with crippled pines and resembling the
wild, uncultivated, neglected landscape in Dalecaria or Norrland,
the two most interesting portions of Sweden. By careful landscape
gardening, without destroying its natural beauty, he introduced broad
paths, restaurants, cafes, band stands, and other places for the merry
to meet and hold their festivals, and for the students to sing their
songs, and he reserved a part of the grounds in its natural condition,
where the lovers of nature can find a quiet retreat among the gloom
of a pine grove. It has become the most popular resort in Sweden,
particularly in the long summer evenings, and when a man can not reach
the country, Skansen is never too far. It is accessible by street-cars
and by boats, and is not more than half an hour's walk from the
palace.

Here the "folk festivals," for which the Swedish poets have composed
their most beautiful songs, are held every spring; here the national
holidays are celebrated as in olden times, both in summer and
winter, and national customs are preserved with great care and amid
surroundings that give them a realistic tone, like the true thing. Dr.
Hazelius secured original types of peasant houses from every part of
the country where they have individual or unique character. From the
huts of the fishermen on the south coast of the Scandinavian peninsula
to the camps of the Lapps in the frozen zone, every feature of
Swedish country life is represented. The Lapps brought their dogs and
reindeer, and live exactly as they do upon the snowy plains of the
polar regions.

With the forty acres that compose the park are about one hundred and
twenty-five people, living exactly as their forefathers lived and
practicing the primitive customs that prevailed two centuries ago
in the agricultural districts of the kingdom. They wear the same
costumes, eat the same kind of food, use the same kind of dishes, and
preserve so far as possible every feature of their daily life. Every
one of the provinces of Sweden which has a distinctive dress or unique
custom is represented by the actual people who have always lived that
way. Every man and woman continues their former occupations. There
is no theatrical business about it, no imitations on the grounds;
everything is genuine.

Three or four times a week at sunset, after their daily work is done,
the peasants gather for a dance at a central place, which is always
surrounded by a large crowd of spectators, and is the