-V
Av"A
fHE HESPERIAN.
Vol. XXVIII.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, APRIL 7, 1899.
No. 26.
Jonas H. Lien, '97
Born of white midnights of the frozen seas,
Of skyward peaks, unchangeful atmosphere,
Ho came, the child of Ella, with the clear
Broad brow, the soul calm cadenced to the breeze
That on the heights flings loftier snows than these.
Ho came with quiet face that knows no fear,
Looking forever on the faces here
Turned toward him for the light that shall not cease.
Not voicelessly, with empty hands, he lies
Beyond the circle of the northern star
On island sands. With calm, far-seeing eyes
And clear young voice, ho shall for aye make war
Where freedom strives, and with each Easter night
Stand forth, transfigured, with the sons of light.
March 31, 1899. Katharine Meliok.
K JZH "--"'-If
Jonas H. Lien.
Jonas H. Lien is dead. While on active duty along the
lino, in a bravo charge at the head of a company of the First
South Dakota Volunteers, Adjutant and First Lieutenant Jonas
H. Lien was hit by a Manser bullet and fell dead from his
horse. This was the awful news that brought so much sorrow
m to so many students and professors in our University and
actually forced not a few to tears.
Wo all knew Lien. We all know him to admire him. We
knew him as a man, as a natural leader of men. We knew
him as a deep, scholarly student, a student of whom it Ima
been said: 4He was tho brightest man in the University."
We know him as a loyal member of the Union Literary So
''ciety. We knew him as an earnest, and forceful debater and
speaker, a speaker who first convinced himself and then con
vinced others that he was right, a speaker whose every look
1
of those keen eyes showed earnestness, whose every act
brought conviction, and whose every word brought argument
and persuasion to make that conviction effective. We knew
him as a man of the best judgment, the deepest convictions,
the keenest mind, a most companionable friend of the truest
stamp, tho strongest character Jonas Lien, the little giant
from South Dakota, As good as he was brilliant, as sincere
as able, as honest as shrewd, as democratic aei profound, Jonas
was a recognized man of great promise.
Jonas Lien was born in Brookings, S. D., Dec. 12th, 1874.
His filler died while he was a small child, and was brought
to manhood under the care of bio brother, B. H. Lien, now
mayor of Sioux Falls, S. D. Lion attended tho South Dakota
Agricultural College prior to coming here in 1895. The heat
ed campaign of 1896 found him stumping South Dakota for
Bryan, part of the time speaking from tho same platform with
Senator Pettigrow, He spoke in nearly every county east of
the Missouri, and was commonly known as the "boy orator
of the Sioux"' Soon nfrer election he again resumed his work
at the University, when he was made managing editor of the
Hesperian. January 1st, he left tho University again to ac
cept the position of chief clerk in the lower houso of the South
Dakota legislature. After adjournment of the legislature, he
became city editor of the daily Sioux Falls Press, where he re
mained until September, '97, when he again took up his work
here at the University, graduating in the spring of 189S- He was
ut this time elected to Phi Beta Kappa. It is stated that he was
not wholly in sympathy with this organization, and often ex
pressed disapproval of its workings. He never learned of the
honor given him until he reached the Philippines and then he
declared in a letter to a friend, in referring to the matter, that
ho was now more convinced than ever of tho injustice of the
whole affair. Returning to his home in the spring of 1898, he
again resumed news pnper work until the call for volunteers.
Feeling that it was more to his liking, he desired to enlist as
a private and run his chances with the boys in the ranks.
With difficulty he was finally persuaded to accept the com
mission of adjutant: Lien was desirous to see active duty so
long as the war with Spain lasted, but when this war was over
and another had begun of a different nature, he wanted the
South Dakou regiment mustered out. In private letters to
friends, ho expressed strong objections to expansion and the
policy of the administration toward the Philippines. However,
these expressions were only private and received no official
k