Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1908-10-01
NORWAY.

OCOA S0OC III Lue uOuuLd4uS Ol SOulu"
western Norway.
About 30 persons are attending the
lectures at the private theological
seminary in Kristiania.
The contributions to the independent
theological seminary in Kristiana,
amount to about $31, 900.
Consul Petersen-Wright and wife
celebrated their silver wedding by
donating a piece of ground to their
home city, Porsgrund, the land to be
turned into a public park. At the
same time they also gave hundreds
of dollars to charitable concerns.
The Berlin National Zeitung states
that all the powers are friendly dis
posed towards the proposition made
by Norway to make Spitzbergen the
object of an International conference.
Some powers have not yet answered
the Norwegian note, but it is practical
ly certain that such a conference will
be held.
A constitution has been drafted for
the independent theological seminary
and the Free Church of Norway. But
it is proposed to give such a great
power to the Church council" the
highest authority, that some of the
ministers threaten to withdraw from
the new organization in case the con.
stitution is adopted in it's present
form.
There were once four churches in
London that were dedicated to King
St. Olaf Of Norway, and three of the
buildings are still standing. One of
them is close to London bridge His
popularity in London was due chiefly
to the fact that in the year 1908 he
won a great battle against the Danes.
The Danish army was fighting from
London bridge, throwing all sorts of
missiles down on the Norwegian
ships. But the Norwegians finally sue
ceeded in breaking the piers and pull
ing down the bridge, so that the
Danes fell into the Thames and were
drowned
The Free Church people of Nor
way became so disguised with the
strain of infdelity running thru the
theological department of the univer-
sity of Norway that they found it nee
essary to establish a private divinity
school of their own. The school was
formally opened a few days ago in
rented quarters which are located
close to the university. There are five
| 10 Nv1x CT q
student had been admitted, but more
were expected later on. It is said that
many who would have to attend the
school are afraid that such attendance
might be in their way when they have
finished their studies and apply for
positions as pastors in the state church
Of Norway.
Ex-Premier .Lovland is still agitat.
ing the language problem. He is
strongly In favor of pure Norwegian.
Some Of his strongest arguments are
given below: The language is really
what makes nation. A people los
ing it's language loses itself and be-
comes mere appendix to another
people. TO find out what the Ian
guage of a people is, one must walk
about in town and country and listen
to the everyday talk Of the people
what they speak in their houses and
barns, in fields and forests, among
the business men and the labOrers in
the streets, what you hear there is the
language of the people. The spoken
language is nations language. The
spoken language is the foundation Of
the written language. But is our or
binary book-language the language OF
the Norwegian people. Not one out
of ten uses our written language as
his spoken language. 1t is argued
against us that there are so many
dialects in our country. It is said tina t
our spoken language cannot be a basis
for written language because we
have SO many dialects Yes, there
have always been many dialects in our
thinly peopled country, and once up
on a time some one hit upon the no
tien of taking Danish dialect-the
Si7:lland dialect-as written language
for' Norway! A dialect was taken
from a foreign country and made the
national language Of Norway. This
is no mere talk, it is an historical
fact. Our national language" is based
on Sjalland dialect
A Swedish newspaper complains
that the condition of the seamen in
the Norwegian merchant marine Is
wretched. But at the same time there
are many Swedes who are glad to
serve as sailors on Norwegian vessels
The Norwegian government has or:
dered 10000 tons of steel rails and
fish plates from Belgian firm. The
deal involves an expenditure Of about
, $25O.O00. T.. -.e@@-.. ~ "
A new hall for religious gatherings
has just been dedicated at Bjerkreim
near Stavanger. It has seating ca
pacity OF 300.