Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-06-24
groUnd-this being the drying sea-

the most beautiful part of the coun-
try yet visited. Imagine being in a !
fine seven passenger touring car, on
a road as good as Water Street,
with snow capped mountains on one
side, the sea on the other, and flow
ers and fruit trees all in blossom.
1t was indeed very lovely. At Molde
it was still light as day when we
arrived at HIS p. m. Our trip
from Mode to Aandalsnes was cold
and rough but rather enjoyable. We
went from Mode to Ole on a large
and very comfortable motor boat,
and got an excellent view of Roms-
dal From Ole we journeyed to
Hexllesylt, through Sondmore and
Hjrundfjord The scenery through
here is claimed to be the finest in
Norway. 1t is here that the Eng
lish and German tourists do great
deal of mountain climbing. l wrote
to Ed Holway to try his luck. Ger
many sends thousands of tourists to
this country every year; the Kaiser
makes an annual trip here; the Eng
lish travellers come next in number,
then the Americans.
From Hexlesylt we made a short
Fjord trip to Merck, and Knuten,
and return, then through Nordfjord
we went to Visnes, one of the fin
est Fjord trips in the world, though
it was very cold.
While at Visnes we had a call
from Rev. Visnes, pastor of the Sy-
nod congregation at Hickson, N
D. where he has been for thirty
three years. This is his first visit
to his old home. He was Luther
graduate of rs. The older people
will remember him as the student
barber and shoemaker; in both of
which trades he was quite profci-
ent. He, like many other boys in
the early days, worked his way thru
college.
While going through the country
we took especial notice of the hors-
es and sheep; all very good look
ing and well fed. The horses are
treated as carefully as children and
they are fat and slick. We thought
the cattle were inferior. They are
small, about the size of our smallest
Jerseys, and it seemed to us that
the farmers did not pay enough at
tention to the grading of their
herds. The reason for raising this
kind of cow is that the larger breeds
could not climb among the rocks
One of the most important and
lucrative pursuits in many parts of
Norway is the picking of blue ber-
ries. From Aandalsness alone. they
ship 10000 kr.. worth, about $10,-
900. The children usually do the
gathering and the season is during
July and August. Not half of the
fruit can be gathered as it is so
thick.
We were told that large quaint
ties of granite are being shipped to
| Scotland, cut there, and sold for
Scotch stone. There are, certainly,
some beautiful varieties of rock.
The country is fast becoming a
prohibition place. Outside of the
large cities little or no drinking is
done. A very light beer can be pur-
chased in small towns, but no spir-
its of any kind. On every hand you
see the good templar buttons.
In the Aandalsness district, and
northwest of Allesund, fur bearing
animals are quite prolific-the pelts
are shipped to England. The game
laws are very strict; and the sea-
sons for catching various kinds of
| fish too, are well defined. Norway
has as many laws as the United
States but they mean something
here and are rigidly obeyed. Auto
mobiles run on schedule-so fast
no faster. Crime is almost unknown.
One may leave parcel or a satchel
on any country road and no one
will touch it unless to try to return
it. Doors are never locked. You
take what you want and pay for it
when you get ready. For instance,
stamps and postals lie around the
hotels. You use what you choose,
then tell the landlord what you
owe, and pay for it.
We have been very much inter-
ested in the matter of transporta-
ton here. On making inquiries we
learned that up to fifty years ago
there was no way to get about on
the Fjords except by row, or sail
boat but at that time the people of
each district Clipped in, so to speak,
and built a small steamer to ply
between Bergen and the Fjord on
which they lived. Now the district