Gerda in Sweden

he top of Mount Dundret, and Lieutenant Ekman took the ke

n," replied her father

t night?" que

irger told her. "When the sun is high up in the heavens it

rthern horizon. "Then I suppose it is almost midnight," she said, "an

and bedtime, too, until we get back

g at midnight, you should spend all your time looking at i

e lakes and rivers; then turned her eyes toward the sun, which was becomi

"All the world seems to have gone

father, looking at the watch whic

re of the sun shining at midnight, to prove to Oscar that it really does shine. Now I am g

ened and became a magnificent red, tinging the clouds with gold and crimson, and gilding the distant hills. A fresh breez

said Gerda, after a lo

d about the midnight sun

n't understand

rth moves around the sun once every year, and tur

in its trip around the sun is called its orbit. The axis is a straight line tha

nd round with her axis perpendicular to her orbit, we should have twelve hours o

und so fast, and finds it hard to stand

has tipped over, so that in summer the North Pole is turned t

and now she took the paper and pencil which her father gave her, and talked as she worked. "This is th

e North Pole," and a grandmotherly-looking figure in a R?ttvik costume was

et at the South Pole," and Gerda drew the figure on the oppo

, she is always tipped in the same direction, with the North Pole pointing toward the north star; so there comes a

da. "When does

n Mother Earth has travelled just half

and Gerda made two dots on the orbit, e

d night, all over the earth, are each twelve hours long. We call t

is twelve hours from sunrise to sunset, and twelv

ay," repeated Lieutenant Ekman. "If you will look in the al

w minutes in silence. "I think I u

," her father told her; "but everyone has to s

turned away from the sun we have the long winter nights. The nearer we go to the pole, the longer days and nights we

ame around the corner of the hut just i

arther north we go in summer, the longer

ested Birger, trying to find a com

ave come sooner!" she exclaimed. "I understand it perfectly now;

atch the midnight sun until we understand the whole matter a

me and see some Lapp settlements," said Birger, who had made frie

time!" cried Gerda. "When

nt Ekman; "but if your friend knows where there are some Laplander

n most of the herds of reindeer up into the mountains, but Erik

in Gellivare?" que

oney so that he can go to Stockholm and learn a trade. He doesn't want t

surprise. "Your friend Erik see

!" whispered B

o the hut and put her on a cot, "she has been awake all night. When she has had a little rest we will go back to Gellivare and look