eets in order
to catch a glimpse of the returned traveler. So great was their
curiosity that on New Year's eve the servant girls of Nils Bengtson at
Skogloesa, drew lots as to who should carry in our coffee, and thereby
get a chance to take the first look at the American colonel. One of the
ladies of the house told me afterwards that when the girl returned to
the kitchen she put the tray down with great emphasis and
disappointment, exclaiming indignantly: "Oh, pshaw! He looks just like
any other man!"

Now followed a season of visits and entertainments in Christianstad and
the neighboring country, which I shall ever hold in grateful
remembrance. I was received with cordiality everywhere among the common
people and the middle classes, while the aristocratic classes looked on
with distant coldness, as they always do when a man of the people has
succeeded in getting beyond what they would call his legitimate station,
and is what we would call, in other words, a self-made man. My plain
name and humble ancestry were in their eyes a fault that never could be
forgiven. This did not trouble me, however, for I sought no favors, or
even recognition from the great, but found plenty of delight in the
cordial welcome of the middle classes.

In the month of February I visited Stockholm, in company with my friend
Nils Bengtson. It was the first time I had been there, and, like all
other travelers, I was charmed with the beautiful city, and its gay and
festive life. The parliament (Riksdag) was in session, and as a liberal
from America I was received with great cordiality by the liberal party.
One grand dinner and two evening parties were given by some of its
members in my honor, at which some of the most distinguished liberal
members of parliament were present. Of course numerous toasts were
proposed and speeches made, in one of which I was called upon for my
views on the Swedish militia as corresponding largely to the lately
disbanded volunteer army of the United States.

There was quite a famine in some of the Swedish provinces that winter,
and when the government asked the parliament for an appropriation of
several millions for carrying on field maneuvers of the army the coming
season, the liberals made a strong opposition, preferring to use the
money on some public improvement in the famished provinces. Of course I
expressed my sympathy strongly in favor of the volunteer organizations
and against the proposed maneuvers of the r