The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-12-12
SATURDAY MORNING, DECEMBEa IL, lsss
St. Paul Mimi correspondent of the Phila-
delphia U. s. Gazette thus writes:


In recent drive we passed small frame
building with the inscription over the door
" scandinavian Church." Various signs about St
Paul arrest the eye which SAVIOR of an unkno va
tongue. Cd the streets language sslutes your
ear which Is manifestly neither English nor
Gaelic, nor French nor Dutch, nor German. And
30 you come to realize, what you will often have
been told, that the copious polyglot which per.
tains to other sections of our country has in the
northwest been enriched by liberal profusion
number Of Mortimer in some of the newest
States Is phenomenon which cannot fail to inter-
est thoughtful observer Of our national growth.
Inc tide OF emigration, gradually enlsrging its
volume, has at length spread from the German
States to the great Scandinavian peninsula, and
i is bearing TO our shores q people with whom
9 pc have had very few ties Of any kind, and of
Fhom we have had very little knowledge. This
movement, so remarkable at first sight. becomes
quite Ineligible when the facts are inquired into
Norway Is hard country to live in. It's southern
limit Is degrees north of the northern boundary
oil Minnesota, and from that parallel it stretches
no HOO miles toward the Arctic ocean.
This vast region is chiefly filed with gigantic
mountain ranges, rising often above the snow
line, and comprising the most extensive glaciers
IN Europe. Their long days and nights vary from
eighteen hours in the southern to three months 10
she northern provinces. So intractable is the SOIL
that the proportion of tillsble ground has been
estimated as low as two per cent. of the entire
area. Az the inevitable result the country cannot
yield support for its million and half of pso-
pie and they are obliged TO import annually
corn, salt, butter, oil, manufactured goods, etc.,
70 The extent of several millions of dollars. The
Eorwegians have strong love of country, aud the
first colonies that came TO the United States must
have abandoned their homes st the cost of q pain.
Ell struggle. But when the stream had once set
n this direction 1t was clear enough that it must
flow on.
The early emigrants found here In the north.
vest Climate greatly superior to their own;
shd, IN place OF ,nelr sterile hills, soil several
ffst In depth OF rich black mould, with capacity
81 proouction not exceeded in any part of the
globe ADD 20 this the advantages of free
government, public schools, religious liberty aud
sure markets. and there could be little waning TO
complete the idea Of q Norw egian's Eden. The
reports sent home in letters, and of recent wears
IN their jour ais, would spread rapidly from dis.
trict TO district, and the peasantry would hasten
TO join their countrymen In this favored Ell Dorado.
win widely Inherent motives and results, the
case assimilates itself in some points to that of
the Germanic nations who went down into Italy
on the breaking up of the empire. Those genial
ekies and generous fruits were too much for the
amor pdtrt9 OF the rude conquerors, and instead
ofreturnng to their homes, they concluded TO stay
where they had pitched their tents.
How many enterprisiog Yankees, drawn south
ward by our recent war, have fallen in love with
the climate and soil Of those States. and babe
willing adieu to their adored New England. Hu
man nature is very much the same the world over
The Norwegians are doing what other races have
done and will always do in similar circumstances.
A Swiss peasant once said to the writer: Two
hundred Of my neigbbors in this mountain valley
have gone TO your country, aud more OF US would
go II We had the means" Ii looks nov as though
the emigration to our shores from Norway would
be limited only by the want of means What pro.
portion OF them have settled In Iowa and Wiscon-
sin do not know; bat it was asserted by one of
the st. Paul papers q week before the recent
election that g there were Norwegians enough in
Minnesota TO hold the balance of power between
the two political parties.n
This statement appeared so remarkable aud
every way so suggestive, In view of the mesgre
relations between the two countries, that have
since taken pains to verify it. and it has been in
5orsed BY the highest authority here. It's estimat-
ID that there are in Minnesota rs 0O0 Of this
race, in population say, of half million. Here,
rs at home, they show q little affinity for q city
life. They are farmers by choice and vocation.
frugal patient and persevering. they
are the true pioneers for region like this. At
lached to their hereditary faith they are laying
The foundations Of numerous Lutheran churches
In their settlements, and will thus help to avert |
he atheism and bsrbarism which so often gather |
upon frontier population. Upon the whole this
Norwegian nvasions form very curious chapter
N the current history of Minnesota aud bids fair
70 lead to some important and benign results.