WEXIQ 47 



Who knows, she thought in anger, the tutors them- 

 selves might be jealous of his gifts ! Alas, poor fond proud 

 mother, jaundiced now even to disbelief in Rothman ! 

 Her son would have to be a shoemaker after all ! Oh, 

 the sadness of that night ! Vainly did Nils defend his 

 own favourite pursuit. She who had loved flowers all her 

 life now loathed them. Never should the babe Samuel 

 have anything to do with natural history ; he should not 

 enter the hateful garden. The child should gather no 

 wild flowers. This very restriction made Samuel in 

 later years a botanist ; but his love for plants not being 

 so ardent as that of his elder brother, his parents were 

 not deprived of the gratification of seeing him in due 

 time become a minister. That is, his strength of purpose 

 was not so great as Carl's, or his sense of duty stronger. 



Christina, the daughter as well as the wife of a 

 clergyman, felt more keenly on the point of family 

 pride than Nils did. She felt the hope deferred that 

 maketh the heart sick when her cherished wish had to 

 be transferred to a younger boy. Carl's throne in her 

 mind was vacant from henceforth. 



Though Carl redeemed this suffering nobly after- 

 wards, he was not morally so great as Banks. Our 

 admirable English naturalist had the stronger character 

 of the two, the wider mind, which can take to itself 

 even uncongenial learning. As an instance, once when 

 overwhelmed by his great love of flowers, he said to 

 himself, ' It is surely more natural that I should be 

 taught to know all these productions of nature in pre- 



