THE SWEDISH PEASANT. 157 



ioned ways and implements of their forefathers, and most 

 resolutely set their faces against all improvements and inno- 

 vations, they always manage to make a good living, and 

 often, by sheer hard work and extreme stinginess, to save a 

 little money. They certainly are in fact the mainstay of 

 the country. . 



The real Swedish peasant, or "bonde," is an ori- 

 ginal. I have heard it observed that a Yorkshireman is 

 the hardest study of man not even barring a Scotchman, 

 and that a Yorkshire farmer "out-Herods even Herod/' 

 For a Yorkshire farmer read " Swedish peasant. " I had 

 the pleasure of living with a peasant for a year, to whom I 

 paid 1 rqr. per day for my board and lodging ; and I never 

 wish to repeat the experiment. I had then a good oppor- 

 tunity of studying their character, and their household 

 economy. Their stinginess is past all belief, and rix-dollars 

 their sleeping and waking thoughts. I never could find the 

 real key to their hearts, except by branvin. Next to branvin, 

 a bit of tobacco is the best ; and no man whose business lies 

 much among the peasants, should be without a roll of tobacco 

 and a bottle of brandy, for they will do much for these that 

 they will never do for money. Like a pinch of snuff among 

 the Scotch, or a whiff of the short dudeen among the Irish, 

 a quid of tobacco and a dram, is the best introduction to a 

 Swedish peasant. His nectar is branvin; and it has this 

 great advantage in his eye, that he can manage to get com- 

 fortably drunk on it for 6d. The real old-fashioned peasant 

 is often a heavy drinker and a heavy swearer. But for all 

 this, he is industrious and hard-working, honest as times go, 

 and, after all, there is something to my fancy very sterling 

 and genuine in the character of the true " bonde " of the 

 North. He is always civil, friendly, and well-disposed; 

 kind, I believe, at heart ; and even when in his cups, far 

 less boisterous than his counterpart in our own country. 

 He is proverbially inquisitive, very chatty (it is wonderful 

 what shrewd remarks he often makes) and fond of asking 

 questions, but easily satisfied with any answer you may 

 choose to give him; and although covetous after money, 



