The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

EDUCATION—SOCIAL CONDITION. 157of tlie Baltic, the Sound, and the Kattegat. Of all European countries Norwaypossesses,not the longest, but the greatest number of cables, necessitated by thecountless inlets interrupting the land communication. The lines are carried fromislet to islet northwards to the immediate neighbourhood of North Cape.Education.— Social Condition.Although the relative number of letters received per head of the population isless than in England, France, and Central Europe, general instruction is stillhighly developed.Attendance at school between the ages of seven and fourteen isobligatory in both states, and each urban commune and rural parish is bound tohave at least one primary school, with a master holding a certificate from aGovernment normal school.there are othersThese primary establishments are perfectly free, butfounded by the State, the communes, and private individuals, inwhich fees are taken. Both the State and the Protestant Church reserve theirright of inspecting the free schools, and the Council of Education, in which theBishop and Consistory have the upper hand, may compel the parents tosend theirchildren to the Government schools if the result of the periodical examinationsshould seem to justify this course. Parents not sending their children to schoolare reprimanded or punished.Till recently nearly all the Norwegian schools were ambulatory, the sparsepopulation of the hamlets and the great distances across rocks and moorspreventing the children from resorting to the village schools, and obliging theteacher to visit them. He made his rounds, stopping successively for a few weeksat some hospitable farmstead, where the children of the neighbourhood gatheredto receive him. His arrival was a great event, and when the little ones hadmastered their letters they were left in charge of tutors, who continued the workof instruction till his next visit. Thanks to these migratory teachers, a love ofstudy was awakened in the remotest hamlets, and thousands of fixed schools havenow been established in which the rudiments of the sciences and music are taught.Now the itinerary schools are the exception in the south, but they are stillnecessarily numerous in the northern districts, where the people are scattered inisolated groups.The preceptors are often called upon to perform the functions ofjustices of the peace, and reconcile by conciliatory means the differences arisingamongst the peasantry.Secondary instruction is also more advanced in Scandinavia than in most otherEuropean countries, and many of the intermediate schools far from Stockholm,Christiania, or the University towns of Upsala and Lund, rejoice in the possessionof rich libraries, natural-history collections, and laboratories. The literary andscientific movement is very active, and in Sweden alone over a thousand newworks are published every year. In 1877 the number of Swedish reviews andperiodicals amounted to 296, of which one-third appeared in the capital. InNorway the periodicals rose from 7 in 1854 to 180 in 1876.But in the midst of so many collateral influences it is not easy to determine