The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-08

Many of the first families of Penn l sylvania, Delaware and New Jersey trace their descent from these Scan l dinavians.
 Along about 1925 the Norwegian Quakers began to come to the United l States, and little later there was a great immigration of the Swedes and then of the Danes. We have today eleven hundred thousand of these people born in Scandinavia, and with their children they probably mum in every 20 living under the Ameri can flag. There are more Norwe gians In the United States by one hundred thousand than there are in this city of Kristiania, and we have more Swedes than has Stockholm by two hundred thousand.
 Politicians and F1ghters.
 These Scandinsvians are among the best of our cieizens. They are far l born in education and in mechanical and literary ability. We have no bet ter farmers; and as every one knows, | they take naturally to politics and have almost as much to do as the | Irish in governing our country. And, by tho way, the Scandinavians re- mind one of the Irish of whom 1t is written:
 Sure 'tis tho finest country of the finest nation
 Wid charmin' pisintry upon | fruitful sod,
 Eighth like divils for conciIiation, An hatin' each other for tho love of God"
 Just now the Scandinavians are at 1 peace, but they have gained strength | hIyf hntr |, | 1874 the Danes ruled the Norwe gians but when Napoleon was conquered. they lost out. and Norway joined l Sweden. Those two countries kept to- gether until 1905, when Norway split away and became independent, elect | ing the brother of the present King of Denmark as ruler.
 Norwa, Like Ths I Q tnltea 2 States.
 It is no wonder that the Norwe- gians feel at home In the United | States. Their country is much like our pine lands of Michigan and Wis consin. The farm houses are not col | lected into villages as they are in l France, Belgium and Germany. They stand out alone in the fields, and most of the buildings are of wood, l just as with us. The houses of the towns and cities are largely frame and the villas about Kristiania have 1 their counterparts in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Indeed the best resi- dence section here is not at all unlike the best streets of St. Paul. There are many houses with gardens about them and the frame cottage, with a multiplicity of gables, such as is common all over America, is every where in evidence. The chief differ ence Is in the roofs. Most of them are of shining tiles, usually red, but often black or yellow.
 | The store 6uildinRa n Kris ia are similar to ours as they were be- fore We began to erect the skyscrap- CTS. They arc of four. five or six stories and are built in much the same way. The stores look the same. except that they are smaller than in cities of the same size in the United | States, but their windows are well arranged and the merchants arc busi- | nesslilte.
 Indeed, if you could take an air plane ana drop down into Kristiania out of the darkness you might sup pose yourself in an American city. | The faces on the street would be Just about the same and you would not travel through a wilderness of whiskers and mustaches in minElin g with a crowd of these men. You would lind tho people big-boned and husky. and the women tall and most ly blue-eyed. fair haired, and I may say attractive. You would find Amer lean goods in stores, American tools on the farms and see that nearly all or the motorcars and motorcycles are or American make. Moreover you would meet more motor trucks out Tn tho country than in almost any other land of western Europe.
 From Holmenk oIlen.
 But come with mo to Holmenkoiler and sec with your own eyes the can ltal Of Norway. We can go there on an electric trolley, with a reel on the roof as big as a flour barrel It will lift us into the air higher above hristiania than the top of the Eiffel Lower Is above Paris and we shall rave the city and harbor spread out before us. Our way up Is past villas and patches of woods and we land in one of the chief pleasure resorts of the Scandinavians. It Is evening. The sun Is just setting and we have be- low us one of the fine city views of the world. I have looked down on the capitals of all the great nations recently stood on the Eiffel Tower and photographed Paris after the war. l have described Rio de Janiero and Its wonderful harbor from the Sugar-Loaf, a mighty rock that rises out of the sea facing the city, and have taken snap shots of Santiago de Chile, from Santa Lucia, the high bluff crowned with gardens and tree, that rises almost straight up in the midst of magnificent buildings en- circled by the silver-topped Andes. ] have looked down on Constantinople from the hills above Pera, upon Cairo with Its wilderness of mosques and other dorhed buildings from the Citadel, and last. but not least, upon our own national capital from the Washington monument. Each oi these cities has It's own beauty, but Kristiania compares favorably with all. It is at she end of mighty ford. which here Is studded with l green islands. and has many bays backed by forest-clad hills. The houses begin near the water. They rise out of the green, their white walls and roofs of red tile forming wonderful picture. We are so high we cannot hear a sound and the whole seems an emblem of peace h this noisy war-weeping continent.
 Tn. HoImenkoflen Q Leap. ... .-- ...
 Such is the view from Holmenkol- len In summer. The view in the win ter when everything Is covered with snow, Is far finer and the surround ings are then the gayest of all the homes Of Jack Frost. Holmenkollen
 Is where the skiing derby Is held This Is a great Olympic meet of snow-shoers and skiers to which sportsmen come not only from Nor
 way but all other parts of north
 Europe. The Holmenkollen leap is , made from ledge not far from the site of the view I have described. The man on his skies jumps from this
 ledge, high over the heads of the spectators who are gathered on the
 frozen lake and on the hill sides be- low and then glides down the slope The jump Is one of something like a
 hundred feet, and Is watched by about 10000 spectators who have seats in the grand stand put up on ench side of the course, or stand in
 1uhlch