Lögberg - 12.02.1942, Side 5

LÖGBERG. FIMTUDAGINN 12. FEBRÚAR, 1942
5
gat ekki verið hér í kveld, því
þá hefði eg notað tækifærið til
þess að segja honum opinberlega
'hversu verðskulduð orð skálds-
ins eru. Hann á með sanni sæti
á heiðursbekk Vestur-íslendinga.
Það er eitt, sem mér er afar
ant um. Það er að sem flestum
Vestur-íslendingum auðnist að
komast á þann heiðursbekk.
Einu megum við ekki gleyma:
við erum svo afar mannfáir. Það
er ekki hægt að búast við að
þetta litla þjóðarbrot hafi altaf
stóran hóp af fyrirmyndar mönn-
um át að skipa. Þessvegna ligg-
ur það i augum uppi, að það er
altaf nóg pláss á heiðursbekkn-
um fyrir alla þá, sem hafa nægi-
lega hæfileika, viljakraft og
iðjusemi til að eiga það skilið
að skipa sæti á þessum bekk.
Vestur-fslendingar eiga í einlægu
bróðerni, hlið við hlið, að vinna
sig fram og upp á bekkinn. Það
er óþarft að ganga yfir eða jafn-
vel ofan á aðra, til þess að kom-
ast þangað.
Þeir eru margir, sem nú prýða
heiðursbekk Vestur-fslendinga.
En það er einn hópur sem á að
skipa þar öndvegi. Eg á við
hermennina, bæði þá sem boðið
hafa sig fram i þessu stríði og
svo þá, sem gengu á stríðsvöll í
fyrsta alheimsstríðinu. Það stríð
er aðeins fyrsta orustan í einum
aegilegum, sameiginlegum al-
heims hildarleik. Hæstu sætin á
heiðursbekknum eiga þessir
menn að skipa.
Á fslendingadagshátíð fyrir
nokkru síðan, hélt vinur minn
Hjálmar Bergman ágæta ræðu,
eins og honum er tamt. f þeirri
ræðu benti hann á margt í fari
Vestur-fslendinga, sem væri
Austur-fslendingum engu síður
en þeim sjálfum til sóma og upp-
hefðar. Eg var honum alveg
sammála, en nú finst mér við
geta farið dálítið lengra.
Þegar tekið er til greina, að
nú er barist fyrir frelsinu hvar
1 heimi sem er, á íslandi engu
síður en hér; þegar maður at-
Eugar hve margir Vestur-íslend-
mgar hvíla nú undir rauðu
blómunum á Frakklandi og
Flanders; þegar þess er gætt, að
margir af okkar beztu sonum
eru nú í flugvélunum, á herskip-
unum og á orustuvöllunum í
Evrópu, Afríku og Asíu; og ein-
mitt þegar við, sem heima sitjum
erum að tæma vasa til að standa
straum af stríðskostnaðinum, þá
eru Austur-fslendingar að baða
Slg í sólskini vellíðunar, scm
hefir skapast aðallega ef ekki
aigjörlega af auknum viðskiftum
við handaþjóðirnar; þegar þetta
alt er tekið til greina, þá fæ eg
ekki betur séð en að það sé
eiginlega ekki nema eitt, sem
Austur-fslendingar hafi nú sem
stendur ástæðu til að vera stoltir
a‘- Það er það, að þeir eru
skyldir Vestur-íslendingum.
Það er mín einlæg ósk og von
að þér og mér öðlist að nota
uieðfædda hæfileika á þann hátt
að við eigum það skilið, þó ekki
v*ri meira en að tylla okkur á
eitthvert hornið á heiðursbekk
Vestur-fslendinga í kringum
aðal heiðursmennina — hetjurn-
ar* sem alt eru til með að leggja,
1 sölurnar og hafa lagt í sölurn-
ar> til þess að þú og eg mættum
ajóta frelsis og lýðræðis, og Iifa
* friði og kristinni trú.
♦ ♦ ♦
Now I am to some extent passing
°ut of circulation. I want to assure
v°u, however, that I am going on
a bench, not on a shelf; I intend to
be reasonably active except in those
ields which my new duties forbid
010 to enter. For that reason
ú is perhaps not entirely out of
Place if I were to try to garner
something out of my experiences of
the past which might be of some
assistance to those of you who
still have most of the battles of life
to face.
I have always felt that I have
been more or less of a failure. I say
>his in all sincerity, and have a good
deal of evidence to support it. With
the exception of winning the love
and affection of one whose unsel-
fish service and devotion to duty
'vill shine as a beacon light to all
Who were privileged to know her,
with that one exception my disap-
pointments far outnumber and out-
weigh my few and very minor
achievements. I could give you many
illustrations, but I am going to refer
to only one.
When I was at Wesley College I
applied for the Rhodes Scholarship.
I failed—came second best. I felt
it very keenly at the time. I pon-
dered deeply and then reached a
conclusion. I decided that I would
work that much harder, apply my-
self that much more conscientiously,
so that I could later in life, whether
it were five years, twenty years,
even forty years later, be able to say
honestly and truthfully that I had
overcome the handicap of my fail-
ure. Having firmly made up my
mind what I would do, I found it
very easy to walk over from Wesley
College to Manitoba College and
shake hands with my good friend
Eldon R. Siddall, who was award-
ed ihe scholarship. I congratulatea
him not in a perfunctory but in a
sincere manner. I did more, I in-
vited him to have dinner with me
for which I paid out of my meagre
savings. It is easy to do that when
you know that you have reached a
decision which nothing on earth can
shake—a decision to overcome the
handicap of temporary defeat.
And so I would say this. You
will find that on the average you
will more often meet with failure
than success. You will more often
f uffer disappointment than exult in
achievement. You will more often
have to endure sorrow than rejoice
in real happiness. But if, when you
fail, you resolve to start again with
increased determination your very
failure may become an asset. When
you suffer disappointment you must
gird yourself with renewed energy
and press on; your disappointment
will then become the ffoundation
upon which you build your future
achievements. And if it should fall
to your lot to have to endure sor-
row, sorrow which cuts to the in-
nermost depths of your heart, you
must try to realize that your loss,
grievous though it be, is but an in-
finitestimal speck in that larger
Plan which you and I do not un-
derstand—that larger Plan, which
we know, in the sum total is good.
If you can do that then your sor-
row may—shall I steel myself to say
—may become a blessing, at least, in
the beyond, if not here.
There is only one message I want
to leave with you. When you meet
with defeat you may, by the
strength of your God-given qualities
of mind, be able to wrest from it
an abiding victory. If I can bring
that message home to you, then this
evening, which you have so kindly
devoted to me, will not be an entire
waste.
26th Annual Report
of the Jón Sigurdson
Chapter, I.Ö.D.E.
Madam Regent and members:—
I hereby submit the 26th annual
report of the Jon Sigurdson Chap-
ter for the year ending Feb. lst,
1942. It is with pardonable pride
in our Chapter and yet a humble
thankfulness withal that we draw
your attention to the fact that in
every sphere of activity members
have put forth a valiant effort,
greater than ever before.
The province of Manitoba counts
at present 49 I.O.D.E. Chapters with
a membership of 1,350, an average
of 28 members each.
The Jon Sigurdson Chapter has a
membership of 31, and 10 Life
members, seven of these being totally
inactive because of absence or other
valid reasons. Three new members
were added this year.
Eleven meetings have been held
and four executive meetings. Aver-
age attendance 18. Twenty-seven
visitors have honored us with their
presence at meetings this year.
Financial Statement — General
Fund—Received, $262.72; distribut-
ed, $307.44; balance, $58.67. War
services fund, $721.76; disbursed,
$819.11; balance, $1.97. Total receiv-
ed for the year, $984.48. Last year
the total recbived for the province
was $27,211.54, an average of $555.33
per Chapter. Seventy dollars of our
funds were received from various
Icelandic Ladies’ Aids scattered
throughout Canada, in response to
our appeal published in the two
Icelandic weeklies in February.
Other sources of revenue have been:
Annual dance and bridge, Marl-
borough hotel; annual tea and home
cooking sale, T. Eaton assembly hall;
annual birthday celebration; draw
of blanket donated by Regent;
Hallowe’en dance and bridge; mem-
orial day service, and donations from
Junior Icelandic League, $71.00; Dr.
L. A. Sigurdson, $30; Good Temp-
lars, $25; also donations from in-
dividuals and Winnipeg business
firms, most notably generous has
been the T. Eaton company with the
Hudsons Bay a close second. Our
share of the War Service Drive was
$226.68.
Disbursements have been for
regular outlays such as convention,
railway fare, delegates fees, officers
tax, endowment fund, Coronation
Musical scholarship, returned Sol-
diers’ Cheer, work in India. In ad-
dition there has been: British war
guest fund, Jon. Sigurdson Musical
scholarship, welfare, hospital cheer,
and an increasingly large amount
for comforts for our fighting forces.
The upkeep of the I.O.D.E. roims
cost us $12. There was also a con-
cnbutiou to the salute to Britam
program and the Y.M.C.A. enter-
tainment fund.
RESUME OF VARIOUS REPORTS
Educational—Secretary, Mrs. G.
A. Paulson.
A $10 library has been sent to
the recently adopted Nordurstjarna
school, and other literature; also a
gramophone and records. The
library in memory of Mrs. F. J.
Bergman. A $10 library was given
to the Lundar school to honor the
memory of the late Mrs. W. J. Lin-
dal. Twenty-five calendars bought,
13 of these given as compliments of
the Chapter and 12 sold to members.
Nine bundles of magazines deliver-
ed to the I.O.D.E. rooms and a box
of books. The $50 Musical scholar-
ship was won by Miss Thora
Asgeirsson.
Unorganized Knitting—Convenor,
Mrs. F. J. Sivertson. Twenty-nine
articles made and delivered to
rooms; 16 sweaters, 9 pair of mitts,
2 scarves, 1 girl’s suit (sweater and
skirt).
Empire Study—Convenor, Mrs. B.
S. Benson. As the theatre of war
widens and is brought ever closer
to our doorstep, the members na-
turally turn more seriously to Em-
pire study. A sincere and keen
feeling of kinship with every mem-
ber of our far-flung Empire and her
Allies is becoming more deeply
rooted in our hearts, kindling to a
white flame our will to victory.
The following papers have been
given at meetings.
Mrs. H. F. Danielson, resume of
lecture by Mrs. F. John Scroggie, of
London, in Grace church, on Wo-
men’s Voluntary Services in Eng-
land.
Mrs. H. G. Henrickson, Excerpts
from The White Cliffs (Alice Duer
Millar) and Wom Doorstep (Mar-
garet Sherwood).
Mrs. J. B. Skaptason, report of
provincial convention.
Mrs. Durden, monologue, “Mrs.
Britain.”
Mrs. E. A. Isfeld, The Develop-
ment of Music in Iceland, and Im-
pressions of the Music Teachers’
convention.
Mrs. Hart, report of fall conven-
tion.
Mrs. E. P. Jonsson read a magazine
article on Mrs. Roosevelt.
Mrs. B. S. Benson read an article
“Elizabeth the Beloved.”
Hospital Visiting—Convenor Mrs.
H. G. Nicholson.
Mrs. Nicholson has made 15 visits
to the Sanatorium and several visits
to King Edward hospital. Twenty-
five Christmas parcels were made
uo and three additional parcels for
Icelandic girls at the Sanatorium.
At Easter there is always something
extra and Christmas is a very spe-
cial occasion with decorations and
carol singers throughout the whole
Sanatorium. This makes it very
cheerful for the patients, but best
of all they do enjoy Mrs. Nicholson
herself with her unobtrusive cheer-
fulness and sympathy.
Welfare — Convenor, Miss V.
Jonasson.
A total of $26 was voted out of
Chapter funds for welfare work
among ex-service men and their
families. Three parcels sent out,
$26; nine boxes (gifts of clothing),
$90; money donation for Christmas
cheer, $12.15. A total of $128.15.
War Services—Convenor, Mrs. E.
A. Isfeld.
Wool used for knitting, $234 lbs.;
wool paid for, 186 lbs., $283.75;
cigarettes sent, 217, $217.00. For
the Navy League, $50 and 1 quilt and
1 afghan. Articles knitted for the
navy, 107; for our boys, 244; total,
357. An average of six members
spent 10 afternoons at the sewing
room 501 Power Building, making
71 articles cut out and 211 articles
completed.
Echoes—Secretary, Mrs. L. A.
Sigurdson. Twelve subscribers are
listed.
MLscellaneous—In many respects
1941 was a banner year for the Jon
Sigurdson Chapter with, not only all
regular work augmented, but also
some rather special endeavors suc-
cessfully carried out.
First among these was the 25th
anniversary celebration in March
with an overflow audience and Miss
Maria Markan as guest artist. At
this concert soldiers’ mothers or
wife’s badges were presented to six
members: Mrs. O. Stephensen, Mrs.
H. G. Henrickson, Mrs. G. A. Paul-
son, Mrs. B. H. Olson, Mrs. J. H. W.
Price and Mrs. E. Arnason. Two
more members will receive badges
at this meeting tonight, Mrs. T. E.
Thorsteinson and Mrs. K. J. Aust-
man.
The anniversary uplift of spirits
culminated in the publication of a
pretty pamphlet containing the his-
tory of the Chapter compiled in
English by Mrs. L. A. Sigurdson
and in Icelandic by Mrs. Gisli Joh-
son. Picture of the King and Queen,
of Jon Sigurdson and of Chapter
members decorate its pages, and it
received a good send-off with a
fitting foreword by Mrs. B. S. Ben-
son, who ably convened this pro-
ject. The pamphlet is being sold
at 25c a copy and is supposed to pay
for itself.
Another outgrowth of the Chap-
ter’s having attained to its 25th
birthday was the presentation of
honorary membership certificates to
five women, Miss Markan, Mrs. L.
G. Salverson, Mrs. Jacobina John-
son, Mrs. Gudrun H. Finnsdottir and
Mrs. Finnur Johnson.
In September a “Ways and Means
Committee” went into operation.
Among other things one outstanding
result of its work convened so un-
selfishly by Mrs. Isfeld, was the
beautiful and memorable choral
commemoration on Nov. llth.
At the end of May 20. members
completed at the St. Johns Ambu-
lance a 10 weeks course in first aid
and received their certificates.
In addition to all this members
have diligently collected stamps for
Mrs. Potter, salvage; 50 pounds tin-
foil, have donated furs and clothing,
helped with the tea for the blind,
had two captains and 24 girls in the
field for Navy League Tag Day,
June 28th, which project netted a
grand total of $6,000.00.
Members have attended two
church parades, been in charge of
the I.O.D.E. rooms for three weeks,
twice in charge of R.C.N.V.R. fur
sorting, manned the C.N.R. dugout
three days and C.P.R. one day. And
finally .sent 20 complete layettes to
England just before Christmas. The
Chapter has now undertaken their
share of the War Savings Stamps
campaign.
One of our last year’s calendars
found its way into a school room
where Mrs. Henrickson’s class made
it into 12 lovely framed mottoes
which sold for 15c each and netted
the Red Cross $1.80.
In conclusion we feel that this
year’s splendid achievement has
been made possible by the support
and co-operation of the Chapter’s
many friends. To all those indivi-
duals and business firms we owe a
debt of gratitude. To the many
Ladies’ Aids who sent large dona-
tions (the “Solskin” of Mozart, Sask.,
has just sent $5 for the third time);
to the ladies of Husavik, for work
well done; to the press of this city
and more especially to the two Ice-
landic weeklies, for unfailing
courtesy and co-operation. To all
these we say a fervent thank you.
HOLMFRIDUR DANTELSON,
Secretary.
Winnipeg, February 3, 1942.

Kaupið Sigurláns Veðbréf
til þess að frelsa
hina undirokuðu
V,
Hvað er
Sigurláns
Veðbréf
pað er loforð Canadastjðrnar um
að endurgrreiða hvert cent, sem þér
lðnið henni. pðr getið selt Veðbréf-
ið fyrir peninga, hvenær sem þér
þarfnist þeirra.
Af hverju Veðbréfi eru greiddir 3%
ásvextir. Við hvert Veðbréf er
festur arðmiði. Tvisvar á ári getið
þér tekið arðmiða til bankans, og
fengið andvirði hans í peningum.
pér getið fengið Sigurlánsbréf fyrir
$50, $100, $500, $1,000 eða $5,ooo
upphæðir. pér getið keypt Veðbréf
gegn afborgunum — aðeins 10%
út f hönd, og afgangi má dreifa yfir
marga mánuði með síðustu borgun
15. ágúst, 1942.
F61k kaupir Sigurláns Veðbréf af
viðurkendum umboðsmanni, sem
heimsækir yður, hjá öllum bönkum
eða Trust'félögum, eða á aðalskrif-
stofu Sigurlánsins í umhverfi yðar.
Sala hinna nýju Siguláns Veðbéfa
hefst 16. febrúar. Verið viðbúnir
að kaupa alt, sem þér megnið.
ÉR heyjum ekki einungis stríð
iil þess að vernda frelsi Canada, held-
ur einnig til þess að leysa úr ánauð
fólk í Evrópu og Asíu. Vinir yðar
og frændur í hinum gömlu löndum.
mæna til yðar, sem frjálsir eruð, ti!
þess að flýta fyrir sigri.
Canada skal aldrei bregðast þeim,
eins lengi og þjóðin hefir peninga
til að framleiða fyrir meira af kúl-
um, meira af loftförum og fleira af
skipum. Þér leggið fram yðar skerf
með því að kaupa Sigurláns Veðbréf,
því með slíkum kaupum af yðar
hálfu, getur Canada smíðað vopn og
kúlur eftir þörfum til þess að koma
öxulríkjunum á kné.
Canada fer ekki fram á peninga-
gjafir. heldur að þér lánið stjórninni
peningana. Sérhver dollar, sem þér
kaupið fyrir á þenna hátt gefur af
sér 3% í vöxtu á ári, er greiddir
skulu á hverjum sex mánuðum, og
sérhver dollar, sem þér leggið í þessi
kaup, verður greiddur að fullu í til-
tekinn gjalddaga.
Hjálpið þeim þessvegna. er mæna til
yðar eflir lausn úr áþján. Sigur-
láns Veðbréfin stuðla að því, að
tryggja þessu fólki írjáls heimili,
trúarbragðafrelsi og stjórnarfars-
frelsi.
Sgiurláns Veðbréf
koma á markað 16.
febrúar. Verið við-
búnir, að kaupa alt,
sem þér megnið.