ALASKA DAY NOTES
by Mary Frances Hall
What is Alaska Day. Why do
we celebrate it? From person
al experience I know that
these questions are not always
answered, and so newcomers
to our fair community of Sitka
and Mt. Edgecumbe sometimes
like the weather, remain in a
fog.
Welcome then to all of you
who have not had the pleasure ;
of anticipating and participat
ing in Sitka’s biggest produc- j
tion of the year; the annual
Alaska Day Festival. We hope
the historical synopsis that fol
lows will help brief you on
the significance of Alaska
Day.
151 years ago Baranof. a vi
vacious little Russian, found
ed New Archangel, now called
Sitka, to serve as a fur trad
ing center for the Russian
American Company.
100 years ago, when San
Francisco was still an infant,
Sitka had evolved into a ma
ture. thriving community with
its own sawmill, flourmill and
iron and brass foundries.
In 1854 the Emperor of Rus
sia offered to sell the Alaska
territory to the United States.
We finally accepted their of
fer, and on March 30, 1867 the
treaty of .purchase was signed,
and Alaska cost us approxi
mately 2 cents an acre.
The Alaska Day Festival
commemorates the formal
transfer of Alaska from Rus
sian to American hands on Oc
tober 18th, 1867. On this mem
orable day the Russian flag
was lowered and the Stars and
WOMEN OF LUTHERAN
CHURCH TO MEET
Meeting of Women of the
Lutheran Church will be held
at 7:45 p. m. Thursday at the
Service Center, with Mrs. Ed
Reed as hostess.
Miss Helen Frost will have
charge of the program and is
to show slides of Shishmaref,
where she was stationed for
many years as a missionary
worker. <
WOMEN OF MOOSE
MEET WEDNESDAY
Women of the Moose will
hold a regular meeting at 8 p.
m. Wednesday evening at the
Moose Hall. Mrs. John Swear
ingen is to be initiated.
Mrs. Vern McGraw is chair
man of the refreshment com
mittee, while chapter night
program will ibe presented by
Miss Rosemarie Kinberg,
Mooseheart chairman.
Stripes were raised and for
the first time the American
Flag unfurled over Alaska.
Because it wras an extreme
ly significant time, we cele
brate it in an extremely big
way. Everyone is urged to
join in the festival fun. The
men grow beards for the oc
casion, and the women pro
duce 1867 period costumes for
themselves and the entire fam
iiy
The Alaska Day Festival is
fast becoming one of Sitka's
most charming traditions, and
we hope you newcomers will
join with us and have a great
time celebrating a great day.
You'd Be Surprised How Soon
- CHRSSTMS -
WILL BE HERE!!
-- |
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Construction & General
Laborer's Union
Meeting Tonight
' 8 p.m. Carpenters'Hal!
BRING YOUR BOOK
Newspapermen
dictorian of her (high school
class, it will chronicle this ev
ent. It also will chronicle the
fact, even though you are a
leading advertiser, if you sho
uld run away from home with
the strawberry blonde wife of
the mayor.
Birth, marriage . life,
and death .... crop failures. .
.... new buildings .... visits
. appearances in court ....
all these are standard news
items in every newspaper.
A good newspaper will go
farther. It will chronicle the
dreams and defeats of the coni
munity and its members. It
won’t wait for elected author
ities to uncover and attack
wrongdoing. If it discovers
wrongdoing, it will cry ifor re
medy itself.
A good newspaper will re
flect its community as it is,
good or bad. It is the commun
! ity conscience.
The public often doesn’t un
derstand its newspaper. It rare
ly appreciates the drudgery of
newspaper work. It throws a
false glamour on newspaper
men and overemphasizes their
financial rewards.
The truth about the average
newspaperman is that he is a
harried man trying with all
the energy and understanding!
he has to find out and tell what!
is going on in the most complex j
civilization the world has ever |
known. I
His 'final reward — for all
the world or his widow can see
—is usually a small tombstone;
his real monument is the mem
ory he leaves to his friends.
A patient craftsman in the
world of news cannot in his
heart wish anything better
than to be remembered after he
is gone by someone in the same
business, saying after the last
edit on like:
‘"Now that was a story Jim
would have liked to have handl
ed” . or “You think that
was a good headline? Let me
tell you about the time Jim..”
And. for a moment, Jim is a
live again at the type writer,
or bending over the copy rim.
The legends of newspaper
men are wonderful things.
“Such interesting people.” The
most interesting people news
papermen meet in the small
est, widest field a man can en-]
ter — are fellow newspaper- j
men.
The shop, talk of newspaper-’
men is the best conversation
in the whole wide world be
cause it covers the whole wide
world. Wives of newsipaprmen
are often lonely and never
quite share their husbands’
realm althrwrh they usuallv
share thqir husbands’ nride ir
it. They rarely wear fur coats
but I never heard one say she
would have preferred to marry
a banker. y
What is pews? L'ke truth, it
iy hard to say. The best drf’n
ition I know was written year"
ago by Gerald Johnson, ther
of the Baltimore Sun.
“News,” he staid, “is what
interests a good newspaper
man.”
Any nation that has good
newspapermen will have good
news.
Sports Trail
a cool competence. And it was
not until the ninth inning that
you were aware the deliberate,
yet unhesitating, lefthander
was fairly seething beneath that
unruffled surface.
You saw it first when, cap
turing Bill Skowron’s hard-hit
ground ball in the ninth, he
rushed half-way to first base
with it as if he wTa* going to
hand it to Kil Hodges so there
would be no fumble. ;
You saw it again when, with
one strike to go to win, How
ard stepped out of the box to
interrupt Podres’ rocking wind
up, and Johnny stepped back
and drew a tremendous 'breath,
jas if to gather strength for a
last supreme effort.
And you saw it finally (when'
Gill Hodges stretched far out
to scoop up Pee Wee Reece's,
throw for the ifinal out. Sud-,
denly Podres was no longer
the deadly serious workman. j
He leaped high in the air as if
the snapping of the tension hadj
been a spring. You almost
could rear the explosion as he
gave way to his inner feelings.
He bad his good breaks to off
set the Snider-Gilliam Alphonse
and-Gaston act, when each po
litely (backed up from the ball
as if they simultaneously had
detected a lighted fuse attach
ed to it.
The sixth inning was a heart
stopper for 'Brooklyn fans who
couldn’t believe their own eyes
and were expecting the Yank
ees to break loose at any mo
ment to make their dream a
nightmare.
Sandy Amoros raced pell
mell to the left-field wall to
reach out and snare Berra’s fly
one-handed. Gil McDougald, on
first base, was so sure it would! j
not !be /caught he himself was
caught in a long double play,
Gilliam to Reese to Hodges,
and right then you began to
susipect that at long last this
wasn’t the Yankees’ day. and
their long domination was a
bout to end.
Th'ere were other breaks —
Phil Rizzuto being hit by a bat
ted ball sliding into third;
Moose Skowron dropping the
ball after tagging out Duke
Snider. Rut the big break for
the suddenly prosperous Rums
was having a young man nam
ed John Podres on their rostesr.
V.F.W. Meeting
8 p. m. Every
Wednesday
V.F.W. Hail
Visiting Members Welcome
Refreshments
Game night
Every Friday
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Sitka Bazaar
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