THE LINDEN-TREE OF LINNHULT 5 



his four hundred rare plants; though more probably 

 it was a Mexican importation, sent by Linnaeus to his 

 father. I do not say it was so, but much of the best 

 legal evidence is made up of likely conjecture. The 

 other plants here are flowers roses and such-like with 

 less pedigree but more beauty this is la vieille roche. 



The smallest cottages here are comfortable, and 

 the people, though poor in actual coin, are yet easy, 

 happy, and contented. One can best judge of the 

 happiness of a country by the condition of its poor 

 people. Here, though it is hard to make a living, there 

 appear to be no poor people in our sense of the word ; 

 that is, none verging on pauperism. The villages are 

 trim and clean, without being over scrubbing-brushed 

 as in Holland. The floors are of clean bare boards. 



Give your linen to the maid, and you will see her 

 wash it at the pump, soap it, beat it on a bench 

 thoroughly with a kind of cricket-bat, bleach it on the 

 flowery turf, and return it to you lint-white, with all the 

 patent washing-powders and dirty messes, with which 

 townspeople give themselves blood-poisoning and all 

 manner of skin diseases, driven out of it. Brave, strong 

 girl ; I see her in the garden doing her washing so 

 honestly. The farmyard with the fowls, and, besides 

 the pump, a well with a bucket to wind up, has a 

 neatness, without being at all prim or fancy-farmed, 

 which makes it very pleasant to look down upon. A 

 long ladder reaches to the attics or garrets, where the 

 swallows build in the eaves. There are also wooden 

 steps up to the slightly elevated ground floor. 



