Every one goes to church on Midsummer's Day, which is also called St. John's Day. So the next morning, the Lund family drove several miles to a little country church. Before they started, Sigrid went to find the sweep. But the little wanderer had started on his travels again. "Larsson says all the school-children will sing carols, this morning," said Mrs. Lund. "I am sure we shall have a beautiful service." As they drove along the road, they met many country people on their way to church. The women all carried their hymn-books wrapped neatly in a silk handkerchief. "Why do the men all sit on one side and the women on the other?" whispered Anders. His family sat in a little gallery of the church. Down below, the altar and the square box pews with doors were banked with lilacs. "Hush, dear," replied his mother. "You must remember the country people are used to it, so it is not strange to them." The ride home and the noonday meal seemed endless. As soon as ever they had thanked their parents for their food, the children were out-of-doors again. A big wagon, trimmed with birches and filled with hay, was ready at the door. Midsummer's Day without a picnic in the woods is almost as bad as Christmas without presents. "Don't forget the nets for the crayfish, Erik," said Major Lund, who was stowing away luncheon baskets in the wagon. "They are in all right, father. The big kettle in which to boil them and the coffee-pot are under the seat," said Erik. Even a plain every-day picnic, where you eat sandwiches and cakes under a tree, is fun. But on this picnic, the children were going to help catch crayfish, which look like small lobsters. Then they were planning to cook them over a camp-fire. The last child nestled into the hay and they were off. CHAPTER VI. A VISIT TO SKANSEN "I WANT to see the Lapps and the reindeer. Aren't we almost there?" said Anders to his mother. "Yes, little son, we are nearly at the top of the hill," replied Mrs. Lund. The Lund family were on their way to Skansen, a famous park near Stockholm. Soon the car stopped and every one scrambled out. "We are so high up that we can see the harbour," said Erik, as he trudged along beside his sister with one of the luncheon baskets hung over his arm. At their feet lay the city of islands with its ribbon-like canals of blue. Away on the horizon, the water of the bay sparkled in the sun, like a huge amethyst. The children halted a minute to look back on the fair scene. "Out there the Vikings sailed away to new lands," said Erik, who was never weary of dreaming about the heroes of the old sagas. "Hurry up, children," called Mrs. Lund. "We have too much before us to see, to spend time looking back."