Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/226

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190
THREE YEARS IN EUROPE.

a wrong office, and then he left the office and accompanied me to the next office to show me the way. At Upsala the great University library was not open when we reached there. But when the persons who had custody of the library learnt that strangers had come to the town and were anxious to see the famous Code Argenteus, they procured the keys from the proper quarters and with an unassuming kindness which I cannot sufficiently admire shewed us through the halls. At Stockholm a gentleman learnt that we wished to go to a certain place. He took us to the gate, explained what we wanted, got our admission, accompanied us to the proper place, and then bowed and took off his hat when we thanked him. Does any one meet with kindlier help and greater courtesy than this in any part of the world? Do we receive greater attention than this when we are travelling in our own country and among our own countrymen?

After a voyage of an hour and half or more we reached Gustavsberg. A proprietor of a porcelain manufactory there shewed us through the manufactory. The earth is got from Cornwall in England, and we saw the different processes by which it was ground and mixed and made into paste. The paste was then shaped as plates or cups, jugs or basins, and then fired on huge ovens. The articles were then painted and glazed and fired again. I was much interested in what I saw. In the evening we returned to Stockholm.

7th August. We saw the Northern Museum which contains a collection of various articles illustrating the