The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-10-27

line drawn upon the map from Puenos Ayres to the North Cape would represent good many thousand miles even though 1t were extended as the crow flies. and along such a line In it's entirety have l moved clipping the equator and cutting the Arctic circle, traversing the tropics and spanning the zones.
 So distinctly characteristic and so excessively varied are the features of the opposing sections that lie upon either side of the worlds great girdle that comparisons are impossible and the preponderanee Of excellence in feasible
 So sensitively is the paramount bal anced against the desideratum. and so intricately is the preeminent inter woven with the counterpoise that any attempt at preferment is fraught with folly and provocative of failure Dove eyed sisnoritas arc enthralling, but when their glorious orbs are at one moment almost deliquescent with passion and at another burn with the glow of q jealousy that Is prone to do murder, they are not to be adcred: a gorgeous flora that hewilders and intoxicates Is entrancing and the feathered denizens of the air whose plumage approaches the brilliancy of flame cause us to marvel but when we learn that those flowers are without fragrance and those birds void of song we sense keen 1y the pang of disappointment.
 On the other hand, we remember that At is only for the season that delectable s1ountains charm us with their enrobe- 5lent of purple and violet and amber, that only when released from letter ment by the wand of the summer queen do the laughing foamings of the waterfall woo and the Hitting measures
 I the meandering brook soothe us; that only in spring tide does the carol of mating songsters delight the ear end only for the nonce does the fra Erance of bloom and bud satiate tho sense.
 Forest and palace, jungle and cathe- dral fjord and mosque, desert and art gallery possess their respective charms md individual merit that defy con trasting and render comparison odious
 Denuded or Charm
 The travelling public has in a meas rre wearied of central Europe. repeat cd visits to the mountains of Switzer- land engender ennui and the beaten paths are denuded of charm or interest
 As a consequence relief from monot- cny is sought in less familiar fields and the tourists are annually nocking to Norway and Sweden. While the Alps unquestionably possess many points f.T pared to deny that taken as q whole Scandinavia surpasses In grandeur and scenic beauty the land of Tell and Law ater Then again. the very isolation of the region weaves a spell as indescrlb- able as it Is irresistible. The loneliness of the placid fJord, tho occult music of excluded cataract that has for centuries fallen only upon the ear of troll and viking and the strange wild beauty of sequestered gaard are to the ina gina ton what spice is to tho palate and in- Spire romance with a thirst that Is in- eatiable There Is grandeur, there Is inspiration in even such a solemn. in animate, ponderous object as the North Cape. A beauty, grandeur and inspira- ton that Is growingly commanding ihe attention and homage of the cul- tured and travel-loving public. The great Thoreau was such a lover Of nature that he sensed beauty in ashes end immortality in the pine tree, and how he would have thrilled with de- '1ight had he been brought Into prox- 3mity with that single, ponderous jut- ting rock that marks as it were the Jumping off place of the world. the out post of civilization. the lonely sentinel of the universe, the last link that binds fhe continent to the beyond.
 The Two Routes
 There are two great routes through Norway followed by the tourist on his est and most frequented Is known as the Telemarken route. The other is the Bergen route and Is now being more generally followed.
 Telemarken is picturesque in the ex- treme It represents the ancient civili- Eatlon of the land and some of the Quaintest oldest and most character fstic churches of early Christianity are preserved and noted in this district Here also are seen the celebrated Tele- marken cattle, every one of which bears a broad white stripe down the entire length of its back The peasants of this region are most interesting in costume and manners. They are famil- far with the wild, original songs of Scandinavia and render them in pecu- ,iarly characteristic style accompa nied by vlolins the strings of which are of finely drawn metal.
 In taking this route one leaves Chris tiania by rail and thus proceeds as far as SSien tpronouneed Shien), whence he travels by water as far as Dahlen. The fjords and lakes constituting thls water route were not originally con nected, but they have recently been ooined together by a canal in the .coursing of which one experiences all