Morris tribune., 1910-12-30

INOt"CAl6 t(dIIS ENCIAIIl ISi
Brief Visit to the FatherIand-Resi
dents of Danish West Indies Anxious
for Annexation to United States.
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+ SWEDEN. +
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Perhaps no city in the world takes
On such decided holiday spirit and
appearance as Stockholm. The stores
are profusely decorated and so are the
streets and statues. IN the restau
rants and cafes there is special music
and in every nook and corner there is
evidence that Christmas is nigh. In
cottage and palace "jul' is celebrated
like no other holiday throughout the
entire year. The heart and purse
strings are let loose and everybody
believes in having good time. In
! the country districts there is perhaps
greater preparations than anywhere
else for the great holiday There it is
! the custom that the whole farm place
must be cleaned up for the great holi-
! day Even the cattle, the pigs and the
chickens are provided with extra bed
ding and the birds of the open air ace
fed with sheaves of wheat, which are
raised on a long rail outside of the
kitchen door. In the household there
presents itself the busiest kind of a
time before Christmas eve. The moth
er of the household is leading it all
and her preparations during the pre-
! holidays encompass such a variety in
| the way of pastries and delicious vic
! tuals that it would be fruitless job to
| attempt to describe it here. The Scan
| dinavians celebrate Christmas eve
| above all. Christmas in Sweden is
| thorough going affair. 1t lasts for at
| least twenty days and there is one
! party after another. Friends and rela-
| tives come together, enjoying the ma
| ti0nal songs and folk dances. There
are special services in all the churches
and from palace to cottage there is
scene of holiday activity that places
to visit Sweden at this time of the
year, in a perfect trance. Old stories
! and sayings come into play as never
| before and all these old customs are
so rigidly observed that it would be
! impossible to dislOdge them were a
! hundred years to pass again. Amidst
! it all reigus the good old Christmas
| cheer and the one who is not happy in
| Sweden during "yuletide" is missing
| his purpose as human being.
| Inasmuch as there has recently been
great speculation as to the real condi-
bladet (Stockholm) has published
| long report regarding the exact cOndi-
| tion of his majesty's health. There is
| little doubt, too, that the king wanted
| to have all rumors pro and con regard
| ing his health set at rest and so made
| a statement to the aforementioned pa
| per direct The truth of the matter is
that the king during the past few
months has been gaining steadily in
strength and has even been able to
take long tramps in the woods and en-
| joyed hunting small game exceedingly
! much. His health now" says the
Aftonbladet, Judging from what his
closest physicians have told US, is the
very best and he has not been as
strong as he is now for years"
A lady who desires to remain uniden-
! tilted has donated the sum of 500
crowns to the National Anti-TuberculO-
sis society. She is a Stockholm lady
and states in her letter to the board of
directors of the society that she hopes
! to give the same amount annually, as
long as she lives. Sweden is certain
! ly setting 6n example in the work that
| is being done to check the ravages of
consumption and to build up her sani-
tariums. Almost every day there is
some money coming in, either in
| large or small amounts, and the sale of
| holiday stamps by the -Tuberculo-
sis society last year amounted to over
! 10000 crowns. These are splendid
results indeed for a small country like
| Sweden and other countries would do
well to follow suit.
| At the recent state church cOnVeD-
tton In Stockholm the we'll known Dr.
Waldenstrom moved that state authori-
ties take the necessary steps to pre-
vent Mormon missionaries, who are
not citizens of Sweden, from carrying
| on their propaganda in that country
1t is needless to say that the motion
met with general approval and was
unanimously supported and adopted.
There are plenty Of horses in the
| Swedish capital in spite of the fact
that automobiles have been increasing
in number at rapid rate. There are
in all 5,595 horses, military and police
department horses excluded.
The Women's Christian Temperance
union celebrated it's twenty-fifth ami
versary in Stockholm Nov. 80. There
were present On this occasion over 500
prominent women from different parts
of the country.