2 Issue No. 2-3, 1927 – 9th year. ——————————————————————————————————————————————– AARSSTEVNET I KENYON ANNUAL STEVNE IN KENYON ———— ———— Vosselagets stevne i Kenyon, Minnesota den The Vosselag's stevne in Kenyon, Minnesota 17de og 18de juni s. 1. blev et særdeles vellykket June 17 and 18 was especially fortunate in spite of stevne tiltrods for, at det regnede meget sterkt en the fact it rained heavily a while both days. The stund begge dage. Den rummelige Nelson Operasal, spacious Nelson Opera House where the programs hvor møder og programmer holdtes, var næsten and the meeting were held was almost filled during overfyldt under hvert møde. Og til festmaaltidet each session. Over 250 people attended the lørdag var der tilstede over 250 personer. Overalt i banquet Saturday evening. In the store windows byens forretningsvinduer var stilfulde dekorationer everywhere were tasteful decorations — many — paa mange steder med et “Velkommen Vossinger with "Welcome Vossings" in big letters. A great i store bogstaver. Der var udstillet en hel del gamle number of old Norwegian artifacts were displayed norske sager, som mindede udmærket om gamle reminiscent of old Norway and the early Norge og de tidlige udvandrere til Amerika. immigrants to America. J. O. Listheim, som stod i spidsen for ordningerne J. O. Litsheim, who led the arrangements for the paa stedet, havde, som det syntes, faat hele byen med occasion, had the whole town behind him. The sig. Forretningsmændene havde ved averteringer i businessmen, by advertising, had financed the det 16 sidige program bekostet dettes trykning. N. L. printing of a 16 page program. N. L. Mykkeltvedt Mykkletvedt ordnede mest med dette. Petter Seim af took care of this. Petter Seim of Sargent, MN, was the Sargent, Minn., var komiteens tredje medlem. third member of the committee. Stevnet begyndte fredag formiddag, som vanligt The meeting started Friday forenoon as usual with med registrering, anskaffelse af mærker, registration, provision of name tag ribbons, programs, programmer, billetter o. s. v. For efter middagen var pictures etc. a children's parade had been planned for der for det første planlagt et barnetog, — som paa after lunch — but was canceled because of the rain. grund af regn maatte sløifes. J. O. Litsheim formally opened the stevne at 3 Formel aabning af mødet blev kl. 3. J. O. o'clock bidding everyone welcome on behalf of the Litsheim bød forsamlingen velkommen paa committee and Mayor C. J. Talla on the town's komiteens vegne og borgermester C. J. Talla paa behalf. The mayor presented, making a splendid byens. I en vakker tale overgav borgermesteren en speech, a silver nail to the lag president, symbolizing sølvnøgle til lagets formand, symboliserende byens the town's founding. President Arthur Markve aabning. Formand Arthur Markve besvarede talerne. responded to the speech. Noget af en overraskelse ved stevnet var musik af Somewhat of a surprise for the stevne was music Hayfield Musikkorps og af Kenyons Musuikkorps. by the Hayfield and Kenyon bands. They provided De gav til bedste mange udmærkede stvkker under many outstanding pieces during the week-end. stevnet. After the welcoming addresses, the Hayfield band Efter velkomsttalerne spillede Hayfield korpset “The played "The Star-spangled Banner”, after which it star-spangled Banner”, hvorefter sangen blev sunget af was sung by the gathering following the lead of the forsamlingen under musikens ledelse. Det samme blev music. The same was done with “Ja, vi elsker dette derpaa gjort med “Ja, vi elsker dette landet”. Flere numre landet”. The band played several numbers then. One blev derpaa givet af korpset. En sang blev saa givet af W. song was sung by W. O. Havey — one of the band's O. Havey — en af korpsets vossinger. Vossings. Derefter fulgte en begeistret tale af Martin Then followed an inspiring speech by Martin Odland om senator Knute Nelson. Odland Odland about Senator Knute Nelson. Odland karakteriserede Nelson som den betydeligste mand af characterized Nelson as the most important man of norsk æt i Amerika. Han havde først mødt ham i Norwegian origin in America. He had first met him 1895 da Nelson var guvernør og aflagde et besøg hos in 1895 when Nelson was governor and was paying a sin mor i Deerfield, Wis. Odlands forældre havde visit to his mother in Deerfield, WI. Odland's parents boet i Gulleik Saues jordkjelder (dugout) næst til had lived in a dugout next to Nelson's old home, Nelsons gamle hjem, Tangen. Deraf skrev hans Tangen (the tongs). That marked the beginning of his fyrste interesse sig for Nelson. Aarlig besøgte Nelson interest in Nelson. Nelson visited his mother every sin mor. agtede han. Det var i linje med hans year, he stated. This was in line with his excellent fortrinlige karakter. Nelson agtede sin mor og norske character. Nelson respected his mother and his herkomst. Han var udpræget norsk samtidig som han Norwegian heritage. He was a typical Norwegian as var amerikaner, og eiede en vikingeaand i bedste betydning well as an American, and owned a Viking spirit in its –—————————————————————————————————————————————— Translated by Stanley J. Nuland Vossingen 3 ———————————————————————————————————————————– beslutsom og bestemt. Han var ingen reaktionær, best connotation, determined and definite. He was no men en virkelig fremskridsmand; der stedse gik efter, reactionary but an actual progressive; constantly hvad han ansaa for ret. Gang paa gang stod Nelson pursuing what he thought just. Time after time, op, naar han mærkede noget, som vilde være urigtigt, Nelson arose when he noticed something to be unjust, udtalte han. Ingen var mere for farmernes vel end he said. No one looked after the welfare of the farmers Nelson. I alle spørgsmaal stod han frit. Ingen kunde than Nelson. In all debates, he stood for liberty. kalde ham sin specielle mand — hverken Jim Hill Nobody could call him anyone's man — neither Jim eller nogen anden. Han var ingens specielle mand. Hill nor anyone else. At times his eyes would "flash Til tider kunde hans øine “gnistre stygt” som hos fire" if necessary, to quote Terje Viken. No one Terje Viken om det gjaldt. Ingen fik mere accomplished more than Knute Nelson. He was for the gjennemført end Knute Nelson. Han var for sagen af nation's cause — not for personal gain, said Odland, nationen — ikke af personlige hensyn, udtalte also. Odland blandt andet. After a violin solo by Ivar Silvernes, we got Efter en violinsolo af Ivar Silvernes fik man en another talk by President Markve, who talked of the tale igjen af formand Markve, der fremholdt importance of preserving the mother-tongue and betydningen af at holde paa morsmaalet og mindes remembering our forefathers. "Mother's tongue sur- forfædrene. “Du leikar kringum uss du maale hinna rounds us, and there is such a ring to the mother- mor, aa dar æ sliku klang i morsmaale”, sagde han tongue", he said along with a lot more ending with the blandt meget andet og sluttede med strofen “Lat oss quote, “Lat oss inkje forfædrane gløyma” ("Let us not inkje forfædrane gløyma.” forget our forefathers'). Telegrafisk hilsning fra Valdreslaget i Fergus Telegraphic greetings from the Valdreslag in Falls oplæstes og svar sendt. Saa talte advokat Fergus Falls were read and a response sent. Then Finstuen. Sluttelig var musik af Hayfield korpset og Attorney Finstuen spoke. In conclusion, there was sang af W. O. Havey og O. E. Lunde akkompagneret music by the Hayfield band and a song by W. O. af musiken. Havey and O. E. Lunde accompanied by the band. Om kvelden kl. 7.30 kom man igjen sammen. At 7:30 o'clock in the evening, people again Man sang “Gud signe Noregs land” og Hayfield assembled. They sang “Gud signe Noregs land” (God musiktkorps spillede flere stykker hvoriblandt “In bless the country of Norway) and the Hayfield band the Viking Domain” af Max von Lenz; saa atter sang played several pieces, among them “In the Viking af Havey og Lunde, hvorpaa sekretær Rene oplæste Domain” by Max von Lenz; whereupon Secretary hilsningsskrivelse og digte fra A. Ullestad, Voss, Rene read greetings and a poem from A. Ullestad, samt gjorde endel videre bemærkninger. Saa fulgte Voss, as well as making a number of remarks. trækspilmusik af Ed Anderson, solosang af Mrs. J. L. Accordion music by Ed Anderson followed, and a Feeley, jr., tale af bankør C. J. Holmen, og sang af solo song by Mrs. J. L. Feeley, Jr., a speech by Banker Mr. Folkestad. C. J. Holmen, and a song by Mr. Folkestad. En meget velformet tale holdtes derpaa af J. O. A very well-organized address was then delivered Listheim om arven fra Norden, som ikke maatte by J. O. Litsheim about our heritage from Scandinavia glemmes. Den bestod ikke bare i gods og guld, men that shouldn't be forgotten. It consists not only of ogsaa i aandsværdier. Han nævnte om norsk goods and wealth but also of spiritual value. He cited virketrang og daadskraft. En Roald Amundsons reise Norwegian dedication and heroic force. A trip around rundt jorden viste folkets usvækkede evner. Nu som the world by Roald Amundson demonstrated people's før udvider det sig, og folket vilde være sig selv; det undying ability, now as earlier it is spreading and laa i folkeaanden, mente han, og arven var større end people want to be independent, he maintained and the mange vil tro. inheritance was bigger than many would believe. Efterat formand Markve havde fortalt en af sine After President Markve had told one of his forvidnelige historier, af hvilke han havde nogen paa enchanting stories of which he has a supply to tell lager at tage til mellem hver outrædende, fik man between each contributor, people heard the program sluttelig en sang af W.