there is a street in copenhagen with a very strange name. it is called “hysken” street. where the name came from, and what it means is very uncertain. it is said to be german, but that is unjust to the germans, for it would then be called “hauschen,” not “hysken.” “hauschen,” means a little house; and for many years it consisted only of a few small houses, which were scarcely larger than the wooden booths we see in the market-places at fair time. they were perhaps a little higher, and had windows; but the panes consisted of horn or bladder-skins, for glass was then too dear to have glazed windows in every house. this was a long time ago, so long indeed that our grandfathers, and even great-grandfathers, would speak of those days as “olden times;” indeed, many centuries have passed since then.
the rich merchants in bremen and lubeck, who carried on trade in copenhagen, did not reside in the town themselves, but sent their clerks, who dwelt in the wooden booths in the hauschen street, and sold beer and spices. the german beer was very good, and there were many sorts—from bremen, prussia, and brunswick—and quantities of all sorts of spices, saffron, aniseed, ginger, and especially pepper; indeed, pepper was almost the chief article sold here; so it happened at last that the german clerks in denmark got their nickname of “pepper gentry.” it had been made a condition with these clerks that they should not marry; so that those who lived to be old had to take care of themselves, to attend to their own comforts, and even to light their own fires, when they had any to light. many of them were very aged; lonely old boys, with strange thoughts and eccentric habits. from this, all unmarried men, who have attained a certain age, are called, in denmark, “pepper gentry;” and this must be remembered by all those who wish to understand the story. these “pepper gentlemen,” or, as they are called in england, “old bachelors,” are often made a butt of ridicule; they are told to put on their nightcaps, draw them over their eyes, and go to sleep. the boys in denmark make a song of it, thus:—
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