The Quietude of Hälsingland Born in 1879 in Njutångers församling, Gävleborgs län, Per Johan Sten—known to many as John—was shaped by the rugged realities of a Swedish childhood. His family, facing the hardships of rural life, moved to a small cottage at Kvavtjärn near Njutånger. It was a life of labor, where his father worked as a stonecutter. A childhood accident, the loss of a finger on his left hand at age four, likely steered him…