ight to the poor mariner.
What a comfort for the seafarer to know that there is such a famous race
of fishermen here, willing and ready to man the life-boat and rescue
them from the angry, engulfing waters! You would never guess these seas
could be otherwise than kind when you enter their smiling depths for a
swim on a calm, sunny day. How gentle and invigorating they can be the
fishermen as well as the visitors know, and any morning you may see the
former returning from their daily dip with dripping heads and towels
along the shore. Somehow these fishermen are always picturesque. In the
summer evening, sitting or lying on the sunlit beach, smoking their
cutty-pipes and waiting for the time to launch their boats for the
fishing, they make an impressive picture. Kindly blue eyes and
weather-beaten faces look at you from under the sou'westers, while blue
jerseys, long sea-boots with curled-over tops and oil-skins, complete
the sea-going outfit. Fully equipped, they charm the eye of the most
fastidious, and it is little wonder that they have become subjects for
famous artists and poets.

These fishermen are very devout, and before launching their boat they
all stand round it with clasped hands and bowed heads, offering up a
short, silent prayer for help and protection on these dangerous waters.
Then, pushing the boat out into the water, they jump in while it
floats--sea-boots getting wet in the process--and wave farewell to their
children on the shore, who cry in return "Farvel Fa'er!"

Lars Kruse, the late captain of the life-boat at Skagen, has had a
beautiful monument raised to his memory, and his son will show you with
great pride the cups and medals he left behind as mementoes of his brave
deeds. These medals have been presented by many different nations whose
sea-farers have been saved by him. Amongst these is one given by Queen
Victoria.

Captain Larsen, a well-known mariner, who, on retiring from his post on
one of the light-ships, settled at Old Skagen, has left a unique
collection to the village. This now constitutes a museum of exquisitely
carved furniture, much of it inlaid with ivory, marbles and metals in
dainty designs, all made by this old sailor during the last twelve years
of his life--a wonderful record of industry. Old Skagen is a quaint
fisher-village, nestling behind the sand-dunes, trying to shelter itself
from the sand and sea-storms to which these shores are subjected.

Many of these fisher-fol