THE JOURNEY SOUTHWARD 595 



fill barren coast stretching ahead in the sunshine, I re- 

 aHzed to the full for the first time how near this land 

 and this people lay to my heart. If we had sent a single 

 gleam of sunlight over their lives, these three years had 

 not been wasted. 



"This Norway, this Norway . . 



It is dear to us, so dear. 

 And no people has a fairer land than this our homeland here. 



Oh, the shepherding in spring. 



When the birds begin to sing. 

 When the mountain-peak glitters and green grows the lea. 

 And the turbulent river sweeps brown to the sea ! . . . 



Whoso knows Norway must well understand 



How her sons can sufifer for such a land." 



One felt all the vitality and vigor throbbing in this 

 people, and saw as in a vision its great and rich future, 

 when all its prisoned forces shall be unfettered and set 

 free. 



Now one had returned to life, and it stretched before 

 one full of light and hope. Then came the evenings 

 when the sun sank far out behind the blue sea, and the 

 clear melancholy of autumn lay over the face of the wa- 

 ters. It was too beautiful to believe in. A feeling of 

 dread came over one ; but the silhouette of a woman's 

 form, standing out against the glow of the evening sky, 

 gave peace and security. 



So we passed from town to town, from fete to fete, 

 along the coast of Norway. It was on September 9th 

 that the Frain steamed up Christiania Fjord and met 



