CHAPTER XII. 



CONSTITUTION DAY ON BOARD THE ' FEAM.' 



INDEPENDENCE DAY rose clear and mild; there was festival in 

 nature as well as in our hearts. The sunshine streamed over sea 

 and land ; a slight breeze across our ice-bound haven harbingered 

 the spring, and, as it were, wafted greetings from home where 

 now the trees were bursting into leaf, and the grass was spires 



THE PROCESSION FORMS, SEVENTEENTH OF MAY, 1899. 



of green. But here in the north, everything was still in winter 

 garb. The snow glittered so that it dazzled one to look at it ; it 

 was just like a March day on the mountains at home. And yet 

 there was something in the congealed scenery around us so truly 

 grand, so homogeneous, and the spring air brought with it such 

 a feeling of promise, that it made one's heart warm within one. 



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