Within the limits of the
kingdom are all grades of restriction, from prohibition to liberal
license. There are no pretensions about the Norwegians; there is no
affectation about their morals and no leniency in the administration
of their laws. The police and the magistrates are merciless and
inexorable, and crime is punished more severely perhaps than in any
other country. At the same time the people distinguish an important
difference between temperance and total abstinence. They give their
children beer in unlimited quantities, but absolutely prohibit the
sale of whisky, and send drunken men to prison with burglars and
assassins. Norwegian reformers hold that beer is the great promoter of
temperance, and encourage its use as a beverage, although every saloon
in the kingdom is closed on Sundays, on all holidays, and Saturday
afternoon, which is the regular pay day for the working classes. These
are practical regulations, devised for the purpose of restraining
those who are not capable of controlling their own appetites and
encouraging thrift and economy. While the saloons are closed on pay
day, the savings banks are open until midnight.
It is difficult to become accustomed to the long twilights in Norway.
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