Claire Martha Coburn

“ For more than five thousand years, the ancestors of our little Swedish cousin have dwelt in the Scandinavian peninsula. No wonder she loves the stories of the Vikings, the old legends, customs, and fête-days. They are her priceless heritage from the days of long ago.
The snow and glaciers on the extreme north cut off this long tongue of land, so that it is as separate from the rest of Europe as an island. In the olden days, almost every Swede tilled the soil and lived remote from his neighbour. Villages were few, so that each family created its own little world of work and pleasure. ”

“ A big wagon, trimmed with birches and filled with hay, was ready at the door. Midsummer's Day without a picnic in the woods is almost as bad as Christmas without presents.
"Don't forget the nets for the crayfish, Erik," said Major Lund, who was stowing away luncheon baskets in the wagon.
"They are in all right, father. The big kettle in which to boil them and the coffee-pot are under the seat," said Erik.
Even a plain every-day picnic, where you eat sandwiches and cakes under a tree, is fun. But on this picnic, the children were going to help catch crayfish, which look like small lobsters. ”

“ I am afraid you will be getting as impatient for the Christmas tree as Sigrid. But a Swedish Christmas is the most joyous season of the year. And the merrymaking often lasts three weeks. Even the birds are not forgotten, for a sheaf of grain is fastened up in the yard of every country home for their Christmas dinner. ”

“ A nobler and braver king never lived," replied Major Lund. He spoke with the love and reverence which every Swede feels for Gustaf Adolf, the greatest king the nation ever had.
"I do hope Aunt Frederika will be at the pier to meet us," said Sigrid as they approached the landing. "Oh, I think I see her! No, I don't."
But Aunt Frederika did find them, and welcomed them warmly. Such a fine visit they all had together! Erik and Anders heard about little else for the rest of the summer. ”

“ Every one who came to call on Sigrid's mother, who was a very hospitable lady, and had many guests, must ring the porter's bell. Then up would bob his head before the little window to see if he should let them in. He peered through the window so quickly after any one rang the bell that he always reminded Sigrid of a Jack-in-the-box.
"Gerda and Per are coming too," said little Anders as he walked by Miss Eklund's side. He had just learned to skate, so that he felt quite grown-up to be allowed to go at all. Everybody can skate in Sweden, so that the children learn when they are very young. ”

“ Lund. "We have too much before us to see, to spend time looking back."
Through the entrance gate, they passed into a grove of pines and birches, with winding roads. Among the trees were many wild animals in pens, and queer houses and buildings, such as the children had never seen in the city or at grandmother's. Every few steps, they met a soldier with a helmet and shield, or a brightly dressed peasant. You would think you had come to a foreign country, and so did Sigrid. ”

“ Whether she lives in the city or the country, every little Swedish girl to-day is taught this same thrift and industry.
Because the winter months, when the sun shows his face but a few hours each day, are long and dreary, our northern relatives fairly revel in their short summers. The whole nation lives out-of-doors and rejoices in the merry sunshine. ”

“ Every other little Swedish girl over the land was eating her dinner in the kitchen on that day, just as Sigrid was doing.
In the centre of the room, a long table was loaded with good things to eat. And here was the big kettle in which the Christmas ham and other meats had been cooked.
Later in the afternoon, when the children returned from a brisk walk in the park, they [37] gathered in the nursery for afternoon coffee. How Sigrid loved this coffee-drinking on Christmas Eve! All the grown-up people in Sweden drink a great deal of coffee. ”

“ Have you been down to the lake yet?" asked Anders.
"No," said Sigrid. "Let's go around and see everything. Mother says we shall stay all summer, because poor grandmother is so old and feeble she doesn't like to leave her. Larsson, Larsson, where are you?"
The old farmer, who had taken care of the grounds and farm for many years, hobbled out [47] to the barn door to welcome the children and to show them the new calf, the little pigs, and the chickens.
No place in the world is quite so interesting as grandmother's old house, whether you are a Swedish or an American girl. ”

“ Mother will be so delighted.
[22]
"It must be splendid to be a big boy and go to your school," continued Sigrid. "You do such interesting things. I wish that I could go on a school journey with my teacher for two or three days and see some of our wonderful old castles, as you do. Mother says perhaps Miss Eklund and I may go with her and father when they go through the Göta Canal to Göteborg, next summer, to visit Aunt Frederika. That will be better than a school journey."
"But, Sigrid, there are many wonderful things to see right here in our own beautiful Stockholm," said Erik. ”

“ He shook his finger playfully at the children.
[36]
"I always like 'Dipping Day,'" said Sigrid, the day before Christmas, to her brother Erik. "It is such fun to eat in the kitchen."
She was waiting for her turn to dip the piece of black bread on her plate, into the kettle of sizzling hot fat. All the family, the relatives who had come to spend the holidays and the servants, stood about in the clean kitchen, eating the noonday meal. The walls fairly gleamed with copper and brass pans and kettles. Even the brick oven had a fresh coat of whitewash, in honour of the day. ”

“ Wreaths and flowers decked the bronze bust of the poet. At the foot of the pedestal a man was reciting, and the crowd was very quiet.
"How he loved to come here and lie out in the warm sun and sing those same songs that [77] man is reciting!" said Major Lund. They lingered only a few minutes.
"This is what I like," said Sigrid, with an air of great content. She and her brothers had hurried ahead of their parents. They sat watching some lively dancing on a large platform.
"They have begun 'Weaving Homespun,'" said Erik, as the fiddler and accordion player struck up a quaint air. ”

“ Such a heap of pretty things were concealed!
"Here is 'Little Women,'" said Sigrid in great delight. "How did you know it was just what I wanted, mother?" For the tenth time Sigrid got up to run and kiss her mother. The green and gold bound book from which she had torn the wrapping was a translation of Louisa M. Alcott's story, which is as dear to the little Swedish girl as to her American cousin.
"No lessons to-day," said Miss Eklund, [99] as the children came out of the dining-room.
"Hurrah!" shouted Erik. "Won't you take us for a sail on the lake, father? ”

“ But if we are going to cover all these cross-bars with birch boughs and wreaths, we must hitch up old Maja and drive into the woods soon."
"Indeed, you must," said Mrs. Lund, as [58] she hurried across the lawn with a huge wreath of daisies over her arm and a basket of nodding bluebells. "You will find us under that clump of beeches, making our wreaths, when you return. Oh! there is plenty for every one to do before the pole is trimmed for to-night."
"Mother, you do make wreaths so fast," said Sigrid. ”

“ Lund.
"To-night will be the longest of the whole year," said Miss Eklund, while her fingers plaited birch leaves. "How I love these long [59] days of sunshine! Why, last night I read in my room without a lamp till almost eleven o'clock!"
"Please tell Karin and me about how you made pancakes on Midsummer's Eve when you were a little girl, Miss Eklund," begged Sigrid, who, with her cousin, was sitting near the governess.
"Oh! the young girls out in the country where I used to live will have a merry time of it to-night. I wonder if they still make pancakes. ”

“ She fastened a ship's rope to the coil of gold about the king's neck and then handed the rope to her brother, who was outside.
"Whist! the men threw the rope over the branch of the huge oak. Up went the tent into the air, and the king was strangled with his own golden chain."
[28]
"What a horrible story!" said Sigrid with a shudder. "What became of the princess?"
"Oh, she and the other captives hastened away to the ships and sailed back to Finland. When the Vikings awoke from their heavy sleep, they were wild with rage. ”

“ A delightful little story of a lonely English girl who comes to America and is befriended by a sympathetic American family who are attracted by her beautiful speaking voice. By means of this one gift she is enabled to help a school-girl who has temporarily lost the use of her eyes, and thus finally her life becomes a busy, happy one. ”

“ In the little narrow space between the two windows, Sigrid's mother had planted bright green mosses and gray lichens with tiny red cups. A little wooden house and several painted wooden men and women were placed in this miniature [17] park, that kept green all winter. Sigrid liked her window better than any in the house, for all the others had only the mosses and coloured berries.
"Before many months, I believe you will be able to knit a pair of stockings," said Miss Eklund, as she watched her industrious pupil.
"Did you have to make all your stockings when you were a little girl?" ”

“ Sigrid's father was an officer in the king's army, and in the winter-time, she and her big brother Erik and her little brother Anders lived with their parents and their governess, Miss Eklund, in a large apartment house in Stockholm. All the city people in Sweden live in these houses, plain and substantial on the outside, but comfortable inside, and not so very unlike American houses. ”

“ Our children will not have to read in books about the way their great-grandfathers lived. They shall visit the very houses they lived in.'"
"How could he bring a whole house here?" asked Erik.
"That was hard sometimes," Major Lund replied. "Often they pulled down a house, brought the timber here, and set it up as it was before. Then he had people come here and wear the same clothes and live in the same way they did in the olden times. Nowhere in the world is there a park like this."
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"See that little girl with a kerchief over her head, peeping at us from the window," said Anders. ”

“ Sigrid's tender heart was at ease again, and she returned to the dancers. The older people stayed up far into the bright night, but the children soon went to bed. From her chamber window, Sigrid could see the huge bonfires on the hillsides far away. The witches are abroad on Midsummer's Eve, and these fires drive them away.
Every one goes to church on Midsummer's Day, which is also called St. John's Day. So the next morning, the Lund family drove several miles to a little country church. Before [66] they started, Sigrid went to find the sweep. ”

“ At a given signal, they placed their feet together, and down the hillside they shot, as though they had wings.
[9]
"I never see ski-lobing without thinking of the olden times when the fleet-footed peasants on skis were our only postmen," said Miss Eklund.
"They can go over frozen rivers and hills as straight as a bird flies," said Erik.
"Yes," said Miss Eklund, "when we had no post, the only way a message could be sent in winter, was by these ski-runners. The swiftest runner in a hamlet would start for the nearest village. ”

“ As they went out the door, Miss Eklund slipped a coin into a little box which was [11] placed there to receive money for the poor at Christmas.
"Elsa and Karl must have been out in the country to see their grandmother," said Sigrid, as a sleigh jingled past. The mother and two children were cosily packed in front. The driver stood on a little platform built in the rear. A white net with a wide border of tassels covered the back of the horse and the dasher of the sleigh.
"Father," burst out Erik, as he came in from the cold, "we did have the best time. ”

“ Sigrid's eyes shone with delight. "I know, I know," she exclaimed. "He cut off his hair and put on homespun clothes, so he looked like a peasant. Then he worked in the mines and on farms."
"Didn't the peasants know who he was?" asked Anna.
"Some of them did. They wanted to save him from the Danish soldiers. Father saw a house where a woman helped him to escape. She hung a towel from a window. With that for a rope, he climbed down and ran away.
"The story I like best is the one about the farmer who hid Gustaf Vasa in a load of straw. ”

“ Such a funny [5] little bow it was, made by quickly bending the knee without stopping her walk.
"Brita has such a beautiful new foot-pusher that her father has bought her," exclaimed Sigrid. They had reached the open country near the skating-park, and a couple of children rapidly skimmed past them on these strange sleds. "Don't you think that I am old enough to have a foot-pusher now, Miss Eklund?"
Christmas was very near and the air was already full of secrets, so Miss Eklund smiled to herself and replied, "Perhaps you might ask the good father at home what he thinks about it." ”