Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
BIOGRAPHY. 7
only article of faith: “Ah! that will be a nice one when
she gets older; for certain it is, that the longer people live
the worse they become ! ”
I am not quite sure, but I believe it was in 1806, when
my maternal grandmother died. She lived with my par-
ents, suffered a great deal from some painful internal dis-
ease, and was always confined to her bed. She was inde-
scribably kind and tender to Fredrika and me, and always
wanted to have us beside her during those moments when
she was tolerably free from pain. It interested her much
to hear what we had learnt; and if we read nicely to her,
we knew that, one after another, we were allowed to put our
hand into a large-paper bag full of sweetmeats, which was
lying upon the bed beside her, and take out of it as much
as we could grasp. Otherwise I do not remember much
of my kind old grandmother; except that on the day of
her funeral we cried a great deal and eat a great deal of
confectionery.
At midsummer, 1806, the whole family removed out to
Arsta. Like all children, we were enchanted at being al-
lowed to go on a journey—such a long journey —a
whole twenty English miles! And during the preceding
eight days we were busy, every leisure moment, packing
and unpacking again and again all our toys and dolls. At
last came the happy day, and in three large carriages the
whole family proceeded to the country. I remember ex-
ceedingly well, that, on our arrival, both Fredrika and I
thought that the large, palace-like edifice, with its project-
ing turrets, its uncommonly high, sloping roof, its high lat-
tice windows, with small glass panes set in lead, and its
dark walls, from which in many places the plaster had fall-
en off, did not look well at all. If we had understood the
meaning of the word awful, we should certainly have thought
of it on beholding the then dilapidated old Arsta, built
nearly two centuries before by Mrs. Barbro Akes’s daughter,
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
