Stockholm.—Story of the Hero King.—Upsala.—Norway.—Christiania.—King Olaf.—Drontheim.—The Fisherman of Faroe.
THE narrative of travel and history was continued by Mr. Beal.
“Strange is the evolution of cities.
“We are about to glance at Stockholm. Let us go back in imagination six hundred years.
“There are some rocky islands in the Baltic, at the foot of the northern peninsula. Sea birds wheel above them in the steel-gray air; they build their nests there. Storms sweep over these lonely islands; sunlight bursts upon them, and now and then a Viking’s ship finds a haven among them, and scares away the birds.
“Years pass. Fishermen build huts on the islands. Hunters come there. There come also the sea kings. A mixed, strange people.
“They build a village on the holms, or islets. They defend themselves with stockades, and they found on stocks, or beams, their strong houses. The growing town rises from stock holms; hence, Stockholm.
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.