Home Life in Norway.

BY HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN.

It is a curious fact, which has been sufficiently commented upon, that only the Germanic nations have a distinct name for home, as a conception apart from the house which gives shelter. The Frenchman is chez lui (with himself), and the Italian in casu (in the house); but neither of these terms is in the least expressive of the home sentiment. It would, indeed, be a wonder if that sentiment existed in a people which lives so constantly in the open air and rarely resorts to the house except for shelter. But even among the Germanic nations I fancy there is none to whom home means more and in whom the home feeling is stronger than among the Norwegians. Way back into the dusk of heathendom stretches the notion of the sanctity of home. The house became invested with individuality to the successive generations who lived and died under its roof. It seemed, not an artificial combination of wood and brick and mortar, but a living, sentient thing, endowed with a soul and presenting a distinct physiognomy. With powerful, invisible arms it drew every scion of the family, wherever he might wander, back to the ancestral hearth, and the mere thought of home thrilled him with a strange, sad, delicious yearning. The least reminiscence had a potent, moving eloquence. The mere memory of a shabby barnyard, with pigeons on the roof and fowls scratching up a scanty living on the dunghill, had an unaccountable enchantment. The skies were bluer, the grass was greener, the flowers were more fragrant, and the smell of the new mown hay more ineffably sweet at home than anywhere else in the wide world.

The routine of life in a Norwegian home depends, of course, largely upon the social station which the family occupies. There are, properly speaking, but two social classes in Norway, the bourgeoisie and the peasantry. As there is no aristocracy and no hereditary privileges are recognized, the clergy, the army, and all officials of state are drawn from the two abovenamed classes, and never really rise out of them. A clergyman whose parents were peasants remains at heart a peasant in spite of his university culture; and his manner of speech, thought, and feeling will always bear the impress of his origin. Likewise a minister of state, whose father was a small merchant or a ship captain, will retain the sentiments of what in other lands is called the middle class, but which in Norway is really the upper class, because there is no recognized class above it. The most typical home, which most nearly represents the average condition of the people, is, therefore, a bourgeois house, whether the bourgeois in question be a well-to-do merchant or a rural official. As I happen to have the liveliest

recollections from a home of the latter kind, I shall choose my typical household from among those who are entitled to wear "the king's uniform."

I may strike an occasional note which is more individual than general; but in all essentials I am confident that my picture will not depart much from the aboriginal.

My grandfather, in whose house I spent the happiest years of my childhood, was a rural judge in the northwestern part of Norway. He was an old-fashioned man, of patriarchal habits and appearance, upright and God-fearing, of quiet manners and gentle speech. He left the management of his landed estate to his wife, who was a brilliant, energetic, and highly gifted woman, and something of a general. The family were roused at six o'clock in the summer and at seven o'clock in the winter, by the ringing of a big bell which was mounted on the gable of the storehouse. When the cook pulled the bell rope, standing on the stone steps, it was the general signal for the rising of every member of the household except guests, who were privileged to sleep on if they so chose. A cup of coffee and zwieback (kavringer) was served to the members of the family, and a rather substantial breakfast, consisting of coffee, bread and butter, and oatmeal porridge and milk, to servants and laborers. Then all were summoned into the sitting room, where my grandfather, seated at the big center table, read a chapter from the Bible, and then, kneeling, repeated the Lord's Prayer. The serv ants and field laborers, and all who happened to be sojourning under his roof, were expected to be present at this worship, though no pressure was exerted upon guests if they preferred to be absent.

About eight o'clock the real breakfast was served to the family, consisting of bread and butter, eggs, oatmeal, coffee, and occasionally fish. Thereupon each one betook himself to his or her avocation. My grandfather went to the office, which was in a separate building on the other side of the courtyard, and his wife went to the kitchen to weigh out the coffee, sugar, flour, and other provisions that were needed for the day, and to give orders to servants, tenants, and other laborers who were engaged in various tasks indoors or out of doors upon the estate. Usually there were grown-up granddaughters or other female relatives staying in the house, who took turns in assisting her in the management of the household, a week being allotted to each.

Dinner was served at one o'clock; and the number of people who daily sat down at that large, hospitable board would astonish an American housewifeor "house mother," as she is called in Norway. There are few well-to-do families which have not a herd of indigent relatives and dependents; and of this class my grandparents had rather more than the usual

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allotment. There were maiden aunts and cousins, of both sides of the house, who had come, perhaps, years ago, on a visit which had been extended indefinitely, until they had lapsed by degrees from the position of guests into that of regular retainers. There were male failures of various kinds, who, having found a snug berth, were reluctant to relinquish it and stayed on, on sufferance, and because no one had the heart to ask them to leave. If my recollection serves me right there were, all included, seldom less than eighteen to twenty diners at the family table, while in the servants' hall there might be as many more, varying, however, with the seasons. winter there were probably not more than half as many as in summer, during the seed time and the hay harvest.

In

The bill of fare was a trifle stereotyped, and fixed by household tradition for every day except Sunday. It was an invariable rule to have boiled salt beef on Thursday, and on Saturday salted herring and beer soup. During the season when game was abundant, reindeer steak, ptarmigan, mountain cock, capercailzie, hare stew, etc., gave an agreeable variety to our bill of fare. Fish, of all conceivable sorts, was too abundant to be appreciated; and I remember the time when servants, on being hired, stipulated that they were not to have salmon, fresh or smoked, more than three times a week. Now there is no need of such a stipulation, as Norwegian salmon is exported in ice to England, and brings good prices.

cause much was related there which was not for ears polite. But a mysterious fascination drew me thither, and many a night, when I had dutifully kissed my grandparents good night, I would steal on tiptoe down into the forbidden region and listen, spellbound, to the wonderful tales of trolls, "haunts," elves, and fairies. There Necken (the nixy) played his harp at the midnight hour under the cataract, and fulfilled the wishes of unhappy lovers; the Hulder with scarlet bodice and golden hair sat in the late glow of the setting sun, blowing her loor (Alpine horn) as she flitted through the forest, bewildering by her unearthly beauty the hapless swain who chanced to catch a glimpse of her wondrous countenance. lads were sung of the heroic deeds of the Norsemen in the olden time, and sometimes a wandering fiddler would come and play the Hardanger fiddle, and entertain the company with the raciest kind of parish gossip. They had no lamps or candles in the servants' hall, but a great fire of logs blazed and crackled upon the hearth, and burning pine knots were stuck into the crevices of the wall, casting a weird light upon the girls who sat spinning or carding wool, and the men who were carving spoons, boxes, or knifehandles.

Bal

The knowledge I acquired during these clandestine visits has, I venture to affirm. been of more use to me and had a greater influence upon my life than any learning I ever derived from books and so-called "polite conversation;" for it laid bare to me the very heart of the Norse people, and gave me a deep in

way meal called "afternoon bite" (Eftersvaely), of bread and butter, and at eight in the evening there was the regular supper, consisting of bread and butter, tea, cold dishes, and various relishes. I often marvel when I look back upon this regimen, and doubt whether I really can have disposed of so many meals without unpleasant consequences. But a country boy (and particularly a Norwegian one) has an ostrich stomach which can digest amazing quantities of food without inconvenience.

It is not to be inferred, however, that the Norwegian household's chief occupation consists in eating. In our family we had a pleasant habit of gathering in the twilight in the sitting room (about five o'clock, when the day's labor was at an end) and listening to stories. I had an insatiable appetite for stories, and my grandmother possessed the raconteur's talent in a high degree. She told of her own youth, when the world looked and behaved very differently from what it does now; and she had an inexhaustible fund of family anecdotes about her father, grandfather, and remoter ancestors. I confess, however, that all these eighteenth-century reminiscences, interesting though they were, had less charm to me than the popular tales and legends which at a later hour were recounted in the servants' hall. Unhappily, I was strictly forbidden to visit this delightful place, be

from which I had sprung -The Outlook.

Religious Training in Norway.

BY OLAUS DAHL.

THERE can be no doubt about the desire on the part of any state to give to its citizens the best possible education. In the United States the state feels the limitations of its rights in the sphere of education, so that, even with a feeling of the desirability on the part of many that children be given moral and religious instruction in our public schools, this element in education falls outside the functions of the state. This limitation is placed by our circumstances, and especially the great diversity of religious belief. These are matters of conscience with which the state cannot interfere.

views as of no serious consequence, as they were but extraneous opinions, while on the main principles of moral and ethical teaching there could be no disagreement.

Thus the requirements of the compulsory education law have until quite recently been the same for all. By the new law dissenters may be excused from religious instruction, wholly or in part, and need not attend the state schools at all, provided they conduct schools of their own answering to the requirements of the former. As a rule, however, the children of dissenters take part in the religious instruction, as the parents find no time to devote to this purpose.

Compulsory attendance at school is required between the ages of seven and fourteen. Even deafmutes come under this provision, and the state conducts special schools for them. Illiteracy is as a result an impossibility. The amount of time given to religious instruction is considerable. The instruction consists of Bible history, New Testament readings, and interpretation of the fundamental ethical and religious teachings of the Lutheran Church. Text-books accepted by the commissioners of education, and having the sanction of the king, must be used. There is thus a continual incentive to authors to prepare textbooks which shall have the sanction of the king.

Taking these two facts together, the amount of time devoted to religious instruction and the use of systematic text-books, we have, other things being equal, very good results. Formerly ill-trained teachers were met with, but, as a rule, now only the best trained are employed.

It might be interesting, but hardly fair, to compare the results of the religious instruction in the public schools of Norway with the results of the work in our Sunday schools. In the first place, the time devoted to religious instruction-some twelve hours a week-could not be fairly compared with the short one hour of our Sunday schools; and, in the second place, we must take into account the fact that the definite results of any study depend to a great extent on having systematic text-books.

The results, however, are not as unequal as the above comparison would seem to indicate. Perhaps the daily mingling of the study of the word of God with secular studies may decrease the earnestness and interest which we find in the case of many Sunday school pupils. Then the one hour on Sunday is not necessarily a true indicator of the amount of work done, and there may be pupils in our Sunday schools who are more familiar with the Scriptures than pupils of the same age in the public schools of Norway. Furthermore, the lesson helps are becoming more and more systematic, and in practical utility equal to the best text-books.

It is, of course, difficult to measure the influence of this system of education on the life of the people, and especially to indicate its direct results; but there is no doubt that its influence is very powerful.

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The Norwegian people are proverbially honest, peaceable, liberty-loving, and law-abiding-characteristics, we may say, of people who inhabit isolated mountain regions. But, while this may be true as a general statement, it has its great exceptions, and we may surely allow as much influence to the institutions under which a people lives as to the physical characteristics of the country which it inhabits.

No one of a country's institutions is more potent in its influence than the public schools. Because of the prominence of religious instruction in the schools of Norway its influence cannot well be overstated. The reverence taught for God brings in turn respect for all authority. The influence for good to the Church lies still nearer at hard. How much time and labor we lose in America in reclaiming those whose religious training has been neglected! By the system in vogue in Norway the child is prepared for a rational conception of his duties as a member of the church.

True, this training may not in all cases work conversion, or even conviction of the duties we owe to God; but the seed has been sown in the young heart, and it is the frequent experience of those who "come to themselves" in after years that the early instruction has borne fruit, though long delayed. "This,"

may be said, "is but a statement of the influence of all religious training; " but we must bear in mind that, in this respect as in all others, the influence is in proportion to the time and attention given to the instruction.

Even dissenters, who do not make use of the religious instruction in the schools of Norway, devote more time to this element in education than the denominations which they represent do in our own country. Conviction of its all-importance has been wrought into the mind of the people. This we can see in the case of the Norwegian people in this country. In the Northwest there is scarcely a congregation but has at least two or three months' parochial school during the year. This should not be taken as a sign that they do not appreciate the public schools, for they do, but that they realize that religious training is something for which responsibility devolves upon them as individuals, and not on the state.-Sunday School Times.

At some of its pentecosts there the Norwegians have also been represented, and some of these have felt a divine call to return to pray and labor "to raise up a holy people in Norway."

Norway was a needy field. Christianity here was at a low ebb. In the State Church rationalism, dead orthodoxy, and the civil law had combined to rule out nearly every utterance of spiritual life. A layman in the State Church, Hans Nielsen Hauge, had attacked all these by attacking the prevalent sin and ungodliness of the clergy as well as the people, and had somewhat opened the way for us. He was the John the Baptist of a better religious era for Norway. At the beginning of this century he preached repentance toward God, and personal faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as the condition of salvation for both preachers and people. Like Wesley, he wrote as well as spoke, and traveled the country in all directions, and also visited Denmark. There was a peculiar power in his words whether spoken or written, but he was not permitted to continue his good work of faith. He was persecuted by the clergy whose sins he exposed.

In the space of eight years he was imprisoned ten times, but each time they had to release him because they could not make out a case against him. Finally in 1804 they had found how they could bring effectual accusation against him. According to an old statute of 1841 against conventicles he was imprisoned and kept in prison for twelve years! He was at first kept in the worst kind of a prison, so his health failed. Twice he was released for a short time to supply the country with salt! It was a time of war. No salt could be imported, and he was the only man in all the land who knew how to make it! He supplied the land with the material as well as the spiritual salt, and yet they put him in prison again! As he in prison could not attend to his business he was also financially ruined, but on his release in 1816 his friends assisted him to se cure a farm near Christiania. Here he spent the remaining eight years of his life in peace. A Methodist brother has lately bought this farm, and built a fine new house on it. Bishop Joyce and wife spent a day and night there last summer.

The labors of Hauge had been severely crippled by his long imprisonment and premature death, but the rationalism, dead orthodoxy, and unjust law of the land had received a severe blow. Yet it was very dark here when the Methodists came, and is so still in many places. I will give some facts to show how dark it was, as well as what changes have been wrought since.

In Fredrikshald, a town of some ten thousand people, there were only three persons said to be Christians or pious people. There was a single church building and a single pastor who held a single service per week. Thirty persons were considered a good congregation, and often there were not

more than eight or ten present, and even most of these would either leave the church or go to sleep before the tedious service was ended. A respected lady, and a good member of our church in Fredrikshald said she once stood up to leave the church when all the rest were fast asleep while the old pastor was reading his dry sermon!

Immorality, drunkenness, and disturbances of the public peace were very prevalent. When the Methodists had been at work a short time the state of things began to change for the better. The old pastor, though, did not like his new zealous neighbors, and he applied to the head of police, and asked if he could tell him how he could get them out of town. In reply the head of police said he did not know of any way to get rid of the Methodists, as the law now protected them; but even if he knew of a way he would not give the pastor any such information, as he had seen good results of their labors on the moral condition of the people, and personally he only wished there were more such preachers. The Methodists had already releived him and his men of some hard cases, and one of them lives yet and has for many years been a good exhorter.

In 1856 our society in Fredrikshald was organized, and consisted then of sixteen members. What changes have taken place in these thirty-six years! Formerly everything bespoke the much-praised unity -one church, one pastor, one service--but it was the unity and uniformity of death. Now even the State Church has two church buildings, and of late they have had three and sometimes four pastors. Besides this they have lately built a large "Bedelms," or chapel, where laymen as well as their ordained ministers can hold meetings. They have at least five meetings per week, not counting the Sunday school sessions.

The Methodists have one pastor, two local preachers, and at least four exhorters, who all hold meetings. Besides class meetings, prayer meetings, and Sunday schools they have at least six preaching services per week, not counting the meetings in the country districts, which also are visited by the pastor and his helpers. When the writer was pastor there some seven years ago he was expected to take charge of at least one service or meeting every day in the week except Saturday.

Like the Methodists, the Baptists have also two chapels and one pastor, and six preaching services in the week, besides smaller meetings.

The "Lutheran Free Church," which is Presbyte. rian in government and Lutheran in doctrine, has a spacious chapel. They are about as zealous as the Methodists in holding revival meetings and executing church discipline. Ordinarily they have at least three preaching services per week.

Besides these there are still two chapels in the town; one belongs to "Christ Church," which is a Congregational body, and the other to the Salvation

Army. In the first, there are held at least three regular preaching services per week, and in the latter meetings every day.

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THE name Lapland does not apply to any distinct

In that town our church has the largest membership of all dissenters. The reports for last year show 328 members, 12 probationers, 3 Sunday schools, 38 teachers, 330 pupils, and 2 chapels valued at 24,000 crowns. Ten years ago the reports showed 187 members, 31 probationers, 2 Sunday schools, 35 teachers, 220 pupils, and 1 chapel valued at 15,240 crowns.

How the advance in Fredrikshald compares with the advance in all Norway may be seen from the following figures. The reports for 1892 show: 39 charges, 39 chapels valued at 579,945 crowns, 4,598 members, 590 probationers, 59 Sunday schools, 520 teachers, 5,395 pupils. And the reports for ten years ago gave: 25 charges, 22 chapels valued at 298,290 crowns, 2,892 members, 477 probationers, 43 Sunday schools, 376 teachers, and 3,130 pupils.

So far we have mainly reached the poor laboring classes in Norway. Our financial ability is therefore small. A few years ago our richest member in Fredrikshald was estimated by the town authorities to be worth only six thousand crowns, or about sixteen hundred dollars!

Nevertheless we raised in Fredrikshald at that time in one year for all purposes 5,500 crownsabout three hundred members raising in one year for religious purposes nearly as much as the richest man among them is supposed to be worth!

Our advance on this line in all Norway may be seen from the following figures. Last year we raised for the support of our pastors 18,334 crowns, and for missions 4,771 crowns, and ten years ago we raised for the support of the pastors 7,344 crowns, and for missions 2,402 crowns. Bishop Foster visited us in 1882, and he then told the writer that he had observed we had doubled the sum total raised for self-support in the ten years gone by since he had been here the first time. He then thought we had done well. In the ten years now expired since he was here we have more than doubled the sum raised for self-support, as seen above.

One of the presiding elders, Rev. J. Thorkildsen, reports: "Everywhere spiritual life is seen.

As a

rule our Methodist people are animated with deep religious feeling, and live and work for the Lord who bought them. The Sunday school work is also taken care of in all our churches."

those portions of Norway, Sweden, Finmark, and Russia which lie within the arctic circle near North Cape. Lapland must not be confounded with Finland, as the Finn and Lapp languages are essentially different. Neither must Finmark and Finland be supposed identical. Finmark is a small territory lying within the arctic circle and surrounding North Cape, while Finland comprises all that part of western Russia lying immediately north of the Gulf of Finland. A glance at the map of Russia and Sweden will be interesting and instructive in this connec tion.

It may be inferred from the foregoing that the Laplanders are of many nationalities and of more than one language. This is partially true; but the Lapp language is really quite distinct from that of neighboring countries; insomuch that a Finlander would find himself unable to converse with a Lapp, and vice versa. However, each would find the acquisition of his neighbor's tongue comparatively easy.

In the southernmost part of Lapland there are settled villages with more or less substantial houses, schools, and churches. Most of the inhabitants are farmers. Each farm has three or four buildings arranged around the sides of a hollow square. The stables are separated from the house only by rough plank walls, the cracks in which are plastered with moss. The walls of the houses are frequently ornamented with pictorial papers, copies of which have reached this far-off region.

These southernmost Lapps are by no means illiterate. They maintain their schools and churches with commendable persistency, and throughout the long, sunless night of winter they gather round their hearth fires and read for the edification of the entire family. Their devotions are singularly prolonged. Services of from four to seven hours' length are not wearisome to them. Their priests are by far their best paid workers, and the missionaries are appreciated in proportion to their ability to preach loud and long.

The average Lapp is short of stature, seldom attaining over five feet in height, and has straight, coarse, dark hair. The men are beardless. They are universally afflicted with sore eyes, due, it is supposed, to the reflection of the sun on the snow. The northern Lapps are squalid and ignorant. They subsist almost entirely by fishing on the coast and by herding reindeer in the interior. The average wellto-do Lapp is the owner of several hundred reindeer, from which he secures milk for cheese, also the finest kind of venison. On these he chiefly subsists. In winter he gorges himself with meat, but during the short summer he lives sparingly on milk and cheese.

The Lapps of the coast are hospitable and friendly, but some of the mountaineers are suspicious and at