Omaha daily bee., 1893-10-29
TAKING A PEEP AT NORWAY
Marvellous Coast Scenery with a Perspective
Of Glacier Capped Heights.
ToRRlD HsU OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Sailing Past Grewsome Islands and Through
Mighty Fiords-on to the Northernmost
city OF Europe, with Its squatty
Natives and stencil of Fish.

hlbHUff NFdNNf aSNSf u a1fs
LONDON, Oct. g. Correspondence OF The
BEE.l-At the outset Of these brief sketches
of Norwegian scenes and folk, there is n
strong and Irresistible impulse upon me to
make the sort Of confession few travellers In
foreign lands are very willing to do. l have
no Morse blood In my veins. l am not a
Norse scholar. | have not had the time to
even casually read the scant literature OF
travel in Norway. never possessed n guide
book to that country. l have acquired only
O few hundred words and a few score SEN
fences ,of the Norwegian language, and
those compulsorily through temporary ext
gency; and my wanderings in this land OF
wondrous sterility and marvellous fertility,
OF dreadful heights and awful depths, of
savage grandeur and sunniest hooks, have
only comprised three short runaway trips
from the British side of the North sea.
Yet 80 much can be seen in so little time
In Norway; its scenic wonders are so i'm
pressiveiy and startlingly masset; its gov
ernment and social system are SO plain and
simple to the stranger; and above all, its
people are so responsive, hospitablc ana kind,
and SO like a good book set open before your
eyes for reading; that out Of the little OPP
portunity l have had for observation and
association, when look back TO the stern
north land and its crags, valleys and homes,
there is such a sense of panoramic complete
ness Of sight, scene and feeling, the task of
reminiscence has in it something like the
lender pleasure of telling about olden scenes
and friends.
Majestic Mountains Beside Thunderous Sea.
This is no doubt true for two reasons. One
Is that Norway's scenery is as tremendous,
II that word may be used as that of Switzer-
land, being vaster in extent and infinitely
more varied. When you look upon snow
capped mountains above the clouds, a few
thousand feet of altitude more or less, in
particular instances, are almost incompre-
hensible to sight or mind; and nearly all OF
these majestic presentments of inert nature
In Norway have that added powerfully weird
fascination Of Immediate contiguity with a
herco and thunderous sea. Indeed, l am not
sure but it would bs a true statement that,
considering the many often soundless tiords
piercing her ontire western coast almost to
the Swedish boundary as arms of the sea,
which they truly are, there is no portion of
Norway's measureless and transcendent
scenic glories which is not intensified in
charm and sublimity by this peculiar marine
influence and effect. Because Of this, In
whatever land you may have stood in awe
DcIOro UNe upllI Geu, rdRReu TlUS Ol our RoOu
old globe, these Norway mighty heights and
chasms remain clearest ,sharpest and longest
In the ~ever-changing photographs Of the
travellers memory.
Pleasing characteristic of tho People.
The other reason is q purely ethical one.
You cannot be among the people of Norway,
know them never so little, and leave them
without having gained that most blessed of
all consciousness to the traveller of having
come upon a place in the universal human
allotment which is sturdy, genuine and true.
There is a directness without ~affront, q
simplicity without ignorance, a sturdiness
without niggardliness, an honesty without
assumption, a geniality without effusIveness,
= hospitality without trucking and a plety
without pretense, about these folk, minute,
specific and universal. Your liking for them
grows with every new experience. In the
Latin countries the sunshine of entrance
daZzleS you with anticipation ever fading to
the darkest shadows of insincerity. In
Norway the greeting is as quiet as the
silences of its land-locked flords; but every
successive experience is as lightful and as
suring as each new scene from the strong
stone ways leading to her glowing upland
dalen. And so your heart takes root where
your feet have trod.
My first visit to Norway was made from
Hull to Bergen and thence on a Norwegian
soaohAAE kSohAAN 80 '' "a sAC Aoit
along the wondrous coast to Vadso. The
next gave me time for interior wanderings
in the.Bergen and Hamburger districts; and
the last afforded opportunity for knowing
the scenes and people roundabout
Throndhjem; while some considerable land
journeys were made toward The Osterdal
from the north and into the Hallipgdal from
the west. When the coast tour was made
had nc intention OF ever seeing Norway
again and every islet, crag, ford, town and
landing was an object OF eager interest.
am not sure but this method of visiting Nor
way has superior advantages TO the traveller
whose time is limited, as his diversity oil
observation is extraordinary; while at the
same time he is practically at ease within
Dr. upon, his floating inn.
Many EN- lish-speaking Tourists.
In the first place, you are certain of mos
Intelligent and interesting company. Nearl,
all the officers of these coast steamers speal
English, and q more kind-hearted, loqua
cious and almost benevolent set Of sea-far
Ing men is not TO be found. You are con
stant!y acreeably surprised by the pleasant
character of your fellow-passengers. Englisl
"outcrs" are predominant, and these are
the very cream of the English people-hard
worked editors on a brief vacation, sensible
quiet fellows who doze and dream and bean
MS though the slight surcease from the bick
erings Grub Lane were all but an earthl,
heaven bevIes of splendid, pcachy English
girls fresh from some seminary and accom-
panied By teachers not n bit ashamed TO b.
gay and young again.; grave naturalist
broadening their vision from the gullies o
Hampstead Heath and the hollows of Ep
ping Forest; actors and their wives who ar
Tarying the usual run over to Paris TO a larl
among the dalen and iords, and genuine Lon
Ion actors and actresses are among tn
~inest-minded folk you will meet in any jour
neyings; wise old and young biologists, who
instead of forming tho hard human STRAIT
Fou would imagine, are the simplest, sum
est and most sympathetic of men substau
hal Americans who care to SEQ something O
The world outside of New York, London an
Paris, TO whom, bless them for their quic
lmpressiyeness, everything is "Wonderful-
wonderful - OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES countr
%rurates, Highland free kirk ministers, rub
pund-faced Catholic ~clerics, all the best @
friends in these picturesque waters, an
vieing with each other in those true an
good human amenities which their walled-i
Christian pulpits forbid.
Then there are real and make-believ
artists, the genuines ones working earnestl
At outlines which are put modestly away 1
their portfolios, the Others telling you a
about what wonderful work they will hay
when they get time TO fill them I'M" ami
teur photographers with wsinkled brow
and faces of importance and WEAKNESS
Bchoolmastels from America and Englan
bound TO work OFF inusty epochs of histor
upon the polite If not always enthralle