Jogging round the world

This quaint little carriage was owned by a rich man in Sweden, three or four hundred years ago. Do you see what a peculiar harness the horse has on? That queer arrangement on his back I should think would be very uncomfortable, shouldn’t you? The man’s clothing, too, looks strange. Do you see his big funny-looking hat? If we should take a drive in this old, old carriage, what kind of country do you think we should go through?

Sweden is one of the countries that have many different kinds of climate and scenery, so you can understand that it would take a great many days to see it all. In the northern part we should find the winters very long and cold, and the summers short. We should see high mountains, and rivers on which vessels can sail for two or three hundred miles. Doesn’t that seem a long distance? Then we should see thick woods with very big trees in them which are cut down for timber. There are not many cities in the north, and if we kept going toward the middle of the country we should still see only a few, but we should see many farms where beetroot is grown, from which they make sugar. We should see fields of grain, and cows grazing in the meadows. Often we should pass a beautiful lake, blue as the sky, reflecting the country like a mirror. Here the winters are not so cold or long, and as we approached the coast we should find a much warmer climate. Most of the large cities and towns are along the coast.