The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1878-01-16
From Frank Leslie,s Sunday Magazine.
THE LAST DAYS OF HANS CHRISTIAN
ANDERSEN.

The sunlight of Christian faith, which had
shone within the gentle, loving spirit of An
dersen from his early years, continued to
shine to the end. In MS last year, when
talking of the spirit world, he said, Z" / wish
l may be able to send messages from there
to all my friends. 1t is said | have bene-
flied the world by my writings-that through
them I have sent forth much good tidings TO
my fellow-creatures. l wish that from that
world 1 must now soon enter may be able
to send better tidings still-a right joyful,
cheering, awakening message TO all leave
behind" On another occasion, ne gave ex
preston not only to belief in individual i'm
mortality, but also in mutual recognition !:
When l was standing by old Fru D.
death-bed, was very near saying, If 1t le
possible for you to take a message from this
world to the other, give my very kind re
membranes to Hans Christian Orsted- l
didn't say it, however; for thought those
around might put some wrong construction
or other upon it"
About month before Audersen's death,
Hr. B0gh paid him visit, and found him III
great bodily suffering, and such extreme
weakness that he could only speak in scarce
y audible voice, and with pauses between
every few words, He was, however, full OF
deep peace. ~ am sovery happy" ne said
"the worlds so lovely, and human creatures
are so good-it's blessed Summer weather.
life's so beautiful feel as though l were
sailing away to far.off lands, away from all
sorrow and all evil" The next time Ilr.
B0gh visited him, which was little more than
fortnight before his death, he expressed
similar feelings. ct is we'll with me, he
said, "but I am weary. Everybody's SO
good, and everything's good. Tell whoever
asks about me that it is we'll with me, and
am happy" In his diary also, among re,
cords of weary days and sleepless nights OF
bodily suffering, are found such sentences as
these, under dates within month of his
death GA happy, blessed night" " 1t is
we'll with me; 1 am wonderfully happy"
Still, even up to the July preceding the
August in which he died, his thoughts about
death were most curiously mingled with
hopes of recovery. He had fully decided TO
undertake journey to Montreux in the com
ing September, and he had several letters
written to bespeak house, and make other
arrangements in readiness for his visit. de
also had his travelling trunk partly packed,
and ordered considerable quantity of new
linen, some new travelling clothes, and a fresh
stock of visitiug-cards. Stranger still, he
cherished a plan of building himself villa
This had been favorite idea with him for
some years past. 81 remember" says Hr
B0gh, that at dinner party, five years
before, he said he wished he we're rich enough
to build himself house according to his own
tastes. And when We asked him to tell uf
what it would be like, he answered, We'll.
that I can scarcely tell; but you may be
sure it would be fairy-tale house.
I will tell you, however, about the hall. Ii
should be circular and have glass roof
There should be plants growing up the walls,
and tall shrubs all around. In the middle
should be large fountain with gold fishes
aud all around, among the plants, | would
have busts of the great poets and of Thor
valdsen; and in the midst of them | would
sit and write verses; there would be great
things done, too, you may be very sure.
During his last Winter he wrote many
short poems, and revised two of his prose
works. Even within month of his death
he composed little poem; and up to his
last week kept a copious diary, intended for
po8thumous literary use. 1t gives the most
minute details of his daily life, and even con-
tains, under dates less than a fortnight be-
fore his death, long accounts of things which
happened in his youth. Hr. B0gh, in de-
scribing visit he he paid to Andersen in bis
last month, says, He babe me read aloud
to him the entries in his diary of the last
five days. He could only hear me imper-
fecty, but his always excellent memory was
still unimpaired, and he told me to add some
little things which had happened during the
last few days, and which he had himself for
gotten to insert"
Andersen retained, moreover, his interest
in the literary work of others. sit appear
ed to me" says Hr. B0gh, "that during his
last Winter he read even more than former
ly. All the new publications, down even to
comparatively trifing things, lay, read
through, upon his table, and he talked about
their contents. He read Oriental history,
the life of Mohammed, and, afterward, some
of the works of Oehlenschlaeger, especially
the tales. He said one day, " 0ehlenaChlae-
ger has the gift of eternal youth, and he has
always power to refresh me and put me in
tune. He cherished to the last
his warm love to this poet. Not long before
the end came, he said, "OehlensChaeger
was at one time, and indeed is still, the same
to me as Frederick vi. was to his people !;
they believed him when he wrote, We alone
know what is right" Certain it is, that
however many there may be who in old age
think they have accumulated so much wisdom
and knowledge SIS to render them COMPARE
lively independent of books, this was not the
case with the great poet of Denmark, rarely
gifted though ne was with power TO read from
those manuscripts of God" contained 10
the volumes of Nature and human society.
The great love of society, which was one
Of Audersen's most strongly marked charao-
teristies, still continued During the earlier
part Of bis illness, he received numerous Wis
itors. In bis diary, under date within three
weeks of his death, he records visit he re-
ceived from three little children, one baby
in the arms. He also often dined out with
friends, though he no longer went to dinner
parties, or read his own writings aloud after
dinner. az was his custom while in health.
TIE dying poet retained to the last that
wonderful faculty of finding pleasure and in
struction in simple, common things, which
was so great source of his special literary
power. "See here" he said one day to Hr.
B6gh, "pvs got all the four seasons of the
wear in the four corners of my windOws.-
Here are things with only branches-that's
VU;,+or. tbere ara soma delicate flowers