Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Qlljr ^auriitalt Ammrattfi
By B. F. RANDEL
Sweden has no national
day, in the same sense as
other countries have. There
is no Fourth of July, as in
the United States, or 1 7th of
May, as in Norway. These
national days celebrate a
time when the nations
severed their connection with
some other country and
became independent. But we
may go back in the history
to such a remote past that
we have no further records
to search and we shall find
Sweden independent and the
Swedes in full possession of
their liberty. There never
was a day when the Swedes
had to fight to regain their
independence. They have
always been independent.
This is the reason that
Sweden has no national day
in the same sense that other
countries have. There is,
however, a day which more
and more takes the nature of
o national day, and this day
is Midsummer Day, the 24th
of June.
It is fitting that this day
shall be the national day of Sweden. Then it is that the summer is in its
height. Then it is that the day is the longest, with the Midnight Sun seen in
northern parts. Then it is that the fields are in their full development, when
the flowers are in bloom, when the entire nature of that northern country is
in its grandest glory.
This national day of Sweden will naturally be a day of different
character than other national days. It is a celebration of peace more than a
celebration of war. It is a celebration of that grand work that the Swedes have
performed in the interest of peaceful development, the development of
industries and art, the lasting work that Swedish culture has done during more than
a century of peace.
I said that there is no occasion for an independence day in Sweden, as
that country has always been a free country. We may well sing that Swedish
songs which says “Glorious Land, the Cradle of Liberty on Earth, for there
is no other country that can point back to such a fact.
And it is with this knowledge that we Swedish Americans feel that we
are especially fitted to become Americans. There is in this respect on great
change between the land of our birth and the land of our adoption. We do
not gain additional freedom here. We had all that before we left our native
land. It is not for the reason of oppression that we left our fathers* land. We
left it for the same reason that the grown son and daughter leaves their home,
to form new homes, and to strike out for new things. And the Swedes still
have the old Viking spirit, and long to see other countries. It is still in their
OSCAR II., Late King of Sweden
A Friend of the Swedish-Americans
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
