This revealing insight into Norway of the late 1880's was written by Norway’s then most famous author, orator and poet, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. He took a serious look at the state of his homeland and its inhabitants as only he could. After visiting almost the entire country, traveling, as the saying goes, on all its highways and byways, he had acquired a penetrating and often unusually revealing insight into what was then (obviously) a very rough and backwards nation, as it was slowly emerging from medieval slumber.In his writings Bjørnson described a rather poor and primitive rural society, which had been isolated and secluded under Danish sovereignty and Swedish usurpation for more than 500 years. In light of Norway’s present circumstances and civility, as one of the world’s richest nations, this serious look at the state of affairs over a hundred years ago is a remarkable opportunity to assess the growth of a small but fiercely independent nation.The Bjørnson story appeared in 1889 in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. This famous magazine which serialized mostly books, especially English novels, chose its content primarily on the basis of quality. Through its early years it also carried many invited articles by leading American and British writers. As a unique illustrated monthly magazine it soon became famous for its appealing contents, rapidly attracting readers in the Eastern states of America. The success of the magazine was further assured by printing material otherwise often difficult or impossible to obtain in the United States.Another and perhaps as influential reason for its early success might have been its unique, first class illustrations in the form of woodcuts. Some of these could actually be in the form of cartoon-like renditions of people and places, created by its staff of illustrators and artists. A few examples of this have been reproduced in the present e-book.The three parts of Bjørnson’s text was printed in the February-April 1889 issues of Harper's and they are here reproduced with only minor changes. This includes updating the spelling of certain Norwegian words and names, to make the reader able to understand the dialogues and locate the actual places on a modern road-map. On purpose we have let the name of Norway’s capital, Oslo, retain its older name, Christiania, since it allowed us to maintain the sense of the late 1880's. We hope you will enjoy this unique look at yesteryear’s Norway.