RURAL UPLIFT ELSEWHERE 229 



pastor. Bishop Gruitvig, poet, historian, patriot, edu- 

 cator, state? mSfs' and philanthropist. 



Denmark was greatly weakened at the end of the 

 Napoleonic wars. She was financially bankrupt, and 

 economically prostrated by her war with Prussia, end- 

 ing with the Treaty of Vienna in 1864. Gruntvig real- 

 ized that if his people were to be helped the impulse 

 must reach the mass of the people, must be linked with 

 their daily life, and that its source must be in religion. 

 Gruntvig^s sympathies were democratic to a radical de- 

 gree. A friend of the writer's was once a guest in a 

 home in Edinburgh. A disciple of Gruntvig a lady 

 who had become known as a social worker in Denmark 

 came to the same home as a guest. At once on being 

 presented to her hosts she asked permission to meet the 

 maids of the house and form their acquaintance. Such 

 is the democratic spirit of the movement inaugurated 

 by Bishop Gruntvig. Before 1864 he had begun a 

 " Folk High School." He sought to extend this means 

 of education, under the Queen's patronage, as a means 

 of rural uplift. The schools, however, extended as pri- 

 vate enterprises. There are now over eighty of them in 

 the country. They are boarding-schools, owned pri- 

 vately though receiving grants from the nation. They 

 are permeated by a Christian atmosphere, but without 

 formal religious teaching. There is an intense spirit of 

 application in them, but examinations are unknown. 

 The object sought is mental and spiritual quickening. 

 Instruction is given by means of lectures, and is upon 

 historical, literary and scientific subjects. Music, sing- 

 ing, and gymnastics have a large place. The age of ad- 

 mission is eighteen. Young men attend for a five 

 months' term, November to April; young women for 



