The ironmaster was the owner of Ramsjo Ironworks. He wanted to send good quality iron to the market. He was a very vigilant observer and hardworking and used to visit his mill even at night for supervision. He was kind and sympathetic to the peddler. But his kindness to him is due to the fact that he mistook the peddler to be his old regimental comrade Nils Olof. That is why when he came to know the truth about the peddler, he got angry and threatened to call the sheriff.
On the contrary, Edla is more observant than her father. When she saw the peddler the first time, she thought he was either a thief or a jailbreaker. But she was unlike her father. She had special sympathy for the unfortunate people. When her father, knowing the reality of the tramp, asked him to leave, Edla insisted on him to stay to spend the Christmas with them. She knew that the peddler, didn’t have any place in the world and so she invited him to celebrate Christmas with them. It was only her tenderness and kind behaviour that aroused the essential goodness in the peddler.