The servant-girl problem has been solved in Norway to the satisfaction of all concerned, although it is doubtful whether a similar solution would be accepted by domestic servants in the United States. In large cities like Bergen and Christiania, there is a central employment bureau under the direction of the municipal government, and twice a year—one week before New Year's day and one week before St. John's day, the 24th of June—there is a general change of servants by those who are dissatisfied with existing conditions, and engagements are made for the ensuing six months of the year. Families who want servants, fill out blanks setting forth what is required and the wages they are willing to pay. These are filed at the employment office and are noted in a conspicuous manner upon a blackboard. Women or men in search of employment go to this bureau during the weeks named, examine the blackboard, and apply to the clerk in charge for further information.

If they desire to apply for a particular position, they submit their recommendations to the clerk, and if he is satisfied, he gives them a card to the lady of the house. That card is good for the day only, and must be returned by the lady of the house before the close of office hours. If the girl is engaged, the blanks upon the card are filled out with a general statement as to her duties, the term of service, and the wages agreed upon, and the card is filed away for reference if necessary. If the lady of the house is not satisfied with the applicant, she sends her away and returns the card marked "not satisfactory," with the request that other applicants be sent her. If the applicant is satisfactory, the lady of the house pays her a bonus of one krone or two kroner called "hand money"—that is, she crosses her hand with silver as an evidence of good faith—and the girl agrees to report for duty within one week after New Year's or Midsummer's day, as the case may be. That is to allow her present employer to fill her place. In some of the smaller towns the dates for changing servants are April 14 and October 14.

The law protects both the employer and the employed. The employer guarantees to give the servant a comfortable room, wholesome food, take care of her if sick, and pay her wages regularly as agreed upon during good behavior; while the girl agrees to perform her duties faithfully during the term for which she is engaged. If there is any complaint upon either side, it must be made to a magistrate, who investigates and decides between them. A family can not get rid of a servant during her term of employment without official intervention. On the other hand, the girl's wages are a first lien upon their property for the entire term, although judgment must be rendered and made a matter of record. If a servant runs away from her employer, she can be arrested and fined. Cooks are paid from $4 to $7 a month; housemaids from $3 to $6 a month; men butlers from $10 to $15; coachmen from $12 to $16 a month; scullery maids and men of all work receive corresponding wages.

Nearly all of these domestic customs here related apply to Sweden as well as Norway, and there are many interesting additional ones. In Sweden the state dinners at the palace are always at six o'clock. At nearly all the other courts of Europe it is customary to dine at eight o'clock. The king's dinners are short, his guests seldom remaining more than an hour at the table, after which the ladies adjourn to one of the drawing rooms, the gentlemen to the smoking room, and later all are entertained by musicians from the opera house or the royal conservatory. Carriages are usually ordered at ten o'clock. This seems old-fashioned, but for people who like to go to bed early and those who are occupied with business all day it is much more sensible than the custom followed in some cities, where social festivities do not begin until the hour when the king of Sweden's guests are bidding him good night.

But everybody complains that the Swedes are drifting away from old customs and are becoming modernized. The French influence seems to prevail, and modern Swedish life is becoming an imitation of that of Paris.

Another of the old customs is for people to indicate their business upon their visiting cards. You will receive the card of Lawyer Jones, or Banker Smith, or Music Professor Smith, and so on; and these titles are also used in addressing them. It would seem rather queer for any one in the United States to ask, "Wholesale Merchant MacVeigh, will you kindly pass the butter?" or "Banker Hutchinson, will you escort Fru Board of Trade Operator Jones to the table?" But that is the custom in Sweden and it is observed by children as well as grown people. A lisping child will approach a guest, make a pretty little bob-courtesy, and say, "Good morning, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Fuller," or "Good night, Representative in Congress Boutell." It is customary for ladies to print their maiden names upon their visiting cards in smaller type, under their married names, particularly if they have a pride of family and want people to know their ancestry.

To see the old Swedish customs that have almost entirely disappeared from the country, one must go to the hill districts of Dalecarlia, where the people are so unlike the rest of the Swedes in their dress, their customs and habits, and in many other respects as to almost seem another race.

The Dalecarlians are great dancers, and the social gatherings at their homes during the winter are always accompanied by that form of amusement. During the summer they dance in the open air. On St. John's Day the entire population, old and young, dance around a May-pole erected at some convenient place, and at harvest time, whenever the last sheaf in a field is pitched upon the cart or the stack, it is customary for somebody to produce a musical instrument, a violin, a nyckleharpa, a harmonicum, or perhaps only a mouth organ, and everybody—for the boys and girls of the family all work together in the hay and harvest fields—join in a dance before returning home.

The dances are original and often interesting. One of the most ancient and popular is the daefva vadmal (weaving homespun), whose figures are supposed to imitate the action of the shuttle, the beating in of the woof, and other motions used in weaving at an old-fashioned loom. Some of the dances resemble those of Scotland, and one is almost exactly like the Virginia reel as danced by old-fashioned people in the United States. In another, called the "garland," the dancers wind in and out under their clasped hands in imitation of the weaving of a wreath of flowers. All the dances require violent physical exercise, but the Swedish men and women are famous for muscular development. Some of the dances are accompanied by pretty melodies sung in unison by both sexes.

The songs of the Dalecarlian peasant are not lively, but rather slow in movement, and are usually sung in unison, the music being rarely arranged for parts.

Dalecarlia has a certain preeminence among the districts of Sweden because of the part its people have played in the history of the country, and however the other provinces may dispute among themselves about their claims for distinction, each will admit that Dalecarlia is entitled to special consideration. Its people represent the highest patriotism and the noblest characteristics of the Swedish race, and when any one is spoken of as a Dalecarlian, it means that he is a free and intelligent citizen of independent thought and action and lives a life of manly simplicity.[o]



CHAPTER XVI

HEALTH, EXERCISE, AND AMUSEMENTS

Perhaps in no other country in the world have health and exercise been united and formed into a national institution, as they have been in Sweden. The true Swede believes that exercise will cure everything, and that as a preventive of disease there is nothing like it. If you go to a Swedish physician for advice, he will invariably prescribe the movement cure, and send you to a gymnasium or a massage establishment instead of to a drug store. Physical exercise is therefore the national remedy, particularly for complaints due to sedentary employment, neglect of nature's laws, and high living. The movement cure for invalids, which is practically the same as that we have in the United States, is used in all the hospitals as well as in private practice. It was invented about a century ago by Dr. Ling, a patriot, a gymnast and a poet, who was inspired to revive the ancestral national spirit in the Swedish people by the aid of sports and songs, and to develop once more the great qualities of strength, courage, and endurance which in old times distinguished the Scandinavian race. After a hard struggle he succeeded, in 1814, in securing the recognition of the government and founded the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute, where all persons desiring to teach gymnastics in the public schools or in private institutions must take a course of training and take a degree. The Swedes are quite as particular about this as they are about the study of medicine. No medical practitioner can hang out a sign without a diploma from one of the universities, and no person can teach gymnastics in that country without a similar certificate of competency from the Royal Institute. Every officer of the army is required to undergo a course of instruction, not only to develop his physical constitution, but to qualify him to teach gymnastics to his soldiers. The teachers of physical culture in the public schools, both men and women, are obliged to take a similar course in order to drill their pupils properly, for in every schoolroom in the country, down to the kindergartens, daily physical exercise upon Ling's plan is required to promote the development of the body and improve the health. This is required in private as well as public schools, and the methods of instruction are subject to the inspection and approval of the Central Institute. In every town of any size there are gymnastic clubs and associations, which are generally guided by instructors educated at the Central Institute. They include women as well as men in their membership, and in many of them fencing and other sword exercises are also taught. In common with all the gymnasiums are bath-houses. You will find them in every part of the city of Stockholm and in other large towns. Some of them occupy entire buildings. It is the habit of business men to go to their stores or offices at nine o'clock in the morning and remain there until two or three in the afternoon, when they go to their club or gymnasium and take an hour's exercise and afterward a bath. These establishments in the business quarter of Stockholm and other cities are considered just as important as clubs, restaurants, or other places of resort, and usually have connected with them reading and smoking rooms where patrons can read the daily newspapers and current magazines and sip coffee and smoke while they are cooling off. It would surprise a visitor in New York or Chicago to be informed that his broker or his lawyer or his banker or a contractor with whom he has business, had gone to a bathhouse or gymnasium at three o'clock in the afternoon, but in Stockholm it is a common reply to an inquiry. During winter afternoons you can usually find anybody you want by going to his favorite gymnasium or bathhouse, just as you would look for him at his club in Chicago.

There is a distinctive dress for the exercise. The patrons take off their street clothing and put on light woolen shirts and trousers, and canvas shoes on their bare feet, and, standing in rows, go through a series of motions under the command of their instructor to exercise the arms, legs, neck, and every other part of the body, gently, not violently. The idea is movement, not exertion, and the muscles are restrained. The arm is raised slowly with self-resistance. No clubs or dumb-bells are used, only a gentle motion like the exercise of the children in the schools. After twenty minutes or half an hour of this the class marches in a column, still going through the same movements; then they run, following their leader, doing everything that he does, until at the end of an hour the body is in a glow, the blood is pulsating in every vein, the perspiration is oozing from every pore, every muscle is limbered up and strengthened, and every nerve tingles. There is regular gymnasium apparatus for those who like more violent exercise. Then a bath is taken, followed by a cold plunge and violent rubbing with massage, after which a man is in shape to go home to his dinner with a good appetite.

In October every year the Scandinavian Gymnastic Instructors' Association meets in Stockholm for several weeks, at which lectures are delivered, papers are read, and discussions are held upon all branches of their work. These meetings are quite as important as annual conventions of the bar or medical associations, and are not only attended by gymnastic instructors, but by physicians generally, for every Swedish physician must be well versed in medical gymnastics, particularly in what is known as kinesitherapym or movement cure, which embraces active, passive, and resisting movements, as well as massage, for the latter is the basis of medical gymnastics.

The Swedes have accepted this treatment as a specific for nearly all diseases, deformities, and weaknesses of the body; for internal complaints, for the lungs, the heart, and the digestive organs. It removes superfluous tissue, and this is the reason you see so few fat men in Sweden, notwithstanding their beer-drinking propensities, and why the women keep their youthful shape until old age.

It is a spectacle to witness in some of the gymnastic institutes venerable and dignified gentlemen going through comical motions and assuming ridiculous postures with great activity and zeal, keeping time to the music of a band in the adjoining cafe.

In Sweden doctors never send bills to their patients, but trust entirely to their generosity. Each family has an attending physician, who expects them to pay him by the year for his services, according to their wealth and the amount of attention they receive. Ten dollars a year in our money is a good fee; one hundred dollars is princely. At the beginning of the year you put the amount in an envelope and send it to the doctor by a messenger with your card. He sends back his card with an acknowledgment of thanks and the compliments of the season. It is very bad form to talk about it, although grateful patients often write their physicians affectionate letters of gratitude for his devotion and the benefit he has brought them. It is a good deal like the relation between a minister and his parishioners in other countries, and the annual contribution for the support of the doctor is just as voluntary as the contribution to the treasury of the church. If there is any reason why one should feel grateful to the doctors; if you or your children have suffered a severe illness and he has pulled you through, he expects a present in addition to the annual honorarium, just as you would send the minister a present after a marriage or a funeral or some other special occasion at which his services are required. The amount you pay depends upon your ability and the value of his services, but it is a violation of the most sacred canon of professional etiquette for a doctor to ask compensation or question the amount he receives. He keeps no accounts of his visits and no books. If a stranger or an acquaintance who does not contribute regularly makes one call or two upon the doctor to ask his advice or a prescription, he leaves something on the table, but it would be equivalent to an insult if he should ask for a bill.

When a person is very sick, he is taken to a hospital. Sweden has some of the best hospitals in the world. His own doctor looks after him there, assisted by the house physician and nurses, who expect fees, but the regular doctor gets none. He supervises the treatment and acts as adviser to the house physician.

The government pays subsidies to doctors in remote parts of the country, just as it pays the salaries of the ministers where the people are so poor that they can not support a doctor and a parson. In fact, all the clergymen of the established church are paid by the government and are government officials. The members of their parishes give them presents, something on the donation party order, because their salaries are small, and if there happen to be rich men in the parish, it is their custom to send around a handsome present to the minister's wife or to himself on Christmas Day.

The Swedes have a short summer, and so far as possible spend it in the open air. Every citizen of Stockholm who can afford it has a place in the country, no matter how humble or primitive it may be, and if he can not afford a cabin, he pitches a tent in the woods under the pine trees, and if necessary cooks his own meals. The banks of the lakes and rivers throughout the entire kingdom—and there are more than 1,400 lakes in Sweden and 1,700 islands in the Stockholm Skaergard—are surrounded by such dwellings and camps, for the Swedes love the water. Those who are compelled to remain in town take their meals and spend their evenings at the open-air cafes, which are found in every part of the city with bands of music, and take daily excursions on the boats which ply through the fjord and the lakes which encircle the town. In the suburbs are circuses, open-air theaters, concert gardens, and other forms of entertainments, simple and serious. A number of fine restaurants are maintained in the parks, where people can get a good dinner and spend the evening under the cool foliage, listening to an orchestral concert or a band. Every form of outdoor amusement is furnished, and the people eat, drink, and are merry, making the most of their time from June to September before the long and dreary winter comes upon them.

The working classes have their simple amusements also, and during the summer evenings in every village there is music and dancing, even if an accordion or jewsharp is the only instrument to be obtained. The national dances are quite energetic, and furnish a form of exercise which lazy people would not admire, but both the men and women of Sweden are famous for their muscular strength, and the young woman who can dance down her companions is as much of a hero as the champion wrestler of the town. Those who can not enjoy the opportunity of visiting rural Sweden will find in the suburbs of Stockholm, at the favorite resort and place of amusement of the common people, a perfect representation of Swedish country life. It is called Skansen, and is rural Sweden in miniature. It is a patriotic and scientific enterprise, conceived and undertaken by the late Dr. Artur Hazelius, an eminent ethnologist, for the purpose of preserving the habits and customs of the Scandinavian races. In no country of Europe, excepting perhaps Russia and Turkey, have the people adhered to the manner and costumes of their fathers so tenaciously as in Sweden, and the life of past generations is preserved in its picturesqueness. The conservatism of the people, their tenacious preference for their own ways and means has kept out innovations, and very few changes have been made since the beginning of the eighteenth century. But fearing that the peasants of Sweden, like all other peoples, would sooner or later surrender to modern fashions, Dr. Hazelius attempted to collect at Skansen actual types representing every industry, activity, and national trait. His thought was expressed in a motto inscribed over one of the gates of this outdoor museum:

"The day will come when all our gold will not be sufficient to buy an accurate picture of the times long past."

He procured from the king a rocky plateau on the edge of a royal park known as Djurgarden, covered with crippled pines and resembling the wild, uncultivated, neglected landscape in Dalecaria or Norrland, the two most interesting portions of Sweden. By careful landscape gardening, without destroying its natural beauty, he introduced broad paths, restaurants, cafes, band stands, and other places for the merry to meet and hold their festivals, and for the students to sing their songs, and he reserved a part of the grounds in its natural condition, where the lovers of nature can find a quiet retreat among the gloom of a pine grove. It has become the most popular resort in Sweden, particularly in the long summer evenings, and when a man can not reach the country, Skansen is never too far. It is accessible by street-cars and by boats, and is not more than half an hour's walk from the palace.

Here the "folk festivals," for which the Swedish poets have composed their most beautiful songs, are held every spring; here the national holidays are celebrated as in olden times, both in summer and winter, and national customs are preserved with great care and amid surroundings that give them a realistic tone, like the true thing. Dr. Hazelius secured original types of peasant houses from every part of the country where they have individual or unique character. From the huts of the fishermen on the south coast of the Scandinavian peninsula to the camps of the Lapps in the frozen zone, every feature of Swedish country life is represented. The Lapps brought their dogs and reindeer, and live exactly as they do upon the snowy plains of the polar regions.

With the forty acres that compose the park are about one hundred and twenty-five people, living exactly as their forefathers lived and practicing the primitive customs that prevailed two centuries ago in the agricultural districts of the kingdom. They wear the same costumes, eat the same kind of food, use the same kind of dishes, and preserve so far as possible every feature of their daily life. Every one of the provinces of Sweden which has a distinctive dress or unique custom is represented by the actual people who have always lived that way. Every man and woman continues their former occupations. There is no theatrical business about it, no imitations on the grounds; everything is genuine.

Three or four times a week at sunset, after their daily work is done, the peasants gather for a dance at a central place, which is always surrounded by a large crowd of spectators, and is the greatest attraction of Skansen. On alternate nights the dancing is by the children, of whom there are thirty-seven under fifteen years of age living in the cabins with their parents, dressed just like their great-great-grandfathers and grand mothers when they were of the same age. The music for the dancing is furnished by old-fashioned instruments, and none but old-fashioned tunes are allowed. There is a society in Sweden known as Svenska Folkdansens Vaenner for preserving the Swedish national peasant dances and for encouraging their use in the higher circles of society in preference to the French dances.

There are several fine museums and picture galleries in Sweden. The national gallery in Stockholm, which is across the bay from the royal palace, and the Northern Museum founded in 1872 by Dr. Hazelius. Then there is the Royal Opera and the National Theater, so that the people of Stockholm do not want for places of amusement in winter as well as summer.

The father of athletic sports in Sweden is Lieutenant Colonel Victor Gustaf Balck, who holds a military position in the garrison at Stockholm. He introduced lawn tennis, cricket, baseball and football, and has established numerous athletic clubs in different parts of the country. Sailing is popular, there being many yacht clubs with good houses and fleets. And swimming is a part of the national education, nearly every man, woman, and child in Sweden taking naturally to the water and being able to swim. Everybody can skate as well as swim. In the cities rinks can be found with music and many conveniences. In Stockholm there is a general skating club, with a rink large enough to accommodate six thousand skaters, and popular fetes given there at intervals during the winter are attended by the royal family and members of the court, and are regarded as important social functions. All skating is done upon the numerous lakes, and often during the long nights of the winter hundreds of people, young and old, will gather at an early hour—it gets dark at four o'clock in the afternoon—and spend the entire night skating by moonlight. A big fire is built in some convenient place for the crowd, and smaller fires by individual parties, who bring luncheon with them and have a picnic in the snow in the winter. In various parts of the country, national and international skating contests are held, and winners in local tournaments, both for speed and fancy skating, are sent to Stockholm to contest for the grand prizes against the crack skaters of Norway, Denmark, Russia, and northern Germany.

But the national winter sport of all Scandinavia is skeeing—skimming over the snow on snow-shoes. There is no more vigorous or exciting exercise. In the country districts men and women alike are educated to the use of snowshoes from childhood. As soon as boys and girls are old enough to skate, they put on skees of a size appropriate to their stature, and are quite as agile and daring as their elders. It requires nerve, skill, and muscular strength to skee, and a person who has never tried snow-shoes always finds it difficult to use them. It is a sport to which people must be trained from childhood. A skilful "skeer" can make a mile in two minutes.

Ice yachting and sailing on skates are two of the oldest and most popular national sports, and are practiced in both Sweden and Norway by all classes. All the ice yachts and snow-shoes are home-made, and in the country districts many of the skates.[p]



CHAPTER XVII

THE NEWSPAPERS OF NORWAY AND SWEDEN

There are seven hundred and fifty-one newspapers and periodicals in Sweden, including fifty-two dailies. Stockholm has twelve dailies, seven published in the morning and five in the evening, which is a large number for a city of three hundred and ten thousand inhabitants, and the wonder is how they all manage to exist. None of them is as large as the ordinary dailies in the United States. It is the practice of the Swedish editors to waste very little room in headlines, and to condense as much as possible. They state facts without padding or comment, and manage to bring the daily allowance of news within ten or twelve columns. There is usually a continued story, three or four articles of a literary character, a couple of columns of clippings and miscellany, and the same amount of editorial. The balance of the paper is given up to advertising, but with all that it is seldom necessary to print more than four pages. The morning papers stick to the blanket sheet.

Most of the Stockholm papers have a good advertising patronage, which runs to display at times. The Swedish business men have learned that it pays to advertise. The rates are much lower than in the United States. The ordinary want ad. costs from seven to ten cents, and for display advertisements the rates run from two and one-half to twenty cents a line, according to the location. In the semi-weekly edition of Aftonbladet, which is considered the best advertising medium in Sweden on account of its large circulation and superior class of readers, display ads. in preferred places cost about twenty-eight cents a line.

The subscription price corresponds. You can have any one of the evening papers delivered at your house for $3 a year, and the highest rate for the morning dailies is $5 a year. It is worth while to know that postmasters in Sweden will receive subscriptions for newspapers published in any part of the world. A small fee is exacted to cover the amount of postage and the stationery required in forwarding the subscription.

The father of cheap newspapers in Sweden is Anders Jeurling, the publisher of Stockholm-Tidningen and Hyvad Nytt i Dag, who started the first-named journal about twelve years ago and sold it on the street for two oere, which is about one-half cent. Now the price of the former is four oere, about one cent, and of the latter a half cent. The former paper has the largest circulation in the city of Stockholm, its ordinary edition reaching about one hundred thousand copies, but Aftonbladet exceeds it in the country. Mr. Jeurling has the reputation of being the ablest publisher in Sweden, and is a better business man than the editor. He has made a fortune out of his papers on the theory that the people care more for news than for politics. Mr. Adolph Hallgren is the editor-in-chief of Stockholms-Tidningen, and the managing editor is Mr. F. Zethraens, who studied journalism in the office of the Chicago Record-Herald.

The official paper of the Swedish government is Post och Inriches Tidning, which was founded as far back as 1645, and is one of the oldest periodicals in the world. For more than a century it has been published under the auspices of the Swedish Academy, an organization of eighteen of the most learned scholars and philosophers in the kingdom. The editor is Dr. J.A. Spilhammar, a very learned gentleman, who, on account of his position, is naturally conservative and discreet in all his utterances.

Aftonbladet, a liberal evening paper, to which I have already alluded, has the greatest circulation in Sweden, the daily edition varying from one hundred and fifty thousand to one hundred and sixty thousand copies, and it is one of the most influential forces in the kingdom. The editor, Harald Sohlman, is regarded is an able writer and shrewd business man. He is also editor and publisher of Dagen, a morning paper, liberal in politics, which has a circulation of about forty thousand copies, and is sold at three oere—about three-quarters of a cent. Aftonbladet's semi-weekly edition goes into every corner of the kingdom, has a high literary standard, contains correspondence from all the European capitals, and has a special department devoted to news concerning the Swedes and Swedish affairs in America.

The most conservative of all Swedish papers is Nya Dagligt Allehanda, edited by Dr. J.A. Bjorklund. Its circulation is confined almost exclusively to the nobility and wealthier classes, and is said to be more loyal to the government than royalty itself.

Vart Land, another conservative paper, edited by Professor Gustaf Torelius, an eminent author and scholar, is an organ of the Swedish state church, and on that account is taken by every Lutheran clergyman and active layman in the kingdom. It contains the official announcement of the minister of religion and the archbishop, and is especially given to news of an ecclesiastical character. Its most prominent writer is Dr. C.D. af Wirsen, one of "the immortal eighteen" of the Swedish Academy and a lyric poet of reputation.

Svenska Morgonbladet, another religious daily, opposes Vart Land, and represents the dissenters from the established church. Its circulation, according to its sarcastic competitors, "is limited to those who have been saved." Its most eminent contributor and patron is Dr. Peter Paul Waldenstroem, founder and leader of the Free Lutheran Church, "the Swedish Moody." Scarcely a week passes without an article from his pen in Morgonbladet, which gives that paper its standing among Free Lutherans.

Dagbladet is the only paper in Stockholm which is issued twice a day, and it has also a Sunday edition. It styles itself in politics a "moderate," but is more popular among the conservatives than the liberals. Having the city printing, it is not inclined to quarrel with its bread and butter.

Dagens Nyheter, a liberal morning paper, made a fortune for Rudolph Wall, its founder, who died a millionaire. It is considered one of the most profitable newspaper properties in Europe. It sells for a cent and a quarter, and has a circulation of about thirty thousand.

The Stockholm paper which imitates the American press most closely is Svenska Dagbladet, ably edited by Helmer Key, a doctor of philosophy, and C.G. Tengwall, who is regarded as one of the best all-around newspaper men in Sweden. It has the best class of contributors of any of the Swedish papers in a literary way, including Professor Oscar Levertin, Verner von Heidenstam, the poet, Tor Hedberg, an art and literary critic, and Ellen Key, the authoress, and the most influential woman in Sweden. The paper has a large circulation among the thinking people of the country, and exercises a wide influence.

The official organ of the Royal Yacht Club, the Royal Jockey Club, and all representative Swedish sport clubs, is the Ny Tidning foer Idrott, which is owned by Count Clarence von Rosen, one of the grandsons of the late Mrs. Bloomfield Moore, of Philadelphia. The count, himself the finest rider in the Swedish army, edits the horse news, while Colonel Victor Balck, the father of modern Swedish sports, and Alex. Lindman are the editors. Ny Tidning foer Idrott has a regular correspondent in America. Hjalmar Branting, leader of the socialists in Sweden and a member of the second chamber of parliament, is editor of Social Demokraten, the organ of his party. Although a man of aristocratic origin, he has cast his lot with the laboring classes. He is a man of great force of character, an able writer, an eloquent speaker, and is generally respected even by those who can not approve his views. The circulation of his paper is almost exclusively confined to the laboring classes.

The compensation of newspaper men in Sweden is much less than in the United States. The highest salary paid to an editor-in-chief is $4,000, while the lowest for that position is about $1,500. Managing editors are paid from $1,200 to $2,000 a year, and ordinary reporters from $300 to $750 a year. Contributors of fame receive special rates. The price for news items is two and one-half cents a line. Space writers seem to be paid more in proportion than the regular members of the staff, but the difference is more apparent than real, because of the tendency to condensation. Articles in the Swedish papers are seldom more than half a column long.

Stockholm has several comic papers, even more in proportion to population than we have in the United States. The most prominent are Strix, Puck, Soendags-Nisse, Kasper and Nya Nisse. They are small and comparatively insignificant, and sell for two and one-half cents a copy. They satirize politicians with good humor, and their cartoons are based upon current events. There are several literary weeklies, monthlies, and other periodicals, for Swedes are great readers and, unlike the Americans, have not lost their taste for poetry. A poet enjoys a much higher position and larger income from his writings in Sweden than at home.

There is a Press Club in Stockholm with four hundred and forty members, of whom twenty-two are women. In 1901 the club arranged "a week of festivals," including military tournaments, public entertainments and a fair, and closed with a masquerade ball at the Royal Opera House to raise funds for a building. It was a great success. King Oscar accepted an invitation, and enjoyed himself very much among his "colleagues," as he called them. The king was always considerate to newspaper men. He appreciated the purpose and understood the requirements of reporters, and never failed to assist them whenever he was able to do so. Hence he was very popular among them, and they reciprocated by showing their appreciation in every possible way. The old king once said to Hjalmar Branting, the socialist editor:

"We have different opinions, Branting, but we are both working for the welfare of our country."

In 1897, during the international congress of the press at Stockholm, the king gave the editors a banquet at the Royal Castle at Drottningholm, and mingled among them as "one of yourselves." He also proposed a toast in most complimentary language.

Oscar II made many speeches, and upon occasions of great formality he used manuscript, but generally spoke without notes, preparing himself in advance by study and reflection. When he spoke from manuscript, he invariably furnished copies to the press, and was never known to request that part of his speech be suppressed.

Reporters are invariably admitted to state ceremonials. There is very little secrecy about the Stockholm court, and intrigue is entirely unknown in Swedish politics. There are no mysteries in the council chamber and no skeletons in the royal closet. Hence the doors are open, and the reporters can come and go as they please. As a natural consequence comparatively little attention is paid to affairs at the palace. There is an announcement every morning of the movements of the king and the royal family and occurrences of public interest, but with very little detail, and the newspapers depend upon the officials to furnish the information voluntarily. Reporters are seldom sent to the palace unless some special inquiry is necessary.

The story is told that once when Oscar II went to Gothenburg to attend a dedication or opening of something or other, where he was expected to make a speech, he was intercepted at the railway station by an enterprising reporter who wanted a copy of his speech. The paper was to be published that afternoon, and there would be no time for a stenographer to write out his notes afterward. The king greeted him pleasantly and explained that he had no manuscript; that he intended to speak without notes. The reporter was very much dissappointed, and confided to the king that he was a new man and that his future standing with his employer might be seriously affected if he failed to get the speech. King Oscar responded sympathetically, invited the reporter to get into his carriage, and while they were driving to the hotel, gave a brief synopsis of what he expected to say.

Newspapers in Norway are not so good an investment; in fact, none of them may be considered financial ventures. As a rule, they have to be assisted by the government or by political clubs in order to survive. Their subscription lists are limited, the largest circulation in Norway not exceeding fifteen thousand and few publications print more than five thousand copies, while advertising pays not more than ten or twelve cents a line at top prices in the most expensive papers.

An ordinary newspaper reporter in Norway receives a salary of about $5 a week, while the most competent editors are satisfied with $20 or $25. Norway was the last of the European countries, except Turkey, to adopt the art of printing, notwithstanding its early famous literature, but to-day has four hundred and twenty-nine newspapers and periodicals, an average of one to every five thousand of the population; one hundred and ninety-six are political newspapers; eighty-eight are literary weeklies, and one hundred and forty-five are reviews, magazines, professional, religious, and scientific publications.

Norske Intelligens-Seddeler is one of the oldest papers in the world, having been founded in Christiania in 1763, and has been the organ of the government from the beginning. For a century and a quarter its contents were limited to advertisements and official announcements. It was a sort of a government gazette, but when Hjalmar Loken took hold of it, ten or twelve years ago, he changed its character entirely and has turned it into a good modern newspaper and a vigorous advocate of government measures, exercising a wide influence through its columns.

Monopolies were formerly granted to newspapers in Norway. The government allowed only one paper to be published within the limits of an ecclesiastical diocese, or at least only the favored paper was permitted to receive money for the publication of advertisements. Competitors resorted to all sorts of ingenious methods, by issuing pamphlets and 'handbills and such things, that a free discussion of political issues might be had, but it was not until 1786 that the last monopoly, which happened to be in the city of Trondhjem, expired. In 1814 freedom of the press was granted by the new constitution, and from that date the political agitators have found expression in various publications, and partisanship has often risen to a bitterness that would not be permitted in other countries. The Norway newspapers have not known a censor since that date.

Morganbladet, the first daily, was established in 1819, and has played an important part in the political affairs of the. country. It is still very influential, being edited with great ability by Mr. Nils Vogt. Bjoernson, the author, has been connected with two newspapers—the first, Krydseren, a literary weekly which survived only a few years, and Verdens Gang, which has been published since 1868 as the leading organ of the liberal party. Among its editors and contributors have been other distinguished men, poets, dramatists, and novelists. Nearly every writer of distinction has contributed to its columns, for most of the thinking men of Norway are liberals. Since 1878 Mr. Thommessen has been the editor, and he was the first to modernize the Norwegian press by printing cable dispatches, cartoons, caricatures and other illustrations.

Dagbladet is also a widely read and influential daily, under the editorship of Mr. A.T. Omholt, and has a large circulation. Its list of contributors has included some of the most distinguished writers of the country. There are numerous other dailies of more or less influence and circulation, and all the trades and occupations have organs, as in the United States. In every town and almost every village, a weekly or semi-weekly is published, usually by the liberal party, and sometimes by other parties. Even Hammerfest, the most northerly town in the world, which lies in the Arctic Circle, has two enterprising weeklies.[q]



CHAPTER XVIII

NORWEGIAN FOLK SONGS

If the dwellers of the deep fjords, the somber fir-clad mountain valleys, and the bleak ice-fields do not "open their lips so readily for song" as the people of southern lands where the sun creates an eternal spring, it is not because they are without lyric power, as is clearly apparent from the rich and varied folk-songs and the splendid creative work of Edvard Grieg.

The Norwegian folk-songs, spring dances, hallings, and wedding marches, have been well characterized as the outpourings of the inner lives of the common people, the expression of their dauntless energy, their struggles and aspirations. The folk-song of Norway, more than in any other land, embodies the character and expresses the tendencies of Viking life, ancient and modern. It bears the unmistakable marks of weal and woe of Norse life, the strongly marked and regularly introduced rythms of the developed and developing national character. And while an undercurrent of melancholy runs through most of it, it is, after all, the faithful interpreter of the lives of isolated and solitary occupants of fjords, fjelds, and dalen.

The folk-songs of Norway are singularly typical of the country and its inhabitants. Some "seem to take us into the dense forest among mocking echoes from, the life outside; others show us the trolls tobogganing down the highest peaks of Norway; in some we feel human souls hovering over reefs; in others, memories of the old sun-lit land flit before us; but in none do we meet with sentimentalism, despondency, or disconsolateness." But with their weird and minor strains, and their odd jumps from low tones to high, on first acquaintance they strike the hearer as strange and elusive.

Some of the epic songs, as Telemarken, are of great antiquity. But it was not until the last century that Norse tone artists discovered the wealth that had long been cherished by the peasants of the fjords and mountain valleys. Lindeman (1812-1887) was the first to recognize the musical significance of Norwegian folk-songs. He collected many hundred national ballads, hymns and dances, and called attention to their richness and variety as thematic material for a school of national music. In Lindeman's collection will be found songs which tell of the heroic exploits of old Norse vikings, kings, and earls of the heathen days of Thor and Odin, together with lyrics, deep and ardent, which sing of the loves, the joys, and the sorrows of the humbler Christian folks.

The Hardanger violin, the lur and the langeleik have played a leading role in the development of Norwegian folk-songs and dances. The Hardanger instrument is more arched than the ordinary violin; there are four strings over the finger-board and four underneath, the latter of fine steel wire, acting as sympathetic strings. The men of the Hardanger fjord have long been distinguished for the workmanship and tonal qualities of their violins, and with them the peasants have improvised the rich and varied impressions of nature which we find embodied in folk-songs. The lur is a long wooden instrument, of the trumpet order, and is usually made of birch bark. It is much used in the mountains. The langeleik, or Norwegian harp, is a long, narrow, box-like stringed instrument, something of the character of the ancient zither. It has seven strings and sound holes, but its tone is weak and monotonous.

The national dances of Norway have bold rythms which at once arrest the attention. Perhaps the most characteristic is the hailing, a solo dance in two-four time. It is usually danced by young men in country barns, and its most striking feature is the kicking of the beam of the ceiling. In the story of Nils the fiddler, in his novel Arne, Bjoernson has given this account of the hailing: "The music struck up, a deep silence followed, and he began. He dashed forward along the floor, his body inclining to one side, half aslant, keeping time to the fiddle. Crouching down, he balanced himself, now on one foot, now on the other, flung his legs crosswise under him, sprang up again, and then moved on aslant as before. The fiddle was handled by skilful fingers, and more and more fire was thrown into the tune. Nils threw his head back and suddenly his boot heel touched the beam."

The spring dance is less vigorous, but more graceful than the hailing. It is a round dance in three-quarter time, in which two persons, or groups of two, participate. It is danced with a light, springing step, and has been compared with the mazurka by Liszt. Like the hailing, however, it is markedly individual in its pleasing combinations of tones. Forestier says of the spring dance of Norway: "There is a freshness, a sparkle, and energy, a graceful life about it that is invigorating."

If Lindeman was the first to collect folk-songs and dances in Norway, Ole Bull (1810-1880) was the first to popularize them. He was, as Grieg once declared, a pathbreaker for the young national music. At the early age of nineteen he sallied forth with his fiddle and wherever he appeared in Europe and America he played the folk-music and national dances of Norway. The favor which he found encouraged his countrymen. His brilliant career glorified musical Norway; gave it confidence to assert itself, and serve as the inspiration of a long list of creative tone artists—Kjerulf, Nordraak, Grieg, Svendsen, Winter-Hjelm, Sindling, and Behrens—to write out and arrange for voice and modern instruments the music that had so long been preserved in the memories of the people.

The best art-made music of Norway has been built upon the folk-songs and dances of the common people. Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1868) was the first serious composer of the new art school. He lived during the trying period of Norwegian storm and stress, but he wrote something like a hundred compositions, and in his songs is found "the bud of national feeling which has burst into full bloom in Grieg."

Richard Nordraak (1842-1866), during his brief career, set to music several of Bjoernson's plays, and composed some strong pianoforte pieces and songs. "He was," says Siewers, "a man with a bold fresh way of looking at things, strong artistic interests, an untiring love of work, and deep national feeling. He had decided influence upon his friend Grieg's artistic views, and he is the connecting link between Kjerulf and Grieg in the chain of Norwegian musical art."

Otto Winter-Hjelm, who, with Grieg, attempted to establish a conservatory of music at Christiania after their return from Germany in the sixties, contributed much to the national art of Norway by his excellent arrangements of hallings and spring dances for piano and violin. Thomas Thellefsen (1823-1874), a pupil and friend of Chopin, was distinguished as a national composer as well as a pianist, and Carl F.E. Neupert (1842-1888), who lived in America six years, did much by his concert tours and teaching to dignify Norse music.

Johan Severin Svendsen, while a Norwegian by birth and training, has expatriated himself by his long residence in Denmark. So far as his compositions have national flavor they are German. Johan Selmer, while a prolific composer, will probably be best remembered as a conductor. Christian Sinding, after Grieg, is the best-known Norwegian composer. His productions range from symphonies and symphonic poems through chamber music to romances. He is credited with a wide range of musical ideas, deep artistic earnestness, and bold power of expression; but his compositions in the larger forms are thought unduly noisy and restless.

Two women who have helped to make the music history of Norway are Agatha Backer-Groendahl and Catharinus Elling. Mrs. Backer-Groendahl was a pupil, first of Kjerulf and Winter-Hjelm, and later of Kullak, Hans von Buelow, and Liszt. Many of her songs and instrumental pieces display fine artistic feeling and musical scholarship of no mean order. Catharinus Elling has ventured into the larger fields of music-forms, and has produced operas, symphonies, and oratorios, as well as chamber music and songs. Her music drama, "The Cossacks," is her most ambitious work.

Says Henry T. Finck, an able American music critic: "When I had revelled in the music of Chopin and Wagner, Liszt and Franz, to the point of intoxication, I fancied that the last word had been said in harmony and melody; when lo! I came across the songs and piano pieces of Grieg, and once more found myself moved to tears of delight." Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) undoubtedly occupies the foremost place among Norwegian composers. He is the highest representative of the Norse element in music, "the great beating heart of Norwegian musical art."

Grieg's genere pieces represent the pearls of his compositions. The arrangements of folk-songs and dances for the piano in "Pictures of Popular Life" (opus 19) are characterized by consummate lyric skill; and Ole Bull once declared that they were the finest representations of Norse life that had been attempted. Grieg wrote one hundred and twenty-five songs, most of which take high rank. Finck is of the opinion that fewer fall below par than in the list of any other song writer. He adds: "I myself believe that Grieg in some of his songs equals Schubert at his best; indeed, I think he should and will be ranked ultimately as second to Schubert only; but it is in his later works that he rises to such heights, not in the earliest ones, in which he was still a little afraid to rely on his wings."

When it is recalled that Grieg was a pianist of exceptional merit, the large place occupied by pianoforte pieces—twenty-eight of the seventy-three opus numbers—it is easily understood. Grieg's piano pieces are brief, but they are veritable gems. The Jumbo idea in music still lingers with minor professionals. They shrug their shoulders, remarks Finck, and exclaim: "Yes, that humming bird is very beautiful, but of course it can not be ranked as high as an ostrich. Don't you see how small it is?"

Grieg composed nine works for the orchestra; and here, as in lyric art-songs and pianoforte pieces, he reveals himself as a consummate master in painting delicate yet glowing colors. The music which he set to Ibsen's Peer Gynt brought him the largest measure of fame as an orchestral composer. Indeed it was more cordially received than the drama, as is indicated by this criticism by Hanslick: "Perhaps in a few years Ibsen's Peer Gynt will live only through Grieg's music, which, to my taste, has more poetry and artistic intelligence in every number than the whole five-act monstrosity of Ibsen." Among other notable orchestral and chamber music numbers may be mentioned a setting of Bjoernson's Sigurd the Crusader, Bergliot, based upon the sagas of the Norse kings, a suite composed for the two hundredth anniversary of Ludwig Holberg, and a number of choice chamber music pieces.

It may be remarked that Edvard Grieg has not only given Norway a conspicuous place on the map of musical Europe, but that he has influenced unmistakably composers of the rank of Tschaikowsky, the Russian; Paderewski, the Pole; Eugene d'Albert, the Scotch-English-German; Richard Strauss, the German; and our own lamented Edward McDowell, the American. "From every point of view that interests the music lover," says Mr. Finck, "Grieg is one of the most original geniuses in the musical world of the present or past. His songs are a mine of melody, surpassed in wealth only by Schubert's, and that only because there are more of Schubert's. In originality of harmony and modulation he has only six equals: Bach, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Wagner, and Liszt. In rythmic invention and combination he is inexhaustible, and as orchestrator he ranks among the most fascinating. To speak of such a man—seven-eighths of whose works are still music of the future—as a writer of 'dialect,' is surely the acme of unintelligence. If Grieg did stick to the fjord and never got out of it, even his German critics ought to thank heaven for it. Grieg in a fjord is much more picturesque and more interesting to the world than he would have been in the Elbe or the Spree."

While Norway has neither permanent opera nor permanent orchestras, she has produced concert virtuosi of a high order. Ole Bull, the so-called violin-king, already referred to, was unsurpassed in his day. Among piano artists may be named the talented composer, Mrs. Agatha Backer-Groendahl, Thomas Thellefsen, Edmund Neupert, Martin Knutzen, and the great composer Edvard Grieg. The flutist Olaf Svenssen and the vocal artists Thorvald Lammers, Ingeborg Oselio-Bjoernson, and Ellen Gulbranson, have also brought distinction to their country.

The male choirs of Norway have always played a leading role in the music life of the nation. The students', merchants', and artists' singing clubs at Christiania during the past seventy-five years, have had artistic as well as patriotic aims. Festivals, after the pattern of those held at Cincinnati, and Worcester and Springfield, Massachusetts, have also contributed toward the development of national music. The most eminent choral leaders in Norway have been Johan D. Behrens, F.A. Reissinger, and O.A. Groendahl. The Norwegian Musical Union has also been active in the development of tonal ideals. Its aim has been to provide chamber concerts of a high order. Grieg and Svendsen were its first conductors. They were succeded by Ole Olsen, who combined the talents of orchestral leader with those of composer, chorister, and band leader. For many years he directed the Second Brigade Band at Christiania with the rank of captain. Johan Selmer, also a composer, succeeded Olsen in the direction of the Musical Union; and Iver Holier, a composer of symphonies, orchestral suites, chamber music, and vocal scores, followed Selmer. Other orchestral leaders are Johan Hennum, Per Winge, and Johan Halvorsen,



CHAPTER XIX

THE WOMEN OF NORWAY AND SWEDEN

No volume dealing with Scandinavian life would be complete without some tribute to the women of Norway and Sweden. They are magnificent specimens wherever you may find them—in the kitchen, the factory, the harvest field, the hospital, the schoolhouse, the drawing-room, or the palace. They are good mothers, good daughters, and good wives, and while their devotion to their sons, husbands, and fathers is not surpassed by their sisters in any land, they are at the same time independent, self-reliant, and progressive to a degree that offers a striking contrast to the statue of the representatives of their sex in other countries of Europe. They give their best talents, affections, and strength; they ask the same in return. There is no country, not even the United States, where women exercise a wider influence, both direct and indirect in the home, the school, the church, upon the platform, and in the press. There is no other country in which the professions, trades, and other occupations are so free to them, or in which their opportunities are utilized with greater zeal, ability, and success. They work side by side with men upon the farms, in the factories, in mercantile establishments, counting-houses, government offices, and in art, science, and literature, and are equally capable, although, as in other lands, their pay for the same labor and equal results is less.

From the time that Margit Larsson saved Gustavus Vasa from capture by the Danish soldiers by hiding him in her cellar, the women of Sweden have exercised a powerful influence in politics, although it has been indirect, and the ablest and most progressive to-day prefer that their present political condition shall remain unchanged. They do not think it wise to extend the franchise any farther for fear that universal suffrage will result in the corruption of national politics, which is now comparatively pure. They prefer the present restrictions, which give the ballot only to women who pay taxes, because it deprives ignorant and incompetent women of a voice in the government, and avoids the dangers that often attend the participation of the masses in elections. They prefer to direct their efforts to securing an increase in women's wages, so that they may receive the same compensation as men for the same work, and hope to accomplish practical results by educating public sentiment and bringing moral pressure upon the employing class.

Speaking on this subject, an eminent Swedish writer says: "In the energetic campaign for the betterment of the condition of women, the Swedes have taken the first place among European nations. If one seeks the cause of it, it is found in part in the fact that in Sweden, since the remotest time, women have enjoyed a respect greater than in most of the other countries, but without doubt it is also due to the superiority of the intellect, judgment, and wisdom of Swedish women, and in later years to the numerical excess of women in our population. This has made the means of existence to single women a practical problem. During the present generation a great change has worked itself out in this sense, that the field of activity for women has been greatly enlarged. The activity of women, who at other times found ample domain in the multitude of occupations in the domestic life, has become less important in that respect and has grown in importance in the labor and occupations that in other countries are left exclusively to men."

The advancement of women in Sweden was greatly encouraged and assisted by the quiet influence of the late Queen Sophia and her sister-in-law, the late Princess Eugenie, the sister of Oscar II. The queen, always an intelligent, progressive Christian woman, with a profound consciousness of the responsibility attached to her official rank and influence, was a women's woman, and was habitually engaged in promoting movements for the benefit of her sex, and with due respect to the proprieties of her position. She never lost an opportunity to assist and encourage all who were engaged in advancing the physical, moral, and social well-being of the women of Sweden and Norway.

The association of Swedish Women, which is a branch of the International Council of Women, was organized in 1896, and has over twelve thousand members, its object being to promote the welfare of the sex, to educate them on all questions concerning their legal and social rights, to enlarge their sphere of activity, and to assist those who are thrown upon their own resources to earn their living. The active, practical work is done by subordinate societies devoted to particular interests, as, for example, the Fredrika Bremer Association manages a sick relief fund for wage earners, assists students in the universities and technical schools, finds employment for those who need it, conducts schools for trained nurses, keeps a register of women who are capable of performing various duties, and is continually engaged in works of benevolence.

Another organization, known as the Swedish Woman's Association for the Defense of Their Country, is purely patriotic, and was organized in 1884 in connection with the movement for the increase of the army, for the purpose of educating public opinion. It has forty affiliated local committees carrying on a propaganda of patriotism. There is a women's club at Stockholm whose special purpose is to protect working women from persecution by their employers and others, to educate them concerning legal rights of women wage-earners, and to furnish legal advice and counsel to those who are in trouble. The seamstresses have an alliance, and the shop girls are organized into a union.

The advancement of women commenced under the leadership and inspiration of the late Fredrika Bremer, the famous authoress, who is well known in the United States because of her frequent visits here and her literary works. She was the pioneer of the movement to improve the condition of women morally, socially, and intellectually.

Sweden was the first country to recognize the property rights of women. This was due to an event that occurred a thousand years ago. While the king and his army were engaged in foreign wars, the Danes invaded the province of Smoland, when the women armed themselves to defend their homes. They were led to battle by the beautiful Blenda, who defeated the invaders and drove them from the country. In recognition of their heroism the king proclaimed a decree granting the women of the country property rights, and it has been since recognized as the law of the land.

All the professions and occupations common to men are open to the women of Sweden, and in 1862 suffrage was granted women in municipal affairs. They are permitted to vote at the election of delegates to conventions which choose members of the first chamber of parliament. These rights can now be exercised by all women who pay taxes. In Stockholm, however, a woman voter must be out of debt and the lawful owner of the property upon which the taxes are paid.

The members of the first chamber of the parliament, which corresponds to the United States Senate, are elected by conventions of delegates chosen at popular elections in the country and in cities by the members of the municipal councils. Therefore, as women have the right to vote for members of the municipal council and for delegates to these conventions, they participate indirectly in the election of the Swedish Senate; but comparatively few exercise the privilege.

Women of advanced views, aided by the members of the socialist party, are now seeking universal suffrage and a law making them eligible to parliament and to membership in the provincial and municipal councils. This proposition has not met with much favor, and the only time it has ever been brought to vote it was unanimously defeated in the first chamber of parliament and in the second by fifty-three nays to forty-four yeas, less than one-half the members present voting.

The first woman to practice medicine in Sweden was Caroline Widerstrom, who is still living and occupies a prominent position in Stockholm. Her practice is as large and as profitable as that enjoyed by most of the men physicians.

The foremost woman in Sweden to-day in intellect and influence, in popular esteem and in public movements, and the recognized successor of Fredrika Bremer, is Ellen Key, an authoress and editorial writer upon Svenska Dagbladet.

In the system of local government in Norway, women now participate upon an equal basis with men. The movements which culminated May, 1901, had been going on since 1884 under the leadership of Miss Gina Krog, who may be called the Susan B. Anthony of Norway. In the latter year she organized a woman's suffrage association, delivered a series of lectures on the subject, and established a newspaper called the Nyloende—meaning "the new ground." Miss Krog is something over fifty years of age, of fine education and excellent family, and has been noted for her activity in literary and charitable affairs. She has been a teacher, a writer for the press, a director of charitable institutions, and has lived a life of great activity and usefulness, devoting her own means with generosity to the cause which she has undertaken.

The suffrage movement at first attracted little attention, but public sentiment grew slowly, and in 1890 Miss Krog succeeded in having a bill brought into the storthing giving women the right to vote in school matters. It received forty-four out of a total of one hundred and fourteen votes. The liberal party then made it an issue, and two years after the same bill received a majority in the storthing, but required two-thirds of the votes to pass. At that time a property qualification was required of men. The income tax returns were used as registration lists at the polls, and none but those who paid on incomes of $84 in the country and $92 in the city were allowed to vote.

The leaders of the movement for universal suffrage for men united forces with the women suffragists, and in 1898 accomplished their purpose. The women might have succeeded the same year but for an unfortunate division in their ranks. One faction wanted to limit suffrage to unmarried women who own property and deprive married women and dependent daughters and wage-earners of the ballot. But a compromise was finally arranged, the two factions were brought together, and in May, 1901, succeeded in accomplishing the purpose for which they have been engaged. They received the support of a large portion of the conservative members of the storthing as well as the unanimous support of the liberal and radical parties, only twenty votes being cast in the negative.

The women of Norway do not propose to rest on their present success. Miss Krog is continuing the fight to secure the right of participation in national as well as municipal affairs, and believes that the women will have all the political rights of men in Norway within the next few years. She insists that public sentiment favors the cause and that parliament will take a step further soon and amend the law by making it broader and more general. Universities are open to women on an equal basis with men, and many women are taking advantage of the opportunity to secure the higher education, and if ever, like the women of Finland, they are allowed to sit in parliament, they will be amply fitted to do so.

Under the present law only women who pay a certain amount of taxes can vote. An unmarried woman living at home is deprived of the ballot unless she has an income of her own; a married woman can not vote unless either she or her husband has a stated income. Thus many of the most intelligent and progressive women of the country are still outside the suffrage line. Everybody in Norway who earns a dollar pays an income tax. It may be very small, but a certain percentage of each day's wages of every peasant goes into the government treasury. Every person in Norway declares that it is the least objectionable means of raising money for national and municipal expenses that has ever been tried there, and that it stimulates the patriotism of the people, who realize that they are contributors to the support of their government, and should take an active interest in its management.

Many of the wisest men in Norway consider the universal suffrage amendment to the constitution, which was passed in 1898, a mistake for this reason—because it removes a powerful incentive for men to accumulate money. The Norwegian has a large and natural fund of patriotism. He loves his country like the Swiss. Nowhere else do men and women have to work so hard for a living, but life is the more precious the harder one has to labor to sustain it. We value things according to their cost. In the tropics, where no man need work, human life is held cheaply. Men die and kill without compunction; they excite revolutions and overthrow governments, sparing neither themselves nor others. But in Norway, as in Switzerland, where it is a ceaseless struggle from the cradle to the grave, there is more national pride and patriotism than in any land, and the privilege of living and working and suffering is esteemed as the most precious inheritance of man.

Women in America who are working for the ballot have only to go to Norway to find that having a voice in the making of the laws of the country does not remove every obstacle to the progress of the sex; that there are still many injustices, and that the women work as hard as the men. The Norwegian woman usually carries a little more than her share of the load, and can support a husband without difficulty if he insists upon it. There is nothing so admirable in this world as a useful woman, particularly if she is married to a man inclined to leisure and loafing. In Norway and other countries of northern Europe the ballad, "I Love to See My Dear Old Mother Work," is something more than an affectionate sentiment. It has a practical significance, and is frequently found in husbands as well as sons.

Of all the labor that the women of Norway engage in, especially women in the rural districts, is the occupation of caring for the saeter. A saeter is a summer ranch or dairy farm peculiar, to Norway—a cabin among the pastures way up in the mountains, where the cattle are driven during the summer months and butter and cheese are made. Almost every large farmer has a saeter. When the spring field work at home has been finished, the cattle are taken thither by the young women and girls,—often twenty and sometimes forty miles away,—where they stay during the summer and make butter and cheese, gather hay, knit stockings, and embroider linen. The dwelling is usually a rude hut with a single room, mud floor, an open fireplace without chimney, and a few pieces of rough furniture. Sheds and pens surround the hut, and there are patches of enclosed ground where hay is made and where the younger members of the flock are protected. The cattle are called at night by a horn made of birch bark. When blown lustily, it gives a clear note not unlike the cornet, and the cattle invariably respond to its sound.

There is a good deal of romance about saeter life in books, but I should say that there is very little in actual experience. Many of the charming fairy stories in Norwegian literature have their scenes in those mountain dairies. The saeter girls (saeterjenter they are called), have a peculiar and melodious cattle call, known as the Huldrelok, which is said to have been inherited from the Huldre-folk, a species of fairy that are very pretty, but unfortunately have tails. Usually a young farmer falls in love with one of the girls, and when he discovers that she has a tail, is so shocked and disappointed that he throws himself over a precipice; or perhaps the Huldre-folk gobble him up and carry him off into the mountains of the Josteldalsbrae and keep him there, while the girl he left behind him grieves herself to death because of his desertion.

The dairy maids are supposed to have a peculiar costume, and photographs are often seen of them arrayed in picturesque dress, but I never saw them worn. In all the saeters I visited the clothes worn were very plain and ordinary, and seemed to have been selected for wear and not for looks.

We visited a saeter one day and found two young people in charge, a boy and a girl, neither of them over seventeen, we should judge from appearances. Their herd consisted of fifteen cows, and they expected to remain in that desolate country two or three months, making cheese and butter. Our little saeterjenta had the heart of a poet, although her brother seemed stupid, and even liberal presents of money did not wake him up or make him interesting. I do not suppose that this child had ever been twenty miles from the humble cabin in which she was born, but the wide, wide world had been opened to her through the books she had studied at school. She could talk a little English, and knew a good deal about the United States. She had a brother in Minnesota, and many of the boys and girls in the neighborhood had gone across the Atlantic and found homes on the saeterless prairies of our Northwest. She would like to go herself, she said, but her mother was old and feeble and the work of the farm fell upon her little shoulders. Yet she was brave and contented. Her mind was clear, her imagination active, and among her homely surroundings she had found food for thought and an opportunity to give expression to the poetic sentiments that inspired her. Each of her fifteen cows had a name. One she called Moon Lady, because she often wanders away at night; another the Crown Wearer, because of a peculiar tuft upon her head. She addressed them all in terms of affection and talked to them, seeking their sympathy, for, poor child, they and that stupid, tow-headed broder were her only companions.

In the little saeterjenta we have a type of the laboring peasant women of Norway and Sweden; all willingly industrious and all philosophically extracting some sweets out of the burdensome life they must live, and that is why I say they deserve a tribute, whether in the field or factory, the saeter, the common home, or the palace.[s]



AUTHORSHIP OF CHAPTERS

a and b, Sigvart Soerensen's Norway (P.F. Collier, New York).

c, Nillson's Sweden (P.F. Collier, New York).

d, Sigvart Soerensen's Norway (P.F. Collier, New York).

e, Sigvart Soerensen's Norway (P.F. Collier, New York).

f, O.G. Von Herdenstam's Swedish Life in Town and Country.

_g, h_, and _i_, William E. Curtis's _Denmark, Norway, _and Sweden_ (Saafield Pub. Co., Akron, Ohio).

j, Mary Bronson Hartt, in Outlook.

k, Swedish American in Review of Reviews.

l, Wm. E. Curtis' Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and W.S. Monroe's In Viking Land (L.C. Page & Co., Boston).

m, W.S. Monroe's In Viking Land.

n, Monroe and Curtis in above-mentioned books.

o, O.G. Van Herdenstam in Swedish Life in Town and Country.

p and q, Curtis's Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

r, W.S. Monroe's In Viking Land.

s, Wm. Eleroy Curtis's Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

THE END