CopenhagenAndItsEnvirons

13

T h e R eligion o f the C ountry is L u th e ra n ; but

all C reeds an d Sects are now tolerated.

E ducation is com pulsory. P o o r p aren ts p ay a nom inal sum w eekly for the education o f their child ren a t the G ov ernm en t scho ols; so th a t alm ost all th e low er class can read and w rite , m ore or less. Confirm ation, too, is com pulsory. Until th a t rite h a s been receiv ed , the y o u th o f b o th sexes a re , as it w e re , in statu pupillari; b u t, once re ce iv e d , th ey jum p from children to be m en and wom en. Certificates o f B aptism , Confirm ation, and V accin atio n , are a sine qua non to the entering on service, apprenticeship, m atrim ony, etc. T h e O ld-D anish is now nearly a dead language in its own C o u n try , as is O ld -E ng lish am ong ourselves. B ut the O ld -N o rth ern ch aracter o f the D anish is still a b u n d an tly e v id e n t, and the b est and m ost expressive, the m ost n atio nal and tuneful, o f all its w ords are O ld -N orth ern. N otw ithstanding, h ow e v er, the difference o f the elem ents b y w hich the two lang uages h av e been m odified, — the one by th e N o rm an , the o ther by the G erm an, — the E nglish and D anish m ay still be considered sister- m em bers o f the G othic group. T h e D an ish language, th e n , is by no m eans difficult of acquirem ent by an E nglishm an, still less so by a Scotchm an, or an in h ab itan t o f the N orth ern p a rt of England.