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TIIE PASTOR OF LOM.
203
down ; I remained for a short time, until some of the
giddiness passed away, and then got up, and pushed on
at a rapid pace to the station. It was a poor place, but
inhabited by kind people, who seemed rather surprised
and alarmed when I told them something about my
journey. They brought bacon, fladbröd, and milk. I
only proposed to eat very little, but I found myself
unable to eat any solid whatever; so, after taking a
draught of milk, I went to bed, and slept soundly for
about four hours.
On awaking, I found a stout gentleman sitting at
my bedside. He was the pastor of Lom. A
Norwegian pastor is not merely a preacher ; he is clergyman,
physician, magistrate, arbitrator, and general friend
and father, to whom all his scattered parishioners
appeal. In a country where there are none but
peasant farmers—no aristocracy, no gentry, no towns
or villages, 110 shopkeepers, no professional class—a
highly educated man must be strangely isolated, and,
unless endowed with the true spirit of Christian
benevolence, must be one of the most miserable of men; but, if
suited to his work, he may be one of the happiest, for
his opportunities of doing unmistakeable good, and of
witnessing the full fruits of his good deeds, are almost
unlimited. Most of these Norwegian pastors are, I
believe, excellent men, and render great services to the
people around.
In the present instance, the paternal relations of the
good pastor of Lom were illustrated in my case, for he
sat at my bedside, where he had evidently been watch-
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