Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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THE ACORN 13 (Elaoa iJrcjihery, 191Z Georgius We certainly realize, when we stop to think about it, that this latter part of the twentieth century is most wonderful. The developments during the last forty or titty years have surpassed the most vivid imagination. When 1 went to Bethel, we used to speak of the press-button age,’ but then we always had to get up early in the cold winter mornings and build a fire in the stove and make it comfortable for the rest of the family; in the field we always had to follow the plow up and down after a pair of lazy horses, or have our whole family engage in hard work when harvesting—but to-day all this is as strange to the new generation as tallow-candles and homemade spinning-wheels were rare to the youths of 1917. Nowadays: press a button, and you get all this done while sleeping. Press a button by your desk and you can speak with whomsoever you wish and from any distance desired. In a word, press a button and you can get whatever you want when you want it.” It was a morning in the fall of 1955. My ‘‘button-phone’’ was buzzing and I found that our prominent class-president from Bethel-days, Anton S., had called up from Petrograd. He was there on his tour as a Superintendent for a world-wide missionary movement. I was then, on behalf of Uncle Sam, In Reperio, a country newly discovered 1,500 miles west of the South pole, as the first priest to attempt the Christianization of the inhabitants, who were quite different from us in manners and culture. He told me to be at Bethel about evening as the whole class of 1917 was to meet there for reunion in connection with the fiftieth anniversary of the School. As space and time are now reduced to the insignificant by our modern inventions, when we compare the past, so it was no difficulty at all for me to be in Bethel at the requested time. 1 placed myself in my new flyomobile and, pressing four buttons; one for the height I wished to reach, one for the direction, one for the distance, and one for the speed, 1 could sit down and enjoy the trip all the way from the South pole to St. Paul, knowing that I would land within a rod or so of the place desired. Even an old man like myself felt happy to make this journey and meet with m former fellow students. Some of them 1 had not seen since the days in B. 1 had. however, communicated with them often and was well informed about what they were doing. I remembered so well the good old schooldays both in the first Bethel and the second one—our class meetings, our society doings, our chapel services, our class recitations, our social hours, and our teachers. How different it was now on the old School campus! New buildings erected and a University established, attended by more than three thousand students. As 1 sped on thru the air and felt the warmer climate of the equator surround me, I was reminded of the fact that I was nearing (he regions where my classmates were located. They were living on all continents. Clarence H., it was said, had even tried to get to the Moon by means of his great inventions. He had progressed wonderfully in his research work as an astronomer, and the whole learned world is excitingly awaiting his future achievements. As I passed between the two continents, South America to my right and Africa to my left, I was able with my strong glass to espy Australia at a distance. I was reminded of how well Mar-gareta A. had followed out the class motto, •‘Facta non Verba, ' in the southern part of that country, so that the Government had decided to change the name of the state from Victoria to Margareta. A little

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12 THE ACORN wee little boy on the 9th of July, 1897. He was a source of delight tc everyone, and not even his brothers regretted his arrival. When his parents thought they could trust him to go to school, he was sent to a little country school. He attended there for two years, when the school was removed on account of scarcity of pupils. He then' took up school work at the public school in Strandburg. After having spent a considerable amount of time and energy, he graduated from the eighth grade. He, too, having heard about the wonderful school located in St. Paul, decided to come and enroll, in the fall of 1912. For various reasons, particularly his own, he remained out of school during the term of 1915-1G. But, Bethel has its attractions and he could not resist its temptations, so in the fall of 1916, he came back. His favorite study is Swedish; his motto is “No pleasure is without pain.” His favorite flower is the Forget-me-not. FLORENCE L1NNGREN. In the year l$9$ on the first of September, the members of the Linngren family were beaming with joy at the arrival of the fair maiden Florence. She spent her first two years at Troy, South Dakota, but became displeased with her surroundings, so the family moved to Strandberg, South Dakota, where she has lived ever since. She attended school at Strandberg until the fall of 1915, finishing the tenth grade. She then came to Bethel to complete her course. Her motto is Don’t attempt it if you can't finish it,” which she certainly has lived up to. Her favorite flower is the pink rose, and her favorite study is History.

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14 THE ACOHN further, I saw Benjamin C’s home country, where he, a college president, had made the name Cape of Good- Hope,” fully worth its meaning. Turning my spy-glass to the right, 1 saw the big continent of South America which, even then, belonged to the United States. In the state of Argentina, Paul D. had been governor since the annexation. In Brazil Gertrude C. had been the Superintendent of an Educational Society of that State, and she had succeeded so well in her work that even the worst crooks had been changed into princes. Paul J. had for years astonished the whole world by the wonderful enterprises he had performed in Africa. I adjusted my glass westward and saw the former desert of Sahara changed to the most fertile part or the continent by proper installations of water-supplies. Some have said that he could be made king there if he wanted to. But I was heading for the North at a tremendous speed. Still, I felt safe in my flyer, because she had never failed me. And keeping my eye to the spy-glass constantly, I soon saw the great republic of China. Ruth J. had made the name Johnson so well known by her medical and religious work that, when her name is mentioned, all other Johnsons are forgotten. The same was the conditions in Tibet, where Anna L. had been doing missionary work. Since the people . learned to know her, all the doors were thrown wide open for the Gospel. Coming nearer my destination, I was reminded of Gertrude E’s place in San Francisco as the editor of a social-political paper called “Woman’s Right.” As Florence U was running for the presidency of U. S., this paper played the largest part in advocating the first I ady-President’s election. My machine was slacking up and 1 commenced descending. I was reaching Bethel. The first one I met after landing, was lion. Harold K., Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who had just arrived from Washington, D. C. Asking him if any others had come, T was told that he had just seen Edith H. arrive from Russia where she, for several years, had been at the head of American education over the entire country. Anna S. had been in her company on the way from the Hand of the Midnight Sun. She was dressed in a nurse’s uniform with half a dozen shimmering medals on her breast for skillful service in the Royal families of the Scandinavian countries. At the appointed time the class of 1917 gathered in the Banquet Hall to enjoy old but never ceasing friendship. The Chairman took his place at the head of the table. All of us were jolly, because we enjoyed ourselves immensely. However, all by myself, I was thinking of the happy days of 1917, when we used to have our class-banquets. Now the faces were wrinkled, and the features showed signs or strenuous work. Thirty-eight years had brought about these changes. Our reunion was a real success, and before we departed we decided to meet every ten years, as long as at least two of us were living. 51jp impart Esther Tmiquist Grieve not at that which thou hast done, A rose has many thorns; Eclipses stain the shining sun, That moves the dewdrops to a run Without a single scorn. In sweetest bud lives worthless flow’r, All men have faults in all their pow’r. Then friend go on! despair not now. But put a smile upon thy brow.