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E. - • * OUR EUROPEAN NEIGHBCURS NOW READY French Life in Town and Country German Life in Town and Country Russian Life in Town and Country Dutch Life in Town and Country Swiss Lífe in Town and Country Spanish Life in Town and Country Italian Life in Town and Country Danish Life in Town and Country IN PREPARATION Austrian Life in Town and Country Turkish Life in Town and Country OUR EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURS EDITED BY WILLIAM HARBUTT DAWSON DANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY - : º º - - |- - sº - DAN ISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY $: $; ** By JESSIE BROCHNER II, LUSTRATED G. P. PLJTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON Cbe fºnickerbocket ºregg I903 CopyRIGHT, 1903 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Published, May, 1903 'Cbe fºníckerbochet fºre.83, flew lºork . CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE DANES e * gº o tº gº wº sº I CHAPTER II GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS . ë e © • II CHAPTER III THE CHURCH AND RELIGION . © s o • 20 CHAPTER IV PUBLIC EDUCATION . g tº & 4. e . 32 CHAPTER V THE UNIVERSITY AND THE PROFESSIONS . • 49 - CHAPTER VI THE ARMY AND NAVY e e & a & . 66 CHAPTER VII ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND Local, GOVERN- MENT . tº tº © º tº g gº . 77 CHAPTER VIII TRADES UNIONS AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY e - 88 CHAPTER IX COPENHAGEN . e tº g e & * e IOO . CHAPTER X COURT AND SOCIETY . e 6 e e s • I22 V vi Contents CHAPTER XI ART AND LETTERS . * g • * CHAPTER XII MUSIC AND THE STAGE . g s * * * CHAPTER XIII THE POSITION OF WOMEN gº * & & CHAPTER XIV THE PRESS. e g & ge o 3. te CHAPTER XV COUNTRY LIFE . & gº & e ge e CHAPTER XVI SOME DANISH SNAPSHOTS #3 gº © º CHAPTER XVII THE POOR AND AGED CHAPTER xvi.II THE FREEHOLD FARMER AND AGRICULTURAI, OPERATION , CHAPTER XIX RECIAIMING THE MOORS . e e sº sº CHAPTER XX OLD-TIME DENMARK & º gº s & INDEX o e * gº & © º o CO- *AGE I33 I48 I62 I75 I88 I99 2I3 22I 236 242 263 * g. sº º 3; }s §§ 2% - :# tº: §§ #: †. §§ £3% {º}} §§ £4% Qººs & % & ſº 2. - º & MŽſ $43 jº ſº 3. §§ \{ ºft & º § £º % º § x ºn 3. Rºkº - a Y \, * Kºś § º 'º - ? & We \º -- ºf G). tº Š ſº £. ſ? £Aft # º sº ¥2.3% © sº º - º T & Aſ) (#9 º' º Sºlº & §A_2_ºgº & º &\º Ž § Žº Ç: §§§§: ź.º º §§§ 92 - • * *-ºxº º º - * *. º, Sº º &-º', yºgº sº;Sº §3% &e * ºš ILLUSTRATIONS A TYPICAI, PEASANT HOUSE * Frontispiece THE “Roun D TowHR,” COPENHAGEN . § § THE ROYAT, PALACE AT AMALIENBORG, WITH THE DAILY PARADE OF LIFE GUARDS . & e OUTSIDE A PORTA, COPENHAGEN . . . © ge Life Guardsman and Peasant Girl. From a picture by Professor Rosenstand. “KONGENS NYTORO” AND THE ROYAL THEATRE, COPENHAGEN © © g © THE ExCHANGE, COPENHAGEN . ſº 9. THORw ALDSEN'S MUSEUM, COPENHAGEN . * GROUP OF DANISH SCHOOL, GIRLS AT GYMNASTICS A LARGE DANISH FARM & e & & & A TYPICAL, DANISH VILLAGE CHURCH . cº & A PEASANT WEDDING . tº & © ge • From the painting by Professor Exner. INTERIOR OF PEASANT's HOME . g & g From a painting by Professor Exner. COURTYARD OF FREDERICKSBORG PALACE . 9 FREDERICKSBORG CASTLE . ę * © © GAMMELSTRAND, THE COPENHAGEN FISH-MARKET OLD GATEWAY AT ROSKILDE § º £e & PAGE 78 IO2 Ioé II4 II8 I8O I88 I92 I94 2O2 2O4 2O6 2IO vii DANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY CHAPTER I THE DANES |s the archives of the Foreign Office at Co- penhagen there is a letter written by Lord Nelson, and addressed to “The Brothers of Eng- lishmen, the Danes.” The sentiment which these words convey will be readily endorsed on both sides of the North Sea—more readily, no doubt, at the present time than on the historic day when Nelson wrote them, remembering how the inter- vening century has in so many ways extended and consolidated the relations between the two countries. In truth, the English and the Danes have many traits in common, and in no country outside the British Empire will an Englishman feel so much at home as in Denmark. And yet how widely different have been the history and fate of these I 2 Danish Life two nations: the one expanding until it has be- come the world’s mightiest empire; the other, once the Sovereign country of England, of Nor- way and Sweden, of 1arge portions of Germany and Russia, -even Paris was once conquered by the Danes, having by degrees dwindled down so as to become the smallest kingdom in Europe. Still, Denmark may perhaps claim the right to hold her head higher than most other countries, for she has never been made subject to any foreign power, and her integrity has never been interfered with. The Denmark of to-day is the Denmark of a thousand years ago, which the process of evolu- tion has stripped of her temporary conquests. The vitality which the Danes have thus in the most unmistakable manner demonstrated, has probably never been greater or more pronounced than at the present day; but a complexity of ad- verse causes, upon which it would be impossible to enlarge here, but prominent amongst which are probably natural geographical limitations and unfortunate statesmanship, have tended to bring to naught bygone dreams of a Greater Denmark. Danes who have settled in North America or in the various British possessions have proved them- selves to be excellent colonists, as prominent colonial officials have often testified; and in their own country they have in almost every field not altogether incompatible with its natural condi- tions, worked their way to the very front, to the admiration of their neighbours. The Danes 3 The Danes have accepted their reverses in the great political game of the nations with resigna- tion. The only really bitter sting left is the severance from the mother country, by the last unhappy war of 1864 with the Great Powers of Germany and Austria, of the Danes in North Sleswick, who still cling to their old language and old sympathies with a fervour unaffected by the nigh upon forty years which have elapsed since the cession to Prussia. To this day in many Danish churches the pastor offers up prayers for “our brethren in South Jutland,” as the Duchy of Sleswick is often called by the Danes. Other- wise the Danes are a contented people, and after two or three decades of somewhat pronounced political discord, things are now about to right themselves in accordance with the wishes and feelings of the bulk of the nation. I have said that the Danes have many traits in common with the English, - courage, persever- ance, honesty, good common-sense, an equable temperament, a considerable amount of good na- ture and helpfulness. The Englishman, however, strikes one as being made of somewhat sterner stuff than the Dane. He realises at an earlier age and more fully the earnestness, the possibilities, and the responsibilities of life. The Dane seems to take life more lightly; he is certainly more easy-going; and he would probably be none the worse were he possessed of a little more English purpose and determination. Numerous Danish 4. Danish Life sayings and proverbs illustrate this side of the national character: “If we don’t get there to-day, we shall to-morrow ’’; ‘‘He who ploughs with oxen will also get through,” and the like. The push, the alertness, and the energy for which Englishmen, and perhaps still more Americans, are famous, are in the Danes represented by a certain plodding perseverance and deliberateness. Many trivial incidents in every-day life demon- strate this. One has only to observe, for instance, the difference between the way in which a Danish milkman deliberately pulls up, deliberately pre- pares to, and ultimately does, get down from his cart, and deliberately serves his customers, and the business-like manner in which an English milk-boy comes rattling up, flings down his reins, jumps to the ground, delivers his milk, and is off again. Or take the manner in which a Danish elevator man attends to his work. He frequently keeps the key in his pocket, and before the key has been extracted and the door opened, a Lon- don elevator boy would have been up and down again. Or compare the slow, complacent dignity with which a befrock-coated and gold-buttoned Danish G. P. O. official, seated comfortably at his desk, interrupts his conversation with one of his colleagues in order to attend to you, with the in- cessant high-pressure work of a woman clerk in a London post-office! On the other hand, the average Dane is more intelligent, or, in any case, more enlightened, The Danes 5 than the average Englishman. He is more sus- ceptible to outside influences; and is far more au courant with what goes on in the world. The story of the Englishman who said he was “quite aware that he was not musical, but in any case he knew two tunes—the one was God Save the Queezz, and the other was n’t,’’ can be made to have a far wider application than its originator intended; but this story could never apply to the Dane. Figuratively speaking, he not only knows A ong Christian, but the English, the French, the Russian, and probably half a dozen other national anthems as well, and he also enjoys airing his knowledge. Whilst an Englishman involuntarily and almost invariably looks upon a foreigner with a latent suspicion, the Dane rather likes him. If a Danish merchant for the first time called upon an English commercial friend in the city, the lat- ter, having finished the business talk, would po- litely regret that he was very busy that day, but he might ask his junior partner or his manager to take him to dinner at the Cecil. Next year, pro- vided he liked the Dane, he would probably say, “Awfully sorry that it happens to be mail day, but could you make it convenient to call here at one to-morrow, and we will have some lunch to- gether at my club P” Next time, or next time but one, he would ask him down to dine at his house and stay the night, and his visitor would then be initiated into the genial and spontaneous hospitality of an English home. Not so the Dane. 6 Danish Life He will on the very first occasion give up much of his day to his English, Swedish, or even his German business friend; he will invite him to lunch and to dinner—and the lunch and the din- ner will be good—at his own house if convenient; if not, at Some restaurant; and he will often be tempted to bring his wife. Why should not madame have a good dinner; she, too, is fond of a good dinner; and this is such an excellent ex- cuse for having one! This enjoyment of the good things of the table may have something to do with many Danish men and women's lack of that spareness and carriage which in the English are so much noticed and admired on the Conti- nent. Danes of the well-to-do classes are genial and open - handed, and do not appear to hold the “A. S. d.” in such high esteem as does the Anglo- Saxon—in any case, not the ‘‘s.’’ and the “d.”— and as a result they are, for example, more gen- erous with fourðoires than probably any other nation. Moreover, hard-working as many Danes undoubtedly are, business does not with them hold such absolute primary sway as with the or- dinary Briton, who says (and means), “Business first and pleasure afterwards.” The Danes of the towns, and especially the Copenhageners, indulge more in incidental pleasures and outings than do Englishmen. It is the ambition of every English- man to become his own master at the earliest pos- sible age. The Dane, however, often shows a The Danes 7 preference for Government, municipal, or similar appointments—‘‘something settled,” with a fixed, even if modest, income, and, as a proper and natural consummation, a pension to follow. To ensure such appointments, in the Civil Service, at the Post Office, at the State railways, examina- tions, varying in importance, are essential, and these, of course, amongst other things, tend to retard a more rapid progress in life. Compared with an Englishman, the Dane is “put back ’’ not a few years, and it is quite in accordance with this that he only comes of age at twenty-five, and attains to the Parliamentary suffrage at the age of thirty. This is all more or less the outcome of that bureaucratic spirit which, a heritage from the days of absolutism, prevailed for many years after the introduction of a free constitution, and which even now only seems to die hard; but the trend of the new century will no doubt favour commerce, industry, and a more practical life. The Danes love their beautiful country, and have invariably fought well, often brilliantly, in her defence. A Dane never shows the white feather; but the bracing, enthusiastic patriotism of '48, at times bordering upon Chauvinism, has in recent years —more especially in the capital— somewhat subsided. The Social Democratic movement, which in Denmark, as elsewhere, scoffs at all national sentiment, and the negative, though brilliant, scepticism with which an influ- ential Radical journal has found it expedient to 8 Danish Life persist in treating the question of national de- fence, may to some extent account for this, though another factor is the protracted and for many years apparently futile struggle between the Lower House and the Government. There are, however, signs of a change in this, as in many other directions, and should Denmark ever again have to call upon her sons to defend their coun- try, the same fervent, self-sacrificing patriotism which has wrought such valiant deeds in the past would assuredly again fire the student, the peas- ant, the burgher, and—why doubt it 2—the ar- tisan, who, thanks to Socialistic doctrine, may in the meantime have grown a little callous. In the country and in the provinces one still hears the beautiful national songs, many of which date from the time of the first Sleswick war. In Copenhagen, however, they are not much in vogue. The Copenhagener, indeed, is in general very afraid of showing any signs of sentiment or enthusiasm; he is very difficult to rouse, and it is amusing to hear him talk about English reserve and stiffness, when an English crowd, on comparatively small provocation, be- comes ten times more enthusiastic—and quite spontaneously so—than would he and his con- frères under similar circumstances. It has often been remarked that the Norwegian, from sheer national pride, is apt to become some- what overbearing; that a Swede is rather given to swagger—albeit in a very charming manner— The Danes 9 about the glorious deeds his country has accoma- plished in the past; while the German has a ten- dency to grow sentimental and effusive, giving vent to his feelings in a string of reiterated super- latives. All this is foreign to the Dane of to-day. He does not like it; he shrugs his shoulders, not altogether, perhaps, without a certain feeling of superiority, -and minds his own business. There is a Danish word which describes with much subtlety the Dane's characteristic in this connec- tion—the word nögtern. Its literal translation is “Sober,” but it means a great deal more than this: it is a blending of diffidence and scepticism; a sort of “what is the use ’’ feeling; a carrying to excess of the preference for the one bird of which he is sure, to the two about which there may be more or less doubt; a dread of running any risk of getting out of his depth—even if a compara- tively small risk might bring him a considerable, and perhaps even probable, gain. AWögáez72hed, when not carried too far, is in a way rather a virtue than otherwise. It entails wariness and circumspection, and finds a fairly adequate ex- pression in the Danish saying, “Do not sail out farther than you can row back.” That on the other hand it may prove a stumbling-block in the way of greater enterprise and exploits goes with- out saying. Still, when some great work has had to be done, the Danes have hardly ever been found wanting. Many striking examples will bear out this assertion: from almost every part of IO Danish Life the world people come to Denmark to study its perfect co-operative system in connection with agriculture; its plantations, covering vast ex- panses of reclaimed barren land; its model brew- eries; its admirable schools and hospitals. The good-humour of the Dane is proverbial, and it has helped him in many straits. Perhaps as striking an example as any is the manner in which the Danish soldiers bore the many hard- ships of the war of 1864. Whilst holding the for- tifications of Dybbøl against hopeless odds, they every day for weeks together faced a more than probable death with astonishing cheerfulness and coolness. The story is told that in one of the fortifications—and very poor they were—four Danish officers were one day killing time by play- ing whist, heedless of the German shrapnels. Before long one of the party was shot dead, but the three others quietly continued the game with a dummy. Soon after the second fell; still the game went on, until number three was shot, and there was then nothing left for the—temporary— survivor but a single-handed game of cabale. Denmark has bravely weathered many storms; she has had to pay the penalty for grave mistakes; but to all appearances she has never had before her a better and clearer course than she has at the present time. CHAPTER II GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS LEVEN years after the establishment of the Commonwealth in England, King Frederick III. of Denmark, on October 13, 1660, at the his- toric A'igs-dag held at the Castle of Copenhagen, broke the arbitrary and baneful sway of the no- bility, and aided by the clergy and the Copen- hagen burghers, who had fought so magnificently the previous year in the defence of their city, was vested with the absolute and supreme sovereign power, with the concurrence of all the Ständer, including the nobility. The new constitution, or “King’s Law,” as it was appropriately termed,— drawn up entirely in accoordance with the King’s wishes, and framed solely from his point of view, by Peter Schumacher (who had been a student at Oxford, where I believe a portrait of him is still to be seen), and signed by the King on Novem- ber 14, 1665,-although it was not even made public until the year 1709, having been handed down from father to son in a sealed envelope, nevertheless formed the fundamental principle of the government of Denmark for upwards of two II I 2 Danish Life hundred years. Yet, although the Free Consti- tution, a spontaneous gift to his people by King Frederick VII., only dates from June 5, 1849,- two centuries to the very year after the British Parliament had demonstrated to the world in such a terrible manner that there was no limitation to its power, —and although the Conservative, and in many ways reactionary, Government was only overthrown a twelvemonth ago, the Danes of to- day are probably, in the best sense of the word, one of the most democratic people in the world. The tenacity, the moderation, the discipline, the common-sense of the Danish people have here evidenced themselves in a most remarkable 1113.111161. According to the constitution as revised in 1866, the Legislature consists of two Chambers, an Upper House (the Landsthāng), and the Lower House (the Folkething), but the universal suf- frage, of which the latter Chamber especially was intended to be the direct outcome, is, after all, subject to certain not immaterial restrictions, which the intervening fifty years have thrown into bolder relief, prominent amongst them being the comparatively late age of thirty at which a Dane attains the parliamentary franchise. The election of the members of the First Chamber is more complicated. The King appoints twelve out of a total of fifty-six, these twelve being life mem- bers, and the rest are elected. In Copenhagen the ordinary electors choose one representative Government and Politics I 3 (a valgºmazed) for every one hundred and twenty electors, and an equal number of valgºmänd are nominated by the electors who are taxed at an in- come of not less than £220, and who thus have a double vote. These representatives jointly elect the members for Copenhagen. Outside the capi- tal the election takes place in a somewhat similar manner, with certain modifications in favour of the larger landed proprietors. Members of the Alandsthèng, with the exception of those ap- pointed by the King, are elected for a period of eight years, one half retiring every fourth year, and those of the Lower House (one hundred and fourteen in number) for a period of three years. The Rigs-dag assembles as a rule on the first Mon- day in October, although the Liberal Government last year chose another day, and the sessions gen- erally last some six or eight months. The mem- bers receive the daily pay of six kroner, or 6s. 8d., in itself a democratic figure, though it may be sufficient to meet the requirements of a large por- tion of the members, who comprise a number of peasant farmers. Bills, in order to become 1aw, have to be passed by both Houses in the same wording, and can be introduced in either House, both by the Govern- ment and by private members, with the exception of the Ways and Means Bill, the discussion of which is virtually confined to the Second Cham- ber. In this House, however, the budget is threshed through even in its smallest details, in 14 Danish Life committee and otherwise, to an extent which challenges comparison. Often very late in the session the bill passes to the Zandsthèng, where it receives a much more cursory handling. If not accepted in the framing of the Lower House, it is returned to the latter, and then again it comes before the Upper House. If the two Houses do not agree, a joint committee, comprising mem- bers of both Chambers, is appointed, and the utter smallness and insignificance of the items which have been known to jeopardise the fate of a budget—often only a few hundred pounds—would be a matter of surprise to Englishmen. The same routine is followed with other bills. Special Par- liamentary committees and royal commissions are not unfrequently resorted to, and they do not, on the whole, seem to work any more expeditiously in Denmark than elsewhere, but rather the re- verse. Parliamentary oratory at “Fredericia- gade,” where the Danish Æigs-dag has had its temporary premises since the destruction by fire of the Palace of Christiansborg in the year 1884 made it homeless, cannot vie with the eloquence at St. Stephen’s, and only rarely equals it; but, on the other hand, stormy and uproarious scenes are unknown. The revision of the constitution wrought a greater change in the political life and develop- ment of the country than was probably anticip- ated, inasmuch as it effectively upset the working of true parliamentary principles and created a Government and Politics I5 somewhat privileged Upper House, in which the large land owners were predominant; whereby the influence of the Second Chamber was very seri- ously hampered. Political life in Denmark dur- ing the last two or three decades has in reality been a constant struggle between the two Houses, fiercer for almost every election, owing to a rapidly increasing Liberal majority in the Lower House. Contrary to what has happened elsewhere, it was the peasants, the small freehold farmers, who led in this struggle for Liberalism, and it was, no doubt, the numerous rural high schools, to be found all over Denmark, which trained them thus early in their advanced political principles, just as these high schools paved the way for the rational and admirable co-operative system now. prevalent in Danish agriculture. Talented and indefatigable agitators helped to till this political field years before the Conservatives thought of bestirring themselves. The Government has for the last twenty-five years—until the change last summer—essentially been a government of large landed proprietors, chosen in many instances more on account of their position than through their having shown themselves to possess any superior political wisdom or administrative talents. There were, of course, exceptions. M. Estrup, Premier for twenty years, was, for instance, an extremely able man, and that he made a firm stand against the somewhat aggressive demands of the Young I6 Danish Life Liberal majority in the Folkething was perhaps both natural and advisable. But the Conservatives, Government and /landsthing alike, -the Govern- ment being flesh of the Zandsthing’s flesh and bone of its bone,—became unduly stubborn and obstinate. There was a distinct MacMahonic }^ſ, suis, jºy reste sentiment about them, and the word “evolution ’’ was, to all appearances, not to be found in M. Estrup's vocabulary. In order to understand the political situation in the Denmark of to-day, it is absolutely necessary to take this retrospect. There were especially two things which roused the ire of his Majesty’s Opposition at that time, -not always an over-loyal one,—namely, the fortification of Copenhagen and the “provisional '’ budgets. The latter, as prac- tised by the Estrup Government, are a Danish specialty, and an Englishman will find it difficult to understand their possibility. The Liberal ma- jority in the Lower House was admittedly no pleasant Opposition, and they had a way of cut- ting down the budget which the Landsthing and the Government took very ill. But where there is a will there is a way. A loophole was with much ingenuity discovered in the four short lines forming clause 25 of the Constitution: “In espe- cially urgent cases, when the Rigs-dag is not as- sembled, the King can issue provisional laws, ge .” The financial year expires on March 31st. On that day, no budget having been voted, the A'igs-dag was prorogued, and on April 1st, Government and Politics 17 when the literal conditions of clause 25 had with much subtlety been brought about, the Govern- ment issued a provisional budget for the financial year then just begun. It is difficult to imagine anything more simple, and it worked for some years, in spite of the protests and wrath of the Lower House. The first year or two public feel- ing on both sides rose to a height rarely seen in Denmark, and the Government found it expedi- ent to issue one or two exceptional laws, of which one provided for the establishment of a Gendar- merie Corps, distributed all over the country, owing to the fear of disturbances, though the Danish phlegm soon asserted itself again. Things went on in this way for a number of years. Supported by the Zandsthing, the Estrup Government retained office in spite of the ever- growing Liberal and Radical majority in the Folkeſhing, which had been swelled by discon- tents from all classes, conspicuous on the extreme Left being a considerable number of Social Demo- crats. Legislation had almost come to a stand- still, and after many negotiations a compromise was on April 1, 1894, arrived at between the Con- servatives and the Moderate section of the Oppos- ition, the immediate result being a properly voted Ways and Means Bill. But as is the case with so many compromises, this, too, worked unsatisfac- torily. M. Estrup shortly afterwards resigned, but the subsequent Governments were all Con- servative, their prestige, however, diminishing at I8 T)anish Life every change, and their position every year be- coming more untenable, in the face of the ever- increasing Radical majority in the Lower House, and the weakening of their position in the Upper. Yet M. Sehested, the last Conservative Premier, did not seem to realise the expediency of relin- quishing office, and, as it has only recently come to light, the King, who unquestionably has always held very pronounced Conservative sympathies, actually had to give his Conservative Government a plain hint that their course had at last been run, and that it was time to make room for others. In the most generous and spontaneous manner, the old King, who had for eighty-three years lived and breathed in a Conservative atmosphere, called upon Professor Deuntzer to form a Liberal Gov- ernment. It was a difficult task, but one which was very ably discharged, the different shades within the Reform party being adequately repre- sented in the new Cabinet, with the entire exclu- sion of the Social Democrats, and, which almost goes without saying, the Moderates. The Deunt- zer Cabinet dates from July 23, 1901. This action of the Crown was hailed by the country with a burst of enthusiasm, and shortly afterwards a monster procession from all parts of Denmark waited upon the King to convey to him the gratitude of his people. Thus Denmark quietly passed under the sign of democracy — broad, practical democracy. This was set forth in the most unmistakable manner on Government and Politics I9 the first available occasion by the Prime Minister at a National banquet, and he struck then what will undoubtedly be the keynote of Danish politics for years to come—reform in a democratic pro- gressive spirit. A large number of reforms, in taxation, in the Church, in the administration of justice, and in military matters, have already been taken in hand by the new Government, much preparatory work having been done in some directions in previous sessions, and by special committees. The bearing of all these reforms is, of course, democratic, favouring, as regards taxation, agricultural in- terests. Sooner than was probably expected, the Social Democrats asserted their separate stand- points, and turned upon the Government on sev- eral questions. There is, in fact, open hostility between the former and the less extreme wing of the Government party, represented by the Dan- nebrog, the organ of the Home Secretary, who is the staunch friend of the farmer, whilst the Poliți- Æen, of which the late M. Hörup was the editor until he joined the Deuntzer Ministry, still hob- nobs with the Social Democrats. Yet the Gov- ernment is all-powerful in the Lower House, and although the Zandsthāng saw fit to put a some- what feeble yet, for the time, effective spoke in the wheel in the matter of the sale of the Danish colonies in the West Indies to the United States, democratic legislation is not at all likely to meet with anything approaching serious obstruction. §: **) Yºsº ¥4:ºs Cº.. ſºlº ſº; ë C % ºgº º [º ºš § ºf ...º.º. º º CHAPTER III THE CHURCH AND RELIGION INCE October 30, 1536, when the Lutheran faith quietly and without bloodshed was ac- cepted by delegates from all parts of the country at a “Church Parliament” held in Copenhagen, it has been the State or National religion of Den- mark. Apart from the temporary imprisonment of the bishops, who were, however, soon liberated, no violence attended the Reformation, but the in- tolerance embodied in a number of stringent de- crees, issued during the reigns of Christian III. and Frederick II., only gradually and slowly gave way to greater toleration, admitting by de- grees various religions and sects into the country, or in some instances only to certain parts of it, until, under Frederick VII., the Free Constitu- tion granted complete religious liberty. Two things will strike a stranger, at least an Englishman, in connection with religious life in Denmark: firstly, that it is almost entirely con- fined to the National Church, in which respect Denmark differs considerably from her nearest neighbour, Sweden; and, secondly, that religion 2O The Church and Religion 21 is not, on the whole,_certainly not in Copen- hagen, “good form.” The truth of this a well- known Copenhagen clergyman readily admitted on a recent occasion: “Oh, no,” he said; “here Christianity is looked upon as obscurantism.” Church-going is not fashionable; one need only attend a service in one of the Copenhagen churches to see this confirmed. Not only is re- ligion not much observed, but it is little thought of by large portions of the community, including equally the academic, the professional, and the working classes, for Socialist teaching has in this, as in other directions, caused a wide-spread dis- affection. The churches, it is true, are well filled, but to all appearance the congregations consist mostly of the respectable lower middle class. The clergy in Denmark are recruited from almost every class, although, on the whole, from social strata somewhat inferior to those from which the clergy spring in England. In many families, however, some of the sons have for two or three hundred years almost invariably been clergymen. One cannot wonder at this, for a Danish rural vicarage, with its large garden and its comfortable old-time rooms, is a very pleasant abode. Content and benign, troubling but little about the outer world, the pastor complacently ministers to the spiritual wants of his flock, and more often than not they are anything but ex- orbitant; he ploughs his field, for to most Danish country vicarages a farm is attached; and in the 22 Danish Life evening he often plays l'hombre or whist with his neighbours — except on Saturday, which is still set aside, I believe, for the preparation of the next day’s sermon. These old rural pastors, with their white hair, or, failing a sufficiency of this, skull- cap, are kind-hearted, genial men, often retaining their livings to a good old age in order to retire with a pension, part of which, on their death, goes to the widow, who, besides, should her hus- band die in harness, has the right to remain in the parsonage a year—the year of grace, it is called—after her husband's death. There are still clergymen who farm their own land, and farm it well; but as a rule they now let their land, for the rural clergy of to-day are, on the whole, more fervent and energetic than were many of their predecessors. - A Danish service is widely different from an English one. It lacks the serenity, and in many cases the beauty, of the latter. There is less music, no chants or psalms, fewer appointed prayers, and, as a rule, a much longer Sermon, which is the mainstay of the service. There is often about a Danish church service a homely promiscuousness, which is apt to distract the de- votion of an Englishman. People come and go during almost the whole service; women often take off their hats or bonnets; friendly and often circumstantial greetings are exchanged. There is more spontaneousness, perhaps, but much less Solemnity. The singing is confined to a number The Church and Religion 23 of hymns, and is often hearty enough; but the choir, if choir there be, and a surpliced choir is entirely unknown, -takes a less prominent part in the service than in England. In the country the schoolmaster, or Degzz, acts as precentor, Some- times, it must be confessed, without the desirable qualifications, and during the singing he often walks up and down the aisle, hymn-book in hand. A Danish pastor, in his handsome and dignified Ormat, a long black gown reaching almost to the ground, with a deep gauffered frill round the neck, exhorts more and explains less than his Episcopal brother in England, and it would be difficult, perhaps, to hear better and more stirring sermons anywhere than those preached by some of the leading men within the Indre Mission sec- tion of the Danish Church. Not, of course, that eloquence is confined to them by any means, but their sermons are imbued with a warmth and sin- cerity which the others sometimes lack. I may here mention that the pastor is bound to choose his text either from the Gospel or the Epistle of the day—a restriction to which many clergymen, more especially the Grundtvigianers, have taken exception. The Danish Church is divided into three sec- tions, not always very sharply defined, although rarely overlapping each other—the High Church party, comprising close upon seven twelfths of the clergy; the Grundtvigianers, to whom about three twelfths belong; and the Andre Mission, who 24. Danish Life comprise the remaining two twelfths. The Indre Mission (the name signifying “Home Mission ’’), although the youngest, has done much excellent work, and is undoubtedly destined to infuse new religious life in many places where such is needed. It is in itself a movement of singular interest, and is the more remarkable because it was practically originated, and has been brought to its present magnitude, by one man, Pastor Vilhelm Beck, who died in October, 1901, and at whose funeral the presence of two hundred clergymen and one hundred and fiſty lay preachers bore testimony to the marvellous work he had wrought. Vilhelm Beck was a very powerful man, with an indomit- able energy, and he understood how to lead the new stream of religious life following upon ‘‘the night of rationalism '' into the old river-bed of the Church, so that all religious life in Denmark, as I have already said, is bound up in the National Church, resting upon Scripture and the Sacra- ments. The Indre Mission holds fast to old- fashioned theology, and it cannot be a matter of surprise that its adherents have been made the subject of much hostile criticism—it is “either— or,” “for or against” complete sin or complete for- giveness; they preach openly and unhesitatingly eternal condemnation for the sinner who does not repent—and in many cases of ridicule. But al- though the Indre Mission preaches a certain un- worldliness, it indignantly repudiates the charge of morbid piety, and maintains that the life it en- The Church and Religion 25 joins is as healthy as that of other Christians, although its members do apply a high religious standard, and are wont to call themselves V. Aſellige (“We Holy Ones”), a name which, in the opinion of many, Savours a little too much of self- righteousness. It is quite in accordance with this that they do not hesitate to denounce other clergy- men in the Church as unbelievers. On the other hand, it must be confessed that in many ways they are more earnest than many Churchmen, and that in their self-sacrificing work they more resemble the early Christians. In the beginning the Indre Mission held its meetings in the open air—often in the woods—or in private houses; then a Mission house was built in Vilhelm Beck’s parish, and now there are four hundred and eight such places, all built by private gifts, and then transferred to the Indre Mission. The clergy of the Indre Mission are altogether indefatigable, and it is owing to their energy that no fewer than twenty new churches have been built in Copen- hagen during the last twelve years, in itself a marvellous record, while the movement is going on with unabated zeal. They have erected half a dozen high schools in different parts of the coun- try; they have also founded a couple of hospitals, a home for fallen women, a large number of Sun- day-schools, and in the principal towns Mission hotels have been started under their auspices. They have their own printing-house, and publish five or six newspapers, including a “Christian 26 Danish Life daily,” which is, I fancy, the only journal of the kind; they also publish a large number of tracts and religious books, which an army of about a hundred colporteurs send all over the country. They support missionary work in various parts of the globe, both amongst the heathen and in Christian communities—the latter in itself a kind of Home Mission. During the last year they held an aggregate of 27,504 meetings in Denmark —a figure speaking volumes for their energy, as does the enormous number of their house visits. The clergy of the Indre Mission are aided in their labours by a large staff (about one hundred and sixty) of lay preachers, a peculiar and extremely heterogeneous body, working under peculiar con- ditions. They comprise all sorts and conditions of men: tailors, peasants and artisans, fishermen, doctors of philosophy, and even a Chamberlain to the King. They work all over the country and are instructed to seek co-operation with the local clergyman, whether he be a member of the Indre Mission or not, and without his permission no public meetings are held. They are not tied down by any religious restrictions, save this, that they are to ‘‘Bear witness of our Lord at meet- ings, and work for the advancement of the King- dom of God within the Danish National Church, and in accordance with the laws and special rules of the National Church.” These lay preachers, many of whom are really eloquent, receive on the average a yearly remuneration of about £65, the The Church and Religion 27 money being collected principally at meetings; but none of the clergy receive any money from the Indre Mission funds. With the clergy of the High Church party those of the Indre Mission often co-operate, and the former not unfrequently ask the latter to help them, but the Indre Mission does not get on so well with the Grundtvigianers, with whom practi- cally it has nothing to do. The “Grundtvigi- aners” take their name from Bishop Grundtvig, who died in 1872, at the venerable age of eighty-nine, and who in many respects was a most powerful and remarkable man. He was not only an eminent preacher, but his genius found expression in writings and hymns, and in poems of wonderful depth and beauty, fired with enthusiasm, both religious and national. He warred fiercely against the rationalism then prevalent in the Church, and earned for himself the name of “the lonely champion of the Bible.” Influenced by his visits to England, freedom be- came the keynote of his views and writings—free- dom on the old Apostolic basis, imbued with a fresh and bracing humanity, in which there was always a warm national sentiment. In this re- spect the followers of Grundtvig may be said to differ somewhat from the Indre Mission, at whose door it has sometimes been laid that they do not care for their earthly fatherland, and lack the patriotic love of the Grundtvigianers. The lat- ter hold that the more fully you develop your 28 Danish Life humanity, provided it is in the right sense of the word, the better Christian you are living to be, whereas the former say that one thing and one thing only is needful. The Grundtvigianers seem to take a brighter and happier view of life than many others, and within their community there is a warm, spontaneous fellow-feeling, which finds expression in various ways, such as friendly in- tercourse and gatherings. The seed which Grundtvig sowed during his long life has borne rich and manifold fruit, not only within the Church, but in many other fields. Outside the Church, the rural high schools were perhaps the most important outcome of his work, and of these more will be said in another chapter. The love of freedom, which is one of the charac- teristics of Grundtvig's followers, has led to the formation within the Church of communities who elect and support their own clergymen, when for some reason or other they wish for one par- ticular pastor. The origin of this movement dates from the year 1864, and is not without interest. Pastor Vilhelm Birkedal, a great friend of Bishop Grundtvig, like him a fervent patriot, and in many ways a prominent man, was a member of the Rigs-dag, and voted against the peace with Germany, thinking that a last effort of resistance should be made. Birkedal, like others, held the altogether erroneous idea that King Christian IX. had German sympathies, and on his return to his parish, he offered up a prayer in his church one The Church and Religion 29 Sunday, that “God would give King Christian IX, a Danish heart, if it were possible.” This, and a subsequent attack upon the Ministry, caused the Government to deprive him of his liv- ing; but his parishioners would not part with him, and, although a successor was appointed, he went on preaching in the woods, in a barn, or where room could be found, maintaining that the Government had no right to interfere in this purely religious matter, and that it had no right to place him outside the Church. A great stir was caused within the Church, and a bill was in- troduced in the A'igs-dag, intended to give permis- Sion for the formation of free elective communities within the State Church. All the bishops and most of the clergy filed a petition against this bill, but the Frijs Ministry was in favour of it and Imade it a Cabinet question, and it was passed in the year 1868. According to this law a number of not less than twenty persons, being the heads of households and belonging to the Church, can sever the connection with their parish and form an “Elective Community,” having for their pastor a man complying with the regulations for pastors of the State Church, and such communi- ties are acknowledged as part and portion of the State Church, when they build their own church or house of prayer and pay their own pastor. There have been cases, for instance, where the political convictions of a pastor whom a certain community wanted have stood in the way of the 3O Danish Life Government giving him the living, and by virtue of this law the people have then often formed an Elective Community at great personal sacrifice. Measures have been introduced by the new Gov- ernment intended to facilitate the formation of elective communities, by giving them permission to use the parish churches at times when the resid- ent pastor does not use them. All the elective communities belong to the Grundtvigianers. The third and the largest section in the Danish Church is the High Church, conservative in its views, and laying much stress upon doctrine, but in its outer forms not at variance with either of the two sections already named, the services vir- tually being the same in them all, save that the tenor of the sermon differs. The High Church party have to their credit much and excellent work on behalf of their fellow-men; it will suffice to mention the ‘‘Diatronisse’’ Home (for sick nurses), an admirable institution, in which the late Queen Louise took a warm and active interest. As I have said, religious life in Denmark is al- most entirely confined to the State or National Church, and the number of Dissenters is insig- nificant; the same applies to the Roman Catholics, for although the latter are apparently working with much zeal, building new churches, Schools, and hospitals, their number is but small, only Some four thousand, which figure also approx- imately represents the number of Jews. During the last few years the Salvation Army has done The Church and Religion 31 much good work in Denmark, where General Booth himself occasionally gives addresses. The new Church Minister, who until two or three years ago was a village school teacher, in the last session introduced several bills having reference to churches and Church matters, which have caused much discussion amongst the clergy. They have not yet been passed by the Upper House, which has referred them to a special com- mittee. The most important of these measures deals with the establishment of Congregational Councils in every parish, in the country consist- ing of the pastor and not less than four parishion- ers, who must belong to the Church, and in the towns, of the pastor and the curates and twice their aggregate number (not less than four) of parishioners. Men and women, twenty - five years old, who have lived a year in the parish, have equally a vote, and are eligible for election to these councils, which are to have the control of numerous matters concerning Church and parish. It is a truly democratic, although by no means an extreme measure, intending to transfer part of the bishops and the pastors’ influence to the congregations. A second bill deals with the use of churches, amongst other things giving the pastor of an elective community the use of the church under certain restrictions. A third bill is intended to relieve these elective communities from the obligation of building their own church or house of prayer. CHAPTER IV PUBLIC EDUCATION Lº: buildings in England mean factories, in Germany barracks, in Denmark schools —so, at least, they say in the latter country; and like many another assertion of this kind, this one contains a good deal of truth. Not only the Danish school buildings, however, but the work done within them and the results obtained chal- lenge comparison with what most other countries have attained in this respect. Education is a comprehensive word, and it does not follow that a country should excel in the same degree in its different departments, which, in Denmark at least, work out their own ends independently of one another, although all of them are subject to some fundamental principles, prominent amongst which are compulsory attendance and official control. Many of the school arrangements are, however, somewhat complicated, requiring the co-operation of various authorities, in spite of which there is no small amount of individual free- dom for the different schools and the teachers; and this may to some extent account for the interest 32 Public Education 33 in their work with which the teachers, as a rule, know how to inspire their pupils, an interest evid- enced in a gratifying manner by the amount of voluntary school attendance put in by both boys and girls after the termination of their compulsory classes in the National schools. The National schools, the preparatory schools, the “Real,” the “Latin'' schools, and the higher girls’ schools form the more important types of schools in Den- mark, each in its way brought to a high degree of perfection, although all of them—not by any means to the same extent—are the outcome of Inodern movements or in harmony with the more prevalent educational ideas of the day. To the Minister for Church and Education be- longs the control of everything appertaining to education, and between the Minister and the municipalities, which through their committees exercise the closer supervision of the affairs of each of the National and municipal schools, are two or three intermediate committees, in which the clergy and the magistrates for the various larger districts play the most important part. In the country and the smaller towns the clergy (the pastor, the dean, and to some extent the bishop) inspect the working of the schools, whilst in Co- penhagen and in some of the larger provincial towns there are special inspectors, and the work- ing of each school is carefully reported upon to the Minister, who is kept fully au fait with aggregates and details alike. The schools are thus under the 3 34 Danish Life triple influence of State, Church, and municipality. As the municipal schools have been brought to a state of great perfection, in many places at least, and as they embrace the vast majority of the children of the country (89 per cent. in the coun- try, 75 per cent. in Copenhagen, and 70 per cent. in the provincial towns), some particulars about them may be of interest. Those I have chosen are in the municipality of Fredericksberg, now almost closed in by Copenhagen, where the muni- cipal school system is admittedly excellent. School attendance is compulsory for children from the seventh to the fourteenth year, unless private teaching, under a sufficient guarantee, is provided; but parents are allowed to send their children to the municipal or Åommune Schools, as they are called, at the age of six, a right of which not a few avail themselves, so that the average age at which a Fredericksberg child enters the municipal school is 6% years. At Fredericksberg the 6547 children attending the municipal Schools are divided into 221 classes, from which it will appear that the size of the classes is small (30)- much smaller than in the English Board Schools. The average weekly aggregate of hours of instruc- tion is about 6850, the number of teachers and officials being 226. The pupils are now divided into six regular classes, to which a seventh has recently been added for children who remain an extra year at the school after having been through the sixth class. There is also an auxiliary class Public Education 35 for helping children who are behind their proper class, or who are below the average in intellect. As far as possible the teachers of both sexes teach the same children through several classes, whereby they naturally become better acquainted with, and take a greater interest in, each indi- vidual child. The average number of hours of instruction is 28 per week per class in the half- day, and 31 per week in the all-day schools, and the hours are 8.0 to I.O (8.O to 12.o) or I.O to 6.o (I.O to 5.0) for half-day classes, and 8.0 to 12.O and I.O to 3.O or 3.O to 5.O in the all-day schools, with Saturday afternoon free. The normal num- ber of school days per annum is 246, but it is optional for the authorities to modify it, and it has now been fixed at 240. What is called the all- day system—that is, where there is teaching both morning and afternoon—has gradually gained in favour, and is now in force at five out of the seven schools to which reference is here made. Al- though there is no very marked difference in the position or vocation of the parents of the children in the half-day and in the all-day schools, the children at the former are much more frequently employed in work outside the home, the figures being respectively 26.3 and Io.8 per cent., and of these there are about two boys to every girl. As a proof of how the all-day system is growing at the expense of the half-day, it may be mentioned that, whereas the figures in the year 1877 were re- spectively 25.8 per cent. and 74.2 per cent., they 36 Danish Life had almost been reversed in the year 1900, when they were 69.3 per cent. and 30.7 per cent. ; but there have been great fluctuations during the intervening years. The subjects taught in the Fredericksberg municipal schools are religion, Danish, writ- ing, arithmetic, singing, gymnastics, history, geo- graphy, natural history, sloyd for boys in the three upper classes, drawing (in the fifth to the Seventh girls’ classes), cookery (voluntary, for girls in the two upper classes), German (voluntary, for boys), and tailoring. In addition there are technical evening classes for artisans' apprentices, and con- tinuation classes for young men and women up to the age of twenty, the instruction comprising Danish, writing, and arithmetic, besides special courses in book-keeping, German, English, and mathematics. Both these sections are well at- tended, the Corporation finding rooms, and light, and giving a grant for free instruction for some of the pupils. Not only are the schools fully sup- plied with maps and instructive pictures, but the funds voted have been sufficient to find books, re- quisites for writing and drawing, as well as dresses and shoes for gymnastics, for the majority of the children. There is compulsory lesson-reading for lazy children, and at all the schools there is an Internat, a room with bed and other necessary ap- purtenances, in which children of bad and roving habits are detained day and night, a week being the maximum term. This institution appears to Public Education 37 work very satisfactorily, but in cases where it is found inefficient, the children are sent to Train- ing Homes, although the number of children sent to such places is only small. In both cases the consent of the children’s parents or guardians is required, and when the parents are poor the Cor- poration defrays either the whole or part of the expense. - At each school there is a lending library, which is more and more appreciated by the children. There are prizes for diligence, generally consist- ing of clothes, a watch, or a chest of drawers. In order to realise the value of the last prize, it should be known that to servants in Denmark a chest of drawers is an almost indispensable piece of furniture, and in it they are in the habit of re- moving their worldly goods from one situation to another on the first of a month. A great deal is now being done in the way of sending school children into the country for the summer holidays, an admirable movement, which has been made possible by the State railways and steamers' granting the children free tickets, and by the farmers and others' receiving them free of charge. Last year rather more than one third of the children of the Fredericksberg municipal schools were enabled thus to spend the summer vacation. It is needless to say that the children are delighted with their stay in the country, the beneficial effect of which, both bodily and ment- ally, it would be difficult to overestimate. During 38 Danish Life the months of January, February, and March, a number of the poorest children receive hot din- ners three times a week, the Corporation having built a central kitchen for supplying the food, and the cost per portion is about three cents. This excellent institution is aided by voluntary con- tributions. At several of the schools there are also committees for procuring clothing for poor child- ren, and the Corporation supplements their efforts by adding a quantity of shoes. The hygiene is under the control of specially appointed doctors, and a dentist looks after the children’s teeth. There are at the Fredericksberg municipal Schools an aggregate of 203 teachers, of whom II.4 are women. They have practically all passed the appointed examination for this class of teaching, and of the total, I55 hold permanent appoint- ments. The women teachers are on an average thirty years old at the time of their appointment, against twenty-seven years for the other sex. In case of illness the School authorities find a substi- tute for the first six months. The teachers are remunerated according to a sliding scale based upon length of Service and number of hours. The inspectors (7) receive between 4, 183 and A 200, besides free house, fuel, and lights; the “upper” teachers (7) have 4, 183 (30 hours a week), the ordinary teachers (men) from 458 to A 166 (36 hours a week), and the women teachers from 439 to 491 (24 hours a week), with a maxi- 1mum addition of 4, 19 for 25 to 36 hours. The Public Education 39 average for a man is 4,133, and for a woman about A83. The expenditure for the municipal schools amounts to about 26 per cent. of the whole budget, and the cost per pupil per year has risen from an average of 4 I for the period 1860 to I864 to 43 for the period 1895 to 1899, the greater part of this increase coming upon the pay of the teachers. The annual expenditure per child is still on the increase. The school buildings at Fredericksberg are erected under the control of special building com- mittees appointed by the Corporation each time a School is to be built. At all the seven schools there are houses for gymnastics, and at the four Schools most recently erected there are, besides an abundance of classrooms, special rooms for draw- ing. At some of the schools there are also bath- houses for the children; at several there are special kitchens, where the girls are taught cook- ing, and rooms for teaching sloyd are being added. The desks are made to accommodate two children, and the heating and ventilating arrange- ments are kept up to date in every respect. The playgrounds are paved with asphalt, and at all the Schools there are covered playgrounds. The girls and boys are kept in entirely separate classes, as is the case in most Danish schools except the vil- lage schools. The affairs of the Fredericksberg municipal Schools are managed by a board consisting of one of the pastors, appointed by the Church Minister, 4O Danish Life and four members appointed by the Corporation, two of these being members of the Corporation. The State contributes about twelve per cent. of the total school expenditure. In the country the school arrangements are more variable, and the attendance is not so regu- lar, since it is to some extent influenced by the Seasons, the elder children often attending school more frequently in the winter than in the summer, whilst the reverse is the case with the younger children. The children often attend school not more than two or four days a week, but the mini- mum number of hours per week should not be less than eighteen during the forty-one weeks of the School year. The attendance is gradually becom- ing more regular, and there is now a tendency to let the children attend school every day. The teachers of the rural schools are trained at special colleges or seminaries, some of which are State institutions, though most are private undertak- ings, subsidised by the State, which in every branch of education lends a helping hand alike to the schools, the teachers, and the scholars. The training at these seminaries extends over three years. At those belonging to the State only men are received; at some of the others both men and women are admitted, whilst others are intended for women alone. The examinations passed at the private seminaries are of the same value as those of the State. All the teachers in the Danish State and municipal schools are entitled to a pen- Public Education 4. I sion, the amount of which is fixed according to the number of years of service, though it may in no case exceed two thirds of the pay. There are a number of supplementary Schools of various kinds, intended to help on children from the National or municipal schools, evening schools, Sunday schools, and others, many of which do good work and some of which receive a modest State subsidy. The schools to which reference has hitherto been made are free schools, but there are in several towns intermediate fee schools; yet, although the pupils at some of these pass what is called the “preliminary examina- tion ’’ at the end of their time, these schools on the whole are not of very much importance. Most Danish children of the better classes, ex- cept where private tutors are kept, attend the “Latin '' or “learned ’’ schools, at many of which there is a ‘‘ Real” or modern section. Prior to entering these schools, the boys have to attend a preparatory school (six yearly classes), generally entering the Latin school at the age of twelve. In order to do so an examination must be passed, and this is very stringent at some of the Government schools. The Latin schools were in earlier days looked upon as almost indispens- able for young men desiring to enter good Society, or to get on in the world, and the examination with which they bring their course to a close (Artium) is the only door leading to the univers- ity, and consequently to all the better professions 42 Danish Life — the Church, medicine, law, diplomacy, Gov- ernment offices. “Latin '' school is no mis- nomer, for these schools were, and, indeed, still are, though in a modified degree, simply Latin- ridden, so that the time devoted to this language amounts on an average to seven hours a week during the first four years, or nearly one fifth of the total number of school hours, in addition to which the language section has eight hours a week during the last two years, whilst the mathematical section almost discards Latin at the end of the fourth class. Moreover, the language section has five or six hours a week of Greek dur- ing its last four years. That this unduly taxes the brain and the time of the boys, is now being admitted in many directions, and the day may not be distant when Greek will be abolished and the pensum of Latin be cut down. At the head of the other subjects stands mathematics, next French, with religion, Danish, German, English, history, geography, natural history, and writing. At the State Latin School in Copenhagen, the excellent metropolitan School, which is generally accepted as a standard, the hours are from nine to three o'clock every day, Saturday included, in addition to which the pupils have a very considerable amount of home work. No doubt a Danish boy is admirably taught at a school like this, probably at no other school better, but twelve consecutive years of hard reading are a long and weary time for a boy even with the coveted “student’s cap ’’ Public Education 43 steadily before his mind's eye, the more so as the holidays are comparatively short—two weeks at Christmas, ten days at Easter, a week at Whit- suntide, and five to six weeks in the summer. Boys wishing to go in for practical life often leave the higher school at the termination of the fourth class, this fourth class examination being somewhat more stringent than the “preliminary examination,” with which the “Real” schools close their pupils' education. The fees, even at the best schools, are very moderate, amounting at the State schools to but one fifth of their revenue; and this is also the case at the richly endowed Latin schools of Soró and Herlufsholm, where school life more nearly approaches English ideas, and where sport, for instance, is cultivated, whilst other schools leave it to the private initiative, and to the spare time of their pupils. On the other hand, gymnastics are taught in all Danish schools. There is no doubt that a Danish boy who has attended a Latin school knows a great deal more than an English boy of the same class, though the question must remain undecided how much real good he derives from all this learning, and which of the two sys- tems the better fits him for meeting the contin- gencies of after-life. Girls are now taught nearly the same subjects as are boys, and take nearly the same examinations, often acquitting themselves exceedingly well. Copenhagen boasts a number of admirable Schools 44. Danish Life for girls, conducted on much the same lines as those for boys. Excellent as are the Danish Latin schools, and in every respect fully up-to-date as are the lead- ing municipal Schools, Denmark possesses a third kind of educational institution, more peculiarly Danish and perhaps deserving of even greater notice: the rural high schools, about ninety in number, and dotted all over the country. They are all private undertakings, subsidised, however, with very few exceptions, and on an increasing scale, by the State. Inspired by Bishop Grundt- vig, who for years had been preparing the way for them, the first Danish rural high schools were erected rather more than fifty years ago, and little by little their number has increased. Although the spirit in which most of them work is both re- ligious and National, practical ends have always been kept in view, and it would be difficult to overrate the importance of their work, which has now for a generation and a half, and at an ever- increasing rate, instilled into the young peasant farmer—and his wife—a vast amount of useful and always well-chosen knowledge. I have heard a man of much learning speak of the sur- prise he felt when, forty years ago, he first came upon a young peasant fresh from one of these high schools, who quite accidentally betrayed his knowledge of chemistry. These schools are in- tended for both sexes, and at some schools both sexes are admitted together. There are usually Public Education 45 two terms during the year, one in the winter (about half a year) for young men, one in the summer (about a quarter of a year) for young women. The annual number of students now exceeds six thousand, of whom about thirty-five hundred are men. The age of the majority of the students is between eighteen and twenty-five, a few are under sixteen, and about one sixth are above twenty-five years. More than half the pupils are the children of freehold peasant farm- ers; about one fourth are the children of men with small holdings; most of the others are child- ren of artisans; but nearly all hail from the country. These high schools work with much individual freedom, both as regards subjects and methods. The religious element, for instance, is introduced in various ways, only in a few of the schools tak- ing the shape of direct instruction. In some schools practical agricultural subjects receive more attention than in others, and the same ap- plies to natural science, and to mathematics. A thoroughly sound, but by no means prosy, view of life influences the whole of this admirable sys- tem of schools, which has attracted so much at- tention in other countries, although it is so essentially Danish, and is in complete harmony with the mood of that large and important class for which it is intended, and which in reality forms the backbone of the nation. I have already said that the State shows a 46 Danish Life fatherly interest, in the best sense of the term, in everything tending to the advancement of educa- tion. This interest takes manifold forms, and mention should be made of the numerous short classes arranged for the benefit of teachers and others during the summer vacations both in Copenhagen and at Some of the rural high schools, in addition to extra classes, extending over a year, for the same. The subjects are of the most varied nature, the instructors are always well chosen, and it is an admirable means of keeping the teachers up to date and in touch with modern In OVermentS. An interesting movement has during the last few years sprung up both in Sweden and Den- mark, with a view to introducing art into schools, more especially the National schools, but the two countries work out their ends in different ways. The movement enjoys the support of both artists and patrons of art, and it has, or might have, chosen for its motto the words of Ellen Key, the well-known Swedish author: “Art for all and in all things.” In Sweden some schools have been decorated with frescoes by such eminent artists as Prince Eugen and Carl Larsson, while in Den- mark the efforts have hitherto taken the shape of etchings, and of reproductions of paintings and sculpture; and great hopes are entertained as to the elevating influence of these endeavours upon the pupils. While, as we have seen, important reforms are Public Education 47 probably impending in the Latin schools, wider and still more comprehensive changes, which would, in fact, revolutionise education altogether, are being eagerly discussed. The ideal to which many pedagogues hope Denmark may some day attain is an almost complete unification of the whole educational system on distinctly democratic lines. The National or municipal school would then form the primary basis of all education, and all future citizens would commence life under equal circumstances. The next stage would be the “intermediate ’’ school, and then the school for “youths,” an arrangement which would enable the clever boy from any class of society to work his way to the very front; inasmuch as the child- ren of the poorer classes would not then be handicapped by first spending so many years in a School which does not, and under the present ar- rangements cannot, form a direct stepping-stone to academic study. It is proposed to allow boys who desire and are fitted so to do, to leave the National or municipal school at the age of eleven, in order to join the intermediate school, and from there, after three years, to pass into the final school for “ youths,” which in the course of four years should complete the school education, so that a boy would be ready for the university at the same age as now (about eighteen years). Although this system would apparently raise the level of the National school, making it the common starting- point for all classes, its teachers do not view the 48 Danish Life reform with favour, their objection being the very natural one that the new system would drain their schools of the best and brightest boys at the early age of eleven, leaving them to go on with the re- sidue for some additional years. A doubt also presents itself whether this opportunity for every boy to attain to an educational standard far be- yond the one for which fate and the position of his parents had intended him, tempting as it looks on paper, would not contain the germ of social and practical complications, which might be attended with unforeseen disadvant- ages. Nevertheless, it would not be surprising to See the plan Some day realised in democratic Denmark. º gº ſ ſ & SN & 2% --: ºº ; º *227Sº ; :~ &º § º &Qs (? Ż*3gºs- - -x # § º § CHAPTER V THE UNIVERSITY AND THE PROFESSIONS T is in many things, probably in most, inju- dicious to apply an English measure to Con- timental institutions, or to carry too far the comparison between the two, and in no direction more, perhaps, than in that of the university and university life. Compared with the manifold glories of Oxford and Cambridge, with their picturesque and historic buildings, their splendid traditions, and the peculiar charm of the place and of the 1ife led there, even such an ancient and famous university as that of Copenhagen be- comes a little commonplace and outclassed. Yet it, too, has its glorious traditions: its students have more than once with brilliant valour de- fended their city; in most fields of science it has reared sons of great distinction; and the words placed above its portal, Caelestem. Adspicit Lucem, could not have been better chosen. The Uni- versity of Copenhagen was founded by virtue of a Bull issued by Pope Sixtus IV. on June 19, 1475, in accordance with his promise to King Christian I. during the latter’s visit to Rome, and it was 4. 49 5O - Danish Life opened four years later, commencing, however, in a very small way, in some rooms in the old Town Hall, with only three tutors, one in theo- logy, one in 1aw, and one in medicine. Young Danes, therefore, still continued to study abroad, and it was not until the middle or towards the end of the next century that the University be- came of any real importance; but since that time it has by degrees attained its present high reput- ation, a reputation which the smallness of the country tends to throw into much bolder relief. This reputation rests upon the soundest possible basis, upon scientific studies of great thorough- ness, upon strenuous labours in many directions, often with the advancement of practical pursuits in view. At the head of the University is a Consistorium, which consists of sixteen Consistoriales, professors either elected or—and this is the case with the 1majority at present—having through priority of age become members of the Council. The head of the Council is styled Rector Magnificus, and is elected for a year at a time. Some changes in this connection are under contemplation. It has been proposed to increase the number of the mem- bers to eighteen, or nineteen when the Rector for the year does not happen to be a member of the Consistorium; voices are also raised in favour of more of the members being chosen by election, and it has also been urged that they should retire at the age of seventy, unless exceptional circum- | . . . . . . . THE “Round ToweR,” coPENHAGEN The University and Professions 51 stances make it desirable that they should remain. The lecturers, most of whom are professors, num- ber about seventy; the majority of them belong to the philosophical and medical faculties. Some of the professors have delightful official residences in old houses, set in gardens with fine old trees; but the University itself is too modern a building to possess much of that charm which is a legacy of centuries that have vanished, and which time alone can bestow. From the Copenhagen Uni- versity have gone forth the clergy, the doctors, the lawyers, the higher teachers, and the large staff of Government officials of the whole coun- try; no wonder that young men crowd round its A atheders, the more so as the AEmbed sexame??, which is the consummation of their studies, means to most of them being provided for life, and, according to Danish notions, fairly well provided. Although the University has fostered all the officials who constitute the Danish bureaucracy, it is in itself a thoroughly democratic institution. Not only are the 1ectures free of all charge—with the exception that in all laboratory and other ex- perimental work the students have to defray the cost of the materials they use—but scholarships almost innumerable (there are over a hundred) are within the reach of every poor and tolerably diligent student; there are several Students’ Homes, providing free residence for a considerable number, and the University is a very easy-going 52 Danish Life alma mater, virtually exercising no control what- ever over her sons. Nor does this appear to be necessary, for the students never give any trouble, and, considering their number, very little is heard or seen of them. Their outer mark of distinction is the cap, in the winter an unob- trusive round black silk cap, in the summer a white cap with a crimson velvet band; but it is entirely optional whether or not the students wear it, and it does not appear to be so fashion- able as of yore. In order to matriculate at the University it is necessary to have passed the examination called Artium, the final examination at the Latin schools, but for this a young man, if he likes, can also be privately coached. Matriculation entails a fee of 25s., which with a somewhat similar fee at sub- sequent examinations is all the expense a student need incur for study. That there are too many students is a general complaint; but the number lmas somewhat decreased during the last few years, more preferring engineering or other practical professions. Some years there are too many aspirants for the Church; then this rights itself, and in turn the ranks of the lawyers or of the doctors become temporarily overcrowded. Wo- men have of late years helped to swell the num- ber, although not to any very great extent, about five per cent. of the total being probably the highest number; it is just twenty-five years since the first woman student matriculated. The time The University and Professions 53 a student requires before taking his final examin- ation (the Æmbedsexamen) varies for the differ- ent faculties; the medical students, at the head of the list, average about seven years, the lawyers six, and the theological students five. Sometimes untoward circumstances, change of choice of pro- fession, for instance, add a year or two. I know of a young man who, after two or three years of philological studies, turned to medicine, and now he hopes to pass his final doctor's examination at the age of thirty, which means that he has been “reading ” for twenty-four consecutive years! The student’s attendance at lectures, of which many are public, is entirely voluntary, but the students are, on the whole, diligent, and work harder now than formerly. Coaching is used to a moderate extent, more especially by the legal students, and a Candidatus juris has the choice of becoming a solicitor or a Government official. Prominent amongst the Students' Homes is the “Regensen,” the Collegium regium, built by King Christian IV., opposite his famous Round Tower, and with which many interesting as- sociations are connected. Within its historic red walls a typical free-and-easy student’s life is the order of the day; the inmates are not sub- ject to any special supervision or control, but, of course, no riotous or unseemly behaviour would be tolerated. Even mild disturbances are almost unheard of both at the Regensen and at the other Students' Homes, or Collegia, as is their old 54. Danish Life official name, and about several of which there is a distinctly old-time aspect. The University itself is only a number of lecturing halls, and the students who are not needy or who fail to get into any of the Homes, reside in the town. The scholarships, as already mentioned, are very num- erous, and although they might appear insignifi- cant to an English university man, they go a long way towards enabling a poor Danish student to complete his studies. He is often frugal and hardworking—differing from the Swedish student, who takes matters much more lightly, often con- tracting debts during his university life which it takes him many subsequent years to wipe off, and from the German, with his Bier Kommers and Mensur. It must, however, be remembered that the Danish student not unfrequently hails from a poor and humble home, and that the family has often taxed itself in many ways to enable ‘‘the clever boy” to study. Many students teach in schools or private families, thus earning from 6d. to Is... the hour, yet often having to walk a long distance in order to earn this pittance. Amongst the better classes, Artium, not to speak of the Amöedsexamen, is no longer looked upon as in- dispensable, and the fact is being realised that a practical profession requires quite as much ability as does the academic; as the butcher said, when asked by the pastor what his boys were going to be: ‘‘Well, you see, sir, Hans, the eldest, is a clever lad, something like me, so of course he is The University and Professions 55 going to be a butcher; but Peter is a little slow, so I think I’ll let him ‘study.’” The principal centre for the students' life out- side the University is the Studențeaforeningen, the leading students’ club, which has for fourscore years been the accepted rendezvous of “academic citizens,” young and old. It boasts a handsome house of its own, not, however, as in the neigh- bouring Swedish university town of Lund, in the immediate vicinity of the University. Not only has the club a fine library, but it has also a very material hall, for many of its members have their meals there, the charges ſor these, like the sub- scription, being moderate. There is no lack of good lectures—for members only, the Foreningen Somewhat jealously guarding its doors against non-students; and there are concerts and Sold, merry carousings, where punch inspires the sons of Athene to clever speechifying and excellent singing. For the Danish students have kept up their traditional love of singing, and at Whitsun- tide, for instance, a tour to some provincial town or to some picturesque spot is generally arranged by the musical fraternity. Sometimes the Foren- Žng attempts a more ambitious programme; one summer a very successful walking tour in Norway, restricted to students, took place under its aus- pices. About the middle of the last century, when the “Scandinavian idea" was to the fore, and people dreamt of a united Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, there were large and enthusiastic 56 Danish Life gatherings of students from the three countries. This Utopian dream, like many another, has passed away, but still a marked feeling of good fellowship exists between the Northern universit- ies; it has, in fact, been revived in the last few years, and the intercourse has apparently lost none of its charm and freshness, although robbed of its political aspect. There is about the Danish student, as about his compatriots altogether, an absence of outer show and of special demonstra- tions and customs, -of this there is more in Swe- den, -but still the Danish student has retained part of that halo by which the students of one or two generations back, in the simple, charming old vaudevilles and in Hostrup's plays, are surrounded. The Studenţeºforeningen is more conservative, more self-contained, than the younger club, the Samfund. It had very serious but almost pardon- able scruples about opening its doors to that com- paratively modern creation, the woman student; but after many unsuccessful attempts the proposal was ultimately carried three or four years ago, and the two sexes now meet there as the best of comrades. Still, there is at least one exploit which has so far been 1eft to the sterner half, the Rifle Corps, a body of student volunteers, neatly uniformed and well drilled, who would no doubt be ready and eager for the fray, should they ever, of which there presumably is no fear, be wanted. The other students' club, the Studenţersamfund, The University and Professions 57 is altogether the child of modern ideas and of that new spirit of freedom which manifested itself in SO many ways twenty or twenty-five years ago. The club is, in fact, only just out of its teens, and as if to emphasise its Liberal views, as compared with the Forening, it opened its doors from the very commencement to women students. A great feature of the Samſund are the Saturday evening lectures, where many eminent men have dis- Coursed on political, social, and national quest- ions, on religion, science, and literature. After the lectures the students gather round the tables discussing and enlarging upon the subject of the evening; “drinks” are also served, but are par- taken of in distinct moderation; for these Satur- day evenings are intended more for enlightenment than for amusement. A few times during the year, at the Ausgilde (the inauguration festival), on the anniversary day, and at the Skovtur (pic- nic), enjoyment pure and simple is allowed to prevail, and it is peculiar to the Samſund that non-members, ladies and gentlemen, are fre- Quently admitted to their gatherings, provided there be room. The Studentersamfund not only provides a liberal intellectual fare — liberal in every sense of the word—for its members, but its work rests on a much broader basis; it is inde- fatigable in the cause of extended enlightenment, and has started several movements with this ad- mirable end in view. These are the instruction of labourers, the circulation of useful pamphlets 58 Danish Life and articles, the popular lectures, the visits under guidance to museums, the Free Theatre, and a more practical institution which gives gratuitous legal advice to the poor. The evening classes for labourers are almost as old as the club itself, and they were from the outset received with much enthusiasm; they are held in the municipal Schools, and include both men and women, who, however, as a rule, are taught separately. The teachers receive no remuneration, but the pupils pay a nominal fee of 6d. per quarter for each sub- ject, the courses lasting from October to April. The most popular subjects are English, German, writing, orthography, and mathematics, but a number of special classes are arranged, often at the request of a number of men and women; as, for instance, a class in Portuguese, desired by a large party wishing to emigrate to South America, a class in metallurgy, special chemistry, or land surveying. There is, in fact, a long and varied list both of subjects and of pupils, the latter being divided into about a hundred classes or sets for a winter's teaching. The Studentersamfund has also published, and still publishes, instructive pam- phlets, in addition to which it supplies a number of useful articles to the provincial journals for a nominal charge; the five or six hundred articles, generally of about seven thousand words, so far published deal with a variety of subjects of practi- cal and literary interest. The newest link in this chain is the lecture movement. In a number of The University and Professions 59 parishes, perhaps in most, there are societies for arranging popular lectures, and to these societies the Studentersamfund sends its lecturers, who re- ceive no remuneration, but only their travelling expenses, and who lecture on the most hetero- geneous topics. The Free Theatre, which has for a time discontinued its work, was intended to (and did) produce modern plays of literary inter- est which the existing theatres for some reason or other had not seen their way to bring before the public. The Studentersamfund’s “Legal Assistance to the Poor” is another admirable in- stitution, entirely in harmony with the spirit of the Society. Its clientèle is for the most part com- posed of working people of both sexes, domestic Servants, small artisans, and small tradespeople, who can ill afford a lawyer's fee, however reason- able the Danish lawyer’s generally is; to such, gratuitous advice is given by properly qualified men, and the number of applicants has now risen to between twenty and thirty thousand a year. There exists in Denmark, as elsewhere, a latent rivalry between town and country, or, so far as Denmark is concerned, between the country and . the capital. The high schools of the former have not viewed with favour the approaches that have now and again been made by people or sets in Copenhagen with a view to bringing about an increased intellectual interchange between the two. The high schools have kept aloof from that 6O Danish Life modern radicalism in religion and in thought, for which Copenhagen has proved such fertile soil, although the spokesmen of these advanced views wish to see them introduced amongst the young men and women of the high schools, and would fain see Brandes supersede Grundtvig. Professor Georg Brandes himself spoke with great plain- ness on this subject not long ago, remarking, in a brilliant discourse, that one of the silliest or most stupid signs of the times was the ill feeling of the country towards Copenhagen. Not that the farmer and the labourer have the same interests altogether; for he who owns land is born Con- servative, and he who has only his hands is born Radical; yet they have many interests in com- mon, and the Studenţersamfund will not side with either; its object is to bring enlightenment and scientific culture to both, as is being done by the Samſund to such a great extent. “We stu- dents,” he said, “ have here taken up and ex- panded the work of the [rural] high schools. We have never returned the attacks made upon us by the high schools, for we know that the high schools have paved the way for us; we know that Grundtvig's work is one of the head-cornerstones upon which rests the Denmark of to-day. . . . Grundtvig represents Faith and the Past; we stand for Hope and the Future.” He went on to say that to Grundtvig Denmark was the central thing; God, he thought, was in need of Denmark. Brandes and his followers, The University and Professions 61 on the other hand, are impressed with the small- ness of Denmark. Grundtvig wanted to reconcile truth with his religious convictions; to him the spirit was therefore distinctly at variance with nature. To Brandes and his followers everything is nature, and to stand on the foundation of nature is to stand on a holy foundation. “ The cradle is more sacred than the altar, and it does not matter whether the child in the cradle is legit- imate or not.” No wonder that this speech, elo- quent and perfect though it was in form, and in spite of its national embellishments, called forth a shower of contradiction on the part of the high schools. It will be a matter of the greatest inter- est to watch the struggle between these two con- flicting sides and between their opposite views, for conflicting and opposite they are and will in all probability remain. When the students have passed their final ex- amination, they are ready to begin reaping the fruit of their many years of study, and although the returns are not always very ample, and al- though in many cases they only come by degrees, it means to most of them a fixed and certain sufficiency. I have said before that the life of a Danish pastor, especially in the country, is a pleasant one, although the social position of the Danish clergy may not be quite that of the Eng- lish. The doctors, when they get established, often do well, and certainly take a good position. Most Danish families of the better classes, in the 62 Danish Life towns at least, have their Ausläge (house or family doctor), who receives a fixed remuneration for the year, according to the circumstances and the liberality of the head of the household, with whom the fixing of the fee to a great extent rests. There is not that form about a Danish doctor which marks his English colleague; frock coat and top hat are the exception, and could not very well be the rule, considering the number of Danish doctors who do their visiting on cycle. The “jurist” either becomes a legal practitioner or a Government official, a class highly thought of in Denmark, and comprising a great many dis- tinguished men, in Copenllage11 as in the pro- vincial towns, where they always hold a very good position. Lawyers are plentiful, and al- though the modesty of their charges would call forth a Scornful smile on the face of an English Solicitor, many of them manage to accumulate a fair competency; but then some of them dabble in house property and similar undertakings, which no doubt pay better than litigation. The great man amongst the Danish lawyers is the Solicitor to the Supreme Court, in order to be- come which the aspirant must be a man of con- siderable personal integrity, and must plead several test cases. Then there is the large staff of teachers at Latin and other schools, who likewise must have the special AEmöedsexamen of the Uni- versity. They are a set of extremely clever and hard-working men, richly endowed with know- The University and Professions 63 ledge, though at times perhaps a little too un- acquainted with life itself and its calls. Besides the University there are admirable training institutions, or colleges, from which ema- nate engineers, apothecaries, veterinary surgeons, land surveyors, and others with a scientific voca- tion. If proof were needed that Denmark has done as much as any country, and more than most, to place within the reach of all her sons the most suitable and most perfect means of instruc- tion, colleges like these, more especially, perhaps, the Royal College of Agriculture, would furnish it. Doubts may arise as to the practical outcome of all this knowledge, although no one would deny that knowledge is power; but that the Agricult- ural College, for instance, has given splendid returns is unquestionable, for not only has it trained thousands of young men, but it has been the home of systematic scientific study in the in- terest of the farmer, the dairyman, and others, which has benefited the whole world. Although the Royal College of Agriculture does not perhaps, strictly speaking, come under this heading, it stands out as such a model insti- tution that it is impossible to help mentioning it. The comprehensive part the Government takes in everything tending to educate and train the young man for his proper vocation, whatever that may be, has in a remarkably striking manner evidenced itself in this institution, which in its present form dates from the middle of the last 64 Danish Life century, although it has since then been very materially extended. The classes at this model college are divided into five sections: agriculture, veterinary Science, land surveying, forestry, and horticulture, and as a proof of the reputation of the College may be mentioned the large number of students hailing from other countries. There are upwards of thirty professors and lecturers, and the annual State grant amounts to about A 20,000, the revenue being further augmented by the students’ fees, for the instruction is not free, as at the University. Attached to the Col- lege is an experimental agricultural and dairy laboratory, which is undoubtedly the best of its kind in the world, and which has in many ways been the originator of modern rational methods within these branches. The work of the lab- oratory, which has been carried on by a number of eminently able men, is remarkable for its ingenuity, as well as for its accuracy and practical value. The Polytechnical College is likewise an in- stitution of renown, and its reputation has spread far beyond the borders of the country. Though it cannot lay claim to that distinctive char- acter which the former College possesses, the in- creasing number of students in attendance shows how popular the profession of an engineer has be- come; the College also counts women amongst its students. The Pharmaceutical College is quite on a level with other Danish educational estab- The University and Professions 65 lishments, and gives its students a thorough train- ing. The profession of an apothecary is one of the most, or perhaps the most, privileged in the country; it is, in fact, a monopoly. An Apothek, like a public-house in England, has a licence, but, unlike the latter, it is a continuous licence, which on the death of the owner is disposed of by the relatives to a properly qualified man, of course at a substantial figure, unless the widow carries on the business, to do which she requires the Gov- ernment’s permission. The Social Democrats have for years been warring against this mono- poly, which certainly is a little out of keeping with modern ideas. 3°W º ſº; fº. &: º º º 3. Gº/ § & sº § §: § - Z/ - w §º º sº º 8. º ºf C C. ſº C. | Å.Aºi, 2-3 f % - - §42& \ & § (º: § Fº E º sº º {#ſº § º d j|}º § d § R& Sºº. º #(ºN § Sº %2. sº -> &º º *y º º CHAPTER VI THE ARMY AND Navy HEN the Conservatives, during their long tenure of office, appropriated the question of national defence for party purposes, and made it part and parcel of their political programme, they did an ill turn to the cause which they no doubt meant to serve. Their method of applying vast sums of unvoted or “provisional” money to the fortification of Copenhagen and to other de- fensive measures alienated large sections of the nation from a movement which would otherwise probably have been embraced with universal sym- pathy, but upon which their high-handed and one-sided tactics brought a considerable amount of altogether undeserved and unreasonable odium. Owing to this, and to the manner in which, more especially, one Radical paper, not to speak of the Social Democratic Press, has systematically writ- ten down the Army and Navy, and enlarged upon the hopelessness of a small country like Denmark trying to follow the example of great military nations, the military profession has lost not a lit- tle of its popularity, though perhaps none of its 66 The Army and Navy 67 prestige. Denmark possesses an admirable staff of officers, an entirely satisfactory set—at least in many ways—of non-commissioned officers, and soldiers well disciplined and as well drilled as their time of service will allow; men and officers alike have invariably done their duty to the utmost when called upon—yet Denmark is the opposite of a military country. Of the stringent military spirit of Germany, of the Frenchman’s love of military display, of England’s pride in her “Jacks '' and “Tommies,” the Danes have but very little. It is, however, quite possible that the new order of things will ultimately bene- fit both Army and Navy, and that the Liberal party will no longer withhold from them that support which they staunchly refused whilst these institutions were under the wings of a Conserva- tive Government. There are signs in that direc- tion, and the Army and Navy may grow in popular favour, although the Dane of to-day has become a little too practical, a little too mógfern, ever again to wax very enthusiastic about the services. Universal compulsory service has been in force in Denmark for more than thirty years, and al- though it may not have straightened the back quite so much as in Germany—it could not rea- sonably be expected to do so, on account of the shortness of the discipline—it has beyond a doubt greatly improved the bearing and physique of the Danes. I have heard middle-aged men declare that they would never have possessed such sound, 68 Danish Life well-trained bodies had it not been for their sol- diering days, and although their recruiting term is a time of hardship, and although a gentleman during it has to forego most of what is charac- teristic of a gentleman’s life, most Danes — and, strangely enough, more especially those of the better classes—appear to have pleasurable mem- ories of their soldier days. Universal compulsory service, as it is practised in Denmark, without any AEinjährige Freiwilliger, and without any favour, -the future King of Denmark has had to do sentry duty outside his grandfather’s palace, —is a splendid leveller, a potent democratiser, ad- mirably fitted to take the conceit out of over- fastidious young men. It must be admitted that on the whole it works very well, and that a feel- ing of good fellowship almost invariably prevails. The soldiers, almost without exception, fufoyer each other, and those in better positions are very helpful to less lucky comrades. Of course, there are many extremely funny experiences for a young man from a good and refined home to go through. I happen to have the confidences of a young man of this class, and his stories are often very amus- ing. Not long ago, during Some manoeuvres, he and his comrades were quartered for several days at a farmstead, and for dinner a big bowl of gród (porridge) was served, with a bowl of beer to be taken with the porridge. The meal was par- taken of very familiarly; all ate the porridge straight from the bowl; there were no plates, and The Army and Navy 69 for every mouthful each soldier inserted his spoon into the bowl, with beer to wash it down. It was a new experience to my young friend, though he bravely followed suit. All young men intending to become officers must first serve their regular turn as recruits and then enter the Military College, formerly a royal palace, and situated close to Copenhagen in a de- lightful old park, where the instruction is as thorough and as excellent as at all Danish edu- cational establishments. A full-blown Danish officer, that is, an officer who has been through all three classes, will undoubtedly be a match for the officer of any army. The lowest class lasts two years, and both in it and in the middle class One sees privates, Sergeants, and sub-lieutenants. The latter have in that case been through a spe- cial school at Elsinore, a compulsory training by which the Army is supplied with the necessary number of sub- (or, as they are called, second) lieutenants. A young man sufficiently clever can, however, omit the lowest two-years’ class by passing the examination for the middle class before serving as recruit, so that he goes straight from his recruit-school to this class, thus saving considerable time. The highest class is more espe- cially intended for the Royal Engineers, the Ar- tillery, and the General Staff; those who pass the best examination from the middle class may choose that branch of the service which they like best; the Royal Engineers are almost without 7o Danish Life exception the favourite. There is also a special school for lads intending to become non-commis- sioned officers. The Naval Academy is a somewhat costly and elaborate establishment, considering the limited mumber of cadets, as will appear from the fact that in the year 1900 only one was made lieuten- ant, in the year 1901 three, and in 1902 two. A boy intending to enter the Navy generally leaves School when about fourteen; he must then go to Sea on a warship for nine months as a “voluntary apprentice ’’; it is a very hard time, though it generally proves an effectual test of the boy’s en- durance and fitness for the sea. After this he is coached for a couple of years, so as to be able to pass the examination necessary for entering the Naval Academy, where the regulation time is four years, four months out of every summer being spent in cruising. As a rule from four to six boys are taken every year, and the sixteen or eighteen cadets are thoroughly trained by a staff of more than a score of masters. They are naturally thought a good deal of, and have hitherto been rather an exclusive set; but here, too, the demo- cratic spirit has made itself felt, and since the new Ministry came into power two sons of non-com- missioned officers have become cadets—a sign of the times telling its own tale. The Naval Acad- emy a year or two ago celebrated the two hund- redth anniversary of its foundation, and the officers of the Danish Navy can with pride look The Army and Navy 71 back upon many a doughty deed wrought by the corps in past centuries. Amongst cadets from this school in more recent years may be men- tioned the present King of Greece, his son Prince George, Governor of Crete, Prince Waldemar, and Prince Charles of Denmark, all of whom keep up their old naval friendships, the two latter being in active service, and both proud of their profession. An amusing story is told about the King of Greece, who on his accepting the throne of Greece sprang straight from cadet to admiral. When thanking King Frederick VII., then King of Denmark, for his promotion, King Frederick said, “Yes, my boy, it has been quick work with you. I had to work my way from the ranks, and ’’ (turning to his morganatic wife, who, by the way, had been a milliner, and slapping her on the shoulder) “so had you, Louise.” Some changes are likely to be made in the Naval Acad- emy, and it has been proposed that the reserve lieutenants should also be trained there. There are no marines in the Danish Navy, and the officers individually have to be proficient in every department of the service on board a man- of-war. The cadets, in consequence, are rather hard-worked, and have to undergo long hours; they are given about an hour and a half for walk- ing exercise every day, and they are allowed to go out three nights a week, though they must be in by a fixed hour. During the four years of his training, the cadet is never permitted to wear 72 Danish Life anything but his uniform, otherwise uniform is not much worn, either in the Army or the Navy; in fact, many officers do not seem to consider it quite good form to appear in uniform when not on duty, although they do not go so far as Eng- lish officers in this respect. On the other hand, there is very little of that overbearing superiority of which one hears and sees so much in Germany. Danish officers, of the Army and Navy alike, are almost invariably genial, gentlemanly, and often very charming men, and good representatives of their nation. The pay is not elaborate, hence it is quite a usual thing for an officer to make good his ability and time in practical pursuits outside the service, and in this respect there are no such restrictions as there are in England. There is often all the more occasion for a Danish officer to have something to fall back upon on account of the age limitation, to which every grade in the service is subject; a captain, for instance, being obliged to resign, if not promoted before the age of fifty-two. Not a few officers are literary or scientific men, and the Royal Engineers, for instance, are much sought after for outside work. Denmark forms no exception to the general rule of the superior matrimonial possibilities of officers. Unpleasant encounters between officers and civilians are vir- tually unheard of, as are duels amongst them- Selves. A year or two ago a duel certainly took place between two officers, but there was in that The Army and Navy 73 case very good cause for an encounter, and no ex- ception was taken to the challenging party. On the whole, things work very smoothly and satisfactorily in the Danish Army, and the men have nothing to complain of. It must be ad- mitted, however, that the term of service is too short to bring the training of the men to that state of perfection which in the German Army has reached its zenith; yet some of the picked regiments are very fine troops, the Life Guards, the Dragoons (the Danish Dragoons have for cent- uries been famous), the Hussars, the Horse Ar- tillery, and it is a matter of surprise that six or seven months' drill can produce such good results. A portion of the men are kept for about twice that period; this is decided by the drawing of lots, but in this case an exchange of numbers is allowed. The men are called upon for subsequent short terms of drill—a month or so—in order that their right hand may not quite forget its cunning. The private soldier, whilst serving, receives a daily pay of fifty &re (6%d.), and a good-sized loaf of excellent rye bread every fifth day. This, of course, is not a very extravagant allowance, and it necessitates a fair amount of economy to make ends meet. “Jens,” which is the name of Tommy Atkins's Danish cousin, has at times, perhaps, been found a little deficient in this re- spect; and as the pay has not, as was, no doubt, the intention, always been spent in procuring good food, or as good as could be got for the 74. Danish Life money, the new Minister of War has arranged for what may be called official catering, for some regiments. It has only been started by way of an experiment, but seems to give great satisfaction, and will probably be introduced into the whole army. The soldier gives up forty 3re a day out of his fifty, leaving him ten äre (134d.) for per- sonal luxuries and amusements. “Jens’’ gets three or rather four meals a day. In the morning he has coffee, a hwede (a kind of square roll), some butter, and as much rye bread as he likes, besides some cheese and sausage, sometimes a little pâté de foie (not guaranteed genuine Strassbourg), with which the men make sandwiches for their lunch. Dinner consists of two courses. Perhaps the menu for a whole week will be of interest: Mon- day, bacon soup and bacon; Tuesday, Öllebröd (a soup made of black bread and beer) and meat balls in celery sauce; Wednesday, rice-pudding, fried fish or bacon; Thursday, beef soup and boiled beef with horse-radish sauce; Friday, but- termilk soup and “blood-pudding ”; Saturday 6llebröd and beefsteak; Sunday, sweet soup (made from preserve) and roast pork. The evening meal consists of tea, butter, unlimited rye bread, páté de foie, sausage, rissoles, smoked herrings, sometimes an egg, when eggs are cheap; in addi- tion, half a litre of beer (a dark, nutritious beer, containing but little alcohol) is allowed each man per day. Of course, this new arrangement will entail additional expenditure on the State, the The Army and Navy 75 cost amounting to about sixty-five &re per day, and only forty ore being deducted from a soldier's pay. The officers take much interest in this new departure, which they feel sure will greatly bene- fit a number of their men, for although many of them, especially those from the country, often re- ceive hampers with provisions, there are others who barely get a sufficiency of good wholesome food. The soldiers in the new arrangement, as practised at Kronborg, for instance, dine eight at a table, and at each table there is a table foreman; the dining-room is made as attractive as possible by means of pictures and other adornments. In the matter of actual drill, also, changes and reforms, introducing greater freedom, are likely to be adopted, and they have already, in fact, been tried in some garrison towns. Ball and other games have, for instance, been taken up with very satisfactory results, and in most regi- ments instruction in sloyd is given. But a com- plete Army and Navy reorganisation may be expected before long, for a Parliamentary Com- mittee has been appointed for the purpose of re- porting upon and drawing up proposals for the more efficient defence of the country, the Com- mittee being aided in its labours by four officers, two from the Army and two from the Navy. A great and natural interest is taken in the out- come of the work of this Committee, which more likely than not will to a marked extent affect both branches of the defensive service. 76 Danish Life The English Volunteer system is made un- necessary in Denmark by compulsory Service, yet the latter country has a movement which is some- what related to the former — the Danish Rifle Corps. Shooting and gymnastics are their prin- cipal objects, and here, too, the State grants its support. It cannot be looked upon as a military organisation, although there are several officers on the board of management, which counts among its members two clergymen. The movement is very popular, and according to the last report there were 1036 districts, comprising 28,835 rifle- men, 6350 members who only went in for gym- nastics, and 12,334 simply contributing members. A total of 3,149,880 shots had been booked in the year, averaging IO7 for each rifleman. CHAPTER VII ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND LOCAL GOV- ERNMENT HE Denmark of to-day is still to no small extent the Denmark of yesterday; the Den- mark of to-morrow will in many ways be a differ- ent thing altogether. “Bureaucracy is dead, long live Democracy l’’ Dut it takes time before all the changes which this peaceful revolution entails can be taken in hand, still less completed. In no department of the official economy of Denmark are more sweeping reforms likely to be brought about than in the administration of justice, and although exhaustive and comprehensive proposals are drawn up — proposals which have been in course of preparation by a Special Commission for years—the Legislature is likely to take its own time over them, more especially as they will 1argely increase the expenditure. Although these reforms are admittedly much needed, this does not mean that justice in Denmark labours under unfavourable conditions. Far from it. A better Court of Justice than the Danish Supreme or Highest Court it might be difficult to find; it is 77 78 Danish Life the Upper and Lower Courts and their procedure, and the Magistrate system that call for reform, more on account of their old-fashioned and cumbersome routine than because justice has shown any alarming signs of miscarriage. The system is, in fact, entirely out of date, and has been so for so many years that even the Consti- tution of 1849 gave promise of reforms in this direction. There are three classes of judicial tribunals: the Highest Court, the Upper Courts, and the Lower Courts. The Highest Court has its domi- cile in Copenhagen, and, like the Rigs-dag, was made homeless by the destruction of Christians- borg Castle by fire. It has since been installed in part of the palace belonging to the King of Greece, of which Prince and Princess Charles of Denmark occupy the ground floor—not altogether a satisfactory arrangement. Although waiting for its own house, the Highest Court has fully sustained that dignity which has always sur- rounded its proceedings, and of its absolute justice, wisdom, and integrity, even the worst criminal is probably convinced. It must, in fact, be looked upon as an ideal court, consisting as it does of a jury of able judges. There are twelve “Asses- sors” and a Justițiarius, and these “Assessors” are men of the most pronounced ability, all Doc- tors of Law; they are chosen and appointed for life, and are in every respect entirely independent. Contrary to the practice of the other courts, the - - · |- Justice and Local Government 79 procedure is verbal, and the proceedings, with the Assessors in their red silk gowns, and the “Advocates” in their black violet-lined silk gowns, is certainly very impressive. The verdict is arrived at by voting, and is decided by majority, an unequal number of Assessors always officiat- ing, so that there is no fear of the “jury not agreeing.” The new proposals do not materially interfere with the Höfestereſ—the present order of things is maintained. It is proposed to appoint twelve honorary judges, as the Assessors will probably henceforward be called, who can officiate should there not be a sufficient number of Asses- sors available, and to reduce the quorum from nine to seven. Should an Assessor be in any way connected with either side in a case, he with- draws from the proceedings. The Höjesteret be- gins its sessions on the first Thursday in March, sitting the first five days in the week, until the end of June; resuming its sittings in the begin- ning of October, it goes on until Christmas, again sitting in January and the first half of February. In addition, it generally holds extra sittings during the last few days of July and August for criminal cases. Copenhagen has three additional courts which are considered as Upper Courts, inasmuch as cases from them go straight to the Highest Court, provided they are capable of being taken there. These three courts are an ordinary Civil Court (Hof og Stadsreifen), the Criminal Court, and a 8O Danish Life special Court for commercial, shipping, and simi- lar cases; the last two have only local jurisdiction. The Commercial Court, where the judge is aided by well-known men in commerce and shipping, is in many ways an efficient institution, but with the two others satisfaction is less universal. At the Civil Court the procedure is almost incom- prehensibly slow, and at the Police Courts a cer- tain arbitrariness does not appear to be entirely excluded. The procedure at the Civil Court is in writing. First the plaintiff files his case; in two or four weeks' time or more the defendant puts in his answer, to which the other side again has to reply, and so on. That, under these cir- cumstances, months easily grow into years can be no matter of surprise, especially as the permis- sion to take Anstand (grace) is as liberally given as it is frequently sought. Pressure of time, or his client’s absence, or manifold other causes, may induce the lawyer on the one side to ask for Azstand (generally fourteen days) time after time, and often this custom has its comic aspect. Some years ago a well-known lawyer was, on account of ice, detained in one of the islands; this was in January. His junior partner or managing clerk in consequence asked for Anstand on account of ice difficulties, which, of course, was granted. Although the lawyer duly returned to town, his representative in court went on asking for Azz- Stand at a number of subsequent sittings, “for the same reason as last,” until his opponent one day Justice and Local Government 81 in August mildly protested, and suggested that the reason, which, in the meantime, had been forgotten by all concerned, should be looked up. Much merriment was caused by the reason trans- piring to be “prevented crossing the Belt by ice.” In criminal cases, confession is on the whole considered essential, or in any case highly desir- able, for conviction. In consequence the judge, who in the provinces is always the magistrate, and often chief constable as well, exercises all his ingenuity to call forth a confession, in which efforts he may not always be in full accordance with the prevalent judicial sentiment of the day. The stress laid upon confession as against circum- stantial evidence often leads to a protracted de- tention of suspects, who, however, if the fact of their having been wrongly suspected and detained has been made duly manifest, are entitled to com- pensation, but in order to obtain this they have to sue the authorities. In addition to the Upper Courts at Copenhagen, there is an Upper Court for Jutland at Viborg, the number of Assessors being nine, whilst the Civil Upper Court at Copenhagen has eighteen and the Criminal Court twelve, besides which there are several Criminal Chambers with one judge. The new judicial reforms will completely alter the existing state of affairs, providing for two Upper Courts, one for most of the islands at 82 Danish Life Copenhagen, and one for Jutland and Fuhnen at Aarhus, the former with a jºustițiarius and fifteen judges, the latter with a jºustițiarius and twelve judges. These Courts are to have several itiner- ant Sections, more especially for criminal cases, which sections shall hold a court in a number of places within their district not less than once every three months. At least three judges are required for giving judgment, and in some cases they will be assisted by juries, a branch of the court at pre- sent unknown in Denmark. Further, provision is made for a series of Lower Courts, of which the one at Copenhagen is to comprise a /ustițiarius and twenty judges, who will officiate singly. The rest of the country is to be divided into one hund- red and three judicial districts (there are now one hundred and twenty-nine), with one judge for each district, except where districts have more than thirty-five thousand inhabitants, the judge to be notary and clerk, but no longer chief con- stable. This latter is one of the most important features of the new reforms: the severance of the offices of judge and chief constable or magistrate, on the face of it an old-fashioned and unsatisfac- tory arrangement. The new order of things will, further, do away with the present long-winded written procedure, and will introduce publicity and verbal procedure, with as much directness as possible as regards the placing of witneses and materials of proof before the court which is to pronounce the verdict, while the court will be Justice and Local Government 83 able to exercise all freedom in the amount of im- portance which it attaches to the various proofs, in which respect there are at present certain legal restrictions. In addition, the courts will, in civil cases, have the right to question both the litigating sides and the witnesses, and the courts will altogether be able to influence the proceed- ings to a far greater extent than at present. A number of new regulations will tend to accelerate the proceedings very materially, and each case can ordinarily be brought before only two courts, so that only cases in the first instance brought beſore the Upper Courts can appeal to the Su- preme Court, whilst the Upper Courts will be the final tribunals for cases dealt with at the Lower Courts. In criminal cases the ‘‘ accusatorial” principle will supersede the “inquisitorial'' prin- ciple, which means that the persons suspected of or charged with an offence will not be questioned by the judge, but charged by an official who is not the judge, in connection with which official he will stand as a free agent, Simple and obvious cases are to be summarily dealt with by the Lower Courts, and petty police offences are to be disposed of outside the court. The primary reconciliation proceedings, which take place prior to the com- mencement of litigation proper, are, according to the new proposals, to be conducted before the ... regular courts. This compulsory “reconciliation meeting,” to which the contending parties are properly subpoenaed, and the purport of which is 84 Danish Life to prevent litigation if possible, is in itself a peculiar and interesting institution, not by any means out of keeping with Danish good nature, although it may not be of much practical import- 3.11Ce. With regard to the jury system, which, as I have said, will be a new departure in Denmark, it is proposed to divide the country into a number of districts, and to place upon the lists the names of some ten thousand suitable men to serve on juries, who shall receive a remuneration of three Áronzer (3s. 4d.) a day and travelling expenses. The Danes are not a violent people, and such crimes as manslaughter and murder are compar- atively rare; sentence of death is, as a rule, pro- nounced for murder, but it is only very rarely carried out, even in very bad cases being gen- erally reduced to penal servitude for life. Indeed, Several years often pass without an execution taking place. Strangely enough, suicides, on the other hand, are very frequent, averaging over five hundred and fifty a year, or more than two per cent. of the aggregate number of deaths of persons over ten years of age. To every woman who takes her own life there are four men, and the suicides are most frequently unmarried peo- ple; a somewhat similar proportion between the two sexes exists with regard to convictions; viz., one to three. That addiction to drink paves the way for suicide and crime has also been strikingly proved in Denmark—with reference to the men, Justice and Local Government 85 about half the suicides being drunkards; amongst women drink does not work equal havoc. The law in Denmark deals comparatively leniently with offences against property, much more so than in England, two or three years’ im- prisonment sufficing for even grave cases of fraud and embezzlement. Danish prisons have the re- pute of being very good and humane; the yearly expenditure per prisoner averages about £30 Ios., of which the State defrays about £25, while the rest is for the most part covered by the labour of the prisoners. A peculiar form of punishment is imprisonment on “water and bread,” of which thirty days are the maximum, divided into periods of not more than five days. All over Denmark local government takes the form of a Municipal Council, one for every town, and in the country one for every parish. The authority, the importance, and the scope of the various bodies which represent local government have vastly increased during the last thirty or forty years, so that their aggregate expenditure is now almost equal to that of the National Ex- chequer. The Municipal Councils have in the first place to look after the poor and the municipal schools, and they further have under their control roads, hygiene, police arrangements and other town interests. Both the Parish and the pro- vincial Town Councils comprise an uneven num- ber of members (of which in the towns the Burgomaster, a permanent Government official, 86 Danish Life is the chairman), who are elected for a period of six years, in the towns mostly by persons quali- fied to vote for the Lower House, and who during the preceding year have paid direct tax to the nunicipality, and to a smaller extent by the privi- 1eged electors, whilst in the country the case is reversed. The Parish Councils are under the control of the Amis, or District Councils, of which there are twenty-one, at the head of each being the Amtmand, a kind of high sheriff, a Govern- ment official, while the members are principally chosen by the Parish Councils. In Copenhagen the governing municipal body consists of a Council of thirty-six members, and of what is called the Magistrat, which holds a similar position with regard to the Council as does a Ministry to the Legislature. The Magistrat has for its chief an Upper President, appointed by the King, and it comprises other- wise four paid Burgomasters, elected by the Municipal Council for life, subject to the King's approval, and four honorary Raadmänd (“Men of Council’’), elected by the Council. The Municipal Council, which, with the exception of certain holidays, sits every Monday, is elected, in sets of six every year, by persons who are electors to the Lower House, with this difference, that they must be taxed on an income of not less than one thousand Ároner (455 IOS.) a year, and that the municipal suffrage begins at the age of twenty-five instead of thirty. The history of the Justice and Local Government 87 Copenhagen Town Council mirrors in its outlines that of the Second Chamber (with which for the time being it has a President in common), inas- much as the Liberals and the Social Democrats have an overwhelming majority. About ten per cent. of the population in Copenhagen have the municipal suffrage, and during the years of Seri- ous contest as many as three fourths of the electors met at the poll. The Council has the control of the town’s finances, and its sanction is required for every item of expenditure, but otherwise Council and Magistrat should agree, failing which the Minister of the Interior has the final say. The Upper President has under certain circum- stances a right to exercise his veto on resolutions passed by the Council, in which case they are likewise referred to the decision of this Minister. CHAPTER VIII TRADE UNIONS AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY Y right the two terms forming the heading of this chapter ought to be reversed, for although the trade organisation and the political movement have walked hand in hand, and in conjunction attained their present magnitude, the latter was the forerunner, and from it sprang the impulse and the impetus. But although the International was the cradle of Danish Social Democracy, a Danish branch having been opened in October, 1871, the movement soon assumed a more practical character, and it should be said at once that in Denmark the Social Democrats, in spite of their somewhat extravagant Radicalism at times, are and always have been law-abiding citizens, without even the smallest sprinkling of revolutionary ideas or, I think I may add, sym- pathies. Their leading daily paper, the Social AJemokrafen, is in many ways well and ably edited, although its loyalty in political discussion is not always above criticism. The course of the International proper was neither a long nor a happy one; about six months 88 Trade Unions 89 after its formation the three leaders were arrested, their paper, which bore the more pronounced title of Socialisten, was confiscated, and the organ- isation was the following year declared illegal by the Supreme Court of Justice. The labourers, however, had no cause to regret this turn of affairs, for in due course the whole movement as- Sumed a more practical shape, which even those who are farthest removed from being its sym- pathisers must admit has tended greatly to im- prove the position of the 1abouring classes. The leaders of the trade unions and of the Social Democratic political party are virtually identical, and although this twin arrangement does not, and cannot, appeal to large portions of the com- munity, it is a very moot point whether the Danish labourers would ever have attained to their pre- sent comprehensive system of organisation had this political background, which has always fur- nished capital material for agitation, been want- ing. At the same time that the trade unions (the Fag. Forenznger) have raised aggregately the level of the labourer, they have, on the other hand, exercised a distinct levelling influence 1ike- ly to prove detrimental individually to the clever workman, inasmuch as they tend, in their regula- tions and other matters of wages, to favour the less capable hand, and withhold from the other the absolute freedom of scope which English and American labourers enjoy. It almost looks as if the trade unions had adopted for their motto a 90 Danish Life wish expressed in a song by Bishop Grundtvig, —‘‘ May but few have too much, and fewer too little,”—although written at a time when the Social Democracy of to-day was not dreamt of. The fixed minimum pay which is insisted upon for even the least capable hands, coupled with a latent restriction as to the quantity of work put in by quick and clever piece-workers, naturally tends to make work dearer, while at the same time the brake put on the good workman pre- vents him from exploiting to the full his time and his capacity. Moderate earnings do not, of course, always mean cheap labour, and it may be inferred from what has already been said that labour cannot be very cheap in Denmark, and that Danish labourers have hardly the grit and the push of English workmen. Viewed from the standpoint of Danish industry, this is a regret- table circumstance, handicapping it considerably in international competition, but it is not out of keeping with certain national characteristics. Whilst the trade unions work hard, though not always circumspectly, in the cause of their mem- bers, and whilst their efforts have undoubtedly very materially increased the average of wages and improved hours and workshop regulations, they unquestionably interfere with the individual freedom of the labourer in matters where it might be to his advantage to be left to himself a little 1110Te. Figures may not always interest, but they con- Trade Unions 9 I vince. The year 1884 is a red-letter year in the history of Social Democracy in Denmark, inas- much as the party then for the first time became represented in the Parliament of the country, -it then counted two members; now it has fourteen representatives in the Lower and one in the Upper House,_and two years later the co-operat- ive organisation of the various trade unions in Copenhagen was effected. This organisation has since, with a firm and strong hand, held the control of Danish, or rather Copenhagen, trade unionism, at the same time exercising consider- able influence in the provinces. That the move- ment remains so closely wedded to political Radicalism is to some extent owing to the Con- Servative party, for several of its papers warred fiercely against the Labour party and Labour in- stitutions, and it even went so far as to form an opposition Conservative Labour organisation, al- though it never became a factor of much im- portance. The trade unions have with much consistency worked out their programme of shorter hours, higher wages, and better conditions, not without arbitrary measures, nor without an op- portunism denounced by their opponents (and not without cause) in the strongest language, but always with the full support of a party, at times undiscriminating. Still, the ready and business- like way in which strike and other funds have been supported, and the orderly manner in which they have with varying luck fought their battles, 92 Danish Life prove the Danish labourers of the skilled classes to possess qualities admirable in themselves, al- though they may not always have been employed in a desirable direction. The Danish labourer is on the whole fairly well positioned—better in any case than his fellow. workmen in the two neighbouring countries, Sweden and Germany. His working hours are certainly somewhat long—on the average ten, 6 A.M. to 6 P.M., with half an hour for breakfast, generally 8 to 8.30, and an hour and a half for dinner in the middle of the day; but then he is not very hard-worked, and the workshop regula- tions are, generally speaking, less stringent than in the large industrial countries. For example, there is no prohibition against “drinks” in work- ing hours, and in some factories the men are even allowed, or have been until quite recently, to smoke whilst at work—practices which no Eng- lish employer would think of tolerating. Drink in Denmark, as elsewhere, is the great evil in the labourer’s life; he is, certainly, rarely seen drunk, but he keeps “at it” often right through the day with beer or ‘‘snaps,” or an un- happy blending of both. Doctors disagree as to which is the more hurtful of the two. “Snaps” taken to excess will no doubt sooner ruin a man, but beer in the quantities frequently taken in Denmark unfits him for hard and steady work, and blunts his moral energy. The consumption of beer is on the increase, and as regards spirits, Trade Unions 93 which for the working man means Danish manu- factured corn brandy (‘‘snaps”), Denmark, ac- cording to recent statistics, has the unenviable position of heading the list amongst all nations. The reason of this may in a great measure be ac- counted for by the absurdly and wickedly low price of the more common “snaps” (sold at some- thing like 5d, or 6d. a quart). But through what appears to outsiders as a sadly misunderstood kindness, not only the Social Democratic but also the Liberal party in the Lower House have staunchly refused to increase the tax on corn brandy, although one Finance Minister after the other has pointed out that it is not only an ad- mirable but also a desirable object for further taxation. But it has always been in vain; the poor man’s ‘‘snaps” has in Denmark become an almost sacred institution, and whenever it has been coveted by the Exchequer, a cry of “Hands off ” has gone up from the Democrats. Yet, as I have already said, the Danish work- man does not very often get drunk. He drinks during the working hours and during the dinner hour, which is often spent at a Bevärtning, where both food and drink are served, but it is the con- tinuous drinking through the day that runs away with too much of his wages and of his energy. Apprentices often complain that their principal work during the first year or two is to fetch drinks for the men — the builders appear to have the greatest thirst—and they declare that it is no 94 Danish Life easy task, owing to their varying tastes and ex- acting fastidiousness. In their homes the Danish workmen do not drink much, I fancy, nor are they on the whole much given to spending their evenings at public-houses, and although the Danish Bevärtning is not a very elevating or beneficial place, neither is it so vicious nor does it lead to such disastrous results as the English gin palace. An exception to this should perhaps be made as far as pay-day (generally Friday) and club-evening (about once in a fortnight) are concerned. Outside Copenhagen, however, the temperance movement, seems to be slightly gain- ing ground, and in some of the provincial trade unions abstainers form no small percentage. The women on the whole are remarkable for sobriety, and one hardly ever sees a drunken woman. Of that destitute poverty which strikes and saddens one in many an English town, Copenhagen has apparently none, and it was not without cause that an English visitor once asked me, “Where do the Danes put their poor, or have they none P’’ Although the average wages of a skilled la- bourer in Denmark cannot compare with those in England and in America, they are in some branches, prominent amongst which are the build- ing trades, very satisfactory, and often excellent. This is largely due to the strenuous organising work of the trade unions, who claim that since they took the matter in hand, from 1872 to 1899, the average hourly pay for men has risen from 19.9 Trade Unions 95 bre (2%d.) to 35.5 &re (4%d.), whilst the average daily hours of work have fallen from II.3 hours to Io. I hours, which, allowing for the reduction in time, represents an increase in pay of about 80 per cent. The average weekly earnings of a skilled labourer in Copenhagen are about 22.82 Ár., which is equal to 4, 15 S. 2d. In the provincial towns the wages average about 4s. 1ess, and in the rural districts close upon 7s. 1ess, and there is a remarkable difference in almost all branches, according to the size of the business—the larger the business, the better the earnings. An ap- prentice in Copenhagen receives on the average a weekly pay of 5s. 7d. As already mentioned, the building trades are very well paid. A brick- layer earns on an average from 4, I 7s. 5d. in Smaller concerns (I to 5 men) to 4, I I4S. 2d. in large concerns (over 20 men); a house carpenter earns a weekly average of about 4, I I2s., and a plumber as much as 42. In addition to the hus- band’s earnings, which on the average account for 84 per cent. of the total, the wife figures with an average of 2.6 per cent., and the children with 6.5 per cent., the remaining 6.9 per cent. being made up of sundry items. A Copenhagen la- bourer’s family comprises on an average 5.22 persons, and of the total expenditure about 50 per cent. go to food, I2 per cent, to clothing, and I3 per cent. to rent. One must bow to statistics, but the percentage set aside for rent strikes one as very low. 96 Danish Life The number of trade unions in Denmark rose from I in 1871 to II95 in 1899, during which year a new National organisation came into force, which at the same time widened and strengthened the international relations with trade unions in other countries, but which does not comprise all the trade unions in the country. It was at once put to a severe test by the great lock-out of I899, which extended to some 40,000 work-people and lasted nineteen weeks, and which had become a necessity on account of the men becoming more and more overbearing and arbitrary. The men on the whole behaved very well; there were no disturbances; and they demonstrated through their pecuniary strength that they had not been so improvident as was generally believed. The lock-out ended in a compromise brought about by the mediation of three prominent citizens, leaving matters very much as they were, an ulterior out- come being the passing of a law according to which the employers and the labourers’ organisa- tions can elect the members of a joint court for the settling of trade disputes. As was the case with the Liberals and the Con- servatives, the former being many years earlier in the field than their opponents, so it has been with the employees and the employers. The lat- ter apparently did not think of trade organisations until the labourers had long had theirs in com- plete working order. As a matter of fact, the men had things very much their own way for Social Democracy 97 Several years, the masters being almost com- pletely at their mercy. The natural sequence to this was that the masters in their turn began to Organise, and they have now an admirable organ- isation. There are signs, perhaps, that the trade unions have lost a little of their power, and at a recent trial of strength (with the steamer-owners) they certainly came off second best. There are also, perhaps, faint signs of decentralisation, of which the following is an amusing example: Prince Christian of Denmark the other day in- vited the members of a provincial Town Council, with ladies, to dinner at llis château outside the town. Amongst the guests were two Social Democrats, leading men in their party, with their wives. To this the central organisation in Copen- hagen took exception, passing a resolution to that effect, and recommending their followers hence- forth not to dine with royalty; but the two Aarhus men were enthusiastically supported by the local Social Democrats, and mean to go again, should the Prince favour them with a second invitation. It is a matter of surprise that such a strong and, in many ways, practical party has not done more outside its organisation work, especially in the way of co-operative trading or production; yet it does not seem to have learned much in this respect from the farmers. Co-operation amongst the working classes seems, however, slow in taking root, although it has been introduced in Several branches, and may yet assume important 7 98 Danish Life dimensions. There are bakeries in some towns, and one or two breweries, and there are also work- men’s butcher-shops and several other ventures, all, however, within a modest scope. There are several labourers’ building societies, too, but they are more independent undertakings, this may also be said to apply to various sets of small gardens, or “colony gardens,’’ as they are called. Several institutions are doing good work in the interests of the working classes. Thus one of the Students’ Clubs has arranged to afford them free legal advice and help; the University Extension movement offers instructive lectures, receiving a fixed but merely nominal support from a good number of the trade unions; and there is also a bureau supplying information free of charge in such matters as chemistry and other practical sciences. The Corporation of Copenhagen has recently started a Labour Bureau for employers and employees, which is being extensively used by both, finding employment during the first six months for 8668 persons out of 19,228 applicants. That the Social Democrats would have as fair wind in the matter of social and political reforms as they have on the whole experienced in the more practical questions of trade organisation is extremely unlikely. Their programme is a large and ambitious one, both comprehensive and heterogeneous, made up of Utopian dreams and practical, although perhaps not practicable, re- forms, and embracing the spheres both of politics Social Democracy 99 and religion. As to the latter, they openly avow that they have no “confession,” a phrase apt to evolutionise into “no religion ”; they do not want religion to be taught in schools; and they advocate the severance of Church and State. In practical politics they call for universal suffrage, both for men and women, at the age of twenty- two, and the introduction of an eight-hour normal day. CHAPTER IX COPENHAGEN HE Danish capital, the Athens of the North, as it is sometimes called, is in many ways a singularly well-favoured city. Lying on the borders of the Sound, it not only boasts a situa- tion of much and varied charm, and environs of great beauty, but it enjoys an admirable position from a commercial point of view, at the entrance to the Baltic. It has for many centuries been the residential city, the seat of the Government, the headquarters of the Army and the Navy, and the undisputed, because the only, centre of aca- demic, scientific, and artistic life. Copenhagen is at present in a state of transition; from an old- fashioned,— one cannot exactly say old-time — fortified town, it has in the course of two or three decades become a smart, up-to-date city, with electric light, asphalt, and big shops; it has tripled its population and materially extended its commerce and industry. But the old and the new often meet in an incongruous manner. In some directions development has almost been too rapid; in others it has been unduly retarded. dº 3. * jº º te es * * : : * : : . : : & Aº 9 s tº º IOO Copenhagen IOI And as it is with the town, so it is with its in- habitants ; their mode of living and thinking, their tastes, their manners, their style, have altered, for the Copenhagener is in many ways wide-awake and susceptible. The change, how- ever, has come spasmodically, lacking that steadi- ness in progress which, after all, is a highly desirable quality. Much of what was peculiar to the Copenhagen of the past has vanished, and the new has not yet had time to assume definite and complete shape. In consequence Copen- hagen is not a town of any very pronounced indi- viduality, and in many respects it does not differ much from other Continental cities—for it is es- sentially Continental—though it is certainly a far pleasanter town than most. France always resents the presumption of Paris when the Queen of the Seine says, or implies, that she is France. Copenhagen has in many ways a much greater right to say that she is Denmark, yet she has but little in common with urban, pro- vincial Denmark. Moreover, she lacks, and can- not help feeling it, that backbone which a large, or in any case a larger, country gives; things lack impetus; there is a want of elbow-room and Scope; the same effort, if it were made, and it is not always, would only rarely bring about the same result as in a 1arge country. Contrasts, many and varied, are bound to exist in a city like the Danish capital; but they are not so marked, they do not jar as they do in London, I O2 Danish Life more, perhaps, than anywhere else in the world. Copenhagen lacks both the extremes, without, perhaps, being any the worse, and life flows on pleasantly enough, marked in many ways by a Certain easy and convenient promiscuousness. Form is held somewhat lightly, and there is a de- ficiency of style in many things. In this respect the Copenhagener forms a natural intermediate between South and North, between the German and the Swede, easily beating the former, without attaining to the standard of the latter. Life in Copenhagen does not move in such fixed and dis- tinct grooves as in England, but the people would not like it so to do, would, in fact, never put up with it. They are pleasure-loving and pleasure- Seeking folk, putting up good-humouredly with considerable inconvenience to attain their desired ends. The portion of the income of an average Copenhagener in almost every walk of life, set aside for, or in any case spent in, amusements, undoubtedly far exceeds the corresponding por- tion of an Englishman’s, in spite of the latter's often much larger resources, and his propensity in this direction is amply catered for. In the winter there are the theatres, a profusion of con- certs, music halls, such as they are, and an end- less number of cafés and restaurants, scores of which have music in the evening, besides, de- scending to a lower sphere, dancing saloons and masquerades. In the summer al fresco amuse- ments abound. The theatres are closed, but the ouTSIDE A PORTA, COPENHAGEN: LIFEGUARDSMAN AND PEASANT GIRL A rom a picture by Professor Aºosenstand : - Copenhagen IO3 cafés make the best of their allotted number of square feet of trottoir, with green plants and tables and chairs; there are numerous pleasure gardens—at the head of the list the true Copen- hagener’s pride, Tivoli, an excellent circus, wrestling matches, bicycle races (Copenhagen is probably more addicted to cycling than any city in Europe), trotting matches, regattas, lawn tennis, and other sports. If you want to see the Copenhageners, Mon- sieur, Madame, and Bébé, in their full glory, give up your Sunday to the study of their doings. By train and by steamer, by carriage and cycle and car, they migrate to Skoven, the woods—which does not refer to one distinct forest, although the beautiful Deer Park, some six or seven miles out- side the town, is the favourite resort. You will find a tremendous bustle and large crowds at the stations, and the trains themselves will strike you as peculiar by the variety of carriages, including open carriages, two-storied carriages, long Saloon carriages, and small old-fashioned carriages. All the restaurants within reach are full to overflow- ing, so that towards evening food is often at a premium, as in a beleaguered city; and the book- ing process at night (there are no return tickets on the Danish State railways) is often a pro- tracted and trying ordeal, with which, however, the Copenhagener puts up with extreme good- humour, his Mufterwig helping him to pass away the time. He often cracks an amusing joke, but IO4. Danish Life he cannot vie with a London cabman or bus-driver in the keeping up of regular fireworks of chaff. Those who cannot or will not go as far as Séoven betake themselves to the suburban parks of Fred- ericksberg and Söndermarken, or the Zoological Gardens, whence endless processions of fond par- ents and tired youngsters wend their weary way townwards, often late at night, perambulators being very much in evidence. The continuous string of perambulators, in fact, produces a pe- culiar grating sound on the pavement, which at so late an hour is apt to annoy and irritate a sus- ceptible ear. During one or two of the summer months a quaint, but none the less extremely unattractive, Kind of fair goes on in a corner of the Deer Park, with all the monstrosities and atrocities of a fifth-rate English fair, showing life to a marked disadvantage, in spite of which the middle, or per- haps rather the lower, class Copenhagener feels it his duty to make at least one pilgrimage in the year to Bakken, which on midsummer’s night reaches its climax of rough and vulgar noisiness. The well-to-do Copenhagener does not content himself with occasional outings; he spends the whole summer in the country, either in his own villa or in hired rooms, the frequent and marked discomfort of which illustrates how great must be the Copenhagener's love of at ligger paa Zandef (stay in the country), a love more pro- nounced in the fair than in the sterner sex, for Copenhagen IO5 the latter often find these summer arrangements a very questionable pleasure. The window-panes of the town residence are meanwhile covered with whitewash as a protection against the sun, and for the edification of the neighbours, and naph- thalin reigns supreme in the empty rooms. The wiser people wait until they can afford to build their own houses in the country, and it is per- fectly amazing that so many can afford it. Villas and cottages of all kinds, old and new, good-sized, and mere dolls' houses, stud large portions of the coast between Copenhagen and Elsinore, and cluster round the pretty railway stations, a very pleasant and characteristic side of Danish life. It is also becoming more and more general to live in the country all through the year, and the Copenhagener is beginning to realise that there is something better than the old “flat” system and frequent removals. As to these flats, there is something of the Wandering Jew about a good many Danes. Twice a year, the third Tuesday in April and the third Tuesday in October, comes “removal day,” and many people seem to con- sider it their bounden duty not to let too many “removal days’’ pass without grasping the op- portunity of changing their abode. The merits of a Copenhagen flat are differently gauged from English houses; the test is, so and so many win- dows facing the street, so and so many rooms enz suite, and, most crucial test of all, a dining-room where you can dine so and so many people. On IO6 Danish Life the other hand, the Copenhageners are not so exacting about the bedrooms; they might be per- suaded to waive the bathroom; they are more easy-going about the kitchen arrangements; and they do not worry very much about the servants' rooms. In some houses the servants of various families sleep at the top of the house in rooms quite cut off from the flats to which they belong, an arrangement with very obvious drawbacks; but in any case the latch-key is rarely withheld from the servants, who are apt to study their own tastes and convenience as far as “being in ’’ time is concerned. When I first lived in Copenhagen I expected my Danish servants to be in by half- past nine on Sunday evenings; but I have since learned that when in Rome one is obliged to do as the Romans do, in some respects at least. The latch-key is altogether a popular institution with the Copenhageners, masters and servants alike; and the sons of the house—and sometimes the daughters—do not like going out in the evening unless armed with the latch-key. In fairness it must be admitted that Copenhagen flats are rapidly improving, and so is the manner in which they are appointed. The time of Fred- erick VII. was sadly deficient in artistic impulse as regards the crafts, and, whereas furniture from the period of Frederick VI., and even Christian VIII., has obtained a certain notoriety,+and in many cases deservedly so, that belonging to the greater part of the reign of the present King and :NEÐw HN3 dC. O '38 LWE H L TºA.O.H. BHL dºwº … o8o LANsewabnox, Copenhagen Io'7 to that of his predecessor will have to be very old indeed before even the charm of antiquity can en- hance its claim to notice. Copenhagen homes often share the characteristic which is noticeable about the town, in their incongruities, their blend- ing of good and bad; for the secret that the beauty of a home is due not only to what it contains, but also to what it does not contain, has not yet dawned upon many of its inhabitants. A more artistic and refined style is, however, rapidly as- Serting itself, thanks, to a great extent, to Eng- lish influences. Cafés and restaurants abound, as I have said, and Copenhagen boasts a prolific café life, which in certain of its forms possesses considerable in- terest. A pronounced Bohemianism, both literary and artistic, strongly affects some of the cafés, and to its fascination men and women alike become subject. Many of them literally take all their meals there, and to a sober-minded spectator the number of hours some of them spend in these establishments is rather appalling. The two Sexes meet on apparently equal terms, and it is not by any means unusual to see young women, unattached or otherwise, sitting drinking their absinthe and smoking their cigarette with perfect unconcern. When they come in they often hang up their hats just like men, and their garments are generally strangely and wonderfully made. These somewhat free-and-easy guests are always waited upon by decorous waiters, women, for IO8 Danish Life Some reason or other, being strictly prohibited by law from serving in cafés and restaurants. There is a good deal of the butterfly about this Bohemian coterie which marks many of their doings, even in Such a serious matter as matrimony. Divorces are altogether very frequent in Copenhagen, and are very easily arranged, but in no set probably more so than in the theatrical, literary, and ar- tistic world. Not only is the number of cafés continually in- creasing, but the newest always tries to “go one better” than the newest but one, the result being a great many Smart and up-to-date restaurants, for this the cafés have by degrees become. The old ones have in consequence been rebuilt and re-equipped, so that there is a perfect dearth of those quaint old-time taverns and hostelries which abound in so many towns in England and on the Continent. Of these often delightful old places the Danish capital has absolutely none,— at the time of writing its Rathhauskeller is only just built, and some students’ cafés which, al- though not very attractive, had a certain individ- uality about them, have all been modernised, veneration not being the Copenhagener’s strong point. Failing any of these picturesque old inns, one with good grace accepts the comfort and the style of a twentieth-century café, the more so as the catering is good, cheap, and varied. A Dan- ish spécialité is Smörreàrod–bread-and-butter Sandwiches, in an endless and tempting variety, Copenhagen IO9 consisting of a slice of bread and butter covered with some kind of sausage, meat (boiled, roast, salt, smoked), Salads, cheese, ham, fish of vari- ous kinds, pâté, or eggs. A representative dish of Danish Smörrebröd is pleasing both to the eye and the palate. This Smörreóród, at restaurants, and still more in private houses, is the leading feature at luncheon and supper, although at the former meal an additional hot course is becoming 1110Fe CO111111011. The Dane begins his day with tea or coffee, the former not so good, the latter much better than in England, to which palatable bread, generally hot from the baker, is served. About noon—a little earlier or a little later—is luncheon-time; and as for dinner, the hour varies greatly—from three to four in humbler or more old-fashioned houses, to six or half-past in the smarter set. In the way of early dinners the Court forms no ex- ception; the King never dines later than seven, and then only on very special occasions, for as a rule the hour is earlier. The theatres generally get the blame for this unfashionably early hour of dining, for the opera and dramatic performances at the Royal Theatre begin at half-past Seven. In a tarvelig (plain, unfashionable) Copenhagen home dinner consists of two courses—generally one of Séemad (spoon-food), and a meat course. After dinner people in many houses still shake hands with each other, at the same time wishing Welbekomme (“May it agree with you’’); while I IO Danish Life the children say to their parents, Tak for mad (“Thank you for the food”), and often kiss them, the husband and wife also kissing each other. Coffee after dinner is indispensable even in the humblest Danish household. For the evening meal, where such is taken, -and in many houses the early dinner necessitates one,—tea or beer is drunk, and the baker is again ready with fresh bread of other kinds, for Copenhagen people are well catered for in this as in most other respects, the confectioners likewise understanding their business to perfection. As the German talks of beer, so does the Copen- hagener of food. The “inner man '' is looked after with an amount of thoughtful care which, if devoted to other matters, would call forth ad- miration. Food is discussed with a surprising thoroughness and understanding by both men and women; the framing of a menu is considered with the greatest earnestness; and not only does a successful meal form a favourite subject of con- versation for the next day or two, but the recol- 1ection of a repast after his own heart lingers long in the memory of a true Copenhagener. It is amusing, if not edifying, to hear both men and women in the train, in the tram-car, or on the street, exchanging culinary confidences, the words Og saa ſię wł (“And then we had ‘’) form- ing the skeleton of a conversation, the substance of which is a string of highly palatable dishes. I once overheard an old man telling a neighbour Copenhagen I I I about a previous night’s dinner; the meagre news that there had been soup with boller (small balls) did not satisfy his interested listener, who promptly, but with a gravity as if the welfare of the realm hung upon his answer, interrupted him to ask whether they were flour or meat balls. But this interest in food has borne some good fruit, for the cooking in Copenhagen is on the whole excellent, both at restaurants and in private houses. People on the Continent are admittedly a little easy-going in their manner of eating, and do Ilot always apply their knife and fork to the uses for which an Englishman is wont to consider them exclusively intended; but the Danes are better in this respect I think than most nations. Denmark has its allotted number of national dishes, but they are not much in favour with the better classes, at which one can hardly wonder. Various milk dishes figure prominently in this connection. Another dish is made of black bread and beer, to which cream, and salt herrings, with slices of raw onions, are served. It bears the pe- culiar name of 6//eóród, and is a standing Saturday dish. I must, however, own to knowing it only by repute. Fruit or preserve soup are more tempting, and all kinds of Danish meat-soups are excellent. The first great event in the life of Danish boys and girls is their confirmation, which always takes place on a Sunday, the pastor (not a bishop) officiating. After the ceremony in the church, I I 2 Danish Life to and from which the candidate, with the nearest relatives, is conveyed by a carriage and pair, there is generally a large dinner-party, the guests all bringing a variety of handsome presents, the girl receiving jewellery, fans, opera-glasses, and dainty knick-knacks; the boy a watch and chain, Scarf-pins, studs, and all kinds of smoking requis- ites. Confirmation is the event which in Den- mark opéns the door to what the youthful mind considers to be the glories of a greater world. Boys in the humbler walks of life generally have a day or two ‘‘ off,’’ during which they are to be seen in clusters attired in their new black clothes with black gloves and a new umbrella, violets in the button-hole, and a big cigar in the mouth, parading the streets, and often patronising the cafés, to the envy and admiration of their younger brothers. The girl, somewhat less ostentatiously, blossoms into the young lady; her hair is put up and her skirts are lengthened, and she is then, as a rule, considered to be “out.” In due course engagement follows; cards are sent out; and the plain gold ring is exchanged. This latter is altogether indispensable, and, so as not to let it stand in the way of young people of limited means, an enterprising jeweller is con- tinuously advertising “Engagement rings on the easy-payment system,” and he even offers to en- grave the names at the time of the first instalment. Young people of the poorer classes often marry in haste—sometimes, I am afraid, with the proverb- Copenhagen II 3 ial sequel; but even in the higher middle classes, amongst students and officers, for instance, long —miserably long—engagements are by no means uncommon. Engaged people form a peculiar class, who, especially in the earlier part of their blissful state, seem to think that the world was made for them, and them alone, and who are apt to ignore or disregard the presence of ordinary mortals, giving vent to their affections in a simple and unsophisticated manner. Engagements are rarely broken, and actions for breach of promise are entirely unknown; there seems, in fact, to be a little too much of that stability in the engage- ment which a subsequent marriage occasionally lacks. All anniversaries are much thought of in Den- mark, birthdays amongst others. The Öfalsels- dagsbarn (the “birthday child”), if a lady, is overwhelmed with flowers and plants, whose sub- sequent presence in the windows (the flower-pots generally garbed in highly coloured paper) de- notes that a birthday has taken place and has been duly observed within. The Danes have a marvellous faculty for remembering dates, birth- days or otherwise. I was told only the other day that the King himself remembers the birth- days through three generations in some of the families in which he takes an interest. Another occasion when the Copenhageners are lavish with flowers, is a funeral. Even the poor manage to cover their dead with pretty flowers, and every II.4. Danish Life one shows much veneration in connection with the cemetery, where the graves are often visited by relatives and friends, who on anniversaries and other occasions bring wreaths and flowers, and faithfully continue doing so year after year— a pretty custom not much observed in England. The great Church festivals are, if nothing else, an excuse for much social festivity. Christmas more than any other—only Christmas Eve, and not Christmas Day—is the great festival. Al- though the buying and making and talking of Christmas presents has been going on for weeks, the last few days show an increasing rush and bustle, -crowded streets, and shops full to over- flowing, everybody carrying a multiplicity of par- cels. Every home, too, from the highest to the lowest, must have a Christmas-tree, and a genuine feeling of good-will prevails. Old customs are not much thought of in Den- mark. One of the few that survive is in connec- tion with Lent. Monday before Lent is a holiday in all the schools. Small children, provided with Fastelawns riis (wooden sticks ornamented with coloured paper flowers, or similar decorations), get up early to awake their parents and others, the penalty for being found asleep being a certain number of Lent buns. The elder children play old-fashioned games, and, wearing hideous masks, collect money at the houses and in the streets. Easter is kept very quietly, and in the way of spending Good Friday England might with ad- a--- : Copenhagen II 5 vantage learn from Denmark, though Easter Monday is a regular holiday, and all the theatres and places of public amusement are crowded. Between Easter and Whitsuntide, on the fourth Friday after Easter, there is a Holy Day peculiar to Denmark. It is called Store Bededag (the Great Day of Prayer), and is a number of olden penitential days rolled into one, for when the somewhat worldly-minded Struensee, Prime Min- ister to Christian VII., did away with several other Holy Days, as being in his opinion super- fluous, Store Bededag was allowed to remain. On the eve of Store Bededag the church bells ring, and in order to hear them people formerly promen- aded on the picturesque old ramparts, but since their demolition the beautiful Langelinie walk along the borders of the Sound has become the accepted rendezvous. All are attired in their new spring garments, and in the evening everybody eats Varme Hveder, a kind of small square bread. On the day itself places of business are closed, and there is service in all the churches. Whit- suntide is supposed to find Copenhagen swept and garnished, with the sacred rite of spring cleaning well and truly performed, for everything must be ready for this festive season. On Whit Sunday morning numbers of energetic people still repair to the Fredericksberg hill to watch the sun rise and “see it dance,” and Whit Monday is the greatest holiday in all the year, with outings in- numerable in all directions. June 5th is the I I6 Danish Life anniversary of the much-lauded and at times much-abused Free Constitution, the Grundlovs- dag. Instead of being a day of universal national rejoicing, however, it has by degrees become the day of all the year when party feeling and party pride are especially paraded. Each political party holds its separate celebration, the Imost conspicu- ous feature of the Copenhagen Grundlovsdag being the display of the Social Democrats, who still keep up their big procession through the town to their appointed place of meeting. The Social Democrats and the Liberals in the capital are in the habit of exchanging greetings on that day by sending deputations to each other’s meetings. They say in Copenhagen that when three people are gathered together one of them is sure to be called Hansen. Whether this statement has any real statistical basis I have never satisfactorily ascertained, and my only reason for doubting it is a certain misgiving as to what in that case would become of the Jensens, the Nielsens, the Madsens, the Larsens, the Petersens, the Sören- sens, the Rasmussens, the Christensens, and the Jörgensens. These names unduly monopolise signboards and tombstones and directories, and compared with them Smith, Jones, and Robinson dwindle into a miserable minority. Before I visited Scandinavia the name of Christine Nilsson was to my youthful mind endowed with a quaint, romantic beauty, of which a few years in Den- mark and Sweden have pitilessly robbed it. The Copenhagen II 7 “sens” are evidently themselves beginning to realise that there are too many of them, and not a few of them have gone in for what Lord Ran- dolph Churchill somewhat contemptuously called ‘‘double-barrelled ” names; but the latest fashion is to discard the old name altogether and invent a new one, a movement which the authorities rather encourage, the Genealogical Institute helping the luckless “sens” to a more individual and decorat- ive name. Several devastating fires have wrought great havoc to Copenhagen in former centuries, and the lover of topographical curiosities and ancient architecture may not find much to interest him there. Still, the city possesses some very fine buildings from the reign of Christian IV., that wonderful royal architect, of whose rare skill more especially the Castle of Rosenborg and the Royal Exchange bear witness. The Amalienborg Palaces and several other buildings are fine speci- mens of 1ater styles, and of modern structures there are many which will delight even the most fastidious eye. But the charm of Copenhagen does not lie in architectural grandeur, nor is it rich in those old-fashioned national types which enhance the attractiveness of many an otherwise commonplace town. National dress, is, in fact, rarely seen, and were it not for the faithful ad- herence to the old costume of some of the Amak flower girls and the Skovshoved fish-women, and such birds of passage as a Fanóe woman or an II 8 Danish Life Icelandish girl, they would have disappeared alto- gether. The charm of Copenhagen must rather be looked for in its rich art treasures and museums, in its beautiful walks and parks, in the fulness of its literary, artistic, and musical life, in the genial and pleasant way life on the whole seems to flow on. People are hospitable, attentive, and help- ful, and they are often wonderfully kind. As an example may be mentioned the way in which well-to-do Copenhageners often receive at their table once or twice a week young students and others to whom a free dinner means a great deal, and of whose need they may have heard quite casually. The Copenhagener is certainly fond of pleasure, but these pleasures in themselves are harmless and inoffensive. In this respect the Tivoli gar- dens furnish an admirable example. There royalty can, and occasionally does, enjoy its six- pennyworth as keenly as the artisan. One even- ing some years ago, no fewer, I believe, than three kings accidentally met there. Tivoli, which celebrated its fiftieth ‘‘ birthday’’ some years ago, is absolutely unique, and the quantity of really good music and manifold entertainment, besides illuminations and fireworks, which it provides for the modest admission of fifty &re (between 6d. and 7d.) is truly astonishing. There are within its precincts many excellent restaurants. Who, for instance, can serve a more delightful repast than Fru Nimb 2. In the summer the Copenhagener, - - E. - - - -- i Copenhagen I IQ as I have said, loves al fresco life; and in conse- quence almost every little tiny garden boasts a summer-house—and a flagstaff. These summer- houses are really a great boon to their happy owners; not only are many meals served in them, but the ladies take their work there, and in the evening one may often see the master of the house smoking his long pipe, and with some friends do- ing justice to the good Danish beer. Still, the best and pleasantest aspect of the Copenhagener’s summer life is witnessed outside the town, at the many pretty summer resorts on the borders of the Sound, or in the well-appointed gardens of the innumerable villas and cottages. Sports and pastimes are here practised on a large Scale—lawn tennis, croquet, cycling, yachting, bathing. Yachting men can wish for no pleas- anter waters for a summer cruise than those sur- rounding the picturesque and beautifully wooded Danish islands, and in Denmark this splendid pastime is every year becoming more popular. Cricket is neither much nor well played, but foot- ball, which in Denmark is a summer and not a winter game, is gaining in favour, though the Danes are still a good long way behind the Eng- lish in this. As a rule a Danish winter is favour- able to skating, in which the Danes are very proficient, as they are, in fact, in all the sports which they have taken up in earnest, and at international meetings they are often victorious. During the last two or three years ski-ing has I 20 Danish Life found many devotees, and a proper ground is being reserved for this sport. A London cabman may not always exercise his undoubted knowledge of what is the exact legal fare in the most conscientious manner, but he is almost invariably forgiven, thanks to his alertness and smart though civil repartee. His Copen- hagen colleague may perhaps be a little more particular about figures, but, on the other hand, he is sadly deficient in those qualities which tend to compensate for the shortcomings of the former. He is slow, fat, and untidy, and drives his inferior Horse in a very inferior manner. Danish horses are considered admirably suited for cab-work, and are much sought after, in Paris, for instance; but perhaps it is with them as with the good Danish butter, of which the farmers often export nearly their whole production, using margarine them- selves instead. But then the Copenhagen omni- bus and car conductor is infinitely superior to his English brother. He is highly respectable, very attentive, neatly uniformed, and often remains in charge of the same car for as many as ten or twenty years; and I believe, sometimes even for thirty. That they have a complete pension organisation almost goes without saying. The cars, too, are excellent, and are patronised by a much better class of people than in England. There is about the Copenhagen car service, now almost exclusively electric, a special feature un- known and impracticable in England. The fare Copenhagen I 2 I is ten äre (19%d.), with some short five-àre routes, but this ten-Öre ticket the passenger has the right to have endorsed from one line to another, so that he can ride an aggregate of as much as six miles in excellently appointed cars for a fraction over a penny. The railway fares, at least for third-class travelling, which is not usual amongst the better classes, are extremely low, so low, in fact, that the profits on the State railways only equal a divi- dend of about one half per cent. of the invested capital, in consequence of which the raising of the rates is under consideration. A fortnightly ticket, which can be used as much as the holder likes on all the State railways—and, with the exception of a few unimportant local lines, all the railways be- long to the State—costs £1 for the third class, AI 15s. 6d. for the second class, and 4.2 I5s. 6d. for the first class. Copenhagen is often chosen for the holding of international congresses and meetings of the most varied nature; and its many attractions, its splen- did collections and museums, the many beautiful and interesting places within easy reach, and the genuine and sometimes lavish hospitality exer- cised by the authorities and private individuals alike, have invariably charmed its visitors. No wonder that the capital of Denmark has many admiring friends and well-wishers in all parts of the globe. CHAPTER X COURT AND SOCIETY *THE kings of Denmark, notwithstanding their two centuries of absolutism, and in spite of the influential and exclusive bureaucracy which on all sides sprang up around the throne, have on the whole had little of the autocrat about them. They have rather looked upon them- selves as the fathers of their good and loyal Sub- jects, who, in their turn, have responded with feelings in which blended much filial submission, confidence, and affection. Some of the later kings were almost democratic in their tastes and mode of living, and none more so than the predecessor of the present King. Yet the kings did not by any means think lightly of their exalted position —a fact which has perhaps found its most strik- ing expression in certain passages in Frederick IV.'s edition (signed by the King himself on September 4, 1709) of his grandfather’s Constitu- tional Law, from which I cannot refrain from quoting an extract: But amongst the examples which could be given of I 22 Court and Society I 23 the good God’s care for the conservation of Kings and kingdoms, it will not be easy to find any better than that supplied by our own hereditary 1ands and countries, more especially our Kingdom of Denmark, to which the great God has shown this special grace, that it has been ruled for more than two thousand years only by two Royal families, which a few times have been continued on the Royal Throne by female lines, but otherwise always from son to son. It detracts but little, if at all, from the senti- ment expressed in this statement, that it has pleased his Majesty to show an altogether royal disregard for what history conveys to less exalted minds, and I am afraid good King Frederick IV., in many ways one of the best of the Oldenburgers, would have been sadly put to it had he had to supply even the names of these two thousand years of Danish kings. King Frederick VII. used to address his people as “Children’’; the kings were frequently called “Land's Father’”; and their subjects came to them with their troubles pretty much in the same way as one now writes to the 77mes. The way in which Frederick VII. conducted his domestic affairs was, however, of such a nature that it tended to alienate those classes who were by their position destined to surround the Court, and during his reign Court and society had but little to do with each other. It would be difficult to picture a greater contrast in almost every con- ceivable direction than that existing between this I 24 Danish Life King and his successor, the present King of Den- mark, the father of Queen Alexandra of England —as husband, brother, and father, an example to every one of his subjects; a ruler of the most absolute integrity; as a soldier cool and dar- ing, a perfect gentleman, accomplished in manly pursuits, kindly, and true. King Christian IX. ascended the throne under critical circumstances, followed by an unhappy war, and the feeling in the country towards the new sovereign was rather bitter and reserved. But by his many admirable qualities—and by these alone, for he has never raised a finger to secure any cheap popularity— King Christian has gained the complete love and loyalty of his people. The world knows how he and his lamented Queen reared a race of kings and queens, the like of which history has never Seet1. Yet the Court can hardly be said greatly to affect Society in Denmark, certainly not nearly so much so as in England. There are, of course, Some Court functions, one or two balls during the winter, dinner-parties, varying in importance, once or twice a week, Wednesdays and Sundays; but society does not follow so closely in the wake of royalty as elsewhere. The King and the other members of the royal family, for instance, attend divine service every Sunday morning; but society on the whole gives the Church the cold shoulder. The royal family, who are diligent theatre-goers, are, of course, invariably in evening dress, but Court and Society I 25 the Copenhagen public has been exceedingly slow in following this lead, although during the last two or three years there has been a marked change in this respect. The King has never been much in the habit of attending private social functions, nor has he very often honoured the landed aris- tocracy by visiting them, but the younger mem- bers of the royal family are not infrequent guests at Social gatherings, both in town and country. In no city in the world does so much royalty move about in a less ceremonious and more un- Ostentatious manner than in Copenhagen and its neighbourhood, and in its streets or in the parks Surrounding the royal castles one may meet kings and queens and empresses walking about entirely unattended, and often almost entirely unobserved. Although the King has the right to confer no- bility upon a subject, it is not exercised, and the roll of nobility in Denmark may to all appearance be considered as closed. The titled nobility, counts and barons, date from the time of King Christian V., when the titles were conferred not only upon some of the old Danish noble families, but also upon a number of Germans, all things German being in high favour at Court during this King’s reign. Danish noblemen have rend- ered their country admirable service in days gone by, and in later years several members of the nobility have been to the fore in politics. The landed nobility boast a number of delightful country places, generally lead the life becoming I 26 Danish Life a grand seigneur, intermarry, and do not trouble themselves very much about the rest of the world. They are found of horses and shooting (there is practically no hunting, and foxes are unhesitat- ingly laid low with the gun); they spend some months of the season, from after Christmas to Lent, in the capital, where several of them own palatial residences; and they are quite as exclus- ive as their fellows in other countries. In some respects they are extremely fastidious, and it is a rare occurrence when a member of one of the leading families takes to himself a bourgeois wife. They lead a pleasant if not a very useful life, think, perhaps, more of their stables and of their wine cellars than of their libraries, and are not too lavish as patrons of the fine arts. Nobility, how- ever, has no special prerogative; even in rank, a number of officials and the holders of one or two orders take precedence of the highest nobility. Younger sons often join the Army, the Navy, or the Diplomatic Service, take to farming, or accept in many cases minor positions in various State departments. The Danish classification of rank is a very elaborate one, built up of offices, orders, birth, and titles. There are nine classes, which are divided into as many as a dozen sub-sections, each of which may again comprise a score or two of different titles and offices; yet there was a com- plaint in one of the Danish papers the other day that it was anything but complete! Holders of Court and Society I 27 titles have to pay an annual tax ranging from A 8 18s. in the first class to a miserly 13s. 4d. in the ninth, which figures adequately illustrate the immense gulf existing between the two extremes. There are about a score of different titles, several of which are again divided into “real” and “others,” the “real” being several shades better than the “others.” These titles are always used in conversation, as, for example, “Will not the Chamberlain have a cigar P” or “Mr. Cham- berlain, will you not have a cigar P’’ and it re- quires a fairly clear head and a good memory to give everybody his due in a large party, especially as Some of them are decorously long; as, for in- stance, Geheime-Conferentszaad. Moreover, an official or an officer must be addressed by the name of his office, thus: “Will not the Burgo- master take a cup of tea P’’ or “Will not the First Lieutenant have some coffee ?” Then there are the ladies, who generally have inde (the English “ess”) added to their husband’s title or office. A Colonel’s wife, for instance, is called Offerstände, and the wife of a Chamberlain to the King, A amzmerherreinde, and so forth. One can- not help admiring the glibness and the frequency with which these long words are used, and many people do not in the least seem to mind the trouble. But the subtleties of the additional titu- 1ar addresses in writing even excel the verbal form. That persons of the first rank are Excel- lencies is only natural, but gentlemen of the I 28 Danish Life Second class have on documents addressed to them a “Highwellborn ?’ prefixed to their title and name, and those of the third class a “High and Wellborn.” I much regret that I cannot explain why the addition of this “and” should somewhat detract from the value of the same words. Gentle- men of the ninth class are addressed “Well- honourable and Wellbred,” which is, I think, almost more than they could expect for their 13s. 4d. I have said that nobility as such enjoys no special rights beyond the rank which it entails, and the admission of its daughters to various “Convents of Nobility '' for the first three classes, which privilege gives an annual income and for a limited number a splendid residence in one of the old “convents’’ or castles, all on the payment of a moderate entrance fee. The highest ranks are also favoured at Court receptions and similar functions. A verse in an old Danish song eulo- gises the pleasurable sensation of shaking hands with an AEtatsraad. I think it must have worn off a little by this; there are too many of them now. The last Conservative Government was exceptionally lavish with titles and orders, amongst their supporters, of course, and the Opposition often railed at them on that account. But, strange to say, titles, and perhaps more especially orders, are still being distributed with much freedom, only in other directions. I should be sorry to say that these much-coveted distinc- Court and Society I 29 tions fall to the lot both of the just and the unjust, for they do not, but they are certainly be- stowed upon high and low, and, practically speak- ing, they are within the reach of every class. A grocer whom I occasionally favour with an order, to which he attends in person, is Commerceraad, and a worthy restaurant keeper is a Kammer- raad, the literal translation of these two titles being respectively “Counsellor of Commerce ’’ and “Counsellor of the Chamber.” A'aad (the German Rath) forms, indeed, the basis of most Danish titles. With the exception of the landed aristocracy, who prefer to move within their own sphere, to which, of course, the Corps Diplomatique belong, society in Denmark is not very sharply defined, and the barriers between the various sets are neither very high nor very formidable, some of the provincial towns, perhaps, forming the great- est exception; for in these latter the few high officials, the burgomaster (the magistrate), the chief of the custom house, the doctor, the clergy, and perhaps the apothecary, who holds a much better position than an ordinary English chem- ist, form a somewhat exclusive circle, to which are added, in garrison towns, the officers. But in Copenhagen the world that entertains is com- posite, and not overburdened with any narrow prejudice. Of course, it is not without its cliques and coteries. There is, perhaps, a Navy set and a military set, but on the whole the Q I 3O Danish Life civil-service man and the merchant, the successful professional man and the large manufacturer, the prominent artist, the officer, and the professor, frequently dine at the same table. The accepted style of Copenhagen entertainment is a round of dinner-parties, and it is there customary to tax to the full the capacity of your dining-room. The more people you can gather—I will not say cram —round your tables the more old scores have been wiped off, or the more new friendships, with pleas- urable vistas of return dinner-parties, have been sealed. A Danish dinner-party is often a spirited function; the host drinks individually with his guests, or as many of them as he can manage, and one guest often drinks with another. At birthdays and other anniversaries, not only are toasts and speeches common, but some more or less gifted poetic friend of the family often writes a song, which is distributed amongst the guests and sung at the table—and there are families who have more poetic friends than one. The gentle- men leave the table at the same time as the ladies, often, however, only to retire to the host’s rooms for coffee, liquors, and a smoke, whilst the ladies console themselves much in the same way in the drawing-rooms. In many houses cigarettes are offered to the ladies, and one often sees almost every woman present smoking. The people one meets at a typical Copenhagen dinner-party are in themselves but little typical, —this is not in the least meant to detract; they Court and Society I 3 I are men and women of the world, such as one might meet in any big city—travelled, extremely well-read, taking a keen interest in what goes on in the world, and often very entertaining. There is the eminent doctor, just back from a hurried - visit to Paris and London, so as to keep himself in close touch with his science in its most ad- vanced stages; the smart—very smart—lieutenant of the Hussars, who has recently returned from two or three years' foreign service; the brilliant literary man, whose genius all Europe knows and admires; the famous painter; the dignified Gov- ernment official, perhaps with a string of orders in miniature; perhaps a sprinkling of Norwegian, German, or other foreign celebrities; and the conversation is often carried on in several lan- guages, the Danes, or at least many of them, being accomplished linguists. Smaller dinner- parties, where a few kindred spirits meet, are perhaps not sufficiently thought of, and the rule laid down by an old writer, that the number of guests at a dinner-party should not be more than the Muses or less than the Graces, has apparently been forgotten. The Danes are not only very fond of dancing, but they are excellent dancers. At a Danish ball the programme contains only about six dances, which, of course, are very long, but variety is introduced by the custom of ‘‘in- clination,” the gentleman having the right to dance a round or two with different ladies, and vice versa. The cotillon is an important feature I 32 Danish Life at many dances. In a good many houses cards are very popular, and during the winter there is often a fixed weekly card evening, the players meeting in turn at one another’s houses. This form of social entertainment is by no means con- fined to the men, for ladies often accompany their husbands or have evenings of their own. The Jewish element is much to the fore in Copenhagen. Some of the directors of the largest banks are Jews, as are nearly all the private bankers and some of the 1argest and most re- spected merchants and manufacturers. In the legal world Jews are also prominent, and in litera- ture it would be difficult to overrate their in- fluence. That there is no anti-Semitism in Denmark may be gathered from the fact that the President of the Second Chamber, who is also the Chairman of the Town Council, is a Jew. CHAPTER XI ART AND LETTERS HILST various crafts, such as carving in Oak and wrought-iron work, rose to a high degree of perfection in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, art proper was slow in mak- ing its way into Scandinavia, and, unlike several other countries, Denmark has no “glorious past” in art, excepting the brilliant epoch of compara- tively recent date in Danish sculpture immortal- ised by the name of Thorvaldsen. Although there were some very prominent painters about the middle of the nineteenth century, men whose names will always be remembered with admira- tion and gratitude, they were not altogether head and shoulders above their fellows, and it is, in fact, extremely questionable whether Denmark has ever boasted a more talented cluster of painters than the half dozen or so now admittedly forming the front rank of Danish artists. Much of what is best in the national character finds a singularly pregnant and adequate expres- sion in Danish art; but that art should not also have been somewhat influenced by what may be I33 I 34. Danish Life considered the weaker or more negative side of that character could hardly be expected. For the last hundred years, since the days of Eckers- berg, “who planted his easel in the fields,” there is a marked, albeit progressive, continuity in Danish art, and it is only during the last few years that “secession '’ has raised its head in earnest. Study, diligent, honest, susceptible, has been the Alpha and Omega of Danish painters, and as a natural outcome sincerity became one of the most treasured virtues in their work. They have always had a healthy fear of Sentimentality, a dislike for unreality and strong effects; they have shown a decided preference for every-day, not to say homely, subjects, and a corresponding disinclination to give invention and imagination a wider scope. A pronounced fear of one extreme is not unlikely to lead a little too far in the oppos- ite direction, and one could at times perhaps wish for a little more grandeur, a little more sweetness, a more open and more appreciative eye for decor- ative beauty. In the temple of art, as in a great Roman Catholic cathedral, there are many altars; if Danish painters now and again bent the knee before at least one of the shrines where the ex- ponents of British art are wont to worship, Danish art might be the gainer. Kröyer is probably the Danish painter most widely known. He is essentially modern, and no one has done more to infuse into the art of his country light and air and colour. He is a Art and Letters 135 portrayer pure and simple, delightfully straight- forward, foreign to trickery of any kind, and possessed of much subtlety in conception, and of a brilliant technique. He has the light and happy touch of the artist born; he handles large can- vases with consummate skill, and is entirely free from that diffidence which at times seems to inter- fere with the work of some of his brethren. Kröyer revels in light, artificial or otherwise, in the Salon, in the workshop, or on the open shore, and from the latter come some of his most charming pictures. The seashore naturally brings to mind the names of Anna and Michael Ancher; as Kröyer once did, they have chosen the Skaw for their favourite hunting-ground, and have been content to remain there, whilst Kröyer has become a bird of passage, living by turns in Copenhagen, in Paris, in Italy. The two Anchers, husband and wife, have enriched Danish art with a number of admirable representations of Skaw fishermen, studied with observing sympathy, and very cleverly rendered. Julius Paulsen’s last great picture, exhibited at the Danish Academy in 1902, has placed beyond a doubt his claim to be recognised amongst the most gifted painters of the day. He has always been a colourist of high rank, noted not for many or gorgeous hues, but for an exquisite delicacy and softness, at times coupled with considerable power; and in this portrait-group of his fellow-painters he I 36 Danish Life has produced a masterly and monumental work. Paulsen has often been compared with Rembrandt — although he will never attain to the great master's warmth and glow—and in this picture he has distinctly challenged such a comparison, and passed unscathed through an ordeal, the audacity of which all who know the Stad/mesters —and who does not know them 2–will have no difficulty in realising. His landscapes also bear witness to his unusual talent, giving often, in a sketchy but none the less charming manner, the mood more, perhaps, than the matter, the Soul more than the substance, of what he beholds. Zahrtmann stands out by himself in Danish art; he loves Italy, with its wealth of colour and light, and at times he is very lavish in his use of colour, but this characteristic is not, of course, always synonymous with being a great colourist. Although in many of his pictures, more especially in some of his earlier ones, he would rival an Pºtty in subtlety of tone and a Brangwyn in sumptuousness, he is in others somewhat crude and peculiar. Yet few Danish painters have more and better work to their credit than Zahrtmann, who is a man of marvellous energy, and some of his pictures will in a few hundred years be valued as the work of a great master. Vilhelm Hammershöi is another painter of very pronounced individuality. He unifies and sim- plifies his colours to a remarkable degree, often lowering them into cold or neutral tones, the re- Art and Letters I 37 sult at times being what one might be tempted to call a rarefied intensity. Hammershöi’s “in- teriors,” more especially, are attracting universal attention; he knows how to invest a chair, an open window, a table, or an old cupboard, with a wonderful interest and charm. His portraits, too, are often highly interesting, but the merit of his work varies not a little. Viggo Johansen is in many ways a contrast to Hammershöi; his brush possesses a bracing and manful breadth and freedom, and his landscapes charm by their excellent atmospheric treatment. Johansen, however, shows to still greater advant- age in his home and 1amplight scenes, in which he generally depicts personal friends or brother artists, and in which efforts he presumably stands unsurpassed. They are in consequence much coverted, and the Luxembourg tried in vain to secure one a year or two ago. Joachim Skovgaard has of late years become more and more an interpreter of Biblical subjects. He combines sincerity with enthusiasm, and his compositions are often remarkable for a happy blending of grandeur and simplicity, -a certain Old Testament simplicity, -which, however, may at times have a little too much of that %dvyzhed, which in more respects than one is peculiar to that section within the Church to which he be- longs. 7 divnhed is a word not altogether easy to translate, on account of its being so essentially Danish. It means a certain straightforward, 138 Danish Life homely plainness in manner, which does not countenance any outer show, and rather looks down upon what most of us would consider inno- cent luxury and refinement. Skovgaard’s “in- teriors,” in which he often depicts his wife and children, are extremely clever and charming, but their 9 divnhed makes it a little difficult sometimes to realise that they represent the family and home of a highly gifted and successful artist. The painters I have here mentioned all stand in the fulness of their strength. There are, how- ever, many other excellent men, both younger and older. Thus at the head of a group of gifted landscape painters stands the veteran Vilhelm Kyhn, both by virtue of his age and of his ad- mirable work. Kyhn at his best, both in his large canvases and more especially in his smaller studies, has risen to a height of excellence to which few landscapists attain. One of his best- known pictures, After Sunset, is a symphony in colour, glorifying the restful and exquisite beauty of a Danish summer evening. For a considerable period sculpture has been, if not a barren, in any case no very fertile, depart- ment of Danish art, but the last few years have seen a marked revivial — witness the work of Bonnesen, Bundgaard, Hansen-Jacobsen, and Tegner. The works of Stephen Sinding, Nor- wegian by extraction, but for years domiciled in Copenhagen, are so well known that a mere refer- ence to his name will suffice. Art and Letters I 39 The study of art is carried on either at the Royal Academy, supported by the State, or at private art schools, several of which are sub- sidised by the Government. The number of art students is almost excessive, considering the nar- row boundaries of the country, and although many of them for a time study abroad, they gen- erally return before long to their own country, where, unfortunately, there are not roses enough to strew the path of all of them. Every spring, at the end of March or the beginning of April, the Academy opens its doors for the year's Salon, and at the same time the “Free '' Exhibition is generally ready. The latter is the home of what, with but little right, has been termed the Danish “Secession,” a group of painters who, discon- tented with the academic rigidity of the powers at Charlottenborg,-the Burlington House of Copen- hagen, migrated from the official headquarters and built a house of their own. Some of the best Danish artists, however, send work to both places, and were it not for a few Radicals at the “Free,” there is no very pronounced difference between the character of the two shows. One or two of the unruly spirits give evidence both of much talent and of almost a surcharge of energy, but there is about one of them especially a restless- Iness which seems to stand in the way of his un- doubted talent fully asserting itself. In addition . to the National Gallery, for which yearly pur- chases, almost exclusively of Danish art, are I4O Danish Life made from a State grant, private munificence has endowed the Danish capital with many art treas- ures, in the shape of manifold statues in the parks, and a complete museum, principally for sculpture, of which the well-known brewer, Dr. Carl Jacobson, is the donor; in addition to which he has willed his magnificent brewery, worth over half a million, to the cause of Danish art. Quite recently M. Hirschsprung has presented to the city his splendid collection of Danish art, a col- lection of unique interest, and probably the most representative collection of the art of any one country ever brought together by a private collector. Within the field of applied art the Danes excel in porcelain, and the original and artistic beauty of Danish china has scored many triumphs, as has also Danish gold and silver ware. It is supposed to have been a somewhat difficult task in days gone by to find a man, let alone a woman, who could, or in any case did, write a book; in the opinion of a well-known publisher, the case is now reversed, for he says the difficulty is now to find one who does not. This sarcasm was meant for England, but it might comfort its author to hear that Danish publishers also do not suffer from any dearth of manuscripts, rather the reverse. There is, in truth, much written and printed in Denmark; and, on the whole, the Danes write well. As in art, so it is to some ex- tent in 1iterature; the makers of Danish books Art and Letters I4 I prefer to apply themselves to Danish motifs, but there is amongst the writers more freedom and in- dividuality than amongst many of the painters; imagination and invention have more sway, writers often preferring the domain of the soul to the mere outer, material world. To Danish writers is foreign that pompous, and at times superficial, elaborateness in the arrangement of Scenes and Scenery, which not infrequently mars and detracts from the value of the work of several popular English writers of fiction. Sensational incidents or cleverly machined plots are not much in vogue; but weird, and at times perverse, psy- chological experiences and developments occasion- ally take their place. An elaborate plot appeals to but few Danish writers, but in their mental analysis they are not unfrequently elaborate enough. Keen, observing study of men and wo- men, sometimes cynical, at other times humorous, is a distinctive feature with many, often coupled with a pronounced anti-religious sentiment, vary- ing, of course, in its aggressiveness and insur- rectionary force. A good many Danish writers might with much appropriateness use for their motto the refrain of the old French Sapper song, for but little appears to be sacred to their pen—or to their heroes and heroines, if I may use such old-fashioned words in connection with the work of a modern Danish writer. Although style is not the forfe of the Danes, several of their authors — each in his own way — boast a language of I 42 Danish Life marked and peculiar beauty. With some the use of subtle simile is the great charm; with others a broad and bracing power; while others, again, carry to a fastidious excess the daintiness of their polish. In the Danish world of letters the name of Dr. Georg Brandes has been like a flaming sword, dividing it into two opposite camps. All admit that it would be difficult to overestimate the depth and the breadth of his influence, little as they otherwise agree as to whether it be for good or evil. It is entirely outside the compass and the object of these pages to deal even cursorily with this matter, yet to write even a few lines about Danish literature without touching upon Brandes is impossible. He has made many enemies, but many more admiring and grateful disciples and friends, amongst Danish men of letters and all over the world, and the new Government readily granted to him that professorship which had been so long withheld—an honour in no way intended to interfere with his freedom, and to which was added an annual State grant. - It would be futile to attempt a scheduled classi- fication of Danish writers, but that first honours amongst writers of verse are due to Holger Drach- mann goes without saying. There is a beauty of form, a rhythmic swing, and a telling directness in his verse, unapproached by any of his con- temporaries. Drachman has swayed not a little in his opinions and sympathies, but he is more Art and Letters I 43 often than not the fearless, not to say reckless, champion of human and individual freedom, of an unconventional freedom which would play sad havoc with much that even the least prudish soci- ety would fain see remain under some restraint. His prose is sometimes a little vague and long- winded, but he is a successful playwright. Henrik Pontoppidan, in his cold and well- balanced self-containment, is an admirable novel- ist, unravelling with a firm and able hand the intricacies of human life, and showing us his own time, such as it is; he is free from mannerism, a master in adequate and pithy expression, and, as regards form, a writer of the highest rank. His long novel, Zykke Per, will, when completed, takes its place as probably the best record in Danish literature of the lot of a fellow-man. Herman Bang is a writer of a very different stamp. He, too, is a keen observer, susceptible to excess, sometimes extremely happy in his ex- pressions, not unfrequently, however, affected and spasmodic, twisting about his mother-tongue and breaking it into quaint fragments. Still, his talent is undeniable; he is often touching, but he has been strongly influenced in some books by that decadent mood often perceptible in the works of several Danish writers of the period. Danish satire and humour have no better ex- ponent than Gustav Wied. He portrays, with an exquisite blending of both, the more or less ami- able weaknesses of his fellow-men and women, I44. Danish Life certainly showing no mercy to their frailties, but always tempering his satire with fun, often excel- lent, mirthful fun, for he is devoid of all bitter- ness. He goes sometimes quite far enough, and a prim reader might barely consider him to be what the Germans call salomfähig, a word, how- ever, of which the meaning has become much more elastic during the last twenty years. He has himself dramatised several of his tales, and has done it well; his plays teem with wit and drollery, and are excessively amusing. Wied, like many of his confrères, is a “wicked heathen,” who is not on good terms with the Church, and a year or two ago one of the bishops publicly de- nounced one of his books, begging his flock not to read it. The result was several extra editions. A fourth distinct type, or in any case a fourth writer of a distinct type, is Peter Nansen. He handles his pen with never-failing elegance, but he is, in some of his books at least, sadly at variance with the accepted code of morality. Nansen’s writings, as compared with Wied’s, are like Satin compared with homespun, and the former’s indiscretions are unrelieved by the lat- ter's humour. * Johannes V. Jensen is an utter contrast to the two authors just mentioned. Powerful, unre- strained, fantastic, he constitutes himself, by his pessimism, by his endeavours to fathom the deep- est depths of the soul, by that shriek of discord which rings through his writings, a true child of Art and Letters I 45 the most modern era in Danish literature. He often surprises by his originality of thought, by his power of language, by the pregnant weirdness of his similes, but he is incongruous and divided. To an English public he would probably appear uncanny and unattractive, yet he may grow into a great writer. When reading the writings of Johannes V. Jensen and some of his contempor- aries, one cannot help thinking of what Selma Lagerlöf, in Gosta Berling, says of the soul, which in its everlasting hunger will in the end, if not satisfied, tear itself asunder. There is in his writings, and in those of others, an echo of Shel- ley’s unanswered and unanswerable cry, “Then what is Life P’’ Carl Ewald is a writer of charming fairy tales, and a witty and every-ready, but frivolous, causeur. The verse of Sophus Michaelis is marked alike by the glow of its feeling and by its sonorous rhythm and beauty, and his prose is almost as full of rhythm and beauty as his verse. All these writers have each their distinct and unmistakable individuality, but they all resemble each other in their utter disrespect for and disre- gard of tradition in almost all its forms: religion first and foremost, matrimony and sundry other minor institutions afterwards. While thus these writers and many others represent one side of the nation’s literary life, –undoubtedly the most in- teresting, on account of their originality, their audacity, and their nerve, -there are on the other I46 Danish Life side fewer younger men; amongst the older men are several talented novelists, such as Professor Bergsöe and Professor Bauditz, or such an ad- mirable writer of romantic plays, perfect in form as they are in sentiment, as Dr. Ernst von der Recke. These are irreproachable, all more aca- demic, and they have remained unaffected by, or are even in open enmity with, that renaissance which in a younger set of men has wrought such powerful changes. Women writers are in the minority, especially when compared with England. There is, how- ever, a talented and interesting Scandinavian trio residing in or near Copenhagen, which has for. years been their home: Fru Amalie Skram (Nor- wegian), Fru Mathilde Malling (Swedish), and Fru Blicher-Clausen (Danish), each in a way typical of her own country. Fru Skram is power- ful and altogether modern in her views and in the choice of her subjects, many of which she has found on life’s darkest side. Fru Malling shows a preference for the salon, for the amours of the Court and the aristocracy, which milieu she de- picts very cleverly and charmingly. Fru Blicher- Clausen is thoroughly Danish, and thoroughly understands the Danes. She has during the last few years made for herself a host of friends in Denmark, in Sweden, and in Germany, both by her writings in verse and her novels, all of which are imbued with much true feeling, though her novels, perhaps, lack a little of that style which Art and Letters I47 charms one in her beautiful versified drama, Violin. There is another trio of women writers, which one involuntarily associates with that Bo- hemianism to which reference has been made in another chapter. In the recklessness of their modern views they almost outrival their male friends, and they can scarcely be looked upon as an acquisition to Danish literature. º §: §3.4% ºft U º & & & W. -- § º ºw Fº º § º * * º - & sº Nº $º § * §ºA wº ſ? - § § º & sº P}ºr ºf 3 FA rºtºr, ſº & . CHAPTER XII MUSIC AND THE STAGE NE thing has often struck me when mentally drawing comparisons between England and certain Continental countries: in the latter the culture, the susceptibilities, of the ear have been brought to a high degree of perfection, whilst the eye, on the other hand, has remained strangely unappreciative of beauty in line and form, and of harmony in colour, whereas in England the reverse is often the case. I shall not attempt an explana- tion of this, but I think people who have lived much on the Continent will endorse the correct- ness of my observation. Germany, with her pro- nounced musical temperament and her equally pronounced shortcomings in matters of taste and style, forms the greatest contrast to England, and Denmark, at least as far as musical matters go, is more Teutonic than otherwise. Yet the Danes are scarcely so directly, instinctively musical as are their Southern neighbours; their ear is thor- oughly refined, but a portion of the German ap- preciativeness has in the Dane been transformed into a highly trained and always wide-awake I48 Music and the Stage I49 criticism." Good music will always charm and carry away a Danish audience, more, probably than anything else; only it will have to be good, very good, and very genuine. The musical world of Copenhagen will never allow itself to be taken in by any claptrap commonplace, however tune- ful and insinuating, and many musicians of high rank look upon an appearance before the critical Danish public as a crucial test. Danish music, like Danish art, is a true child of its country; there is about it much sincerity and simplicity, a plaintive sweetness reminding one of some of the Irish songs, a dislike of all artifice and elaborateness; but in many old Dan- ish songs there is power and there is grandeur— a stern, Saga-like grandeur. The songs, the “romances,” as they are called, of Weyse, of Heise, of the older Hartmann, and others, have about them a sweet, true ring, and mirror faith- fully the varying moods of Danish sentiment and Danish scenery; but they should be heard on a summer’s eve, in a boat on one of the many beautiful lakes, or, better still, in one of the good old Danish parsonages. Danish hymns are also possessed of much beauty, not so melodious as many of the English hymns, some of them, per- haps, a little heavy and monotonous, but there is dignity about them, and many are exceedingly beautiful and soul-stirring. The peculiar and characteristic beauty of the old songs and ballads has inspired the greater I 50 Danish Life part of those Danish composers whose names are now most treasured, the outcome being a dis- tinctly national style, and Danish music would assuredly make for itself hosts of friends outside its own country were it but more widely known. But it is with Danish composers as with many Danish painters; the latter show a preference for . canyases modest in size, and for subjects homely and unambitious, and the creative genius of the makers of Danish music most frequently expresses itself in songs and minor works. Of course, there are brilliant exceptions, first and foremost Gade, whose symphonies and orchestral suites are known everywhere; but amongst Danish composers of opera, those best known on the Continent are men whose work is not peculiarly Danish in its mood and character. Of a composer of such charm and genius as the older Hartmann, so essentially Danish, I believe but comparatively little is known outside that country which he so dearly loved, and which in return reveres his memory. Singing is not so generally or so spontaneously cultivated in Denmark as in its two neighbouring countries. The Danes are not such singing birds as the Swedes, and have not the freedom and warmth of the musical temperament of the Ger- mans, to whom singing under manifold circum- stances comes as the only natural thing. Yet there are “singing societies” innumerable, and large gatherings of singers from various parts of Music and the Stage I5 I the country are not infrequent; but in every-day life, on holidays or after working hours, one does not hear much singing. Nor does one in Society, and the Danes must be complimented upon exer- cising a somewhat severer self-criticism than do many Englishmen, before singing in the presence of others. Of one form of social entertainment the Danes do not yet seem to have grasped—shall I say ?— the charm: amateur recitals; and one has to forego the treat of hearing Danish substitutes for The Charge of the Zight Brigade, The 9 ackdaw of Rheims, and similar poems, recited with that feeling, taste, and humour which in so many English amateur reciters are so conspicuous. In many homes instrumental music is brought to no small degree of perfection, the various members of a family often playing different instruments; but when a girl shows no talent or liking for music, it is not in Denmark considered an indis- pensable part of her education, and there are con- sequently fewer indifferent players. For a student of music Copenhagen offers many advantages, both in the way of private tuition and at the Conservatoire, which State-subsidised and richly endowed institution dates in its present form from 1866, and with which a number of cele- brated musicians have been connected. A course lasts three years, comprising singing, music, and theory, and is brought to its close by a proper examination. There are also many private I 52 Danish Life teachers of high rank, amongst them Professor Neruda, a brother of Lady Hallé, and other well- known masters. For lovers of music Copenhagen is a Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, and in one shape or another music is within every- body’s reach. There are military bands playing in the parks; there are good concerts for the peo- ple, with the merely nominal admission of ten Öre (I W3d.) on Sunday afternoons; in the winter there are admirable orchestral concerts, sometimes with good soloists, to which the admission is 6d., with some seats at IOd., which latter sum will also pro- cure one of the cheapest numbered seats at the Royal Opera; and in the summer there is Tivoli, with at least three separate places for concerts, good every evening of the week, but especially so on Saturdays, when there is always a sym- phony in the large Concert Hall. The number of concerts and their quality prove how universal must be the Copenhagener’s love of good music—and with very few exceptions all the great stars now visit the Danish capital—as does the support given to the various musical societies. Foremost amongst these is the Musićforeningen, of which Gade for forty years was the leading spirit, and of which it is as difficult to become a member as of one of the great West End clubs. Its present conductor is Professor Franz Neruda, and the programmes of its concerts comprise all good music, both Danish and foreign, both old and new. The Caeciliaſoreningen has for its con- Music and the Stage I 53 ductor M. Frederick Rung, a son of its founder, and only old music is performed at these concerts. Mention must also be made of the A'ammermusik- Foreningen, the performers at these concerts are members of the splendid band of the Royal Opera, and to all lovers of music these chamber concerts are very delightful. The societies named do not by any means exhaust the list of musical unions, but they are the oldest and most important ones. Sacred concerts are often held in the churches, the best among them being the annual Easter concert given at the Church of Our Lady by mem- bers of the Royal Opera. In cafés and restaurants “free concert every evening ” has now become a regular institution. In some there are bands, Hungarian, Roumanian, or of other nationalities; in those of less degree a violin helps the man at the piano in his strenuous efforts to make sweet music; whilst in the humblest establishments the latter reigns in solitary glory, belabouring his luckless instrument for many weary hours at a stretch. Fond as the Danes are of concerts, there is plenty of interest and time and money left for the theatres, and it would be difficult to say which of the two is the more coveted pleasure. In Co- penhagen four regular theatres minister to the people's love of histrionic art, the State or Royal Theatre being the aristocrat of the number, al- though the “Dagmar ’’ of late years has become a formidable rival. State-subsidised theatres are I 54. Danish Life a Continental institution, and one which has cost and still costs the Exchequer or the Sovereign, as the case may be, a great deal of money, for they never, or in any case very rarely, pay their way. The Royal Theatre of Copenhagen is a venerable institution with glorious traditions. For a cent- ury or two it held a unique and privileged posi- tion, inasmuch as it virtually had the monopoly of all plays worth having, Danish and foreign, an arrangement which even in Germany, the land par excellence of subsidised theatres, has caused much genuine surprise. The other theatres were, according to their licence,—for every Danish theatre must have a licence, generally granted for a limited number of years, only allowed to pre- sent light comedy and similar productions, until thirteen years ago a change was made. Then a number of plays, by right the monopoly of the Royal Theatre, were given up, the State theatre putting a reserve upon one hundred and sixty plays subject to the condition of its producing them within ten years, a condition which has not been fulfilled in the case of many of the plays. The Royal Theatre divides its favours and its evenings—from September first until the end of May—between opera, plays, and ballets, an ar- rangement necessitating a 1arge and varied stock company. The actors and actresses and sing- ers, holding Royal appointments, are generally looked upon as fixtures; they are entitled to a pension on retirement, which in many cases only Music and the Stage I 55 takes place at a good old age; and as some of them begin as children at the ballet school, and afterwards sometimes go to the drama or the opera, a service over a span of fifty years is not unheard of at the Royal Theatre. In addition to the ballet school, there are special classes for the training of actors and actresses, and few young people go on to the Danish stage without a proper training. The répertoire of the Royal Theatre embraces the world’s most famous tragedies, comedies, dramas, and operas, whilst most of the ballets are Danish creations. Holberg, Den- mark’s Molière, and the founder of the Danish stage, is still greatly thought of; Shakespeare is frequently and well played; and of modern play- wrights, Ibsen stands out by himself, most of his plays being first produced at the Royal Theatre of Copenhagen, in which city likewise all his works are first published. Light comedy is not excluded, but the theatre always bears in mind the inscription over its stage: AE? blot til / vs? (“Not only for pleasure”). The actor's art and his mission are not held lightly, and it is interest- ing in this connection to read what the leading actress at the Royal Theatre, Fru Betty Hen- nings, of Ibsen fame, quite recently wrote in one of the newspapers when challenged with regard to a certain class of heroine she plays on the stage. A religious paper asked Fru Hennings “if she were not soon tired of showing us the faithless and hysterical woman (Magda in The I 56 Danish Life A ſome, Beate in Zong Zive Zife, by Sudermann, Nora and Hedda Gabler), and if she did not long to show us the good, patient, faithful, Self-sacri- ficing wife and mother ?” In due course the reply of the eminent actress appeared in the same journal. She wrote: Inasmuch as the drama is the mirror of human life, it is assuredly also a mirror of the conflicts of life; the more truly and the more earnestly these are represented, the truer and more earnest is the drama. It is the con- trasts that create a drama—the contrasts between good and evil, the true and the false, the beautiful and the hideous—a drama with nothing but “beauty’’ is im- possible. The life we live—however sad it may be to have to say so—is more often than not only too devoid of beauty and poetry, and any dramatic fiction which under such circumstances would rest solely upon beauty and poetry would be as unhealthy as it would be untrue. When God in His infinite wisdom permits the evil to exist and thrive, often to thrive even surprisingly well,— this is done because He allows the evil to become a link in His divine providence, amongst other reasons, for the purpose of thereby advancing good and preparing a way for it; besides, an enlightened mind knows that God loves the wicked with just the same great 1ove as that with which He loves the good. Very well, why not adopt these principles? Beate atones for her infidelity with her life, and her fall brings sorrow and misfortune upon her husband and her child. Is there not in this a serious warning for everybody at all capable of being influenced by a warning 2 And is it, I wonder, possible for any human being to discern how many germs of good—and which—there may be hidden in a warning from the stage like this P Music and the Stage I 57 I can answer in a few words the question, whether I myself am satisfied by playing parts like those mentioned in the paper. Yes, these parts do satisfy me; for I play them not only to represent on the stage a faithless and hysterical woman—I play them also because I think that by doing so I can become the instrument in a Higher Hand to awaken some one or other to serious thoughts. One thing more. When you say that art exists for the Sake of life, and not for its own sake, this seems to harm- onise entirely with what I have said. But when you go on to say that the “only justification ” for art is to “enrich, beautify, and enhance the life we live,” this is assuredly saying both too much and too little. Art—that I do know—is also meant to show us the earnest of 11fe and its dark sides, and this is exactly what every great and true dramatic fiction has done—from the time of Job to this very day. Unreality and stiltedness are as little liked on the stage as off, and whilst the present generation of actors and actresses may be a little deſicient in warmth and enthusiasm, they render admirably the modern play. The social position of many of them is exceedingly good, and the members of the ballet of the Royal Theatre form no exception to this. Not long ago one of the chief actors took his degree as Doctor of Philosophy at the Copen- hagen University. The ballets are very charac- teristic through their irreproachable dancing and the excellency of their mime, but they do not go in for excessive scenic effects. The disposal of the tickets is rather peculiar, inasmuch as nearly all the seats, with the excep- tion of those on the floor of the theatre, are sold 158 Danish Life by auction before the commencement of the season. The seats are divided into boxes, and these are sold to the highest bidder for one fixed night in the week during the whole season; but Sundays and Wednesdays are outside this ar. rangement. The buyers of the boxes again retail them at a modest profit, either singly or to parties, once a week or once a fortnight, and the theatre has consequently to arrange its programme so that the abommenter (subscribers) do not get the same performance more than two or three times during the season, in consequence of which long consecu- tive runs are out of the question. The prices are moderate, varying from IOd. to 5s., for all num- bered seats, with the option of booking the previ- ous day at double prices, or before twelve on the day of performance at a somewhat higher price. The Royal, like some of the private theatres, and like so many other Danish institutions, is trying to meet the wishes and the wants of the less well- to-do classes by giving a series of cheap Sun- day afternoon performances, which are always crowded. Amongst the private theatres, first honours are due to the Dagmar, both on account of its literary 7%pertoire and its good acting. Professor Riis- Knudsen, for several years its sole and now its co-director, is an enthusiastic lover of really good art, of Shakespeare first and foremost, and by his munificence the Dagmar has been enabled to rise to its present high level. In Fru Betty Nansen, Music and the Stage I 59 the wife of the well-known writer, Peter Nansen, the Dagmar has a charming actress, who espe- cially excels in modern plays. At the Casino and the Folketheatret, promin- ence is given to melodrama, farces, comic-opera, and the like, and a number of popular English plays and farces find their way to these theatres, where faint imitations of a London “run” now and again gladden the hearts of the proprietors, though on the whole the private theatres are not by any means always in clover. A few years ago the working classes started a theatre of their own—the Arbeidernes Theatre. It fully answers its name and its purpose, being a theatre owned and carried on by working men for working men, from whom are drawn both actors and audience. It is a very interesting venture, which bids fair to become a distinct suc- cess. Within the five or six years which have elapsed since it was opened, matters have to some extent settled themselves, and amongst other things the taste of the audience has become mani- fest. The men to whose initiative the theatre owes its existence began perhaps a little too am- bitiously; they wanted to make it neither more nor less than a modern literary stage, a kind of free theatre, where plays by Zola, Strindberg, Björnson, Edward Brandes, and others should ex- pound the problems conspicuous in modern litera- ture. The audience has, however, by degrees convinced the leading spirits that they have I6O Danish Life themselves tasted enough of the earnest of life, and that they would rather be entertained when they witness a theatrical performance, so the problem plays have had to give way to good sound drama and farce. All are agreed that the performances are extremely creditable, but the actors—mostly working men or small trades- people—work very hard to make it a success, re- hearsing almost every evening, or rather night, of the week, a professional actor officiating as in- structor. The performances take place every Sunday evening during the months from October to April. The theatre holds about eight hundred spectators; the seats cost from 5d. to I S. Id., and the red light is often out, denoting “House full.” The performers receive a monthly remuneration of about £2 each, so that they may not be directly out of pocket. They hope to increase the number of performances to three a week, to which their licence entitles them, and they are very pleased with the elevating influence these plays seem to have on the audience, which grows more and more interested and quiet, the interruptions not infrequently heard the first year or two now being quite the exception. It should also be noticed that no refreshments are served and that Smoking is prohibited. The performance which by a long way boasts the longest run in Copenhagen is the annual Sommer Acevy, produced at a small suburban theatre, and afterwards removed for the winter Music and the Stage I6 I months to another similar establishment, two hundred consecutive nights being a regular thing. A very slender plot forms the excuse for crack. ing a number of personal jokes, bearing upon the more or less remarkable men and women who have made themselves conspicuous during the past twelvemonth, and for singing a number of topical songs, set to the most approved of the popular tunes of the day from both sides of the Atlantic. These “reviews,” although they afford an opportunity for telling many a home truth, are never malignant, and although the Songs may at times be a little risky, they are never obscene. With certain classes of Copenhageners they are extremely popular; seats have to be booked in advance; and the acting is decidedly clever; so much so, in fact, that the leading man has been invited to Court to sing his songs, the Court not being very well able to go and hear him. Even Cabinet Ministers have not been above going to hear the jokes made about themselves, but that was in “the good old Conservative times,” and it is more than whispered that a member of the new Liberal Ministry means to put his foot down on such unseemly frivolity. Tableazzº vivants are not infrequently represented at charitable en- tertainments, but private theatricals are not much in vogue in Copenhagen, although the students now and again give a performance, which is always a great success. II CHAPTER XIII THE POSITION OF WOMEN |s no country outside England, in the old world at least, does woman enjoy a pleasanter, if not a more privileged, position than in Denmark, and this is a thing neither of to-day nor of yester- day. In the Northern countries woman has al- ways been held in high esteem; she has not only been lauded and sung, by poet and peasant alike, but regard and appreciation have waited upon her, and tended to make her life approximate what a woman’s life should be. But more than this, in innumerable ways woman has now be- come man’s equal, a fact the more strange because she has no franchise whatever, and although voices are certainly now and again raised asking for female suffrage, and although bills to that effect have been before the Legislature, there is very little clamouring amongst the women of Denmark for political or even municipal rights; it almost looks as if Danish women thought they got on very well without them. Yet many of them are in many ways essentially children of the age; modern thought and modern ideas have I62 The Position of Women 163 readily been received by great numbers of them, revolutionising notions and customs which not long ago were religiously believed in. As a nat- ural result, the Danish woman of to-day is of a very different type from that of even a few years ago, or rather, much of what was typically Danish has vanished, less in the country, no doubt, than in the capital; she has become more cosmopolitan and less Northern. Whether this is a change for the better is more than I venture to say, and this question could not be adequately answered by a simple yes or no. It seems to me that some Danish women have sacrificed that peculiar charm, a little old-fashioned and simple, per- haps, but withal refined and altogether womanly, with which the passing generation was endowed, without having in all cases received a full equiva- lent. No doubt this will right itself, though when a pendulum has been held for a long time— perhaps a little too high—to the one side, it will, when set free, generally swing to a corresponding height in the opposite direction, and it requires time to steady itself. In the woman’s realm, as in other fields, development in Denmark has been a little too rapid, has been lacking in that steady continuity of progress which in so many walks of life has been one of England’s greatest privileges. , Take, for instance, the intercourse between the sexes. Can anything be better for both than the way in which young English men and women meet, and have for the last generation or two 164 Danish Life met, in society, in sport and pastimes, in a rela- tionship genial and free, yet decorous 2 This was a thing unheard of in Denmark not so many years ago. If a girl and a young man were seen walk- ing or talking together in the street, they were at once commented upon. A bow in passing was all that was allowed, the man bowing first; and in passing let me say that a Danish gentleman’s bow to a lady is both more ceremonious and more chevaleresque than an Englishman's. Now, how- ever, an almost Bohemian freedom has sprung up amongst many young people, although it must be admitted that they do not yet go the 1engths com- mon in Christiania—on their ski-ing expeditions, for instance. Sport has no doubt greatly tended to bring the two sexes together, skating first, and in later years cycling, lawn-tennis, ski-ing, and yachting. It is a question whether all these modern ideas will not interfere somewhat with the virtues of a Danish housewife as such, though she is still to the fore in most classes of society. The mistress of a Danish house looks after her kitchen better, and is also much more capable of doing so, than most English women, irrespective of their social position. It is quite a usual thing for a young Danish lady, as the finishing touch to her educa- tion, to spend six months or a year in a gentle- man farmer's house, in a country parsonage, or in some other good and respectable home, to learn housekeeping, and many are initiated into the The Position of Women 165 mysteries of high-class cookery at the royal kitch- ens or at well-known restaurants. Amongst a certain set of Copenhageners the noble art of cookery is held in great esteem, and I once heard a well-known citizen express his regret— and I am sure it was genuine—that his mother had died be- fore his wife had quite learned to make gravy in the same inimitable manner as she had done, for “no one could make gravy like his mother’”; and this was in a house where they kept an excel- lent cook. Where there are several daughters in a family, they often take the management of the house in turns, generally for a week at a time, and friends of the family are supposed to be able to tell whether it is Julie's, or Marie’s, or Eliza- beth’s week. The recipe book is a cherished possession in many families, having been handed down from mother to daughter. As a proof of the store set upon it, I cannot refrain from relat- ing what happened two or three years ago in a country parsonage. When a thunderstorm comes on in the night, people in the country often, if not generally, get up and dress and assemble in one of the sitting-rooms, and it is no unusual thing for them to bring with them their most treasured earthly belongings. This they do from fear of fire by lightning. At one of these nocturnal gatherings in the said parsonage, the pastor brought the communion plate, his mother-in-law her jewellery, and his wife—her recipes. - It would be a matter for regret should radicalism I66 Danish Life in views and in thought work too great changes in what a decade or two ago might have been accepted as a representative Danish woman of the better classes: the Government officials, the clergy, the landed proprietors, the literary and artistic world, the large merchants. It would be no easy task to find a better wife, a better mother, a more sympathetic and agreeable hostess than she was; well-read and cultured in thought and sentiment, there was about her home and herself an air of a certain frugal refinement which is not much in vogue at the present day. The equality which now in so many respects exists between what used to be called the weaker and the stronger Sex has to a great extent sprung from education, which in Denmark has been brought to the same degree of perfection for both. Women study a great many subjects, and learn with great thoroughness. A domestic servant. often writes like a lady—like a Danish lady, which calligraphically means a good deal—and not infrequently knows her German better than many an English lady knows her French. As- cending the social scale, the amount of knowledge rapidly increases. There is, in fact, little to choose between the boy and the girl, the young man and the young woman, and the latter often passes her examinations with great honour. There are in Copenhagen some of the largest and best girls' schools in Europe, foremost amongst which is the school—now a system of schools— The Position of Women 167 started by Mlle. Zahle in the year 1851, and under her able management brought to its present high state of development. It is divided into a Higher Girls' School and several separate schools; the former again being divided into three sections, the children’s School, the examination classes, and the continuation classes. The first of these sec- tions comprised in March, 1902, 401 pupils, di- vided into 18 classes, besides a kindergarten class with 22 children; the examination classes com- prised II 2 pupils, divided into 7 classes, and the continuation classes 24. The teachers at the Higher Girls' School number 83, 68 men and 15 women, and as a proof of the excellence of the teaching it may be mentioned that out of 16 young women who last year passed the students' exami- nation (artium) from this school, 13 passed with “first character” and 3 with “first character with honours.” The Danish woman student this year celebrates ber twenty-fifth anniversary, and her academic career has, on the whole, been extremely credit- able. She has, for instance, with much honour asserted her position within the medical profes- sion, but so far no woman candidatus juris has been accepted as a lawyer, although one at least has qualified for it. One or two have taken their degree as Doctor of Philosophy, the highest de- gree the University confers, but Denmark has not yet produced a Sonja Kovalewski, the famous Professor of Mathematics at Stockholm, whose I 68 Danish Life death was so universally lamented. The Govern- ment offices have so far shown a distinct want of hospitality to women, and the railway and postal authorities have been somewhat reticent in accept- ing their services, but the corporations and banks, on the other hand, employ a number of women in their offices, and in private offices the woman clerk has become quite an accepted institution, as a rule giving much satisfaction. She is cheaper than her masculine colleague, and often more conscientious and reliable. In the field of educa- tion woman has done admirably, not only as a teacher, but as owner and manager, and some of the best preparatory and Latin schools for boys in Copenhagen have been started and are under the entire control of women. Women dentists are numerous and much thought of; at the apothe- caries, several girls have been articled; there are several official women Parliamentary shorthand reporters; a woman factory inspector has recently been appointed, and so on. In the more practi- cal walks of life women are also asserting them- selves; there are two or three women cabinet- makers, who have gone through their five years of ordinary apprenticeship amongst a lot of not too considerate young men, and who have since started business on their own account and are do- ing exceedingly well, to say nothing of women photographers and book-binders. Business pure and simple does not seem to appeal greatly to Danish women, although the widow does occa- The Position of Women 169 sionally carry on her husband’s business, and the firm of the chairman of the Copenhagen Chamber of Commerce is, for instance, “So and So's widow.” In the fine arts woman holds an honourable position, both as painter and sculptor, more espe- cially the former; it is only necessary to mention the work of Fru Anna Ancher, Fru Slott-Möller, and Fröken Wegmann. I have already men- tioned several women writers of note, but as com- poser, no Danish woman has as yet made a náme. In the applied arts, Danish women have, sing- ularly enough, been left far behind by their Swedish and Norwegian sisters, and it is strange that the example set by such an admirable insti- tution as the Swedish Handarðeſſets Vânzer has not long ago called into life a similar society in Denmark. A move in that direction is, however, now being made, but in the meantime Den- mark lacks that national woman’s art industry— textile, lace—which Norway and more especially Sweden possess, and which gives suitable and re- munerative employment to many hundreds of gentlewomen, while at the same time it has tended to chasten and elevate the national taste in style and colour. Although Denmark is not to any great extent a manufacturing country, no small number of women are employed in manual labour outside their home, and, following the example set them by their brothers and husbands, they have I 7o Danish Life adopted the trade union organisation, and appar- ently not immaterially benefited their position by doing so. No women workers have attained to a more perfect trade organisation than the Danish, for they have also in this respect shown remark- able ability. In some branches they are simply members of the men’s trade unions; here those who have men's wages, as have, for instance, Some women cigar hands, pay the same contribu- tion to the funds and receive the same allowance in cases of strikes and lock-outs as do the men, whilst others, earning less wages, pay and receive half. A large number of women workers—the question here is of factory operatives, and not of women who do tailoring or other work in their homes—have, however, a proper trade union or- ganisation of their own, with a central union, and branches in various parts of the country, which organisation again co-operates with the men’s large central organisation. There are now fifteen women's trade unions, comprising about sixteen hundred members, who, apart from a small en- trance fee of 6d. or Is. (6d. in the country, Is. in Copenhagen), pay from ten to twenty-five Óre weekly, according to their wages, and receive in cases of strikes or lock-outs six kroner per week. These women’s trade unions have considerably improved the wages of their members; employees in match works received before the organisation came in force from six to eight Aroner a week, but now from twelve to fourteen kroner with time pay The Position of Women I 71 and as much as sixteen or even eighteen kroner with piece-work; while wages may be said to have risen about fifty per cent, all round. Semp- stresses, with the exception of those working for tailors, have virtually no organisation, and suffer accordingly. That this movement has its sympa- thisers will appear from the fact that a gentleman recently willed the organisation a legacy of over A3OOO. Even the maid-servants have started a trade union, with disastrous results to some din- ner-parties—they were to stop all work at 7 P.M. sharp–and subsequently to themselves. Although Danish women have not otherwise gone in greatly for societies, there is at least one which should be mentioned here: Dansk A vin- desamfund (Union of Danish Women), which has now been in existence for over thirty years, hav- ing been originally started as a branch of the Swiss Association /meternationale des Femmes, with which the Danish Union, however, subsequently severed its connection. This society has done much good work in the cause of woman, its ob- ject being to “elevate woman mentally, morally, and financially.” It has for many years pub- lished its own journal, and numerous essays be- sides; it has founded branch societies in a num- ber of provincial towns; and at its initiative many lectures have been delivered by prominent men and women. At its instance a commercial school for women was formed as far back as thirty years ago, and an art School for women a year or I 72 Danish Life two after, both of which have since become in- dependent institutions, and are still flourishing. A school on Sundays for working women was formed, and, later on, a special practical school for sempstresses, in addition to which the society has a regular registry office. Many women have obtained direct help, and the women’s movement in its generally accepted sense has found staunch support, from the Society. It has also caused various bills, bearing, for instance, upon woman’s suffrage, to be brought before the A'igs-dag, though without, as they themselves admit, much having come of it, and of this side of the society’s work one has not heard much of late years. There is in Copenhagen an excellent Ladies' Reading Club, a Ladies' Morning Club, a club for women clerks, in connection with which latter I remem- ber a somewhat heated discussion in the papers as to whether the members should be allowed to smoke in all the rooms or not, an incident which tells its own tale. In a great many charitable and kindred insti- tutions Danish women are doing much excellent work, one of the most notable being Hjemmet for Wanföre (The Home for the Deformed and Crip- pled). This admirable Home was originated and supported by Fröken Johanne Petersen, a lady who has given up her whole life to this work, and who has brought it to such a high degree of per- fection that other countries have been glad to 1earn from her and adopt her system. It is not The Position of Women 173 only a hospital, but it is also a training school, in which cripples, deformed and misshapen persons, not only receive the best possible medical advice, and treatment with the most perfected appliances, but are also taught as far as possible to become self-supporting. It is marvellous to see what these poor beings, when properly taught, are capa- ble of achieving in the way of cabinet-making, book-binding, shoemaking, dressmaking, artistic rug-weaving, and other occupations. Not long ago the founder received from the King of Den- mark the gold medal of merit, which high distinc- tion was assuredly well deserved. During my first visit to Denmark I was much struck with the absence of style even in the dress of younger women, but the last few years have wrought a wonderful change in this respect. English style and things English are much ad- mired—so much so that a firm not long ago ad- vertised that “smart tailor maids” might be had at such and such a price, an announcement which in due course called forth the remark from a frivolous journal that the price mentioned could not by any means be called excessive if the maids were really all the vendor claimed for them. Let me note here that the Danish girl is very taking and pretty; regular features are not, perhaps, her forfe, and Mr. Orchardson would probably not altogether approve of the average type of Danish nose; yet, in spite of this, a visitor to Copenhagen is always impressed by the number of fresh and I 74. Danish Life pretty faces to be seen in the streets. But Danish girls do not seem to grow old very gracefully, and to but few of them would “sweet seventeen and sweeter seventy’’ apply. h?.…-: - § & º §: CHAPTER XIV 'THE PRESS ENMARK claims the first place amongst the newspaper-reading nations, which implies that newspaper-reading affects a greater percent- age of the population in Denmark than it does in other countries. Everybody, in fact, must have a look at the newspaper, and the divergent tastes amongst this complex body of readers is very adequately catered to, a vast variety in the way of journalism being available. Small as is the daily Press of Denmark, as compared with that of England, for instance, it in all likelihood contains greater contrasts than the latter, in religious and political opinions, in the decorous sense as to what should and what should not be printed, in size, in style, and in other details. In a small country like Denmark the great momentous issues, which are bound always to engross the attention of the leading and responsible journals of an empire, either do not exist or do not force themselves so unceasingly into the foreground, with the result that undue prominence is at times given to mat- ters in themselves insignificant and devoid of any I75 176 Danish Life real interest, and that a comparatively large por- tion of news must be imported from abroad—news often highly instructive, at times very amusing, at other times rather frivolous in its triviality. The representative Danish newspapers are on the whole well written, and some of them fairly well printed and gotten up, in which respect they are much better than the German papers, although they do not and cannot be expected to vie with the high-class English daily Press. They often lack that directness which is one of the charms, as it has become one of the necessities, of large English journals; but, on the other hand, they are not so circumlocutory as the German and some of the Swedish newspapers, in which one frequently has to work one's toilsome way through half a column or more of introductory matter before getting even a faint idea of what it is all about. There is apparently more quicksilver in some of the Danish newspapers than in the great Eng- lish dailies; the wide horizon, the large back- ground, and the serenity which is the natural outcome, are lacking; everything is seen at so much closer range, a condition that is always apt to bring about increased susceptibility. Without possessing that blending of suavity, authority, and force, which is at once a most distinctive and not the least pleasing feature of a leading English journal, it must be admitted that several Danish papers are admirably conducted, and that The Press I 77 one or two of them leave nothing, as regards evenness of temper and dignity without pompous- ness, to be desired. The Danish Press labours, on the whole, under fairly satisfactory conditions. Newspapers have not proved a means of amassing enormous fort- unes in comparatively few years, but several publishers of daily and weekly journals make a tolerably handsome income. A number of very able men are engaged in Press work, and a great many men of mark in literature, Science, and art are amongst the constant contributors to the bet- ter journals; even a member of the royal family is understood to have at times honoured a leading daily with copy. The Danish Press enjoys as much liberty as does the Press of any country, but it would be useless to deny that a certain class of unsavoury publications is now and again apt to abuse it. In the days when political feel- ing ran high some of the leading editors of the Opposition ventured rather too far, and the result in several cases was three months' imprisonment. The veteran amongst Danish newspapers is the Aerlingsée Zºdende, the official, or semi-official, daily. It first saw the light on January 3, 1749, as a small eight-page octavo publication, of which two issues weekly were published. The first num- ber, strange to say, contained no Danish news at all, but letters from various capitals, including one from London, of December 20, 1748, which, be- sides some Parliamentary items, gave expression I 2 178 Danish Life to a rumour that fortifications were to be built along the coast of Scotland. Now the Berlingske Tidende, instead of appearing twice a week, pub- lishes two entirely different editions each day, the morning issue often comprising twelve or fourteen large pages, mostly advertisements, whilst the evening issue gives the news. It is not very easy to pick a hole in the Old Berlingsée , it is always accurate and readable, though perhaps a trifle dry. It contains a good collection of the foreign telegrams of the day, on which it discourses in a fair and impartial manner; it deals exhaustively with literature and art, music and the stage; and its special articles and correspondence are invari- ably good. There is not much individuality about it, but it is gentlemanly in tone. Like most Co- penhagen dailies, it has its feuil/eton, a serial tale, always a franslation, generally from Fnglish, which appears either at the bottom of the first two or three pages, as in the Berlingske, or at the back, in which case it is printed in such a manner that it can be cut out and subsequently bound. The Berlingsée Tidende, which does not appear on Sunday, as do nearly all the other daily journ- als, is understood to have a circulation of about nine thousand. It is only to a small extent sold in single copies, for its issue is almost entirely subscribed for in advance at the rate of 4 I 2s. 2d. per annum, and in Copenhagen, as is customary with most papers, it is taken direct from the printing-house to the subscribers’ residences, an The Press I 79 army of hard-working women being employed in the work of distribution. Most Government officials and the staid, better-class Copenhagener must have their Berlingsée, even if the younger members of the family insist upon taking lighter journals, for the Berlingsée keeps entirely aloof from that personal gossip which of late years has become so prominent in the Copenhagen Press, where long lists of engagements, weddings, anni- versaries, and the personal movements of a host of utterly uninteresting and unimportant person- ages figure in the most prominent columns, not as paid announcements, but as regular news. The advertisements do not furnish the amusing read- ing they did a hundred years ago, although there is no lack of variety about them. Offers of mat- rimonial partnerships form a regular feature, but they more often than not confine themselves to a business-like enumeration of the virtues of the supplicant, who almost invariably belongs to the sterner sex, and who generally winds up with a broad hint as to the desirability of the fair one’s not being unendowed with this world’s goods. The advertisements of deaths do not confine themselves to a bare announcement of the news, for the departed generally receives the benefit of a good character, expressed in a string of appro- priate adjectives; as, for instance: “Last night died our highly beloved, hard-working, and self- sacrificing husband, father, father-in-law, and grandfather . . . formerly master-builder,” I8O Danish Life and then follow the names of the nearest relatives. After the funeral the bereaved family often pub- lishes a notice of thanks for sympathy shown, and it is not unusual to “likewise thank Pastor for the comforting address delivered at the bier.” Births, on the other hand, are not announced in the newspapers. A large newspaper undertaking is that of which M. Ferslev is the owner, and which comprises some four or five dailies, all pub- lished in the Conservative interest. The Mation- altidende, the big brother of the family, between the members of which there is a pronounced family likeness, appears, like the Berlingske, morning and evening every day, except that there is no evening issue on Sunday. The AVationalfidende contains a large quantity of varied reading, catering in special sections to Church, law, agriculture, shipping, and, in a sep- arate weekly sheet, to women. It lacks at times the imperturbable balance of the Berlingske, but its political leaders on foreign affairs are often very cleverly written. It is, on the whole, a well edited and entertaining journal, with a staff of able sub-editors; it is highly respectable; chatty without being gossipy; and forms a kind of inter- mediate between the somewhat dry Berlingske and that section of the Copenhagen Press in which personalities are conspicuous. The Nation- altidende costs AI 3s. 3d, a year, and has a circu- lation of about ten thousand. The other Ferslev co C H. co < 2. > > o H. < o —l n- C —l O O T O co r 92 # - u- O Cl- º o ar o The Press I8 I papers are Dagens AVyheder, Dagöladet, Dagstele- grafen, and Aftemposten. The Dagbladet was in days gone by a paper of much influence, having been started, and for many years edited, by that brilliant journalist, M. Bille, Chamberlain to the Ring, and for several years Danish Ambassador at Washington. It has, however, by degrees lost its prestige, and one hears very little of it nowa- days. The Dagens AVyheder, which is edited by M. Carstenson (also joint-editor of the AVational. fidende), President of the Danish Society of Journalists, and a representative and extremely able Pressman, is, and always has been, a plucky and outspoken champion of the Conservative cause. The Aftemposten is an illustrated farthing evening paper, to the contents of which no ob- jection can be taken. Although fighting in the interests of Conserv- atism may not at present be particularly exhila- rating work in Denmark, Vort Land apparently keeps up its spirits, sometimes almost too much. It is not very guarded in its statements, is not above personalities, but it has at its command Some bright pens, well suited to, and well trained in, this kind of journalism. - On the other side are two large dailies, the Zannebrog and the Politiken, which, although both supporters of the Left Reform party, are not by any means of the same mind on most other questions. The latter is in many ways a bril- liantly written paper. Dr. E. Brandes, its I 82 Danish Life founder, and a brother to the eminent critic and , writer, Dr. Georg Brandes, became the editor when M. Hörup, the former editor, joined the Deuntzer Ministry. Hörup was a journalist of the highest rank, handling his pen with consum- mate skill, a staunch friend, but an extremely trying opponent, owing to his scathing way of 1aying bare to ridicule and derision the shortcom- ings of his adversaries. Hörup was a fervent and faithful champion of the cause of Democracy, al- though there was in him some of that “what is the use P’’ sentiment, which is not altogether un- common in Denmark, and to which reference has already been made. He was, perhaps, better at pulling down the old than in building up the new, and although it was of the greatest importance for Professor Deuntzer to secure the alliance and support of the influential, if, perhaps, not very numerous section of politicians which he and his journal represented, some surprise was expressed at M. Hörup being included in the list of the new Ministers. He was, however, even then a doomed man, and he only lived a few months after his appointment. The Politiken is the most cosmopolitan of Danish newspapers; it is strongly influenced by modern Radicalism, and it discusses everything, sacred and secular alike, with the sneer, the subtlety, and the frivolity of a Mephistopheles. Like a clever French chef, it serves even indiffer- ent food in the daintiest and most palatable man- The PreSS 183 ner, in addition to which it has such recherché standing dishes as a weekly causerie by Georg Brandes, and frequent contributions in verse and prose by many of the greatest Scandinavian writers. The Politiken has a weakness for hold- ing up to ridicule ideas and opinions which other people would prefer to see treated with more re- spect or, better still, left alone. Some of its con- tributors like to shock the susceptibilities of the gentle reader, and would more frequently succeed in doing so, had not the gentle reader by degrees become inured to its extravagances. The Po- /???kerz is a very enterprising journal, and does not hesitate to despatch its representative to the other side of the world if occasion arises, and it has in M. Cavling an admirable globe-trotting war and special correspondent, who generally manages to be in at the finish, and who often writes uncom- monly well. The sheet costs five ore or %d., in single copies, or 13s. 4d. a year, and its circulation is about 22,OOO. It appears every morning. The Dannebrog is another morning daily, started and still owned by the present Home Sec- retary, who by profession is Solicitor to the Highest Court, and, as I have already said, it differs widely from the Politiken, although polit- ically the two serve the same cause. The Danne- brog is, in the first instance, much more national than Dr. Brandes's paper; it has always shown the profoundest respect for the royal family and their - kin (there was a time when this could 184 Danish Life hardly be said of the Politiken); but it is a little heavier in its gait, uses a sword where a rapier would be more to the ſolitiken's liking, and lacks a little of that adroitness in which the latter ex- cels. Neither journal is above a certain partisan- ship; authors, actors, and even actresses are often criticised, not solely according to their merits, but from a more or less biassed and prejudiced standpoint. Each paper has its favourites, whom it is apt to somewhat unduly eulogise, while it is perhaps a little too hard on those in its black books, and so it happens that the persona grata of the one paper is often the scapegoat of the other. The fact is that the proprietor of the Dannebrog. once ousted M. Hörup, then editor of the Po- litzkerz, from his seat in the Lower House; it was very smartly done, but it did not prove conducive to good feeling between the two journals. The AJannebrog is a warm spokesman in the farmer’s cause, yet at the same time it devotes much of its interest and of its space to art and letters, in which fields it is supported by several very good writers. The Dannebrog has a circulation of about thirteen thousand, and costs IIs. a year. The Social Demokraten boasts the largest circu- lation of all Copenhagen dailies; viz., about forty thousand, and costs II.s. 6d. per annum. It is a good-sized paper, ably edited—from its point of view—but, of course, one-sided to the extreme in most matters. It has “Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood'' printed immediately below its The Press 185 heading, which in addition is flanked by a num- ber of Socialist or Social Democratic mottoes. It is on the whole well written, but it is not over loyal in discussion, and it and the Dannebrog are always at loggerheads. The Social Demokraten preaches its own gospel, and turns everything to its own account, so far as possible. Its editor is a member of the Lower House, and the party of which it is the organ takes a pardonable pride in the success which has attended it. In addition to the Social Demokraten, there are about a dozen provincial papers of the same political colour; dis- cretion is not always their strong point, but, luckily for them, the law of libel is lenient in Denmark, and fines varying from several pounds to twenty meet most of the not infrequent actions brought against them. During the last ten years or so, a cluster of small farthing (2 öre) dailies have sprung into ex- istence, appearing about midday, and being sold extensively in the streets, at the railway stations, and in other public places. Their issue is consid- erable (from 20,000 to 30,000 copies, or perhaps more in the case of one or two of them), but they are not altogether a credit to the Press, unattract- ive sensationalism being a little too much in vogue. The Aºbenhavn, however, forms an ex- ception, for it is a fairly bright and well written little journal, Left Reform in political complexion, but strongly anti-socialistic, and counting among its contributors not only a number of clever and I86 Danish Life experienced journalists, but also several literary men of rank. A risieligt Dagblad, a six-page daily, is essentially religious (“Indre Mission ’’) in its bearing, though in addition to a large quantity of Church items it publishes the ordinary news of the day. Of provincial dailies there are upwards of two hundred, amongst them several very good ones, although on the whole they do not pretend to vie with the Copenhagen Press, and compared with some of the large English provincial dailies they are very provincial indeed. Of illustrated weekly journals there are several, of which one, the Familie journal, boasts an enormous issue, and maintains, indeed, that it is the most widely circulated illustrated weekly in Europe; it has also a Swedish edition. It costs IO &re (1966.); it is not very high class, and most of its illustrations are “made in Germany.” The Illustreret Tidende is a much larger and better pro- duction; but there is apparently not much scope for a paper of this class. There are also some illustrated comic papers, the best of which, the A lods-Aſans, is not amiss; but they have gener- ally some difficulty in making ends meet. Of ladies' journals there are several, but they all fall far below even a moderate English standard. Monthly magazines of a more popular character have never succeeded in Denmark. Much of the newspaper reading is done at the cafés, at luncheon-time and later in the day, and The PreSS 187 the cafés are always well supplied with journals, many of them taking English, French, German, Swedish, and Norwegian dailies, and illustrated weeklies, while the Times of Monday morning can be read at one's café on Tuesday evening. In this respect the cafés take the place of the English club, and people generally take their own time over both their luncheon and their afternoon coffee. CHAPTER XV COUNTRY LIFE |s Denmark, as in almost every country, the boundaries between town and country, or rather between life in the cities and life in the country, are still well defined. The aims of life are often at variance, and so still more are its methods and its pace. In Denmark this differ- ence is probably quite as pronounced as else- where, and I fancy it is even growing more so; for although Danish farmers are men of marked pro- gress in many ways, a certain conservatism still prevails in their every-day life. “The best lives are lived in the country.” This verdict would be assuredly echoed by many, perhaps by most, Danish country-folk, who have but few sympa- thies in common with the inhabitants of such a modern city as Copenhagen is fast becoming. This preference for their own sphere is not con- fined to any one class of the population, but seems diffused amongst its various strata, and although they do not mind spending a few days in the capital now and then, and although not a few may eventually settle down there, their love of I88 Country Life I89 the country and their preference for it rarely leave them. This need be no matter of surprise, for Danish country life has much to commend it. The country itself is in many places very charm- ing. Where does one see such beech forests, where prettier lakes or “fjords,” where sweeter- Smelling meadows or yellower cornfields 2 A Danish village is very different from an English village; it is, in the first place, less compact, and generally consists of clusters of well-kept farm- steads, surrounded by trees and gardens. The buildings often form a square, in which the barn rises above the other outhouses, opposite the dwelling-house. The walls are mostly low and the roofing, high, and from an aesthetic point of view it is a matter of regret that the white-washed walls, with their dark oak timbers and the moss- covered, thatched roofs, are being superseded by more modern structures. To make a Danish farmstead complete there should be a garden with bee-hives and old-fashioned flowers in the box- edged beds, and, most important of all, a stork's nest on the housetop. The stork is the sacred bird of Denmark; it may have lost some of its 1egendary prestige, but it is still welcomed as the bringer of happiness and good luck, and to kill a stork in Denmark is, if possible, an even greater crime than to shoot a fox in England. The storks seem to know that they are treasured guests, and they are in consequence very tame and fearless; often they follow the plough, and I 90 Danish Life when stiltily walking along the road they hardly take the trouble to get out of the way of the car- riage. There are, more especially in Jutland, villages boasting two or three hundred storks in the summer, and a stork’s nest is often seen on the top of the square white church tower, which is a peculiar feature of many a Danish landscape. The country in Denmark does not excel in old, quaint, or interesting buildings; of grey, historic piles there are few; but the seats of the nobility are often fine and picturesque, generally built of red brick, not infrequently with high gables, towers, and spires. At many of them the old moats are still preserved, and large deer parks, splendidly wooded, often enhance their charm. The life led within the stately homes of Denmark is of the pleasantest. Large house-parties are common, more especially naar 9 agten gaar ind (when shooting commences), and men with vast experience in such matters maintain that the din- ner, which is the accepted consummation of a typical Danish shooting party, is as pleasant a function as any country can boast. At these din- ners there is a certain sporting etiquette, and the correctness of the sport expressions used is closely watched; more leniency is luckily shown as re- gards the relating of shooting experiences and anecdotes, and the bow of many a Danish sports- man is no shorter than elsewhere. Game is not so plentiful as in England, and preserving is not nearly kept up to the same extent; but although Country Life I 9 I there is less killing, and consequently smaller bags are the order of the day, there may be equally good, and many think better, sport. Pheasants are preserved in a few places; grouse is unknown; and a Danish bag is generally made up of partridges, snipe, hares, deer—and foxes. One or two attempts to introduce English hunting have not met with much success. The Danes are very hospitable, and on account of the larger number of rooms, people in the country are capable of exercising this quality on a more extensive scale than the townsfolk, with whom spare bedrooms are the rare exception. Relatives, friends, and friends' friends are invited, and during the Christmas and summer holidays a house is often full to overflowing of merry guests. Time passes in the most agreeable manner with walks and rides, drives and picnics, singing and music in the evening, sometimes a moonlight walk, and in the winter sledging-parties and skat- ing. After one or two visits, one seems to know the whole neighbourhood, Squire and parson and doctor and farmhands, and if one cannot always remember the names of the latter, the faces at least are familiar, and one becomes quite attached to these trusty and honest folk, who lead content- edly their uneventful and laborious life. The peasantry of the different provinces have each their characteristics, as they have each their own dialect, at times difficult enough to under- stand, even for one who knows a fair amount of I 92 Danish Life Danish. The most characteristic, and the peo- ple who appeal most to me, are the Jutlanders, who, in at least some parts, have not so very little in common with Yorkshiremen. The 9 yde is slow and deliberate, but long-headed and shrewd, good at driving a bargain, and often possessed of a certain latent but extremely droll humour. In the mouth of a true Jutlander in the humbler walks of life the jeg (I) becomes precisely like the Yorkshire A, and the z and hºw become a broad w and zwh. Exactly polished he is not; you may tell him as truthful a tale as ever was made, and having duly digested it, he will more likely than not say, “Ay, it may be true!” Although he is not very communicative about himself, he is ex- tremely curious about any stranger, and is not long in asking who he may be, whence he hails, and where he may be going. If he does not un- derstand you, and probably even if he does, he will put in an occasional “Wha?” He is not easily awed or impressed, and often addresses even his master with much frankness, such ex- pressions as “Hold hard ” or “Stop a bit’’ not being uncommon; but this is not meant at all im- pertinently. Once when I was out driving, a lady and I left the carriage to find a pretty spot for afternoon tea, the gentlemen remaining with the horses. Having found a suitable place, we sent a peasant lad, who happened to pass, with a message to the friends we had left behind that they should come to us, which message was de- HO8m.HO HEWTTIA HSIN-ºvq "lºcidae. L \！ Country Life I 93 livered as being from de her flow Piger (“these here two lassies”). Although people from the other provinces are a little inclined to poke fun at the Jutlanders, the latter are rather proud than otherwise of their country. A Jutland peasant woman once went into a Copenhagen shop, and when the attendant asked her if she were not from Jutland, she answered, “Ja, minsāl er a saa, det takker a Guj for l’” (“Yes [with a mild oath], I am, and I thank God for that!”). The “a” clings to a good few of them even if fate after- wards places them in other spheres; there is, for instance, a well-known member of the Lower House of many years standing who persists in “saying ‘a’ to himself,” in the same way as he disdains the use of a white collar, having an old- fashioned black kerchief tied round his throat. This gentleman is in many ways a typical Jut- lander, a clever debater, good at repartee, and one whom it is very difficult to effectively answer. The Jutlanders have some of the Scotchman's business talent. Many of them, from the hum- blest position—possibly that of swineherd, or some other equally lowly vocation—have, little by little, become large dealers and merchants, and some of the older generation have done this in spite of very little learning. One of these self-made men used to say, “A ka et skryw, men a ka rejn '' (“I can’t write, but I can reckon ’’), which he thought was the main thing. Cattle and horse raising and dealing have been, and still are, very I3 194 Danish Life popular with the Jutlander, who is very fond of and very kind to his animals. Fairs both in towns and in the larger villages are still very popular with the country-folk as affording good opportunities for buying and selling, and a wel- come excuse for feasting and drinking. For the rural visitor the contents of the various booths and stalls have great fascination, and none more, perhaps, than the cake-man's. There are honey and pepper-cakes in many fantastic shapes, men and horses, and, best of all, hearts, ornamented with sugar, almonds, and small candies; the hearts often bear a motto of a tender nature, and the young man is supposed to buy his sweetheart the largest and the prettiest he can find as a Markedsgaze (fairing). Hand-in-hand young men and women walk down the street; there is much carousing; and when returning home in the evening the peasants do not always exercise their usual careful driving. The trade of the hawker is nearly a thing of the past, yet a few members of the craft still walk the country with their knitted woollen goods. For knitting is practised to an astonishing degree in Denmark; many old ladies rarely put down their knitting-needles, and in the country one may meet women, and men too, knitting as they walk along the road. The old-time peasants, with their quaint but, often becoming national dress, different in the various parts of the country, are but rarely seen; the more the pity; and as it is with the dress, so |- …º， cossº/o：/ vſ. Šitąyzaevae ºff, wao…/ ĐN1003/w „LNvSv/Bq \º Country Life IQ5 it is with innumerable old customs, more espe- cially those attached to Church and family festi- vals. The feasting remains, but it has been robbed of most of that peculiar charm and poetry which by all accounts formerly belonged to it. As a learned professor once said, “Butter at the top quotation does not go well with old-time dress and customs.” The farther one gets away from the beaten track, the more one sees what is left of old types and customs. One type, however, has probably gone for good, the AWałmandsfolk (“the gypsies of the Moorland’’), strange, restless peo- ple, always on the tramp, outlandish in their ap- pearance as in their language, as Steen Steensen Blicher, pastor and poet and sportsman, has in1- mortalised them in his tales, some of which are written in broad Jutland dialect. - Harvest is a merry, though hard-working time, when the regular farm-hands get help from hired 1abourers, men and women, who often receive a fixed sum for the whole harvest. The harvesters are well looked after, and care is taken that they have plenty of good though harmless Drikkelse, for it is thirsty work. The men often greet a vis- itor to the field by simultaneously beginning to sharpen their scythes, which is supposed to be a gentle hint that drinks would be acceptable. In connection with the last sheaf tied, the Gamle (the old woman), or Enken (the widow), or Marem, as it is called in different parts, there is in Denmark, as elsewhere, much ceremony and superstition; it 196 Danish Life is often decorated with flowers, or decked out, and carried home in procession. In many places the men then “sharpen their scythes for the cab- bages,” which means that they—in fun, of course —threaten to cut the housewife's cabbages unless she stands them a treat there and then, a treat in which “snaps” may figure prominently, and promises them a Höst Gilde, or harvest feast. The first sheaf has also its special mission; it is given up to the mice and rats, as their portion, and as a peace offering. This custom is indicated in various verses, of which the following is an example: Der, mus, har du dit, Lad mig beholde mit. There, mouse, thou hast thine, Let me keep mine. The Hôst Gilde is a very festive function, bring- ing with it plenty of good food and drink, toasting and dancing, in which, on large farms, the squire's family and their guests often join. For toasting they have a set formula, a verse which is sung with much solemn monotony, and with the metre of which they often have considerable trouble in making the master's name, or that of his wife, fit, for they must, of course, be given their full titles. Here is the toast: Og dette skal väre tel Are. Hurra ! ---- ºº ^p2 ºraz w- - - - -zatºr? „cssº/， /， /ſq ſºuſ ſu ſvº v zaox.y 3. NOH + S_N\7€w Bae - C aeolae_Ni - - … -- · - … -- Country Life I97 Ag skam faa den some ikke skaal vil drikke And this shall be To the honour of . tº And shame upon him who will not Drink . . . health Although Lent is not much observed, some remnants of the festivities which precede it, and which in Roman Catholic countries are still so re- ligiously kept up, survive, and both the Sunday and, more especially, perhaps, the Monday, be- fore Lent are often given up to merriment. In some places the young men, gaily dressed in white shirts with coloured ribbons and other finery, and wearing paper cocked hats, have “ring-riding,” a game played on horseback, and a second or third cousin to tent-pegging, only here it is a ring sus- pended in the air which is the coveted object. The best man, who must take the ring three times, is “King,” and the next “Prince.” The gay cavalcade calls at neighbouring farms, where refreshments are offered—ſiblesłżver, a kind of round fritter, very popular with the peasantry and indispensable at most of their festivals, and “snaps.” There are special old songs for the oc- casion, and in the evening there is dancing. In Some places there are also May festivals, with bonfires on Valborg Eve (May 1st is Valborg Day) and at Whitsuntide and on Midsummer's Eve; while the old custom of the young men selecting each a young girl (their gadelam) as partner for I98 Danish Life the summer-dances is still kept up, dancing alto- gether being a popular amusement with the rural youth of Denmark. - To Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide a num- ber of old customs attach, but they are now dying out, although tradition is still kept up in connec- tion with special fare, consisting of certain dishes and cakes and bread. Feasting has altogether on such occasions been carried to extremes, as it still is at weddings and funerals, for the hospitality of the Danish peasant is then allowed to have full vent. There is a large gathering, but the house- wife is equal to all emergencies, and there is al- ways a profusion of good substantial food. A week as a rule intervenes between the death and the funeral, and as a proof of the forethought gen- erally exercised to ensure the complete success of the funeral feast, I must relate the story of a peas- ant woman, whose husband, very ill and not ex- pected to recover, expressed a desire to have some chicken, with which request, however, his wife regretted that she could not comply, as the chick- ens were all wanted for the funeral. CHAPTER XVI SOME DANISH SNAPSEIOTS Aº. this volume is not meant to be a guide-book to Denmark, a few snapshots— in pen and ink—may fitly claim a chapter of their own. Suppose we, armed with a mental camera, land at Elsinore, formerly the key to the Sound, and in the days of the Sundfold a place of much commercial and strategical importance. Now the gates of the Sound are open to all comers, and stately, beautiful Kronborg, one of the finest specimens of Dutch Renaissance, is nowadays more like an old courtier than a warrior, decor- ously saluting foreign sovereigns and men-of- war on their passage through the narrow silvery streak separating Denmark from Sweden. But its grey walls could tell many a tale—tales of merry carousings, and of hard, stubborn fighting, tales, too, of special interest to Englishmen. There, in the year 1589, was celebrated with much pomp the marriage of King James VI. of Scotland, afterwards James I. of England, with Princess Anne of Denmark, sister of King Christian IV. King James was not himself IQ9 2OO Danish Life present at this function, the ceremony being per- formed by proxy, but the following year his Majesty visited Kronborg with his Queen. Close upon two hundred years after, an English Prin- cess, Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark, granddaughter of George II., spent four unhappy months at Kronborg, a prisoner, waiting for an English fleet to take her away from a country where she, then only twenty, had already experi- enced the cruel capriciousness of fate. She left behind her two little children, whom she was destined never to see again. Three years later the young Queen died at Celle, in Hanover. Yet, interesting and delightful as Kronborg is, Elsinore boasts what to most Englishmen is still more attractive—Hamlet’s grave. One of the first questions, if not the first, asked by an aver- age Englishman—or woman—on Danish soil will more likely than not have reference to that Prince of Denmark upon whom Shakespeare has be- stowed some of his own immortality. There are people who fondly believe that Shakespeare him- self visited Elsinore, and many an English tourist has wasted a morning or two trying to dis- cover the exact nature and whereabouts of those original Shakespearian relics or documents which he hoped it would be his good fortune to lay be- fore wondering countrymen at home. A year or two ago there was a very enthusiastic, and very energetic, Englishwoman in Copenhagen, who in- sisted, in spite of the denials of learned professors, Some Danish Snapshots 201 that one of the large public libraries—unfortun- ately she did not know which—contained some original Shakespeare papers. Find them she did not, for a sufficient reason; but her faith in their existence was not shaken. The Town Hall at Elsinore has also been credited with possessing a Shakespeare paper—a laundry or hotel bill, if I mistake not—rather a senseless supposition on the face of it, and one for which the primary founda- tion is missing, inasmuch as Shakespeare never was at Elsinore. Nor, for the matter of that, was Hamlet; but this, of course, is no reason why he should not be buried or, rather, why his grave should not be there. It is in many ways a conven- ient and appropriate place. I know there are folk who question the authenticity of his resting-place, but is this not carrying scepticism a little too far ” The inscription on the stone leaves absolutely nothing to be desired in plainness, and there are people in Elsinore who can remember Hamlet’s grave in its present place for thirty years or more. Surely this ought to be enough to silence those busybodies who seem to take a pleasure in upset- ting good old traditions that are perfectly harm- less. Besides no other place in Denmark has ever thought of interfering with Elsinore’s prior claim in this matter, although Hamlet’s relatives —I do not know whether any of them are still liv- ing—belong to quite another part of the country. His people lived in North Jutland, in Vendsyssel or Mors, where the name of his wicked Uncle 2O2 - Danish Life Fenge is still perpetuated in “Feggeklit,” for in- stance. Hamlet, by the way, did not spell his name with an ‘‘H,” but signed himself Amled or Amlet, and Shakespeare probably heard of him through a French translation, by one Belleforest, I believe, from Saxo Grammaticus, the famous Danish historian. By his great contemporary Absalon, arch- bishop, warrior, and statesman, the founder of Copenhagen, and the friend and right hand of Waldemar the Great (Absalon died March 21, I2OI), Saxo Grammaticus was “severely and earnestly commanded,” as he himself says in the preface of his Chronicles, to collect “our Danish histories.” The end of the third and part of the fourth book deal with Amlet, the son of Haardeuengel and Geruthe. Amlet’s father killed King Köller of Norway, but was himself killed by his own brother Fenge, who, as Saxo Has it, “was not only tyrannical, but also deceit- ful and false,” and who tried to “conceal his evil deed with the cover of piousness and the mantle of virtue.” He declared he had killed his brother in order to rid the pious Queen of a hard and wicked husband. This lie succeeded, for as Saxo moralisingly says, “As it happens, to this very day that lie is taken for truth with many Princes and Lords.” Amlet, from fear of his uncle, who had taken to himself his brother's wife, pretended to have gone out of his mind, and was more like “a deformed ghost’’ than a human being. Some Danish Snapshots 203 Amlet played the fool with marvellous subtlety, but Fenge was determined to get rid of him, and sent him to England with letters “written upon wood” to the King of England, requesting him to do away with Amlet. But Amlet discovered the nature of the message, and whilst his follow- ers were sleeping, he altered the message to the effect that the King should give him his daughter in marriage. This he did, impressed with Amlet’s ingenious replies, and in a year's time Amlet re- turned to Denmark. On reaching his own coun- try he changed his garments, and assumed his old rôle of the fool. He made his uncle's courtiers drunk, put fire to the King’s hall, and killed the wicked Fenge with his own sword. “Everlast- ing praise,” says Saxo, “is due to Amlet that he so subtlely concealed his deep wisdom, under the mantle of self-made foolery, and not only avenged His father’s death, but also saved his own life.” Amlet then addressed the assembled people in an eloquent speech; he was made King of Jut- land, and subsequently again went to England with three costly vessels, taking with him “many beautiful young warriors, whom he decked out in the most magnificent manner.” Amlet related what had taken place in Denmark, and the King, who had been a great friend of Fenge's, secretly grew wrath with Amlet, and as he had lost his Queen, he asked Amlet to proceed to Scotland to woo for him Queen Hermetrude. The King ex- pected she would treat Amlet as she had done her 2O4. Danish Life other wooers, who all perished. But fortune favoured Amlet, and Queen Hermetrude gave him that which he had asked for the King, who on Amlet’s return tried to kill him, but instead lost his own life. Amlet went back to Jutland with his two queens, the daughter of the King of England loving him too much to leave him. Amlet afterwards went to war with King Vigleth. Hermetrude protested that she would accompany her husband to the war, saying it must be a faithless woman who does not dare to die with her husband. But, says Saxo, “this promise Hermetrude did not keep. For when Amlet had been defeated by Vigleth in Jutland, she will- ingly gave herself to him for wife. Thus soon fortune can turn a woman’s promise.” This was the end of Amlet. “Had his luck been as good as he otherwise himself was ingenious and bold, he would probably have attained to Hercules's measure, and become as famous as the most ex- cellent warriors who have been.” But Saxo need not have been uneasy on Amlet’s account. Thanks to Shakespeare, the Prince of Denmark has nothing to complain about — his fame will outlive that of a good many most excellent warriors. But this is digressing. Hamlet’s grave is at Elsinore, and many a pilgrimage has been, and will also henceforward be made, thither; young ladies belonging to Shakespeare societies place roses on the grave of this wonderful Prince of ·----• • • •„”'. :::: :? ...）: : :BT1SVO Đ:HO8 SX101830-38-） -·- - -··· F º•）|-|- Some Danish Snapshots 205 Denmark, and even the sceptics admit that a multitude of poetic associations seem to hover over the place. The Hamlet cult is, in fact, on the increase; in his honour a bronze statue has re- cently been erected in the grounds of the charming Marienlyst seaside resort, one of the most fashion- able watering-places north of Scheveningen, and A/amlet has recently been revived at more than one Copenhagen theatre. Elsinore was in days gone by the residence of a great many English families, of which the ceme- tery there bears witness. In parts of it, English inscriptions are so numerous that it is almost diffi- cult to realise that one is in a foreign country. In the former monastery of the Black Friars, Elsinore possesses the quaintest of old buildings. The ancient chapel, which has been converted into a hospital for old women, has been preserved; only the pews have been removed, and in their place a score or so of old-fashioned alcoves, minia- ture rooms surrounded with hangings, each con- taining a bedstead, a chair, a shelf or two, and the occupant’s little earthly possessions, fill the body of this strange temple. On Sundays a reg-, ular service is held there, and should the poor old Souls not be well enough to get up, they can hear the service whilst lying comfortably in their beds. From Kronborg to Fredensborg is but a short drive through beautiful undulating country, de- lightfully diversified by lakes and forests. Fred- ensborg, the Castle of Peace, does not possess the 2O6 Danish Life architectural distinction of Kronborg, but its lime- tree avenues are exceedingly fine, its sculpture garden is unique, and its splendid vistas, flanked by elaborate statuary, are magnificent. Fredens- borg teems with historic though peaceful associa- tions leading right up to the present day. It has been the happy holiday home of royalties in- numerable. Nearly every summer for more than a decade Czar Alexander III. was for weeks the central figure in a “constellation of potentates and statesmen.” “The White Czar” loved this idyllic spot, and his burly form generally led the party of a score or more of kings and queens, princes and princesses, on their daily walks in the park or on the highroad. - Here is another picture: Fredericksborg, Christ- ian IV.’s glorious palace, divides with Kronborg the honour of being the finest structure in the style of the Dutch Renaissance, not only in Den- mark, but probably in all Europe. The name of the famous English architect, Inigo Jones, is as- sociated with the building of Fredericksborg, and of Rosenborg in Copenhagen, but Christian IV. was undoubtedly his own architect, whatever secondary assistance he may have received from others. Fredericksborg has had its times of splendour, through the reigns of many kings a favourite place of residence, and it has had its times of sore trial. It has been conquered by ruth- less pillaging foes, and fire has laid low its grace- ful spires, but the Castle has risen again, and its | | |º Some Danish Snapshots 207 beautiful towers and spires are still mirrored in the still waters of the old moats. The church situated in the western wing of the Castle is an exquisite little temple; many of the rooms are elaborately beautiful, and contain a wealth of works of art and costly furniture, the Castle hav- ing now been transformed into a national museum. Fredericksborg has a sister building in Copen- hagen, Rosenborg, a château of smaller dimen- sions, but possessed of great beauty, within whose red walls is harboured a unique collection of objets d’art, of jewellery and furniture, which has come down from the Danish kings and queens of the last four centuries. - Another very characteristic building which owes its origin to the same King is the Exchange, , a quaint and picturesque structure, in picturesque surroundings, the canal with its many crafts re- minding one of Holland, while hard by is the huge ruined pile of the Palace of Christiansborg —burned down some twenty years ago, and yet waiting for its day of resurrection. On the side of the canal is the daily fish-market. The venders of fish are famous for their flow of language and ready wit, in spite of which the good Copenhagen housewife, nothing daunted, betakes herself to the market in the morning, to make her purchases of live fish, which are kept in large perforated boxes in the canal, until dis- played in the tubs and baskets of the fishwomen. There is not much characteristic life in the streets 2C8 Danish Life of Copenhagen, but the fish-market really pre- sents a spirited and interesting scene. So, , though in another way, does the daily parade at Amalienborg when the guards change. The marching in with the standard to the stirring tune of the Fane Marsch, played by the splendid band of the Life Guards, and the escort marching with the elaborate old German step, puts the cor- responding function at Whitehall completely in the shade. The old King, from a window in his palace, invariably watches this fine little bit of military display, a remnant of l’ancien régime, which it is to be hoped will survive the other- wise somewhat prosaic spirit of the day. Venerable Roskilde, situated on the borders of a pretty fjord, about twenty miles from Copen- hagen, and formerly the capital of Denmark, makes another interesting picture. Its ancient cathedral, by many supposed to have been built by the English Bishop, William of Roskilde, has various traces of contemporary English archi- tecture. Dedicated to St. Lucius, it was conse- crated by Bishop William's successor in the year Io84. It forms an object-lesson in the history of Denmark, holding, as it does, the dust of in- numerable Danish kings and queens, from Harald Blaatand and his son Svend, the father of Ca- nute, to Queen Louise, the mother of our Queen Alexandra. There rests Queen Margrethe, who united the three Scandinavian kingdoms; and there, too, in a chapel built by himself, in what Some Danish Snapshots 209 is often called the style of Christian IV., lie the remains of this King, for sixty years King of Denmark and Norway—sailor, warrior, architect, a man marvellously and manifoldly gifted, one of the most striking figures in the history of Den- mark, with plenty of light and shadow in his long, eventful life. There is about Roskilde an old-time aspect which but few Danish towns have retained; visions from bygone ages involuntarily arise before one’s mind, until the shrieks of the pigs from the neighbouring bacon factory recall one to practical, unpoetical to-day, when the ploughshare is much more thought of than is the sword. Yet one more hurried glance at the witnesses of the past. Whilst the remains of King Ca- nute’s father and grandfather lie in the cathedral at Roskilde, those of his great-grandparents, King Gorm and Queen Thyre, were interred at Jelling, in Jutland, each under a mighty hill, the largest Äämpehöfe (warrior's hills) in Denmark, between which are still to be seen, outside the church door, the two famous runic stones, the smaller of the two placed there by King Gorm in memory of his Queen, and the large stone by King Harald Blaatand in honour of his parents. The large stone bears the following simple and dignified in- scription in runic letters: “King Harald com- manded these hills to be made after his father Gorm and his mother Thyre, that Harald who won for himself all Denmark and Norway, and I4. 21o Danish Life accepted the Christian Faith.” From the top of these hills—a truly royal monument—there is a wide and fascinating view of a real Jutlandish landscape. - Much of the fearless spirit of that Denmark over which these kings were the rulers is still to be found in the fishermen who now dwell along its coasts. Take, for instance, the fishermen of Skagen, the Skaw, the most northern point of Jut- land, where the North Sea and the Kattegat meet in many a stormy encounter, flinging their rest- less waves high against the autumnal sky. These Skaw fishermen are fine fellows, with honest, trusty faces, ever ready to risk their own lives in the saving of others. Many a stirring tale has been told about the doughty deeds of the Danish fishermen, for the coast of Jutland is a very awkward and dangerous neighbour for ships in trouble. In a way the Skaw fishermen have had their reward: they have been sung by Denmark’s greatest bard; they have been depicted on the best stage in the country, and, more than all, they have been painted! A life of intense interest, and possessed of its own peculiar unconventional charm, has sprung up in what, less than a gen- eration ago, was a neglected and obscure fishing village, now no longer, to the regret of its origin- ators, confined to the distinguished artists who first discovered the place, for the Skaw is fast becoming a fashionable watering-place. Still, the old colony of illustrious men of the brush and Liu D – x: - o cº- -1. 2- < -: ul H. < o an – º Some Danish Snapshots 21 I of the pen flourishes. Not only Michael Ancher and Kröyer, who first made Skagen famous, have their own houses there, but Holger Drachmann, poet and painter, no longer putting up at Brön- dum’s celebrated hostelry, has also built him- self a house, as has Professor Tuxen, of English Court function fame; Locher, the marine painter, also lives there, and many other men of mark are frequent guests at the Skaw. In books and on canvas, this happy life of art and freedom has been perpetuated over and over again, and some of the best pictures by some of the best Danish painters illustrate Skagen life, - fishermen at work or at play, lying on the beach in the glow of the setting sun, or smoking their pipes in small confidential clusters; fair women in dainty summer attire leisurely walking along the beach, listening to the lapping of the lazy waters or dreamily looking out over the placid, moon-reflecting sea; or spirited interiors, with artists from many countries in genial intercourse; or a local beauty with a bowl of sunflowers, or a pretty convalescent, or an anything but pretty old woman at her home work, or reading her Bible; or a christening in the new church (the old one having been buried by the quicksand), Fru Ancher holding the baby, Ancher and Kröyer of the party! A varied collection, indeed, of inter- esting Danish snapshots! Another picture: It is an early June morning in the ‘‘Dyrehaven,” a few miles from Copenhagen. 2 I 2 Danish Life Between magnificent beech trees, the pride of all Denmark, one catches glimpses of the blue waters of the Sound, studded with a multitude of white Sails, almost as if making their way in procession towards the Baltic. In the opposite direction the white walls of the little hunting château of Ere- mitagen form an admirable background to large flocks of deer, which with a certain serene curi- Osity watch the approaching stranger. CHAPTER XVII THE POOR AND AGED | is in perfect keeping with the national char- acter, and with the spirit of the whole admin- istration of the country, that in Denmark the poor and others unable adequately to provide for themselves should be well looked after. The guiding and accepted principle is this, that the authorities must care for everybody who does not possess and is unable to procure the necessary means of subsistence; at the same time, every- body is bound to do his or her utmost to obtain honest and legitimate work, whilst begging is an Offence punishable by law. As in most civilised countries, the authorities and private munificence join hands in rendering the necessary assistance, though the share of the burden — hospitals or infirmaries, for instance — that falls upon the authorities is greater, at least in some respects, in Denmark than in England. On the other hand, private initiative has admirable work to its credit in many fields, and here, too, the State is ever ready to give support, and the Government au- thorities are also here showing a comprehensive 2I3 2 I4. Danish Life interest for details. Thus all the poorhouses and workhouses and similar institutions, although the expenditure is a municipal one, have to send in annual reports to the Minister of the Interior. It is satisfactory to note that the number of persons receiving “poor-help ’’ (as it is called) is on the decrease, a fact which affords striking proof of the greater individual self-respect which modern ideas have tended to propagate among the lower and less well-circumstanced social strata. In Copen- hagen the percentage of people receiving ‘‘poor- help ’’ has fallen from 8 per cent. in the earlier half of the last century to about 2% per cent. at the present time; but part of the more recent de- crease is no doubt owing to the coming into oper- ation of the Old Age Pension Act. Yet the expense involved by providing for the poor is very considerable, and although the number of persons receiving assistance is smaller, the ex- penditure shows an increase on account of the much more efficient manner in which the relief work is now being carried out. These expenses are highest in the country, where they amount to about twenty per cent. of the total municipal ex- penditure; they are lowest in the provincial towns, where the figure is only six to seven per cent. ; and between the two stands the capital, with about sixteen per cent. The individuals receiving “poor-help ’’ are circumspectly sifted, so that respectable old and infirm people are not troubled, when it is possibly avoidable, with the The Poor and Aged 2 I 5 presence of drunkards and disorderly persons. The small local municipal poorhouses are to some extent being supplanted by larger poorhouses and workhouses, for larger districts, where a more rational order of things prevails. Copenhagen possesses some admirable institu- tions of this kind, more especially some large Homes for the aged and infirm, model establish- ments in every way. There are somewhat elab- orate plans under consideration with regard to new workhouses, and the Social Democrats are anxious to put certain ideas of theirs about muni- cipal manufacture to a practical test. As they are influential in the Town Council, they will probably see the consummation of their wishes, but others view this somewhat costly experiment with but little confidence. A number of persons receiving “poor-help ’’ live, of course, in their own homes, and others are put out on board, as are also many children whose parents are not at the same time receiving “poor-help.” Persons receiving “poor-help '' forfeit, tempor- arily at least, various privileges; they lose their Parliamentary and municipal suffrage; they are not allowed to marry, which can hardly be a mat- ter of surprise, without special permission; and they are subjected to supervision and restrictions of other kinds. There is a touching little story told by “Q,” in which an old married couple bid each other good-bye before they enter the work- house. This sorrowful parting is not necessary 2 I 6 Danish Life in Denmark, for there husband and wife are allowed to remain together. The loss of the various rights need not be continuous; for if five years elapse after the receipt of any “poor-help,” the privileges can be restored. Moreover, Sup- port given under certain circumstances and for certain purposes does not carry this odium at all; this is the case, for instance, with help towards medical and funeral expenses, and help given to seriously afflicted persons, imbeciles, the blind and deaf, people suffering from tuber- culosis and lupus, and other serious diseases. In the streets of Copenhagen one often sees gangs of men in dark uniform, the inmates of the Ladegaard, a municipal workhouse, who keep the streets of Copenhagen clean. The Zade- gaard/emmer, or, at least, many of them, are a telling illustration of the doings of Nemesis, for many of them have seen better days, and have been brought to their present unenviable condi- tion by drink and dissipation. Private charity often takes the shape of inde- pendent funds or legacies, the revenues from which go either to some institution or to a distinct class or group of supplicants, confined either to a certain locality, vocation, or family. Some of the legacies are very important and comprehensive in their scope, others almost touching in the senti- ment of which they are the outcome. There are thousands and thousands of these Zégaler, with a capital ranging from several hundred thousand to The Poor and Aged 217 a few pounds, and their number is being increased almost every week. There is also a continuous growth in the number of charitable societies, which in innumerable ways help those in need, and amongst the many good features of these soci- eties is the cheapness of their working and ad- ministration. As regards hospitals, homes for the blind, deaf, and dumb, and for imbeciles, lunatic asylums, and special homes and institutions for men and women in want of temporary help and care, Den- mark yields to no country. Its leading position is also unreservedly admitted, and specialists from almost all countries make it their business to study Danish institutions, which are often copied elsewhere. With very few exceptions the hos- pitals are local, either strictly municipal or erected at the expense of certain districts, and the raising of funds for hospitals supported by voluntary con- tributions, of which one hears so much in Eng- land, is therefore almost unknown in Denmark. There is on an average a hospital bed for every three hundred and forty inhabitants, and the cost to the hospital per patient per day is on the average about 2s. 8d. for the hospitals outside Copenhagen. The pay varies according to the accommodation, whether separate room or other- wise, but many patients are received free of charge. The lunatic asylums are hardly looked upon with the same horror as in England. Peo- ple are beginning to realise that the mind as well 2 I 8 Danish Life as the body may be temporarily affected in such a manner that special medical treatment is ex- pedient, and it is not at all unusual for people of their own accord to place themselves under the care of these institutions, often with the most beneficial effects upon a too susceptible nervous system. A comprehensive national movement has re- cently sprung up for the purpose of more effectu- ally warring against the terrible scourge of tuberculosis. Not only are the precautionary measures applying to the handling of food be- coming more stringent every year, but admirable special sanatoria, perfect in every way, and sit- uated amid well chosen, charming, and beneficial surroundings, are being erected in different parts of the country. One of these, which is more of a private undertaking, although subsidised by the State, and intended for well-to-do people who can afford to pay the fairly heavy charge, has already been in operation for two years, with the best pos- sible results, and others are in course of erection or have already been completed either for the so- ciety which is the outcome of this beneficent movement, or (as far as one is concerned) for the Copenhagen Corporation. For the latter sanator- ium, which is capable of accommodating I44 pa- tients (80 male and 64 female), a splendid site has been secured on the Roskilde Fjord; the park contains a number of delightful walks seven miles in extent. The Poor and Aged 2 IQ That thoroughly humane sentiment in the Danes to which reference has been made in sev- eral places, has also inspired the manner in which Denmark helps her aged. The Old Age Pension Act, which was passed some ten years ago, and the scope of which is likely to be further ex- tended, is in its principle singularly generous, in- asmuch as it does not insist that those who receive pensions should have previously contrib- uted anything towards the aid rendered by the authorities. The recipient must be worthy;-that is, he must not have been punished, nor must he through reckless or careless living be himself the cause of his need, nor must he for the last ten years have received any “poor-help ''; otherwise every person who has completed his sixtieth year and who is in need may look for a pension. The pension is not lavish, but it should be remembered that under such circumstances a little money goes a long way in Denmark. In the country the pension is from 44 IOS. to 45 per annum, in most provincial towns 45 IOS, and in Copenhagen from £7 5s. to £8 12s., and the pension can either take the shape of ready money or be given in kind, or the recipient can be received into a home. Several homes have been specially built for this purpose, and here the total expenditure per in- mate, per day, board and lodging, amounts to 9%d. About 2% per cent. of the population re- ceive this pension, of which the State defrays half the expenditure. 22O Danish Life The Danes are fond of stringing several words together, the result often being rather alarming to a foreigner, and in few cases is this propensity so strikingly shown as in the Danish word for ap- plication forms for old age pensions, which (the reader must take my word for it) takes the at- tractive form of: Alderdomsforsångelsesamsógnings- blazketter. CHAPTER XVIII THE FREEHOLD FARMER AND AGRICULTURAL, CO-OPERATION HERE is no class amongst her sons of which Denmark has greater cause to be proud than the freehold peasant farmers. That they should have attained to a state of such advanced enlight- enment, that they should so promptly and so fully have grasped modern views and ideas in matters of education and politics, and in the practical and rational exploitation of their land and its produce, becomes all the more remarkable when one con- siders the miserable conditions under which the Danish peasantry formerly lived, the absurd man- ner in which land and labour were then divided, and their natural heaviness and slowness, counter- acted, however, by no small amount of natural shrewdness. A century ago the Danish peasant would most assuredly not have been thought likely to become the pioneer he is now on all sides acknowledged to be, and in inquiring what has made him so, one’s mind instinctively goes to the rural high schools, for without their elevating and inciting influences he would never have become 22 I 222 Danish Life the model farmer and dairyman he now is. And this development has not been confined to com- paratively few individuals specially gifted or ex- ceptionally circumstanced; it comprises, and has benefited, the whole class, within which it has called forth a strong consolidating fellow-feel- ing, teaching them to look to themselves, to depend upon themselves, and to do their own work. It is not the least interesting feature of this movement that it has been originated, taken up, and carried to its present extent and magnitude by the peasants themselves, aided, of course by scientists, who have in several cases, however, been recruited from the peasantry. Next, one is struck by the extreme thoroughness of all the preparatory work, by the length to which rational method has been carried, and by the variety of fields that have been made subject to practical and exhaustive investigation. Comparative tests in almost every department of agriculture and dairy farming have tended to show the true merits of methods, of breeds, of machinery, of seeds, and of many other things, and have enabled the farmer to apply the rational rule of three to many an old routine. The Danish farmer not only knows what he is doing, but he knows why he is doing it. Hand in hand with technical and methodical improvements has gone the growth of co-opera- tion in the handling and in the disposal of the The Freehold Farmer 223 produce, and in forming a proper estimate of what has made the Danish farmer of to-day, it is neither possible nor expedient to disconnect the two; they supplement and necessitate each other. Some little information, however fragmentary, about the latter side of Danish farming, is certain to be of interest. Although Denmark has set the world an example in adopting co-operative prin- ciples in farming and dairying, she cannot lay claim to having invented or discovered them. Co-operative dairy farming has, in fact, been practised in Switzerland for over six hundred years, and reports dating from as far back as 182O show that it had then attained to co-operative Imethods at no great variance with those in force at the present day, although modern technique was, of course, undreamt of. In Eastern Prussia co-operative dairies were formed in 1871, whilst the first Danish co-operative dairy dates from 1882. Now there are IoS7 co-operative dairies in Denmark, comprising some I4O,OOO members and receiving the milk from 850,000 cows, or more than four fifths of the total number of cows. Dur- ing these twenty years the value of the exports of Danish butter rose from about £1,000, OOO (18,- 642,OOO AEzoner) to over £6,000, OOO (IO9,550,000 Åroner) in the year 1900. This vast increase has been brought about both by the increase of the production and by the marked improvement in the quality, which may perhaps be put at some- thing like 30 per cent., and without which Danish 224. Danish Life butter would have secured nothing like its pre- sent privileged position. At the large exhibition held in Copenhagen in 1888, much surprise was caused by a co-operative dairy securing a silver medal; at the show of the Royal Danish Agri- cultural Society held at Odense in the year 1900, the co-operative dairies, of which there were 670 exhibitors, secured all the 46 silver medals, 202 out of 2IO bronze medals, and most of the honour- able mentions, and at the Paris exhibition the same year Danish co-operative butter was like- wise conspicuous. Yet a well-known Irish dairy chemist not long ago maintained that co-operative dairy farming and high, or at any rate the high- est, quality would never go together. He is wrong; they not only go together and very well, but it is the only system of turning the milk from every farm, large and small, to the best possible account and of producing a universally high standard of excellence. The quality of Danish butter is watched over in the most jealous man- ner, and continuous tests are always going on at the State's experimental laboratory in Copen- hagen. I said that the Danish farmers had learned to do their own work, and this is undoubtedly one of the advantages of the system, entailing care, watchfulness, and economy. The members of the board—for each co-operative dairy has its own board—receive no remuneration whatever, and the chairman, who generally keeps the accounts, The Freehold Farmer 225 who to a great extent is responsible for the money, and who must give up much of his time and undertake numerous journeys, receives the right royal remuneration of from £4 to 48 per annum. The dairy manager, of course, is pro- perly but by no means extravagantly paid, and there is a growing feeling that the co-operative principle ought to some extent to be made applic- able to the manner in which such functionaries are remunerated. The latest outcome of co-op- eration in the Danish dairy world, one which is almost more American than Danish in its dimen- sions, is the largest co-operative estate dairy at Hasley in Zealand. It comprises about fifty estates, with an aggregate of 62OO cows, yielding close upon IOO,OOO 1bs. of milk a day, part of which, however, is handled at some branch dairies in the district. The equipments are of the most approved type and the produce of corresponding goodness, both butter and cheese, for this dairy has made a specialty of several kinds of cheese, a commodity otherwise somewhat neglected by Danish dairymen, who on the whole find that butter pays better. The average Danish co-op- erative farmer looks a little askance at this new departure, which is outside of what has become the accepted rules for Danish co-operation—just as the ordinary ducklings looked at the pe- culiar new arrival in Andersen’s well-known fairy tale. For although “trusts '' may be called co- operation two or three times removed, one of the I5 226 Danish Life avowed objects of Danish co-operation is to pre- vent single individuals from amassing large fort- unes. It tends to equalise the pecuniary position, and most important of all, it increases the yield, the returns of the produce. Danish co-operation is confined mostly to the home side of the busi- ness, and in its relation with the buyers in their own country or abroad—that is, practically, Eng- land — the various co-operative concerns often prefer to “paddle their own canoe,” either selling their butter to Danish shippers or direct to Eng- lish buyers, although there are several co-operat- ive export associations amongst the dairies. Next in importance to the dairies within the co-operative movement come the bacon factories, These are five years younger than the dairies, and their course has perhaps not been quite so smooth as that of the latter, the conditions under which bacon is sold in the English market being less direct and less under the control of the producers than is the case with butter. Still, the co-oper- ative bacon factories have undoubtedly tended greatly to increase the farmer's revenue from his pigs, and one just erected is the twenty-seventh. It was a well-known high School man and poli- tician who first thought of starting a co-operative bacon factory. It was started on true democratic lines, and for several years only Liberal pigs found their way to the factory—a state of affairs which soon made room for more sensible notions. There were other difficulties in the way, both Agricultural Co-operation 227 technical and commercial; but here, as in every- thing the Danish agricultural co-operative move- 1ment has taken in hand, success was not long in following. The bacon factories are not, and can- 11ot be, worked on quite such economical lines as the butter factories. The annual remuneration of the chairman of the board may even in a few instances rise to quite 430, and the managing directors draw a fairly substantial salary, but they have a responsible position, and entirely control the affairs of the factory. The Danish co-oper- ative bacon factories now have about 65,000 mem- bers, and last year they killed 636,OOO pigs and IO,OOO head of cattle, amounting in money to A 2, 170,000, the price received for bacon in the English market averaging 2d. per pound above the average price of bacon from other countries. The third of the three staple articles of food which Denmark exports to England—eggs—was the last to come under the beneficial influence of co-operation, and had to wait another ten years before there was any question of “co-operative eggs.” In 1895 a Danish co-operative egg export society was started, and it has now about 30,000 members under obligation to collect the eggs, which are all stamped every day, with a view to their being taken to the district centres. Last year co-operative eggs were sold in England to the value of about 4.33O,OOO, and greatly owing to the influence of this movement the value of the exports of eggs from Denmark has risen from 2 28 Danish Life A 400,000 in the year 1895 to more than 4,900,000 in 1901, Danish eggs now averaging about 3d. more per score in the English market than other foreign eggs. If Denmark had received during last year the same average price in the English market for her produce as did other foreign coun- tries, she would have been 6,588, Ooo Áronzer poorer on her butter, 16, 152,000 kroner poorer on her bacon, and 3,995,000 kroner poorer on her eggs, making an aggregate of 26,735,000 kroner, or A 1,500,000—a large sum for one year for a small country; and this is without taking account of that impetus to the quantity of the produce which co-operation has given, and which, were it pos- sible to estimate it, would perhaps be still more striking. The love of co-operative enterprise in Danish farmers is, however, by no means confined to a rational handling of their produce, but has man- ifested itself in many other directions, as, for instance, in large organisations for buying and distributing cattle food and artificial manures; the farmers also do a portion of their own insur- ance, and have for some time been thinking of starting their own bank. In addition to the in- stitutions of strictly agricultural origin, the farm- ers support almost the whole of the general co-operative movement of the country, as it is known in England and elsewhere, a state of affairs exactly the opposite to what is the rule in other countries. In the year 1898, there were in Co- Agricultural Co-operation 229 penhagen seven out of a total of 837 Danish co- operative societies; all the others were in the country, which corroborates what I have said in a previous chapter, that in Denmark it is the peasant farmer who is in the van. The aggregate number of members of the various Danish co-operative institutions exceeds 400,000 and the aggregate value of the annual exports of co-operative butter, bacon, and eggs amounts to I78, OOO,OOO AErozzer, or about 4, IO,OOO,OOO. Does it not, under these circumstances, seem a most fit and natural thing not only that peasant farmers should abound in the Legislature, but that one from their midst should have been chosen a member of the first Liberal Government, the Ministry for Agriculture falling to his lot 2 And in view of all the grievances to which farm- ers in most European countries give vent, it is worth while noticing what this representative of the Danish freehold peasants said at a public meeting not long ago: We peasants ought to be thankful for what the last few years have given us. They have been good years, good years for farming generally, but more especially for the smaller farmers. I make bold to say: the 1ast four or five years have been the best the smaller farmers in Denmark have ever had. Ask the tradesmen, ask the co-operative societies, and you will hear that the farmers’ debts have been materially reduced. Ask in the Savings Banks, and you will hear that the smaller farmers have put something by during the 1ast few years. 23O Danish Life This is cheerful reading, and M. Ole Hansen no doubt knows what he is talking about, even if some of the large landed proprietors have no similarly pleasant experiences to record. Although the Danish freehold peasant has in the main worked out his own destiny, the State has not neglected its part of the work, but has in manifold ways assisted and advanced the interests of the farmer, amongst other things by providing special and suitable train services and by the sub- sidising of special steamers so as to bring about greater expedition and more favourable conditions in connection with the export of agricultural pro- duce. The new Government has already shown that it 111eaſis to extend additional supports to the farmers, large and small, and certainly not to the small ones least. Amongst what might be called the agricultural laws, passed during the last session, is one materially increasing the State grant towards improving the breed of various domestic animals, from the horse down to the bee —although the latter may not properly come under this heading. The money is given either as prize money at the numerous shows held by the many agricultural and kindred societies, sub- ject to the societies themselves finding the same or half the amount, as the case may be, or as direct assistance to breeding societies. A second law increases the annual grant to high and agri- cultural Schools and the assistance given to pupils having no means of their own, so that it is ex- Agricultural Co-operation 231 pected that such pupils can now have the whole of their expenditure during their stay at the schools defrayed from the State grant. In ad- dition the law sanctions a substantial loan from the Exchequer to two new agricultural Schools, for owners or tenants of Small holdings, a truly dem- ocratic measure, the effect of which will be further enhanced by the improved conditions which an- other new law provides for men who rent small holdings of a few acres, and by the facilities which a previous Act has brought about for the purchase of small holdings by State assistance. This Act, which dates from 1899, is intended to enable the agricultural labourer—that is, a man who lives principally by doing ordinary farm work for others—to become possessed of his own piece of land by the aid of loans from the Ex- chequer. The labourer must have completed his twenty-fifth year and as a rule not be over fifty; he must have been a farm labourer for not less than five years; and he must be sober and dil- igent. He must further have at his disposal one tenth of the value of the property he intends to buy, the area of which shall as a rule be between 4% and 7 acres, and must not be less than 2% acres or more than II acres. There are special committees for each district, and the Parish Council is to assist in selecting and procuring the 1and, if such help be desired. The State grants a loan amounting to nine tenths of the value of the property—which should not exceed £220–subject 232 Danish Life to an annual interest of 3 per cent., in addition to which I per cent. is paid on half the loan towards a sinking fund, and when half the loan has thus been wiped off, 3% per cent. is paid on the rest until the loan is paid. Should the owner die, his widow can step into his place. The Act provides for an annual State grant of 2,000, OOO Kroner for five years, when the Act is to be revised, and when its scope is likely to be extended. It is a practical realisation of the English dream of “three acres and a cow,” or rather it goes beyond that dream, for it also means to teach the owner of the few acres—it will as a rule be more than three—how to make the best out of them, and of his cows and goats and fowls and garden. For those who do not see their way to attending one of the schools to which reference has been made, a fourth new Act provides short courses of in- struction both for husband and wife, also per- ambulating courses, another Danish invention, to aid the small holder, based on the Mahomet and mountain principle: if you cannot come to us, we must go to you. Teachers set out and find a suitable room in an inn or at one of the high schools, as the case may be, where every after- noon for two or three weeks they give useful in- struction to fifty or more interested listeners, who afterwards return to their work. When the teacher has finished in one place, he goes on to another district. The plan is quite new, only a year or two old, but it seems to work very satis- The Freehold Farmer 233 factorily, and has now obtained its official ac- knowledgment through a State subsidy. House- wifery classes are held in a similar manner. A qualified lady gathers around her the women from the neighbouring parishes, teaching them do- mestic economy and chemistry, the value of various foods, some hygiene, but first and fore- most, cookery. These classes have generally been held in the village schools, and now also re- ceive State aid. One of the special schools for owners and ten- ants of small holdings will soon be able to com- mence work. A gentleman imbued with warml sympathy for this class of his countrymen took up the matter, and as a proof of such a school being needed, it may be mentioned that five hundred small holders offered to contribute five kroner (5s. 6d.) each towards the realisation of this plan. A Zealand town presented some forty acres; a large landed proprietor gave a few adjoining acres of forest, and the necessary money was partly sub- scribed privately and was partly covered by a loan from the Exchequer. The new school will have an orchard and kitchen garden, bees and fowls, and the land will be divided into three small holdings of about five, seven, and twelve acres. The instruction will be divided into longer and shorter courses; the former from No- vember 1st to May 1st for men, who are to be taught agriculture, stock raising, horticulture, and other farming subjects; for the most part 234 Danish Life theory, together with some Danish history, and other academic studies. Having attended a course like this, a pupil can obtain Government aid to attend a practical summer course at the school, or at one of the model holdings which have been approved of; in such cases the in- struction will extend over a whole year. Then there is a long course for women, from May 1st to November Ist, comprising horticulture, farming, housekeeping, and school subjects, and this new departure is looked forward to with much expect- ation. The short courses last twelve days, and comprise one of the following subjects: slöyd, the Orchard, bookkeeping, seed growing, bees, fowls, the kitchen garden, willow growing, fodder, and other allied subjects. These courses go on through the whole year, and are arranged accord- ing to the most suitable seasons for practical demonstrations. The pupils at these courses have free board and lodging, free instruction, and free travelling both ways, and they can even re- ceive assistance to pay for the help their absence from home may necessitate. It is difficult to im- agine a better-thought-out scheme for bringing useful practical instruction within reach of even the poorest. The fact that the Danish farmer as a rule tills his own land has no doubt been one of the primary causes for his working his way to the front as he has done. There is still a certain amount of en- tailed property, but the large landed proprietors The Freehold Farmer 235 flave for many years been selling such portions of their estates as the law now permits them to do, and the distribution of land is still going on. Land in Denmark is not only scheduled in so and So many Square measures, but a certain valuation scale often takes the place of the former. The Danish square measure for land is a tände land— an acre is about three fourths of a Danish tónde 1and—and the number of tonde land which con- stitute a tände harſkorze (the quality standard of land) is regulated according to a sliding scale of productiveness, from 24 to I. Of land of pro- ductiveness 24 (the best), 5% tonde land make a tónde hartkorn, and the following table conse- quently does not give the actual area of the farms, but the same reduced to the standard of tonde hartkorn: Number. Farms of more than 12 ta. h. 2,O3I { { from 8 to I2 “ 3,663 I,858 & C { { 4 to 8 & C 23,638 7 3. 5 3. { { { % ( & peasants { % ‘‘ I to 2 “ 21, 184 o Houses with 1and o de I59, I47 Farms from I to I2 tonde hartkorn form an ag- gregate of 72.4 per cent. of the total, and houses with land (of which the number has risen from 63,481 in the year 1835 to 159,147 in the year 1895) form II per cent., a figure which is likely to become still larger during the next few years. gº º-3) - *ššº Sºğ § § § . º & # . º ſ § ſº & CHAPTER XIX RECLAIMING THE MOORS HE problem of reclaiming moorland has been attempted, or in any case much discussed both in Denmark and in other countries for 1more than a century, but the task was looked upon as hopeless. It was not considered possible to over- come the “evil principle” of the heather-covered moors. In spite of this, however—and those who have seen a Danish hede will know how to value their pluck—a few patriotic men joined together, and in the year 1866 the Society for Reclaiming the Moors was founded, its object being solely national and devoid of all thought of private gain. For a generation these men continued their work, and their cause met, and still meets, with liberal support both from the State and from private in- dividuals and institutions, the Society comprising between four and five thousand members, who pay an annual subscription towards the funds. The State subsidies go partly direct to the Society and partly towards plantations not belonging to the Society, and they now amount to some 260,000 Ároner per annum. Captain Dalgas, who died 236 Reclaiming the Moors 237 Some six or seven years ago, is generally called the Father of the movement, and to him and his fellow-workers Denmark is indebted for the fact that more than half of the four thousand square miles or more of moorland, sand, and bogs which existed at the time of the Society’s formation, has in the interval been reclaimed and transformed into forest, field, or meadow—a splendid record, which it will surely be impossible to beat. In former centuries, large portions of central Jutland were covered with forests, which, how- ever, vanished little by little, and the heather reigned supreme where once the beech had stood in all its beauty. These moors, in some places flat, in others undulating, where one could travel for hours without meeting a human being or see- ing a human dwelling, might well call forth the same sigh as that of the hero in Zocksley Hall, “O the dreary, dreary moorland!” Yet these moors have their charm, and their lonely, mel- ancholy grandeur has inspired both painter and poet. But they are doomed—in all probability all of them—for the work of the Society is being carried on with unabated zeal; it is, in fact, be- coming more and more comprehensive, for not only has it been extended to consulting work as regards the proper treatment of meadows, but an- other great problem, the rational handling of the large peat deposits found in various parts of Den- mark, and more especially in Jutland, has also been taken in hand. The work of reclaiming is 238 Danish Life as comprehensive as it is laborious, necessitating amongst other things extensive road building; but the State and the local authorities have in this, as in other respects, done their duty well, and good roads and railways now penetrate and traverse districts that ten or twenty years ago were roadless and houseless moorland. For the transport of marl, many miles of light railways have been constructed and this useful fertiliser has been searched for in all directions, so that it is now worked from more than a thousand places. Water has also been utilised wherever found, and it is not over-plentiful on the moors; canals and dikes and ditches have been dug, and countless rich meadows bear witness to the good wrought by this Society. The work done by the moor-reclaiming Society naturally divides itself into several sections— forest and arable land, meadows, and peat-making. The planting of trees materially helps the farmer by furnishing that shelter of which vast tracts of flat land, exposed to the full sway of the west wind, are in such urgent need. The Society is always ready with gratuitous advice, and the State helps where such help is needed, both in money and in plants, between ten and twenty millions of the latter being distributed during a year. It is an interesting sight to watch these tiny pines and firs holding their own against the west wind and the drought, and in spite of everything growing into sturdy little trees, destined one day to be- Reclaiming the Moors 239 come a big forest. Where nothing else will thrive they generally manage to survive, and many a farmer devotes his poorest and most barren fields, where he has in vain tried to raise grass or corn, to the planting of pine or fir, which give good re- turns, only they are a little slow in materialising. The Society can indeed look back upon their work with unmixed pride and satisfaction, and the good they have done, directly and indirectly, more especially in Jutland, can hardly be over- estimated. No wonder that Aarhus, the capital of Jutland, has raised a very handsome monument in memory of Captain Dalgas, representing him as he walked about the moors, with his big top- boots, stick in hand, for he almost lived on the moors, and spent the greater part of his life, or at least his latter years—for he was originally an officer—in the open. He surely could say with Heine: ‘‘Nennt man die besten Namen, so wird auch der meine genannt.” The Society itself owns sixteen plantations, two peat properties, and one in which meadows predominate. This pro- perty represents a large sum, but it is perhaps not quite correct to say that the Society “ owns” it, for it has transferred all its property to the Min- istry for the Interior, so that a dissolution of the Society, should it some day take place, on the ground of there being no more work for it to do, will not affect the fate of the property. Mere figures do not adequately convey any idea of the magnitude of the work done by the Hede 24O Danish Life Selskab, although it speaks volumes for its en- ergy that its last report deals with plantations Nos. I42O-I429, varying in area from 17 to 270 acres, and that while the aggregate area of plant- ations in 1866, the year of the foundation of the Society, amounted to barely 14, OOO acres, the area had in the year 1900 risen to considerably over 200,000 acres. Of this about one third is State property, but the State contributes one fourth of the expense of forming private planta- tions, subject to a maintenance clause. Apart from what might be called the direct work of the Society, it has called forth and kept alive a wide interest in the whole movement by publications, travels, and other means. A large number of smaller or experimental plantings and hedges are also carried on, and according to the last report 12,930 different persons had during the year 1900 received through the Society a total of no less than I2,268,918 plants, of which the ma- jority were pine and fir, at half or quarter of the proper price. Everything is being done in that rational and systematic manner which distin- guishes advancing movements in almost every direction in Denmark, theory and practice help- ing and supplementing each other, the scientific foundation never being neglected. The Danes are also great believers in the use of object les- sons, and numerous journeys are undertaken for the purpose of seeing and comparing. The So- ciety has thus erected what are called experimental Reclaiming the Moors 241 peat, or rather bog, stations, and during the year 1900 half a dozen functionaries gave instruction to 331 different persons in all parts of the country. The object of this bog cultivation is a double one; viz., to utilise both the peat and the soil, and this has been done with excellent results. Large areas of meadows are still being taken in hand every year, and I can speak from personal know- ledge of the almost incredible change which ra- tional treatment can work in the course of two or three years. Large expanses of land covered with quicksand have also been converted into plantations with the twofold object in view of laying the sand and producing valuable timber, and several lakes and inlets have likewise been brought under cultiva- tion. If the days of conquest, as ordinarily un- derstood, are a thing of the past, Denmark, adding acre upon acre of good land to her limited num- ber of square miles, it will be seen, has wrought other conquests—conquests in the noblest sense of the word, the outcome of the old Northern pluck and perseverance. CHAPTER xx OLD-TIME DENIMARK HAVE said that the Danes as a nation, or at | least many of them, appear to be somewhat wanting in veneration for old-time relics in the shape of interesting buildings, and that in conse- Quence the country is poor in that class of struc- tural monuments which to such a marked degree enhance the charm and the beauty of many a town and village in other countries, as, for instance, in England, Holland, and Germany. There is, therefore, all the more reason to rejoice at the efforts which have been and are still being made to preserve at least part of what yet remains, espe- cially as one result of these efforts takes the form of an open air museum, although it does not pos- sess some of the features which make “Skansen'' at Stockholm such a unique and singularly de- lightful resort. But then the late Dr. Artur Hazelius and M. Bernhard Olsen, the fathers re- spectively of the Swedish and the Danish Open Air Museums, held somewhat divergent views as to what a museum of this kind should or should not contain. In the opinion of Dr. Artur Haze- 242 Old-Time Denmark 243 lius, a man, by the way, possessed of many brill- iant qualities, and who made it his life's work to create and bring to perfection the Swedish Open Air Museum,_such a museum should not only il- lustrate and perpetuate the houses of bygone ages with all they had contained, but it should revive and commemorate ancient types and customs and functions. In this respect, as in others, “Skan- sen,” with its féiles and tableazza and processions, is unapproached, and possibly unapproachable, although the new Open Air Museum at Christi- ania is to some extent trying to follow in its wake; whilst the one at Lyngby in Denmark, like the one at Lund in West Sweden, is more academic, keeping aloof from what are considered spectacu- lar frivolities, and confining itself to being what I feel tempted to call an elaborate and highly in- teresting piece of nature morte. Although some fragmentary remnants of real old-time peasants and burghers' houses are still to be met with here and there in Denmark, they are few and far between, thanks to the strenuous canvassing of private collectors and antiquity dealers. But at the Lyngby Open Air Museum and at the Copenhagen Folkemuseum—the two supplementing each other, and both owing their origin to M. Bernhard Olsen—one can see old- time houses and rooms in all their glory such as they were two centuries or more ago, not in more or less conscientious counterfeit, but in the orig- inal, whole farmsteads, with their timbers and 244 Danish Life bricks, whole rooms, with panelling and ceilings and windows and hearths and furniture, having been removed to the precincts of the museum with much cost and greater care, in order to be re- erected there exactly as before. In my opinion, these old structures, both the exteriors and per- haps still more the interiors, possess a charm with which no ordinary museum containing similar ob- jects can possibly vie, and I cannot help asking, in wonderment, why England does not possess an open air museum. - How commonplace and outclassed the modern substitutes appear when compared with the homes of our forefathers—plain brick houses with slate roofing, instead of quaint straw-thatched, high- roofed buildings, with dark oak timber checkering the whitewashed walls, and with their small- paned windows filled with dear old-fashioned plants; gaudy wall-papers or paint in anything but art colours, instead of solid oak wainscot; un- attractive polished walnut furniture instead of dignified carved oak.' And the garments of the dwellers in these homes—what has become of the picturesque and becoming national dresses, of which every province had its own P Gone almost entirely, and with them and the old homes, have vanished the old homely mode of living and most of the good old customs! Although the every-day living was frugal enough, yet on great and special occasions the innate hospitality of the Danes manifested itself Old-Time Denmark 245 in the most liberal manner, particularly at wed- dings and funerals. Weddings, for instance, al- though still important functions, are not what they used to be, the last few decades having dealt unkindly with many of the characteristic features by which they were distinguished less than fifty years ago. Things were done more thoroughly then, and the grand scale on which the catering was done will no doubt surprise the reader. The guests often numbered several hundred, and the following account of food and drink, which I be- lieve is absolutely authentic, refers to a wedding in the island of Fuhnen, in the fifties, the guests numbering 244. It runs as follows: IO geese, 5 pigs, I hog, 20 fowls, II lambs, 2% cows, I5 ducks, 7 barrels of wheat, 7 barrels of beer, 200 bottles of wine, half a barrel of corn brandy, 40 litres of extract (for punch), 20 litres of rum, 600 eggs, 2 casks of butter, 35 lbs. of coffee, and 70 lbs. of sugar. For the proper preparation of all this food the professional cook of the district was re- sorted to, and she was a person of no small im- portance. Her convenience and her engagements had to be studied, and everybody, from the dean downwards, had to abide by her decision. She was, in fact, the head corner-stone of the whole function. Then the list of the guests had to be made out, and this was a matter of very serious etiquette, inasmuch as each farmstead had its own set, or Bºydelag, and sometimes, of course, the bride might belong to one set, the bridegroom to 246 Danish Life another, and their future home to a third. A special “inviter’’ was then sent round either on foot or on horseback, attired in his Sunday best; in some districts he wore white trousers and top boots, with a nosegay in his coat. The invitation, of which the “inviter,” or Bydemand, for safety’s sake, carried a written copy, was according to a fixed formula, varying in the different parts of the country. As a specimen, I give one from Fuhnen: “I bring word from Sören Pedersen and Anna Hansen, if you will come and eat breakfast with them on such and such a day at ten o'clock, and then accompany them to church and hear their marriage service, and then accompany them houle again and have a meal or two, and then amuse yourself with dancing and games the whole night, and then come again the next day and take your places from the first day. And they will be sure to do the same for you when wanted, for choice on some enjoyable occasion. Then you must come that and that day with a pail of fresh milk and two potter (litre) of cream.” The inviting pure and simple did not by any means exhaust the Bydemand's work. He was a kind of marshal or master of the ceremonies; he often had to see to the decoration of the farm, to engage the musicians, to see that there was a sufficiency of table utensils, pots, and pans, which were borrowed from the neighbours, the “inviter,” when necessary, having for his assistance a staff of “borrowing girls” (Zaanepiger). It goes with- Old-Time Denmark 247 out saying that a strict account had to be kept of everything, and that afterwards the borrowed articles were returned in good and perfect order. The neighbours, however, not only lent, but gave, and gave liberally, various articles of food towards the feast, the gifts to some extent at least being regulated by etiquette, as was the manner in which they were conveyed to the house of the bride's parents, and in some districts these gifts were gaily decorated. On the wedding morning the guests were received with music, and were at once offered refreshments of wine and cake; in due course the whole party drove to the church, the musicians in the first carriage, then the bride with her women, and next the bridegroom, the former often escorted by outriders. Sometimes the guests took with them cake and smörrebröd (Sandwiches), which they gave to children and poor people on their way to church. As to the manner in which bride and bride- groom should behave in church and on their return to the house, there were innumerable cus- toms, many of which had their foundations in old superstitions. As the Danish writer Feilberg, a great authority in such matters, says, “the eti- Quette amongst the peasants of the old School was as strict as at the Court of France’—a remark which also applies to the placing of the guests at table. Sometimes the singing of a hymn brought the meal to a close, and the people said, “Tak for Mad” (“Thank you for the food ''), shaking 248 Danish Life hands with each other, and in some places kiss- ing. The schoolmaster, for instance, would rise first, embrace the pastor, and kiss him, saying, “Tak for Mad, Herr Pastor.” The pastor then took up a position against the wall, or chest of drawers, and all the women folk, young and old, walked past him, each one kissing him on the mouth. At the subsequent dance a number of rural figures were, and still are, to the fore, and refreshments were frequently partaken of, con- spicuous amongst them being punch, and A affe- punsch (black coffee with rum or corn brandy), which is still a favourite drink with many a Dan- ish peasant and artisan. I am quite aware that there is another side to the picture—that enlightenment has ousted super- stition, that freedom has superseded what in many cases was akin to thraldom, that the husband- man’s acres are better tilled now than of yore, that the housewife’s butter and eggs are turned to better account, that perhaps after all it is pre- ferable that man and beast should not live in the same compartment, or even under the same roof. I am quite aware of all this, and of the fact that nothing can, and that nothing should, stop the onward march of evolution; yet one’s aesthetic self cannot help giving vent to a sigh that evolution should be so ruthless in its progress, robbing this poor old world of ours of much that tended to make it interesting and attrac- tive, of many a quaint old custom, of many a Oid-Time Denmark 249 cherished illusion, which one would ſain have seen preserved. An open air museum should in a way be a picture-book of the past, on the leaves of which are illustrated the homes, the surroundings, the belongings, the whole life of former generations, giving prominence, if possible, to men and women of fame, to events and episodes that stand out in the history of one’s country. The one in Stock- holm is in many ways endeavouring to realise this dream—and all Sweden will bear witness to its success—while the one at Lyngby is more re- stricted and has a much narrower scope. It is intended more especially to demonstrate how the Danish peasant lived in bygone days; and it har- monises entirely with what I have said before, and also goes a long way towards proving how “advanced ” the Danish peasant of to-day is, that in order to procure these old homes and dwellings, it has been necessary to seek for them in places which now no longer belong to Denmark, in Sles- wick and West Sweden, where rational develop- 1ment has apparently been less rapid. These old structures are exceedingly interest- ing, the patriarch amongst them being a Gaard (farm) from Ostenfeld in Sleswick, built by a man with the good Danish name of Hans Petersen, in the year 1685; from him the farm descended to his son, who, as was the custom until quite re- cently, took his surname from his father’s Chris- tian name, and was called Lorenz Hansen; his 25O Danish Life son was called Jens Lorenzen, and the latter’s son Peter Jensen, who died in the year 1822, when the farm passed to his daughter's husband. This homestead, which has been bodily removed to Lyngby, is built in what is called the Saxon style. It contains only one room, albeit a very spacious one, which was shared by all the living beings belonging to the farm; there were no partitions and no chimney; there certainly was a fireplace, or rather a place for a fire, but the smoke was allowed to go whither it listed. In spite of its being a commodious dwelling, the smoke affected everything in the house, both timber and furni- ture, seasoning the former so as to make it resist the effects of centuries, and giving to the latter a rich mellow-brown colour, while it gave to the fodder a flavour which, although it may have been “an acquired taste,” grew upon the cattle, so that they did not fancy the fodder elsewhere, when they changed hands and came to a farm- stead with a chimney. Ostenfeld, the village whence Hans Petersen’s farm was taken, was ex- tremely conservative, 1ooking upon chimneys as a ridiculous innovation, and clinging to the old Smoky arrangement, which earned for it the name of the swarte (black) parish. Entering by the large gate in the street gable of the house, one passes down the broad /o, or barn floor, along each side of which are the stalls for the cows and other animals, whilst the fowls had their nests in baskets hung on the posts be- Old-Time Denmark 25 I tween the stalls. Close to the other end of the house, in the centre, is the flat open fireplace, often one large stone, round which the members of the household used to gather. The chairs, all of the same style, rather elaborately carved, al- ways stood round the fireplace, and, says M. Bernhard Olsen, were allowed to stand there until they simply crumbled to pieces from old age. Each new owner brought two new chairs, upon which were carved the names of himself and his wife. On a kind of big dais along the end wall stood the housewife's brass and copper dishes and pans, which, gleaming through the Smoke, pro- duced a quaint and picturesque effect; and there are still old families living at Ostenfeld who have kept up this order of things, although the food is now cooked in a kitchen added in later years. Projecting from one side-wall, at some distance from the end, is the oven. The space between this and the end wall is transformed into a kind of ingle-nook, with a window and seats on the three sides and a table and alcoves, and on the opposite side is a corresponding ingle-nook, al- though the elaborateness of the alcoves varies ac- cording to the standing of the occupant. These Saxon houses are not by any means without style and symmetry and a certain gran- deur; there is no lack of good carving, and even the front posts of the cow-stalls (the animals stood facing the open central space) in some places pro- duced a distinctly ornamental effect. The height 252 Danish Life and the width of the roof–the houses were as much as forty or forty-two feet wide—necessitated the use of very solid timber, and the whole build- ing conveys to one’s mind an impression of the prosperity of an orderly, dignified, and well-to-do patriarch. Fond and proud as the good people of Osten- feld were and still are of their old houses, and conservative as they always have been, some new ideas even found their way there, and as much as two hundred years ago additions were made to the old Saxon house at what I may call the domestic end, which addition might contain several rooms, most important among which was the “best room '’—the Pesel as it was called,—often elabor- ately appointed with carved panelling and cabi- nets, the number of which was generally increased by every owner. This was the state room of the house, held in high honour, so much so, in fact, that there have been instances of the owner hav- ing been buried under the Pesel. Hans Petersen’s nouse has a very fine Pesel, and a best bedroom in the added portion of the house. The sheets and pillow-cases were often most lavishly embroidered and trimmed with 1ace. Much less ambitious in dimensions and equip- ment, yet possessed of much interest, is a house built of timber, the central and older part of which is lower than the two end sections, the roof being only some four or five feet removed from the ground, and the lowness of the doors making Old-Time Denmark 253 it imperative for the visitor to stoop very con- siderably. There was a very good reason for this, namely, to necessitate a possible enemy, when entering the house, to bend so low (the door being only about four feet high) that he for a moment was unable to defend himself; ancient ballads relate how a foeman has been killed whilst stooping in order to pass through the doorway. But when well inside, the picture is by no means displeasing. The fact of there being no ceiling makes up for the extreme lowness of the walls, which are covered with quaint old tapestry, and along one side is a seat with a table in front. The projecting fireplace is made of brick, peculiar in shape, but not without a certain crude decorat- iveness. On the other side of the room are the alcoves, well boarded in, and rich in heavy, un- wieldy bedding. Inside the one alcove at one end is a shelf for the baby, it not being considered safe to have the baby under all this bedding, which in olden times was the death of many a luckless infant. As an instance of this may be quoted a record from the diocese of Aarhus dating from the middle of the seventeenth century, ac- cording to which thirty-eight little children were on an average smothered every year in the diocese. Besides other buildings, the museum at Lyngby also boasts a twin farmstead, in which a single wing of the two I have just described has devel- oped into four sides, forming a square, a shape 254 Danish Life which in course of time has become typical of a Danish farmstead, only the one at Lyngby is an ancient wooden structure with an inte- rior to match, the two farmsteads forming one complex—a style no less interesting than its pre- decessors. At the Folkemuseum in Copenhagen, which is rather the reverse of an open air museum, being crammed into an ordinary flat, there is, notwith- standing, a series of truly charming interiors from different parts of Denmark. These old rooms, admirably restored in every detail, seein imbued with old-time memories and associations, and one almost expects to see the good housewife appear in order to welcome and hospitably entertain the visitor. There is one room taken from the neigh- bouring island of Amak, which is called the kitchen garden of Copenhagen, and which is separated from Zealand only by a narrow water- way. King Christian IV., who died in the year 1648, called in a number of Dutchmen on account of their superior knowledge of gardening, and they settled down on this fertile little island, where they have preserved up to the present day many of their old characteristics, names, modes of dress, and manners. The name of the man, for instance, who has presented this room to the museum, with its panelling, ceiling, and other peculiarities, is essentially Dutch—Jan Wybrant- sen, and the furniture is real “Amager’’ furni- ture, with the usual inlaid ornamentation. The Old-Time Denmark 255 old square iron stove, the heavy and handsome table with its legs widening into massive balls, the row of Delft plates along the ceiling, the bed with its hangings, the seat along the wall, all make a delightful picture. Less ambitious, but hardly less interesting, is a room taken from an- other island, Samsöe, in the Kattegat. It has an open fireplace such as is still to be found there in a few old houses; there is a similar long solid table as in the former room, at the end of which is the seat of the master of the house, between which and the window is the usual cupboard (stolpeska), and the master’s seat forms a box ill which remnants of bread and other food were saved up until there was enough for a dish (Bänkevälling) which takes its name from this peculiar receptacle. Along the table there is a seat against the wall intended for the farm-hands; the “old woman'' sits at the end of the table op- posite the master, whilst the young wife, if such there be, has to stand with the maidservants in a row at the open side of the table during the meals. At the back of the room are the beds, in alcoves; there are one or two cupboards, and amongst the contents of the room a spinning-wheel is con- spicuous. Spinning, carding, and weaving did, and still do, to some extent, play an important part in the indoor winter life of the peasants. In order to get on quickly with the carding, the housewife often invited a number of young girls (Karteftiger, 256 Danish Life they were called), generally all the available girls of the village, to assist her for an afternoon and evening, and later on, when the young men of the village had done their work, they generally managed to find their way to the house in ques- tion. Sometimes the watchdog was let loose to keep them a little at bay, and there is an amusing song about a tailor whose dog had died, and whom his wife induced to get into the kennel and play the part of the dog so as to frighten the young men away, that they might not disturb the girls. The girls came early in the afternoon, and were well entertained; tales were told and songs were sung, all about love and love affairs. The young man who first turned up and the first comer amongst the girls were “carding sweethearts,” and for them there were special songs, each sing- ing a verse in turn, the songs varying in the different provinces. The carding over, the mer- riment increased, and the evening wound up with dancing and many quaint games. Spinning is not, or in any case was not, con- fined to the women; in some places even large farmers took in spinning, to turn an honest penny and while away the long winter evenings. Then there were weaving and knitting; the latter was of no small importance, and in some parts the Rnitting needles used to feed the family, and the children early learned to use them with much deftness; it was looked upon as a distinct honour to be known as the fastest and cleverest knitter. Old-Time Denmark 257 This knitting grew upon them to such an extent that they took a dislike to proper and harder farmwork, and even in the busiest summer-time sturdy A'arle (farm-hands) might be seen stand- ing outside the house, busy with their knitting needles, refusing good honest farmwork. In the evening there were often knitting assemblies, more especially at the larger farmsteads — the poorer people could not leave their children, and St. Blicher, in Aº Aºzzdsáozzey (Jutlandish for a knitting-bee), in his inimitable manner, and in the broadest Jutlandish dialect, has described what took place at these knitting gatherings. The men were very clever with their knife, making numerous articles large and small, and often decorating them with beautifully carved ornamentation. Probably no country possesses finer specimens of carved oak in cabinets and chests than Denmark, the best work dating from the latter part of the reign of Frederick II. and the earlier part of that of Christian IV. Of this, another room, from a house built in the year I62O by Lars Hansen, Burgomaster in Aalborg, North Jutland, gives evidence. This is an elaborate apartment, rich in carving in almost every part, door posts and windows, ceiling and wainscot—the home of a well-to-do burgher at a period when life was often lived at a merry pace, and when full justice was done to the good things of the table, both as regards viands and wine. King Christian IV. himself was no exception to this rule, and he 17 . 258 Danish Life owned to this weakness for a good beaker of wine, on more than one page of his diary. What I have written about these old houses and interiors may suffice to show what delightful glimpses of bygone days a museum like this affords an interested beholder, and I feel sure a museum of this kind would be greatly appreciated in England. In few places in Denmark does tradition extend uninterruptedly over so many centuries, with every prospect of being continued through cent- uries to come, as at the headquarters of the Copenhagen Brotherhood, or Shooting Fraternity, or the Trinity Guild of the Danish Company, as the Brotherhood has in turns been called, without, however, at any period of its history having al- lowed the chain of continuity to snap. Within its hospitable walls kings have for three or four hundred years been frequent guests, King Edward VII. amongst them, and queens have honoured the Brethren with their presence and by becoming members. Queen Alexandra can this year cele- brate her fortieth anniversary as a Sister. This Society was originally founded, it is surmised, to counteract the influence of the ‘‘ German Com- pany,” which was supported by the Hansa Cities, and whose earliest Sérala, or statute, dates from February 3, 1382; but the Copenhagen Brother- hood, or the Danish Company, as it was then com- monly called, has not left any earlier record than one dating from October 14, 1443, when it is men- Old-Time Denmark 259 tioned in some municipal laws issued by the Danish King Christopher (Bavarus), and the Company’s oldest statutes are dated May 23, 1447. According to this document, ‘‘modest '’ men and women were eligible, irrespective of their social position, only they should be “honest and worthy of the Company.” This broad and sound basis has been maintained down to the present day, for the Brotherhood still comprises, and always has com- prised, kings and princes, nobles and men of let- ters, and citizens of all degrees. On election a Brother had to pay a Rhineland Gulden, and a Sister a Light Gulden. Its object no doubt was patriotic, coupled probably, as is still the case, with benevolent work, although festive gatherings appear to have been in vogue from the outset. There were then three great annual Adela'rikke (“noble drinks’’), one at Christmas-time, one just before Lent, and one at Whitsuntide; but they were very decorous and orderly gatherings, and even such an innocent form of merriment as throw- ing one’s tankard at a Brother's face, or pulling his nose, carried a fine, as did a refusal to dance ‘‘ when able.” Nor were the Brethren allowed to carry arms or “big sticks” on these festive oc- casions. There was also a regular annual Showtur (picnic, or May feast) on or about Valborg Day, May 1st, which in Denmark and elsewhere has al- ways been a day of much rejoicing; on that day the Brethren rode to Skoven (the woods), ac- companied by a band. The Brotherhood in 26O. Danish Life Roman Catholic times had also a certain re- ligious aspect (which I am afraid has worn off by this); the Brethren had their patron saint, St. Sören, or Severinus, they had their own altar in the Church of Our Lady, and their annual procession. As early as 1447, there were 321 Brothers and Sisters, and in the year 1527, King Frederick I. and Queen Sophie became members, and fifteen years later his son and successor, Christian III., “with fourteen nobles.” The King the same year presented to the Brotherhood a badge, or mark of honour—a parrot, to be worn by the best shot. The target at the shooting matches of the Brotherhood was, and still is, a green parrot perched on a pole, with outstretched wings, with a golden crown on its head and a golden ring in its beak. Bringing down any part of this bird— the wings, the ring, the head, the tail, or the breastplate—at the great annual shooting match . in the autumn, the A ongefugleskydning (“King Bird-shooting ”), earns for the lucky shot a prize consisting of a handsome piece of plate; the cor- pus, as the breastplate was formerly called, giving the coveted dignity of being Fuglekonge (“Bird King’”) for the coming year. Each successful shot is honoured with a salute from the old- fashioned cannons standing in the grounds, which are at present handled by an old gunner who has lived under four Danish kings. The Reformation affected much of the cere- Old-Time Denmark 26 I monial of the Brotherhood, but not its popularity, for Frederick II., “with twenty-one nobles,” joined in the year 1556, and his son Christian IV. in 1585. The latter's grandson, Christian V., on September 7, 1694, hit the bird's head for the Crown Princess (many shots being fired by proxy), who received as a prize a handsome silver dish. On September 5, 1770, the young and beautiful Queen Caroline Matilda, a grand- daughter of George II., for the first and only time was the guest of the Brotherhood, and man- aged to “shoot the parrot.” “To shoot the parrot ” has become quite a popular proverb; any one who has had a particular piece of luck is said to have “shot the parrot.” Both Frederick VI. and Frederick VII. were frequent guests of the Brotherhood, the latter being three times Fugle- Áonge. King Christian IX. has often honoured the Brotherhood with his presence, and has twice been Fuglekonge, and amongst other illustrious “Bird Kings” may be mentioned Queen Olga of Greece (1880), and King George of Greece (1887). Last autumn King Christian IX, gained a prize for his son-in-law, King Edward VII., -a silver cream-jug, I think it was, -by bringing down the right wing. In the summer months the Brethren dine every Wednesday; during the winter once a month. On every shooting-day one of the Brethren offici- ates as host, and “gives silver,” but the great day of the year is the autumnal shooting 262 Danish Life match, when the King and the princes are wont to take luncheon with the loyal Brotherhood, a gastronomic function which to the Copenhagen epicure is what a Guildhall banquet is to a Lon- don alderman. WYS). &\; INDEX ABSALON, founder of Copenhagen, 5 Address, modes of, I27 - Agriculture, co-operation in, 222 Army, the, 66; compulsory service, 67; government catering, 73 BECK, Vilhelm, Pastor, 24 Blicher, Steen Steensen, 195, 257 Bohemianism, IO7, 147, 164 Brandes, Georg, Professor, 60, I42, 182 Bureaucracy, 7, 51, 77 CADETS, naval, 70 Cafés, the, Io'7 Character, the national, 2 Church festivals, II4 ; services, 22 Confirmation, III Constitution, the, II Cookery, IIo, I65 Co-operation, 222, 228 Copenhagen, IOO Costumes, national, II?, 244 Customs, rural, I95, 245 DALGAS, Ernesto, 236 Decorations and titles, I26 Deuntzer Ministry, the, 18 Domestic arrangements, IO9 263 264 Index Drachmann, Holger, I42, 2II Drama, the, I53 Drinking habits, 92 EDUCATION, public, 32 Elsinore, I99 Engagements, II2 English influence on taste, Io'7, 173 Estrup Ministry, the, I5 FAMILY names, II6 Farmer, the freehold, 22I Fine arts, the, 133 “Flat” system, the, IOS GADE, N. W., 150 Girls, education of, 166; the growth of modern ideas amongst, I64 Government, the, I2; municipal, 85; officials, 62 Grundtvig, Bishop, 27 HAMLET, 200 Hartmann, Professor, I5o Hennings, Fru Betty, I55 High Schools, rural, 43 Holberg, Ludvig, I55 Holdings, small, 23.I Home life, Io9, 191 Homes, IO4 Honours and titles, I28 JEWS, the, 30, I32 Journalism, Danish, I75 KING CHRISTIAN IV., 206, 209, 254 King Christian IX., I24 King Frederick IV., 123 King Frederick VII., 123 Index 265 King James I., IQ9 Rröyer, P. S., 134 IAROURERS’ theatre, I59 Literature, I4O MARRIAGE customs, 245 Military service, 67 Money, estimate of, 6 Moors, reclaiming the, 236 Music, I48 NELSON, I Nobility, I25 OFFICERs, 69 Old age pension, 219 Old customs, 246 Open air museums, 242, 249 PEASANTRY, IQI Pleasures, IO2 Political life, I5 Press, the, I75 Professional life, the, 61 QUEEN ALEXANDRA, 258 Queen Caroline Mathilde, 2O0, 261 RELIGIOUS divisions, 22 ; services, 2I Runic stones, 209 Rural life, 188 SAXO GRAMMATICUS, 202 Schools, the, 32; the national, 33 ; the Latin, 41; ex- penditure, 39 ; proposed school reforms, 46 Shakespeare, 200 Sinding, Stephen, I38 Skaw, life at the, 2Io 266 Index Social divisions, I29 State and agriculture, 63, 229 State and education, 39 Students, the, 51; students’ homes, 53; students’ clubs, 55. Suicides, 84 THEATRES, the, I53 Titles, 128 Tivoli, IO3, I52 Town Council, the, 86 Trade unions, 96 UNIVERSITY, the, 49 WAGES, 94 Women, the position of, 162 Women, trades unions of, 169 Working classes, 92 Our European Neighbours Edited by WILLIAM HARBUTT DAWSON 129. Illustrated. Each, net $1.20 By Mail . º tº e . 1.30 I.—FRENCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY By HANNAH LYNCH. “Miss Lynch's pages are thoroughly interesting and suggestive. Her style, too, is not common. It is marked by vivacity without any drawback of looseness, and resembles a stream that runs strongly and evenly between walls. It is at once distinguished and useful. . . . . Her five-page description (not dramatization) of the grasping Paris landlady is a capital piece of work. . . . . Such well-finished portraits are frequent in Miss Lynch’s book, which is small, inexpensive, and of a real excellence.”—The London Academy. “Miss Lynch's book is particularly notable. It is the first of a series describing the home and social life of various European peoples—a series long needed and sure to receive a warm welcome. 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