When I Was a Child: An Autobiographical Novel

Chapter XII

The eerie Fågeltuva bog with its frightening vastness was no more; it had been drained and a peat factory built on its edge. Valter got a job in the peat factory as wire-cutter. The wire was used for baling the dried peat, which was sold to farmers for animal-bedding and fertilizer mix. Here he was paid one crown and twenty-five öre a day, and the work was easy enough. But while he was baling, his eyes and ears were so filled with peat dust that it took much time to clean up when he came home in the evening. At last he had finished school, which had interfered so greatly with his work in the glass factory. But he was not yet rid of God and the church and the minister: this winter he was being prepared for his confirmation and first communion. Once a week he walked the six miles to the church.The religious instruction caused him no trouble; the minister was old and nearly deaf and seldom heard the replies to his questions, but always gave them a favorable interpretation. During his time of preparation Valter must also attend church on Sundays. Perhaps he would not have considered the minister detestable if he hadn’t preached every Sunday against socialists and glassworkers. According to the  chapter xii =' 12chap12_Layout 1 11/22/2013 12:32 Page 169  When I Was a Child minister’s words, God must be the enemy of organized workers, and here it was demanded of Valter that he serve and praise this enemy. There were sixty-five boys in his class, all sons of farmers or factory workers. The factory boys smoked cigarettes, the farm boys chewed snuff; three or four among them—including Valter—did neither. The factory boys were intelligent and class-conscious, the farm boys dull and old-fashioned, refusing to mix in politics. During their free moments between lessonsValter sometimes attempted to inform them about God and class-society, but they guarded their ignorance jealously, anxious to keep it. Most of the boys came to class on bicycles; Valter walked with Ossian Flink, who also had no bike. During Valter’s preparation for his first communion, the Titanic, the world’s largest steamship on her maiden voyage across theAtlantic , hit an iceberg and sank. Consequently, many of the prospective emigrants that spring hesitated. Later, toward summer, Sweden’s greatest author, August Strindberg, died. During his last years he had often said that his pen would be used exclusively for the working-class. Now the reactionary press insisted that the last book Strindberg had asked for was the Bible, and that he had died with the Bible pressed to his heart. Valter felt sure that this was a deliberate upper-class lie. The confirmation would take place at Whitsuntide. He ordered a black confirmation suit,bought black gloves and white tie.What an idiotic custom! But, however he decked himself out, his soul would remain a freethinker’s. It was only that he must be dressed like the rest of the class in order to be admitted to the communion—in order finally and for all time to get rid of God and church. He had worn his leather shoes to class all winter long; the soles were worn quite through, and he would need a new pair for the 12chap12_Layout 1 11/22/2013 12:32 Page 170 c ha p t e r x i i  confirmation. But the suit had taken all his pay from the peat factory and he had nothing left for shoes. His mother was in a great quandary: What could he wear at the communion? Could he use Gunnar’s shoes? Gunnar’s shoes were brought out and tried on Valter’s feet, but they were too narrow and too short. Gunnar had unusually small feet for his age, whereas Valter’s were unusually large for his age. He could push only half his foot into his older brother’s shoe.It was out of the question.Otherwise,Gunnar would willingly have lent his shoes and stayed home for the holidays. The year before, Albin had sent some money from America and Hulda had bought a pair of button shoes; these she now handed to Valter. “Try my shoes, they’re bigger.” The button shoes had been a pair the storekeeper had been unable...