Sunday afternoon walks were an institution. After church you would have a heavy dinner and go for a walk as a family and call on somebody. Children were not allowed games or anything like that. In the evening you would go again at church.
Kenneth remembers never accumulating things or celebrating a birthday or Christmas. When he married Margaret she came with much stuff and enjoyed having many celebrations, which was quite a shock to Kenneth. This accumulation of "things" continued…
Church was always an important part of life in the Mortenson family. Margaret's grandparents and parents were Methodists. The family was active in the Central Street Church. The Boyd family were educated people and made good money. William Boyd…
Das Machen invited the Checkers Club to his room at 8:30. Some twenty of them packed in the room and enjoyed the food he had put out for them. They played checkers and chess.
Margaret and her sisters decided to put on Cinderella for their father's birthday. The kids made their costumes. Family members were invited so that they could have an audience.
Margaret learned that College Church had split, under the influence of people from the Moody Bible Institute (whom she says were divisive) and Dr. James Buswell (whom she also thinks was devisive). Adelle and Betty went to the new Bible Church, but…
Thorina Chrisina married in 1876 and migrated to the US in 1883 with her two children and her mother, following the death of her husband and one of her children. They settled in Racine and Trine invested money in the business of her brother, Laurids,…
Kenneth recalls being told by the doctor that he had low blood pressure because of hard work. He laughed at the doctor's comment that Kenneth had the sickness but lacked the symptoms.
The newlyweds, Adelle and A.D. stayed at the Mortensens' house in Somers, WI, and A.D. had to bike to Racine for work. He had a special bike with a flanged wheel that he could ride on the railroad track into Racine, a distance of about ten miles.ﾠ
Kenneth tells about the end of his year at the church he pastored. Evangelist Dad Hall would stir up the congregation, Kenneth would calm things down in the right direction. Kenneth remembers preaching a sermon on tithing as the church was jammed…
Margaret and Kenneth remember the last days before their wedding and talk about the fox fur he had brought her as a wedding present. Margaret reads about their final plans, people to host, her hunt for a wedding and an evening dress, and her…
Kenneth remembers the first time he met professor Robert Wilson. He came to Kenneth's room and made a joke with a huge pipe. He had divided his life in sequences of fifteen years: 15 for study, 15 for writing, and 15 for teaching.
Following Kenneth's misadventure with the stout spilling everywhere in the house, some older women from the church came to visit Mae, who never gave any explanation to the visitors about the smell of alcohol in the house. As soon as the women entered…
Grandmother Mortenson was very active in the church. Margaret remembers her as a very warm person with little education. She died the summer of the Mortensons' trip to Stony Lake.
Kenneth recalls a bit of a problem with the girls at his church who were asking him for a ride home. He was glad to do that and it even was fun at times, but some of the girls kept putting themselves forward.
Margaret tells about the girls at Wheaton going out early to play football. They would get permission to do so and didn't want people to see them, so they got up very early in the morning and had a "jolly time" together. They got a sense of what the…
Margaret reads her letter from Gull Lake describing their visit to Niagara Falls, touring the Lake by canoe. She further describes their trip to Atlantic City while Kenneth was ill. They then caught a train to Philadelphia and to Trenton and,…
Kenneth and Margaret tell about their impressions upon arriving at Stony Lake for their honeymoon. The new couple had taken the boat and slept like logs as it crossed Lake Michigan. They then rode the bus to Stony Lake. Margaret reads from letters to…
Early in January Kenneth and Margaret learned that they were accepted as missionaries if they were willing to go to Siam. They were given several weeks to make a decision. Margaret reads a long letter about their meeting with the mission board in New…
Each literary society had a well furnished room for its meetings and there were no other events scheduled on Friday nights. Both Kenneth and Margaret share memories of their activities at the literary societies
Kenneth and Margaret Landon tell of the controversy at Princeton Theological Seminary involving J. Ross Stevenson, Charles Erdman, Robert Dick Wilson and J. Gresham Machen.