UPSALA 109 



supported him. He thus made his own case an en- 

 couragement to other poor students, and also a lesson 

 in patience ; for victory does not come with a leap her 

 path must be laboriously prepared. 



He put cards and pasteboard in the worn-out shoes 

 given him by his comrades, and stitched and mended 

 them with birch bark, neatly and carefully, for he was 

 neat-handed with his glueing of plants and preparation 

 of specimens a good thing for him, for, as George Eliot 

 wisely says, Some skill with the hands is needful for 

 the completeness of life, and makes a bridge over times 

 of doubt and despondency.' The lowest price of a pair 

 of common boots was nine (copper ?) dollars, and of strong 

 shoes five dollars. 1 He thought, as he sat mending 

 his shoes, that perhaps the cobbler's trade had been a 

 better life after all. This brought to memory his father's 

 kindness. He felt like the repentant prodigal I will 

 arise and go to my father. But no, his father could not 

 help him his parents had too many mouths to feed ; 

 he would not sponge upon their small store. 



He would gladly have returned to Stobaeus at Lund, 

 but Stobaeus had taken it ill that a pupil whom he had 

 treated so kindly should have left the university without 

 consulting him. 2 No, he must win his way upwards 

 by himself; and as Artedi saw the conqueror shine 

 through the darkened splendour of his eyes, he sighed 

 that he himself had not the same victorious constitution, 

 that he could not equally pull the chariot of science. 

 1 Linnseus's Lapland diary. 2 Stoever. 



