Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-11-16

night, and so does everything else
picturesque, for, as if to compensate
the native for almost total withdrawal
of daylight during the winter season,
. nature gives him moonlight and star
light such as are seldom seen in lower
latitudes. Where the scenery does not
startle the beholder by its grandeur, it
is quite likely to charm by its beauty,
for the less hilly portions of the penin-
gua are fully covered with farms, the
buildings of which are quaint and
quite unlike anything to be seen else
where. The age attributed to some of
these building seems impossible, for it
is not assuring to national pride to
know that some Swedish farmers lived
in solid, comfortable, roomy houses
when our English ancestors occupied
mere hovels but the evidence that
some of these farm-houses date back
five, seven, and even ten centuries
seems conclusive Equally old and in
teresting are many of the churches,
and they are not, like most of those
of q similar period in other lands,
merely picturesque ruins, as will be
seen by picture or two which we
borrow from the scoEe or more that
the author displays in his book. The
interiors of some of these old churches
indicate that Sweden had money
enough to secure the best architects of
the day, and to fully carry out their
designs,
Indeed, for interesting antiquities
Sweden may safely challenge compari-
son with any other nation in the north
of Europe. Even had she only the re-
mains of the old city of Wisby, she
could outdo any of her neighbors in
competitive display Of antiquities and
of honorable historical record. In the
days when London was merely the
principal city of England, and centu
ries before Liverpool existed as
shipping port, Wisby was the centre
of trade in Northern Europe, her busi-
ness relations extending to Greece,
Rome, India, and Persia. The pres
ent walls of the city, with towers
sixty or seventy feet high, were built
six centuries ago, for even at that
time the community was 50 rich as to
require special protection The mer-
chants had their code of commercial
laws, which still is held in high respect
in business circles everywhere. The
city was as full as London of rich
guilds, and contained many large and
beautiful churches, some of which re-
main to testify to the wealth and taste
of their builders. Like all of the rich
European cities, Wisby was one day
captured, sacked, and almost destroyed
Perhps it was at this time that the
citizens buried the immense quantity
of valuable portable property since
discoveral; or perhaps the Wisby
savings-banks, like many of the present
day, taught the people that the surest
way of keeping their money was to
take care of it themselves. But what.
eyer the reason, the soil of Wisby has
in late years proved particularly auri-
ferrous: great quantities Of European
coins have been dug from the ground,
many of those of Rome dating back to
the first century of the Christian era,
while of Asiatic coins more than ten
thousand are known to have been
found and as men seldom tell about
the finding of money, it is reasonable
to suppose that the entire find has
been enormous Large quantities of
valuable jewels, gold and silver ves-
sells, etc., have been discovered, as
we'll as the seals of some of the great
guilds Hundreds of buildings still
remain as mute evidences of the sub
stantial prosperity of the old mer-
chants, and numerous ancient family
tombs make interesting additions to
the city's record
But Wisby (Which is on an islandl
is only one of the old Scandinavian
cities on the mainland where many
others older and much larger, although
perhaps not so rich, and their remains
are equally interesting. How many
of the valuables found in these cities
really originated there is a somewhat
delicate question to discuss, for the
old Scandinavians, like all other pow
erful nations of the same period, had
habit of going in immense surprise
parties to other countries, and bringing
back whatever suited their fancy, dis
pensing entirely With the foFmality of
asking the original owners consent.
Exquisite vases in gold, silver, and
bronze have been found, and so have
valuable ornaments in great profusion,
while household utensils, armor,
weapons, and even fairly preserved
Viking ships are numerous enough to
throw much light on Scandinavian life
in The Middle Ages. AS usual in old
countries, the tombs yield valuable
contributions to the general store of
antiquities, besides being quite curl
GUS in themselves.
Most interesting, however, of all
Morse remains are the rock tracings,
which at one stage of the country's
development were the only substitutes
for national and local records. Every
one knows what they are when he
sees them, but there knowledge ends.
Many students have labored over
them as faithfully as others have done
over our own darling obelisk, but the
translations disagree as hopelessly as
politicians. More legible in appear
ance, though sometimes just as puz-
zling in reality, are the rune stones,
bearing inscriptions in characters that
were designed to be mystical, and GER
tainly succeeded in being mysterious.
Among those that are decipherable ore
some inscriptions on memorial stones,
which state that the late lamented de-
parted this life in Greece, Rome, or the
Saracen land-places to which the
Norsemen have not generally been
suspected of wandering.
Of course the authors first duty