aying in the churchyard, I would stand outside the railings, and
wish that I were but among the fortunate ones--not for the sake of
the play, but for the many books they had, and for what they might
be able to become in the world.

"An old female tailor altered my deceased father's greatcoat into a
confirmation suit for me; never before had I worn so good a coat. I
had also, for the first time in my life, a pair of boots. My
delight was extremely great; my only fear was that every body would
not see them, and therefore I drew them up over my trousers, and
thus marched through the church. The boots creaked, and that
inwardly pleased me, for thus the congregation would hear that they
were new. My whole devotion was disturbed. I was aware of it, and
it caused me a horrible pang of conscience that my thoughts should
be as much with my new boots as with God. I prayed him earnestly
from my heart to forgive me, and then again I thought upon my new
boots.

"During the last year I had saved together a little sum of money.
When I counted it over, I found it to be thirteen rix-dollars banco
(about thirty shillings.) I was quite overjoyed at the possession
of so much wealth; and as my mother now most resolutely required
that I should be apprenticed to a tailor, I prayed and besought her
that I might make a journey to Copenhagen, that I might see the
greatest city in the world.

"'What wilt thou do there?' asked my mother.

"'I will become famous,' returned I; and I then told her all that I
had read about extraordinary men. 'People have,' said I, 'at first
an immense deal of adversity to go through, and then they will be
famous.'

"It was a wholly unintelligible impulse that guided me. I wept and
prayed, and at last my mother consented, after having first sent
for a so-called wise-woman out of the hospital, that she might read
my future fortune by the coffee-grounds and cards.

"'Your son will become a great man!' said the old woman; 'and in
honour of him all Odense will one day be illuminated.'

"My mother wept when she heard that, and I obtained permission to
travel."--(p. 27.)

So, at the age of fourteen, with thirty shillings in his pocket, and his
idea of becoming famous by going through a deal of adversity, he comes
to Copenhagen--the Paris, the