30 HELEN ABBOTT MICHAEL 



nodding the head twice or thrice. I noticed an absence of ear- 

 rings; only half a dozen men in the room wore them, though 

 many of the ladies had their ears bored and doubtlessly wear 

 earrings at balls and the like. The dresses were generally 

 woolen, of dark colors, tastefully made though plain, very little 

 jewelry, clean, neat-fitting gants de Suede. . . . 



"The reception was noted for the distinguished men and 

 women present: professors and their wives, a young man 

 of Stanley's corps who had walked across East Africa, Nor- 

 denskjold, who went in the Vega by the northwest passage 

 around from Sweden to Japan. He shook hands cordially. A 

 famous actress of Sweden, Lenke, zoologist, LefHer, mathema- 

 tician, Hildebrandt, and Montelius. 



"Miss Topelius of Finland spoke in French. Her father is 

 a distinguished writer l of Finland. She was charming in man- 

 ner, a painter, and was most warm in her manner, patting me 

 on the shoulder and arms. This is quite a national trait since 

 Professor Loven and the chambermaid did the same. There 

 is much kindliness in their manner. After supper we went back 

 to the reception room. Miss Inez C. Rundstrom from Kansas 

 was a charming girl of Swedish parentage. She graduated from 

 one of the Western colleges, having begun the study of mathe- 

 matics when a child. She is here studying mathematics in the 

 High School (the beginning of the University) with Leffler 

 and Professor Sophia Kovalevskaya. The teaching is entirely 

 by means of lectures, and those of Kovalevskaya are regarded as 

 very profound. The atmosphere of great men was about the 

 room. The tremendous and gigantic strength of their mental 

 qualities very apparent. Many, if not all the ladies, speak ex- 

 cellent French, and they seem more thoroughly educated and 

 trained than our own women. They met me with such a de- 

 lightful spirit of welcome. 



"Within a brief hour after the supper, we returned to the 

 dining-room. The long table was spread with a row of glasses 

 all around the table, filled with punch alternating color of 

 red and white opened bottles of seltzer water and glasses. 



"At the end of the room near the head of the table sat Ibsen, 



1 Professor Zakris Topelius, author of The Surgeon's Stories, etc. 



