Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter XV
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
270 THROUGH NORWAY WITII A KNAPSACK.
ground near the falls. A day and a half is quite
sufficient for this excursion, half a day for the ascent of the
valley, and a day for exploring the falls and returning;
or, with a moderate effort, it might be all done in a
clay.
Walking back to Tyssedal, I took a boat, and
reached Odde, at the end of the fiord, the same
evening.
The closing of the fiord at Odde is very fine, and the
situation of the station very beautiful. I had almost
said the situation of the hotel; but this would be a
libel, for the disagreeable animal with a cloth squeezed
between his elbow and side is not to be seen here.
Fortunately for me, and all who feel as I do, the
Norwegians have no idea of male domestics; they cling to
the natural notion that household duties belong to
woman. How anybody not absolutely sold in slavery
to the dreadful despotism of fashion, can prefer a
male to a female waiter, I cannot possibly understand.
On the very few occasions when I have dined with a
footman standing at my chair-back, my appetite has
been spoiled by the disagreeable sensation of a sort of
nightmare influence behind me, and a feeling that the
poor fellow must be either ashamed of his occupation and
continually wishing to be a blacksmith, or else satisfied
with it and therefore out of the pale of manhood
altogether. Women delight in feeding or nursing, or
somehow personally tending their fellow-creatures; and when
they wait at table, do so cheerfully, and are performing
their natural duty. Men waiters are always disagree-
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
