62 Ellen Key Ellen Key never had to fight her way to intellectual activity, a struggle quite common for young women in those days, when parents in the circles to which she belonged, rather wished their daughters to be shielded from the new ideas of education, graduation, and other unwomanly attainments. We have seen that Fru Key had rather encouraged Ellen to exercise her talents, and she had often pro- posed this or that career for her. Her mother wanted her to take some examination, and concentrate her power in one direction. But the young daughter had remained immovable. "It was Sundsholm's scenery, my books, my little room, my thoughts and dreams I could not bear to leave, " said Ellen once. Her feel- ing for this home was her strongest emotion in youth. Once, when she was eight years old, and away on a visit with her mother, the latter was awakened by her little daughter's sobbing. She had been unable to sleep for fear that Sundsholm might bum before she could reach home! Her love for her child- hood home increased through fear of losing it, a fear which darkened her life from her six- teenth year. During the winters in Stock- holm she used to follow the weather-reports from the home county with trembling heart.