Preface xi and practice, and have been prone to avoid discussions, not in order to have peace for better thinking but rather to let our thoughts alone. Abroad it has been otherwise; but our nation has lacked minds ready to listen to voices from afar. Ellen Key is the great exception. Within her range of interests she stands out before wide circles of serious and highly cultured people throughout Europe as a very remarkable personality." ^ The truth of this statement I have myself had occasion to observe during travels abroad. The desire to hear about Ellen Key frequently causes the foreigner to seek the acquaintance of the Swedish tourist. The foreign press bears continuous evidence of the unusual attention everywhere produced by Ellen Key. In an article, published in Der Tag the 13th March, 1904, on Swedish literature, Ellen Key is spoken of as one of the four Swedish authors best known in Germany, whose name has made our country famous in these times. That this assertion is no exaggeration is made clear by the fact that The Century of the Child—a book which in Sweden has ' With the above quotation, Per Hallstrom, a Swedish critic and essayist, begins his review of Life-lines, i.