It turned out as the mother expected: they did maintain
themselves. The girl made candy, and the boy carved wooden toys, which
they sold at the farm houses. They had a talent for trading and soon
began buying eggs and butter from the farmers, which they sold to the
workers at the sugar refinery. Osa was the older, and, by the time she
was thirteen, she was as responsible as a grown woman. She was quiet and
serious, while Mats was lively and talkative. His sister used to say to
him that he could outcackle the geese.
When the children had been at Jordberga for two years, there was a
lecture given one evening at the schoolhouse. Evidently it was meant for
grown-ups, but the two Smaland children were in the audience. They did
not regard themselves as children, and few persons thought of them as
such. The lecturer talked about the dread disease called the White
Plague, which every year carried off so many people in Sweden. He spoke
very plainly and the children understood every word.
After the lecture they waited outside the schoolhouse. When the lecturer
came out they took hold of hands and walked gravely up to him, asking if
they might speak to him.
The stranger must have wondered at the two rosy, baby-faced children
standing there talking with an earnestness more in keeping with people
thrice their age; but he listened graciously to them.
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