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.
82 BIOGRAPHY.
talents, such opportunities. She said she was firmly con-
vinced that they could acquire all kinds of knowledge just
as well as men; that they ought to stand’on the same level
with them, and that they ought to prepare themselves in
the public schools and universities to become lecturers,
professors, judges, physicians, and functionaries in the serv-
ice of the state. She predicted that if women were per-
mitted, like men, to’ acquire knowledge and skill, they
would, when their capacity and indispensableness in the
labor of society had become more generally acknowledged,
be found fit for a variety of occupations, which partly
already now existed, and partly would be required in future
under a-more energetic development of society; and she
maintained that Woman ought to have the same right to
benefit her native country with her talents as Man.
We had many conversations on this subject before
“ Hertha” was written. I fully coincided with Fredrika’s
opinion, that a great injustice was contained in our legisla-
tion not to allow Swedish women, as women in other coun-
tries, to attain their majority when they arrived at a certain
age,—for instance, when they had reached their twenty-fifth
year ; and consequently to dispose of their future life and
their property; but in other respects our opinions differed.
I could not see that the management of the business of the
strte was the province of women, and J begged Fredrika:
to consider well before writing, even with the best inten-
tions, and encouraging Swedish women to enter upon a
path which, according to my view, would lead them to
misery instead of happiness. “ Let us,” I said, “remember
the beautiful lines of Pope, which we learned by heart
when we were children : —
«A woman is born to dignify retreat,
In shade to flourish, and unseen be great;
Fearful of fame, unwilling to be known,
Should seek but Heaven’s applauses and her own.’
Fredrika observed that the noble virtue, modesty, ought
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
