Danish Sisterhood News November 2016

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Serving the Danish Sisterhood of America since 1947

Sisterhood

November 2016

Inside:

Historical Feature: Jacob Riis Tivoli Lodge Updates Updates, Conventions & Anniversaries

Sisterhood

Corner

www.danishsisterhood.com Volume 69, Number 10

Honorary Member Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark

Published by the Supreme Lodge of the Danish Sisterhood of America, (Dansk Søster Samfund) as its Official Publication.

Sindy Mikkelsen, National President

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and generally speaking, I think they (whoever they is) are correct.

It’s been a year since this new board was elected, and it seems much longer than that because so much has been accomplished. There was the usual work of the board in a timely way, but we’ve had a few major successes too, including making the newsletter available on-line (in color), and negotiated the history move to the museum.

We are now preparing for our second board meeting of this term, to be held in Elk Horn, Iowa in conjunction with the transfer of the history which arrives there October 21st. We know it will be a busy, and exciting board meeting, but we are ready for it.

My next article will include a summary of our board meeting and we should also have a nice article on the history transfer with photos.

Exciting stuff!

Sindy Mikkelsen National President

DANISH SISTERHOOD NEWS (USPS 148-200) is published monthly by the Supreme Lodge of the Danish Sisterhood of America. Periodicals Postage Paid at Rochester, MN. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to DANISH SISTERHOOD NEWS, 310 Fifth Street, #1, Solvang, CA 93463 Editor: Lauren C. Nielsen (507) 206-9099

Email: editor@danishsisterhood.com

Articles for publication in the Danish Sisterhood News must arrive to the Editor no later than the 1st day of each month previous to publication.

Subscription: Members $12 (US) Non-Members $20 (US) Officers of the Supreme Lodge National President: Sindy Mikkelsen, Lodge #126 2938 Sweet Grass Lane, Santa Rosa, CA 95407 (707) 755-0260 president@danishsisterhood.com National Vice President & Website: Julie Morrison #126 2368 Hood Ct, Santa Rosa, CA 95401 (707) 360-8377 vicepresident@danishsisterhood.com National Secretary: Glenda Madrid, Lodge #177 310 Fifth St. #1, Solvang, CA 93463 (805) 448-7631 secretary@danishsisterhood.com glenda_madrid@hotmail.com

Danish Sisterhood of America Seeks Historian Are you interested in historical preservation?

Do you enjoy helping people discover information about their past?

Would you like to partner with the Museum of Danish America?

Duties: Serve as liaison between the Sisterhood and the Museum of Danish America Submit one monthly article to the DSS News regarding Sisterhood historical artifacts and persons.

Research DSS records for genealogical information Partner with the Museum of Danish America to create historical displays to be used by local lodges and districts. (Annual compensation provided.)

To apply, please submit: A Cover Letter that includes a bit of your background, interest in and ideas for this position and a Resume of your qualifications Submissions should be sent to the National President, Sindy Mikkelsen (president@danishsisterhood.com) by February 1, 2017.

Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

News

Danish

President’s

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National Treasurer: Carol Faruolo, Lodge #12 19 Fenway Street North, Milford, CT 06460 (203) 878-4924 Fax: (203) 8784924 treasurer@danishsisterhood.com dsstreasurer@gmail.com National Trustee & Butikken Chairman: Linda Holz #102 4400 EP True Pkwy Unit 47, West Des Moines, IA 50265-5615 (515) 225-0951 trustee1@danishsisterhood.com National Trustee & Scholarship Chairman: Christina Sallee #81 16116 SW Deline Ct, Beaverton, OR 97007-3425 (503) 848-0837 trustee2@danishsisterhood.com National Trustee, Membership Chairman & Tivoli Lodge Liason: Karin S. Wasler #68 814 S Sherbourne Dr #7, Los Angeles, CA 90035 (310) 903-8837 trustee3@danishsisterhood.com National Past President & Current Historian: Lizette Burtis, Lodge #24 1462 Trombetta Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95407 (707) 545-6023 lburtis@sbcglobal.net Copyright 1946-2016 by the Supreme Lodge of the Danish Sisterhood of America, All Rights Reserved

Velkommen

Lauren C. Nielsen, Editor

Dear Sisters, November is here and both winter and Thanksgiving are approaching. As is tradition with Thanksgiving nearly upon us, I’d like to talk a little about what I’m thankful for.

It’s been just about a year since I was asked to be the new editor of the Danish Sisterhood News– hardly believable! I am thankful for being given this opportunity. It has broadened my Danish-American community ten-fold by allowing me the chance to interact with all of our lodges and members both near and far. After moving to Minnesota three years ago, I was missing my home lodge in Wisconsin and found it hard to stay in touch with the goings-on there. I can now better stay in touch with them and with all of you! Working on the DSN has also strenthened my connection to Denmark and my Danish heritage, for which I am eternally grateful.

It has also been an entire year with our new Executive Board. We’ve had many new changes in the past year and I’m sure many to come–all, in my opinion, have been very positive for the well-being of our organization. I am so thankful that we have such a strong, caring, and fun group leading us into the future.

Finally, I am thankful for all of the support I’ve received this year. My friends and family have been so encouraging and always there to listen to my ideas and thoughts about how the newsletter and life in general is going. The Executive Board has been so supportive of the new improvements to the DSN and my ideas of how to continue to improve this publication. And the readers of the DSN–I cannot count how many letters, emails, phone calls, and face-to-face conversations I’ve had this past year giving me feedback and kind words about my work. Please be sure to keep it coming!

Tusen tak.

Until next time...

Lauren C. Nielsen, Editor editor@danishsisterhood.com

In this Issue President’s Corner.................................p 2 Editor’s Welcome..................................p 3 Lodge Updates..................................p 4-8 Annual Postal & Assessment Notices....p 9 Historical Article: Jacob Riis...........p 10-13 Butikken..............................................p 14 Other Business....................................p 15

Youth Birthdays Happy November Birthday to: Julia Barba

Lodge 4

11 years old

On the Cover Title: Den Kongelige Livgarde Region: Copenhagen, Denmark Photographer: Glenda Madrid The Danish Royal Guard, Den Kongelige Livgarde, take their post at Amalienborg Palace each day. During the Changing of the Royal Guard, the Guard marches from Rosenborg Castle to Amalienborg. When the Queen or Royal Family is in residence at Amalienborg, the Guard is accompanied by the Royal Guard marching band.

Submit Your Cover Photo!

Do you have a photo that you’d like to see on the cover of the Danish Sisterhood News? Send in your submissions and yours could be featured next!

Photographs must be high resolution and should be accompanied by a short description of the photo’s content. Photos from Danish events, Sisterhood meetings, travels around Denmark, Danish culture and more are all great topics.

Send photos to: editor@danishsisterhood.com 3

Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

Lodge #100 OCTOBER SISTERHOOD MEETING The Oct. 6, 2016, meeting of Lodge #100 was at the apartment of Janice Bradley in Fort Gratiot with eight in attendance.

Janice served a wonderful lasagna meal with all the trimmings to us, after she had returned Grace by saying the Danish Grace.

The meeting was conducted by president, Ann Raven, beginning with saying the Opening Song and the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag together. Minutes of Sept. meeting approved as given, and treasurer’s report accepted as given.

Two items of correspondence were read.

We discussed where we would like to go out for the Christmas dinner in December. We tentatively decided

to go to Liberty Lanes for Christmas and to the Stone Lodge in Port Sanilac for the Anniversary dinner in June.

The schedule for 2017 was passed around for members to sign-up as hostesses. We decided to not meet in Jan., Feb. & March, because of the unpredictable winter weather. The meeting closed by singing the Closing Song before we department for our homes, thanking Janice for hosting our meeting. Next meeting is Nov. 3 at Hope Lutheran Church at noon, and we are to bring hats and mittens to be donated to DHS, as we do every year.

Loris Coltson, Secretary

News from Princess Marie Lodge #86, Philadelphia, PA The September meeting of the Princess Marie Lodge #86 was held at the home of Birgit Krag-Jensen in Landenberg, PA. Warm sunshine ushered in a new season for our lodge.

Overlooking lush tall trees we gathered for our first meeting after the summer break.

Our lodge will be hosting the 89th annual convention of the eastern general committee (EGC) on March 31 through April 2, 2017. The convention will be held at the Hampton Inn and Suites located in Glen Mills, PA. We hope you and your lodge members will plan to join us for a wonderful weekend with Danish sisters from the eastern seaboard.

The business meeting focused on district convention planning. Much excitement was felt by all of us as we anticipate welcoming other sisters from other lodges to Philadelphia.

After the business portion of the meeting, Birgit delighted us all with a true Danish tradition, Frokost (lunch). We enjoyed colorful and very tasty Danish open-faced sandwiches with shrimp, asparagus and tomato topped the shrimp, on a bed of lettuce adding a perfect blend of flavors to the open-faced sandwich. A delicious array of sweets, including homemade Danish desserts and coffee was enjoyed by all of us. Conversation included catching up with each other after the summer break, hearing about our experiences during the summer months, including trips taken during Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

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the summer months. One of our lodge #86 members, Lizzie Broadbent, traveled with the sisterhood to Denmark: 9 Island10 days/9 nights tour.

Two sisters from Lodge # 86, Celeste Mattia Cattie and Inge Olsen, attended the Danish Harvest Festival in Edison, NJ on Sunday September 18. Celeste, pictured here looking very Danish in her traditional Danish folk dress, selling homemade crafts at the Festival assisted by Lodge # 86 President Inge Olsen. Everyone had a great time enjoying everything Danish!

Scandinavian entertainment was heard throughout the festival.

The Food Court served Danish foods and beverages. Hot Dogs, open-faced sandwiches and desserts satisfied our hungry appetites.

Heartland District Danish Sisterhood Convention Amber Sisterhood Lodge #186 hosted our annual convention September 23-25. Most of the activities took place at a newly remodeled motel in Baxter, MN, but we began our Friday evening in nearby Brainerd at the Trinity Lutheran Church where we enjoyed a delicious smorrebrod meal, compete with salad and aeblekage. The evening entertainment back at the motel was a rousing game of Bunco with a wonderful chance to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones.

Saturday morning we held a joint meeting and memorial service with the Brotherhood, then enjoyed wonderful kringle and coffee.

Our business meeting was held at the Crow Wing County Historical Museum in Brainerd. We elected a new vice-president, Carol Rudisill, from the Des Moines Lodge. The rest of the slate of officers will remain the same. Sindy Mikkelsen, our National Sisterhood President, was our special guest, as well as Linda Holz from the Des Moines Lodge, one of our current National Trustees and a District past president.

After a great box lunch, we were able to tour the museum which showed the history of lumberjacks, mining, and railroads of early years. Amber Lodge had a nice display of Danish influence in the area.

Several activities were available for our Saturday afternoon. Many of us chose to go to the lovely home of Nealna and Don Gylling on Gull Lake. In addition to the delicious treats and a relaxing afternoon of visiting, many of us en-

2017 Officers of the Heartland District Danish Sisterhood are shown at the recent convention in Brainerd, Minnesota.

Left to right: Secretary-Treasurer Jane Paulsen (Des Moines, Iowa); newly elected Vice President Carol Rudisill (Des Moines, Iowa); President Janelle Willis (Dike, Iowa); and Past President Laurie Cappellin ( Brainerd, Minnesota). At far right is our National President Sindy Mikkelsen, (California) who performed the installation and was the special guest.

joyed a pontoon ride around the large lake.

Saturday evening’s banquet was held back at the motel’s conference room. The social time and the meal were well attended. Our entertainment was by a popular Scandinavian couple who kept us laughing as well as tapping our toes with their music. Results of the silent auction and raffles were announced, and our new vice president was installed. All too soon, the convention drew to a close and we headed back to our homes.

It had been a wonderful weekend of Danish connections. A big “thank-you” goes to all the Amber Lodge sisters who made it so special.

News from Lodge #3, Davenport, IA Lodge #3 Davenport, Iowa will have their November meeting at Clinton County Historical Society Museum at 601 S. 1st Street, Clinton, Iowa on Nov. 10th at 11:30 am. We will be working on creating handmade ornaments and decorations for our Danish Christmas tree which will be on display at the Clinton County Historical Society Museum’s Festival of trees on Dec. 2 from 4-8pm, Dec. 3 from 11am-8pm and Dec 4 from 12 noon to 5pm. Sarah Bengtson is coordinating our tree project and we sincerely thank her.

Judy & Jerry Johansen and Maxine Schroeder from our Lodge #3 thoroughly enjoyed the 9 Island Denmark tour.

Mary Swanson represented our Lodge at the Heartland District convention in MN and shared many highlights with all at our October meeting.

Happy Thanksgiving to all from Lodge #3 Davenport, Iowa.

Paulette Fisher Secretary Lodge #3 Davenport, Iowa

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Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

Tivoli Virtual Lodge #300 News MY DANISH CHRISTMAS by 300 member Susanne Hohlen Monticello, Minnesota shohlen@uslink.net If you are a native of Denmark or have a close relationship with any one Danish, you will know that Denmark is steeped in traditions and, for the most part, a rather rigid nation abiding by a strict code of socially-prescribed etiquette.

These traditions are in particularly prevalent come time for Christmas. I think back to my own childhood and the immense amount of work my own mom put forth. No wonder she was tired at times. From a younger person’s perspective, it was all fun and exciting to witness the progress in the kitchen leading up to the big evening and the following days.

Christmas in Denmark really encompasses a three day Holiday with Christmas Eve on the 24th followed by 1st and 2nd Christmas Day indulging in marathon Christmas luncheons a la Babette’s Feast style, lasting the entire afternoon.

Preparations for Christmas would typically start early December having the slaughtered pig delivered on to the kitchen counter. There was rullepolse (rolled up pork sausage) and medisterpolse (Danish sausage) to be made, along with leverpostej (liver pate) red cabbage, beets, and pickled cucumber. All could be made beforehand and stored without spoiling.

An assortment of cookies were baked, as well.

I remember one of my duties making vaniljekranse from the old-fashioned metal meat grinder attached to the kitchen counter was to catch the dough coming out in long, thin strips, cut them and roll them to perfection under Mrs. Poulsen’s keen eye.

My favorite assignment was to make homemade marzipan. For some reason, there was hardly any left as my brothers and I engulfed in too much tasting of this wonderful, sugary almond paste. (An addiction I still have to this date as an adult.)

The national Juleaften (Christmas Eve) dish typically consist of duck, goose or pork roast with the crispy rind, (or a combination of the three) accompanied by sugar-coated white potatoes, red cabbage and gravy. In the old days, some families would enjoy risengrød (rice porridge) before the main course. I speculate this was to fill up your bellies, as meat was a rarity for many. My family tradition always enjoyed the cold rice pudding as dessert served with hot cherry sauce and the hunt for the whole almond which would reward the finder with a gift. A tradition my late husband fully embraced and was surprised to find the almond every Christmas. I had to break the news to him that I had obviously orchestrated this--to his great disbelief.

My mother was a skilled decorator as well, sadly something I never inherited. We would make a Sunday family trip to the state forest to cut our own tree and pick up wood stumps to be used for

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decorations with clay, pine branches, pine cones and, of course, the mandatory calendar candle. Oh, was this hygge (cozy) every night to light the candle, counting down the days.

There were no artificial trees growing up - I still favor the scent of fresh pine greeting you. Danes typically do not put up their tree until the day before Christmas and still using Tivoli at Christmastime. Photo provided live candles. Some by DenmarkMediaCenter and VisitDenmark with special credit to photograof the very typical pher Kim Wyon, 2010.

Christmas ornaments are drums, trumpets, cones, piglets, the woven hearts which, in the old days would hold candy, and the regular colored ornaments. Of course the tree is not complete without the string of Danish flags and the star on top.

And of course there were nisser everywhere - not Santa, but the small pixies with their striped sweater, grey pants and wooden clogs. The nisse (one nisse, two nisser) dates back to the olden days. This small farm creature had to be treated right or it would become mischievous and a sign of bad omen. Fortunately for the farmers and for the rest of the Danes, the nisse took on a decorative role instead, and is now part of my (and many other Scandinavians’) Christmas décor.

On Christmas Eve, when we were done with dinner and dishes, my dad would go light the candles on the tree, definitely a wow moment. We then gathered hands while walking around the tree, singing traditional Christmas songs from the songbooks. Finally it was time to open presents. Oh, those presents!

By the end of the evening, we were all exhausted from excitement (including my mom who had to get up early the next day to prepare Christmas luncheon for us and all the grandparents coming over for the day).

As a transplant to the US, I have maintained some of my Danish traditions which I still hold near and dear to my heart. I have given up on the live tree and instead find joy in my mother-in-law’s handmade ceramic Christmas tree - although no scent and dripping pine needles, it sure holds some nice memories.

Glaedelig Jul and always treasure your own traditions.

125th Anniversary of Dronning Margrethe Lodge #15

Sisters and their daughters/granddaughters attending the anniversary dinner. Back row L-R: Marcia Jante, Jane Blackman, Ruth Ann Higgins, Marcia Blackman, Ann-Marie Bergman, Amy Thomas, Mary Thomas Middle row L-R Elsie Jante, Gladys Harvey, Debra Kissinger, Cleo Glasenapp, Kayla Kuehl Front Row: Elsa Steffensen and Linda Steffensen

Two years ago Lodge #15 of Milwaukee Wisconsin began planning for our 125th Anniversary. Now it is a memory— but what a memory!

Cleo Glasenapp led the committee as month after month the planning progressed until all those plans became reality on September 21, 2016.

The evening began with a social hour. As hors d’oeuvres were served, Lou Nielsen, a member of Lodge #15, played some beautiful Danish songs on his auto harp.

Attendees spent time socializing, greeting friends they hadn’t seen for a while and viewing the various displays.

The history table contained various items from our lodge’s history, including the old “black and white ball” voting box, the lodge seal, minutes from 1926 through 1981, a lodge ledger from 1951-1983, emblems of lodge officers, our altar cloth and lodge symbol, and several other items. Each item had a card giving information about its history.

Also included in the history display was our membership book containing member signatures from the first 17 women who founded our lodge in 1891 to the 373rd signature of the latest member to join this year.

One more name was added to the book that evening as Annemarie Sawkins, the Honorary Consul for Denmark in Wisconsin, was initiated into our lodge.

There was a memorial for sisters who have passed since our 110th anniversary. Another display had a large map of Denmark with 80 pins indicating the places related to our lodge members. It showed towns where members or family were born and towns where members have lived or where family now lives. Also included were towns where members who were exchange students in Denmark lived and hometowns of exchange students from Denmark who came to Wisconsin to stay with members. We covered the map from Skagen to Tønder and from Fanö to Bornholm.

Skål, glasses held high by members L-R Marian Wilkerson, Amy Thomas, Mary Thomas and Jane Blackman

Attendees also did a bit of shopping at our silent auction organized by Sally Kronshage. Six items donated by lodge members, including a beautiful tote bag (Andrea Leih), 2 Danish porcelain figurines (Gladys Harvey and Marcia Jante), a hand woven basket (Sally Kronshage), a lovely embroidered table scarf (Elsie Jante) and a framed Hardanger embroidered Danish Christmas basket (Annette Lind) were available for bidding.

The bidding was competitive. $125.00 of the funds raised will be donated to the National Camp Grant program in memory of our member Lorraine Zembinski who founded the Camp Grant Program while serving on the National Board.

A local CBS television station which carries a feature story program on Sunday mornings right before the national Sunday Morning program sent a reporter and photographer to the event. So we hope to see our lodge anniversary on television in the future.

As meal time approached, Cleo Glasenapp welcomed the attendees. John Rassmussen led us in the singing of Det er et Yndigt Land followed by The National Anthem of the United States. A beautiful invocation was provided by our member Reverend Margaret Schoewe.

Cleo then greeted attendees who had travelled from as far away as Atlanta, Georgia (Gladys Harvey) and Long Island New York (John Rasmussen). Other guests from the Chicago Lodge #4 (Bente and Lars Rasmussen and Linda and Elsa Steffensen) and from Kenosha Lodge #20 (Bette Lasch and Anna Nielsen) also were in attendance.

At 7:00 p.m. the meal was served family style.

Each table had not only a lovely centerpiece, but an origami box made by Cleo Glasenapp from uncirculated copies of The Danish Pioneer. The box was filled with red and white candy as well as two heart mints made by member Sandy Simon. Also on each table were CDs, a gift from Lou Nielsen, containing some of the Danish songs he performed during the social hour. What a great gift and remembrance of the evening.

After salads, a shot of akvavit was passed, and 7

Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

Marcia Jante led us in a toast to sisters past, present and future. Skål.

As the fancy cupcakes each with a lovely candy crown made by Cleo Glasenapp, were being served, our program began.

Our Co-Presidents, Marcia Blackman and Annette Lind, spoke of the past and present of Lodge #15. They spoke of the many sisters who have come before us who worked to keep our lodge alive. Unfortunately, many of these woman are only names in our membership book.

Lodge #15 began a project this year to gather information on our current lodge members so in the future, the women of our lodge will be more that just a name.

Susan Jensen has been collecting a short biography, one or more pictures and, if possible, a family tree from each of our members. She brought the book in progress to the anniversary, and it was displayed along with some of our lodge history books.

The centerpiece of our evening was a program presented by Linda Steffensen, editor-in-chief of The Danish Pioneer. Linda showed a PowerPoint presentation and spoke of the history of the newspaper. The Steffensen family, past and present, has worked hard to keep the presses rolling on this paper, the oldest Danish community newspaper in North America. (Consider subscribing!)

Linda also showed pictures from the Norwegian Viking ship’s visit to Chicago for the tall ship festival last summer. For more information on this amazingly beautiful ship, the Draken Harald Hårfagre, and its voyage, visit drakenexpeditionamerica.com.

The evening ended with a sing-a-long led by Marcia Jante, assisted by John Rasmussen including a hearty rendition of The Danish Skål Song, Han Skal Leve.

A benediction was given by Reverend Schoewe in English and repeated in Danish by our member Henrik Holmskov.

The silent auction winners were announced and the door prize, a one year subscription to The Danish Pioneer, was presented to the winner of the drawing, Ann-Marie Bergman.

As attendees departed, each was given a paper heart ornament made by some of our members as a memento of our 125th Anniversary.

And so it was that the evening we had prepared for for two years was over.

One hundred twenty-five years is a long time for any organization to exist, but we do more than exist.

Thanks to our involved and enthusiastic members, Lodge #15 is thriving in the 21st Century.

After taking a lodge survey several years ago, we heard loud and clear that if some changes were not made we might not survive. So our business meeting was shortened with most regular business taken care of by the officers. We began offering programs of interest to members at every meeting. A half-hour of socializing was added at the beginning of the meeting (which often continues at the end of the meeting), committees were formed to get more members involved in the running of the lodge, a book Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

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group was started, a class in Hardanger embroidery began and turned into a Hardanger group meeting 1 to 2 times a month, and a field trip was planned during the summer in addition to the summer picnic and the December Christmas party. In other words, we became a lodge of interest to men and woman in today’s world.

Will our lodge still be around in another 125 years?

Who knows? If those sisters and brothers who are in Lodge #15 today have anything to say about it, it will.

Co-president Marcia Blackman speaking about our Lodge

Marcia Jante and John Rasmussen give the toast to sisters past, present and future

Map display of 80 Danish towns connected to Lodge #15 members

USPS Annual Statement of Ownership

ASSESSMENT NOTICE Members: Assessment #1334, for the month of January, is due and payable to your local treasurers before January 31, 2017.

Lodge Treasurers: Assessment #1334, for the month of January, 2017 is due and payable to the Supreme Lodge of the Danish Sisterhood immediately following your January meeting.

Assessments for the year 2017 will follow in order, with the December, 2017 assessment being #1345.

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Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

Jacob Riis, An Immigrant Who Made a Difference The impetus for this article came to me this last summer when my family and I took an evening walk with the night watchman in Ribe, Denmark.

We strolled through the cobblestoned streets of that beautiful old town with this very knowledgeable man who told the story of Ribe. Of course we stopped briefly at the home of Jacob Riis. We knew the name; we had seen his photographs.

At the end of our walk the night watchman asked where we were from. My son Karsten and his wife Ana live in New York City. When he heard that he began to talk about Jacob Riis and his well-known book, How the Other Half Lives, a book about the slums of New York City in the late 1800’s.

He asked if we had read Riis’s autobiography, The Making of an American. We hadn’t. He suggested we do so.

Back in Wisconsin, I requested one of the few copies from our library system and began to read.

In a time in this country were immigration is the subject of great debate, this book is perhaps well worth a read.

Riis was born in 1849 and raised in Ribe. At the age of 21 with little hope of a good career and having just been rejected by the love of his life, he came to the United States. It was 1870, a time of huge immigration into the United States of people seeking prosperity. Many came to the urban areas, especially New York City. Though bright, well educated and hard working, things were not easy for him in America. He was not welcomed with open arms.

In New York he tried multiple jobs only to be knocked back again and again. The first part of his autobiography tells the story of his days looking for work, out of money, sleeping outside, often starving, being treated brutally, and yet he did not give up, except for one time when he almost did.

One night when things were as low as they had been since his arrival in the United States, Riis writes “…I was finally and utterly alone in the city with the winter approaching and every shivering night in the streets reminding me that the time was rapidly coming when such a life as I led could no longer be endured.”

He sat on a bulwark next to the river in an “overpowering sense of desolation” when a little Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

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black and tan dog, also completely soaked by the cold rain, pressed against him, a companion in his misery. Riis determined to go on, leaving the river which he calls “the tempter” behind.

He sought shelter in police station lodging.

This was the last resort for those with nowhere else to go. Crowded, stinking, often filled with the dregs of humanity these lodging houses provided shelter, but little safety. No dogs were allowed. During the night he was robbed of a watch where he kept a lock of this Danish sweetheart’s hair. Reporting the robbery to the policeman, he was thrown back out on the street for complaining. There he found the little dog waiting for him. But when the policeman roughly threw him out, the little dog went for man’s leg. The dog was grabbed by the policeman who beat it to death against the stone steps. Riis was again without a friend.

Riis writes, ”The outrage of that night became in the providence of God, the means of putting an end to one of the foulest abuses that ever disgraced a Christian city (the police station lodging)

and a mainspring in the battle against the slum as far as my share in it is concerned. My dog did not die unavenged.”

After this event, Riis left New York and spent time working various jobs in rural areas of eastern United States

But this first part of the book is also the story of his great love for the girl he left behind in Denmark . Elizabeth Gjørtz, called Lammet (the lamb in Danish) by Riis, was the love of his life from the time he was fifteen and she only twelve. It was her rejection of him that played a major part of his leaving Denmark and coming to the United States.

At the lowest point in his life in America he learned of her engagement to a Danish officer, but when he finally found work as a reporter and managed to save a bit of money, it was the news that her fiancee had died that brought him back to Denmark. He eventually married Elisabeth in the Domkirke in Ribe and the two of them returned to New York to begin their life together.

It is interesting that in his autobiography he gives a chapter to Elisabeth to write so she can tell her own story in her own words of how their life together came in be.

And so, a ways into the book, began the part of the book I most enjoyed. It is the story of his life back in New York with Lammet, working as a crime reporter covering the Mulberry Street area of New York City, the location of some of the worst slums in the city, that really captured my interest. The many battles this Danish immigrant fought through the press and with his photographs and lectures to make the world a better and kinder place make up most of the rest of the autobiography.

While slums as bad as those he wrote about and photographed for this books may no longer exist in the United States, the issues he addresses related to being poor in America are still issues in need of attention.

I was continually amazed at how much of what Riis writes could have been written today. His fights agains the evils bought on by poverty and hopelessness are still, unfortunately, current.

Following is a quote by Riis and put by his grandson in the epilogue of the autobiography.

“Our country has grown great—our cities wealthy, but in their slums lurk poverty and bitterness—bitterness because the promise has not been kept that every man should have an even chance to start

with.” His grandson writes that these words, written by Jacob Riis in 1907, could have been written in 1967. Sadly, they could have been written in 2016.

The stubbornness of this Danish immigrant stood him well in his fight to clean up the slums, improve the schools, build playgrounds, stop incarcerating the poor for being poor, ending child labor, fighting the corrupt politicians of Tammany Hall and ultimately changing the attitudes of people toward the poor. This list of wrongs he tried to right with is pen and photographs and lectures goes on and on.

Working for fifteen years as a crime reporter for the New York Tribune, Riis fought poverty and corruption wherever he found it. Initially he fought with his pen and lectures. He was most consumed by his battle with the slums. He could write of the deplorable conditions, but that is not the same as seeing them. As a journalist he had the overnight shift covering the Mulberry Street (Five Points)) area. He tried to sketch what he saw, but admits he had little talent. Then in 1887 he read of a German invention that would allow photographs to be taken in the dark using a “flash” light. He hired photographers and eventually learned to take the pictures himself. If reading about the slums did not necessarily make the world of the slums real, photographs might.

Jacob Riis and the photographers that worked with him were among the first to use flash photography. Riis is also famous as a photographer and books of his photographs have been printed.

Photography enabled him to show the worst elements of the the New York City slums.

Riis writes, “I recall a midnight expedition to the Mulberry Bend with the sanitary police that had turned up a couple of characteristic cases of overcrowding. In one instance two rooms that should at most have held four or five sleepers were found to contain fifteen, a week-old baby among them. Most of them were lodgers that slept there for ‘five cents a spot.’ There was no pretense of beds. When the report was submitted to the Health Board the next day, it did not make much of an impression—these things rarely do, put in mere words—until my negatives, still dripping from the dark-room, came to reinforce them. From them there was no appeal.…

Neither the landlord’s protests nor the tenant’s pleas went in face of the cameras evidence….”

The combination of Riis’s writing and the 11

Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

Danish Sisterhood News, November 2016

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years prior to his wife’s death. He was stunned that she would die before him. Although in is fifties, he kept up his strenuous lecture series and continued to write. His health began to decline. Heart problems ran in his family. Of the 15 children

Pirie MacDonald [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

lectures, both using the photographs, brought the reality home and people began to care—changes were on the way. However, it was a long fight, one never really completely finished. Riis was fighting the corrupt bosses of Tammany Hall. But Riis believed right would prevail. He wrote, “We all love power—to be on the winning side. You cannot help being there when you are fighting the slum, for it is the case of justice and right. How can you lose? … every defeat in such a fight is a step toward victory, taken in the right spirit. In the end you will come out ahead…. The boss has the courage of the brute, or he would not be boss; but when it comes to a moral issue he is the biggest coward in the lot. The bigger the brute the more abject its terror at what it does not understand”

There were many defeats, but Riis kept on.

Toward the end of the autobiography he writes, “with a mother who prays, a wife who fills the house with song, and the laughter of happy children about me, all my dreams come true or coming true why should I not be content? In fact, I know of no better equipment for making them come true: faith in God to make all things possible that are right; faith in man to get them done; fun enough in between to keep them from spoiling or running off the track into useless crankery.”

Riis who fought so hard against the conditions of the slums, felt a handout was not the answer. After his time of living rough, often hungry and many times without any means, he writes of those struggling,”…as to battling with the world, that is good for a young man, much better than to hang on to somebody for support. …when you have fought your way through a tight place, you are the better for it.” Many times those who fight for those less fortunate are called “bleeding heart liberals.”

You could hardly call Riis that. However, in reading the book you also understand that he clearly recognized the role poverty plays in the destruction of hope.

Riis’s beloved Elisabeth died in 1905. She had become almost as famous as Riis through his autobiography. Riis often commented that the women in the crowds were much more interested in his great love, Lammet, than himself.

Most of the children of Jacob and Elisabeth were grown when she died. Only the youngest son, nicknamed Vivi, was still living at home.

Riis himself had been fighting ill health for some

in his family home, only three lived into the 20th century.

In 1907 Riis married his secretary and close friend Mary Phillips. Though she was several years younger than Riis, the couple made a good match.

She respected his love for Elisebeth. She insisted that the money the two of them made together be divided among their children, so once again Riis began over with only $6,000 to his name and a new wife.

All his life he worked hard to keep his finances in order despite the demands of family both here in the United States and in Denmark. He never was a rich man.

Riis counted among his closest friends, Theodore Roosevelt. They worked together to clean up the police lodging houses when Roosevelt was President of the New York City Police Board.

In the introduction to the book Roosevelt writes of Riis, “He was emphatically a ‘doer of the word,’ and not either a mere hearer or a mere preacher. Moreover, he was one of those good men whose goodness was free from the least taint of priggishness or self-richeousness. He had a white soul; but he had the keenest sympathy for his brethren who stumbled and fell. He had the most flaming intensity of passion for righteousness, but he also had kindliness and a most humorously human way of looking at life and a sense of companionship with is fellows. He did not come to this country until he was almost a young man; but if I were asked to name a fellow-man who came near-

est to being the ideal American citizen, I should name Jacob Riis.”

One of my favorite chapters in the book comes near the end of his autobiography. It is entitled When I Went Home to Mother. It is a lovely chapter centering on a return trip to Denmark and Ribe. Lyrically written it brought back to me images from my recent trip to Denmark. “through the forest and field, over hill and vale, by the still waters where far islands lay shimmering upon the summer sea like floating fairy-lands, into the deep gloomy moor went my way. The moor was ever most to my liking. I was born on the edge of it, and once its majesty has sunk into a human soul, that soul is forever after attuned to it. … When I see, rising out of the dark moor, the lonely vain that sheltered the bones of my fathers…. great yearning comes over me. There I want to lay mine. There I want to sleep, under the heather when the bees hum drowsily in the purple broom at noonday and white shadows walk in the the night.”

For many more years Riis continued his lecture series around the country, often in very poor health. In and out of clinics with is health continuing to fail, Riis returned home to his Pine Brook Farm in Massachusetts and to his wife Mary. After briefly rallying he fell into a coma and died on May 26, 1914. The great reformer was gone. Despite what he wrote in his autobiography about being laid to rest in his native land, he was buried in “the sparse, stony soil of Massachusetts, the Bay Colony, the Bay State, the first part of North America colonized by northern Europeans.” Riis’s grandson ends the epilogue with a quote by his grandfather. “…in the silent wastes of the Danish heath, where the plover pipes about the viking’s lonely barrow, would I then have laid my bones. But no more do I

look across the seas to where my cradle stood. In my happy valley would I live and here I would lie, a weary toiler, glad for his rest when the day’s tasks are done.”

I found this an amazing autobiography of an amazing Danish American. Many publications of this autobiography exist. I read the edition published in 1970 by The Macmillan Company and containing the epilogue by his grandson. While the language can at times be a bit difficult since Riis wrote his autobiography in 1901, it is worth the small struggle to read this book. At times I found him a bit arrogant. At times I found him to be prejudiced against some groups of people. But Jacob Riis was a man, not a saint. He was an immigrant to the United States who made a profound difference. As Danish Americans ourselves, we should be proud to share an ancestry with this man.

I would like to end this article with one of my favorite quotes from his book.

“Roosevelt was right when he said that the only one who never makes mistakes is the one who never does anything. Preserve us from him, from the man who eternally wants to hold the scales even and so never gets done weighing—never hands anything over the counter. Take him away and put red blood into his veins. And let the rest of us go ahead and make our mistakes—as few as we can, as many as we must; only let us go ahead.”

Annette Lind Dronning Margrethe Lodge #15 Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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