THE LINDEN-TREE OF LINNHULT 15 



under whose shade the family grew up stood in the 

 vicinity of his native place, between Jomsboda and 

 Linnhult. The linden tree has passed away, but in 

 this cottage, this very cottage, Linnaeus's father dwelt, 

 so long do these wooden houses last. This one looks as 

 new and strong as do the other houses round, and as 

 cheerful with its white muslin window draperies, for it 

 is inhabited, and the climbing plants growing up round 

 it, ever youthful in their buds and blossoms. Children 

 still peep from those windows, still play about this sloping 

 garden. A little pair are before me now. But that this 

 boy's eyes are of the usual Swedish blue, like the speed- 

 well of their fields, in this fair child I can almost imagine 

 I see the intelligent and bright-faced Carl Linnaeus, a 

 boy with rosy cheeks, sparkling brown eyes, and light 

 silky hair, almost white in its fairness ; and that tiny 

 maiden, with the dazzlingly fair neck, and flaxen locks 

 escaping from under her cotton gipsy bonnet, might be 

 the little Anna Maria Linnasa, long since lying in 

 respected sleep as Fru Hok in the rectory churchyard 

 of Wirestad, near by. .Nils, the perpetual curate of 

 RSshult, having been born in 1674 makes the little 

 house connect us with that date, which has so long since 

 drifted into history, in a more intimate way than do 

 many more ancient buildings. Life here altogether 

 carries us back in the past, so completely is it the life 

 of Linnaeus's own day and that of his ancestors before 

 him. 



There has been no regular biography written of 



