Lögberg - 28.01.1954, Síða 7

7
LÖGBERG, FIMMTUDAGINN 28. JANÚAR 1954
Fraternalism and Freedom
By PROFESSOR RICHARD BECK
University of North Dakota
(An Address Delivered at Banquet of North Dakota Fraternal
Congress, Bismarck, N. D., December 5, 1953)
Hetja í siríði vinnandi stétta
Mr. Chairman, Fellow Frater-
nalists and Guests:
I appear before you as a fel-
low American, an adopted Amer-
ican, to be sure, but as one pro-
foundly appreciative of his
rights and privileges as an
American citizen and of the
American heritage of freedom;
and at the same time keenly
aware of the great obligations
that go along with those rights
and privileges which are ours
as American citizens. The ideals
of the United States are strik-
ingly symbolized in our beauti-
ful flag, and nowhere have I
seen that thought more memor-
ably expressed than in the fol-
lowing challenging words by the
late President Woodrow Wilson,
from his address entitled “The
Idea of America is to Serve Hu-
manity,” delivered to the gradu-
ating class of the United States
Naval Academy, at Annapolis,
back in 1914. The late President
said:
“I a 1 w a y s have the same
thought when I look at the flag
of the United States, for I know
something of the history of the
struggle of mankind for liberty.
When I look at the flag it seems
to me as if the white stripes
were stripes of parchment upon
which are written the rights of
man, and the red stripes the
streams of blood by which those
rights have been made good.
Then in the little blue firma-
ment in the corner have swung
°ut the stars of the States of the
American Union. So it is, as it
wore, a sort of floating charter
that has come down to us from
Runnymede, when men said:
‘We will not have masters; we
will be a people, and we will
seek our own liberty.”
I come to you likewise as the
native son of Iceland, of a small
nation, numbering only about
150,000 people, but a nation crad-
led in liberty like our own great
American nation. Back in the
ninth and tenth centuries, Nor-
wegians in large numbers re-
fused to submit to oppression in
the old homeland and migrated
to Iceland, to establish there in
the year 930 the first Republic
in Europe north of the Alps and
the Icelandic Parliament (the
Althing), now the oldest func-
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tioning parliament in the world.
There we have, as has been
rightly emphasized, a classic
illustration of the deep-rooted
Norse love of freedom.
I further appera here this
evening as the delegate and
spokesman of the S u p r e m e
Lodge of the Sons of Norway,
international in scope, as it has
thousands of members in the
United States and Canada. It is
a high honor, indeed, to repre-
sent that splendid fraternal and
cultural organization, and there-
by also, indirectly, the people
of Norway, a great nation which
for centuries has cherished and
expressed vigorously in its nat-
ional life the traditional Norse
love of freedom which I referred
to before. That spirit of inde-
pendence was put to a particu-
larly severe test in Norway dur-
ing th Nazi occupation in World
War II. The Norwegian nation
stood the test nobly, although
at a great cost. We need only
recall the loss at the hands of
the enemy of the great Norweg-
ian poet, Nordahl Grieg. And it
was Grieg who summed up in
an immortal fashion, the very
heart core of the Norse love of
freedom and time-honored tra-
dition of personal liberty, in his
poem “We Shall Come Again,”
written in 1940:
“Born in this life within us
Freedom and life are one,
A union indivisible
As breath and the life of man.
As in a sunken U-boat—
When slavery’s threat drew nigh
For breath our lungs were gasp-
ing—
This death we will not die.”
Small wonder that the Scan-
dinavians have readily felt at
home in the United States of
America and embraced Amer-
ican ideals and traditions of
freedom, for those very ideals
and traditions were already
their tested and cherished heri-
tage.
Last but far from least, I ap-
pear before you on this occasion
as a fellow Fraternalist, sharing
with you a deep belief in the
Fatherhood of God and the
Brotherhood of Man, which is
fundamental to our Christian
faith, whatever our denomin-
ational affiliation. That brings
me to a brief consideration of
the main theme of these re-
marks, “Fraternalism and Free-
dom,” and I need hardly add
that I am using the word “Fra-
ternalist” in its broad sense
outlined before, namely, as ex-
pressing the idea and ideal of
universal brotherhood. Perhaps
I can best illustrate that ap-
proach by telling you the follow-
ing story:
On a roadside in China a
missionary saw a little eight-
year-old girl being kicked and
beaten by a crowd of bystanders
because she was a leper. To the
surprise of all, including the
child, the missionary jumped to
her rescue.
“Why do you bother about
me?” the girl asked, when her
tears had stopped. “Why are you
so kind?”
“God made you and God made
me,” the missionary replied. “He
is your Father and mine, so that
makes us brother and sister. I’m
going to see that you have every-
thing God wants you to have.
And there is only one thing he
asks of you in return—to love
him and all men, good and bad,
because they are your brothers
and sisters too.”
The little leper girl learned
that lesson in a few seconds and
never forgot it. She died three
years later, but her every wak-
ing minute before then was
spent in caring for lepers worse
off than she. At her funeral
crowds came from all around
the countryside to pay tribute
to this child whom they affect-
ionately called their “little bit of
heaven who has gone back to
heaven.” (Cited from the book
Three Minutes a Day).
Brotherhood in its world-wide
application, on the other hand,
is magnificently expressed in
the following poem by John
Donne:
“No man is an island,
entire of itself.
Every man is a piece of the Con-
tinent,
a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the
sea
Europe is the less
As well
as if a manor of thy friend’s
or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me
because I am involved in
Mankind;
And therefore—
Never send to know
for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.”
Whether we like it or not, we
are deeply and unalterably “in-
volved in Mankind.” We are
living in a world which is rapid-
ly growing smaller, thanks to
modern means of communicat-
ions and transportations. Which
means, that even fpr our own
good, we cannot be indifferent
to the rest of the world. Never
has it been more obvious that no
man liveth unto himself alone,
neither does any nation. The in-
terdependence of all the nations
of the world, their reliance on
one another, becomes clearer day
by day. This calls for a greater
need of forbearance and self-
control on the part of every na-
tion, for better mutual under-
standing a m o n g nations, if
clashes between them are to be
avoided and a structure of last-
ing peace is to be established.
The great Hungarian patriot
Louis Kossuth was right when
he said over a hundred years
ago: “The cause of freedom is
identified with the destinies of
humanity, and in whatever part
of the world it gains ground by
and by, it will be a common gain
ío all those who desire it.”
This stirring statement of a
basic truth in the life of nations
also leads me directly to the re-
lationship between Fraternal-
ism and Freedom, and that re-
lationship is very fundamental
jndeed.
The idea of universal brother-
hood, the belief in the worth and
sacredness of the individual, lies
at the very base of our American
concept of freedom. It was tdat
deep-rooted conviction which
Thomas Jefferson set forth in the
immortal words of the Declarat-
ion of Independence.
Freedom has its roots in the
recognition of b a s i c human
rights; without the enjoyment
of these on the part of the in-
dividual there can be no free-
dom in the true sense of the
word. Therefore, in turn, our po-
litical and civil liberties guar-
anteed under the Bill of Rights
are indeed our most precious
heritage, “the supreme benedic-
tion o£ American democracy,” to
borrow a memorable phrase
from the late Senator Arthur H.
Vandenberg. And we should
jealously guard against any in-
fringement of this precious heri-
tage of our civil liberties, re-
membering that eternal vigil-
ance is still the price of liberty.
We live, to be sure, in “times
that try men’s souls”; there are
dark clouds on the horizon, nat-
ionally and internationally. Yet,
it should be remembered that no-
thing worth while was ever
built, no victory ever won, in a
spirit of defeatism. The utter-
ance that Faith moveth moun-
tains is no mere symbolism, but
a statement of fact, the truth of
which is written large and glori-
ously in the history of this nat-
ion. Forward-looking faith, faith
in God, faith in man, faith in the
future, has built America, and in
that faith we must face resolute-
ly whatever awaits us as a nat-
ion in the days and years to
come.
In his timely and thought-pro-
voking book, The Power of Posi-
íive Thinking, Dr. Norman Vin-
cent Peale relates the following
story:
“Henry J. Kaiser told me that
at one time he was building a
levee along a riverbank, and
there came a great storm and
flood which buried all his earth-
moving machinery and de-
stroyed the work that had been
done. Upon going out to observe
the damage after the water re-
ceded, he found his workers
standing around glumly looking
at the mud and the buried mach-
inery.
He came among them and said
with' a smile, “Why are you so
glum?”
“Don’t you see what has hap-
pened?” they asked. “Our ma-
chinery is covered with mud.”
“What mud?” he asked bright-
iy-
“What mud!” they repeated in
astonishment. “Look around you.
It is a sea of mud.”
“Oh,” he laughed, “I don’t see
any mud.”
“But how can you say that?”
they asked him.
“Because,” said Mr. Kaiser, “I
am looking up at a clear blue
sky, and there is no mud up
there. There is only sunshine
and I never saw any mud that
could stand against sunshine.
Soon it will be dried up and then
you will be able to move your
machinery and start all over
again.”
Dr. Peale adds: “How right he
is. If your eyes are looking down
in the mud and you feel a sense
of failure, you will create defeat
for yourself. Optimistic visual-
ization combined with prayer
and faith will inevitably actual-
ize achievement.”
In these days, when it is so
easy to fall prey to gnawing
doubt and dark pessimism, we
may well heed the counsel of
the noted industrialist and face
our tasks and difficulties in that
positive faith which sees the
blue sky beyond the encircling
clouds.
Former President Wilson
struck forcefully the same note
in the following words which
bear repeating:
“We live in our visions. We
live in the things that we see.
We live, and hope abounds in us
as we live, in the things that we
purpose. Let us go away from
this place renewed in our de-
votion to daily duty and to those
ideals which keep a nation
young, keep it noble, keep it
rich in enterprise and achieve-
ment; make it lead the nations of
the world in those things that
make for hope and for the bene-
fit of mankind.”
Sr. Bjarni Jónsson vígslubiskup
vígði kirkjuna sl. sunnudag
Hin nýja kirkja er úr stein-
steypu, byggð á sama stað og
gamla kirkjan stóð, en hún var
úr sér gengin og var rifin. Það
er athyglivert um þessa kirkju-
smið, að hún er reist fyrir áhuga
og fórnfýsi fámenns safnaðar,
enda höfðu margir lagt þar hönd
að verki, m.a. vöru gefin 150
dagsverk. Þá hafa sóknarmenn
gefið til kirkpunnar, og fleiri
sýnt máli þessu mikinn áhuga og
velvilja.
Á annað hundrað manns höfðu
komið til vígslunnar, þrátt fyrir
Vilhjálmur S. Vilhjálmsson:
Kaldur á köflum. Endur-
minningar Eyólfs frá Dröng-
um. Ævisagnaútgáfan. Al-
þýðuprentsmiðjan. Hafnar-
firði 1953.
Undirritaður fékk augastað á
bók þessari, meðan hún var enn
í handriti, því að Eyjólfur frá
Dröngum er tvímælalaust tákn-
rænn fulltrúi hetjanna í stríði
vinnandi stétta á Islandi, —
þeirra, sem skapað hafa þjóðar-
auðinn með framleiðslu og
starfi til lands og sjávar, komið
verkalýðshreyfingunni til þroska
og áhrifa og tengt forna menn-
ingu alþýðufræðslu og menntun
nútímans. Annáll þeirra er þjóð-
arsagan, þegar brotin hafa mynd-
að heild og horfið er frá því að
láta einstaklingana skyggja á
fjöldan.
Eyjólfur Stefánsson fæddist á
Skarðsströnd, en ólst upp í Rauðs
eyjum og bjó í Geitareyjum og
síðar að Dröngum á Skógar-
strönd. Hann fluttist til Hafnar-
fjarðar s k ö m m u eftir fyrri
heimsstyrjöldina og lifir þar en
í hárri og fagurri elli. Eyjólfur
rataði í marga mannraun strax
í æsku, og lífsbarátta hans
vestra var löngum stormasöm og
viðburðarík, þó að oft sæjust
sólskinsblettir í heiði. 1 Hafnar-
firði skipaði þessi breiðfirzki
bóndi og sægarpur sér svo i
fylkingarbrjóst alþýðusamtak-
anna og baráttunnar fyrir hug-
s j ó n u m jafnaðarstefnunnar.
Saga Eyjólfs speglar þannig ó-
venjulega glöggt þjóðarreynslu
íslendinga síðari hluta fyrri ald-
ar og þeirrar, sem nú er hálfnuð.
Efni bókarinnar er sannarlega
girnilegt til fróðleiks.
Vafalaust hafa margir íslend-
ingar lifað meira en Eyjólfur
frá Dröngum. En hann er í rík-
um mæli gæddur kostum góðra
sögumanna, glöggur á fólk og at-
burði, sjóðfróður, einarður og
umburðarlyndur í senn og slyng-
ur í heirri íþrótt að segja vel frá.
Bókin ber órækt vitni alls þessa.
Hún er efnismikil og ágætlega
gerð. Lesandanum finnst hann
orðinn nákunnugur fólkinu og
atburðunum, sem um er fjallað,
þó að hann hafi aldrei komizt
lengra vestur á bóginn en að
Fróða. „Kaldur á köflum“ sýn-
ir og sannar, að íslenzka alþýðu-
menntunin hefur verið staðreynd
en ekki aðeins hugtak.
Minnisstæðast þess, sem ber
á góma í ævisögu Eyjólfs frá
Dröngum, er mannlýsingarnar.
Þetta á jafnt við um einstakling-
ana og heildina. Jón Rauðseying-
ur, kona hans og heimilisfólk
glæðast í frásögninni lífi og fjöri
raunveruleikans. Sama gildir um
Björn bróður Eyjólfs, en hann
er sérstætt og skemmtilegt
manntröll, Jón Mýrdal og Han-
nes stutta, svo að nokkur dæmi
séu nefnd. Eyjólfur er ekki orð-
margur í frásögn sinni af þessu
fólki, en bregður upp glöggum
myndum og hefur aðalatriðin
kunnáttulega á valdi sínu. Sömu
sögu er að segja, þegar til Hafn-
arfjarðar kemur, Lýsingin á
Nisbet lækni, Finni Gíslasyni,
Ágústi Flygenring, Einari Þor-
vonzku-veður, og þá allur þessi
hópur góðan beina í Norðtungu.
Tuttugu manna kór úr héraðinu
annaðist söng við þetta tæki-
færi undir stjórn bræðranna
Sverris og Einars Gíslasonar.
Tvö börn skírð
Hin fyrsta kirkjulega athöfn,
sem þarna fór fram, var skírn
tveggja barna, og skírði séra
Bjarni þau.
Meðal viðstaddra voru séra
Einar Guðnason í Reykholti og
séra Árni Sigurðsson á Hvann-
eyri, og aðstoðuðu þeir við vígsl-
una. Að sjálfsögðu var þar og
viðstaddur séra Bergur Björns-
gilssyni, Ásgeiri G. Stefánssyni,
Birni Jóhannessyni og Kjartani
Ólafssyni leiðir skýrt í ljós, hvað
Eyjólfur er glöggur á sérkenni
eldri og yngri samferðamanna
á lífsleiðinni. Lesandinn gæti
haldið, að hér gengi þjálfaður
rithöfundur til verks, en ekki
slitinn öldungur, sem er sáttur
við allt og alla og mælir fram
hinztu kveðju að bókarlokum.
Samvinna Eyjólfs og Vilhjálms
S. Vilhjálmssonar hefur tekizt
með ágætum. Helzt mætti það
að bókinni finna, að sögumaður-
inn temji sér of mikla hófsemi.
Lesandanum leikur til dæmis
forvitni á að vita meira um or-
sakir þess, að Jón Rauðseyingur
féll i ónáð Breiðfirðinga og hverj
ir gagnrýndu formennsku Eyj-
ólfs í Hlíf, en hér mun gæta
nærgætni og góðvildar öldung-
sins, sem söguna segir. Og víst er
vert að benda á það, að Eyjólfi
tekst oft mætavel að gefa í skyn,
þegar hófsemin bannar honum
að ljósta upp því, sem sækir á
hug hans. Eyjólfur Stefánsson
hefur ekki til einskis tamið sér
kristilegan kærleika.
„Kaldur á köflum“ er einskon-
aröður um íslenzka alþýðu..
Hér eru það ekki höfðingjarnir,
sem frá er sagt í broddborgara-
legri lotningu, heldur fólkið, sem
erjar jörðina, sækir sjóinn, dreg
ur björgina í bú þjóðarinnar og
aflar verðmætanna, er auðstétt-
in lítur á sem ránsfeng sér til
handa, en eru afrakstyrinn af
starfi og baráttu hetjanna í stríði
vinnandi stétta á íslandi. Oft er
Eyjólfur frá Dröngum stór í
þessari hófsamlegu frásögn, en
stærstur, þegar hann hafnar því
a,ð vera bitbein höfðingjanna
við Breiðafjörð og skipar sér í
sveit nýrra samherja í Hafnar-
firði eftir að hafa flutzt þangað
nauðugur fyrir atbeina dulræðra
örlaga. Bóndinn úr Breiðafirði
finnur skyldleika sinn við verka
mennina og sjómennina í Hafn-
arfirði og gengur til liðs við þá
í þolraun nýrrar lífsbaráttu.
Hann vann það ekki fyrir vin-
skap atvinnu rekenda og höfð-
ingja að gerast hlutlaus áhorf-
andi að þeim þjóðfélagslegu á-
tökum, sem kölluðu á þátttöku
hans. Því er við brugðið, að
hjartað í Eyjólfi sé gott, en undir
rituðum finnst ekki síður til um
heilann í honum og kjark mann-
sins á sérhverri úrslitastund.
Þar á skylduræknin og baráttu-
móðurinn upptök sín. Eyjólfur
frá Dröngum hefur nennt að
vinna og hugsa og aldrei hlífzt
við að gera kröfur til sjálfs sín.
Þess vegna er bókin hans mikil
og góð — íslenzk hetjusaga.
Helgi Sæmundsson
— ALÞBL. 4. des.
Ókunnugur maður 'stöðvaði
dreng á götu og sagði: Heyrðu
karl minn, geturðu ekki sagt
mér hvar pósthúsið er?
Drengurinn rak upp stór augu
og sagði: Hvernig stendur á því
að þú veizt að ég heiti Karl?
— Ég er huglesari, sagði ó-
kunni maðurinn í gamni.
— Nú fyrst þú ert huglesari,
þá þarftu ekki að spyrja neinn
um hvar pósthúsið er.
son, prófastur í Stafholti, en
hann er jafnframt sóknarprestar.
Skúli Þórarinsson, bóndi í
Sanddalstungu, sá um smíðina
hið ytra, en um innanhússmíði
þeir Ólafur Jónsson á Kaðals-
stöðum og Elías Ólafsson á Kví-
um með aðstoð Björns Kristjáns-
sonar frá Steinum, ennfremur
Elíasar Ólafssonar á Kvíum.
Múrarar voru þeir Stefán Jóns-
son í Vatnsholti og Árni Björns-
son á Akranesi. Arinbjörn
Magnússon í Borgarnesi málaði
kirkjuna, ónefndur maður gaf
raflögn, en Ragnar Stefánsson í
Svignaskarði kom henni fyrir.
— VISIR, 8. des.
Norðtungukirkja reist fyrir átak safnaðarins