Morris tribune., 1894-08-01
A LETTER
From the "Land of the
Midnight Sun"
CHR1sr1AN1A. Norway, July u, !,

1
Ed. TRIBUNE:
In order to fulfill my promise oyol
and also for the benefit of friends
who would like to hear from me anC
my party, | will write you few lines
about our travels to this, my native
country and Land of the Midnigh
Sun" | shall not dwell upon the
journey from home to England, be
cause it is now like a common high
way, so much travelled and therefore
well known and described. Liver.
pool is worth seeing, and as we were
there for three days, the time was
made as useful as possible in visiting
places of interest, for instance, the
public parks of which there are sew
eral. ST. Georges Hall is a grand
building or Opera House, where we
heard some fine music, and visited
the Museum and Art Gallery, places
of great interest; where a large col
lection of everything imaginable be
longing to both land and sea can be
seen, Haying had just commenced
when we crossed England and the
grain and everything else was look
ing fine. 1t is a very interesting
country to travel in. They run the
trains at very high speed, but give
me America for accommodations and
comfort while on the train. Hull
don't lock very much changed since l
was there last, some thirty-fve years
ago. We had a very fine voyage all
the way through, hardly any rough
sea, to speak of, and arrived at the
city Of Stavanger shortly before sun
rise at one o'clock a. m. on the 21st of
June. To jump on shore and once
more tread upon the soil of my dear
native country, was but a moments
work, and our short stay there was
made as profitable as possible by Wis
ting places Of interest, Of which
large Cathedral built in the eleventh
century is the most prominent.
From here to Grimstad, our destina-
ton, the trip was made part by rail
and part by steamboat. Here we.
took much needed rest Of a couple
Of weeks, and spent the time in boat
ing and visiting the neighboriDg
country; [ also visited anew an an
Gent stone church with the figures
800 cut in the rock archway over the
main entrance, which was the year
Of its erection. From there to the
city of Arendal- my birth PLACES
some fine farms and quite a pictur-
9sque trip. The city is one of Nor
ways first places in regard to miner
al, lumber and maritime commerce;
1t has undergone two large and very
destructive fires since I left 80 years
ago, and has been laid out and re-
built in such a different way and
style, that it was only by close obser-
7ation that | was enabled to locate
jhe places that once were SO dear and |
we'll known to me, this was also the |
case with regard to the people, for
after whole days walk around the
own failed to meet a single person
whom l could greet as an old ac-
luaintance, and as a consequence a |
certain Rip Van Wrinkle feeling stole
oyer me, and our stay there was
shortened to couple Of days, when |
We took the steamer eastward to |
Laurvig, another place Of considera-
DIE size and Importance, particularly |
loted for large grove of beech |
wood, variety not commonly found |
n Norway. The grove has been re-
served as public park and has been
lnder government protection for
Years.. We took a walk up there and |
vas much struck by its grandeur and
beauty. From there we took the
rain to Christiania, passing through
some very fine farming country and
titles of which Drammen is the most
and it being the birth
,lace of my wife naturally found it
more SO. The city of Christiania de-
eryes all the credit that is given it
or its fine location, stylish buildings,
cleanliness and fine public places of
II kinds. The Storthing (Parlia-
nenD being in session we paid it a
'isit and heard a debate in regard to
. proposed extension of the railway
ystem, which is here built and oper-
ted by the government. The Kings
University and the Muse
I'm with its fine art gallery are places
worth seeing. The hotel acoommoda-
ions are excellent, and there is more
If them here than I have seen at any
'ther place, the fare is first class and
charges moderate, but in one thing
hey differ most noticeably from ours,
heir offices are generally kept on the
second floor and are often hard to
ind; but on the other hand no sa=
oons or other noisy places are kept
n first class house, and the sale Of /
inI1nr is rnstr.ctnd Il [