18833 In Norway 



dance of good milk, butter, cream, and cheese — 

 Gammelost, a bitter goat's-cheese of strong odor 

 being prevalent. Best of all Norwegian dishes, "Grddog 

 however, is the Rodgrdd (red grits) of barley or ™^" 

 oatmeal into which an abundance of berries (prefer- '^^^ 

 ably blueberries) has been stirred; treated with 

 solid clots of cream, this makes a delicious dish. 

 Fine trout and salmon, moreover, abound in all 

 Northern rivers. 



In every Norwegian village one is sure to find two 

 men of culture, usually with a clear and wholesome 

 outlook on the world. These are Praesten, the 

 pastor, and Skoiemesteren, the teacher. One of my 

 pleasantest recollections is that of a short stay at 

 the Praestegaard — parsonage — at Jamsgaard i Vinje, 

 midway in the uplands between Hardanger and 

 Christianiafjord. At Jamsgaard we were entertained 

 by Praesten, whose calm-eyed wife and charming 

 daughters gave us a brief inlook on cultured Norway. 



No European stock presents stronger human ma- a sturdy 

 terial than the Norwegian, and general familiarity '''^" 

 with the best that has been written in their own 

 tongue must be accounted a large factor in national 

 culture. For the Danish-Norwegian language itself 

 I have great respect. As resonant as the German, 

 it has escaped the general Teutonic clumsiness and 

 especially the senseless declension of article and ad- 

 jective which is such a burden on German syntax, 

 leading Darwin to speak of it as "ver'dammt," — 

 accent on the first syllable, all pronounced in true 

 English style! 



While in Skjaeggedal — "Shaggy-dale" — I met in 

 a young Norseman born in that wonderful wilder- ^ham^^ai 

 ness of water and rocks. Once he had lived for a 



C 255 3 



