The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-07-20
Another Letter From j. G.. McGrew.

laws. we simply pun OOWu tue ouau0s,
to darken the room all we can, and close
,ur ewes to sleep; otherwise, were we to
wait for night, we would get little or no
sleep.
W. left Christians, which is one of the
commercial cities of Norway, at 8
to Randsfjord. The railway winds its way
up the mountains, along the Rands Elv
and Randsfjord rivers. All along the way
we see some beautiful waterfalls; pass
some large pulp or paper manu-
featuring towns, and see many beautiful
farms wherever and whenever we see q
large enough spot to be called 9 farm.
Farms In this country consist of Q very
few acres; ten to twenty acre fields are
large farms. The farmers have mostly
grass, Q little oats or barley, and dairying
seems to be their principal way of making
money, next to their timber, which 10 the
largest interest. Their timber is pine,
only about six to ten inches in diameter,
aud Is used for wood pulp. They cut this
timber, mark each stick with their
private mark, like branding steers, and
"a it to the stream, put 1t in, and 1t is
soon carried down by the swift current to
the mills, where 1t Is caught and taken
care OF and accounted for.
We arrive at Rsndsfjord at 1880, and i'm
medialely take n steamer Tor Odnaes, over
Lake RandsfjOrd. This lax 10 about sew
euty miles long and q few miles wide, and
10 q most refreshing ride,i and 10 q nice
change from ocean to cars and then to
lake. We dine or board and enjoy the
boat ride until $3.50 when We arrive at
Odueas, the upper end Of the lake. We
see many hue, large houses all along the
shores of the lake, and some of the largest,
finest barns we lave ever seen, and several
Of these large barns to each house. These
are to house their hay In. We are old
they have horse racing on the Ice on the
lake 10 winter, as It freezes some three to
Ave feet thick. Exporting OF Ice from
Norway IL one OF their great industries.
We find one Of the peculiar customs Of
this country Is their din At all the
hotels, on boats, &C, they are table
d'hote, all served 10 courses OF some eight
to ten courses. The graudest Of these We
have sat down to WAS At the Grand Hotel,
At Christians. 1t was In the most beauti-
full and handsomely decorated dining
room OF any hotel We have ever been In.
orchestra Of ten pieces, and with each
course we have music No water to drink
10 to be had, except by the most persistent
efforts TO get 1t. Wine and beer are served
plentifully. The walters look At o In
disgust when you ask for water, q Ice
but We succeed In getting I The last
course II coffee; then cigars are handed
oil around aud candles lighted 10 candel-
abras to light our cigars. These We light
and sm0ke while at the table. That Ia,
the Norwegians do. We Americans do
not, as we are not willing TO adopt the
Norwegian customs this far. We try to
adopt theirs as near as we eau but we
decline the cigars.
We stayed at Odnaes all night, and at
8 O'Clock the next morning We commences
our fou days landau ride through the
mountains. which 10 said to be the finest
scenery in the world. With passengers
| In osoh laaAau ~ Cappfana ~o akaPf mi
with two little ponies to each landau,
ALI Of the horses are small ponies, com
| pared to our horses, but are c0mpactly
built and nicely formed animals, and
much prettier than ours. The laodaus
are made like our colonial carriages, and
are extremely comfortable to ride In,
They have . tongue to them, and instead
Of leather traces, wooden ones; hames
and collars made into one, and much
larger. and, l think, an improvement oveI
the ones we use.
As we drive along up the mountains WI
wagon roads. all made and kept up by thu
government. At every place where there
10 the slightest embankment, large rock
weighing several tons each are Placed
along, some three or four feet apart
These are for protection to the traveller
poles are alongside of the road. Each
pole 10 numbered; also, all along the road
are iron and stone crosses to indicate tn,
kilometers, or which Is with US the mile
or distances, . kilometer being i've
eighths Of our mile.
We stop for Inner at 2 p. N, at
beautifully located summer resort, q n
pass on over some most beautifl
scenery and arrive at Freydenluud Q
1850 for supper and to spend the night
This place 10 entirely surrounded by tn
mountains, some two Thousand feet high
After waiting patiently until II o'clocl
for Il to get dark, q no darkness sP
pearing, we pull down the blinds an,
soon close our eyes and imagine 1t
night. / wake up In the night day AMI
open my eyes to see IL there 10 any night
but nnd the asme daylight.
We are up for our second days drive
and as We pass on, more beautiful AMI
| mountains showing themselves palmer
and waterfall after waterfall 10 paused
We are never out of sight OF them, as vel
- some roaring cataract OF water, a. !
rushes madly down the mountains. w
are so charmed with what We zee tina
time passes swiftly by. and noon come
wegian funeral held in . yard, the cofil
all In black, the top covered with flowers
and Q candlesttck with Q candle in II
We come to our hotel for the night, ant
after supper attend Q wedding. l con
GtotuIat6 tuo RIooms auo We euJoy tuot
dancing, or celebration of their three days
wedding festivities. ] omit kissing tn,
bride, as my vile and daughter are will
me. We then retire for the night.
We start On our third days journey
and - we pass on the scenery gets graude
snd grander. All b telegraph poles ar
set ON the rock (no soil), and rock wall
about four feet square built around them
We see the suow all around US, but SOM
distance OF. 1t rains on Us come today
We pass over miles Of Dad blasted out o
the solid rock, some OF 1t overhanging tn,
road, and In places covered over will
heavy timbers for safety, to keep the rocI
waterfalls and more of them than we hsv
seen. We stop at the poorest hotel tonigh
we have yet visited. However, we onl.
stay one night, and are up at 2 o'clocl
breakfast, and have to drive ell day Sun
day, 30 as to get to our steamer Tor Nortl
Caps In time. It 10 raining - We start
but we are prepared for rain or snow
having our heavy mackintoshes and win
ter clothes on. We ascend the mountain
higher and higher today. The Wagon
road 10 splendid, although steep. We &c
closer and closer to the snow we have beel
seeing for several days, when soon "
come to the snow itsslfIPlenty Of I,
out and have q grand snow balling her
on the 23d day Of June. We enjoy It an
pass on. The scenery gets more q NOR
Interesting as We commence 70 descend
passing through large and long canyons
with the rsa ms OF water passing through
the solid roc over high precipices
and ell Of this within Q few feet Of W
Soon We arrive ct the most beautiful sum
msr resort hotel we have yet seen, 'Hots
M~aristusns." The scenery around 1t wa
elegant. From our rooms we could lool
down some four hundred feet to the rush
ing, roaring, bubbling and foaming waite
below Us, while Just above, only some w,
or three hundred feet, 10 the beautiful
snow. The only objection we have u
his place 10 that it In rather too cool.
We pass on again next day In our Ian
daus, and In Q thirty mile drive we de
scend some three or four thousand feet
10 one space OF i've miles We descends,
i,l60 feet. The wagon road this who'll
thirty miles is cut out OF solid rock. Al
had to be blasted out, aud In very man,
places the huge rock overhang the road
and nearly this whole distance Q smal
river has cut its way through the rock
and forms the most gigantic waterfall
and rapids we have yet seen. This scener!
Of Norway is grand. ! was 80 loyal to m!
own country ] could not believe they hsl
any grander mountain scenery than ours
but I must confess 1t far surpasses any
thing we have ever seen In our country
We now and then ses Q hut ar house Of
q little spur on the side Of O mountaiu
Wherever they can find or make q clea
spur OF q quarter Of an acre they call 1t
farm, where they raise q few potatoes or
little barley. They run o ing wire from
their hOuse up into q high mountain side