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CHILDREN'S PRATTLE |
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easy. No, no ; it is not so very easy. The house belonged to the poor little boy—he had become something great, although his name ended in ' sen,'—Thorwaldsen.
And the three other children ? the children of blood and of money, and of spiritual pride ? Well, they had nothing wherewith to reproach each other—they turned out well enough, for they had been well dowered by nature ; and what they had thought and spoken on that evening was mere children's prattle. |
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A STRING OF PEARLS
The railway in Denmark extends as yet only from Copenhagen to Korsor ; it is a string of pearls, such as Europe has abundance of ; the most costly beads there are called Paris, London, Vienna and Naples. Yet many a one does not point to these great cities as his loveliest pearl, but on the contrary to a little, unimportant town ; there is the home of homes, there his dear ones live ! Yes, often it is only a single farm, a little house, hidden amongst green hedges, a mere point which disappears as the train flashes past it.
How many pearls are there on the string from Copenhagen to Korsor ? We will consider six, which most people must take notice of ; old memories and poetry itself give these pearls a lustre, so that they shine in our thoughts.
Close by the hill where the castle of Frederick the Sixth lies, the home of Oehlenschlager's childhood, one of the pearls glitters in the shelter of Sondermarken's woods ; it was called ' The Cottage of Philemon and Baucis,' that is to say, the home of a lovable old couple. Here lived Rahbek with his wife Emma ; here, under their hospitable roof, for a whole generation several men of genius came together from busy Copenhagen ; here was a home of intellect,—and now ! Say not : ' Alas, how changed ! '— no, it is still a home of intellect, a conservatory for pining plants ! The flower-bud which is not strong enough to unfold itself yet contains, concealed, all the germs for leaf and seed. Here the sun of intellect shines into a care- |
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