Due North or Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia   By: Maturin Murray Ballou (1820-1895)

OR

GLIMPSES OF SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA

BY

MATURIN M. BALLOU

AUTHOR OF "EDGE TOOLS OF SPEECH," "DUE SOUTH; OR, CUBA, PAST AND PRESENT," "GENIUS IN SUNSHINE AND SHADOW," ETC.

Only that travelling is good which reveals to me the value of home, and enables me to enjoy it better. THOREAU.

BOSTON TICKNOR AND COMPANY 1887

Copyright, 1887 , BY MATURIN M. BALLOU.

All rights reserved.

University Press: JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.

PREFACE.

About five years ago, the Author, having then just returned from circumnavigating the globe, was induced to record his experiences of the long journey, which were published in a volume entitled "Due West; or, Round the World in Ten Months." The public favor accorded to this work led, a couple of years later, to the issuing of a second volume of travels, upon the Author's return from the West Indies, entitled "Due South; or, Cuba, Past and Present." The popular success of both books and the flattering comments of the critics have caused the undersigned to believe that a certain portion of the public is pleased to see foreign lands and people through his eyes; and hence the publication of the volume now in hand. These pages describing the far North, from which the Author has just returned, including Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Russian Poland, seem naturally to suggest the title of "Due North." Without permitting prejudice to circumscribe judgment in treating of Russia, the effort has been to represent the condition of that country and its Polish province truthfully, and to draw only reasonable deductions. This special reference is made to the pages relating to the Tzar's government, as it will be found that the Author does not accord with the popularly expressed opinion upon this subject.

M. M. B. BOSTON, March, 1887.

CONTENTS.

PAGE CHAPTER I.

Copenhagen. First Stroll in a Strange City. Danish Children. Antiquity of Copenhagen. English Arrogance. The Baltic Sea. Danish Possessions. Descendants of the Vikings. Covetous Germany. The Denmark of To day. Thorwaldsen's Remarkable Museum. The Ethnological Museum. Educational Matters. Eminent Natives. Charitable Institutions. Antique Churches. Royal Palaces. Historical Memories. City Architecture. Zoölogical Gardens 1 23

CHAPTER II.

Public Amusements in Copenhagen. Danish Sovereigns. The Fashionable Promenade. Danish Women. Palace of Rosenborg. A Golconda of Gems. A Poet's Monument. A Famous Astronomer. Our Lady's Church. The King's Square. The Curious Old Round Tower. The Peasantry. A Famous Deer Park. Röskilde. Elsinore. Gypsies. Kronborg Castle. The Queen's Prison. Hamlet and Ophelia's Grave. A Danish Legend 24 40

CHAPTER III.

Gottenburg. Ruins of Elfsborg. Gustavus Adolphus. A Wrecked Monument. The Girdle Duellists. Emigration to America. Public and Private Gardens. A Kindly People. The Götha Canal. Falls of Trollhätta. Dainty Wild Flowers. Water Ways. Stockholm and Lake Maelaren. Prehistoric Tokens. Iron Mines of Sweden. Pleasing Episode with Children. The Liquor Traffic Systematized. A Great Practical Charity. A Domestic Habit 41 56

CHAPTER IV.