Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1913-08-20
MORSE CITIZENSHIP HIGH
DIR. PORTER TRAVELS IN DIFF
FERENT COUNTRIES
He Writes Interestingly of People,
Scenes, Customs Norway is
the Most Temperate

going up the west side of Ireland from
Queenstown to Derry, trip | shall al
ways remember for the poverty and
squalor, bibatiyeness and kindness of
its common people, and for its level
country, poor land, peat Dogs, rocks
and whitewashed novels, went over
into Scotland where ! spent twenty-five
days, visiting the Burns country. Ster-
Ing, Oban up in the Scottish highlands
Stats and Iona, where St. Columbia in
A: ID. 563, taught christianity. and
where forty Scottish kings are buried:
little rocky island where for a thous-
and years was the center Of Christian
learning and culture in Europe during
the dark ages and down to the time Of
the coyenanters. Their eleven DAYS Ia
Edinboro, beautiful city, but like
Glasgow, given to too much ale, beer
and porter. | suppose Glasgow ;s one
or the most besotted cities on earth.
On Saturday night, following the half
holiday, men and women by the hun.
dreds are seen staggering everywhere
IN the streets. In Edinburgh, down in
the Cowgate, il is not much better.
Quite large per cent of these people
IN the great British cities are under
sized, less than five feet tall. The ex-
PLANTATION would be, they were fed dur
ing their growing years too much beer
and ale and too little milk, oatmeal and
other foods that make bone and muscle.
They say family moving into London
Is extinct IN three generations. GIas-
Cow ia as drunken, or more SO than
London. But out in the smaller Scot
fish towns what difference. There
you lind splendid lot of men and wo-
men, tall and handsome and sober.
The United States consumes per capita
20 gallons of beer and l. As gallons dis
titled spirits; the United Kingdom, 81 4
gallons malt liquors and about one gal
Ion distilled liquors. English writer's
are saying that in the larger British
towns the common classes are degener-
ating and that they are declining in
everything that makes for high chara-
cter, simplicity of motive and exalted
principal In England and Wales it
was found that the birth rate was de-
creasing. In 1876 to so there we're 36
births per thousand Of the population,
and in 1907 only 26, and the fertility of
English wives was lower than that re-
corded in any European nation except
France.
But Scotland is a great country to
travel in. les history is most interest
ing. and its people still are full Of the
old covenanter spirit July l6, | book
ed at Gangemouth for Kristiaria. The
Nord Sea was smooth, and in three days
we landed In ChristiaEsand. | invited
two Norsemen who had kindly posted
me on life in Norway to have some cof-
fee in nice "restauration'' the hour
we stayed there. They asked il would
not prefer milk. OF course I would,
and we had two big tumblers each. and
nine Of those lovely rich cakes they
have, and the bill was az cents. That
stmaelk' was good rich cream and
worth in any American city more than
paid for all we had. But such cor
frast In the people as compared with
those of the British Isies | went on
up to Kristiania ard stayed a week,
and it is the same there, d good, we'll
built clean city. The men dress well
and comparatively few of the almost
quarter million are drunkards, there
are hardly any filthy, ragged children
to be seen, and the women are neatly
dressed, active, graceful, and have fine
clear compilations. | went over from
Kristiania to Bergen by rail, over that
most wonderful Alpine railway where
you who read this must surely go when
you visit Norge next year. We were
up a, 200 feet in one place and amid the
glaciers the sun shone so hot that we
suffered from the heat. We were in
tunnels much of the time and under
miles of snow sheds, I found Bergen
to be fine, clean city Of some SO, 900
and without slums, or very poor people
II one should Judge By appearance. The
Mortified College choir is touring Nor
way with great success but | cannot
hear them as they returned to Kristiania
for second concert after | came here.
When they we're landing in Kristiania
the choral societies of the city went to
the wharf. | was told, to greet them.
They sang two selections on the boat
and then the choral societies sang. My
informant said the singing was very
affecting and some shed tears There
are some nineteen ladies' and twenty
nine gentlemen pictured on the posters.
Trondhjem, July 81. | got here at
eleven last night, or last evening, for
IL was barely dark. They have had
long days up here. Some English hunt
ers on the boat carried black curtains
to use so they could sleep better. /
had lovely two day sail, second class
$500. with good board from Bergen to
Trondhjem, clean town of $4,000. |
have been up to the great cathedral
where they crowned the kings. They
are still working on the west transit.
They are forever building and repairing
most cathedrals.
We stopped at several fine, clean
cities coming up through the islaI.ds.
Much of the way we saw bare noun
tains of rock and IL little level places
by the water were little farms, and
cows and sheep grazing on the scanty
grass. Our boat goes to Hammerfast.
There is lot of shipping done here.
These are real nice people in Trondhjem.
1t is surprising how much milk they
use here, and such rich milk. The Nor
wegian woman takes a large pitcher
or pail to the milk store to buy milk
for the family. The Scot and English
woman too often takes pail to the
pub. for two quarts Of beer and sends
the child for a cents worth of whole
milk or skim milk. Norway only uses
five gallons of malt liquors and 81 of a
gallon of distilled spirits per capita;
about the same amount of alcohol that
Canada uses and about as little as any
nation. Norway and Sweden are rising
instead of degenersting and decaying.
Fifty years ago medical writers quoted
Magnus Huss as an authority on deler-
um tremens then terribly prevalent in
Scandinavia. The crown prince of
sweden in 1910 addressed Good Tenn
,iar convention and said That nation
which Is frat to free itself from the
INJURIOUS effects of alcohol win thereby