I Even Thought That The Inhabitants Of The Former Had More
Intelligence - At Least, I Am Sure They Had More Vivacity In Their
Countenances Than I Had Seen During My Northern Tour:
Their senses
seemed awake to business and pleasure.
I was therefore gratified by
hearing once more the busy hum of industrious men in the day, and
the exhilarating sounds of joy in the evening; for, as the weather
was still fine, the women and children were amusing themselves at
their doors, or walking under the trees, which in many places were
planted in the streets; and as most of the towns of any note were
situated on little bays or branches of the Baltic, their appearance
as we approached was often very picturesque, and, when we entered,
displayed the comfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the elegance
of opulent, circumstances. But the cheerfulness of the people in
the streets was particularly grateful to me, after having been
depressed by the deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where every
house made me think of a tomb. The dress of the peasantry is suited
to the climate; in short, none of that poverty and dirt appeared, at
the sight of which the heart sickens.
As I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and sleep, I
had not an opportunity of knowing more of the country than
conclusions which the information gathered by my eyes enabled me to
draw, and that was sufficient to convince me that I should much
rather have lived in some of the towns I now pass through than in
any I had seen in Sweden or Denmark.
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