Nils helped some of the older boys to build a boat. He had his first lesson in rowing in that very boat too.
NILS HELPING THE BOYS TO BUILD A BOAT
But both Martha and Nils liked best the foot races which the girls and boys of the camp ran every day. Martha was the best runner of the girls and Nils had a good record too even though he ran with boys larger than himself.
3. At School in Denmark
If you were to see a group of school children in a Danish town you would find that they look very much like the Norwegian children and the Swedish children. They look much like girls and boys in America too.
Those children study about the same subjects that the Norwegian and Swedish girls and boys study. They study from books written in Danish. Danish words and Norwegian words are alike in print, but the Danes and the Norwegians do not pronounce them alike.
Since an island is a small body of land with water all around it, and Denmark has so many islands, many girls and boys in Denmark live near water. Since there is so much water in Denmark almost all Danish pupils learn to swim at school. They begin swimming lessons when they first enter school.
In Copenhagen, which is Denmark’s largest city, the schools have swimming contests. On the day of the contests classes from different schools gather at the water front. A high board wall has been built around a part of the water so that the place for the contests looks much like a pool. Mothers and fathers sit on the platform near the walls and watch the contests. Danish flags fly in the breeze. Everybody is excited when the contest begins.
