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not when his horses were tired? Must not Olaf ant evening, the kettle and the bucket, the canOlafson be at home for the afternoon's service? dle and the lamp in a peasant's kitchen begin to We tried to coax the little fellow to do our will, tell stories? The matches too are not silent, and Gustaf in his zeal to serve us spoke rather and boast most loudly of their lofty descent. harshly to him, when down he jumped, and, ere Had not their father been of the greatest of his we suspected what he was about, coolly began kind, a tall, stately fir tree in the forest? When to undo the traces. We had already driven faster they were green yet, they were so happy! Every than we ought, he said, and his horses must be morning and evening they had diamond-tea, that brought home. There stood this boy not yet in was the dew, all day long glorious sunlight, and his teens, in stature hardly reaching up to his all the little birds singing to them and telling them horses' shoulders, and went stoutly, resolutely to fairy-tales. They were among the richest too, work, defying us three grown men! Truly, they for the birches and maples had clothes only in are a fine race of men, these Dalecarlians! They summer, but they were wealthy enough to wear show it in all their manners and customs. Thus their gay, green dress throughout the year. But they say "thou" to every body and demand con- then came the wood-cutter,-that was the great sideration from the highest. When some hun- Revolution, and their family was cut down; dreds of them, years ago, were employed by the the great ancestor, to be sure, now stood in the late king to level and plant the public park near middle of a large ship and sailed around the Stockholm, it happened that the treasury was world; the branches were sent abroad among empty and they were not paid. One day the the people to enlighten it, but they, the matchking came out and rode through the park; sud-es, alas! were sadly degraded and lay in the denly he finds himself surrounded by these Dale- kitchen of a poor old woman! carlians; they approach, hat in hand, and one of them walks up to him, takes his hand, and says: Father, surely it is not thy will that we should work for thee and not be paid; if it be thy will, it is not ours!"

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Suddenly we came upon a "clearing" in the forest. A large, newly-built house with its moss between the logs yet golden-green, and its new red color scarcely dry, stood upon the side of a gently sloping hill; two smaller buildings, not finished We yielded, the bold boy leaped on his horse yet, enclosed an open grass-plot, in the centre of and gallopped off, promising to send postillion which a beautiful fountain rose. A little, busand horses from the "Gastgifvergarden," as the tling stream fell behind the principal building stations are called, to our carriage which we left from rock to rock, gaily dashing its waters into on the high road, equally sure that it would not silvery spray, until just under the verandah it be touched, and that it would not be in the way disappeared for a moment, brilliantly again to any traveller, for travellers there are none. rise in a most beautiful jet glistening like crystal We walked down to the church. And what a in the sun. What a lesson for a desponding, walk we had! Now through dark forests, the cowardly misanthrope like myself! A group of road lined with gigantic trees, now over a bar- gentlemen and ladies stood before the gate, which ren granite rock, crowning an eminence and giv- opened upon a little garden, and gazed curiously ing us such a prospect over lake and plain and at us. But what was our amazement, when on mountain as no country but Switzerland can coming nearer, we discovered a rough sign-board equal. There is something very noble in those over the entrance with the inscription-Water “noble” firs, as Linné used to call them. Dark Cure Establishment! To be sure, there among and sombre is their dress, but how lofty they rise; the rocks, were all their mysterious sheds with never straying aside, never bending and twisting their douches and wave-baths and setting-baths, in fantastic forms, but tall and erect striving up and there stood the luckless company, congratutowards Heaven, throwing off their lower branch-lating each other upon the abundance of red spots es as they ascend higher and higher, until they and pleasant eruptions of skin they observed in bathe their gently waving tops in the blue ether. each other's faces! As your eye follows the slender and yet manly We caused them, I fear, bitter disappointment; stem from its moss-grown foot up to its lofty they had evidently considered us a pleasant adsummit, your soul too seems to ascend from the dition to their number, and must now see us pass earth and your thoughts follow the silent moni- by! A few minutes brought us to the church of or and wander up to that God who is equally Rattvik, a large stone building with all the tragreat in the tiny moss of yesterday, and the gi-ces of old age, but with gradual additions about it. gantic tree of centuries. Here and there one of It struck me, that the often-mentioned good taste the mighty ones had fallen, shivered by lightning, of the monks of old in selecting the most beautiful and I could not help thinking of Andersen's, the sites for their convents, was by no means confined Danish poet's amusing tale of the bundle of to the Catholic church. Here were large old natches. Do you remember, how, one pleas-churches in considerable numbers, built during a

time when sober, puritanic Protestantism succeed-| seat on the parapet of the church-yard wall when ed brilliant, imaginative Catholicism, and yet the doors opened and the congregation came out. could grander, more beautiful, more picturesque Quietly, silently, they left the house of God; at positions be chosen than the three peninsulas be- the door they waited until all the members of fore us! Boldly, abruptly jutting forth into the the family were together, and then the father lake, they rose gradually, heaping rock upon rock, would look up into his beloved wife's eyes, and until at the highest point they rounded off in they would thank God in their hearts, and bandsteep, lofty cliffs, leaving at their basis but a in-hand, the children clustering around them, small, narrow edge of finest sand, as on purpose they slowly walked down to the water's edge. for the boats that brought the pious from North How sadly the poor widow with her orphan child and South to the ministrations of the altar. looks around her! He is not there to offer his Noble did the church of Rattvik seem, as its stately mass crowned the eminence and its golden cross soared high in the air, whilst through the open windows the solemn harmony of a thousand voices rose up to Heaven. Beneath it the dark but clear waters,-around it the green, old forests with their granite neighbors, and right opposite, in the lake, another church rising from the very centre of the glassy sheet, and to the North still another with its lofty tower-and not a human habitation within sight! Truly God was felt here.

hand, and, a tear stealing down her blanched cheek, she follows the happy group. There too is the poor old father with his silver locks and dimmed eye: they have all gone before himthey have left him alone! The ranks open: they take off their hats, for old age is respected here; and the children crowd around him and kiss his hand, and the old minister in his surplice walks up to him and takes his arm. Black I found here the prevalent color, but it suits well the grave, serious looks and stately carriage of these proud peasants. And what a race of men they are! There are thousands here and not one misshapen, not one undersized. Tall and erect, with thoughtful eye, and independence in every movement, they slowly approach.

Behind the forest's edge we discovered the parsonage. Three stately, well-built houses for the Dean and his two Vicars; large, substantial stables with the usual cluster of smokehouses and storehouses, surrounded a large, open square At the gate they separate; groups are formed with its highly-valued maple-tree in the centre. and increase until village stands again by village. For we have left the region of orchards and flow- The variety of costumes here was neither so er-gardens, and maples, beech-trees and weep- great nor so striking as in Leksand; one only ing-willows are planted and nursed like peach struck me; it consisted of but two colors: caand quince-trees in our more Southern climate. nary yellow and white, and it was the least be A little, cheerful old woman—she was deaf and coming of all. The people of Rattvik itself did not like to stay in church during the ser- who returned by the path I had come, were all, mon-curtesied and begged us to enter. How as I had said, dressed in black, only here and "home-like" these rooms seem! the floor strewn there relieved by a crimson seam or a crimson with its fragrant fir-twigs; a garland of mapleleaves, skilfully woven like a carpet border, along the walls; mirror and printframes hung with green, sweet-scented leaves and yellow buttercups scattered here and there. How the good An hour or so passed in pleasant repose under old woman, in her tidy white cap with its stream- the large birch trees which overshadowed the ing ribbons, stared when I opened my basket and churchyard. Refreshments were brought forth displayed the strawberries we had bought in Fah- and disappeared with astonishing rapidity, but leen and carefully carried so far! Could we not not without a prayer before and after the mes have some milk and sugar? Certainly, and taken on stone or logs, as it happened to be away she limped to the milk-house and came near. Then the young men-perfect giaos back with a wooden bowl-beautifully carved- they were-went to the large black boats, pant full of the richest cream and some of the "Prostin- ed white inside, and pushed them into the wỡna's" own snow-white sugar. We enjoyed both ter. The maidens yielding nothing in strength the delicious fruit and the satisfaction of the kind or stature, followed soon and took the outside servant when she saw us leave half of our little seats. treasure for her hospitable mistress.

tassel. And the same black coat and hat, gown and cap, you saw on the old white-haired pårents and on the child that was carried on the mother's arm.

Now they all crowd around their little fleet; The bell rang and I hastened to the church; children are carried in and safely stowed away the path led through a rye-field and the stalks, the old and the suffering are placed where they although bent down by the heavy ears, closed are most comfortable; then the young and high over me. I measured some, they were strong take their seats in the middle of the b nearly eight feet high! I had hardly taken my and seize the large, powerful oars. The ga

pull off their gloves and only wait for the signal | about from house to house, and they all know to assist the men in rowing. At last all the where America is. But what brings us up here boats are filled, one man of each only stands on in the mountains? What can we desire to see the sand, his foot on the stern of the vessel; he in so poor a country? And they look at their looks at his neighbor, the word is given and off mountains, and their forests, and their lake: he pushes his boat, nimbly leaping into it just as they love them, surely; but what could we love it rights in the clear water. How they pull! them for? We were completely surrounded. with one stroke the twenty oars glide smoothly From America? says an old, but hale-looking into the unruffled lake and the boat quivers and man; oh, then we can tell him all about his son rises and shoots ahead. It was a fine sight to Ifvar, who has gone there with father Jansen, to see these hundreds and hundreds of light, swift worship his God in his own way. What, we do vessels, starting from the same point, in one mo- not know father Jansen! Why, over one thoument cover the placid sheet. Each boat had its sand Swedes went to America with him. We full freight of young and old, and each boat had must surely be mistaken or very forgetful. its own costume; in the bow the only sail they ever use, a large green birch tree with its snowwhite bark, in the stern the strong, old man with his snow-white hair. Now they are about a mile from the shore, and here they divide; some steer straight on, others diverge to the South and the North; instead of one compact mass, you see numerous little fleets of twenty, ten, or even Towards night we reached the Northern end two only, sailing together, and now the race of this beautiful lake, where the mountains rise begins. Who will be the first home? Their high and leave but a small dark channel, whose strong sinewy arms pull the oars back until they waters connect the Siljan with the Orsa Lake. bend as if they were snapping asunder; the So narrow is this gulf that we did not perceive boats bound along, lightly skimming the smooth it until our horses suddenly dashed off in full surface, and a thin white spray falls over the gallop and descended the steep hill in true Swebow. Soon they diminish, become little black dish fashion, Below, on the floating bridge spots in the distance, and before you have quite recovered from the novelty and the excitement of the scene, the lake as is quiet and lifeless again as if its placid waters had never been disturbed.

We were really sorry not to be able to accept the kind old Dean's pressing invitation to remain with him. He gave us his blessing, as if we were his children, and long after our horses had carried us over hill and mountain, we could see the little dark group still assembled near the church.

which sank deep even under the light weight of our carriage-we distributed our own weight carefully on other parts-nothing was seen but the dark rushing waters and the overhanging rocks. High up, the trees left here and there a On our return, we found the Dean and his little opening through which a mellow light fell assistants waiting for us. Kindly and with much upon the sides of the narrow passage. We felt dignity he invited us to enter and to refresh our- as if returning to the world, when our small but selves. Might he ask if we came perhaps from indefatigable horses brought us after half an Fahleen or Upsala? From America. From hour's hard climbing, again to the high table North America? He was amazed. However, land on which the village of Mora, with its he recollected, and begged to tell us that he too proud church and lofty steeple, appeared in the had travelled, and, when a student at Upsala, full glory of the setting sun. Here, as in every been all the way to Stockholm. Now he thought village, we found large but graceful arches of of it, he had heard that an American Em- evergreens, with fanciful devices and the two bassador had come to Sweden. Thereupon arrows of Dalecarlia, spanning every street; Col. Eis in due form introduced. He steps whilst high above them rose the Maypole with back; is it possible, such honor, the American its garlands and gaily waving ribbons. They Minister at his house! And the other gentle- stand from year to year until a new May calls man-meaning my humble self-it cannot be; upon the youths of the village to plant a fresh what, he also from America! Oh, Meta, Hjal-tree. Some of the boats, returning from Rattmar, Brenda !—and he hurries to call his wife, vik, had long preceded us and brought the news and his son, and all the people about the par- of the two live Americans. So we found the sonage, to look at the American Minister. And the streets lined with people, the Mayor of the they come, wondering, staring, hardly believing. little village in his uniform, and a band of rifleOthers, who have lingered about, or rested them- men discharging their guns in our honor. Gusselves, come up, and one turns to the other and taf turned round, his face radiating with joy, and says, he is an American, from North America, begged us to look at the men. Fine fellows far across the Atlantic Ocean! For their schools they certainly were, worthy descendants of the are good, although their schoolmasters wander men of the valley, who assisted Gustavus Wasa

VOL XV-63

when he was but a poor exile. There was no There was something so touching in the love sign of servility, none of those disgusting bow-they bore a Wasa, whose last descendant was ings and scrapings of continental people, but an exile in foreign lands; they took it so evisilent and collected were they, with all their cu- dently for granted that we must be as anxious riosity and their desire to honor us. One of to see as they were to show, that we gave ourthem, a man of forty, the perfect beau ideal of selves up to their guidance, and descending the a man, as far as the physique was concerned, hill, soon entered the village of Mora. Not withstepped up, took off his broad, round hat, smooth-out a certain solemnity they let us into one of the ed his long, rich hair, and bade us, in a few, farm-houses and through it into the small meadow simple, but heartfelt words, Welcome in old Da- enclosed by a stone wall. Here it was that on a larne. Others came near and shook hands with cold Christmas day the young, bold Wasa waited us, or offered us their houses for the night and until the men of the valley came out of the church "as long as it pleased us." We had, however, right opposite; here it was that he spoke the a letter to a gentleman, who had recently come memorable words which, although at first rejectto Mora from the South of Sweden, and occa-ed, took root in their hearts and won him a kingsionally received strangers at his house. Through dom. a long, noble avenue of birch-trees we reached the summit of a lofty eminence, on which his newly-erected house stood, surrounded by the usual cluster of smaller buildings.

A bold man Gustavus Wasa was, and a great man thereafter. His father and his uncle had fallen in the bloody massacre of Swedish nobles at Stockholm, when he, proscribed and pursued, came into "the Valley" to raise an army and overthrow a dynasty! Fortune did not smile upon him, nor man favor him. In peasant's dress he worked with axe and flail, but treason was near and his low garb did not protect him. Three days he lay hidden under a fallen pinetree, where friendly hands brought him food and cheering news. A cellar, unchanged to the present day, concealed him soon after when closely pursued, and a woman saved his life when death seemed to be at hand. He was working on Arendt Person's estate when his gold-embroi

The prospect was really beautiful. Before us stretched the Siljan lake in its full length, closed at the lower end by the village of Leksand and its picturesque bridge across the Dalelf, with its proud church and lofty steeple towering high up to heaven. All around were dark mountains, presenting the peculiar outlines which are characteristic of granite-formation, the green forests covering their sides and reaching down until they bathed their roots in the clear water, and at our feet the village of Mora, with its famous old church and the square, oddly-carved belfry, standing like most steeples in Sweden, at some dis-dered collar was discovered by a jealous fellowtance from the church itself. Turning back, the eye followed the gulf between the two mountains, through which the waters had broken a channel to connect the two lakes, and beheld beyond it another lake, smaller than the Siljan, but not less picturesque and grand in its solitude and imposing scenery. Far away towards the North rose still higher mountains, branches of the Kjolen, and finally this marvellous chain of snowy peaks in all their severe, Northern beauty and grandeur.

servant. Arendt Person thought of the great gain which the capture of such a man would bring, and came with twenty men to seize him. But Person's wife, a lovely and a gentle woman, had suspected his plan and gave the Wasa war ing and a sleigh to escape. The enemies were close upon him; day and night they hunted after him. It was a wagon with straw, that concealed the great king, when horsemen came up inquiring for him, and, eyeing the load with suspicion, stuck their sharp lances into it. The Wasa was wounded, and badly wounded; but not a sound escaped him. The blood trickled down from sheaf to sheaf; but the peasant's cunning saved him once more. Slily he approached ou of his horses and cut his foot, so that when the watchful eye of the pursuers saw the blood en the snow, the wound of the horse was pointed out and taken as the cause of the bloody track.

We found Mr. Per Person, the "Southerner," as his neighbors called him, a very agreeable and well informed gentleman, most anxious to receive us well. Clean rooms, snowy linen and a very inviting supper with tea, a rare luxury in these distant regions, were far more than we had been led to expect. Our village friends waited patiently, swinging up and down on their elastic benches, until we finished our supper, and Thus, constantly threatened and even paying surrounded us again as soon as we left the house. with his life's blood for an hour's safety, did GuzWe must surely be anxious to see Mora and the tavus, towards Christmas, reach Mora, the heart place where the great Gustavus spoke to the of the Valley, the land of the bravest of brave Dalmen. It was now quite late, and we were Sweden. On this spot where we stood now, he most heartily tired, but we could not resist the waited till the men of Dalarne came out from pressing invitation of the good people around us.' church, and when they had gathered around the

noble youth, he rose to the full height of his lofty | night when we returned to our house, our minds stature, shook the brown curls from his face, and full of thoughts and our hearts warmed both by with glowing eloquence spoke to them of the the Past and the Present. And so closed a day wrongs of the Dane who reigned over them, a in Dalarne, the "Valley." wicked foreigner, a heartless tyrant; of the bloody massacre where the flower of Sweden's nobility had been cowardly butchered; of the oppression and cruelty under which the whole land groaned, and declared that if they loved their country, if in Dalarne there were still men, Swedes to be found, he would be, under God, their captain and free their common fatherland!

But the grave men of Mora were silent as their granite rocks; they consulted and deliberated, and when they looked at their wives and children around them, they thought of the horrors of war and the danger of their beloved ones and told the bold man before them that they had sworn an oath to Christian the Dane and that he had better go from them. And the Wasa bowed his head and fled.

He busied himself in the mountains, seeking a path into Norway. But the men of Dalarne thought of his words: they had sunk deep into their hearts. News also came of recent oppression and fearful murder, of heavier taxes and more cruel injustice; and they repented. Messengers were sent, fleet as the wind, on snowshoes, and they followed the Wasa over river and lake, over mountain and peak.

And Gustavus Wasa stood once more, where we stood now. And the men of Dalarne were around him. But it was no longer the poor, friendless fugitive, who spoke to them: it was their "captain and lord, the lord of the valley and the whole Swedish land." A trusty band of valiant youths were his guard, and a small bat invincible army hailed him their chief. The men of the mountains followed the example of their neighbors," was not Gustavus wonderfully preserved by God Almighty as the last drop of Sweden's knightly blood?" This army grew, and like an avalanche, carrying the masses away with him, he rushed down upon the Lowland and never rested, never halted, until he was seatod on the throne of Sweden.

BION. IDYLL. 4.

ΤΑΙ Μοῖσαι τὸν Ερωτα τὸν ἅ γριον οὐ φοβέονται
Εκ θυμῶ δὲ φιλεῦντι, καὶ ἐκ ποδὸς αὑτῷ 'έπονται.
Κ' ὴν μὲν ἄρα ψυχὰν τις έχων ανέραστον ὁπηδῆ,
Τηνον ὑπεκφεύγοντι, καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλοντι διδάσκειν·
Ην δὲ νούν τις Ερωτι δονεύμενος ἡδὺ μελίσδη,
Ες τὴνον μάλα πᾶσαι ἐπειγόμεναι προρέοντι.
Μάρτυς ἐγών, 'ότι μῦθος όδ' 'έπλετο πᾶσιν ἀληθής·
Ην μὲν γὰρ βροτὸν ἄλλον ἢ ἀθανάτων τινὰ μέλπω,
Βαμβαίνει μεν γλῶσσα, καὶ ὡς πάρος οὐκ 'τ' ἀείδει·
Ην δ' αὐτ' ἐς τὸν Έρωτα καὶ ἐς Λυκίδαν τι μελίσδω,
Καὶ τόκα μοι χαίροισα διὰ στόματος ρέει ὡδά.

TRANSLATION BY J. J. S.

Of love the cruel, the ruthless boy,

The Muses feel no fear;
But with souls of fondness and feet of joy
They follow his light steps near.

And if ever a churl of unloving heart
Invadeth their hallowed track,
They veil the page of their gentle art,
And flee from his presence back.

But the love-stricken bard, who with wild notes sweet
Outpoureth his soul in song,

Oh! ever with eager joy they greet,

And around him all lovingly throng.

Yes, believe it! to other of Gods or men
In vain would I tune my lute,
For my voice refuseth its office then,

And my stammering tongue is mute.
But whene'er to my Lysis I change the theme,
And to Venus' heart-conquering boy,-
Then forth from my lips, as if touched with flame,
Outfloweth the song of joy.

THE STREETS.

(Extract from an Unpublished Work.)

BY IK. MARVEL.

Is it a wonder that the men of Mora, proud of their forefathers, loved to see us on the spot where they first swore to free their fatherland, and to speak to us of him whom they raised so high? Meantime, what is street-life doEagerly they crowded around us, and eagerly ing? Whither tends now the tide, that in the they told us of every trait in his character, of morning, and yester-night rolled up rocky barrievery hair-breadth escape he had made. Their cades, and glittered with sparkling arms ? memory was so faithful, their eyes so bright when

The streets are comparatively quiet, but they they related the scene of the cellar and the wagon, are not deserted. Before sunset, placards headthe words he had spoken and the oath their fa-ed-NO MORE OF BOURBONS!-NO MORE OF thers had sworn, that we forgot all this had hap- KINGS! and announcing the Provisional Governpened full three hundred years ago. They were ment were posted at every corner throughout the worthy sons of their sires. It was now late at city. Through the long Rue St. Antoine, groups

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