The last conductor of the chorus of the Finnish Workers' Society was John Pietarila, a self-taught musician. In 1933, when Irene Halonen arrived from the east coast, where she had conducted choruses, she was first assistant to Pietarila and then took full charge of the mixed chorus, which advanced to a high standard of musicianship and which appeared before numerous audiences, both Finnish and American. When Finnish relief work commenced, the chorus was re-activated by Irene Halonen and played an important part in the fund-raising drives.

The Finns at Work: The Finns of Minneapolis have worked in the most varied fields and professions. Work in the kilns,

The Minneapolis mixed chorus. In the center is Mrs. Irene Halonen, director.

previously mentioned, where many Finns found employment in the earlier days, was but one of the many labor and factory jobs open to Finns ignorant as yet of the English language. Soon (as early as 1878) there were Finnish restaurants where laborers could go to eat, and in 1881 there were two Finnish barbers among the city's two score, prepared to give a shave for 15c or eight shaves for one dollar. Then came the shopkeepers, of whom Antti Anderson (Kauvosaari) and Isak Anderson were among the early ones. A Finnish druggist, Alfred Södergren, appeared in the 1890s and made his drugstore famous throughout Minnesota:

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