22 Bille—A History of the Danes in America . 
from the farm and the workshop, having had little previous in¬ 
tellectual training. This latter fact, however, would not neces¬ 
sarily interfere much with the progress of the work, for most of 
the instruction was given in the form of lectures, requiring but 
little response or individual effort on the part of the student. 
It was a sort of five months University Extension course minus 
the University professors. 
The faculty consisted of three men, Olav Kirkeberg, Christian 
Ostergaard, and Mr. Crouse. Kirkeberg and Ostergaard had 
received the greater part of their education at Grundtvigian 
schools in Denmark, the latter coming directly from Denmark 
to his work at Elk Horn. Mr. Crouse was an American with 
some knowledge of law, and was engaged at a regular salary of 
thirty-five dollars a month. His work consisted in lecturing on 
United States history and constitution, and giving instruction 
in English composition, reading, and business forms. 
That everything was done to foster the Danish ideas and 
sentiments, and little attention was paid to the language and 
history of this country, is plainly shown in Kirkeberg’s report 
of the first year’s work. He says: “ We found that some of 
our students had come mainly for the purpose of acquiring a 
knowledge of the English branches, but most of them failed to 
get the full benefit of Mr. Crouse’s instruction because of their 
lack of knowledge of the English language. Besides, it was as 
though the mother-tongue, and the subjects taught therein, won 
the hearts more and more, and the preference which some at 
first gave to the English branches gradually disappeared. That 
young men can thus be touched by things considered most es¬ 
sential by the high schools both in Denmark and Norway, indi¬ 
cates that the cause for which we are working in this country 
will prosper.” 1 On this point, however, he was mistaken, for 
his enthusiasm and that of his fellow Grundtvigians was not 
shared by the rest of the Danes in America, and no effort on 
their part could arouse such enthusiasm. Neither money nor 
pupils were forthcoming for the support of the school. By Jan¬ 
uary 1, 1879, only eleven hundred four dollars 2 had been col- 
1 Kir/celig Samler, 1879, p. 217. 
'Ibid., 1879, p. 60. 
