Then he knelt on the cold floor and fervently prayed to God for
strength, for he felt that he was indeed wrestling with the devil.
When he had finished his prayer he lay down on the bare frame, and
with a feeling of satisfaction felt the ropes and belting cutting into
his arms and shins.
He awoke in the morning in a high fever.
He was laid up for six weeks. When he arose from his bed of sickness,
he felt better than he had ever felt before. The rest, the good food
and the medicine had increased his strength, and the struggle was now
twice as hard. But he continued to struggle.
His confirmation took place in the spring. The moving scene in which
the lower classes promise on oath never to interfere with these things
which the upper classes consider their privilege, made a lasting
impression on him. It didn't trouble him that the minister offered him
wine bought from the wine-merchant Hogstedt at sixty-five ore the
pint, and wafers from Lettstroem, the baker, at one crown a pound, as
the flesh and blood of the great agitator Jesus of Nazareth, who was
done to death nineteen hundred years ago. He didn't think about it,
for one didn't think in those days, one had emotions.
A year after his confirmation he passed his final examination.
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