The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1879-11-01
SWEDEN LETTER.
Regular Correspondence
Sept. %, 1870.

Though Sweden Is tue greater
member Ut the Scandinavian
Union. she is somewhat unfairly
eclipsed by her Norwegian broth
or. 1 myself, till | came here,
held tue charms Of Sweden III
small esteem, compared with the
tiords aud mountains of Norway.
But al autumn tour here has
changed my opinion. heard be-
fore l came that Sweden was a
poor country-pOOr IN natural
charms, poor in resources, poor
in enterprise, that her people
were imprVviden', drunken, aud
superstitious; that, in short, you
had only to scratch her civillza-
ton and you found a mere medic
val barbarism. | can now say
that hardly any OF these state
ments Was founded Oh anything
like tact. As regards 9he batu
raj beauty, I need only to point
to the Trollhalta tails, where a
great river rustes down d long
series of c~ataracts between pine
clad hills; to the many lakes,
sucl as Malar, set with islets
whose trees kiss the water; to
the quiet beauty of Sweden, with
its streams aud meadows aud red
brown houses, backed by woods
Of oak aud beech aud silver birch.
All that Sweden wants to make
it perfect is mountains. But the
beauties she has are 10 set off by
the marvellous purity aud bright
ness of her atmosphere, a. clear
as that OF Upper Egypt, That
even plOsalc things Seem beauti
full to the travellers. Then the
people are as bright and As pleas
AIT as tue air. The men pass
you with a nod and u word of
welcome, the women with a smile.
If you ask the way in anv OF the
towns, they will answer in Eng
lish more or less pure, and turn
out Ot their course to take you to
the place you seek. Nothing
pleases them more than to treat
you to their Swedish punch, and
they cry "Schole" as they drink
TO give You welcome in their kind
~ Swedish way.
Of Onise, the whole country is
more Or less poor. That is a
natural consequence Of its lati-
tude aud its physical conforma>
ton. F0ur.sevenths OF its area
ia covered with fores ia. Another
seventh ia Occupied by lakes aud
rivers. Even in the open spaces
the granite constantly crops up
and lie. es all husbaudry. Only
one-seventh part is cultivated
soil. There are mines of iron
aud copper, aud Swedish iron is
the best the world produces.
There are coal mines which are
now worked at a profit. But nu
country, even with resources a
hundret-told greater, could be
rich which is trOst>bound and
mostly covered with snow from
October to April every year.
"What do you do in winter e.
/ asked Ut q steamer.Owner the
other day. ave lie upr was
the answer. "Why dou't you
take to u winter trade =" l 60,
the significant reply, "Most Other
trade are forced to lie up too ,
VI course. u country which I.
thus driven to Information like :
certain class of animals canno,
be otherwise than a poor country
l WAS not surprised to hear a,
Goth-hburg that the number u
emigrauts TO America this yeal
from that port amounted to near
~ 1900. But in another sens.
Sweden is by no means poor.
have seen in the last three week,
Ut least q dozen small towns
EACH had its school house, it.
church, its newspaper, and mos
Ot tuen had their public garden
thu streets were paved, and light
ed with oil.lamps swung acros.
rs they wore in old Paris, the
houses, though mostly OF wood
were trim ami neat uo broker
windows, or dilapidated wallis Vi
heaps of refuse offending the ey.
as they 10 in English country Iii.
tricls. The people were AS nea1
~ their houses. | have not SEE,
half d dozen beggars since l have
been in the country. Even it
the capital, where misery as vel
rs wealth generally congregates
/ saw no signs of poverty, whil'
q crowded opera honse, overflow
ing cafes. and brilliant shops b.
tokened All easy O%pulence. IL
short, there is a general level q
ccmtutt in Sweden without All,
violent contracts. Perhaps som,
EXPLANATION is to lie found in tn,
fact that Sweden is not II a
.,,a vre.,t bowers of the world