142 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC M VGAZIXE 



the: engush church 



© E. M. Newman 

 IN COPENHAGEN 



This edifice, with its graceful Gothic spire, 

 is situated in one of the most beautiful parks 

 of the famous promenade called the "Long 

 Line." 



tels and in the cafes; but it is not taken 



seriously, and so solidly musical is the 

 education of every Danish child — for it 

 is the very exceptional child in Denmark 

 who is not educated — that a spirit of real 

 discrimination is seldom absent. 



There is practically no illiteracy in 

 Denmark, and to the establishment of the 

 people's high schools, under the influence 

 of Bishop Grundtvig, the spread of cul- 

 ture among the Danish people is largely 

 due. 



Before 1844 the Danish system of edu- 

 cation was formal, dully classical, and in- 

 tended only for the well-to-do. Grundt- 

 vig, a seer and a prophet, saw that the 

 Danish people must not only be in- 

 structed, but cultivated, and that their 

 national self-esteem could only be pre- 

 served if they knew the history of their 

 own country and were made to be proud 

 of it ; that they must be insular and 

 parochial if they were not taught to con- 

 nect the history and progress of their own 

 nation with the history and progress of 

 other continental nations. 



He knew that no country could exist 

 by bread alone ; but he knew, too, that no 

 country could exist unless it discovered 

 the art of providing bread for itself, and 

 of softening the arduous work of gain- 

 ing a living by something that was spirit- 

 ual and stimulating. 



In the first place, he believed that no 

 man in Denmark was too poor or too 

 lowly to grasp the glory of patriotism 

 or to understand the difference between 

 right and wrong. 



SCHOOLS FOR THE PEOPLE POUNDED BY A 



shoemaker's SON 



The ideal of Grundtvig was different 

 from the ideals of Luther; the God of 

 Grundtvig was a shepherd rather than the 

 keeper of a mighty fortress. Luther was 

 not exactly a man of peace; he showed 

 no desire to synthesize the traditions of 

 the old church with the revolts of the 

 new ; nor was he particularly anxious that 

 the peasants should be educated. Grundt- 

 vig broke away from the essentially Teu- 

 tonic teachings of Luther in regard to 

 the leveling education of the poor; but 

 it is doubtful whether his policy of found- 

 ing the high schools could have succeeded 

 if it had not been for the force and char- 

 acter of Kristen Kold. 



