Summary: | THE CONCORDIAN notice we have gas lights and they , give very good light. We three work-ers and little Ernest eat here. This is our kitchen. Yes we have a good range and here we have a large tank of hot water heated by pipes from the range. And you must look down in our cellar. Tho not very large, only about 3 ft. by 6 ft. and 4 ft. deep, we feel proud of it as very few people can have a cellar in Alaska. No, perishables do not freeze in it. Water sometimes comes into it in the summer; but under the stairway there, we have a deep hole where the water collects and then we bail it out when it looks like there might be an over-flow. This room adjoining our kitchen is the children's living-room and kitch-en. They do all their own cooking and baking under the supervision of sister Anna. You just ought to see our boys knead bread, and see them fry hot-cakes or "sourdough" as they are called up here. They are called "sourdough" because a little of the batter is left- each time as a starter for the next time. The natives eat a lot of "sourdough." Meat and fish is the main part of their diet. Right by the beach here we can catch trout, smelts, herring and white-fish, and further up the Bay there is plenty of salmon. The natives are very fond of dried fish, the harder the better. They take the dry herring, dip it in seal-oil and gnaw away at it like a dog eats a bone. They also put seal-oil in their meat. Seal meat is used mostly as that can be had for nothing. The seals up here are quite large, white with brown or gray spots. The natives who can afford it buy rein-deer meat. We use that, and it is very good. We pay 15 cents a pound for it. A reindeer carcass does not last very long for our large family. This room to the east is the children's • dining-room. We aim to give the .children as much native food as pos-sible. It seems to be better for their constitution, then too, they will fit in better with their fellow citizens when they leave the mission. Up-stairs is our-room and four children's bed-rooms. The boys sleep in the building just west of our kitchen. Their beds are of boards. Sounds rather hard, does it not,—and feels still harder. But that is the kind of bed natives like, and they would not sleep in the kind of a bed that we think is comfortable. I told you that the children do their own cooking and baking. They also do all the washing, ironing, clean-ing, and mending. Each boy takes care of his own laundry and mending. The girls knit stockings.for the fami-ly and also sew "mukluks". "Mukluks" are the Eskimo foot-wear, made from seal-skin or reindeer skin. We have several girls and boys who are grown-up or nearly grown-up, tho very short of stature. They are capable of work-ing, but need supervision. The girls stay here until they get married, or if it chances they get some place to work; but that seldom happens. The boys remain here until they are able to go out and earn their own living. The many rein-deer herds in Alaska offers opportunity for some tto . earn a livelihood. Our boys do the fishing and preparing of the fish. It is very interesting to watch them pull to shore a seine full of sprawling herring. They also carry in all the water. We get it from a creek that flows right by our- house. In the winter it freezes so they have to haul the water in barrels from the spring back in the hills. The boys also pro-vide fuel for our eleven stoves. While we burn coal, wood is needed for kindling. This they gather in the fall, along the coast a few miles west from here. It is drift-wood that comes across from Japan and Siberia. The natives burn only this wood in their homes. Then the boys have our dogs , to tend to.; We have 14 dogs. In the winter they are kept in the dog-barn and in the summer they are staked out-side. They cannot be let loose as some of them have too much of the fight-ing instinct.^ The Alaskan dog fights are terrible battles and often end in casualties. Two boys have their jobs to care for the dogs, and to provide food for them is no small job. They have a place outside where they cook food for-them every day; fish, scraps that they get from a corral four miles from here, blubber, or mush made cornmeal and water. The corral is a place where Loinen Bros, in Nome butcher their rein-deer. I forgot to tell you that in the rear of this building we have two sick-rooms or hospital-rooms. Jack is now using one of these rooms. He is suf-fering from T. B. He is up most of the time, tho both his spine and lungs are diseased. He is a fine Christian boy. I suppose you wonder how we man-age to keep warm up here ? The low-est we have seen the therm'ometer register here is 25' below 0. We have 11 stoves, plenty of coal and fire-men so we do not mind the cold. We are hoping to have a furnace put in by next fall. It will be quite an expense; but will be a very fine thing if we can get it. That will save fuel, elimin-ate some of the dangers of fire and add to our comfort. Some friends in Seattle have offered to help get our furnace and we are praying that God will put in the hearts of others to help us get what we need. We have been having rather short days, but now the sun is beginning to come our way again. For a while the Sun did not rise until after 9 o'colck and set again at 1 o'clock, ac-cording to our time. We set our time here according to day-light so as to save on our light bill. For a while I had to light up in school at 1:30 P. M. and also have light in the morning on cloudy days. I did not mind it tho. One can get accustomed to anything. But now the days are getting longer. It is now 2:45 P. M. and the sun is just dipping below the horizon. Just wait until next summer when we have 24 hours of daylight. They say it takes much will power to go to bed then, so I am going to store up on sleep now. Seven o'clock in the morn-ing is our breakfast hour and at 9 P. M. the children go to bed, so you see we do not sleep all the time up here either. Now I must tell you a little about my school. I have 33 children en-rolled after Christmas, varying in ages from 8 years to 19 years inclu-sive. I have the grades primary to fourth. The children here at the mis-sion talk only Eskimo among them-selves and some of them have a very limited knowedge of English. In teaching them to read I use pictures, or point to what we are reading about if we have it in the room, or in the case of verbs act out the meaning. So you can see my work this year is quite different from teaching Trig-onometry. I love these black-haired, brown-skinned, round-faced smiling folks, and like to work with them, tho it takes a great deal of patience. They ai*e very reluctant about expres-ing themselves, and one must wait long for an answer and not so seldom wait in vain. We have classes in the morning and industrial work in the after-noon, for industrial work the girls have knitting, sewing, raf-fia weaving, etc; and the boys have manual training. Reading and Arith-metic is stressed most in school, then comes spelling and writing. We have Geography every other day and his-tory on the alternating days. They like Geography, especially map study. We have several large maps and they ,are made good use of. (Continued in the next issue.) ACCREDITATION DRAWS MUCH ATTENTION (Continued from page 1) as having received a recognized col-lege education; 3) And the prestige of our Church, as additional evidence of the fact that the Church is an organization that maintains recognized institutions of learning; ' •• • '.," '. *., 4) Give prestige to graduates of the College who become ministers, as men who have a college education that meets the requirements of our day; 5) Make the College more attract-ive to well qualified professors, and thus make it easier for the College to maitain a good faculty; 6) Make it easier for the College to secure general recognition, as prepar-ing adequately for teachers1 certifi-cates and thus make it easier also for graduates of the College to get good teaching ' 7) Make it easier for graduates of Concordia to enter graduate schools with a view to studying for advanced degrees at leading universities. In short, the accreditation that has now been secured will lift Concordia College from the shadow of uncertain standing in the educational world into the sunlight of general recognition. Sincerely yours, OSCAR L. OLSON, President Luther College. Washington, D. C, March 24, '27 It has been brought to my attention that Concordia College has been added to the list of accredited colleges by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. I congratulate you on this recognition. Because of this recognition you are eligible to membership in the Americ-an Council of Education. I am send-ing you herewith copy of the annual reports of the officers to inform you as to the organization and work of the Council. On behalf of the Coun-cil, I extend a cordial invitation to Concordia College to become an in-stitutional member. Yours very truly, C. R. MANN, Director, American Council on Education. On behalf of the Alumni Associa-tion, I wish to congratulate Concordia College on being admitted into the North Central Association of Col-leges,, and to voice an appreciation to President Brown for his effort in behalf of the college. We feel that a boost for the college is a boost for its alumni. KONRAD 0. LEE, President Alumni Ass'n. St. Paul, Minn., March 24th, '27 I saw by the paper Saturday eve-ning1 that Concordia College has been fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Second ary Schools. I take this opportun-ity to extend to you my sincere con-gratulations in getting this recogni-tion. It speaks in the highest terms both of the work that your institution is doing, which again is due in a large measure to your efforts and fore-sight. With best wishes for your continu-ed success, Sincerely yours, P. C. TONNING, Deputy Commissioner of Education. Chicago, 111., March 25, 1927. President Zook as secretary of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools has given me the name of your institution as one that has been accepted for accredit-ment by the N. C. A. My congratu-lations is extended ^to you as Presi-dent of Concordia College because of this recognition. The North Central Association list of approved schools is the Bradstreet List of Education in twenty of the North Central states. I am sure that increased recognition and prestige will come to your school because of being on this list. Very truly yours, (Signed) W. I. EARLY. And now Concordia College has full and unconditional accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. It gave me a feeling of genuine pleasure to re-ceive this information. It means that Concordia has now entered the rank of colleges recognized as stand-ard in all the land. It was a vic-tory for the college, a victory for the President and faculty, a victory for CONCORDIA I: .;- STUDENTS! • , We are always ready to serve you with our Fresh, Clean Line of FRUITS CONFECTIONS and GROCERIES T. A. ANDERSON Grocery Moorhead, Minnesota the college association and the people of the territory served by the college, and, last but not least, a victory for its every student of the present and of the past. The college is just beginning a new era in its history. Its future is rich in promise. May God add His aboundant blessings to its labors and may the institution in ever growing measure magnify Christ and glorify the name of the Triune God. L. A. VIGNESS. Sec'y^ Board of Education, Lutheran Church of America. Beach Stock Company. Each one., said the evening was a pleasant one, and that even a true "wearer of tho green" would have felt that St. Pat-rick's Day was justly celebrated. The Nu Sigma Rho officers March 2G, are: Evelyn Lohn, dent, Ragna Brusen, Vice President^ Hazel Oss, Secretary, and Alvina Juel-V son, Sargent-at-arms. Wl I hve been informed that Concordia College has been admitted to the North Central Association of Colleges. I realize this makes you happy. I think your motto now should be "A Greater Concordia". With the ter-ritory and constituency back of you, there is a great future for the college. I predict for it a steady growth and prestige which will add renown to the already famous Red River Valley. You may count on me as a booster. Very truly yours, (Signed) Elias Steenerson. N, S, R. ENTERTAINS NEW MEMBERS The Nu Sigma Rho Literary Society entertained its new members on the evening of March 17. The Nu Sigma girls reigned supreme at "Tea Cup Inn", Fargo, between the hours of seven and eight, A dainty two course luncheon was served. In memory of St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint, green and white were used for dec-orations. Short talks were given by various members. Dora Gulbranson presided as toustmistress. Esther Longren, president of the society, wel-comed the new members, and Evelyn Peterson gave the response. Vivian Norem spoke as a representative of the senior girls. Miss Ruth Lima, the society advisor, gave a talk which the members of the society declared was both interesting and inspiring. After the luncheon the group went to see "The Gorilla", played by the FINANCIAL SECRETARY '-'Vi EXPRESSES HIMSELF "In telling of my work as financial secretary of Concordia College, I d<£* not know just where to begin as it is so inclusive and extensive besides having to devote one-third of my time:, in gathering $138,000 annually for . the Northern Minnesota district of the '., United Lutheran church of America," J is the way Rev. A. H. Amundson cx-h pressed himself when asked concern-': i ing his work as financial secretary. *„; " r i At the present time Rev. Amundson is busy sending letters for the pur-'! pose of gathering the pledges of the endowment, also making possible ir£- vestments which must be recognized and sanctioned by the investment board. :,. Cuncordia College owns eighteen farms which are located in North Dak-ota, Minnesota, Washington and Calif-ornia, and whose inspection is dopff by the secretary. As individuals we may think the endowment drive is over but from a^ brief description of Amundson's "Fol-low- up" campaign work, we are con-vinced that the secretary is working as hard as ever collecting gifts for the College. Being the choir manager, Amund-son's time has been well occupied dur-- ing the past few weeks, likewise now?? when plans are being made for a chorf-, tour after school is out. * •£*
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