Danish High Schools. 
21 
that the necessary money could be raised by gifts, principally 
from the Danes in America, and each minister present at the 
meeting undertook the task of soliciting money from his congre¬ 
gation for the purpose. The Danish settlement at Elk Horn, 
Shelby county, Iowa, was chosen as the place of location; and 
Olav Kirkeberg, a Norwegian, but one of the ministers of the 
Danish church and a staunch G-rundtvigian, undertook the task 
of building and conducting the school. No better man could be 
found for the purpose, for Kirkeberg had the courage of his con¬ 
victions and unlimited faith in the success of his undertaking. 
These, in fact, according to his own statements, were nearly the 
only resources at his command when he began putting up the 
building which he estimated would cost two thousand dollars. 
On June 8, 1878, he wrote: “I have bought stones, for the 
foundation of the school; that took all the cash I had. In a 
couple of weeks the carpenters are coming; then I shall need 
five hundred dollars for lumber, while I am not sure of more 
than two hundred. Though the outlook is not very encouraging, 
I feel hopeful in the matter; because I am convinced this work 
will be a benefit to man and an honor to God, and therefore it 
must prosper. ” 1 Though continually embarrassed financially he 
still had the building completed by November, 1878, the time 
originally set for opening the school. The work as previously 
announced consisted of studies in general history, with special 
reference to the three Scandinavian countries; a review in 
Scandinavian mythology; lectures on the most important epochs 
in the history of the Christian church; history of literature, 
with the readings from the works of the best Scandinavian 
authors; studies in the mother tongue (Danish), including com¬ 
position ; English, including reading, practice in letter-writing, 
and business forms; science, including physiology, physics, and 
chemistry; geography; singing; and United States history. 2 
All the instruction, excepting lectures on United States history 
and geography and the study of the English language, was con¬ 
ducted in Danish. The whole programme was to be carried 
out in the course of five months, with students coming directly 
' Kirkelig Samler, 1878, p. 237. 
*Ibid., 1878, p. 320. 
