BESSESTEDR. 
287 
having of late undergone considerable repara¬ 
tions, but the filth within can scarcely be ex¬ 
ceeded by the worst of the poor-houses in our 
country. A staircase, encrusted with a thick coat 
of dirt, led us into a bed-room, which was even 
in a still worse state of nastiness. The bedsteads 
were merely elevated frames, or rather boxes, of 
wood, filled with heaps of the sea-grasswrack, 
Zostera marina , gathered from the neighboring 
shores, which, with the exception of two ex¬ 
tremely coarse woollen rugs, constitued the sole 
furniture of the beds. In each of these, three 
boys slept, so that there were only eight beds for 
twenty-four scholars. The excessive closeness of 
this place, and the horribly offensive smell which 
was scarcely bearable, urged us to hasten forward 
to the library, a small and dirty room, in which 
which, the scholars were all sent home to their parents, who 
were allowed sufficient money for their daily maintenance. 
A quantity of linen, cloth, and other necessaries were pur¬ 
chased to provide the boys with clothes, shirts, &c., and 
proper bed places were ordered to be made, so that only one 
lad should sleep in each. Bed-clothes and sheeting were pre¬ 
pared, and every thing done that could tend to the health, 
the comfort, the happiness, or the cleanliness of the boys: 
additional salaries, also, were given to the lecturers and 
teachers. Whether or not these alterations were continued 
after Mr. Jorgensen left the island, I cannot pretend to say, 
but, in all probability, the school at Bessestedr, like other 
things, went on in its old course. 
