The silver state news. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1907-1909, 1907-10-03
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
Call 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
conspicuous place. When they go visit
ing for a few weeks, bolts and bars are
slid into place, and then out goes the
key. If the house is shut up for an eli
tire season or a full year., the gayly
swinging door key says Not at home"
to passersby.
There is no kicking your heels on the
doormat in Sweden while the bell or
knocker awakes the echoes in an emp
ty house. Agents, peddlers, friends
and relatives all know this message OF
the door key and seeing it cut 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 it in
at 5. l don't wish to see any one for a
few hours"
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-
turf of their man while the debtor sat
or the other side of the locked door
and chuckled. There have beer in
stances where a 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 a
creditor a entered a house in which
he supposes the owner to be hiding on
~ to find it vacant and to be caught by
the irate master, arrested and made to
pay a 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, bsat also putting the
door key at tho disposal Of oil who
pass, are not discovered at first glance,
and they are reafy very much in the
minority, for Sweden is pre-eminently
an honest land. In and around about
Stockholm there is very little need of
policemen or strong boxes, for every
man, however low down in the socia!
scale, seems to have due respect for
another's property.
AIfhnfUh N fav- ~ thn e,r,{
cious, or the foreigners who have not
been brought up 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 holy men, or
priests to travel through Swedish vii
"rtos c'oilhiS " ltdNt tlltiI DItStsa liz
on the households of the neighborhood.
These visits were looked forward to
with eagerness by the pious Swedes.
and Ii was considered an act of gross
est ~discourtesy to bar the door, for
whatever reason, against a holy man.
Consequently If a family left home the
key vas always put out against the ar
rival M thu nriacf Mat anI Ir;,I-
were left, and should the holy man
stop at a vacant house he entered, re-
freshed himself, left his blessing In the
form of a candle or a bottle Of holy
water or a bit of consecrated green and
passed. Thus the custom originated,
and, although these quaint villages
have become towns and travelling
priests have passed away and the in
hux of other nations has modernized
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 IL 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
owner has stepped across to the store
and will return any minute makes
tampering with property risky bust.
ness.
These facts, together with the big
N that Swedes are one of the most
honest people on the face of the globe.
make a custom safe there which would
70 . ~foolharay tempting Of misfortune