Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-05-21
SkAGEN.
Description of a Picturesque Village on the
North Sea.

Skagen by daylight is less pictur-
| esque than Skagen by starlight. We
| found in our first walk around the
town that the houses, which gave the
impression of some individuality as we
saw them dimly at night, were of the
single story, whitewashed order, with
little variation except in the color of
| the weather beaten thatch, and in the
number of boats which were trans
| formed into store-houses and memories
in the yard. The Skagen streets ap-
peared to lead wherever the sand was
softest and deepest without regard to
the situation of the houses. Possibly
the plan of the streets changes with
every heavy wind-storm, for the wind
is great enemy to cultivation there,
and drifting sand will completely bury
garden and obliterate highway
boundaries in a single night. The
most prominent objects in the village
are the great racks for drying fish.
Tall stakes are planted in the ground
at intervals of a rod or so apart, and
lines or slender poles are stretched
horizontally between them. On
these lines they hang out the fiat
fish to dry in the sun, to
serve both for the winter provision of
the families and for the purposes
of barter. This Irregular row of poles.
with festoons of shrivelled, warped
fish, forms an odoriferous, if not orna-
mental fence by the roadside, around
the cottage yards, and along the beach
in all directions. 1t is said on good
authority that the inhabitants of Skagen
have gotten accustomed, after the ex-
perience OF generations, to every i'm
aginable smell connected with the cur
ing of fish. We were at first disposed
to doubt the truth of this statement,
but having watched in vain for
muscular movement which betrayed
annoyance at any odor, we accepted
this report as fact.
The landlord, on calling us to break
fast, asked what we would like to have.
1t was scorching dav, and visions of
iced cantaleup and other seasonable
luXuries fitted before us. But we
thought we would confine ourselves
strictly within the bounds of a reason
able bill of fare. While we were con-
sulting, the genial Dane suggested:
Perhaps some nice fresh founders?"
We feebly limited that there must be a
good many chickens in Skagen, but he
evaded reply. and told how the fish
had that moment been caught We re-
signed ourselves on the same principle
that traveller in some parts of the
Continent eats garlic to dull his sense
of smell, and make conversation with
the natives endurable. We thought,
perhaps, if we ate plenty of f1at-tish
we would smell them less.
of usf It'd
mile and half from the extreme end
of the sand point which runs out
sharply into the Skager-Rack, separat-
those of the Cattegat. The village COW
ers nearly half the width of the point,
well-sheltered by high sand dunes
from the violent north and west winds.
but swept by every breeze that blows
from the east and south. Just beyond
the village to the north is high hum
mock, either built for the purpose for
which it is now used, or else natural
isolated dune of large proportions.
Generations of fishermen's wives have
here built there signal fires to light
their storm belated husbands to the
shore. On its grassy slopes the an
tiquated fishermen exchange the gossip
of the place, and boast of the marvel
Gus hauls they have made out of the
waters below, which are now alive
with fleets of small boats. From this
hummock the village looks as irregular
and as earth-colored as prairie-dog
settlement. The picturesque, disman-
tied tower of the old lighthouse rises
majestically from the heather close at
hand, while to the north, mile away,
the new lighthouse, with bright brick
buildings attached. contrasts strangely
with the barren background of sand
hills half hiding the point beyond.