The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-09-17
9nr hf Ghildreu.
Hans Christian Andersen.


crowded enough with the great bedstead,
the table, the dresser filed with shining
pots and pans, and the bench by which
day, while his mother did the Homework.
But there was plenty of room in it for
great deal of fun and enjoyment.
The mother had pasted pictures over
the walls until wherever the baby looked
he saw story. The father had shelf
full of books and songs, for though I'M
taught he had a poets heart. There was
another pleasure, and that was garden
on the roof, to which Hans climbed by a
ladder when his limbs grew strong, and
there for hours he would play among the
budding plants.
Always in May, when the woods were
lovely, the parents would go together to
bring home green branches, with which
they decked their home, and on Sunday
afternoons little Hans and his father used
often to spend hours in the forest strolling
about or listening to the birds.
A very bright, CHEEKY life the little boy
lived in his earliest years. Everybody
petted him. His mother sent him to
school to learn his A, B, G, but made the
teacher promise never to punish him.
He was very gentle, and fond of dreaming
in the sunny yard, under a tent made by
placing his mothers apron over two cur.
rant bushes. Sometimes he played for
hours with dolls, which he loved to dress.
Gentle as he was, he was fearless too.
During the harvest his mother sometimes
went to the fields to CLEAN after the reap
ers. One day she and her friends were
cleaning in the field of a very cross man
of whom everybody was afraid. A cry
was raised that this wretch was coming.
Sure enough, on he strobe, fourishing
great whip, and calling the poor people
names. They all ran away, and little
Hans, not 80 strong as the rest, presently
lost his wooden shoes, and found that the
fierce bailiff was almost upon him.
He turned round, looked with his blue
baby eyes right into the angry face, and
said " How dare you strike me when God
can see it'll
The harsh man stopped at once, lowered
his whip, and pstting his rosy cheeks,
gave the brave child some coins from his
pocket. 1t was an unheard-of thing and
Hans's mother exclaimed "Truly a strange
boy is my Hans; nobody can resist him."
By.and-by the merry, easy-going years
came to an end. The father died, the
mother married again, and there was talk
of apprenticing the lad to tailor.
This did not delight Hans. His smbi-
ton was to be an actor or great singer;
and no wonder, for he had clear high
soprano voice of such sweetness that
throng gathered to hear him whenever he
sang, and he had talent for mimicry,
and could invent plays of his own, in
which he made his dolls and toys take the
part of the several characters.
Andersen was only fourteen years old
when, imploring his mothers consent to
let him go and try his fortunes in the
great world, he set off for Copenhagen.
He had only very little money, and his
clothing was tied up in a small bundle.
The neighbors told his mother that she
would never see him again, and that it
was dreadful to let boy so young and 80
full of silly fancies 60 so far by himself.
One wise old woman, however, said
L" Let him 60. He will become great
man, and in his honor Odense will one
day be illuminated"
At the city gates his mother and grand
mother kissed him and babe him goodbye,
and he was presently well on his way. By
one rude conveyance or another he
reached Copenhagen.
The first thing he did, when fairly away
from home, was to kneel on the ground
behind shed and ask Gods blessing.
Arrived at the capital, he soon found
friends who were interested in him on &C.
count of his voice. A celebrated COM
poser took him into his house and gave
him lessons. After while, alas the
voice broke and lost its sweetness, and it
seemed great calamity. But what looked
vantage, for it resulted in Andersen's
being sent, for the first time in his life,
to good school.
Here, though often panied by boys who
did not understand him, and by the curt
ness of the masters, Hans distinguished
himself by diligence and by progress. A
lad of nearly seventeen, thin and awk-
ward, he was obliged at first to enter
classes with little fellows; but he did not
mind this, for he wanted to learn and to
please his kind patron, Councillor Collin
of Copenhagen. He had to work hard,
for although he had written verses, he
knew nothing of grammar, geography, or
spelling, let alone Latin, which was one OF
his new tasks.
When very little fellow an old wash.
erwoman had told Hans that the empire
of China was directly under his feet
Sometimes he would 60 and sing as loud
as he could, hoping that prince of Chi
ma hearing him, would dig himself up,
and bring him fortune. Years after,
when declaiming or reading his beautiful
stories to delighted audiences, he said that
he would find himself watching for the
prince to pop up through the floor.
Well, the boy became poet, and wrote
novels, and finally began to write stories
for children. His works are published
in ten volumes, and many of them are
filled with the sweetest, daintiest anG
purest stories in the catalogue of children't
literature. The Snow Queen, The Ugly
Duckling, The Tin Soldier, The Fir-Tree
The Darning- Needle, and The Little Cir
with Matches, are among the favorites.
When his first works appeared they
met with some sharp criticisms. In com
pany one day learned divine was calling
attention to words which were repeated
in one of his stories, when child of six
pointing with her dimpled finger, said
"Sir, there is still little word abou
which you have not scolded," and tn
little word was "and." 1t is to be hopet
the good man was ashamed of himself.
The children adored Andersen, not il
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