
Canada to see the deer kneel and
look up to the Great Spirit In the
German Alps the cattle are thought
to have the gift of language, and the
story is told of an Alpine farmer's servant
who hid in the stable on Chrstmas eve and
heard the horses talking about his own death,
which followed a few days later.
A Bosnian Legend.
There is a Bosnian legend that the sun
leaps in the heavens and the stars dance
around it. A great peace comes stealing down
over mountain and forest. The rotten stumps
stand straight and green on the hillside. The
grass is beflowered with blossoms and the
birds sing on the mountain tops in thanks to
God. In Poland the heavens open and Jacob's
ladder is set up between earth and sky. In
Austria the candles are set in the window, that
the Christ Child may not stumble when he
comes to bless the home. In north Germany
the tables are spread and the lights left burn
ing for the Virgin Mary and her attending
angel.
The English superstition is admirably
voiced by the myriad-minded Shakespeare in
"Hamlet:"
Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes
Wherein our Lord's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long,
And then they say no spirit can walk abroad.
The nights are wholesome. Then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm.
So hallowed and so gracious is the time."
If a man will compliment his wife upon her
youthful appearance and tell her that he loves
her, she will forgive other white lies.
opher, and was surnamed "Doctor Seraphicus." His pre
served writings are of a dogmatic or didactic nature ex
clusively, and this hymn is not to be found among them.
Doubtless it is to be referred to the seraphic side of his
genius and temperament. Its classic Latin cadences are
of such lyric felicity that one cannot help but believe
they were written to the noble and touching melody on
whose wings they have floated to our time. Surely this is
not too fantastic a suggestion, when it is remembered that
the original Greek music of the Delphic hymn to Apollo
is preserved intact, and that certain familiar phrases of
the Gregorian chant, used to-day in the Roman mass, are
identified by Hebrew historians as the same which were
sung in Solomon's temple many centuries before the time
of Christ.
The hymn "Adeste Fideles" is not known to have been
used in England earlier than the seventeenth century.
The musical setting, as we have it in modern notation, is
ascribed by Novello to one John Reading, who was
organist at Winchester cathedral from 1675 to 1681, and
later at Winchester college. Its real origin is lost in the
mists of antiquity which probably far antedates the middle
ages and the Latin verses to which it has been insep
arably wedded.
Word-language reaches but the one people or race to
whom it is directly addressed. But the language of music
is universal—it is "understanded of the people" instantly
all the wide world over—it needs not to be written in
choice Latin nor translated into many tongues—it is
caught up from the heart and echoes on forever. That la
why the "Adeste Fideles" has become the Christmas
hymn of all the world.
nut
children, who owns the navy of Uncle
Sam?"
Nobody answered. To carry her
simile further the teacher asked:
"Who owns this school?" The hand
of a little girl in the back row went
up.
"Well, Hattie," said the teacher,
"who does own this school?"
With eyes sparkling with the in
ward assurance that she was about to
hit the center of the target Hatti*
answered:
"The jasitor
SMITH IS CONVICTED
JURY RECOMMENDS LENIENCY
IN CASE OF MANKATO
FARM HAND.
VERDICT MEETS WITH APPROVAL
Trial of Mrs. Ledbeter Is Begun, on
Request of Defense.—Woman's
Attorneys Secure Dismissal
of Sheriff by Affidavit.
Mankato.—The jury in the case of
Frank Smith, charged with the murder
of H. J. Ledbeter, a well known farm
er of this country, rendered a verdict
of murder in the first deree, as
charged in the indictment, and also
filed a recommendation for leniency.
The jury was discharged.
None of the members had heard of
Smith's criminal recor das related by
Sheriff Devine, of Logan county, 111,
and Deputy Warden Dowell, Chester,
111., penitentiary, and expressed grati
fication that their judgment was sus
tained by developments outside the
trial.
Smith refused to say anything for
publication, remarking that the case
was not through yet. If he can get
funds he intends to move a new trial
preparatory to an appeal on rulings of
the court, so his attorney states.
Few spectators were present when
the verdict was rendered, but the out
come is generally commended by the
public. The publication of Smith's
past record crystallized public senti
ment against him and much fear had
been expressed that the jury, not
knowing it, might bring in a verdict
in lesser degree.
Mrs. Ledbeter's Trial Begun.
The trial of Mrs. Grace Ledbeter
began two hours after the jury retired
in the Smith case. This had not been
expected by the state, which had made
arrangements to take the case up Dec.
27. The defense insisted on an imme
diate trial, however, and the court so
ordered. Mrs. Ledbeter, dressed in
black and wearing a heavy black veil
that hid her face from the public gaze,
and with a furlined-cloak over her
shoulders, was the center of all eyes
as she sat beside her attorneys, S. B.
Wilson, A. R. Pfau, Jr., and C. J.
Laurish. Her two little daughters,
Hazel and Mabel, sat behind her, andto
near them was their uncle, her hus
band's brother, P. A. Ledbeter, of Hay
ward, Wis her accuser in the pres
ent proceedings. The state was repre
sented by County Attorney Walter A.
Plymat and Special Municipal Judge
W. R. Geddes, and Assistant General
G. W. Peterson arrived from St. Paul
to assist them, as he did in the Smith
trial.
Judge A. R. Pfau, the trial judge,
instructed the sheriff and bailiffs to
exclude all persons under age during
the trial and to prevent any demon
strations whatever and hold spectators
back from the jury box.
Twenty-four jurors on the regular
panel not on Smith's case were all ex
cused for various causes during the
afternoon, the state using two of its 10
preemptory challenges and the de
fense none of its 20. When court was
about to order a special venire of 50
talesmen, the defense filed an affidavit
of prejudice against Sheriff J. Dona
hue, alleging bias against the defend
ant, and under the law the court had
no discretion and directed the venire
be placed in the hands of Coroner E.
R. Kennedy for service. This is the
same procedure as that followed by
the defense in the third trial of Dr.
G. R. Koch, of New Ulm, in this coun
ty, when he was acquitted, and two
of Mrs. Ledbeter's attorneys assisted
the defense of Koch.
The trial of Mrs. Ledbeter is ex
pected to be watched with more in
tense interest by the public than
Smith's, owing to the many more per
plexing features in the case. Numer
ous witnesses will be subpoenaed by
both state and defense, probably three
times as many as were secured in
Smith's case, as the field for investi
gation is much wider, particularly as
regards motive. This case will be
Btubbornly fought throughout and sev
eral weeks are expected to be con
sumed in the trial
BARS GAMBLING IN ROCHESTER.
Mayor James Thompson Decides To
Make It a Clean City.
Rochester.—Mayor James Thompson
has issued an ultimatum that no more
gambling is to be allowed in this city,
and orders have been given to the po
lice to this effect. For some time
there have been a number of business
places that have permitted card games
in their establishments, and as a re
sult a number of the younger genera
tion of the city have formed a habit
of spending their time in these places.
The attention of the mayor has
been called to the growing tendency,
and how Mr. Thompson comes out
with the statement that he is going
to make Rochester a clean city.
Ex-Judge Searle Is Dead.
St. Cloud.—Former Judge D. B.
Searle died at his home in this city
after an illness of three years. May
29, 1906, Judge Searle went to Long
Prairie, to deliver the Memorial day
address, and on the same evening he
was stricken suddenly with paralysis.
He had been under the care of a nurse
ever since. He held many prominent
positions, the most notable of which
were U. S. district attorney, district
judge of the Seventh Judicial District
and state commander of the G. A. R.
He was 63 years of age.
Power Company Supplies Many Cities.
Fergus Falls.—The Otter Tail Pow
er Company of this city closed a con
tract to supply electricity for light
ing the city of Breckenridge and to op
erate the pumps for Wahpeton's water
works system. The company is al
ready supplying Wahpeton with elec
tricity for lighting, and also supplies
Fergus Falls. The power is obtained
from a dam five miles below this
city and transmitted across the coun
try. The distance to Breckenridge
and Wahpeton is twenty-five miles-
'^m^^^fi^mSx^^^ -m^f^^^M^k^^^
O'REILLY APPOINTED BISHuP.
Will Succeed Late Bishop Shanley,
of the Bishopric of Fargo.
Minneapolis.—Rev. James O'Reilly,
pastor of St. Anthony of Padua church,
Eighth avenue and Main street north
east, will succeed the late John Shan
ley to the bishopric of Fargo. An
nouncement of the appointment made
in a dispatch from Rome which reads:
Rome, Bee. 14.—Approving the
recommendations of the consist
orial congregation as presented
by the secretary, Cardinal De Lai,
the pope today appointed Rev.
James O'Reilly, now rector of the
St. Anthony of Padua, Minneapo
lis, Minn., to the bishopric of
Fargo, N D., and the Rev. M. F.
Fallon of the Provincial oblates
of Buffalo to the bishopric of Lon
don, Canada.
The bishopric of Fargo has been
vacant since last June, when Bishop
Shanley died, after a long illness. It
is a growing diocese and ranks as one
of the most important in the North
west. The naming of the Minneapolis
priest for the place is regarded as a
high compliment to the ability and
standing of Father O'Reilly as a
churchman.
Father O'Reilly is 53 years old. He
studied for the priesthood at the sem
inary of All Hallows, Ireland, and
came to the United States when a
young priest. He was assigned as
vicar at Stillwater, where he served
for a number of years and then came
to Minneapolis. He has been pastor
at St. Anthony of Padua for 26 years.
GOVERNOR NOT THE VICTIM.
Minnesota's Executive Explains Train
Incident In Washington.
Washington, D. C. Reports that
Gov Eberhart of Minnesota had been
swindled out of $130 by card sharps
on a Pennsylvania railroad train on
his way East caused a mild sensation
in Washington.
The true story of the affair, given
rather reluctantly to friends by the
governor, shows that instead of being
a participant in the gambling game,
Minnesota's stalwart young governor
was in fact the nemesis that descend
ed upon the gamblers and caused the
arrest of at least one of them.
The gamblers were operating on the
Manhattan Limited, hich left Chicago
Wednesday morning. They had cleared
up a considerable sum of money from
various victims and Gov. Eberhart in
sisted that some one should complain
the train authorities. None of the
victims would consent to take action
against them, so Gov. Eberhart took it
upon himself to be prosecutor. Before
the train reached Fort Wayne he
made complaint to the train conductor
and later notified the railroad police
at Fort Wayne. The gamblers step
ped off the train at that city and Gov.
Eberhart followed, identifying one of
the men who was on the platform and
causing his arrest. The governor said
that he did not care for any notoriety
in the matter and that he had only act
ed against the gamblers because their
open operations on the train made him
indignant.
DULUTH CANAL IS DENIED.
Waterway to Minneapolis Gets Unfav
orable Report.
Washington, D. C. An unfavor
able repoit upon the proposed canal
connecting Minneapolis and Duluth by
the way of the St. Croix river was
made by Chief Engineer Marshall.
"From an engineering point of view,"
said General Marshall, "the project
is practicable, but commercially is im
practicable and I do not deem it ad
visable for the government to under
take it now."
General Marshall states that he sup
ports the board of engineeis and the
district engineer in their report which
is an exhaustive discussion of the con
dition of the traffic between Duluth
and Minneapolis. The board of engin
eers takes the position that the four
railroads extending from Duluth to
Minneapolis and St Paul are amply
able to take care of the traffic.
WOODS TO HEAD FARM SCHOOL.
Minnesota Board of Regents Trans
acts Important Business.
St Paul. A. F. Woods, head
of the department of plantology
in the department of agriculture at
Washington, D. C, was selected as
dean of the college of agriculture of
the University of Minnesota. Dr.
Woods will Succeed Dean J. W. Olsen,
and will serve for a salary of $6,000
a year. The salary heretofore paid
was $4,000 a year.
The succession to President Cyrus
K. Northrop was discussed. A com
mittee, consisting of President North
rop, John Lind, B. F. Nelson and Dr.
W. J. Mayo, will look up a successor
to President Northrop, who plans to
retire next year.
Minneapolis.—Prof. Samuel B. Green,
head of the forestry department of the
agricultural college of the University
of Minnesota, was for the third time
elected president of the Minnesota'
State Horticultural society.
'DOPE" CAUSE OF DOWNFALL.
This Is to Be Defense of Itasca County
Ex-Treasurer.
Duluth. The defense has shown
its hand in the case of the
state against A. A. Kremer, the de
faulting treasurer of Itasca county,
whose trial is on at Grand Rapids.
It is eidently the intention of the
defense to show that the accused was
unfitted for business at the time he
made the alleged fraudulent entries in
the books, as a result of the use of
feome drug.
ARCS FOR COUNTRY ROADS.
Late Governor's Efforts Between St.
Peter and Kasota.
St. Peter.—The extension of St.
Peter's street lightning system to Ka
sota has been completed and the road
connecting the two towns was illum
inated for the first time.
Six months ago the taxpayers of
Kasota held a special election and
voted to bond the village and install a
street lighting system, the current of
be furnished by St. Peter's municipal
Plant.
NEWS FROM SCANDINAVIA
Principal Events That Have Trans
pired in the Old Countries
Within a Week or So.
SWEDEN.
Ernst Soderberg, a high official of
the national labor association made
the following statement at ihe recent
national convention of ibe labor
unions at Stockholm: "As early as
the eighth of August the strikers in,
different parts of the country asked
for aid—or else they would break
the strike (which is started Aug 4).
The second week ihey a.sked ror 46,ooo
kronor (one krone Is 27 cental, and
we let Ihem have 27,000 kronor the
third week they asked for XCC.OOO
kronor, and got 185.000 kronor: the
fourth ww»k they »?kod for 56(1000
kronor, and Rot 445,000: and during
the week ending Sept 4 they asked
for 895,000 kronor, and got &(•?. 000.
At this time the receipts reached
the high water mark in the foreign,
countries, and the receipts now sank
as the demands rose. Something had
to be done With an iron hand the
executive committee carried some
trades which threatened to the very
last, 'Let us go to work, or we shall
become strikebreakers' We let them
go Was it not better to make an
orderly ictnrn to work than to let the
people rush In masses into the shops?
This account, which is strictly ofheial
thiows a very interesting hkht on the
inside workings of one ot the most
celebrated strikes of our day.
Again and again it has been re
ported that remains of Andree's bal
loon have been tound in the Arctic
regions, but in every case the report
proved to he a fabrication Here is a
new story, which is given in the
shape of a dispatch, datod Ottawa.
Ontario, Dec 4* An interesting story
which may disclose the fate of S. A.
Andree, the explorer who loft Spits
bergen in a balloon 12 yeais ago in
search of the North Pole and who
never returned, is told by Bishop Al
bert rascal of Pi nice Albert, who has
been usiting here Bishop Pascal has
charge of an'immense territory, ex
tending theoretically to the pole.
There is a priest, the Rev Father
Turquotille, who resides at Reindeer
Lake, and who nas traveled extensive
ly among the eskirnos of the northern
part of the region in order to learn
their language On one occasion re
cently he went with a party about
six days' journey north of Reindeer
Lake and there met another paity ot
eskimos. Noticing a revolver which
the pnest carried the eskimos told
him that' some years before a "white
house" had descended fiom the sky
It contained while men, the eskimo
said, who had killed many caribou to
supply themselves with food The
eskimo intimated that the white men
were in a half starved condition.
None of these men are now living,
they said, but the "white bouse" is
still in existence, and Is used by mem
bers of the tribe as a source of sup*
ply for ope, with which it was cov
ered
NORWAY.
The iron vessel Synnove was
wrecked at Curacao, West Indies It
lelonged to parlies living in Kristian
sand.
Mis Magna I.ykseth Scherven, who
has attained a line position as prima
dotlna at the Stockholm royal opera,
lids been offeied $13,500 for a six
months* season at the New York Met
ropolitan Opera.
The Ole Bull memorial fund now
amounts to a little over $6,000. The
interest is to be given to young musi
cians and actors connected with th*
Bergen theater, but the principal shall
ne\er be drawn upon.
Mrs Schreiner, the wife of a young
professor, recently addressed the stu
dents' union on the subject of "Chris
tianity and Freethinking" In elo
quent terms the lady asserted the be
lief in a personal God ran no longer
satisfy a person of our day who is ac
customed to scientifical reasoning.
Prof. Tarangler spoke on the other
side ot the question, emphasising that
the essence of religion is personal fel
lowship with God.
Ten hours constitute the day's work
in all the trades in Kristiania Most
of them have a half holiday on Satur
day, but are paid only by the hour,
so the half day's rest is no particular
luxury. Wages for common labor and
for beginners in the trades run from
9 to 11 cents an hour. The maximum
in the building trades runs from 121
cents an hour up to 16 cents, which is
earned by some bricklayers. Black
smiths and horseshoers get from 8 to
11 cents. Bakers, who work six full
days in the week, make from $5.36 to
$6 70. Pi inters earn from $6.70 to
$9 38 a week. Skilled labor in shoe
factories commands 72 cents a day, in
paper mills 75 cents, in saw mills 72
cents, in glass works 87 cents, and in
Bessemer steel furnaces 96 cents a
day. Street laborers employed by the
city get 80 cents a day. They work
fifty seven and a half hours a week in
.summer and forty-seven and a half in
winter.
The last gap in the railway between
Kristiania and Bergen has been closed
up. and passengers can now ride in
the same ear from Bergen to Kristian
ia and Stockholm. That part of the
new line which lies thru the mountain,
regions east of Bergen is a stupen
dous piece of modern engineering, and
it would indeed be a credit to a coun
try many times richer and stronger
than Norway.
Mr and Mrs. J. W. Martens, of
Kristiania, have willed $8,000 to the
university of Norway, the interest to
be given to worthy medical students.
The explosion of a lamp started a
fire in ibe hayloft on the Nordre BJol
sum estate, Rygge, near Fredrikstad*
and in a very short time the whole
building was wrapt in flames. Only
three out of the six horses in the
barn were saved, and the others, as
well as 32 cows, were burnt to death.
Some small stock perished also. The
grain crop and a lot of machinery
were completely destroyed. Every
thing was insured.
A. O Tonsager and wife, of Kristi
ania. have celebrated their golden
wedding.
M-t