n, almost in its original
form, for in some matters the Norwegians are most conservative. Though
not, perhaps, what we would consider a religious-minded people, they
are naturally good, honest, and kind, and they take their religion on
trust. They pay tithes, and give Easter and Christmas offerings to
their clergy willingly, since they regard the priest as a superior
person, and hold him in high esteem. He is a man, like his fellows,
and farms his own land, which appeals to the people in the country
parts. Moreover, he is possessed of learning, and away from the towns
he is mainly responsible for the national education.

Often the journey to church is long, for the farms lie far apart, and
when the church is distant ponies or boats are brought into requisition
for the conveyance of, at any rate, the women and children. Down by
the fjord on a fine Sunday morning the sight of the boats crossing
over to a church is a picturesque one. Deep laden with men, women,
and children, they come one after another; and when they reach the
shore, the women take their clean white head-dresses and gay kerchiefs
out of the compact little _tiner_ (oval chip-wood boxes), and finish
their toilets before going up to the church.

The Norwegian Sabbath begins on Saturday evening and ends at noon
on Sunday, after which time the day is spent in simple enjoyment
as a true holiday. Then in the evening the boats start for home,
and across the still waters one may hear the women singing glees,
as often as not to the accompaniment of the fiddle.

A wedding causes quite as much interest and excitement in Norway as it
does in England, and in the olden time the festivities lasted for a
week or more. Nowadays the merry-making has been somewhat curtailed,
but the actual ceremony has lost none of its solemnity and little
of its brightness. In the towns civilization has robbed the wedding
of its picturesqueness. The men are clothed in their best "blacks,"
as if going to a funeral, and the ladies wear dresses of Parisian
style. But away in the depths of the country one may still see a real
Norwegian wedding, with the bride and bridesmaids, if not also most of
the guests, dressed in the national costume, and it is a pretty sight.

In front comes a _stolkjaerre_, the pony being led by the master of
the ceremonies. On the seat sits the bride in the full dress of the
country, and wearing her bridal crown; by her side the bridegroom,
also well adorned for the