Chapter I: Preface

As every one knows, the mother land of the American nation is England. But what is the _grandmother_ land? A short glance at England’s past will show that it is Scandinavia. Though the English people are exceedingly composite, there exists in them a very important Scandinavian strain. The Northern blood was contributed primarily by two great immigrations directly from Scandinavia, and one from Normandy, by people only a century and a half removed from Scandinavia; but it should be borne in mind also that the somewhat mysterious Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, whose continental home was in the peninsula of Jutland and about its base, must have borne a very close relationship to their contemporaries and neighbors to the north.

With the introduction of Scandinavian blood came Scandinavian manners and customs which made an impress upon the English population only recently recognized.

Of the various parts of Europe which contributed elements to the English people during their formative period, Scandinavia is the only one whose population has remained relatively pure and in the original home, unjostled and unmixed by foreign invasions. Thus it happens that the English people are more closely related to those of Scandinavia, in blood and in manners and customs, than they are to the inhabitants of any other European country. Hence, Scandinavia is the _grandmother_ land of the American people.

We know the English fairly well, but with the Scandinavians, who have more in common with us than any other Europeans except the English, our acquaintance is of the slightest. Books in plenty, descriptive of present-day Scandinavia, are in existence, but they somehow fail to present the Scandinavians as definite personalities. My aim in writing this narrative has been to introduce to my fellow Americans in as intimate manner as possible their Scandinavian kindred, who are still living in the ancient ancestral homestead—the Grandmother Land. In my efforts to establish a real acquaintance between the branch of the family which has wandered and that which has remained at home, I have purposely omitted the more conventional and more obvious part of my experiences in Scandinavia in order to give place and emphasis to the homely details which help to bring out the characteristics of the Scandinavians and their home land, and to show them as they really are.

In the preparation of this book I have received aid of various sorts from many people—so many that to list the names of all to whom I feel indebted would be a most perplexing undertaking. Consequently, I make only this general acknowledgment of obligation.

Mary Wilhelmine Williams.

2207 N. Charles Street,
Baltimore, Maryland,
May 28, 1916.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE ENTRANCE INTO SCANDINAVIA; COPENHAGEN 11

II. MORE ABOUT COPENHAGEN; THE COPENHAGENERS’
COUNTRY GARDENS 38

III. BORNHOLM AND THE BORNHOLMERS 54

IV. AN INTRODUCTION TO SWEDEN: LUND, HELSINGBORG,
GOTHENBURG 82

V. JOURNEYING ACROSS SWEDEN; STOCKHOLM 96

VI. THE TWO UPPSALAS; GEFLE AND SÖDERHAMN 120

VII. DALECARLIA AND THE DALECARLIANS 144

VIII. TRONDHJEM AND MOLDE; THE NORWEGIAN
FIORDS 159

IX. BERGEN AND CHRISTIANIA 183

X. COPENHAGEN ONCE MORE; CASTLES IN
DENMARK 202

XI. ROSKILDE AND ODENSE; GOOD-BY TO SCANDINAVIA 227

INDEX 237

ILLUSTRATIONS

Riddarholm’s Church, Stockholm _Frontispiece_

_Facing Page_

City Hall and Palace Hotel, Copenhagen 32

Rosenborg Castle 32

“Denmark,” by Elizabeth Jerichau-Baumann 40

Grave Monument, by Rudolf Tegnér 40

Bornholm’s Museum and Saint Morten’s Street, Rönne 58

Bridge Crossing the Old Moat at Hammershuus Castle 58

Harvest Time in Bornholm 74

Österlars Church, Bornholm 74

Ezias Tegnér 92

Statue of Gustav Adolf, Gothenburg 92

Statue of Birger Jarl, Stockholm 108

Museum of the North, Stockholm 108

Selma Lagerlöf 112

Interior of One of the Ancient Swedish Houses at
“Skansen,” Stockholm 112

Gamla Uppsala Church 132

Choir of Gamla Uppsala Church 132

A Quaint House in Rättvik 156

Rättvikers on Their Way to Church 156

Gargoyle on Trondhjem Cathedral 172

Romsdal Fiord, Showing Horn 172

A Norwegian “Maud Muller” 178

Piling Codfish in Söholt 178

Rosenkrantz Tower and Haakon’s Hall, Bergen 186

Norwegian Mountain Homes 186

Above the Timber Line in Norway 192

Statue of Henrik Ibsen by Sinding 192

Stork Fountain, Copenhagen 220

Statue of Holger Danske at Marienlyst 220

Roskilde Cathedral 234

Hans Andersen’s House 234

COUSIN HUNTING IN

SCANDINAVIA