The telegraph system is owned by the government, which charges a uniform rate of fifteen cents for ten words to any part of the country.

CHAPTER XV

THE PEOPLE:  THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

Because of its geographic isolation, the Scandinavian peninsula is the home of the purest Teutonic ethnic stock.  The Norwegians, Icelanders, Swedes, and Danes are racially closely related, and they belong to the same branch of the Aryan family as the Germans, Flemish, English, and Anglo-Americans.  Physically, these people are powerfully built and tall, of the pure Scandinavian type, with fair hair and blue eyes, and their healthy, intelligent look strikes the traveler.  In addition to the physical characteristics held in common by these Scandinavian peoples, the Norwegians are to be specially noted for their long narrow heads, particularly is this so among the people in the interior of the country.  Here, too, the stature is the greatest.  During the Civil War in the United States, it was found that among the enlisted troops the Norwegians, after the Americans, had the greatest stature, and that in breadth of chest they were excelled by none.  It is probably true, however, that the Norwegians who emigrate represent the finest physical types, and that they possess a higher average stature than one finds in Norway to-day, if the most northerly provinces are excepted.

The Norwegians are a very plain people—­neither pretty nor handsome.  The women are strong and square-built, and what beauty they have is of the solid and substantial sort.  Of the two sexes, the men are the better proportioned, both in the matter of figures and features.  They have light complexions,—­barring the bronzing of the skin due to constant exposure,—­light hair, blue eyes, and reasonably well-formed noses.  Both men and women have frank and open countenances.

The most marked mental characteristics are clear insight, unconquerable pertinacity, dogged obstinacy, absolute honesty, and a sturdy sense of independence.  Bjoernson has well remarked concerning his people:  “Opinions are slowly formed and tenaciously held, and much independence is developed by the rigorous isolation of farm from farm each on its own freehold ground, unannoyed and uncontradicted by any one.  The way the people work together in the fields, in the forests, and in their large rooms has given them a characteristic stamp of confidence in each other.”  It is perhaps this isolation that has perpetuated so many of the old customs and superstitions for which the Norwegians are noted.

William Eleroy Curtis tells of seeing the funeral of one of these Norway farmers: