Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1905-07-26

Maino severity. The Gothenburg sys-
tom originated in Sweden, but it has
not greatly checked drunkenness. A
Swede. who lately described his coun-
try in a book sets it down that the
two weaknesses of the Swedish nation
al overwhelmingly anomalous in
people so canny and vivacious-are
tendency to drink and a trend toward
Drooding till brooding descends to pos
tive melancholy. In fact, the evil
of insanity has made its presence
abroad the land. The traveller marks,
among the other evidences Of expand
ing life over the country, the frequent
asylum In its melancholy magnitude.
Sweden has an old and proud nobil-
ity, handed on from the times of Gus
tayus. Oxenstiern, and Charles III.
The growth Of industrialsm IS giving
these wealth. They are building hand
some villas over the country and
laying out estates after the English
fashion. In their houses the foreign
visitor is surprised TO find collected
lilpAc oOohS III MS own anu obhC4
foreign tongues than there are in the
Swedish language itself.
-. And right here Is a point. The
Swede is strong at approaching litera-
ture. The Norwegian is stronger at
making it. They have Ibsen and
Bjornson and many another. The
whole Norwegian people are literary
some say the most literary people in
he world 1t is pointed out
that among the good Swede
aud Norwegian yeomen who
have emigrated TO America, the SweJe
is found 10 be a milkman. the Nor
wegian teaching a school.
In their native slopes 1t is the Nor
wegian who has the dreamy rangy
Imagination; the Swele who has the
nimble intelligence. The young daugh-
ter Of a Swedish family, a product of
one Of the colleges. will discuss Goethe
or George Eliot, or Kipling, or is will
ing to talk travel until her foreign
visitor hurries the conversation into
channels where he can navigate more
easily himself She can discourse on
many another topic that will dismay
him. The young Swedish girl of the
day is now pretty much the enamel
pated woman of Ibsen's ideal At
school no subject in philosophy, no
fact IN the actual life that the whole
world lives, is considered unmeet for
her study. Among us, as our world
lis organized, she would &c thought
sophisticated In a transcendental de-
gree. And yet those who know con-
temporary Swedish life say that such
a process of training has not spoiled
the Swedish woman or robbed her Of
feminine softness.
Across the national boundary,
emancipation has made no such strides.
The whole life of the people has re-
MANNED untouched by all this. Not
but that. in all his simplicity. the Nor
wegian is naughty and proud He has
a histor!-, too. AMI remembers his Vik-
ing fathers. They love to tell the
story of that one of Harald Haarfagr's
desceu Iants who never forgot that
royal blood was in his veins. IL fell
10 him, so the legend runs, to enter
tGin Bernadotte on his way across to
stockholm In his rustic ami simple
cottage the old Norsk set out his plate
anu served his simple yianGs The
party moved to the tables To one
The new king was m0ttoned, ana there
roo mis- accompanying ministers start
ed 90 seat themselves.
Beg pardon, gentlemen said their
hos With quiet dignity. This table
/ IS reserved for these Of royal blood. :"
And there he and his son sat down
with Bernadotte, the three of them
oloof in their grandeur.
And Norway has its nobility too. But
they dwell not yet in the pretty villas
of the Swedes. There is the difference
between the two peoples in a single
instance. The Norwegians still are
simple You read of the quiet dignity
with which they raised their new flag
he other Jay The ceremony lasted
eight minutes, ami the assembly dis
persed with bowed heads They deep
II felt the sClemnity of their act.
Adts bpO " ttS real norway. Iley
are simple, furious, childlike folk, it
would seem proud. easily imposed up
on, and liable to grow very angry at
the discovery of any imposition. Their
leaders hold now that such an imposi-
ion has already occurred at the hands
Of Sweden 1t is the source of all the
difficulty.
Be the actual bone of contention
what it may. there remains the in
evilable fact that the two peoples,
living such differep. lives, with such
opposite ways of thinking and pursu.
ling such interests, should come to a
difference Of opinion and split. Here
| IL Sweden growing rich and worldly.
Here is Norway, still rustic and in
senuous, perhaps a bit jealous of the
! increasingly knowing Swedes. And
how can you expect Paris and Plym.
onth TO dwell side by side in unan-
nifty,