from this the German commercial travellers
acquired the name in Denmark of "Pepper Swains, or Bachelors." They
entered into an agreement before they left home not to marry; and many
of them lived there to old age. They had to do entirely for
themselves, attend to all little domestic matters, even make their own
fires if they had any. Several of them became lonely old men, with
peculiar thoughts and peculiar habits. Every unmarried man who has
arrived at a certain age is now here called after them in derision,
"Pebersvend"--old bachelor. It was necessary to relate all this, in
order that our story might be understood.

People made great fun of these old bachelors; laughed at their
nightcaps, at their drawing them down over their eyes, and so retiring
to their couches.

"Saw the firewood, saw it through!
Old bachelors, there's work for you.
To bed with you your nightcaps go;
Put out your lights, and cry, 'O woe!'"

Yes, such songs were made on them. People ridiculed the old bachelor
and his nightcap, just because they knew so little about him, or it.
Alas! let no one desire such a nightcap. And why not? Listen!

Over in the "Small Houses' Street," in ancient days, there was no
pavement; people stepped from hole to hole as in a narrow, cut-up
defile; and narrow enough this was, too. The dwellings on the opposite
side of the street stood so close together, that in summer a sail was
spread across the street from one booth to another, and the whole
place was redolent of pepper, saffron, ginger, and various spices.
Behind the desks stood few young men; no, they were almost all old
fellows; and they were by no means, as we would represent them,
crowned with a peruke or a nightcap, and equipped in shaggy
pantaloons, a vest and coat buttoned tightly up. This was the costume
in which our forefathers were painted, it is true; but this community
of old bachelors could not afford to have their pictures taken. Yet it
would have been worth while now to have preserved a portrait of one of
them, as they stood behind their desks, or on festival days, when they
wended their way to church. The hat they wore was broad-brimmed, and
with a high crown; and sometimes one of the younger men would stick a
feather in his. The woollen shirt was concealed by a deep linen
collar; the tight-fitting jacket was closely buttoned, a loose cloak
over it; and the pantaloons descended almost into the square-toed
shoes, for stockings the