254 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



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3 a.m. If you have a boat to mend, now is 

 the time to do it. Do not forget to make as much 

 noise as possible — nails are cheap and a boat 

 requires a lot. 



" 4 a.m. is a good time for a dynamite explosion. 

 Sealers generally depart and arrive from the 

 northern hunting-grounds at this hour, and every 

 one who has a gun must fire it off. 



" 5 a.m. Start draining under a house. No 

 clever person in Finmark makes the drains until 

 after he has built the house, since you never know 

 where water will come from when the snows melt. 

 An iron crowbar is the most efficient weapon for 

 removing rocks, and this should be clanked on the 

 ground at intervals to prove that the workman 

 is busy. 



" 6 a.m. Amorous Herring-Gulls and talkative 

 Magpies tune up, whilst the constant " chuff -chuff " 

 of the motor-boats coming and going to sea herald 

 in another day. 



" Mem. Certain Norwegian maxims of service 

 to Norwegian servant girls — 



" ' All foreigners are mad, particularly English- 

 men.' 



" ' Be sure and give an Englishman decayed and 

 miserable items of clothing belonging to some one 

 else in return for his own " wash." ' 



" ' Always show in lots of visitors when the 

 guests have gone to bed.' 



" ' Start washing the room in the middle of the 

 day. If the guest is very busy sending important 

 telegrams, make it so unpleasant for him that he 

 will have to go out. If he paints pictures they 

 must be carefully dusted with a dirty dishcloth, 



