These early bereavements, acting on the serious, sensitive, and affectionate nature of the boy, and in spite of his stepfather’s watchful care, gave a touch of sadness to the whole period of his childhood, to which he rarely referred in later years, and then only in the fewest possible words. The romantic scenery about his home must have heightened this effect, besides producing others of its own. The church and parsonage stood near the border of a lake encircled by forests, and all around stretched desolate heath, a strange jumble of hills and broken rocks, swamps and reedy lakes, and forests of pine and deciduous trees with here and there a cleared space in their midst. In 1784 he left these scenes to attend the _läroverk_ (higher classical school) in Vexiö, capital of the same district, where the botanist Linnæus had studied sixty years before. Here he gave evidence of rich mental gifts, a strong will, and a fondness for independent and original thinking and acting; but in November of 1792, taking part in certain boyish pranks, he broke a pane of glass in the rector’s house one Sunday morning, and left the school rather than accept the harsh terms imposed as the condition of his reinstatement. In February of the next year, however, upon furnishing proof of repentance, continued progress in his studies, and good conduct meanwhile, he received from the rector a certificate admitting to the university in Lund.[112] The young Ling was registered as a student in the Småland _nation_ at Lund—the “nations” are provincial clubs at the Swedish universities, and each student is expected to enroll himself in one of them, according to his birthplace—on April 19, 1793, and remained there during the spring and fall semesters. In September of 1796 he wrote to Lund from Stockholm requesting a university certificate, and on the 22nd of the following November applied for a clerkship in one of the city offices at the capital, where an older brother, Carl, was already installed in a similar position. Two days later he received the appointment. April 9, 1797, in a letter to his stepfather, he refers to “these years” in Stockholm, and tells of private lessons in French and German which he is giving to bookkeepers outside of office hours. Although he registered with the Småland nation at Upsala December 21, 1797, and took out his certificate there on June 5, 1799, he seems never to have attended that university through an entire semester, and there is no record of the theological examination which he is reported to have passed on the former date.[113]