The Last Years in Stockholm 143 of us, and especially is this true of me, there comes a time in life when we desire to make a halt, to gather ourselves together, and ponder past experiences. Moreover, I am country bom, and the country calls me. "It has been said here to-night that I have sown seeds and kindled fires. I am deeply conscious that the seeds might have been more fully ripe, and that the fires might have shone clearer, and been less dimmed by smoke. ' * I have taken part in the life-fate of so many and have had to give out so much of myself in small coin, that I now feel I must allow myself solitude, in order to be more to the few, and be able to give more to the many." That Ellen Key left Stockholm and the life which would have held fascination for most people—being surrounded by admiring and grateful listeners and a steadily increasing circle of friends—was not the result, as some supposed, of being wearied by the simultane- ously increasing slander and misunderstanding. It was the result rather of her feeling that she was unable to give to all these friends all that they expected, and also of the great demand for free lectures and private advice. Ellen Key does not belong to those who drop