A DANISH PARSONAGE.*
THIS is a rather pleasant account of Denmark,—especially Jutland,—thrown into the form of a slight story, the hero of which, a young English landowner, is made rather too perfect, We began to think that Helga Linda! was right in her first disposition to dislike John Hardy, instead of in her final resolve to love, honour, and obey him ; for to tell the truth, John Hardy is tediously perfect and self-confident. From the time he brings back victoriously a full basket of trout from the Gudenaa to the time of his wedding, he never attempts
• A Danish Parsonage. By an Angler. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co.
anything in which he is not successful, and never puts him- self in the wrong once ; while poor Helga—his future wife— is always making mistakes and putting herself in the wrong. Of course, we infer that it was very good of her to love him, —which, indeed, he did not deserve,—but very natural in him to love her, which she did quite deserve, for her blunders and scrapes were all commendable, while his infallibility was odious.
However, the real object of the book is not to tell a love-story, but to illustrate Danish life, and that is, on the whole, success- fully accomplished, though the conversations about Danish legends and antiquities are dull, and a little too much in the old style of didactic dialogue between " Tutor, George, and Harry," in the Evenings at Home. We should have liked this descriptive little book all the better if it had not lugged in Danish antiquities and mythology, as it were, by head and shoulders. The author, however, succeeds in impressing very powerfully on us the mingled simplicity and suspicious- ness of the Danish country population. When the all-con- quering hero, John Hardy, first asks admission into Pastor Linden family, he has to wait a week while the pastor applies to his referees for John Hardy's character, and yet nothing strikes him so much as the affectionate simplicity of the pastor, when that primary suspicion is overcome. Then, even the beautiful Helga suspects John Hardy,—though at the time half in love with him,—of false boasting ; and the servant of the family, though the soul of fidelity, suspects him of much worse things, and for a single day infects the rest of the family with her suspicions. In the following admirable picture of the perfectly primitive simplicity of the society of a Jutland village, we find the pastor himself insisting on the time it had taken him to obtain any influence over the little community to which he ministered, in consequence of the natural and deep-rooted suspiciousness which had to be surmounted before any influence could be gained :—
" The church at Vandstrup lay on rising ground from the river. It was whitewashed, covered with red tiles, and surrounded by a white-washed wall enclosing God's acre, in which so many slept the last long sleep. There were a few poplars planted close to the church- yard wall, and a few weather-beaten ash trees, with a single dwarfed weeping willow over a grave. On Sunday John Hardy watched with interest the churchgoing people collecting by the church gate. The men in dark Wadmel jackets with bright buttons, and the women with red ribands bound on their caps and knitted sleeves. The women left their wooden shoes in the dry ditch by the roadside, and put on leather shoes, and waited for the pastor's arrival. Accuracy of time was not expected, and only when the pastor appeared did the men throng into the church on one side and the women on the other. The interior of the church was simple to a degree. John Hardy, with Karl and Axel, sat on the men's side, and Froken Helga and Kiratin on the other. The service was similar to that of the English Protestant service, although sauce of what would be now called Romanism remained. There were candles on the altar, and the pastor chanted some portion of the service. John Hardy longed for the sermon. The thorough honest feeling exhibited by the pastor's character in his home, with his evident refinement and education, had excited his curiosity as to what the sermon would be. The text of the sermon was from the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, part of ver. 42 : Give to hint that asketh thee.' When a man cornea and asks anything of you, what should you give ? The best thing is sympathy and love ; material gifts he may want, but these kindliness will dic- tate, and kindliness is the real gold of life. If no power exists to give what is necessary to assist your neighbour in a material sense, yet to your ability give ; and if you give at all, give kindly. Those of you who want not material things, yet may want kind sympathy when God smiteth with sorrow. Recollect, then, that that is the time for kindliness to be proved that is golden.'—This was the epitome of the sermon, and John Hardy could not hear a sound in the church, so intently was it listened to. could understand your sermon, Herr Pastor,' said Hardy ; it was preached in such simple Danish, and I liked it. But what interested me was the earnestness with which you were listened to : every word was heard by every one of your congregation, and, I could see, felt.'—' It was not always so,' said Pastor Lindal. ' I have won the sympathy and friendship of the children of my parish by years of work amongst them. The char- acter of the Jatland people is suspicious—there is a strange mixture of shrewdness and stolidity ; they are slow to appreciate, but when once their sympathy is won, they are fast friends. It is impossible for a sermon to have any effect without you have won their friend- ship on other days than Sundays.' "
The same suspiciousness is shown by the young lady herself when John Hardy, who knows that on his English horse, he could easily win the steeplechase, for the Danish horses have no blood and bone in them like his, declares that it would not be fair for him to win, and that he shall let the beat Danish officer win the race. Miss Lindal will not believe him, and has even the coolness to say to him that she believes his boast to be due to his dislike to hard riding, and his wish to spare himself :—
" The Jensens insisted on taking Froken Helga and her two brothers, who, since they bad heard that Hardy was to ride, were intensely excited. I have prayed that you will win, Herr Hardy,' said Axel, who was always a quiet lad in manner, and had become more so since his acquaintance with Hardy.= I am going to take care of my good horse, Axel,' said Hardy. do not intend to risk his being injured by throwing him down or letting the other horses get too near, and, besides, I should not like to win.'—' And why not ?' said Helga. I cannot understand a man riding in a race and not doing his best to win it.'—' Your sympathies are with the cavalry officers, and I should please you best by not *inning,' said Hardy.— 'There is your professed superiority again,' retorted Helga ; you say you are going to let the others win, suggesting that you could win the race if you chose to do so. I do not believe you can, and think you are afraid to ride hard. You speak of taking care of your horse, which means yourself.' John Hardy looked her full in the face, with a stern expression he sometimes had. What she had said would have galled any man, and Hardy felt it keenly. The races began, and were well ridden, and ridden to win. There was no betting that John Hardy heard of. He and his servant Garth were asked, on the horses being trotted out, as to the probable winners, which they were able to indicate from their knowledge of what is and is not racing condition in a horse, and they were generally correct. The trotting match was a failure; there were several entries, but only one horse trotted both heats round the course, the others had not been trained properly or sufficiently. The hurdle-race yielded much amusement ; many horses had entered for that race, and several refused to jump at all, and there were many falls, to the delight of the populace, and only three horses went through the race, which was won by a neck, the three coming well in together. When the steeple- chase race was prepared for, Garth brought up Buffalo, looking, as he always did, a grand horse, and amongst the more horsey of the Danes there was much praise of him. John Hardy mounted ; he bad taken off his coat, waistcoat, and braces, and Garth had tied a blue-silk handkerchief on his head. There was a quiet look of effi- ciency about John Hardy that was a contrast to the heavy mus- tachios cultivated by the cavalry officers and their rather weedy steeds. There was trouble in getting a start from the restiveness of one of the cavalry horses and the difficulty his rider experienced in managing it, but once away they swept down the slope, Buffalo two horse-lengths behind. The water jump reached, the cavalry horses rushed into it, and Hardy bad a difficulty in steering clear of the foundering men and horses and letting Buffalo fly the water jump. The water jump had been specially prepared, and was very shallow, and Danish horses appeared to have considered it was best to gallop through it. As it was the rule of the race that the jump must be taken, they were, by that rule, out of the race. They, however, kept on and rode well, taking the fences and wall, with Buffalo going wide of them in the rear. When they came to the rising ground again, corresponding to the slope they had ridden down, the Danish horses began to show signs of being ridden out of hand, and Buffalo passed easily in a canter, taking his fences as quietly as if at exercise, and came in an easy winner. The course had been about four to five English miles, a little too long, thought Hardy, for the Danish horses. Proprietor Jensen came forward to congratulate Hardy, and to thank him for enabling the race to be made interesting to them all. The prize was a silver cup, but Hardy declined to accept it, to the astonishment of stout proprietor Jensen and his friends.—' What in the name of the devil's skin and bones does the man mean ?' said Herr Jensen, with some heat. 'Why, you have won it, and rode so well that it has been a pleasure to us all to see you.'—' The race has not been a fair one,' said Hardy ; my horse has been specially trained for this sort of work, the horses I rode against have not, I therefore wish the cup given to the second horse.' The Danish officers pressed Hardy to take the cup, but Hardy was firm."
One would suppose that suspiciousness of this kind, which ap- pears to pervade all classes, would be inconsistent with great sim- plicity of character, because we associate auspiciousness with the complexity of highly artificial worldly motives, and the duplicity of a practised cynicism. In point of fact, however, suspicious- ness is often produced less by experience of evil than by that fear of it which extremely narrow and indigent circumstances, and the knowledge that it is but a very fine line which divides you from starvation, tend to inspire. The feeling in the people that they have no resources behind them if the slender resources of the hour fail, is almost certain to inspire a certain simple suspiciousness lest any one should conspire against them to make those resources fail.
We have given instances of the suspiciousness which our author delineates in the Danish character; and now we will give an example of the simplicity in the conversation between Helga and her father when the two first speak to each other of the possibility that Hardy is attached to Helga. It would be difficult, we think, to conceive a simpler or more touching kind of confidence between the father and the daughter. We should premise that Hardy has just offered to look after the fortunes of the elder of the two boys in England, and has asked to be allowed to dress him in the English fashion :—
4' Helga went to her father's study. She told him what Hardy had said. I think it is so noble of him, little father, to be so con- siderate; he seems to think beforehand of everything.'—' Yes,' said Pastor Lindal, 'I have learnt to know that, if he does anything, he is sure to find out the kindest way to do it. I will go at once and thank him.'—' And I told him, little father, that he despised everything Danish, even to a boy's clothes,' said Helga, between whom and her father existed a perfect trust in one another ; 'and he looked hurt, and I feel so sorry, little father.'—' You treat him as if you disliked him, Helga, but if you do he has certainly given no cause, and he is entitled to common civility. I think what you told me you said to him at the horse-race was irritating and wrong.'—' I feel it was, little father, but I do my utmost to try not to like him or any one. Kirstin has told him that my duty is to you and Karl and Axel, and that I could never marry. I know it is my duty to live for you, little father, and that you could not get on without me.'—' You have a duty to yourself, Helga,' said her father, gravely, as he saw that his daughter liked Hardy, and that her conduct towards him had only been an effort to do what she thought her duty in life. He saw also that in a short time Hardy would see it too. There is no man I like so much,' added he ; but I do not wish to lead you to like any one, yet there is no good in struggling against what is natural and neces- sary. Now, Helga, answer me this—has he said anything to you F' —' No, no; not a word !' replied Helga, quickly.—' I was sure of it,' said her father, 'and he will not ; he is under my roof, and he will say nothing to me or you—he has too much delicacy of feeling to do so.'—' But, little father, he looks on me as an inferior,' said Helga. He is so superior in everything, that I feel asif he said, "You are a
simple country girl." Well,' said her father, what are you else ? But I am sure he never said or, by his manner, led you to infer that he thought you his inferior.'—' It is not that,' said Helga. ' If he but opens the door and enters a room or leaves it, he does so in a manner I cannot describe. He is not like other men. He does everything well and knows everything well. He makes me feel I am so small.'—' When he is with me,' said the Pastor, he makes me feel the better Christian and more kindly towards every one. When he first came he tanght me one sentence I shall never forget, " that kindliness is the real gold of life." But you said that on the first Sunday he was here, little father, in your sermon,' interrupted Helga. —' Bat I learnt it from him,' said the Pastor. But there is something I think I had better tell you, as there should be perfect confidence, even in thought, between us my child. When Karl came from the Jensens' the other day, he repeated what Mathilde Jensen said about Hardy buying Rosendal. I think myself it is probable— mind, I only say probable. I see he observes everything you do, and that your unfair speeches hurt him. He asked me if you were, as Fru Jensen said, attached to Kapellan Holm, and his manner for the moment changed. He is going to bring his mother over to Denmark, and judging from his character of simple, kindly consideration for every one, it is clear he wishes his mother to see you before he speaks.'—' Oh, little father, it cannot be true,'
said Helga; it cannot be true No, it is not true ; but it is, as said, probable,' replied her father. But there is one thing I should like to tell him myself, if you dislike what I have said, and that is, if he should entertain anything of the sort, that you have no wish in that direction. I do not think it right to let him nurse the pro- bability in his mind that you might listen to him when he comes with his mother next year, when it would be painful to her to see her only son get a Kury ' (literally, a basket; the meaning is a rejection). ' I think we should save them this, as it would be a heavy blow to both son and mother.'—' But Kirstin has told him I cannot marry, little father,' said Helga, 'and he believes Herr Hardy will not care what an old woman says,' replied her father ; but there is no need to say anything whatever, and nothing must be said unless you feel you could never listen to him.'—' I do not know what to say, little father,' said Helga, with a bright gleam of coming happiness in her eyes.—' Then we will say nothing, and let things take their course,' said Pastor Lindal. ' It is beat so. You do not know your own mind yet, and it is possible it is the same with Hardy ; only do not build too much on this, Helga. And now kiss your little father, and I will go and thank Hardy for his goodness about Karl.' " These passages will give our readers a very clear idea of the excellence of a great part of this book. The life in it is so good that we much regret the manner in which Danish legends and antiquities are shovelled-in. This gives the book a heaviness not
properly belonging to it. There is ia it real brightness. depth, and force. It ought not to have been supplemented from Danish guide-books and from Danish dictionaries of antiquities.
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