FORTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 75 



ADDRESS OF PROFESSOR MORTENSEN OF AMES, 



IOWA, AT SESSION HELD AT NORMAL UNIVERSITY, 



CARBON DALE, ILL., JANUARY 29TH, 1916. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : When I came here this morning 

 I was brought back about twenty-four years in my memory. 

 About that time I left a similar institution back in the little 

 country of Denmark, and I am always pleased to meet the teach- 

 ers, or the coming teachers of Illinois. 



You all enjoy your associations with the men and women 

 here. You think perhaps that your teachers are rather strict 

 at times, and they were so years ago the same as they are to- 

 day. We had to go to school forty-six weeks of the year, six 

 days a week, and at the close of the year we had an examina- 

 tion, and at the close of three years we have a final examination 

 where we have to meet for examination in all subjects studied. 

 So you will understand that teachers are really not getting 

 more severe than they were in the olden days. 



As you are teachers, or intending to be, you may be inter- 

 ested in knowing something about Denmark. In area it is on- 

 ly about one-fifth the size of the State of Illinois. In the year 

 1880 that country was practically bankrupt. It was shortly 

 after the close of the war in '64 with Germany and Austria, in 

 closing the war the Germans took the most productive part of 

 the country. It was then up to the Danes to make a poor liv- 

 ing. 



In 1880 in the country schools in that country, our lunch, 

 which we brought with us, usually consisted of dry, rye bread, 

 butter enough so that we could see it through a magnifying glass 

 and on top skim milk cheese — that was our lunch and we were 

 pleased to have it. You will readily understand that they had 

 no amount of wealth in that country. They were at that time 

 producing beef which was sold in the English market, and they 

 sold it at the highest current prices, but as they were losing 

 about $1.00 on each animal they prepared for the market it 

 was not possible for them to get ahead financially. The Danish 



