The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-01-10
.anitomoe pilot.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 10, 1884.
IN NORWAY.
FL ofessor Thwing's Interesting De-
scription of Scenes in Norway

scription of Scenes in Norway.
Rev. E. P. Thwing, in Dio Ltaois'
Monthly, gives several interesting pict-
ures of life in Norway:
Lyderhorn looked down from its Sc
rene heights, crowned with sunshine,
and mellow Sabbath bells filled the
morning air with music, as we steamed
into the Port of Bergen, where we re-
manned until Monday afternoon. This
seven hilled town is one of the oldest
in Norway, and its name signifies "a
meadow among the mountains" 1t
was a royal residence 800 years ago,
and the most important land and naval
battles of subsequent centuries were
fought here. 1t had thirty churches
and monasteries. The Hanseatic League
gave impulse to It's traffic, and Bergen
became the largest and busiest center
in the kingdom.
Its picturesque situation charmed
me. L shall never forget the sweet
tranquility of that June morning. as
we entered Bergen. have spent five
summers abroad and seen much of
European scenery, from the Hebrides
to Venice, from St. Petersburg to
Madrid and beyond, but few points of
more alluring loneliness have arrested
my attention than that old Norwegian
seaport, with its noble amphitheater of
hills and its smiling environs, lying
warm and bright under those cloudless
Sabbath skies
Three things make a summer excur-
sion along the coast of Norway most
enticing to traveller. The scenic
grandeur of those stern, solemn, awe
inspiring mountains, austere and bold,
and glorious in their strength and soli-
tude, is the first. Their gray and mel
ancholy peaks often rise sheer and
clear from the fiords to a considerable
height, and presents sometimes a weird
and fantastic shape, as at the
LOFoDEN ISLANDS.
with their countless pinnacles, COM
pared to sharks teeth, or the Seven
Sisters, 1900 feet high, that seem to
clasp each other with frosty fingers in
the upper air; or most notable of all,
perhaps, the Giant Horseman, under
the Arctic Circle, q mysterious presence
that every Norseman feels, and in which
he has superstitious awe. This sug-
SCobo auOtuCi ClChCHt, lHo dHu
legendary interest attaching to these
localities. The old Vikings have left
their memorials on sea and shore. 1t
is delightful to look at this grand
scenery through the misty perspective
of romance and mythology. But more
than all is the bewitching beauty of a
ceaseless day, which invests with
subtle charm that which otherwise
might be bleak, bare and chilling. The
fine gradations of color in sky and sea,
on mountain and moor, the atmospheric
conditions in these high ATTITUDES where
there is no night, give plenary and
browning glory to the view.
To tell the attractions of this town of
Bergen would require book. To the
lover of antiquity the museum affords
materials for frequent and prolonged
study; to the lover of art there is the
gallery of paintings by native artists;
to the philanthropist the oldest and
largest hospital for lepers in Europe is
full of interest, and to one who studies
social and church life, the Norwegian
Sabbath congregations and worship
present many suggestive features.