f profitable employment, were sitting on the loose timbers
overlooking the water, bobbing for fish, and never catching any so far
as I could perceive; and scattering crowds of idlers were strolling
idly along like myself, in search of something particular to look at,
but, failing to discover it, they looked about at things generally,
and then strolled on to look at something else. I sighed at the
stagnation of business, and hoped it would never be my fate to be
engaged in mercantile affairs in Stockholm. Before the Gotha Canal was
completed this was a very brisk city; but since that period,
Gottenburg, being more accessible, has monopolized much of the
European trade. The principal trade of Stockholm now consists of
exports of iron, and imports of sugar, coffee, and liquors. Throughout
the interior the peasantry manufacture most of the articles required
for their own use, such as clothing, implements of husbandry, etc., so
that they are not large consumers of foreign commodities. Finding it
very dull in town, I walked out in the suburbs, which are pretty and
picturesque, though primitive enough to be a thousand miles from a
commercial city. The houses are chiefly constructed of wood, painted
yellow, with red roofs, and neatly ornamented with verandas; and the
people have a quaint and simple look, as if they knew but little of
the world, and did not care much to trouble their heads about the
progress of events. Here as well as elsewhere, children continue to be
born in great numbers, and groups of them were to be seen before every
house playing in the mud just as little cotton-headed children play
all over the world. I say cotton-headed, because these were of the
blue-eyed, white-haired race who have a natural affinity for muddy
places, and whose cheeks have a natural propensity to gather bloom and
dirt at the same time.

I struck out on the high points of the Normalm, and on one of them
discovered an old church, surrounded by trees, with benches
conveniently placed beneath their shade for weary pedestrians. Here
were family groups quietly enjoying the fresh air, the men smoking and
drinking, while the women and girls economized time by knitting and
sewing. I took a vacant seat and looked down over the city. Surely a
prettier prospect could not exist upon earth. There lay the city of
the sea outspread beneath, its irregular streets, quaint old houses
and churches covering every available space; the numerous wooded
islan