The record-union., 1893-12-30


this moment the highest ambition of her
life aside from honorable marriage is the
filling OF this chest with bedding, under
wear, trinkets, silver ornamentatlons and
gowns, so that by the time that she is be-
trOthed she can make fine showing OF
accumulated knick-knacks and neces-
sary articles to her lover and her envlous
companions; and there is no sacrifice she
will not make or drudgery she Will not
cheerfully undertake to worthily accom-
pllsh this object.
If this room be the chamber still, num-
bers Of hunks are built against the oppo-
site wall. Depending from ropes strung
across the ceiling are rows OF dresses.
Many are wofully plain, but here and
there are glints of tinsel and gimp, bits OF
wonderful coloring in grotesque en-
broidery, and Hastings of silver buttons.
clasps and brooches. Along the walls
here and there are hung curious embroid-
cries, chiefly i'll wool. Plainly some are
scarfs and WrappingS. others seem to be
patterns for bodices or best aprons; but
most of them simply express the Norwe-
gian peasant woman's ambition to pro-
vide unmistakable evidences of her skill
with the needle. Brighter than all these,
however, are the flowers which fill the
windows OF every Norwegian home.
Huge 1uchsias and gorgeous geraniumS
are most common; and these with the
wonderful luXurlauce OF the wild noun
tain flora almost bring to Norway in
summer the seeming of the odor and
bloom of wanton trOpic lands.
The inbred sturdiness and independ-
ence of character of all Norwegian peas
ants are best illustrated i'll the simple
yet skillfully made belongings of these
hamlet-like homes. Their handicralt is
wonderful. The timber for their homes
has been felled and fashioned by them
selves. Every structure III the country
farmhouse, storhaus, dairy, bake
house, barn, smithy, shed and bell tower.
is built by the peasant himself. Every
article of furniture he possesses has been
wrought by his own hand. He beats out
his cutlery on his own anvil, and carves
its handles. All the utensils of the dairy
-cheese-molds, tubs, tirkins, bowls,
churns, milking-pails, and presses, are OF
wood and of home manufacture. okeS
for the saeter-giriis necks, baskets, sad
dies, harness, snow-ploughs, and eveA
comfortable stoll-carts and sledges are all
made in the little family workshop dur
ing the long winter months.
The peasant tans hides for the family
supply Of boots and shoes, ana makes all
the latter beside his own fireplace. Nearly
every article OF clothing Is made on the
premises by the housewife and her
daughters. The wool is carded and spun
at home, the stockings, blOuSes and
scarfs are knit at home, and the wooden
cloth for the family clothing is woven i'll
the chamber, the 'best-rOOm," or in the
huge old kitchens. Even the buttons OF
wood, of horn or even Of brass or silver
are products of home-craft, and are often
beautifully carved. In scores of peasants
home where L have tarried the eye could
not discover a single article Of utility or
ornament, save the glass in the windows,
the oil lamps, the sparse supply of crock
cry and the huge clock reaching from
floor to ceiling, which was not completely
a product of Norwegian peasant ingen-
uity and skill.
The Norwegian peasantry is equally in
dependent of the rest OF the world in all
the food necessities of life. His chief
articles of food are supplied by his own
herds. Milk, butter, cream and cheese
are found in startling quantities in the
lowliest peasants home. one or two
cows are kept at the farmhouse for sum-
Iner use. The remainder of the herd are
at the mountain saeters, from which
comes an endless procession of mountain
eers and saeter-girls, often accompanied
by sure-footed ponies, all laden with huge
panniers of butter and cheese or TASKS of
sour milk and whey. The butter and
cheese are constantly being conveyed to
the hOrd-si markets or are stored
against the winters needs; while the sour
materially in fattening the swine. There
are thus always animals for killing, the
flesh usually being dried.
Many peasants are fishermen, and cure
their own fish. II not, dried fish can be
secured in exchange for the peasants own
products, probably cheaper than in any
other country in the world. Each peas
ant farmer raises his own barley, rye,
oats, potatoes and often u little wheat. On
nearly every farm, and certainly in every
neighbOrhood, there is q water-mill for
grinding the grain. know of no other
country where Strawberries and raspber-
ries grow wild in such vast quantities, or
where all small fruits respond to rude and
limited culture with such munificence of
reward. In many peasant homes dried
native fruit adds zest to the winters en-
forced sameness OF fare. So it will be
seen that the Norwegian peasant in his
food supply is as independent Of the out
side world as in all other requirements of
life. There are but three articles III his
home, sugar, salt and Coffee which the
fiords, the streams, the mountain hollows
and forests and his own saeter and farm
do not bountitully provide.
The every day food of these sturdy
Norwegian folk consist largely of
'groed," sort of thick Cruel or stirabout
OF oat meal or barley meal or both, of
milk, fresh, sour, or curdled and boiled,
Of cheese, of which there are several vari-
cites powerful in resistance, odor and
sustaining qualities, and brown and
black bread. The great and universal
staple, however, is ''fadbrod," or flat
bread. II is the very life and sustenance
OF these folk as was the hammock once to
the Scottish peasantry- Every PEASANTS
house has not merely pile of it to draw
upon, but often whole casks filled with
the hearty, wholesome food. 1t is simply
a dough of barley and oatmeal. unter-
mented and containing little SALT rolled
to the thinness of waters of great circum-
ference and baked upon an iron plate
like a large griddIe over slow fire.
If the ordinary housewife in other
countries regards the family bread bak-
ing as no little task, she would quail be-
fore the stint of providing the re-
CURED supply of "fadbrod" at
Norwegian bonder's gard. 1t is
about one strong woman's task,
to judge by the immense quantities
consumed, and | never entered a cottage
or gard without discovering a grand
mother, mother or daughter crouching
before the Goals or lowering over some
huge stove ornament with quaint Pom
peiian figures, deterously Tipping
with her thin. ladIe-like stick the
dough upon the steaming iron plate or
as cunningly landing the savory dish
without breaking. upon the ever dimin-
ishing, ever increasing pile within the
''1adbrod" keg.
If the Norwegian peasant knows little
else than labor from childhood to old
age, it is still a labor which brings the
immediate and continuous reward of suf-
ficiency and ample content. The brief
summer of but three and at the best of
but four months, is one of tremendous
effort for all the members of the house
hold; for in that little time provision
must be made for an almost dayless
winter of eight to nine months duration.
Tho ar0r1S of tho vauafabIoS 10