"Rasmus B. Anderson" is a name that has been familiar to all
University of Wisconsin students and to all people of
Scandinavian parentage throughout the Northwest for at least
two score years. This fine old man is a true son of
Wisconsin. He was born in Albion, Wisconsin, of Norwegian
parents, in 1846. He received an honorary A. B. from the
University of Wisconsin in 1885, and the title of L. L. D.
from the same institution in 1888. He was professor of
Scandinavian languages and literature here from 1875 to 1883,
when he resigned to serve as minister to Denmark. He has
translated scores of selections from Scandinavian languages
into English, and is the editor of almost countless articles
of an historical, linguistic, literary, and philosophical
nature. Now, at the age of seventy, his friends know him as a
kindly, busy man with an active and keen interest in all
about him. He is at present serving in an editorial capacity
on the boards of different journals and encyclopedias.
The selection here given was one of the earliest that he
published. It breathes the spirit of enthusiasm and love for
the land of his fathers, but at the same time shows his
careful citation of evidence to support his every assertion.