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UNSOPHISTICATED POLITENESS.
47
upon coffee in bed, and that the natives have concluded
thereafter that such is the common high-life habit of
Englishmen, and indulge every Englishman accordingly.
With the exception of myself, all Englishmen who
travel in Norway are regarded either as lords or
members of Parliament; and it was evidently because I was
not supposed to be either of these, but rather a
travelling tinker, that I was located in the peasant’s
lodging-room last night. The regular tariff for that sort of
lodging is two skillings—rather less than one penny per
night.
I had fladbröd after the coffee, and received very
anxious attention from all parties: being evidently
considered an M.P. this morning, the people of the house
were most desirous to conciliate, supposing me to have
been much offended the night before. This, of course,
was not the case; for, in spite of the dirt, the
knife-licking, and the rheumatic window, kindness and
goodwill were evident throughout. If a traveller enters an
inn with muddy hobnailed boots, incomprehensible
rough flannel clothes, and a pack on his back, he must
expect to be taken for a tinker; and if he is treated
with kindness under those circumstances, he has
stronger reason to be grateful than if he had been
preceded by a courier with a bag of money. There
was more true politeness in the act of the dirty
man when he licked the knife so carefully and
presented it with a bow to the poor tinker, than in the
smirking obsequiousness of the smartest waiter at
Mivart’s when receiving a newly arrived prince. He
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