Towards the close of the fifteenth century, an ironmaster named Peter Olafson was living at Orebro, a town situated in Nericia, on lake Helmar. The chief industry of this district was the extraction, smelting, and sale of iron. In this pursuit Olafson had acquired by his labor a certain competence. In 1497 he had a son who was named Olaf, and in 1499 another son who was called Lars or Lawrence. These boys grew up among the iron-works as Luther had done. Olaf was intelligent, lively, and active, but also somewhat violent. The character of Lawrence was of a gentler kind. In the elder boy appeared the features and the character of the inhabitants of Nericia—lofty stature, brown hair, a fine forehead, a serious cast of countenance, a look which spoke of loyalty and of pride, but also indicated obstinacy. Lawrence, on the other hand, bore greater resemblance to the inhabitants of the borders of Gothland, having light hair, blue eyes, a slender figure of the middle height, a physiognomy full of sweetness, and a certain elevation of feeling. It is possible that his mother, Karin, may have been a native of Gothland.[377] The two boys grew up amidst the lovely scenery in the neighborhood of the Gothic castle of Orebro, which is flanked by four towers, and is situated on the shores of the lake on which the cargoes of iron are shipped for Stockholm. The coming of spring, which is sudden in these regions, filled them with delight. When the snow disappeared, the fields were at once clothed with verdure, the trees were all covered with foliage, and the flowers opened to the sun. The snow-clad peaks which rise up between these provinces and Norway, were colored in the morning with a thousand reflections of purple and gold. The masses of everlasting ice, dazzling in their whiteness, were like flashing crowns which rose majestically above the lakes with which the country is intersected, above the silvery foam of the torrents, the gloomy pine-forests, the delicate foliage of the birch-trees, and the lovely green of the meadows enamelled with the brightest colors. The children in these rural districts used to sport among the bounding flocks, their voices mingled with those of the wild birds; and when they heard the bells ring out from the lofty old towers they seemed to become meditative, and would accompany the peal with their own monotonous chants.[378] Some Carmelite monks, residing in a convent at Orebro, were esteemed the greatest scholars in the country, and they kept a school to which the iron-master sent his two sons. Olaf, who was endowed with a keen intellect, took a liking to study, and expressed to his father a wish to devote himself to theology. Lawrence did the same. Peter Olafson was grieved that his sons should relinquish his iron-works, and he considered in what way he could meet the necessary expenses. Nevertheless he, as well as his wife, felt proud to think that his sons were to become scholars; and he consented to their wish.[379]