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was a club for girls, and here sewing and embroidery were taught. A small group, it was very active and even raised enough money to buy a new organ for the church. The first leaders of this group were Mrs. John Sundström and Mrs. William Fredrickson.

Also connected with the church was the Lutheran Brotherhood, started in 1915. In general, this group was made up of those men who were active in the life of the church itself as well as its leaders in auxiliary activities.

The youngest auxiliary is the Dorcas Society, started in 1924, with membership limited to young ladies born in the United States. Early membership figures were about 20, but it appears to be the society which will survive and eventually include all the women of Bethel's other women's organizations.

The Worker's Society: An organized labor movement among the Finns of Duluth got its start in June 1902 when Martti Hendrickson changed the Nuija Youth Society (cf. Messiah Lutheran Church activities) into an organization called The Friends. In 1904 this club joined the Finnish-American Labor League and later the Socialist Party and even became a chapter of the Finnish Socialist Party. Among its earliest members were the names of Albert Hendrickson, Ilmari Näppä, Henry Asp, Elmer Stonewall, and Josef and Mandi Ek are remembered, and Sofia Hautala and Anna Eskelinen are noted as its first women members. From the moment of its founding, the organization expanded rapidly, and the following people have all played active roles in it through the years: Matti Herneshuhta, Ida Manninen, Henry Samson, Kalle Laakso, Herman Louko, Heikki Häyrynen, Emilia Heinonen, Hilda Hendrickson, John Hilden, Jacob Kujala, Toivo Virtanen, Henry Puranen, Otto Arlund, Alex Sevo, David Kuuri, John Viita, Matti Kainu, Gust Aakula, Frank Westerlund, Leo Mattson, John G. Helin, Hedvig Arlund, Otto Lahtinen, John J. Kolu, Matt Wahlberg, Hilda and Otto Hagman, and John Korpi, who later was a well-known speaker.

Although there were but eight members when the society was born, membership had climbed to 72 in 1906, and in 1912 there were 332 members. As it grew, it also had to experience the many stormy conflicts which raged within the Finnish-American labor movement. To understand these conflicts one has to review the history of this movement in its major outlines, and since Duluth and St. Louis County have been the centers of the Finnish labor movement in Minnesota, and since the Duluth Workers' Institute has been its leader, it is proper to interrupt here the history of "the Point" to discuss this movement which the Finns brought


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