36 A RIVER OF NORWAY 



of gross neglect. It must certainly be the case 

 that, in a country like this where the church 

 is only used once a month, and most of the 

 parishioners live many miles away, it should 

 play a less important part in their lives than 

 the church in an English village, but one would 

 at least expect the priest, who is always a cul- 

 tivated gentleman, to enjoin on the people a 

 better care for the graves of their dead. 



Lars 1 death will leave a sad blank in our lives 

 here. He was ever ready for and appreciative 

 of a little joke, and his age gave him a some- 

 what privileged position. Something of a by- 

 gone day still clung to him. He was ignorant 

 and uneducated, a peasant of the lowest class, 

 speaking a dialect un-Danish enough to satisfy 

 the most ardent Norwegian patriot ; but there 

 was a native courtesy in his manner which is 

 quite wanting in the younger men. 



Like many Norwegians he was brimful of 

 curiosity as to one's age, pursuits, and the cost 

 of one's fishing-tackle and belongings. I have 

 always carefully concealed the real amount of 

 Messrs. Hardy's account for a split cane rod, 

 and generally find that ten krone 1 passes as a 



1 Eighteen krone = 1. 



