The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-01-14

IA FpAiA vi ANo ouhdVAA thaN
temps you to trlfe with your thin over
coat or to leave your customary furs
behind. The heating Of your house de-
ponds upon the judgment OF no ill-bal-
unced Hummelshine,. but is maintained
by unvarylng means ut q pitch as
changeless. And above all. every build
ing Is put together with q special view
TO warmth and tightness. The other
day saw, In one OF the suburbs, pref
ty little wooden villa entirely sheathed,
on Its wlndward side, in neatly applied
tar-paper. Tho effect was naive. but
principle involved is that which makes
the season actually more comfortable
in Christlania than In London.
Remarkably few foreigners. however.
really know anything about the Norway
OF the ,NorwegIans. Summer tourists.
swarming like summer flies over the
face OF the land, carry away certain
geographical impressions; but for the
sHme reasons that would hold good In,
any other. country, they see nothing OF
the peoples life, or lack the key to the
Understanding of such odds and ends as
chance may expose. to their vision;
Herein behold, incidentally. the chief
reason why Ibsen's social Dramas" to
Norseman thoroughly expllcable,even
when not sympathetic, ring false and
strained on foreign ears. Intelligent
criticism of these essentially national
productions is. IN some aspects. quite
impossible. without acquaintance with
the peculiar conditions from which they
spring.
An open-minded foreigner must. I
think. find u special pleasure In sharing
the winter life of this remote little cap
ital. Its two strongest allurements,
perhaps. are ltstlntense localism and its
keen intellectual vitality. Norway is
uncompromislngly non-cosmopolitan. II
she progresses. she progresses Norskly,
not in the wake of strangers and Phil
Istines; and she feels. meantime. but
the mlldest curiosity as to what stran-
gers and Philistines may be thinking of
her. SO intense aseIt-satisfaction must
have bred colossal dizziness, but for the
leaven Of the following graces: Society
Is small and centercd In the capital;
the standard OF general intellectual de-
relopment Is high: the upper stratum
Of Intellectual commonalty contains
many men and women Of remarkable
attuinments; and soaring over uii.are a
few true genluses, like Bjornson, whose
electric flashes now and again project
enllvening thrills through the entire
body-social. setting hot young blood
atlame and startling phlegmatic old
heads into healthful action. Nothing
staSnant can count on peace and safe
Is. Some adventurous Pegasus Is for
ever changing, In his thoroughly Norsk
way. at some hoary condition or. preju-
dice, and dynamic ideas spring up. like
mushrooms, in the night. to, be, brought.
! in with the newspapers at BREAKFAST:
and there wrestled over with single
hearted intensity. 1s 'fef'
The credit of the almighty dollar
stands at nought, or is recognized, rath;;
er, only In the circle OF the prosperous
trades families. Money bears no rela-
ton whatever to social standing, and
the richest man in the town openly rates
as the chief privilege OF his, wealth the
! ability that 1t gives him to make his
house a center OF learning and to en-
| terrain certain rusty, dusty, university
| professors, whose yearly incomes would
| hardly keep his horses for month. AS
would be supposed. this ignoring OF Nm
unciat circumstances acts Immediately
on the mental life Of the city. Because
| Of 1t, society In general gets the worth
Of every man or woman's brains and
talents. Nothing Is sacrificed to extcr-
nails. Hospitality ilourishes untram-
melled by ambition OF display, and such
noble liberty of plain living prevails as
now that our American Cambridge OF
Nifty years ago has faded into a mem
Dry.
Well. indeed, 1t Is for those OF smaller
purse that the liberty of plain living
does eS!st-that the spirit OF hospitality
does eatrank the flsh-nots of Egypt; for
the true Norsk table; when expanded
TO Its preferred dimensions, Is one 70
staSSer the resources of ordinary NOR
tails. ! recently went to ny 10 means
unusual sort OF dlnner-party. given by
wealthy political man, where twen,T-
three courses composed the menu, Re-
training from n statement of the num-
Der OF wines accompanying this feast,
let me offer for contemplation the fact
that services thirtsen and, fifteen, each
or heavy meat, were divorced by
course fonrtecn) n rich plum pudding
with 4 sweet sauce. Dinner beuan MT
O'Clock; ting ladies' left the tablc
little before S. At nine the men reJoIn-
ed Them for talk, music, and cards;
and at1l the dlnlng-room doors again
opened TO reveal supper-tablc laden
with every cold dellcaSy, from ~ bird 20
caVlarc sandwich. calculated 10 temp,
aad restore fa!nting humanity.
slippers pure AMI simple ere. 70. he
sure, 4 frequent :1tm OF entertainment;
but even they are divided into two Sec
tons. After reviewing In succession NIL