Show IN HE JEJEr Esting from the ills lan peninsula tha united kingdom of oe norway and sweden covers an area twice as large as utah experiences of mormon elders among the swedish EDITOR it might t not prove drove uninteresting to the readers f THE JOrR journal NAL to hear bear a voice oni oat the north from tile the land of he midnight sun the former nome of the vikings the father tad ind of thousands ot of res eeten adopted citizens the kingdom of sweden politically united with norway and ruled bathe iv mhd same king has an area of square miles and a 11 pu lation of not fully five millions sweden shares with norway I 1 that land eo well defined by nature which our school boys call the ilke sean scandinavian peninsula and tho the utmost projection of the 1 european continent to the north eat the atlantic ocean and the pattie baltic sed sea ext extending eDding from i bout SO 60 degrees to 70 degrees 0 rth irth latitude the situation cor corids to that of alaska in eneric a oi or the northern part of 0 the of reen Und As i edards size eize tile the united king lom forn of sweden and norway next lo 10 0 o rus russia rusia ia form the largest realm i fulopp sweden alone is nearly once and a half as large as eng aitel and scotland together or i bout lout twelve times as large as denmark and if we carry the com aribon across the atlantic we find hat the un united cited states slates is about 1 ent yo one times as large as swe len while our own fair utah is i bout one half as large the climate of this lind land is severe il though much milder than one expect judging from the worthern Vor thern situation and hi high h lati ude hore here dense forests cover the land and thriving cities are found v white hile over in america greenland in the same latitude is wrapped in terrial ice and snow this for fact is ie attributed to the gulf tream which washes the norwegian coast this cold cod vigorous climate has produced a race of strong vigorous and good looking people history avs ays that the awe swedish diah people have liked in abi chii land for years rhe present pre sent kingdom 0 is the most ancient of all the states that are still extent in europe for the swedes have kept to their present territory perfectly independent of foreign 0 nations probably for a long lone time divided into lesser com munitie unitie mu in nitie but bat for the laba 1200 years united in a single realm the influence ence of sweden and the S wedes has been felt in europe at different times timer and in different ways during the famous viking period 1000 they directed their expeditions toward the east dex fou founded the russian Russ laai kingdom which has become such a great grea and tand powerful empire and among the best families of which several are of swedish extraction it is generally recognized by historians that the great Syre swedish diall ling gustave adolphus by participating pat ingin in the thirty years war saved the cause of liberty of conscience in T ai rope thanks to these events and many luany other warlike achievements for tile the swedes have been a warlike people for a time sweden became ft a great power but it was wag impossible for two million people to hold this pI position tion so EO after afler a glorious struggle of eighteen years she was obliged to give up tip b her possessions beyond tg the baltic the last of of which finland she however re bained until 1810 in my wanderings among the swedish people I 1 hire have had the pleasure to mingle iiii avith some of both the rich and the poor at al abou hough h my labors as a missionary take me e 0 generally to the poor as it ft is exceedingly exceeding hard bard to make the acquaintance of the rich e specially if they hear that you are a mormon I 1 have found that the peole pie are as a rule of a very reli bious ious nature having amstrong belief in n a 1 higher power which belief manifests itself in their everyday life ife the lutheran church is the state church and the majority of the people are devout followers of luther although nearly dearly all sects beets re represented here and none of them lack followers even the mormons cormons are permitted to preach as aa much as they want and I 1 am pleased to say that the gospel is taking aking rapid strides forward here compared with wilh the rest of europe were it not that we elders have a just cause to defend with the bible and god on our side our work would require brainier heads than we ios possess sess because the people have read the bible so that they know in n a minute if you misquote a passage massage but truth will prevail and the priests knowing that we cannot be confounded with bible proof feek to persuade the people to 0 as they say say never go to bear a mormon afie the truth of the words spoken to joseph smith that his name should be known for good and evil adiong among all nations na tiong is here bere r in 16 every town and village and hamlet I 1 have bave the people listened to or read i wonderful vond erful stories regarding joseph smith and the mormons cormons all sorts of traditions are rife among the people here as well we 11 as the rest of europe but they are gradually giving away before the sunshine of truth even now there are many who still with horror stricken faces face tell stories of the murdering angels angela of brigham young 11 and how the mormon women are hitched to the plow they delight to tell of the wonderful dances the mormons cormons lave have where men and women boys and girls young and old married and single assemble in the ball room clad as father adam and mother eve were before the fall these are but samples sampler of the man many stories stones that are or rather were popularly believed we lve must not blame the people because all faith takes root in evidence and in this respect the evidence though false was all in favor of these fairy stories as only one side of the case had been taught to the people and that by men in whom they had implicit confidence tho the swedish h people are hardworking frugal and economical and I 1 have found them to be openhearted and bonea hone it popular education is very advanced it 1 is seldom you meet a person who cannot read and write on recount account of the hard struggle for existence the masses are not able to get a higher education but t those h ore who have means are generally ene rally highly cultivated ed education ug at on is compulsory and the control of the schools is in iii the hands of the clergy the schools are excellent if we except oue one thing and that is that all children irrespective of their creed color belief or former condition are compelled to studa what they call christianity which means the lutheran faith faich the immense yearly emigration tends to weaken the kingdom it is not because the swedish do not love theia fatherland that they emigrate but bait there are various reason sweden is naturally endowed with great riches richea but tle the wealth is in the hands of the few the poor people are poor and are arc kept go eo far distant from the trade centres bentres of the v virld rid of vast vase extent and in want of capital sweden in spite of he be arich rich products of lia nature ture has beep beeb unable to produce that division of labor and mass production nowadays called for as speedily seedily as other countries of more favorable situation which are aie densely populated and have a gister number of capitalists maze she ghe has suffered from a comp with those nations a competition aw which has proven oNer overpowering powering another factor promotes emigration is the almost impossibility that the swedish farmer to class most emigrants belong b has a 3 in in becoming a landowner ja tat position which he be hopes to atri attain n in tile the new world the wor lao g closes although good workers aind skillful skill ful aie poorly paid carpenters me masons ons ai dj machinists receiving from 6 cents to 12 c per day while laborers a orero in town get from 35 to 50 ce cents ts a day the wages of the femal female are proportionately lower tle great bulk of the swedes who emi emigrate go to the united bates and 0 of f these only six per c ct t return america is th the Mec ill caE of the working class b here andyke I 1 the difficulty of obtaining pass passage a je money is all tb that at keeps thousands here who would otherwise ear emirate ff e preparations are no noya c leing being made here for a great in international r exposition to bee be held i tim I 1 97 but I 1 may write more about 3 in another letter for tibee p r sent I 1 am very res ity A lit A e lw |