Having spent a large portion of the summer in this manner, I started in the month of August on a tour to the northern part of the country, visiting Stockholm, Upsala, Gefle, Hudiksvall, and several other places. This was my first opportunity to see the beautiful scenery of northern Sweden, the fine, quiet bays, the magnificent lakes, the pleasant valleys, the green hills, the mountains dark with pine forests, all of which contribute to make the scenery of Norrland so varied and attractive. In the fall I returned to southern Sweden, and had an opportunity to witness the field maneuvers of the largest portion of the Swedish army, and also to meet the popular king Charles XV. The maneuvers were very fine, but, in my opinion, the troops could not have endured a long campaign, with its exhaustive marches and hardships. The soldiers complained loudly of fatigue, and quite a number of them were taken sick after the march of only fourteen to eighteen miles, although the weather was fine, cool, and bracing. Compared with our American army during the late war, when marches of twice that distance were quite frequent, the Swedish army was inferior; but these weak points would probably soon be remedied by practice in actual warfare. After having seen King Charles I was no longer astonished at his great popularity among the people. There was something about him which seemed to electrify and charm everyone who came within the circle of his personal influence. I saw him again the following winter at the opening of parliament in Stockholm. With all due respect for old Swedish customs and manners, I cannot but compare this pageant to a great American circus--minus the menagerie, of course. I would like to describe this serio-comical demonstration for the benefit of my American readers; but I am sorry to say that I can no longer remember the titles of the different officers, heralds, guards, lackeys, pages, etc.,--all of them dressed in the most gorgeous costumes, some of them preceding, others following the king and the royal princes, who were adorned with all the mediæval clap-trap insignia of royalty, and wrapped in huge mantles of gay colors, and with long trains borne by courtiers or pages. We can comprehend the importance of a display of this kind a couple of centuries ago, but it seems to me that the common sense of our times demands its abolishment, and unless I am very much mistaken King Charles himself, who was a practical and sensible man, was of the same opinion. The same winter I made a visit to Norway, which was repeated the following summer. The social and political conditions of the country reminded me somewhat of America, Norway being ahead of Sweden in that respect, and I am not surprised that the Norwegians are proud of their beautiful country.