mer's fruit left." He presented us to his
sister and daughter, and to two handsome young magisters, who assisted
him in his parochial duties.

We walked in the garden, which was laid out with some taste along the
brow of the hill. A superb drooping birch, eighty feet in height, was
the crowning glory of the place. The birch is the characteristic tree of
Sweden, as the fir is of Norway, the beech of Denmark, the oak of
England and Germany, the chestnut of Italy, and the palm of Esrypt. Of
northern trees, there is none more graceful in outline, but in the cold,
silvery hue of its foliage, summer can never find her best expression.
The parson had a neat little bowling-alley, in a grove of pine, on a
projecting spur of the hill. He did not disdain secular recreations; his
religion was cheerful and jubilant; he had found something else in the
Bible than the Lamentations of Jeremiah. There are so many Christians
who--to judge from the settled expression of their faces--suffer under
their belief, that it is a comfort to find those who see nothing
heretical in the fullest and freest enjoyment of life. There was an
apple-tree in the garden which was just bursting into blossoms for the
second time. I called the Domprost's attention to it, remarking, in a
line from Frithiof's Saga:--"_Hosten bjuder sin thron til varen_"
(Autumn offers his throne to the spring). "What!" he exclaimed in joyful
surprise, "do you know Tegner?" and immediately continued the quotation.

There was no resisting the hospitable persuasions of the family; we were
obliged to take supper and spend the evening with them. The daughter and
the two magisters sang for us all the characteristic songs of Wermeland
and Dalecarlia which they could remember, and I was more than ever
charmed with the wild, simple, original character of the native melodies
of Sweden. They are mostly in the minor key, and some of them might
almost be called monotonous; yet it is monotony, or rather simplicity,
in the notation, which sticks to the memory. The longings, the regrets,
the fidelity, and the tenderness of the people, find an echo in these
airs, which have all the character of improvisations, and rekindle in
the heart of the hearer the passions they were intended to relieve.

We at last took leave of the good old man and his friendly household.
The night was dark and rainy, and the magisters accompanied us to the
inn. In the morning it was raining dismally,--a slow, cold, drivin