Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-08-22
Weekly Herald, Vol. XVII. N. 15s.

them and pushing them out of the way
with contemptuous Indifference. The
| boat is owned by the government,
which runs 1t in connection with the
| state railway. The captain has big
red beard like the Vikings wore and
| has sailed to all ports of the United
States, from Bangor to Seattle. while
the mate once had a berth on a fruit
steamer running between Phiiadel-
| phia and the West Indies. They give
you one of the pretiest voyages you
can imagine. At times the boat will
push its way through current that
| is swift and strong. and then floats
TRANQUILITY into the tired water which
spreads out into large lake. as clear
and as smooth as a mirror. In which
the trees and clouds and mountains
al seem to be standing on their
heads.
Wherever there Is a spot of land
hat can be cultivated you are sure
to see a neat looking white frame
house and big red barn surrounded
by a number of smaller buildings.
At the railway station we saw new
eapers from the Mccormick factory
and new mowers from Walter A.
Woods, which shows the Norwegians
lre more progressive than the Danes.
The station agent. who was inclined
20 be grumpy and sarcastic said that
The farmers were so ambitious to
)wn American machinery that they
starved themselves to buy 1t. and
hen to crafty their pride left 1t on
he nluttnt,,t nj ba ufa fnr IaU
1t a time to advertise their extrava-
sance and make other farmers jeal-
>us He called us Amerikaner. and
said we were putting all sorts of false
notions into the heads of his innocent
sountrymen. who were running them
selves trying to be like us.
But this pessimism was only an af
fectation. He insisted upon my go
Ing into the Office of the station, and
there he showed me newspaper he
had received from son who Is liv-
ng at Brainard, Mimi. and seemed
surprised that | did not know him.
He seemed to think that his son was
lbout the whole thing in America,
and that we ought to be proud that
| member of his family had condescend-
| I'd to migrate. The newspaper con-
tained an account of some church
proceedings in which his son partici-
pated, and the proud father assured
me that he received a similar token
Of his sons Importance nearly every
| week
| We find Minnesota, Dakota and
Wisconsin papers everywhere, taken
3y people who have friends In the
| United States. and Dowies pernicious
| publications are on the tables of the
inns and readings rooms of every one
Of the railway stations There was
| copy in the cabin of the little steam
er They appear to be distributed
| sratuitously and are sent in large
! numbers.
| English Is spoken everywhere by
men, women and children. Many OF
he older people have been In the Unit
| I'd Stats, while the children have
learned It in the schools. where 1t Is
taught as regularly as geography and
arithmetic. No one needs an inter-
prefer in Norway He can find one
in five minutes wherever he may hap
pen to stop, and, furthermore. every
American traveller has the delightful
| VI utftlIB ltlloW
mn who are here on visits 1t seems
to regular habit for Norwegian
citizens of the United States to come
back home as soon as they can save
money enough to pay the expense of
The trip. The chief motive Is to Wis
it the old folks and tell the neighbors
what fine country lies across the
big water.
| Although agriculture Is the chief
industry In Norway. the arabic soil Is
found in comparatively narrow and
Isolated strips. where It has been
washed from the sides of the noun
sains that encircle the fjords and the
lakes. Large tracts fit for cultiva-
ton measured by our standard are un-
known.
The entire area of Norway Is in
the nelghborhood of $4,000 square
miles OF this Ga per cent is rocks
and bare mountains and permanent
snow and ice. Twenty-one per cent
Is standing timber. 4 per cent is bogs.
I per cent pasture while only about
3 per cent is arabic land Neyerthe-
less In spite of this small area there
are 146 600 farms by the latest census.
owned by 100000 different farmers.
Scarcely one-tenth of the land Is oc-
aupied bv tenants Unless 1t Is the
United States there Is no country in
which farming land is so generally
distributed as In Norway.
WILLIAM e. CURTIS.