exactly of my own age and had been
on a short visit to America, and with whom a warm and lasting friendship
was soon formed. The stroll through the little city the following
morning brought many tender recollections, and I should have enjoyed it
more had I not been such an object of attention and curiosity to
everybody there.

The advent of the railroad and the leveling of the old fortifications
had brought many improvements on the outskirts, but the interior of the
town with its little, narrow, but rectangular squares, streets and
alleys, and its little one and two-story houses had undergone no change.
And yet I could hardly realize that it was the same, because those
objects which, to my boyish fancy, had seemed grand and imposing now
appeared so diminutive that it was more like a dream than a living
reality. This was particularly the case when, at noon, I watched the
guard-mount of the artillery at the great square, and saw a large number
of finely-uniformed officers, many of them grey with age and service,
their breasts covered with decorations and crosses. With their sabres
dragging and clashing against the pavement, and their spurs rattling,
they walked up to the parade line from which they reviewed a couple of
dozen soldiers with an air of solemn dignity, which might have done
honor to a Grant, a Sherman, or a Sheridan, while reviewing our hundreds
of thousands of veterans of a hundred battlefields. Truly, if the army
of Sweden is defective in anything it is not in the dignity and style of
the officers of the Vendes artillery; but, joking aside, the splendid
bearing and discipline of the regiment made a good impression. This
regiment has in fact become noted as a training school for young men,
who are afterwards employed in the railroad service, and in large
establishments where ability, punctuality and practical knowledge are
necessary.

Christmas eve found me in Fjelkinge, at the old homestead where my
father was born, and where his people had lived for generations. The
place was now owned by a cousin of mine, an excellent and very prominent
man in his locality. The telegram had not reached this quiet, and, to
me, sacred, spot. The astonishment and surprise of my honored cousin and
my two aged uncles, who were still living, can more easily be imagined than
described, and I was received with cordiality and joy. That night, spent
under the roof of my forefathers, surrounded by the old people and the
many dear