The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-21

] Dulll OF lOES, InlCkly covered with TAR
both on the inside and outside. which
accounts for its preservation. The in
terror consists of a naive and aisles,
with twelve columns, choir and a
| semi circular apSe. When the doors
are shut the interior is in almost total
! darkness, as light is admitted only
through tiny openings pierced through
the roof of the dome. The use of win
| dow glass was unknown in Norway at
the time of it's erection, and the service
| probably consisted solely of the mass,
chanted by candlelight, while the con-
gregation knelt devoutly in the dark
nave. Beside the entrance are two
runic inscriptions, carved in the logs in
beautiful lettering. One of them reads,
"Thoer wrote these lines on st. Olaf's
Fairs" and the other, This church
stands upon holy ground"
The foundations of all the ancient
| Norway buildings are of heavy stone.
some of them five or six feet thick.
The timbers of both the barns and
houses are of the full size of the tree
squared off. The roofs are of slate,
trimmed by hand, half or three quar-
tiers of an inch thick, and there are
| sometimes tiles of baked clay resem-
bling those of Spain and Italy. The
poor classes of cabins, especially those
that cling to the mountain sides, are
"a covering of boards and then a
layer of earth and sod a foot or
eighteen inches thick. At this time of
year they are usually covered with
beautiful flowers. 1t is really not good
form, but it is exceedingly picturesque
to have flower garden on top of your
house, and it adds so much to the at
tractiveness of the Norwegian land
scape.
You find the same flowers over here
that we have at home in the northern
part of the United States, only they
seem larger, fuller and more brilliant
in color. Botanists tell me that this
is actually true. and account for it by
the long days. The flower season is
short but luxuriant, and when they
have eighteen or twenty hours of sun
shine they ought to grow larger as well
as lovelier. The daisies, harebells, dan
delions, forget-me- coxcombs,
golden rod, bachelors buttons or rag
ged robins, hollyhocks and other old
fashioned garden flowers that you find
in New England may be seen here in
their greatest glory. The roses seem
to have thicker leaves and richer tints
the violets are of all colors, the lilacs
are of a deeper pink, the tint they call
old rose, and eXhale perfume stronger
than l have ever known. Snowballs,
syringas and other large shrubs make
the best of the short summer, but there
is nothing in all the flora that compares
to the buttercup. That humble but
beautiful denizen of the field and forest
grows double here, with a dozen or
| twenty instead of a few petals. 1t is
| as full as a peony. The meadows are
| crimson with clover and the air is load
| ed with it's fragrance. Wild roses climb
nimbly over the great stone fences, and
bluebells nestle in the shadows. Either
side of the road is lined with traunt
| flowers and wild strawberries.
Horticulture does not play a promi-
nent part among the agricultural in
dustries of Norway, but in every farm
and garden you find apples, pears,
| cherries, currants, gooseberries, rasp-
berries and other large and small
| fruits, which, like the flowers, have
| a more pronounced flavor and strong
er aroma than the same species culti-
| waited in milder climates. The cherries,
currants and gooseberries are particu-
| larly good and nowhere can you find
such delicious wild strawberries as are
served upon the tables of the hotels.
| At every meal we have no less than
three or four kinds of preserved fruits
| offered us, and the wild strawberries
| and cream are worth coming all the
| way to Norway for. The waiter does
not bring a stingy little jug with five
| teaspoonfuls of cream but a great
| quarts and let's you help yourself. They
| serve the strawberries in soup plates,
! so that those who like that sort of
thing-and l have no respect for man
who doesnt-can just wallow in the
| greatest of luxuries. Dean Swift must
have been in Norway when he said
Doubtless God might have made a
| better berry than the strawberry, but
| doubtless God never did"
Comparatively little modern machin-
| cry is used by the farmers. Here and
! there upon the larger farms you find
| an American mower or reaper or
| thrashing machine, but the greater
| part of the work upon the small farms
is done by women, and they use heavy
| and awkward home maid tools. On
| account of the necessity of practicing
economy, the low price of labor and
their isolated situation, farmhands in
| Norway are expected to do anything
that is necessary about the place, and
| the Norwegian farmer is a jack all
trades. He grinds his own rye, and
barley, shoes his own horse. makes his
own hoes and rakes, whites out the
handles during the long winter even
ings, and is usually able to replace
or repair both household and outdoor
utensils. In this respect the country
is a hundred years behind the age.
1t is common, too, for shoemakers,
tailors, cabinet-makers, chimney
sweepers, thinkers and other mechanics
to travel like Methodist ministers on
the frontier. These itinerants have a
regular circuit and carry stocks OF
goods as we'll as repair tools on their
| backs. They go from house to house,
and, being expected once in so often,
work is kept for them. If a pair of
boots needs mending they are laid aside
until the shoemaker comes; If there is
anything the matter with the clock,
| il the tinware in the kitchen leaks, If
| any of the china is broken or any other
article of household use cannot be
mended by the folks at home. 1t is laid
one side until the peddler comes
around. He is a journeyman in fact as
well as in theory, and receives his
board and lodging at whatever house
he happens to be at bedtime or when
the dinner bell rings.
Notwithstanding the emigration from
Norway, the farms in this part of the
country and in fact throughout the in
terror of the kingdom have been in
creasing in value, although husbandry
has been depressed by low prices, high
wages, high taxes and other causes of
complaint. This is not true in any
other part of Europe. The total valua-
ton of real estate throughout the en-