232 
BORGAFIORD. 
be acceded to, for to have done otherwise would 
have been considered a want of respect on the 
part of the host to his guest. Truly gratifying 
was it to observe how much affectionate attention 
was paid by the younger part of this family to 
the aged parents of Madame Stephensen, whose 
father, formerly a sysselman, although eighty 
years old, still enjoyed the perfect use of his 
faculties. Extreme age had deprived the mother 
of sight, but she received from her children every 
possible mark of kindness that duty or affection 
could dictate, and they devoted a great portion 
of their time to bearing her company in her 
room, and alleviating, by their conversation, her 
afflictions and infirmities. After dinner I visited 
the Tatsroed’s gardens, which are carefulty fenced 
round by a high turf wall, so as to be, in some 
measure, protected from the excessive cold of the 
climate; a precaution that seems to avail but 
little, for, although in the one adjoining the house, 
which was laid out in a number of beds, infinite 
pains had been taken to raise a crop of lettuces, 
turnips, and potatoes, they all looked in a mi¬ 
serably starved state, and not one came to per¬ 
fection. Another garden, nearly opposite to the 
house, was also furnished with vegetables, but 
did not wear a more promising aspect. The 
ground immediately in front of the Tatsroed’s 
dwelling, though producing a good herbage, is 
