The Argosy — page 392: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Under Northern Skies. 371 for the cabin, which must have been terribly stuffy, cribbed confined, by the time the towers of Stockholm opened up and we came to an anchor. One fine morning we started for Upsala, chief university town ot Sweden. ‘There are two ways of reaching it from Stockholm ; by train or by canal; but the latter journey is pleasanter and more charac- , teristic. Like the passage up the Gotha canal, this other canal route is unique of its kind and distinctly peculiar to Sweden. It gives one the delightful sensation of a new experience; a sensation that grows rare and yet more rare with time and travel. You distinctly feel when going up the Upsala canal that you are in a new world; are doing something you never did before, and will probably not find.in any other country. Everyone talks of the Gotha canal, everyone does it; few ever think of the Upsala canal or dream of doing it. Most people chose train in preference to boat. It is more quickly over, and the sooner they get to Upsala the better. Yet the journey was almost more enjoyable than the journey up the Gotha canal. It was very different, less important; there were no interesting locks to mount or de- scend ; there was no golden-haired lady on board to dazzle us with her charms and divide our attention with passing scenes; there were no midnight experiences on dark mysterious lakes, no walks under the stars through avenues of splendid beeches. But there was the pleasure of the unexpected. We had heard nothing of this canal journey; its praises had not been sung as those of the Gotha. Anticipating little, we re- ceived much. ‘There was no ceremony, no preparation; no trouble- some hours for meals long drawn out. Best of all there were no tourists. With the exception of a few pleasant Swedes, we had it to ourselves. ‘There were more second-class passengers, but they were forward on a lower deck and were rather an advantage than other- wise. One could see them, and study human nature from an edifying elevation. ‘They were quiet and in no way interfered with anyone. The boat calls at many stations, and they were bound to one or other on business. Conspicuous and out of place amongst them was a lady, coquettishly dressed, with tight-fitting kid gloves and a lace parasol. She asked questions the whole time, took down answers, looked about her, consulted Baedeker, and was evidently writing a guide book on her own account. It ought to have been intelligent by reason of her expression and manner; exhaustive from the amount of pains she took to gather information. She was travelling under the protection of an attentive husband, who seemed very proud of her; sharpened her pencils, referred to her book, held her parasol, generally fetched and carried for her, like any gallant of high degree. He was evidently very much her inferior, but badly as nature had matched them, they were a devoted pair. CoOnnicboooks (S©) im