Morning journal and courier., 1893-12-02

out-buildlngs for focks and herds, sIl ar
ranged 30 as to protect as much as pos
sible both humans and animals from the
awful winter winds; huge Etorehouse ss
big as q village church for common use;
and q curious old mill for grinding grain,
where the stream tumbled into the chssm
In which we had passed the night The
larger farm house, or sort of patriarch TO
them all, hsd q wide outer enclosed hall.
In this were bestowed on shelves, hung
from pegs or stood In corners, q strange
collection of oars, fishing gear, rude farm
Implements, gsms-trsps, tremendous fur
coats and rawhide boots, stsg-' heads
and sntlers, tusks of wild boars, pow
der-horns and shot pouches and firearms
of strange and unique pattern. The nv-
ing rooms were four In number, huge
and square. leading from one to another
through square openings; and In a cor
ner OF eacn was an open fireplace ss
large as / have ever seen. Every article
of furniture-long, low tables, uncouth
but comfortable chairs, cumberous chests,
bunk-beds built into and against the walls,
heavy shelves upon great pegs driven into
the house timbers, and even the gAily-
painted bureaus With the house wives
names and dates of thsir marriage upon
them-was of home manufacture
With all these evidences of ample con-
tent, If within primitive environment, j
felt ahashed at my own constantly rec1r-
ring preconceived tendencies 70 construct
social and material pictures of meAgre.
mesa and desolstion where no such ccndI.
tons existed. At middsgsmsd, or din.
ner, which consisted of q sort of veeeta-
| bic soup seasoned with bits of dried feb,
the universal fisdbrod, something nke ths
Scottish banpock, black bread, inordinAte
| Quantities of cheese, butter. cream and
milk, with great basins of tiny, but won
drously sweet jordbssret or strawberries.
theee things were frankly spoken Of,
causing the greatest msrriment among
the family of my host.
What lacked theyi Here were COM
Portable homes, and their land which had
remained urquestioned In the one family
since Norway was Norway. TIE women
spun the yarn, wove the cloth, made tbs
clothing they all wore, and besides attend
| ed to the cattles, and worked much in the
| fields. The men felled timber in winter,
hunted reindeer, trapped and shot game,
sometimes went on long fishing and whsl-
| ing enterprises; and the land produced
enough grain for food and grass for fod-
der, besides furnishing grazing for the an
imsls of less fortunate peasants who
often brought their cows here for the
summer months, and which explained the
presence of the three waiting in the gorge
beside the ford.
All these folk could read, though none
had ever attended school Elementary
| education seems almost hereditary here,
| and books, from the musty sagss to the
prose poems of Anderson, were piled
| u2on the rude shelves above the fire places.
| Two or three times q year they went to
| church at Bake. These were Qres. occa-
| sions, and all went in boats together. In
i the long winter months the fires of the
| great chimneys rosred as loud as ihs noun
| tain tempests; with snow shoes they visit.
| ed other esgle-nest homes, and enjoyed
much simple merry making; and from year
in until year ont, indeed from one genera.
| ton to another. they knew no inextricsbls
exigenoy and txperiepcsd no need or long
ing beyond their own mutual provision
and requirement.
More surprising than ell, after we had
/ depsrted-the entire ''esgle nest" commu
nifty accompanying US to the edge of the
| chssm and sending many q hearty "Fs
/ veil" after us even when the cliff had hid
| den them from sfght-and while descend
| his son, we learned that these folk had
| never seen or known any officer of the law
| and that there was not even a tradition In
| the numerous family above our heads of q
| title to their lands being esst ntisl, or oi
| any attempt ever having been made fol
| the collie ction of taxes upon any of thest
| Norwegian esgle-nest farms.
EDGAR L. WAKEMAS-