Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-11-13


Dear, old-fashioned boy, we were one of you.
but you bave disappeared. You are a thing of
the past and we live no more, except in memory
and song. We can see you now In your summer
costumes-in your blue cottonade pants but
toned TO short skirt of the same material. and
your little white wool hat, the crown of which
had grown to a point and resembled a minia-
ture church spire. Yellow clay miueIes with
your unkempt locks, showing that Won have
been swimming in the horse-pond and driving
your head into the mud, but wthal you are
better-iooking, stronger, healthier and more
manly than the modern Roy whose mother
Keeps him In fine Clothes and white linen, and
who knows not the joy OF going barefooled
and wearing a stOne-bruise on his heel.
His smooth and pale cheeks and DELI
cate, stocking-cOvered legs may compare
oddly and more tavorably to your brawn
plump and bare calves and freckled. tanned and
warty face, and his manners may Ge easier aud
on the general outcome every time You are the
oid-iaShioned boy that made good men, evolved
into the Websters, Clays and Calhouns of this
cou Try, but. alas! you have mizzed. Your re-
spectful demeanOr, awkward politeness, fi,ioI
devotion, modesty and blunt truthful n W.
gone. The blcycle-rfding. whistling, noisy, i'm
pudent and precociOus modern boy, with mod
ern ideas and habits, has crowded you out of
existence and taken the place you once so noblv
but you, with your rawhide whip and "bed,
ticking suspenders, are nowhere. You are
only sweet memory. dear, old-lashioned boy.
Norwegian Hospitality.
In no land Is hospitality more open-handed
and more unaffected than in Norway. and
though these features are naturally becoming
biunted along the beaten lines of travel. the
genuine goodness Of heart, fine "gentlemanlv,
ieeiihs, ana enilre absence OF that sordidness
which Is so often seen even in primitive re-
gions. cannot fail to strike the unpreudiced Obj.
server. Nor Is etiquette ignored by even the
is apt to make many biunders. In the countrv
however, this Is not less marked, though per.
haps the visitor will be less conscious of its
presence. One of the peculiarities Of the Nor
wegian farmer is that, when Visiting "a friend
he must ignore all the preparations made for
his entertainment He will see the coffee roast-
ed aud the cups set out, and then, Just when the
good wife Is about to offer him her hospitality
he gets up, bids the family good-by. and is only
Every cup must be filled 70 OVERLOOKING: other.
wise the host would be thought stingy. When
milk, brandy or beer IS offered, the guest inva-
riabiy begs that 1t will not "be wasted on him .
and then, after emptying the cup, declares that
ut Is too much. going through the same
iormalitles, 1t may be, three or four times In
the farm houses, or upland "saeters' the
guest is left to eat alone, silver forks and
spoons being often substituted for the carved
white cloth for the bare board. which serves
we'll enough on ordinary occasions. To puuc-
tiiious guest this may not be u drawback, for
peasants in Scandinavia everywhere the dis.
ierent individuals dip their spoons into the
same dishes OF "grod" and sour milk; but tor
one deslrons OF studying q people, q load OF
foreign prejudice ie y griavous burden TO carry
about: When child is born The vile OF every
neighbor cooks u dish OF ''fiodegrod" (porridge
made with cream instead OF milk, aud brings
II to the convaiescent, there being good deal
OF rivalry among the matrOns TO Intdo each
other In the quality aud size OF the dish. When
any one has taken food in q Scandinavia
house he shakes hands with the host aud
hostess In rising from the table, and says.
''rak for mad" ('Thanks for food ,. 10 whic b
they reply: "Vell Dekomme" t'Mxy it agree
with you.') In many parts Of Scandinavia ali
the guests shake hands with each other and re-
peat the latter formula; and In Norway, at
least 1t Is the fashion for guest 70 call on the
hostess few days later, and when she ap-
pears, 70 gravely say: "Tak for sidst" ("Thank Ks
visit being mark of good breeding.