NORWAY ITS PEOPLE AND CUSTOMS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3210, 12 October 1881, Page 4

NORWAY ITS PEOPLE AND CUSTOMS.

Church was over when we landed ; and in Norway, when church is over, Sunday is over for alt religious purposes. The remainder of the day is devoted not to work, but to rest or recreation. If anyone is on a -journey it is quite proper to travel on a Sunday. The people do not take off their best clothes or their national costumes, for the most part worn only on that day, but they meet at each other's houses, or take walks, or amuse themselves in a quiet, inoffensive manner, until the hour comes for separating., On the highways and byways you will moot lovers with arms intertwined, and wlispering sweet follies, just as in other countries ; for though so far north, and the land of snow and loud and long wintry blasts, yet all this fails to render tbem -unsusceptible to the mesmerism of bright eyes, and each in turn falls a victim to the influence of the tender passion. Only—their courtships are often slow and lengthened. It is not unusual, so it is said, for a youth to be wooing his bride-elect for ten or a dozen .yearß; so that, when the marriage finally takes place, great and prolonged are the rejoicings. This, is not marrying in haste to repent at leasure ; and though, no doubt, there are bad natures and evil tempers which render many a home les« happy than it might be, I fancy that divorce courts are as unknown as they are unneeded. For the most part married life is happy and united, and the crimes and cruelties that mar many a home in m"r« privileged lands would fiill the souls of »liesfair Northerners with astonishment.

I doubt if abetter first glimpse can be gained of a Norwegian town than that of Chrish'ans.ind It is so primitire, so ehnw terisfcic, so typical of the country, thnt, in •• moment England and all things English fall rrora you as a mantle that is loosened, ijnd vm feel voumelf at once on a forfi*" shore, clothed in a foreien garb. Across the North Sea England has followed you English people hare been around you ; the English tongue hus made itsel" heard in sounds more or less harsh, according to the speaker. But set foo f in Ohristiansand, and at once, as it were with a magician's wand, scenes, impression-, thoughts—all change. So it was this morning. No English town exists bearing the slightest resenv bianco to Christiansand. The day wahot and bright; the sun came out or went in as thick white clouds drove across n Bky of intensest, purest blue. This sky alone was enough to raise the most drooping spirits, if such there had been, to a point o>' exhilaration. The streets were wide, white, and clean, running at right angles with eac l * other. The houseß were all, or nearly all, built of wood ; only a new building, such as a bank, here and there standing out in the dignity of stone, fronted by oxydised railings looking like burnished silver j grand, but not half so interesting and picturesque to an Englishman as the less pretentious structures. And as the houses are nearly all of wood, it necessitates constant painting. Mo«t of them here were white, yellow, or blue-grey, now and then a glaring red standing out as a tribute to the gaudy taste of its owner. The houses, for the most part, were of two storeys, all more or less built after the same style, varying more in size than fashion. This produced a sameness of aspect that would probably soon become tedious, unless habifc grew into second nature, as alas! '* often does in things of more moment th«n the form of a house and the appearance of » street. Nevertheless, the general effect of Chrij'iansand, as it stood on that SunriV morning in the hot sunshine was one of extrpme brightness and lightness. Fresh clean, and airy, it seemed rather a mod or .toy town than a town de-tined for t orfMiP'ttioii, the daily lives, of men, wome and children. Many of the house*, no doubt are as old as the town itself, yet nearly all, in their fresh paint, looked but of yesterday. The windows were large and elab ■" ately set out. Fine curtains were displayed above and below, so that no one room seem"'*! to have more honour bestowed upon it thy another. From many of them beautiful plants grew and flourished and expanded " these natural hothouses ; exquisite roses and druoping fußO.hias and abundant geraniu :; arresting the eye, and raising one's envy -• for else where, in the open air, flowers nr»> not to he seen, much less bought. In some of the streets trees grow down on either aide, casting their shadows across the hot, white roadway, and relieving the painful glare. Most of the streets were as deserted as the city of 'be dead. A cannon might have been fired with eyes clo3ed, and have done no harm to a living soul. Quietness reigned pre-eminent. Here and there a head stretched from an open window, peering at the travellers through the blinds or amidst the roses, was all that could be seen of the 13,000 inhabitants. It was brightened by the sunshine, but on a wet day it would be difficult to conceive anything more melancholy than the streets of this quiet town.

Presently we came upon the park. H'»re we came upon a good deal of sounding brass in the shape of a military band, discoursing sweet sounds to a larao gathering of people It was our first experience of a Norweirwn crowd, and certainly by no m am an "n pleasant one. They were quiet and to a di'greo almost amounting to 'dull - < ' " >h vi.l il wilh the NorwegirM).* ■ *' n„ of the pushing . rfiue!i boisterous mirtv ' i' in i li <h mnlti in ji nt> a i > M 114 in me of their 1 1 1 111 me ni> is* use, md dent. 1 lit' ing 11 tind the n I hey know in ! hue m ■>• c «fn-e "i large pro-

,- :• !":. of the people tire inulinpd to Republic n idexs ; but they let well alone, an i nr<coiitfiit to honour the powers thiit. be. "')>. ks'vri'.te to the whole tenor of their -irewiis si ruck by a remark mucle by an inM j lli gent Norwegian, who seems to possess -ome standing in his country, as we were steaming one clay along the Sogneljord. 'It may be,' he said,' that we all have our opinions upon many subjects, but we are most of us agreed upon this point—that since we have a king we must treat bim as a king."

Here we first learned the lesson, confirmed by after experience, tbat once divested of their national costumes, the Norwegians for the most part, resemble the English in their dress —possessing Hip same bad taste, the same inability to wear and put on their garments. This remark applies, of course, to the humbler classes, such as would be found in England on a Sunday morning listening to a band of music. The girls, many of tbem servants of the town, were tawdry and draggle-tailed ; their head-gear, perched like beacons upon a rock, decorated with feathers and flowers, and ribbons in extravagant confusion, the most gorgeous colour and most startling combinations. The costumes of the country visible to-day were few and disappointing. The most remarkable were a group of men and women belonging to a mountainous district. The men walked about in huge trousers, which came up to their arm pits, and buttoned round their chests. The women to restore the balance of things, wore short petticoats, which amply displayed their heavy illBhaped limbs. Both men and women were awkward and ungainly in their movements, and from the low caste of their features, their hideous costumes, and stunted expression, they look the very quintessence of an aboriginal tribe—a striking exception to the ordinary type of Norwegian peasant. There is little in Christiania as distinctly Norwegian as Christiansand. The wide fashionable-looking streets, with the air of prosperity, are well paved and wonderfully clean. The large handsome houses are chiefly built of stone, for it ia now against the law to build them of wood within the town. Here, as in Christiansand, the windows are very large, so that you might as well live in a lantern as in some of the rooma. The shops, too, are large, and, as far as could be judged, quite as good as in any other town in Europe. Cats and dogs are

at a premium, the lattor especially, and it is against the law to take a sporting dog into the country ; a law hard to be understood. Shopkeepers expect you to take off your hat upon entering their place of business, nnd think it quite as great a favor to serve as to be patronised. Their manners are generally polite and civil; but a neglect to uncover the head, which may easily occur when pre-occupied by thought, will often lead I to-an abruptness and downright incivility that speedily bring you to a sense of your omission. The French have been considered the politest nation on the face of the globe, but the Norwegians are in advance of.them in this respect. Half their time is token up in bowing, which is carried to a most, inconvenient excess. If yovi meet themj twenty times in five minutes, twenty times you must acknowledge their salute, or be put down as a barbarian. As you treat them so, will they treat you. Politeness meets with its return, but I dpubt their understanding that persistent politeness will in time conquer the roughest exterior.—W, C. Wood, in The Argosy.