, 1892-03-16
HANS ANDERsEN,s CORRESPONDENTS
FROM the Spectator, Feb. Stu

translation of Andersen's Improvi80tors, she :
gave a short account Of his early struggles.
The child Of q poor washerwoman, he had
everything against him in the battle OF life
save q cheerful, childlike nature, and q ge-
MUS strong enough to overcome the obsta-
cles of his position. The story of his childish
days reads like a romance, which is all the
more pathetic and beautiful from the limo
cent and sweetness of the character it dlsclo-
ses.
Andersen's egotism' and vanity are trans
parent in these letters, but in his case
these peculiarities are scarcely to be re-
qarded as faults, for the man who, above all
other writer's Of our time, knew how to de-
light children, was himself, ss 1t has been
truly said, a child all his life long. His ex-
IRENE poverty in early youth was not 8
painful to Andersen do it would have proved
to most men. Although be SOMETIMES suffered
from the want of food, he writes that he did
not feel the whole burden Of his condition.
II took every one who spoke a kind word to
me for an honest friend. God was with me
in my little room, and many an evening when
I had said my evening prayer, l asked aim
in childlike fashion, "Wil 1t ever go better
with me pr Even in the days Of loneliness
and want. ,rGe borrowed volumes Of Walter
Scott, and forgot his poverty IN an ideal
WOIlOp ulGCl ORCAGAAAS IL sAO ~EJ
that should have bought his dinner"
The road that led to happiness, though
not to fortune, for Andersen never gained
moro than q pittance for his works, was open
ed bv Councillor Collin, of the Theatre Royal,
Copenhagen, who discovered his genius and
recommended him to the King by whom he was
sent to a school where, at the age OF seven
teen, he was placed among the little boys.
The master treated him severely, laughed at
him for his ignorance, and made the poor tel
lows life SO miserable that Collin, seeing how
much his health was affected suddenly look
him away to the disgust OF the school, rector
who prophesied that Andersen would never
be q student, and would end his days IN q
madhouse. The flower of his genius needed
a more genial soil. He became 8 student at
the University at Copenhagen, studied dill
gently, took Il good degree, and wrote q
plav. which was produced at the theatre and
proved brilliantly successful. At twenty-slx
the poet had q loye-disappointment, winch
yielded some good verses. Andersen vas
convinced that he should never be happy
again, and even wished that hemlght die; but
if the letters tell a true story, ''the great larry
tale Of his life as he often calls it, was not
for any length of time affected by this sor-
row. His nature and creed made him hope
full, his faith in human nature was unboun-
ded, and from the age OF thlrty OF mere
abouts, he may be said to have walked
through life on the sunny side OF the
road.
The volume before US is q selection from
the Danish edition Of AnGeroen's CorTespon-
dencs, which contains upwards OF eight
hundred letters. His vanity led HIM to
cherish every line, important or trivial, writ
ten or in print, that touched upon his career;
but English readers who already know An
dersen through his Autobiography and IN his
works, will probably find enough in the letters
chosen for them by Mr.. Crawford to satisfy
their curiosity.
Throughout life Andersen was, as we have
said, comparatively a poor man, and III spite
of his numberleSs admirers, he received far
more praise than gold. He hungered after
love and sympathy, he was proud of the
friendship Of his KING and Of the Duke OF Wei
mar; but there is no indication that he was
ever troubled with the ambition that leads to
wealth. A poet who had risen from the meanest
rank to enjoy the friendship of high dignltaries
as we'll as of famous novelists and poets, who
lived to see his stories translated into most
modern languages, and his native town illu-
minated in his honour, may well be excused
if he felt some elatlon at the reception won
for him by his genius and by q nature emf
nently loveable and sincere.
His latters show what we knew already. his