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to great honours, and having been enrolled among the
Swedish nobles. His two brothers also had remarkable
careers. Peter (1671-1736) commenced as a sailor-bov
and ended as an admiral; John (t 1738) rose from an
overseer in an arsenal to be a captain in the army.
We have come to the end of our task. Not that the
task, properly speaking, could ever be ended. Indeed,
there may be and there must be sources of information
we have overlooked, while new materials will be made
accessible in the future. But with the time, the means,
and the materials at hand, what could be done has been
done. Others will come after and continue the work.
For whilst the words of Tegner, the great Swedish
poet, are quite true, and a lesson not to be forgotten in
the face of much foolish prejudice, where he says1—
“ Boast not of fathers* honours ! Each but his own can know.
Canst thou not draw the bow thyself ? is not thine own the bow ?
What value are to thee the things that long ago were buried ?
Strong waves by their own force alone into the sea are hurried ”—
it is at the same time quite as valuable to remember the
deeds of our ancestors as a warning and an encouragement
in our struggle of life, and as a strengthening of our
patriotism—not a patriotism clad in uniform or relying on
Dreadnoughts, but a nobler patriotism founded on those
deeper qualities which lie at the root of a nation’s true
greatness.
1 Fritjofs Saga:—
“ Yfs ej af fädrens ära ! en hvar har dock blott sin;
Kan du ej spänna bågen, är han ej din ?
Hvad vill du med det värde, som är begrafvet ?
Stark ström med egna våger går genom hafvet.”
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