The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-10


the Irish mother would say Of her health
fully sleeping child.
The next morning our ascent was re-
sUmed through hOllows, over ridges
where ice and snow lay concealed beneath
thin layers of black sediment aud slime,
around soundless tarns still and dark as
the walls inclosing them, but copses of
stunted fir, and with never a sight of
living thing. The most amazing sight to
me in these upper regions was the ire
Quent patches in sunny hollowS of straw
berries. In some places the ground was
literally red with them. l noticed, too,
that in these pockety spots the heat. even
at this high altitude, was almost sitting.
All the way Lars had been telling me in
answer to my inquiries about saeters and
saeter folk. Some things thus learned
were very interesting. In the first place
abOunt the middle OF June until Sept 10,
which brief period comprises the entire
Norwegian summer, every COW in Norway
not needed for the scant home supply Of
milk, is sent to the mountain saeter
With cows so all the cattle, all goats and
sheep and occasionally these will be &C
companied by swine which are quite as
much at homo among the cragS as the
sheep and goats. The saeterS themselves
comprise hutS or cabins and rude diaries
combined, where the saeter folk, who are
inva riably women and girls, live entirely
uLOlG III bu1S uGSUldkC lSOAdblOlAF NLl1G
caring for the herds, milking the cows,
goats and even ewes, and converting the
milk into butter and cheese for the win
ter store in tho valley homes, often scores
of miles away.
There is great commotiou throughout
Norway when the annual June exodus of
the saeter-girls and their herds begins.
Every farm is in utmost confusion. The
entire household is busted getting to-
Crptn q and Machine rNh NJ will hn
essary for use in the temporary noun
tain home. There are churns and milk
pals, pots and moulds, frying-pans and
odds and ends of cheap croc kerry and
scant cutlery For food there is a bit of
sugar and coffee, much -four and meal,
crates of fadbrod, some bacon, perhaps
some dried or picked fish, and,
more IN weight than in all else,
salt for the cattle. The girls themselves
find room for odd bits of embroidery and
a few knick-knacl5s, while a Bible and
some worn volumes of old Morse tales are
never forgotten. Besides these things,
there are pounds of wool to be spun, or
other pounds of yarn to be knit A few
blankets, or Sheepskin for bedding, and
but little more than the clothing upon
their backs, completes the meagre outfit.
When all is in readiness these strange
ocessions-something like the annual
outgoing of the fiocks and their herders
of the Apulian plains in southern Italy
set forth from every gard or farm in
Norway. The belongings for the saeter
are slung in baskets upon the backs of
sure-footed ponies, orold horses that have
known the same journey for decades. The
farmer marches in advance blowing I'M
earthly blasts from the lur, not over
musical horn made from birch bark
Then come the cattle. No need to
drive these. Like the Gipsies
who cannot be kept from the
road and the tent at the first bursting of
springtime buds, they have tired of their
reindeer-noss fodder of the winter, have
scented the juicy blades that are spring
ing to life In the tiny far wales above
them, and, with genuine manifestations
Of JOY, crowd close upon the farmer and
his blaring lur. Then follow the saeter-
girls, picturesque in their bright bod
dices, white caps aud short skirts, but
each bearing upon her shoulders a yoke,
from which depend baskets, kettles and
all manner OF paraphernalia, almost
equaling in bulk and weight the packs
upon ponies backs.
Towards evening of the second day we
came to the saeter of Kron. From dis
lance nothing could be distinguished but
q low, wide hut at the side of a gentle
ragine, here and there between the rocks
splashed with bits of verdure. The hor-
rizon line was close and serrated
with masses of ichened stone,
here and there intersected by
other gullies and ravines. Through these,
Lars said, the herds wandered long dis
tances in their daily grazing iaunts. No
human beings were at first in sight about
the saeter Shortly a fiaxen haired
maiden huge of glrth and limb, stood at
the hut door, and, shading her eyes with
her great bare arm and not her hand,
looked long and earnestly at US. Lars
gurgled at this, and made wonderful
gestures in return. Suddenly the girl
Title, Lars called her-rushed at us in a
sort OF bounding gallop, and Selling my
post-boy guide, Rugged him ecstatically,
wrestling with him, turning him round
and about, and again hugging him, while
tears of joy flowed down her honest face,
perfect torrent of questions and inter-
iections meantime being poured upon
him.
The rascal Lars, who had previously
kept me in ignorance of the fact, then
told me that the saeter-girl, Title. was
his only sister. A cousin, Christine, as
little as 1illie was big, was her compan-
lou; for two women were required at the
hron saeter, there being altogether thirty
cattle, three-fourths of which were mich
cows, and as many more sheep and goats
to care for, and so in a few moments no
Stranger was Unere, out all were best of
friends. So glorious treat to these
lonely folk is the arrival of friends or kin
from the world below. that all manner Of
hospitality is lavised upon them. All
they have is yours without the asking.
The cows might come. or stay in the
mountain Businesses, until we were given
our drink of milk, and drink and drink
again we must; water for washing; some
curious old half-wooden shoes to replace
our heavy boots; and such an aftensmad
or supper was never before piled up before
me partaken of; groed or stirabout
enough for the saeters pigs; cream by
the gallon; butter by the hundred weight:
milk by the barrel; great wooden bowls
of jOrdbaert or strawberries; coffee and
black bread and bacon; while we were
piled ceaselesslY with importunate com
mands to eat and never stop eating and
beset with mournful reproofs because we
could not eat it all.
The saeter house or cabin itself was
rudely constructed of pine logs, though
comfortable enough for the pur-
pose required. Its roof was Of pine beams
sheathed with birch bark in many layers.
and this overlaid by turf and sod In the
latter several species of mountain BRAN
bles and wild flowers were growing lux
uriously. There were two large rooms.
perhaps twenty feet il length and nearly
as wide, and against the whole of one side