valids. A woman's mode of dress, her diet, her in-door and monotonous life, have all been against her. Women are more conscientious than men. They ought to have more principle about keeping a pleasant face on; but when the whole nervous system is ajar from insufficient nourishment and close air, an angel could not always keep her temper. It was only she who "felt so pretty and so pleased all day" who "could not take the trouble to be cross." When one is baffled and thwarted all day, crossness becomes a luxury that most women are too prone to indulge in.

But oh, how it spoils and degrades family life!

"See a word, how it severeth!
Oh, power of life and death

In the tongue, that the Preacher saith!"' We may not all of us be able to cultivate the highest virtues-constancy, generosity, magnanimity—but we can all keep a civil tongue for those around us, and put on a pleasant expression if we try. Amiability has been pooh-poohed at too long. It is the source of more comfort and pleasure in any home in which it is practiced than many a more vaunted

virtue.

"The music that can deepest reach And cure all ills is cordial speech." By all means let us have more of it in our homes.

I.

THE Gospel has been the means of so nearly eradicating the lines of nationality among the Saints that the young people in Zion scarcely know that there are two, practically three, nations in Scandinavia -Denmark, and Norway and Sweden. It is generally understood that these kingdoms are very closely allied in all their state, commercial and social intercourse, but such a view is materially modified when the actual conditions are learned. In state affairs, Denmark and Sweden have nothing in common, the only resemblance being that they are both limited kingdoms, and as such are governed much on a similar plan. Norway acknowledges the Swedish King, and pays him certain tribute, but in all other affairs is perfectly independent, so much so that it would not be inappropriate to call it a republic in a kingdom. It has its own flag, its own money, its own laws, and its own government. In commercial affairs, it is true, the countries engage in considerable traffic with each other, but all articles of commerce passing from one to the other are treated as if they came from America, England, Germany, or any other foreign country. Passengers from Denmark are required to have heir effects inspected by the Swedish

custom officers as if they came from the most distant parts of the globe, and vice versa. This is likewise the case, strange to say, with passengers between Norway and Sweden, regardless of the fact that both are under the dominion of Oscar II, who is the king of Norway and Sweden, in Norway, and the king of Sweden and Norway in Sweden. The money of the three political divisions passes current in any of them, but the money of Sweden and Norway is only worth ninty-nine and three-fourths per cent. in Danish exchange, and so conversely. Only a little of one nation's money is in use in the other, and once there, soon finds it's way back again.

In social affairs no greater affiliation exists than between other nations. Sweden rather leans to the adoption of French ways, evidently because its ruling house is of French descent, as witness the comparatively recent adoption, in that country, of the Metric system of weights and measures; while Denmark rather fashions after German methods, owing, doubtless, to reasons that might be traced to intermarriage in the royal families.

The language in each of the three countries, is remarkably distinct and free from mixtures with the languages of the others, notwithstanding there is a wide

variety of dialects within each country itself, so much so that people from one part can scarcely be understood in another. It might be said that one may hear the various changes in Danish from North Jutland to Copenhagen, and listen to Norwegian as spoken in Christiania, Trondhjem and in the mixed-German Bergen, also to the worst Skâne or southern Swedish, and to the best as spoken in Goteborg and Stockholm, or hear the different varieties of Swedish from Upsala to Ystad, and yet not hear anything quite like the mixture which is called Danish, Norwegian and Swedish in Utah.

The area of these lands is small, but the diversity in customs and habits is great, while the scenery is interesting in its many beauties and changes. These old countries not only abound in old customs, and in beautiful natural scenery; but the people have many peculiarities and traditions in religious and social life that lend a fascinating romance to the study of their lives and homes. In many parts of Denmark and in southern Sweden, landlordism holds the poorer classes to a state of servitude, little, if any better than actual slavery.

In central Sweden the people are more independent, living mostly on their own lands and in their own homes. They cultivate small patches of ground, their farms being often among the rocks, on side hills which, farther up, are covered with dark groves of pine. The landlord evil exists more or less in all three of these countries, but mostly, of course, in the rich farming districts of Denmark and southern Sweden. Norway has the least of this evil to contend with, and the people here are doubtless the freest among the Scandinavians. The wild nature of their surroundings seems to have inspired them with the spirit of liberty which broods over their glens and fjords and thousand pine-decked hills. Were it not that women work at all outdoor vocations, and assist in the heaviest drudgery, as indeed is the case in other lands also, the traveler would scarcely know that he was not in an American community. The Norwegians are plain, out-spoken and jolly; the Danes are

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polite in their manners, but more reserved, and less easy to understand; the southern Swedes are melancholy, while among them in the central and northern parts there is a spirit of happiness and rural contentment seldom witnessed anywhere else; all are courteous, kind, hospitable and honest. Among the middle and higher classes the intelligence, bearing, dress, appearance and manners if anything exceed the similar characteristics in the best American society. physical structure the Scandinavians are a hardy and well-built race. American women may be more beautiful, but in color and strength they do not compare favorably with the daughters of the north.

In

People here are never in a hurry, and appear always to select the longest and safest way to accomplish anything. Never cut a corner if you can go around, seems to be a universal motto here, especially with the working classes. Don't use steam if you can use horses, or horses if you can get oxen, or either if man power will serve the purpose. So we witness the novel sight, at railway stations, of horses switching freight cars; and men loading luggage on two-wheeled carts and transporting it by hand to any part of the city; and men driving piles at wharfs with mallets which are raised and lowered to the accents of peculiar songs. Large pile-drivers are often operated by ten or twelve men whose ropes are attached to the weight which is raised and lowered to the time of the long drawn accents of the work-song in which they all join. When large stones for the foundations of buildings are placed in position, they are often moved by men who sing as they lift. The soberness with which all this is done is not the least amusing feature about it. Everything, from a stone wall to a seven story building, is done on a safe basis, and the time it takes to do it is the least consideration. The most careful precautions are taken to have scaffolding for buildings strong and safe. The building materials are generally carried by hand up flights of ladders, instead of being hoisted by elevators. There is an air of completeness and a solidity in all things

such as one never sees in America. On the farm every furrow is straight, every drain is clean and finished, everything is in its place, and the whole presents an appearance indicating that nothing further can be done to make it the model that it is.

The cities are well governed, clean and quiet; the bustle and tumult invariably seen in our country and in England is never witnessed here. The streets are free from bootblacks, hotel and hackrunners, tramps, rags and misery, such as England, Chicago and New York abound in. Business is couducted on a smaller scale than with us. Generally only the lower story of a building is used for trade, the remaining stories being tenanted.

The railroads are much like those in England, the bells, cowcatchers, and palace cars of America, are unknown here. As a rule there are no platforms to the cars, the doors being fixed on the sides, each with a window, which lets down much like a street car window. Each coupé or apartment seats from eight to ten persons, who are fastened in at each station, and must remain until the doors are opened for them at the next. The conductors gather the tickets at the station, or on the journey, by moving on a plank fastened on the outside of the cars. It is very amusing to see a conductor, while the train is in motion, suddenly thrust his head through the window of the door and ask for fares. Familiar with the politeness of the average conductor in the west, it is equally amusing to hear him thank the passengers for the trouble he has put them to, as he returns the tickets. The conductor's duties are now mostly performed at the stations. The cars are lighted by oil or candles, let down in holders through the roof of the cars. One road, leading from Helsingborg to Göteborg, in Sweden, is built and operated on the American plan, with all the modern conveniences and arrangements, the cars on this line being lighted by electricity; and as new roads are constructed, these improvements are generally introduced. The railroad stations in these countries

are models in style, neatness and convenience, very much unlike the rolling stock; and the road-beds, grades and safety arrangements are excellent. The perfect security with which satchels and traveling effects may be left on benches, at the stations or in the cars, is astonishing to Americans, and it would dumbfound the station and baggage masters in New York or Chicago, where the poor passengers are lucky if they escape being carried away by runners, cabmen, and thieves, body, baggage and all.

Having said so much by way of general introduction, let us, before entering upon any particular theme or description, take a hasty view of the geographical features of Sweden. A glance at the map will show that the greater part of the large northern peninsula belongs to this political division. It has an area of about one hundred and eighty-nine thousand nine hundred and thirty-four square miles, out of which the inland seas cover an area of about fifteen thousand four hundred and eighty-four square miles. A very small portion of Sweden lies in the circle of everlasting snows. The altitude of the whole land is low; the highest being near the mountains that separate Norway from Sweden, and is only about two thousand feet, while nearly two-thirds of the country reaches only about eight hundred, and one-third three hundred feet above the sea level. From the mountains in the west there is a gradual slope to the central part of the land in which are found the inland lakes, Venern and Vettern, in which the great rivers from the north-west empty their waters. There is a highland in the north which directs the large rivers of Norrland into the Baltic, and a similar one in the south with low land in the center of the country. Oland and Gotland are islands to the east, and the Baltic as well as the Cattegat coast is cut into by many bays, forming innumerable small and lovely islands, having rocky shores which protect the land from the invasion of fleets, and from the eternal wash of the restless seas. Sweden is the land of lakes and rivers. The pretty, clear, mirror-like lakes, that lie nestled here and there among the wooded

hills; the rivulets that dance forth to the level where the meadows spread to view their many colored flowers or the ryefields rock their gold in the sun; the long large rivers that tumble over many a grey stone in search of the sea, or dash over the huge cliffs that form glorious waterfalls; constitute the leading and most beautiful characteristic of the Swedish landscape. There are several water systems-that whose rivers, rising in the Kölen, or the mountains between Sweden and Norway, flow to the North Baltic; the Mälare system whose outlet waters wash the walls of the Swedish capital, and right in the center of Stockholm unite the waters of Lake Mälaren with those of the Baltic; and the central lake system whose outlet to Cattegat, Götaelfven, forms the world-renowned water fialls of Trollhättan. There are ten thous and streams and brooks and rivulets everywhere, gliding around in the valleys where the red-painted peasant houses peep out of the dark foliage of the woods, or where the village church, with its ponderous white tower, is mirrored in the still waters-the whole making the scenery of Sweden as delightful as could be desired by the most enthusiastic admirer of nature.

While Sweden is not a large country, its area being only twice as great as that of Utah, yet its population closely approaches five millions, it having steadily increased, according to the latest statistics, since 1750, when in round numbers it was one million: in 1890, when it was two millions; 1840, three millions; in 1870, four millions, and until 1880 when the population was four millions, five hundred and sixty-five thousand six hundred and sixty-eight. The country is divided into three principal parts known as Göteland, the southern part; Svealand, the central part; and Norrland, the northern part. These divisions are subdivided into twenty-four län corresponding to connties. The population is composed almost entirely of Swedes. Near the borders of Russia, and scattered here and there in Dalarne are about sixteen thousand Finns, and farther north, in a district called Lappland, are a remnant (about 6000) of nomadic Lapps, who

III

still wander around from place to place with their reindeer, driven to quarter, much like our Indians, by the persistent spread of civilization.

As in other countries of Scandinavia, the Lutheran religion is established by the state, and represents the faith of the greater portion of the population, although the religious freedom that exists has enabled other Christian denominations to establish themselves to a limited extent. The Jews are said to number one thousand five hundred, and have adapted themselves as in other countries, in all other things than religion, to the prevailing language and customs. There are some interesting features in the religion and worship of the Swedes, which practically includes also the popular education of the children, that will make an interesting topic for study.

The people are naturally an agricultural class, and it is conceded that in no other European country is the population of the cities so small, in comparison to the agricultural class, as in Sweden. This can readily be understood when the whole population in 1880 is compared with the number of inhabitants in Stockholm and Göteborg, the two largest cities in the kingdom, which was then one hundred and sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and seventy-two thousand six hundred and eighty respectively; it is now about two hundred and forty thousand and one hundred thousand resectively. Besides agriculture, other occupations are timber culture, mining, fishing, hunting, manufacture, and commerce on land and water. Some of the largest iron and copper mines in the old world are operated in northern Sweden, and the timber region covers ten thousand wooded hills, stretching over an area of more than seventy-three thousand square miles. Edward H. Anderson.

THE MISTLETOE. THE legend of the mistletoe is an inheritance from the religion of the Druids. The cathedral arches under which the Celts worshipped were the spreading branches of the oak, the roof a dense

foliage of greenery, and the mistletoe, the mystical parasite of the tree, was a symbol full of meaning, for it was believed to renew its life by some agency differing from that which propagated all other plants, and to exist by a Divine power. Here, under the oak, the favorite tree of the Celtic sun-god, at the period of the winter-solstice, priests and people sacrificed white bulls and human victims. The mistletoe was gathered and dispensed in small sprays, to be hung by the worshippers over their doors as amulets against evil and propitiation to the sylvan deities. The Scandinavian legend of the mistletoe, which tells the story how Loki, the god of fire, made the mistletoe the agent of the death of Balder, most glorious of Odin's children, is familiar to all students of the Norse sagas. The mistletoe continues to be specially cultivated in England for the sale which is always large at Christmastide, but the apple-tree has taken the place of the oak, as the soil on which the plant feeds the most generously. The kissing privilege connected with the mistletoe during the days of yule is probably the most familiar relic of its traditions. Both the yule fire and the mistletoe were of old believed to have special virtue as safeguards against the powers of evil; yet when they became thoroughly embodied in the Christian legend, it was not so much this as their suggestion of the divine power which at Christmas kept the Prince of Darkness and his satellites in abject submission, and gave them their value. All readers of Shakspeare will remember the legend and its association with the crowing of the cock, as put in the mouth of Marcellus in Hamlet: "It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Savior's birth was celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long: And then, they say, no spirit can walk abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets

strike,

No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time."

A VISION OF HEAVEN. THEY sat together in the warm, sparking sand, the mother and the child. The

tiny golden head nestled against the protecting breast, the wan face lit by the evening sun; the eyes were closed, and a smile parted the bloodless lips. The maiden slept.

The mother watched beside her sleeping child, and-she scarce more than child herself-murmured a mother's prayer: "Lord Jesus, save my little girl!" Again and again she repeated it. "Save my little girl!"

Softly she drew the threadbare tartan shawl round the slender frame. Gentle as was the motion it roused the sleeper. The great blue eyes opened.

"Did I wake ye Jeannie?"

"No, no, mither, ye didna wake me; I woke my ainsel. I had a bonnie dream, mither."

"Ay, dearie; what was it?"

"Afore I went to sleep I was watchin' the ships wi' their white sails flittin' owre the water, an' I wondered whar they were a' gaun. I looked, an' looked, an' looked, then I thought I was in a wee boatie, wi' white sails, too, mither. They said it was gaun to heaven. The sky was black owre my heid, an' great waves tossed my boatie to an' fro. But far away the sun was glintin' on the water, and there were steps of gowd gaun up, up, up. They said that was the way to heav'n. Is't soo, mither? Are ye list'

nin'?”

"Aye, aye, Jeannie, I'm list'nin to ye." "I sailed a lang, lang time. I came nearer an' nearer the step. I was a' most there, mither. They said: 'Gae, Jeannie, an' ye'll no be tired ony mair.' I was gaun, but they said again; 'No, Jeannie, the next time.' Wasn't no a bonnie dream, mither?"

"My wee lamb." The mother pressed the frail form to her. The golden head sank again drowsily

"The next time."

The sun set in crimson glory over the sands and sea; heavy purple night-clouds overshadowed the earth. Ere the glory faded, the little maiden was far away on her journey up the golden stairs. Still the mother watched and prayed: "Lord Jesus, save my little girl!"

Scottish-American.