Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-07-06
DOOR KEYS IN SWEDEN
Curious Custom Of Hanging Them
Outside the Doors.
HOUSES LOCKED, YET OPEN.

The Dangling Key Informs You the
Tenants Are Out, but Friends Who
.s Gall Are at Liberty to Unlock the
Door and Enter and Rest.
When the Swedes go calling, they
lock up and then hang the door key on
the bell or the doorknob or some other
conspicuous place. When they go visit
ing for q few weeks, bolts and bars are
slid into place, and then out goes the
key. II the house is shut up for an en-
i tire season or a full year, the gayly
swinging door key says Not at home''
to passersby.
y There Is no kicking your heels on the
doormat in Sweden while the bell or
knocker awakes the echoes in an emp.
y house. Agents, peddlers, friends
and relatives all know this message Of
the door key and seeing 1t out pass by.
AS can be readily imagined, this
strange custom has been put to good.
use in many instances when visitors
were not wanted. Instead Of telling
the maid to inform callers that Mrs.
Jones is not at home the mistress says.
to Jennie: Hang out the door key at 3
o'clock this afternoon and bring 1t In;
at 5. don't wish to see any one for a
few hours. 2
About the first of the month In GER
tain districts door keys swing to the
breezes In great numbers, and collect
.ors, knowing the custom and also Its
misuse, scratch their heads in perplex-
ity at this not at home signal.
Many amusing stories are told OF
creditors sitting down to await the re-
turn Of their man while the debtor sat
on the other side of the locked door
and chuckled. There have been In
stances where collector has taken
the key, unlocked the door and entered
the house to be met by the owner, who
calmly laughed over his ruse. Again
creditor has entered a house in which
he supposes the owner to be hiding on
" to End 1t vacant aud to be caught by
the irate master, arrested and made to
pay q fine, while the debtor got an ex-
tension Of time on his bill.
These illegitimate uses of this very
old custom OF not only leaving the
.latchstring out, but also utting the
door key at the disposal OF all who
pass, are not discovered at first glance
and they are really very much In the
minority, for Sweden is pre- eminently
1or
Stockholm there Is very little need Of
policemen or strong boxes, for every
man, however low down III the social
scale, seems to have due respect for
another's property.
Although a few of the more suspi.
cious, or the foreigners who have not
been brought Il. in this strange Gus
tom of leaving the door key out, may
lock up with bolts from the inside and
use another door for exit when they
leave home for an extended visit. the
old residents actually leave their homes
at the disposal Of any who may care to-
enter.
Friends who call and find the KEY
out feel at perfect liberty to unlock the
door, enter and rest a BIT before pass-
ing on. Strangers seldom misuse the
confidence.
The custom started ages ago when 1t
was the usual thing for ssholy men, or
priests to travel through Swedish viz
lagos, stopping to leave their blessing
on the households Of the neigh orhood.
These visits were looked forward to
with eagerness by the pious Swedes,
and 1t was considered an act OF gross
est discourtesy to bar the door, for.
Whateye reason, against d holy man.
Consequently if a family left home the
key was always put out against the ar
rival Of the priest. Meat and drink
We're left, and should the holy man
stop at q vacant house he entered, re-
freshed himself. left his blessing in the
form Of q candle or a bottle Of holy
water or bit Of consecrated green and
passed. Thus the custom originated,
and, although these quaint villages
have become towns aud travelling
priests hare passed ayyay and the 10.
fux OF other nations has mod rnized
Sweden and brought the evil OF theft
with 1t, the door keys still hang out as
evidence OF trust and open doored hos
| pitality.
A thief seldom takes down one OF
the keys and enters, for there ID the
uncertainty about the absence OF the
residents spoken OF to hold him back,
and the knowledge that an exposed
door key may merely mean that the
towner has stepped across to the store
and will return any minute makes
itampering with property risky busi-
ness.
These facts, together with the big
pne that Swedes ARE one OF the most
honest people on the face OF the globe,
Inakesa custom safe there which would
be q foolhardy tempting Of misfortune
b our land Of the free Los An
geies Times
| Found an Excuse.
One Easter q Methodist minister In