6 6 666 Yes,' cried the poor spoon, which, so soon as the lead fell from her heart, grew quite light and happy-yes, I am only a common wooden spoon. Take away the silvering, dear master; cause me to be mended, and set me in the kitchen again, to serve out meal porridge for the rest of my life. Now know I well how stupid it was for a wooden spoon to want to pass for a silver one !'"' "And so the wooden spoon should be me,' said little Anna, pouting; "simply because I know that the rich live in gladness and joy, and the poor suffer sorrow and want." time she had lain shining on the great table, | The wooden handle broke in two, and out feli she had recollected that the meat-mother was the lump of lead. So!' cried the master; the only person who knew that she really was only a common wooden spoon silvered over!' nothing more than a simple wooden spoon; and so, if her mistress took another spoon instead of her, she became quite jealous, and said to herself: That is because she knows all about me; she knows I am a wooden spoon, silvered outside, and with a lump of lead within me.' But when the mistress was dead, she said to herself: Now I am free, and can enjoy myself perfectly; for no one will ever know now that I am not quite what I seem.' The goods, however, were now to be sold. The family silver was bought by a goldsmith, who prepared to melt it up, in order to work it anew. The unhappy wooden spoon was bought with the rest; she saw the furnace ready, and heard with dismay that they should all be cast therein. She was dreadfully alarmed, exclaimed against the cruelty practised towards the friendless orphans who had so lately lost their good protectress, and began to appeal to her companions in rank and misfortune, who lay calmly within sight of the furnace. They will burn us up!' she cried. " They will turn us to ashes! How quietly you take such inhuman conduct!' "O no!' said an old silver spoon and fork, who lay composedly side by side they had been comrades from youth, these two, and had already gone through the furnace, I know not how often -6 O no! they will do us no harm. They may willingly melt us; the furnace will do us good rather than harm, and we shall soon appear in a more fashionable and handsome form.' - "The silvered wooden spoon listened, but was not comforted. It did not comfort her to find that silver would not burn, for she knew well that wood would do so. 666 "But we do not suffer want, dear child," said the mother. "We have all that is necessary, and even more. Wait a little you shall see that father will have coffee and sugar home with him; yes, a whole pound of each sort, I doubt not.' "But, mother, I heard father himself say, that there are people in the world who drink coffee every day they are certainly happier than we are. "There is a doubt of that, my girl. God divides not so unequally as we think.' "God gives us always so much as ought to content us, but He cannot give us so much as that we shall be content, for thereto He will not constrain us," said Anders, as gravely as a judge. "Hear Anders! hear him!" cried his sister; "he talks like the priest." "Yes; for these words the priest said last year, when he preached down there at Björkdal, and we travelled to church." 66 "That I do not remember," said Anna. "Oh, thou wert but a little girl; and then the priest's daughter was so grand that day." Ah,' sighed the silly little spoon, I see Yes, so grand! she had a fine necklace of it is not by brightness only, nor only by red stones, or of glass, or some sort of red berweight, that real silver is known!' The sil-ries, but they shone like glass-stones.' ver was cast into the furnace; but when the "And you sat and looked at that," said goldsmith came and took her up, she cried in the mother, "instead of hearing God's word!" great excitement, and with a trembling voice: "She was only a child, mother," said AnDear master, I certainly am a silver spoon; ders excusingly. that is seen both by my appearance and weight; but, then, I am not of the same sort of silver as the other spoons; I am of a finer sort, which cannot bear fire, but flies away in smoke.' Just then the rapid sound of the reindeer hoofs was heard, and the jingling of the sledgebells coming over the frozen lake, as if keeping time to that regular sound, while the hoofs struck one against the other in their hasty "Indeed! What are you, then? Per-progress over the hardened snow. A few min haps tin?' Tin! can the dear master think so mean it is amusing to see folks at times, but I was before her, that she scarcely felt grieved at glad enough to get away. Thank God, I am her mother's tears. at home again!" "That you may well say, Jacris; and I say so too." "But do you know, mother," said the husband, who all the time loved a journey well do you know, I must make a long journey again this winter?" "Where, then? A long journey! Where to?" "Well, you see, there is a German, or an Englishman-it is all the same- who has bought up twenty-five reindeer, which he will have taken to Stockholm, in order to be sent out where, I know not, but that is all the same. They must then export the mountain, and forest, and moss, also, I said to the agent. And he laughed, and answered: Rightly said, Jacris; but that is not our concern. Will you conduct the creatures to Stockholm?" So I agreed, for, you see, he would not trust them to any but a respectable person." "What a long journey! It will be dreary time," the wife replied. a "We miss our girl. It is just childish, Miller," she added, with a sorrowful smile, for she knew her husband missed the child even more than she did. "You should be reasonable, dear Emily. See me now, I took it calmly and reasonably from the beginning." "I do not grieve, Miller; but I love the child's memory." "Yes, yes; but that memory is-isCome, now, little Emily, let us drive out and take the air; the fresh air is always a good remedy." by Norrtull. They met a herd of reindeer, and stopped to look at them. Bundled up in the sledge sat little Anna, in her little goatskin frock, a dark fur-cap on her head, with ears tied down at each side of the cheeks, which the winter frost left as red as a rose. "It will soon go over, little wife. It will be better for thee, who wilt be at home; The Accountants drove out in their comworse for me, who must go out into that vil-fortable sledge, up Drottninggatan, and out lanous world, which I have not seen for so many years not since I lived with the captain, and followed him once to Stockholm; but I shall be well paid; and Yes, mother, now comes the knot. I shall take Anna with me; you must have the boy at home, but some one must also be with me." Anna flew to caress her father, kissed her mother, and clapped Anders. Ack, but I am glad! I shall then see the king, and the king's wife. the dear little queen. I shall know them all directly, for I know already how they dress themselves." 66 How, then, is that?" Anders slightingly inquired. The king wears a red frock down to his knees, with gold seams, and stands always beside a table, on which a gold crown lies on a red cushion. The queen wears a red petticoat, also with gold seams; and has peaked shoes, with heels so high-so high !" "And how knows little Anna all that?" "Because there's a picture therein in the lid of mother's clothes-chest, and the king and queen are painted there, just precisely as they stand and go here in this world. Yes, I know all that; and I shall get to see it soon." "Provided you do not first drop your little eyes out," said the father, laughing. Eight days afterwards, Jacris and his little daughter set out with the drove of reindeer for the capital. The mother wept when she embraced her darling child; but the thoughtless little girl was so elated with the prospect "Now just see! is she not like our Annette?" said the Accountant. "What is your name, little girl?" "Anna-Jacris' dotter,' was the reply. "Anna! Do you hear, Emily? Our little girl was Annette; quite the same thing. How old are you?" "Ten years, within a few weeks.” "Ten years? Emily, what do you say now?" "The girl is truly not unlike our Annette," she replied. The truth was, that the Accountant had long wished to follow a fashion very common in his country, and adopt a child for his own; he had never found one quite to please him; but Norrland's Anna, as he called our little friend, was precisely to his taste. Her *The love of titles which pervades all ranks in Sweden, and the total abolition in discourse of that useful pronoun "you," lead to the absurd practice of addressing persons by the title of their office or employment, instead of their simple names; and these titles have their feminines, which must also be used. Kamrer, or Accountant, makes, in the feminine, Kamrerska, or Mrs. ska, or Mrs. Captain; a priest's wife is Prostinna, Accountant; the feminine of Kapten is Kaptenor Mrs. Priest; or more precisely, Priestess; and so on. lively blue eyes, her quick concise answers, took his fancy at once; and he thought it perfectly unaccountable, that on the anniversary of Annette's death he should meet an Anna who so entirely resembled her. Thus his decision was made, and communicated to his wife, who willingly acquiesced in it. The Accountant opened a negotiation with Jacris for his daughter; the Norrland settler at first plumply answered "No;" but when he came with Anna to visit Accountant Miller at his house; when he saw all the comfort and even wealth that surrounded him, and was assured that he would bring up the girl as his own child, and eventually make her his heiress; and then thought of his own poor house in the mountains of Norrland, and of all the fortune he could hope to leave her a couple of reindeer at the most, and a few rix-dollars-he doubted if he ought to oppose the child's good prospects. Anna's emotion was very lively; her cheeks were crimson; her bright eyes trembled in tears and sparkled in joy; she could scarcely speak, but the round red lips seemed to utter the same mixed language of smiles and tears. The decision, however, was made; and in its confirmation little Anna pronounced a tearful, yet unhesitating, "Yes." The newsettler of Norrland left his child with Mr. and Mrs. Accountant Miller; and Anna, of her own free-will, remained. It became a happy house to the old couple when the little girl grew reconciled to her strange and grand abode-grand to her at least-when they heard themselves once more called papa and mamma, and were caressed by the child, whom they soon loved almost as their own. And into that little heart, guileless as it yet was, came another love, dormant till then the love of the world and mingled with all the love that was felt for Papa and Mamma Miller, and obscured the love that had been felt for the poor father and mother away in the hills of Norrland. Miller, who is at all events well-to-do in the world! That would be something too good for Lieutenant Hjalmar." "Who is he, then, this Hjalmar ?" "He is nothing but what you see-a goodlooking fellow enough; but for the rest, he is lieutenant in some land-regiment - up there in Norrland, or Helsingland, or perhaps in Lapland." "Ha! in that case, such a girl could never think of flitting off there: so fair a flower must adorn the capital. Yet one might feel envious of that lieutenant too." This conversation passed between two young men in civil uniforms, and with glasses stuck into one eye; they were looking on at that furious dancing which a ball-room in Stockholm displays during the winter season. Their remarks came to a stop here, for the young pair they were observing whirled out of the dancing-circle, whirling still, quite through the bystanders, into the clear space beyond. There the girl stopped to breathe, and the young lieutenant to wipe his hair with his handkerchief. "Well, if he has not intentions, what makes him look with those earnest, serious, questioning sort of eyes, so fixedly into hers! And she does she not yes, just see now! seem to be under a conjurer's spell while he looks that way?" "Serious or gay," replied the other young man, "I tell you the girl is too ambitious to think of him he may look as he pleases, but she will aim at being Grävinan, or Friherrinan at least." * : "You think so? Now, I think he will propose, and that she will consent; yes, perhaps this very evening," said his companion, directing the glass-covered eye after the lieutenant and his partner, as they retreated to an anteroom in search of a seat. They found the seat; but in Sweden no young girl can sit alone with a gentleman, even for a few minutes, and whether it were for this cause, or from any other, the lieutenant did not propose. What makes you so silent, dear child?" asked Mrs. Accountant Miller, as the sledge glided homeward from the winter-ball. "Were you not amused?" "O yes, mamma. "You might well be contented, An nette "Contented? Yes, mamma, certainly I am contented. Dear mamma must not imagine that I am not contented." You were perhaps the brightest flower of the ball-room," said Mr. Accountant: "it was truly amusing to see how the butterflies gathered round our pretty rose." "Ack, he is not a butterfly!" sighed Annette as Norrland's little Anna was now *Countess, or baroness. called and she colored highly, and was am not really the person I seem to be; that IV. ANNETTE'S ROOM. my position is a false one; that I am only a Norrland new-settler's daughter? How that thought haunts me! He, so elegant, so refined, evidently highly born-though that I have never heard; but it is so easy to know. Ah! if any where to see my brother beside him, or my poor father! I used sometimes to dream of my old home with pleasure, with It was a tasteful room, the pretty Annette's tenderness at least; but now how ill-placed chamber the walls decorated with engrav- should I find myself there - how unsuited to ings, and some paintings; the prettily-dis- it I should be! Yes, I was happy there played toilet-table, with all its little elegances once," she said to herself, nodding to the for use or ornament; and the many windows picture of the Norrland lake and dwelling; of a Swedish apartment, shaded with thin happy and glad; and I thought of it once muslin curtains, as white as the scene that with pleasure; but now, now I fear continulay glittering beyond them But what was ally. I fear when he gazes at me with those rather curious, was to see, in a hidden spot, a questioning, serious eyes, which seem to pretty sketch of the lake and red wooden reach my very heart; I fear he may be thinkhouse in Norrland, of which we have already ing of this. And now, if my father should spoken in the commencement of our narrative come here- the good, rough new-settler; or the scene where the story of the wooden my brother, with his long hair down the sides spoon was related. It had been put up to of his face- if he should come up here and please the Accountant, who had got a travel- embrace me the common peasant! ah! I ling artist to make the sketch, and had pre- should die of shame. And yet he is my fasented it to his foster-daughter on her name- ther; and I have a mother too. How the day; but it was almost hidden, and kept as memory of childhood will return! It is much as possible out of sight. strange that it does not quite die out. Once it would come like a butterfly, fluttering round the soul, to draw some honey from its flowers. Alas! I believe the flowers are dead; there is no honey for memory to feed 66 Why do you keep that little picture so out of sight?" asked the good man once. "It is so dear to me," said Annette, color"I wish no one else to see it." A beautiful sentiment!" murmured the on now. How happy I used to be when Anfoster-mamma, much moved. ing, "A pretty thought!" said the foster-papa, gravely. It is now the morning after the ball. The young girl sat on a sofa, just before the open door; she had sat down there in a moment of sudden thought; and thought had followed thought, so that she forgot to rise. Her unemployed hands, interlaced in each other, rested on her knees, her eyes looking earnestly forward, only fastened on the floor of the room. Annette was much prettier in this thoughtful mood than when she laughed and talked; she was much prettier in a simple morning-dress than in ball-room attire; there was something about her appearance that suited with simplicity better than finery; and there was more sensibility in her face when it was serious than when it was merry. Perhaps the reason of the latter was that, when she was serious, she thought of things which drew out all the hidden sensibilities of her nature. "What does he think of me? Does he think of me at all?" Annette was now mentally asking; “Does he think of me more than of others? If not, why does he look at me so earnestly, so inquiringly, as if there were always some question in his mind concerning me which he longed to make, or which he wished himself to answer? What if he should know all?-if he should know that I ders brought home some fish in the basket, or The But Mademoiselle Annette had not been at all aware that for one full minute at least she had been intently, perhaps admiringly, regarded through the open door. Lieutenant Hjalmar had come into one of the adjacent rooms, and when introduced into one room of a Swedish dwelling, you generally have a view of others. He stood and looked at the young girl, sunk in deep and serious meditation, and looking so unlike his pretty and lively partner of the evening before. Never had she seemed so pretty in Hjalmar's eyes, and never had she felt so dear to his heart. "How lovely she is! how sweet, how earnest, while she sits there alone, communing with her own good heart! Yes, with such a face, such a brow, such eyes, there must be a heart she cannot be trifling, worldly, ambitious." and more public room of a Swedish dwelling, round which the other apartments usually congregate; it is the room of first entrance, and generally commands a view of some others, so that privacy in such a home is nearly unattainable. The young couple sat on thorns for the space of nearly half an hour; but the visitors seemed not at all conscious that they had given them the thorns to sit on. Their stay was the more provoking, because the lieutenant had to announce that some military duty called him out of town that af ternoon, and he should be absent for a week or ten days. He looked at Annette when saying this, as if he would imply that his halftold tale must remain in that unsatisfactory state until his return; and then he rose, to make a great many bows, and retire. Annette's cheeks were very red; but when her blue eyes glanced for one instant at his, they grew bluer and darker than before; for a whole stream of love and hope and happiness poured over her heart, and those pretty eyes were suffused by emotions that deepened their color. Now, had good Lieutenant Hjalmar pursued his reflections for five minutes instead of one, he might possibly have acted less precipitately than he did; but just at that instant Annette, starting away from the thought, or the word, that brought a blush to her cheek, looked up to meet the very eyes whose expression dwelt continually in her mind, regarding her just as if asking if such indeed were the current of her thoughts. Hjalmar advanced, making one, two, three, profound bows. He And Lieutenant Hjalmar went on his way, could not enter the room where she sat; but strong in hope, and deeply in love. He loved her extreme confusion, her deep blushes as Annette truly, passionately; but he loved her she came tremblingly forward to meet him, as a man ought to love; he would not, if he her sudden, involuntary exclamation, showing could, make her his wife, unless he knew he that he himself had been the subject of those could make her happy in all respects, even by "communings with her own good heart," means of his circumstances and position in which he imagined made her look so full of life; neither would he make her his wife, sensibility and loveliness, this pushed the less he was persuaded she possessed the quallieutenant's resolution to the point; and for-ities calculated to render him permanently getting the caution, the reserve, he meant to practise, he seized her hand, exclaiming Annette, dear Annette, let me speak to you; I have longed, anxiously longed to do so." Tears dropped from Annette's downcast eyes, and fell down her burning cheeks; it was well they did so, or surprise and emotion would have overcome her. Hjalmar loved her; Hjalmar asked her to be his wife; and she consented. This was the way in which she understood his eager request to be 'allowed to speak. A faltering "Yes" was pronounced in answer to that request, and she could have wept many tears upon his breast, for her doubts, her fears were over. 66 But Hjalmar's mind had stopped far short of Annette's conclusion. He was anxious to speak with her, for he had long desired to give her a brief history of himself; but he had intended to do so more cautiously, and in a manner that should ascertain what her own mind was on a subject of doubt and anxiety to him. He had only led her into the outer room, when the door of the great salong opened, and Mrs. Accountant Miller, who had been hurrying out to receive him, entered it with a troop of visitors, who had just encoun. tered her. By the barbarized word salong, for the French word salon, is meant the large un happy. He had had doubts in each of these cases. The truth is, that Lieutenant Hjalmar, elegant, polished, fascinating, as Annette considered him as indeed others as well as Annette might consider him was himself a peasant's son. It is true his father was no longer poor, and had already been twice elected to serve as member in the Peasant's House of the Swedish Parliament; thus he bore the highly honorable title of Rix-man, or Parliament-man, conferred on all such memhers for the term of their natural lives, and by which they are always addressed. But though this was the case, he lived just as peasants do he worked for his daily bread, and his good wife did so likewise. They were a worthy couple, and brought up their son well; spared no cost to advance him in life, and now were reaping the reward of their parental care and love, in the honest pride they felt in seeing him. Lieutenant Hjalmar loved and honored his parents; it was still his greatest happiness to visit them in their humble but comfortable home, and to roam with his good father through the fields, where he had often worked at his side when a child. Hjalmar's wife must love and honor these good parents, even as he himself did; without this, she could not make him happy; and |