| Show THE MIDNIGHT SUN IN NORWAY A letter on norway written by W W thomas late U S consul at go enburg chenburg th sweden describes that far northern country and one of its peculiar phenomena imagine a huge tableland table land rising to feet sheer above the tile sea one vast rock in fact bleak and barren covered with snow swept with rain frozen in winter sodden in in summer the homo home of a few reindeer and laps and you have norway proper nine tenths of the norway that is shown on the map but the rock is not whole it is cracked apart here and there and the fissures show like slender veins over the country the sides of these ravines ar are aro e steep as the cleft left by an axe and their depths are always filled by a foaming brook or river tumbling along from the drenched tableland table land above to the sea I 1 have looked up from the bottom of one of these valleys and seen the perpendicular rock rise 5 feet on either side and heaven show ck like ilke east cast a strip rip of blue ribbon wherever in these dales lies a bit of earth twixt rock and river there the norwegian peasant has built his cot and it is on such bits of earth that inhabited norway is situated nd here live its people Theland the land just round his bis door gives the corwe norwegian ianco potatoes rye barley and oats his cattle climb the steeps above for every stray blade for the rest he depends upon sea and river were it not for the excellent fisheries along this northern shore norway would be uninhabitable one night in july 1860 1865 hon J H campbell late minister at stockholm the two buckley of birmingham and landed en on the shore 0 of f a northern fiord in latitude goo 60 north we ascended a cliff which rose bold about one thousand feet above the sea it was late but still sunlight theara the arctic ocean stretched away in silent vastness at our feet the sound of its waves scarcely reached our airy lookout look out away in the north the huge old sun swung low along the horizon like the slow alow beat of the pendulum in the tall clock in our grandfathers parlor corner we all stood silent looking at our watches when both hands came together at 12 midnight the full round orb hung triumphantly above the wave wave abridge of gold running due north spanned the waters between us and him there he shone in silent majesty which knew no setting we involuntarily took oft off word was said com corn bine if you can the most brilliant sunset and sunrise you ever saw and its it beauties will pale before the most gorgeous coloring which now it lit up the oceana ocean heaven and mountain in half an hour the sun had swung up perceptibly en on its beat tile the colors changed to those of morning afresh breeze rippled over the fiord one so songster 13 agster after another biped piped up in the th e grove behind us we ba had slid into another day |
