The mirror., 1920-01-29

cStS. Dut the men neSltatcQ. ncy -WdnreQ
the money, but they loved their forests. And
they waited. Then said the buyers: Sell
us your common forests that are so far away
and of SO little use to you." And they of
fered very much money. But the canny
peasants said among themselves: eff our
forests can fetch that much, they are pro-
bably worth much more" So they waited
little longer. Meanwhile the buyers grew
wild with enthusiasm over the beautiful, un-
touched forests of Orsa. They came back to
the peasants with eagerness in their eyes and
persuasion in their voices. They offered
many, many millions and declared that no
one could ever offer more. And that was
true. The buyers had made it point to
get the forests from those stubborn peasants,
and they really paid well.
The forests had been common property.
The money derived from them became of
course, common property. The forest fund,
as it is called, belongs to every one who is a
resident within the borders of Orsa. It is
administered by parochial board.
The first thing that happened in Orsa
after it became the richest parish in the
world was that all its inhabitants were ex-
empted from taxes. All taxes, both to the
state and to the community, are paid out of
the forest fund. And every spring a big
sum of money is divided among the farmers
to buy seed with. Roads and bridges and
railroads have been built. Splendid school
houses have been erected all over the parish,
and the very best teachers are procured. 1t
is not difficult for Orsa to get good teachers,
for there they are paid little more than is
provided by the Swedish law.
Pretty soon all the country learned
about this community. In spite of the seed
money it did not attract farmers, for the
soil here is comparatively poor. But those
of "better" classes who are III position to
change their abode and would rather live in
lonely place than pay taxes-they came.
Thus there grew up little town around
the church by the lake, and now the place
cannot rightfully be termed lonely.
One can reach Orsa by three different
railroads. In summer comfortable little
steamers go up there, too. One hotel, far
famed for its table, and several inns are
ready to shelter the stranger.
The roads are excellent all through the
parish, that is, the regular village roads. If
one wishes to see the far-away hooks, per-
fectly unspoiled by modern invasion, one
must rough il" however. Then one finds
roads, or rather paths, over which no vehi-
Gle could possibly be pulled. The horses
back or ones own feet must then serve.
1t is only as one has travelled four or
five miles beyond the little town around the
church by the lake that the grand scenery
of Osra begins to reveal itself. Mountains
and forests, forests and mountains, and scores
of little gray villages strewn between. The
mountains are not wild and abrupt like those
of Switzerland and Norway or even the ex-
treme north of Sweden; although they are
high, they slope rather gently and give one
the impression of calm majesty and friendly
peace. The grey little houses of the villages
make one think of sheep that have cuddled
close together for fear of the wolves or
storm, each village frightened flock of
sheep.
This way of building is very fine
thing in winter, for thus there are only
short roads to keep clear from snow. In
deed,it always gives one sense of companion
ship and security except in one case: if a
house catches fire in such a village, the
chances for survival are very slight for any
of the houses.
The houses have no entrance hall or
vestibule. The door from outside leads
right into large room which serves as kit
chen, dining, living and bedroom. What
we first notice on entering is ahuge, open
fireplace, and on the, walls beside it are
few shelves holding various dishes In the
opposite corner stand one or two beds, ac-
cordingl to the size of the family. Although
these beds are 'big" as far as width is con-
cerned, they seem to be intended for short
people. 1t is quite certain that the goodly
sized men in this part of Sweden never
know what it is to stretch in bed. They
must surely stretch beyond it!
The inner room Of well-to-do house