(1859)
At a rich merchant’s house there was a children’s party, and the children
of rich and great people were there. The merchant was a learned man, for
his father had sent him to college, and he had passed his examination. His
father had been at first only a cattle dealer, but always honest and
industrious, so that he had made money, and his son, the merchant, had
managed to increase his store. Clever as he was, he had also a heart; but
there was less said of his heart than of his money. All descriptions of people
visited at the merchant’s house, well born, as well as intellectual, and some
who possessed neither of these recommendations.
Now it was a children’s party, and there was children’s prattle, which
always is spoken freely from the heart. Among them was a beautiful little
girl, who was terribly proud; but this had been taught her by the servants,
and not by her parents, who were far too sensible people.
Her father was groom of the Chambers, which is a high office at court,
and she knew it. “I am a child of the court,” she said; now she might just as
well have been a child of the cellar, for no one can help his birth; and then
she told the other children that she was well-born, and said that no one who
was not well-born could rise in the world. It was no use to read and be
industrious, for if a person was not well-born, he could never achieve
anything. “And those whose names end with ‘sen,’” said she, “can never be
anything at all. We must put our arms akimbo, and make the elbow quite
pointed, so as to keep these ‘sen’ people at a great distance.” And then she
stuck out her pretty little arms, and made the elbows quite pointed, to show
how it was to be done; and her little arms were very pretty, for she was a
sweet-looking child.
But the little daughter of the merchant became very angry at this speech,
for her father’s name was Petersen, and she knew that the name ended in
