40 THROUGH THE FIELDS WITH LINNAEUS 



them in their places in the cathedral before confirmation, 

 the rosy boys hanging shyly about the columns of the 

 church, waiting to be shown their places. 



In 1724, when Carl was seventeen, he was removed 

 to the upper school, or gymnasium, a separate building, 

 where the higher branches of literature were taught. 

 Here his tutors, like those of Newton at Cambridge, 

 gave him up as a hopeless dunce. There was no 

 modern side to a public school then ; a lad had to fight 

 his way against and through the classics. A test 

 examination showed that his time and attention had 

 been all absorbed in his eagerness after flowers and 

 insects. His father was written to and a manual 

 employment recommended. This was what the Swedes 

 call a Job's post a bad news-letter. The examiners 

 were severe, and although in mathematics, and particu- 

 larly in physics, Carl did well at Wexio, still the Greek 

 and Latin grammars reigned supreme, and the tutors 

 told him flatly he was fit for nothing but to be a cobbler. 



His fate was otherwise decided. At one of his 

 visits to Dr. Bothman he met with Tournefort's c Ele- 

 ments of Botany.' Away went all remembrance of the 

 examiners : from henceforth he could be nothing but a 

 botanist. This was the keynote in his career. 



Though a good and pious boy, he entertained an 

 intense dislike of the study of divinity as a profession ; 

 his sense of duty to his parents fought against his dread 

 of their forcing him into the ministry, for which he felt 

 no vocation. He roamed the fields now more in distress 



