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BIOGRAPHY. 89
gaged as teacher in the parish, and the old school had to
break up for want of a sufficient number of pupils from our
estate. But one consequence of this change was, that the
instruction in handiworks, so useful and so necessary in
female education, ceased; for the school-master was not
bound to give such instruction. Fredrika, who was much
interested in the school, which she had helped to establish,
was exceedingly sorry for this; and when she heard that in
the neighboring parish, in which there were some farms
belonging to Arsta,a youth of only eighteen years of age
had been engaged as teacher, who had neither judgment
nor patience with the children, but, on the contrary, taught
them what was bad, she was very urgent that only women
should be admitted as teachers in national schools. *
That such would be the case, both Fredrika and I
hoped, because, from what we had seen ourselves, none but
a woman could exert a motherly influence over the chil-
dren, —none better and with more patience correct their
faults, make them obedient, orderly, and cleanly, which
ought to be the first object in educating children. And
how incalculably must the good moral foundation which
these female teachers ought to understand how to lay, in-
fluence the future conduct of the children! But when
this change was to take place we could not guess. As late
as 1842, a learned, wise, and witty bishop, with whom Fre-
drika and I spoke on this subject with all the warmth of
conviction, when he one day paid a visit to Arsta, only an-
swered, “They won’t do! They won’t do! There must
be male teachers in the schools!” And how many, both
widows and unmarried women, might earn their bread in a
position so suitable for them, where they could labor so
beneficially for the rising generation !
In the spring of 1853 my mother fell ill, and had to take
1 Not until many years later, in 1859, a statute appeared, that what had
been enacted respecting teachers in schools should apply also to such
women whose capability had been tried and approved in the Seminary for
Teachers in National Schools.
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