The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-05-29
Grandpa Inge

of the "Skjegstads" was sltuated there L was
born April 81 1855.
On both sides of the fjords were picturesque
mountains. AS a boy / stood by the window,
looking up over to the other side and wondered II
l we're up on that high mountain l could
reach up to heaven where god and the angels
dwell In my family on both sides there were
cases of illiteracy But however, there were
thinkers among them was my own father. was
in fair way to become an illiterate myself Att
that time the country schools in Norway were
managed in a crude and Intellectual way theI
annual sessions were only 8 weeks, yet it was
taken for granted that the scholar on entering
the school should have made fair beginning mi
reading, Cat the age of 81. My father worked dill
igently with me for two years iHvteaching me the
a b and spelling before l entered school. Had
it not been for the fact that l was the first born
in the family he would have given me up as hope
less long before I started in the country school
With only the weeks annual schooling, and an
Indifferent and dull teacher and half of the time
taken up with the catechsm and bible history
which I, with much tribulation, spelled my way
through, my progress would have been very
doubtful had it not been for a certain circum
stance
It was fathers custom, in the evenings and
on Sundays, to read aloud the books and news
papers which we're borrowed at the school library
ings per book per week. During his readings,
was presumably the most interested listener, but
soon 1 became dissatisfied with being merely a
listener / had a great desire to find out for
myself what the books and papers contained, and
it was with the greatest persistence with applied
energy that l spelled my way through. When
l undertook to read anything l never gave up
until l mastered the subject. The first book
which l worked my way through was Biornson'si
( Dow 7 offo IoI 4 a
district school from until / was Is years old,
when 1 was confirmed, which terminated my
schooling. l did not learn much there. We had
an old, incompetent and Indifferent teacher, who
cared little whether his scholars learned any
thing or not, and lost all respect for him from
the first. But he was an energetic speaker when
he had occasion to discourse on the judgment
day, the sounding of the last trumpet andv the
everlasting torture in hell which would befal the
wicked and faithless sinners. He frightened me
so badly that during the night L wept so much
that my tears made my pillow soaking wet in the
morning. The only way to avoid that awful tor
ture in hell was to believe believe in Jesus who
had given us salvation by his blood on the cross,
but the more endeavored to believe the less ]
could believe
From that time % to 10 years old) my faith
in the Christian orthodox religion began to leave
me. The last year 1 attended the district school
there was a prize offered for the best compost
ton on the subject of the "17th of May" This
day in Norway corresponds to our 4th of July
here in America. Norway declared her independ-
ence of Denmark, and inaugurated constitu-
tonal government (1814) which was worked out
and completed the 18th of May. In my compost
. ton wrote among other things: owe should
be glad for what we received the 18th of May,
1914, but not contented Herewith. There can be
no satisfactory freedom in the world until all the
kings, kaisers and preachers were all done away
with" asf
At this time was Is years old, and knew
nothing about the evils of capitalism. Our
preacher, being one of the judges in this prize
contest, put me down as No. /, with this com
ment: "Nobody should draw the prize There is
only one who has thoughts, and his thoughts are
utterly demented, his vocabulary is crazy and his
Ian dicfot;o,n e