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NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS. MORAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS. 139
At home, also, Swedes readily practise this noble uprightness of
dealing, which forms one of the securest foundations for the social
fabric, often compensating for short-comings in other directions.
Obliviousness to the above circumstance often causes critics to form a less
favourable opinion of the social condition of Sweden, both in ancient
and modern times, than it deserves.
Another evidence of that humanity as a trait of Swedish character
may be seen in the pronounced dislike felt by Swedes for every species
of headstrong behaviour. The attempt to assert own legal rights to
the infringement of the just and well-founded claims of others, meets
with less sympathy in Sweden perhaps than anywhere else.
The Power of Organisation in a highly developed degree is another
characteristic feature of the Swedish nation, and the solidity and stability
that the fabric of Swedish society has displayed through the past centuries,
are doubtless in large measure due thereto. To this is allied a great
faculty for subordination under others without loss of personal dignity,
and an equally marked faculty for ordering others without arrogance or
bullying. At the present day there are to be found in many parts of
the world young Swedish engineers occupying posts where they have
hundreds and even thousands of workmen under them, and discharging their
duties with that quiet courtesy, that strength combined with justice,
which render obedience a matter of course and not of compulsion, and
which result not only in the best possible relations between superiors and
subordinates, but also in the greatest and most efficient output of work.
The great importance that Swedes attach to politeness and
consideration for others in human intercourse, is well known, as is also their
hospitality. On great occasions show and pomp are in evidence among
them, and rhetoric is in danger of being over-estimated. A weakness
for theatrical effect on their part cannot be wholly denied, though it
is relegated to occasions of no great importance and is only existent
in externals. That the Swedish people are capable of humble
observation of duty, of unmurmuring self-denial, and of heroic self-sacrifice
when the call arises, the whole of their history amply proves.
The characteristic of the Swedish nation that is most deeply
rooted, and that forms the key, as it were, to the whole, is their intense
love of Nature. This is it that has given birth to the great Swedish
naturalists, to the Swedish inventors, and to the Swedish explorers; to
the same source are to be traced the Swedish lyric poets, the
magnificent Swedish national melodies and singing, and the special course that
Swedish imaginativeness has taken. This preeminent appreciation of
the charms of Nature has, however, diverted the attention of Swedes
to some degree from psychological fields, and hence a Swede, while often,
or almost always, a great nature-lover, is seldom strong as a student
of mankind — a consequence of this being, amongst other things, that
there is an abundant lyrical literature but a very scanty dramatic one.
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