The dances are original and often interesting.  One of the most ancient and popular is the daefva vadmal (weaving homespun), whose figures are supposed to imitate the action of the shuttle, the beating in of the woof, and other motions used in weaving at an old-fashioned loom.  Some of the dances resemble those of Scotland, and one is almost exactly like the Virginia reel as danced by old-fashioned people in the United States.  In another, called the “garland,” the dancers wind in and out under their clasped hands in imitation of the weaving of a wreath of flowers.  All the dances require violent physical exercise, but the Swedish men and women are famous for muscular development.  Some of the dances are accompanied by pretty melodies sung in unison by both sexes.

The songs of the Dalecarlian peasant are not lively, but rather slow in movement, and are usually sung in unison, the music being rarely arranged for parts.

Dalecarlia has a certain preeminence among the districts of Sweden because of the part its people have played in the history of the country, and however the other provinces may dispute among themselves about their claims for distinction, each will admit that Dalecarlia is entitled to special consideration.  Its people represent the highest patriotism and the noblest characteristics of the Swedish race, and when any one is spoken of as a Dalecarlian, it means that he is a free and intelligent citizen of independent thought and action and lives a life of manly simplicity.[o]

CHAPTER XVI

HEALTH, EXERCISE, AND AMUSEMENTS

Perhaps in no other country in the world have health and exercise been united and formed into a national institution, as they have been in Sweden.  The true Swede believes that exercise will cure everything, and that as a preventive of disease there is nothing like it.  If you go to a Swedish physician for advice, he will invariably prescribe the movement cure, and send you to a gymnasium or a massage establishment instead of to a drug store.  Physical exercise is therefore the national remedy, particularly for complaints due to sedentary employment, neglect of nature’s laws, and high living.  The movement cure for invalids, which is practically the same as that we have in the United States, is used in all the hospitals as well as in private practice.  It was invented about a century ago by Dr. Ling, a patriot, a gymnast and a poet, who was inspired to revive the ancestral national spirit in the Swedish people by the aid of sports and songs, and to develop once more the great qualities of strength, courage, and endurance which in old times distinguished the Scandinavian race.  After a hard struggle he succeeded, in 1814, in securing the recognition of the government and founded the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute, where all persons desiring to teach gymnastics in the public schools or in private institutions must take