Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/224

188 beauty of the natural scenery. For it was the glimpses of simple and happy rural life amid these primeval woods and hills that shed a charm over the scene. Every here and there quaint and picturesque wooden villas and cottages, lovelier and more picturesque than what I have ever seen even on canvas, peeped from among the green foliage of the unending woods. Green lawns and flowering creepers and neat parterres beautified these sylvan and solitary habitations. As the steamer neared some landing stage, young girls in quaint attires ran from neighbouring villas, old men and prattling children rushed forward with fond greetings, and smiles and signs of kindly recognition were exchanged from those on shore and those on deck. The whole wooded country round Stockholm is thus studded by country villas belonging to the well-to-do people of the town, and numerous steamers ply from Stockholm in various directions. Our steamer stopped frequently, and passengers went down to their villas or came on deck. Often, it seemed to me, the waving of a handkerchief on the landing stage was the signal for the steamer to stop, while groups of children cheered the steamer as she slowly winded along the creeks.

I do not pretend to be a judge of a people's character after a few weeks' residence among them, but there are some remarkable features which even a stranger cannot fail noticing in the Norwegians and the Swedes. The artificiality of civilized life and of social manners almost disappears