OUR NEIGHBOURS 103 



But in spite of the depletion of the adult 

 population, there is a general air of prosperity 

 about the country. In this district first-class 

 roads are being made ; and as road- makers the 

 Norwegians are unequalled. Since we have 

 known the valley, several good houses and farm 

 buildings have been built. The people generally 

 are well housed and well clothed. The poorest 

 cottages have glass windows and boarded floors. 

 The wooden houses are cheap and excellent. 

 They are much drier than the badly built stone 

 and brick houses in which most of our people 

 in England live. For 200 you can build a 

 good farm-house with eight or ten rooms. The 

 danger of fire, so serious in towns, is not great 

 in the country. 



For clothes, the men wear chiefly a dark blue 

 home-spun, a sombre but serviceable garb. 

 Here the women still work in their traditional 

 dress a white shirt, scarlet bodice and dark 

 skirt a custom which is unhappily dying out 

 elsewhere. 



As a whole, these peasants are a kindly race. 

 They are certainly very gentle with their 

 animals. The sheep will eat out of your hand. 

 The cow will stand and let the stranger rub 



