he
r-
1ts
ir
nse
per
1 to
not
be
.CO
dd 5
Win
the
eep
1 do
e |
in
nall
s to
& H
nny
our
10ss
one-
vay,
six
f ex-
eral
ping
for
by Hix
Norway has simply got to
be the cleanest place on earth.
There lay Bergen, sparkling in
the sunshine at the head of its
crystal fjord, no smog to inter-
fere with the view from the
plane. We registered at a
student dormitory, noted with
delight the rolled-up edierdowns
in their starched jackets, in-
spected the plumbing (This got
be a habit, for in each student
dorm the facilities were differ-
ent, though they all featured the
main attraction, which was a
flush tank with the lift rod pro-
truding through the top, capped
by a knob, no levers, no side
arm gear where the suction can
prevent a valve from nesting
sdqgurely.) American manufac-
turers take note. This is a fool-
proof system, though dobutless
hard on the plumbing profession
i which is accustomed to answer-
ing calls of “The water’s run-
ning through and I can’t make it
”
stop,” or ‘the wire dingus is
broken, can you come?’ With
direct lift vertically, the valve
stays put, never any problem
about seating it.
The showers in the student
dorms are designed for single
occupancy of a room. With two
people assigned to each room,
asin the tourist season, the first
customer at the shower has it
all.kis own way. The tiled floor
fli¥s, the drain gurgles, and
the customer can step up onto
the toilet seat for a basis for to-
vying while the tide ebbs. The
second person has the choice
between wearing those green
rubber skindiving fins or hip
boots. In the first domicile in
Sweden, there was a suggestion
of a curtain which did little to
deflect the cascade. From then
on, there was no protective cur-
tain, and you took your chances.
Get up at five a.m. to beat your
room-mate, or waken just in
time for breakfast and swim for
your life. There was an almost
universal switch to sponge
baths along the middle of Den-
mark. Easier on the hair if
you'd visited a damefrisor and
parted with Kronen to get a
shampoo and a wave.
One dorm had a unique
feature. The shower was
loc ted 1 right over the toilet. We
“dissed possible “procedure.
“All suggestions were turned
down as impractical, including
the proposal that one foot in the
john might be the solution. Any
group which has been traveling
togiather for some time is spt to
be¥me a little earthy in its ap-
proach to problems.
You've heard a lot about
lact of inhibition in Scan-
dinavia. Pay it no mind. The
young folks of Norway hike
practically constantly, with
fifty-pound packs strapped to
their backs. Uphill they go,
toward the source of the wild
waterfalls, climbing over crags,
hobnobbing with the reindeer,
working off a load of potential
sin in the course of a thirty-mile
=REUPHOLSTERY:
M. B. Bedding completely rebuilds
your furniture then recover it
. your choice of lovely fabrics
and serviced it.
SUCKER vICY
B
ow
c
oN
1
£ {
0
3
Special Care To Antiques
ve Qwer 50. Years Dependable Service
*M. B. BEDDING CO.
526 So. ‘Main nS ‘Wilkes-Barre — 822-2491
ad _—_ BUICK |
T966 Buick Electra
2 door, hard top, V-8, automatic, power steering,
power brakes, power windows, VERDI green
with light green interior. We sold this car new
One Owner—Locally Owned
A-1 CONDITION — $1695.00
Better Now Car Deals At ..
| COMMUNITY
MOTORS
588 MARKET ST., KINGSTON
Phone 287-1188-Open Evenings "til 9
day, registering at a hotel along
toward eight o'clock, streaming
with rain, blistered as to feet,
hair both male and female
hanging in dank strands, yearn-
ing for nothing more than a hot
bath, something to eat, and a
toss in the eiderdown. Not a pre-
nuptial toss, just a plain ordin-
ary toss designed to restore
energy for the next day’s thirty-
mile climb.
Bergen’s waterfront is
filled with ships from every
nation, including Russia. A
hammer and sickle on a funnel
looked odd at first, but its ap-
pearance is standard in ‘any
Scandinavian port. Remember
that Norway is a seafaring
nation, with tentacles reaching
out into away-and-beyond. It
was a seafaring nation before
the United States was even
dreamed of, and it goes steadily
about its business of remaining
a seafaring nation. You will find
chunks of raw red meat in the
fish market. It’s whale meat.
And whale steak is utterly delic-
ious, something which Hix, with
memories of the whale meat in
Cambridge during the first
World War, is reluctant to
admit, but let justice be done.
We had a platter of whale steak
with onion gravy dt the com-
mons in Oslo, and it would have
satisfied Nero Wolfe,
Nobody could possibly de-
scribe the scenery of Norway,
though travel folders make a
pale attempt.
For one thing, it is clean,
clean, clean. There are no anti-
litter signs. Norwegians really
love their country ‘and they
would not dream of defiling it
with trash. The absence of
smog, considering what the
Eastern Seaboard in this
country has been up against for
the past several weeks, is the
main contribution to clean
living. Hydroelectric power is
the answer. With all that poten-
tial power gushing down the
mountains, on its way to feed
the fjords, there is no need for
other fuel for generators. Elec-
tricity is cheap. Isolated farm-
steads on the tips of rocky
headlands have washing ma-
chines, and electric heat. Thin
power lines cobweb themselves
out of the consumer, and when
central ‘power: “is. lacking “a
“Householder car ‘Harness ao
waterfall for an independent
supply.
Farmers are subsidized, for
production of food is all-import-
ant. Education is also subsid-
ized. These benefits are reflect-
ed in the tax rate, which is a
staggering fifty percent. But
children have state dental and
medical care, nobody goes
hungry, any man who wants
work can find it. It is a Socialist
state even though it has a king.
Those potato patches,
bright green and luxuriant,
alongside every rurual home in
Norway, are a reminder of the
Occupation during World War
II, when Norwegians lived on
potatoes and potatoes almost
BUICK
OPEL
iN
ERR
ing lal :
“But,” explained
the courier, “the children’s
teeth did not suffer. Potatoes
have lost of vitamins and min-
erals.” One of the group mut-
tered, “Look, Ma, no cavities,
but I gained thirty-five pound-
9
S.
exclusively.
That was Mrs. MacDuffy,
who, as an instructor in home
economics, was up on her
calorie counts and her basic nu-
trition chart, a wad of common
sense and practically compres-
sed into a small body which
could dance rings around half
the group and give the other
half a do-si-do for its money.
The entire roster of folk dancers
on the tour was comprised of
professional people, teachers,
doctors, retired educators and
such, welded together by a com-
mon interest in preserving tra-
ditional forms of folk lore.
Not square dancing as such.
Square dancing is related to folk
dancing, but not per se folk dan-
cing. Not country dancing,
either. The correct term for
country dancing is contra-dan-
cing, a precise rendition of tra-
ditional steps combined with
tunes handed down over the
ages, and differing in every
land, but strangely allied in
concept. The identical figures
occur in many lands, interpret-
ed according to native heritage.
Good spectator sport as
well as participant sport. Hix
spectated, though she used to
shake a mean leg.
where's that dulcimer?
page the carrier pigeon
It was in Norway that the
Odyssey of the missing dul-
cimer began.
Part and parcel of the props
of the Folk dance group, it was a
valuable piece of business. It
had boarded the train in
Bergen, slung from Margaret’s
shoulder, and had been seen in
the luggage rack by the dan-
cers, who were then engaged in
singing rounds, gathered about
the seats of the leading singers.
But nobody had seen it on the
second train, the one which
plunged on its silver rails down
through tunnels and snow barri-
cades, around dizzying hairpin
curves, on its way to Flam,
while crossing the spiny ridge of
"the Norwegian ‘mountains.
A dulcimer is not often en-
countered these days. It is clas-
sified as an ancient instrument,
lies flat on the lap, and is cares-
sed by the fingers of the music-
ian, who uses it to accompany
ballads and folk songs. Its loss
would cancel out an interesting
THE DALLAS POST, AUGUST 20, 11970
part of the proposed program in
Denmark.
' The padded and embroider-
ed carrying case was not among
the baggage shuttled across the
gangway between one steamer
and the next on the fjord. It
wasn’t in the dunnage delivered
later in the day at the ski lodge
high in the mountains. It wasn’t
among the clutch of suitcases
which reached the university
dormitory in Oslo.
A telephone call by the
courier established that it had
been taken from the train and
delivered to the lunch-stop res-
taurant at Flam, a village at the
head of the fjord. It would be
sent on along with the next
group of tourist to cross the
ridge. Further telephoning in
Oslo yeilded nothing. Bus after
bus pulled up at the University
headquarters. Still nothing.
This dulcimer was not just any
run-of-the-mill dulcimer. It had
been made especially for Mar-
garet by her grandfather, with
skill and with loving hands. Its
loss was much greater than that
of an instrument which could be
purchased in a store.
The last night of the stay in
Oslo, the day before emplaning
for Denmark, there was a phone
call from the office. The dul-
cimer had arrived, or some-
thing which the switchboard op-
erator believed to be a dul-
cimer. Would Margaret come
down to headquarters and iden-
tify her property? Margaret
flew. Ten minutes later she was
back with the dulcimer, pre-
pared to stage concerts all over
the dorm. How did it come? The
dancers were anxious to know.
The dulcimer had become a
vital part of their existence. It
was THEIR dulcimer. They had
lost sleep over it, followed its
problematical journeys, and
now they needed information so
that the matter could be decent-
ly buried.
It would be fun to report
that it came by carrier pigeon,
remembering Mark Twain’s re-
luctance to spoil a good story
with strict adherence to the
truth, but the fact is that it came
on the shoulder of a girl on the
back of a motorcycle, a girl in a
crash helmet who was glad to
hand it over. She had been; she
said; under-the impression thats
she wds transporting some sort
of a ‘fancy bit of armament,
probably a machine-gun. She
had simply accepted responsi-
bility for its delivery as a:
matter of course, a courtesy
from one world traveler to an-
other. Scandinavians equate
cleanest place on earth (with whale meat, yet)
Americans with gangsters,
gangster with guns.
We wanted to ask if she had
stayed at the fabulous ski lodge,
but she was up and away,
scorching down the quiet streets
of Oslo, her hair streaming
from beneath her crash helmet.
The ski lodge had been the
high point of the stay in Nor-
way, with its huge fireplaces
and blazing logs, its big dance
floor for needed practice, and
its entire second floor given
over to the group.
There were still ravines
filled with snow on this high and
forbidding plateau. Dag had
stopped the bus, and we had
tumbled out to snow ball each
other, with Oslo, and the highest
ski-jump in the world, still
many miles away.
We began talking about
maybe buying a reindeer skin.
Tourist-traps at the restaurant
in Flam had been stocked with
stacks of skins, and here in the
mountains were skins, still in
residence, still attached to the
reindeer. Nice heavy fur, black
and white and grey. Later, the
stores in Oslo were crawling
with reindeer skins, nicely tan-
ned, soft to the touch, and not
too costly—if you happened to
want reindeer skin for in front
of your fireplace. Most of us
tossed a coin, reindeer skin or
Norwegian ski sweater, the cost
about identical. (I have a ski
sweater in which I will doubt-
less look like the Old Man of the
Mountain, model. I felt I could
get along without a reindeer
skin, though it was tempting.
Where else can you get a rein-
deer skin except in Norway?
But you can’t buy everything
that you see in the stores, and a
few pennies had to be saved for
shopping in Copenhagen.)
That’s the trouble with
traveling, you see things you
want, and if you pass them up
you'll never see them again
except in an American store
marked ‘“Made in Japan.” And
that’s a tag which is guaranteed
to take the bead off the wine.
On the way down the moun-
tainside toward Oslo, Dag
pointed out barn roofs with
grass growing on them and an
occasional small tree. He said
that when the grass needed
mowing, the farmer lifted the“
family goat up to the roof and
let it earn its board and keep.
When the grass was neatly clip-
ped, he lifted it down again and
milked it.
Dag, with small confidence
in tourists, didn’t let us out of
the bus at the university dorms
_a
cet So.
ms ———
P.O. Box 859
730 ON YOUR DIAL
Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18701
822-6108
Serving Northeastern Pennsylvania
On A Clear Channel
Now we aren’t about to say that WNAK plays some of.
the nicest music around, but a lot of folks
Phones: (AC 717)
735-0730
WALL TO WALL CARPETING
~ OR ANY ROOM SIZE RUGS
COMMERCIAL CARPETING
FOR KITCHENS, BATHROOMS, OR HEAVY TRAFFIC AREAS
WALKER'S
THE REGION'S LARGEST RUG MART
ROUTE 309 HAZELTON — ROUTE 6 EYNON
1-455-5879 PHONE COLLECT 1-876-2828
Open Every Night Until 9
NO DOWN PAYMENT— 3 YEARS TO PAY
SAMPLES BROUGHT TO YOUR HOME
PAGE FIVE
Wyoming Nat'l. Bank
names another director
I. Eric Feldman
until he had procured registra-
tion and room keys for every-
body. He said it saved time and
complications to get these mat-
ters out of the way, that he’d put
our baggage in our rooms, right
this way, please. And remem-
ber to close the windows before
leaving for dinner, as the rooms
were on the ground floor and
even in Oslo there was no per-
centage in inviting trouble. And
don’t forget to turn in your keys
when you leave.
Three days later, remem-
bering to turn in our keys, we
left for Copenhagen, accompan-
ied by protests from other tour-
ists, “Hey, have a heart, it’s
Sunday morning. Cut the
racket.”
canning caution
The pressure canner is the
safest and best way to can low-
acid vegetables, reminds
Louise W. Hamilton, extension
food and nutrition specialist at
The Pennsylvania State Univer-
sity. Ten pounds pressure gives .
a temperature of 240 degrees
which is necessary to process
low-acid foods. The oven is not
safe for canning.
DALLAS AUTO
Toad
FURNITURE
UPHOLSTERING
® Kitchen Chairs
® Truck Seats
®@ Boat Tops
® Lawn Furniture
Route 309
Across From
Shady Side Lake
675-5882
We'll find out if your oil burner is
robbing you of heating efficiency.
Our free Heating Efficiency Test
provides a solid estimate of fuel
The appointment of I. Eric
Feldman, Wilkes-Barre, to the
board of directors of the Wyom-
ing National Bank of Wilkes-
Barre, effective Aug. 7, brought
the number of members to 21, it
was announced by Hareld J.
Rose Jr., president of the bank.
Mr. Feldman is vice president
of Standard Equity Corp.,
Wilkes-Barre, which operates a
chain of finance offices in
‘Eastern Pennsylvania.
A native of Swoyerville, he is
the son of the late Mr. and Mrs.
S.M. Feldman. He is a graduate
of Luzerne High School and re-
ceived his B.S. degree at the
University of Scranton. He
served in the Army during
World War II.
Mr. Feldman is a director of
Pennsylvania Consumer . Fin-
ance Association; former vice
chairman of the Wilkes-Barre
Housing Authority; active in
UJ.A. and Jewish National
Fund drives; he has served on
many committees with the
Pennsylvania Consumer Fin-
ance Association.
He is active as a Mason and
Shriner, holding memberships
in Lodge No. 61, F & AM; a
member of the Wilkes-Barre
Rotary Club, and Jewish Com-
munity Center. He is a member
of Ohav Zedek.
Other members of the Bank’s
board are Noel B. Caverly,
chairman; Bernard C. Banks,
C. C. Groblewski, M.D.,
Thomas M. Lewis, H.M. Vivian,
Sterling L. Wandell, Joseph H.
Williams, Nathan L. Foreman,
George L. Ruckno, Charles A.
Shea Jr., Max Rosenn, Laning
Harvey, Darrel Crispell, John
Daugherty, Frank M. Henry,
Roy A. Gardner, John N. Con-
yngham, Edgar G. Scott,
Harold J. Rose Jr., and Barry
C. Boyer.
1967 fabrics act
offers protection
Consumers who take ad-
vantage of flame-retardant
fabrics can help reduce the in-
juires and deaths that occur
each year from clothing cat-
ching on fire, says Ruth Ann
Wilson, extension clothing
specialist at The Pennsylvania
State University.
The Flammable Fabrics Act
of 1967 provides for the elimina-
tion of hazardous flammable
fabrics used in wearing apparel
and home furnishings. This act
also gives the Department of
Commerce the authority to es-
tablish more extensive test
standards for judging fabric
flammability. Fabrics that do
no meet flammability stand-
ards must be either flameproof-
ed or destroyed, Mrs. Wilson
points out.
Because of government’s con-
cern for safety, fiber and fabric
manufacturers are increasing
their efforts to provide flame-
retardant fibers.
Fiber producers are experi-
menting with changing the
polymers before the fibers are
formed or changing the molecu-
lar structure by grafting after
the fiber is formed to produce
flame-retardant fibers. The
technique used will depend on
the cost.
HAMS
Country Fresh
Da ings Country Smoked
PORK SAUSAGE
DARING’S
MARKET
Memorial Highway, Dallas
674-8481
89: Ib.
250 ¢ Ib.
modern Gulf
savings that you can get with a
Econojet Oil Burner.
Find out how much you can save.
Call us today.
I'd like a free Heating Efficiency Test to find out if my present oil burner
is a heat thief.
Name
Address
(Please Print)
Phone
ECONOJET
Charles H. Long
SWEET VALLEY
477-5210