The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-12
AN HONEST PEOPLE.
Things that Strike a Traveller in Nor
 way

Things that Strike a Traveller in Nor | way.
 Even on the borders of Norway I be- gan to have evidences of the superiority of Scandinavian standards. At Copen- hagen I had an English bank note ex- l changed at the railway station. In the rush of the last moment did not mo- tice that the exchange was short, and I was well on my journey when I spoke of it to the train conductor, who sug- gested in the most natural way in the world that send word back to the rail- way station in Copenhagen.
 A few days later, after I had quite | forgotten the affair, I received letter | through the bank in Christiana, from | the station director in Copenhagen, stating that in making up the accounts of the day there had been noticed a mistake which they now took pleasure in correcting, and inclosed the amount 1 had claimed.
 | In other parts of Europe I mad ire | quently been victimized In railway sta tions in the matter of change, but iris was my first experience in having the mistakes acknowledged and money re- funded. Such surprises are worthy a chronicle.
 The other day an American lady trav- cling in Norway left 800 kronen be- hind as she left her hotel to start on q journey across the country. She had not missed the money, but at the first station she was met by a telegram. telling her to wait there until the 800 kronen, which had been sent after her, should arrive.
 Another instance of Norwegian hon esty, rather, trust born of honesty, has just been told me by lady under whose observation it came. She was travelling in a stage coach through country dis tricts. On the route the stage suddenly halted, while the driver descended and placed a pair of shoes by the roadside. Upon inquiry as to this unusual pro- ceeding, he replied that young girl living in that region had asked him to bring her a pair of new shoes from the town, and that he was leaving them there for her. When asked if he were not afraid that they might be stolen by some passerby, he replied. naively: "Oh nobody would take them; besides, the girl will come and get them in the evening""
 At certain place on this same coun- try roadside a box of cigars was nailed up against tree. Beside it was small To asa kho wayfarer was supposed to help himself, depositing the money in the little money box for the money in the little money box for the number he himself had counted and taken. With no automatic control. or push-the-bu button appliances it was the Norwegian conscience that served as the sole register.
 In Gaudsal where I have been stay ing, at a so-called sanatorium, one of the many Norwegian summer resorts, where fine air, and salubrious climate are the excuses of the name sanatori- um, there is a path leading up the mountain. At the top is little refresh ment stand, or storehouse.
 In lieu of dispenser of the cold meats and bottles of wine. which are conveniently ranged on a shelf, only price list of the food and drinks is nailed up conspicuously for reference. To the public conscience is entrusted the cash box whose contents are in creased approximately to the diminu- tion of supplies on the shelf
 It may conduct to the partial cOmpre- hension of this sanatorium trust com pany to note that this report is out of the way of tourist travel, and that the revenues are not increased by interna- tional patronage. From all my own ob- servations and experiences, I am led to suspect that the route to Utopia must be nOrtherly one, and leading directly through the land of the Midnight Sun.
 In view of all the good of these people which had both heard and seen, was quite prepared to learn that letter put into letter box without a stamp but with the money for the postage dropped in with it, was sure to be rightly stamped and posted by the postoffice man.
 This was often done in the country where I was staying. and I inquired of d NOTW SSldll llI6ilt1 II SUCH d ISLLGI Ill., variably reached its destination. Ger tainly," he replied. these country peo- pie never have such thing as a stamp. When they write letter, they simply put it In a letter box with their ten ore, and they know it will go. An. you should see our two old postmen in this valley; one is in the seventies and the other Is eighty. Thir faces are the very opponents of honesty. These poor old men have a lot to do in the summer time, with all the guests at the sanato- ria. They are so poorly paid, however, esat petition was sent to the govern ment to have their wages raised, but it was not granted and so I just gave them an additional allowance out of my own pocket"
 This man of heart and sympathy was Bjornsterne Bjornson, the great poet and dramatist of Norway, and the man who stands closer to his people than any other man in the land.-Louise Parks Richards in the Indianapolis News.
 ~a A s.s sx4 << sn-n x m