Augsburg College - Augsburgian Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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opportunity to observe what a great blessing she was to her husband. I would express, as my personal opinion, that had it not been for the great help God gave Prof. VVccnaas in his wife, he could not have endured those trying days. — And we should not have been able to celebrate a semi- centennial here tonight. And yet the load was growing too heavy. On the evening of the 25th of May. 1871. the president summoned the school to discuss an important matter. The very existence of the institution was at stake. “I sec no alternative but to quit.” said he. after having explained the situation. It was a dark night. And grave was the hour. Young, husky men sat with tear-tilled eyes. Then Saugstad. 1 believe, broke the silence. “Day is com- ing. said he. Others chimed in. All spoke words of cheer. Xo. we cannot quit......I'hen let us join hands and promise to work faithfully for the cause of the Kingdom.” said the president. And as we stood with hand in hand he read a scripture passage and ended with an earnest prayer. Augsburg Seminary was saved. Of the nineteen young men who on that memorable May evening clasped hands, three entered other callings, but the rest have served the Lord as ministers in His church, and have, is we hope, done a work of no small blessing. It was not to be expected that men of such strong individuality should work along the same lines; but they were all under the spell of that one great ideal, to glorify God by working for the salvation of souls and the upbuilding of God’s kingdom among our people. Of the teachers and students who were present at the opening of the school in 1869, many have passed away, but some are yet living, among them the founder of the seminary and for many years its president. A. Yecn- aas. who up till a short time ago was a pastor in the Church ot Xorway. but now lives as pastor emeritus near Christiania. Xorway. Only one of the dock is still active in the service of the church, and he has grown old and gray. But it gives him pleasure to join in this jubilee and on behalf of himself and fellow students to express our deep-felt gratitude to God and to Augsburg Seminary for what it was to us May the rich blessing of God rest on the school, its teachers, and its students. IWGK TWKNTY-FOUR

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cheerfully sanctioned this step. Preliminary steps to organize were taken at Andover, and the organization was completed at St. Ansgar, Iowa. But some of the pastors were dissatisfied with the newly organized Danish- Xorwegian Evangelical Conference, and in the autumn of 1870 they met at Jefferson Prairie, Wis.. and organized the Norwegian Augustana Synod. They demanded control of the school building at Marshall, and Prof. YVccn- aas handed over the keys to their representative, Prof. J. Andersen. Augsburg Seminary was thus without a home. To find shelter was no easy matter in that little village. Finally they found a farmer on the out- skirts who was willing to let them use the upper story of his house. It was an ordinary farm-house, old and somewhat dilapidated, but it was the only one to be had. It had three rooms, two small ones that were used as lodgings by the students, and a larger room. 12x20 feet, in which we placed a long home-made table with benches on each side and a reading desk at the end. Here Augsburg Seminary had its class-room, auditorium, etc. from Novem- ber. 1870, until it moved into its new building at Minneapolis. Minn. The students were lodged upstairs in Prof. Yeenaas' house and wherever else rooms could be had. Board could be had at the village restaurant for $1.25 per week. At this rate we could not of course expect many delicacies, but there was enough for sustenance. There was nothing grand about Augsburg in those days nothing that could please the eyes of the world, nothing that was attractive to flesh and blood. 'Phe sole asset of the school was a flock of students who were subject to the power of the word of God and llis Spirit and willing to suffer and strive for the faith of the saints. The theological professor and tireless worker of the school had belonged to a group of students in Christiania. Norway, who had been converted in the revival that resulted from the work of Professor Johnson. To this man Prof. Weenaas looked up with thorough respect and veneration and he had fully accepted his views of Christianity and of church life. And these views he was anxious to transplant on American soil. This being the aim of Augsburg, one should reasonably expect that the school would have met with general and hearty sympathy. But this was not the case. Denominational interests played in. Furthermore, the school was too Norwegian for a few, too high cluirchly for others, not orthodox enough for some. It became the object of bitter attacks from many direc- tions. The necessity of meeting these attacks imposed a new burden on the president. To this was added that the congregations of the ‘‘Con- ference” were few and weak, so contributions to the current expenses of the school were scant. The outlook was often dark. In these times of hardship Prof. Weenaas had a splendid helpmeet in his beloved wife. Mrs. Weenaas was beyond doubt one of the noblest Norwegian women who ever set foot on American soil. I would gladly weave a wreath to her memory if 1 could. As one who often enjoyed their hospitality and had PAG E T W K X T Y THR K E

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 vers? Biskop S(0ylon 0111 Augsburg Folgendc utklip er fra biskop Stoylcns Amerikabrcvc i bladot “Dasen” i Bergen 1ST er den lutlierske frikyrkja i Amcrika som no samlar seg uni Augsburg Det er iallt over 4(X) meinigheiter som lioyrer til den lutlierske frikyrkja og held uppe baade denne presteskulen g missioiisarbeide paa Madagaskar og i Kina, og Santalislan ; eit stort indremissionsarbei l. og lleire audi t- kriste lege verksemder. Det var sanila ei stort inengd nied folk til denne femtiaarshogtid, og sume var kotnne lange vegar. Dei fleste var fraa Minneapolis og bvgdene i Minnesota, men der var og koinne mange fraa Wisconsin. Nord og Slid Dakota, fraa Illinois og Iowa. Det er store vidder og lange vegar aa fara. men koni gjorde dei likevel. la her var folk like nedc ifraa Kansas og uppe ifraa Kanada. og missioiia-rar fraa Madagaskar, og fraa Santalistan og fraa Kina. Denne lioglid varde tre heile dagar tilende. Mote med talar og song baade fyre og etter middag, og uni kvelden med. og alle lika seg godt. Fyrste dagen. fredag. var del elevlagct som hadde unite med fyredrag og samtale. og urn kvelden song og fager fest. Dei tala so friskt og frimodig. at det var ein hugnad aa hjiyra paa. Det var folk som visste kva dei vilde. og som stemnde fram til stdrre arbeid. Laurdag fyremiddag- tala fyrst styraren av prestcskulen. professor Sverdrup. Nan sa at dei fyrste norske utvandrarar var for «let meste arbeids- folk med aalvorleg tenkjemaate. Mange av dei var grepne av det aandelege liv som var vekkt av I fans Xilsen I lange og sidan av ( '.isle Johnson. Difor t »k dei snart til aa arbeida for aa faa folk som kunde forkynna Gilds ord for dei. Dette var det som forde til at Augsburg presteskule var grunnlagd. Dei hadde her alltid arbeidt for kristeleg liv og kristeleg fridom baade for folk og kyrkja. Um arbeide for sanding av dei lutlierske kristne vilde ban segja. at baade Augsburg ogden lutlierske frikyrkja er forciningsvenlege i beste forstand, og vil arbeida for sanding av alle truande kvar dei linst i den lutlierske kyrkja til einigt samarbeide for folks frelsa og framgong for Guds rike. So tala K. B. Birkeland og lieldt klaart og sterkt tram kva denne skulen hadde vore for dei som arbeidde for aandclcg liv milium dei norske i Amcrika. Det var arbeidarar i Guds store haust dei trong. Og arbeidarar hadde dei sendt ut i meiiiigheitene. i indremissionen og heidningeniissionen. Og dei bed um fleire og fleire arbeidarar i Guds vingard. Det vart bore fram helsingar fraa mange som var koinne her. soleis bar eg fram helsing fraa den norske kyrkja. og fraa den norske presteforeining. fraa landsindremissioneii. fraa det norske tnissionssclskap og fraa Mcnig- Augsburg seminariums femtiaarsjubileum I AUK TWKNTY FIVK