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National Geographic : 1909 May
Contents
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE and in going out to their daily tasks the bright colors of their costumes blend harmoniously with the green grass and rich foliage. They do not make the plea that, being the weaker sex, they should have the lighter work. Even if the men swing the scythes, the women deftly toss the new mown hay in the sun and hang it upon racks to dry. The men when at work wear for protection a leather apron, and when once put on they, believing that it would give them a cold should they dispense with it, wear the apron every day and Sunday, too. However, when Sunday demands the long "church coat," the leather badge of work is laid aside for the day. Because of the insufficient supply of warm sunshine in this high latitude it is necessary to hang the cut grain upon racks to ripen. When properly cured it is hauled to the barns upon two-wheeled carts, there to rest until a lull in the gen eral work permits the annual threshing. This labor calls into service the entire force of the farm-men, women, and children-some to pass the sheaves, one to feed the machine, another to pitch the straw, and others to take care of the grain, while I won the everlasting grat itude of my farmer host by driving one of the horses on this important occasion. The farms are usually small, for the owner upon dying divides it in equal shares among his children, and these shares after repeated subdivisions be come mere patches. Sometimes one may buy out his brother, or he may secure possession of one or more distinct par cels and thus own a number of discon nected pieces. My host was the owner of 26 such tracts, some exceedingly small and so narrow in fact that a horse and wagon could not be turned around upon one of them, and others were several miles from his home. Many farmers have back from the lake in the hill country pasture land or ground too rough or too remote for cultivation. Here the stock, and especially the cows, are kept during the summer months. In this distant retreat one or more members of the family remain to look after the cows, make butter and cheese, pack away a supply for winter use, and cure such hay as may not be needed for the grazing cows. The flax, which in its finished state forms such an important part of the dress of men as well as women, and used so extensively in making the bed and table linen, is raised on many farms. At one time every farmer had his patch of flax, but now the manufactured goods are crowding out the home-made and only the old-fashioned folks, who will not be satisfied with anything but the best, still hold fast to the products of their own looms. The lace also, which plays such an im portant role in ornamenting the fancy kerchiefs and head-dresses, is a home in dustry. Each parish has its own patterns of lace, and the expert in one pattern has no temptation to learn a new one, but goes on perfecting herself in the pat tern of her own parish. The houses of the farmer class are very simple, made in many cases of rough, unhewn logs, with the cracks filled up with the moss which grows in such abundance here. In one corner of the room are two stationary beds, one above the other, in another corner the great open fireplace, and benches are about the walls. A plain table, wooden bowls and spoons, and a corner cupboard, in which the household treasures are stored, complete the furnishing of the average home. A narrow shelf over the window is the place of honor for the Bible and the book of Psalms, and near by is suspended the long pole on which is strung the loaves of ring-like rye bread to dry. This bread apparently never grows stale, but is always just to the farmer's taste. Here, as elsewhere in Sweden, coffee is all-important. The first thing in the morning is coffee with "dip"-that is, a bread of finer texture baked especially for this purpose; then at 9 o'clock break fast, a rather substantial meal with po tatoes, fish cooked on glowing coals, and frequently a kind of gruel for those who 468
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