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19 Story of an Emigrant.
pleasant associates, but also to the poor, the suffering and
the unfortunate. I cannot recall any period of my childhood
when we did not harbor some poor, forsaken pauper, waif,
orphan or cripple in my father’s house.
Christmas has always been, and is yet, the greatest of all
festivities or holidays among all the Scandinavian peoples.
It is not merely a holiday like it is among Americans, but a
festival lasting for many days. While the people in the
different localities of the Scandinavian countries, at the time of
my childhood, differed in many customs, they were all alike
in making this season one of joyous hospitality, blended
with religious worship. I shall endeavor to describe
Christmas as celebrated in my home in Southern Sweden 50 years
ago, and I venture to say that while matters of detail might
differ in different parts of the country, the descriptions as a
whole will apply to them all. The preparations for
Christmas commenced in the beginning of December by butchering,
brewing and baking, so as to lay in large stores of the
essential elements for enjoyment and hospitality. The fattened
animals were slaughtered, the tallow made into candles, the
meat salted, smoked, and otherwise prepared for a whole
year. The rich brown Yule-ale was made in large quantities,
and poured in kegs and barrels. Bread of many varieties
was baked for days and days, and stored away in proper
places, a large share of it being intended for the poor, who
began their rounds of calls a week before Christmas,
receiving presents of brown and white loaves, large cuts of meats
and cheese, rolls of sausage, etc. The school-master, the
parish mid-wife, the village night watchman, and other
semi-public characters of small degree were carefully
remembered at this time. The village tailor with his journeymen
and apprentices appeared a few weeks before Christmas and
made the wearing apparel for the family and servants out
of home-spun fabrics for the whole year. The village shoe-
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