The Xenia sentinel. [volume] (Xenia [Ohio]) 1863-186?, 1864-09-06
Perpetual Daylight In Norway,

The farther north you 90 in yoya-
ging along the Norwegian. coast du-
ring the months of June andJu1y, the
bRigbser and longer becomes tile day
light, until at last you arrive at the
regions Of perpetual day. The ex-
quisi5e- charm of this novel state Of
things is utterly beyond the compre-
hension Of those who have not expo
riepced it. Apart altogether from the
gladdening influence of sunshine,
there is something delightfully."- reck-
less in the feeling that there is no
necessity whateYer for taking note
of the flight Of time-no fear lest We
should, while wandering together, sr
pcrchapce alone, among the noun
tains, be oyertaken by night During
several weeks we lived in the blaze
Of a long nightless day.
do not use hyperbolicai language
when speakingof this perpetual day
light DugiBg several weeks, after
we had crossed the arctic circle, the
sun descended little more than its
own diameter below the horizon each
night, so that it had scarcely set when
it rose again, and the dimihution Of
light was quite Insignificant; it did
not approach IN the slightest degree
to twilight. If had been suddunly
awakened during any Of the twenty
four boUrs, in the cabin Of the yacht,
or IN any place from which, it was i'm
possible to observe the position of the
sun, I could not have told whether it
was day or night Having said that,
it is almost superhuous to add that We
could, even IN the cabin, read the
smallest print at midnight as easily
as at noon-day. Moreover, a clear
midnight was absolutely brighter
than a cloudy forenoon.
Nevertheless, there was a distinct
difference between night and day
a difference with which light had moth
ing to do. am inclined to think
that the incalculable myriads Of min
ute and invisible creatures with which
God has filed the solitudes Of this
world, even more largely than the in
habited parts, exercise a much more
powerful influence on our senses than
we suppose. During the daytime
these teeming millions, bustling about
in the activity Of their tiny spheres,
create an actual though unrecogniza-
bic noise. I do not refer to gnats
and flies so much as to those atomic
insects whose little persons are never
seen, and whose Individual voices are
never heard, but whose collective hum
is a fact that is proved by the silence.
that follows its cessation. In tie
evening these all retire to rest, and
night is marked by deep, impressive
stiffness, which we are apt erroneous
! ly to suppose is altogether the result
Of that noisy grant man having beta
ken himself to his lair. Yet this diff
erenee between night ard day was
only noticeable when we we're alone
or very quiet; the prepondering from
convertiOn or walking were more than
enough to dispel the sweet influence.
We we're often very far wrong in
in our ideas of time. Once or twice,
on landing and going into a hamlet
on the coast, we have been much sur
| prised to find the deepest silence reig-
ming everywhere, aud and on peeping
in at a window, to observe that the
inhabitants were all abed, while the
sun was blazing high in the heavens.
Some times, too, on returning from
a shooting or fishing expedition, 1
have seen a bush or tree full of small
birds, each standing on one leg, with
its head thrust under It's wing and its
round little body pulled up to nearly
twice its usual size, and having thus
been reminded that the hours for rest
had returned. Of course a little OBJ
servation and reflection would at any
time have cleared up our minds as to
whether day or night was on the wing
nevertheless, l state the simple
truth per-plexed, and sometimes Iudi-
crOusly deceived, by the conversion
Of night into day.-Yaeht Voyage to
Norway.