A Rustic Church.

Dragon Tower Of The Exchange.

Clean Streets And Picturesqu E Canals.

The Danes are very fond of excursions. Never have I seen such an immense popular exodus of pleasure-seekers from any city as I beheld streaming forth from Copenhagen into its charming environs on the Whitsuntide holidays. But there was no excitement visible among these people, and I heard no shouting, singing, or gay laughter. A more orderly crowd never assembled. In fact, the Danes, as a race, impressed me as being somewhat reticent and undemonstrative. When a smile breaks over their naturally serious faces, the effect is as startling as it is agreeable. I do not mean by this that they are gloomy or morose, but merely that they enjoy their pleasures quietly. It is, however, probable that Hamlet was not the only " melancholy Dane." Below the surface of the stream of Danish life there flows an undercurrent of inexplicable sadness. The number of voluntary deaths in Denmark exceeds that of any other country in Europe. Thus, for every million of people there occur here, annually, two hundred and fifty-five suicides, as contrasted with one hundred and fifty-five in France, one hundred and forty-three in Prussia, eighty-six in Sweden, seventy-two in Norway, sixty-eight in England, and thirty-seven in Italy. Why this astonishing difference should exist, particularly in the neighboring country of Sweden, where the climatic influences are so similar, is a sociological problem worth investigating.

The Langelin1e, A Promenade Near Copenhagen.

Denmark is not a rich country, and I fancy that most of its inhabitants are obliged to practice strict economy. It is perhaps to save the expense of bar-tenders and servants that "Automatic Cafes" have recently been introduced into Copenhagen. Curiosity led me to inspect one, but I never cared to repeat the experience. Imagine a long, lonely sideboard, from which emerge at regular intervals twenty or thirty faucets, resembling those of a soda-fountain. Each customer walks up to this mysterious tank, and selects from its extensive array of labels the beverage that he desires, whether it be whisky, brandy, gin, sherry, beer, or ale. Then, having taken one from a number of empty glasses, he "drops a nickel in the slot," and turns a faucet; when Lo! the wished-for liquid gushes forth in just such quantity and quality as the coin has called for. The air of secrecy and lack of sociability that hung about this automatic "bar-tender" were to me dispiriting, since the only employe visible about the premises was the servant, who washed the glasses with a reticence worthy of a Trappist monk. Two or three patrons had ventured to sit down at a table, but they wore the restless look of one in haste to catch a train. Others were standing around and drinking furtively, as if they had stolen what they were imbibing; and I was, myself, only too glad to leave my glass and hurry out again into the freer company of my fellow-men.

A Copenhagen Park.

Judging from the educated Danes whom I met, I should say that both English and German are spoken by the upper classes fluently. Naturally the use of the latter tongue is more general in a country contiguous to the territory of the Kaiser; but many of the shop-keepers, railway and steamboat officials, and even cab-drivers in Copenhagen speak English with much accuracy. This is not strange, however, when one considers that by far the greater part of Denmark's trade is with England. The two countries are in close commercial contact, and the wharves of Copenhagen present a scene of great activity. No less than thirty-five thousand ships and steamers enter and leave the harbor annually, and business with foreigners has quadrupled in the last thirty years. The Danes receive from England timber, coal and firewood and in their turn send back to Britain live stock, butter and provisions. Danish horses are in great demand abroad as draught animals; and, for its size, this little kingdom has the largest herds of horned cattle in Europe. It is, however, from the exportation of farm products that Denmark receives her largest revenue. About twenty million eggs are shipped to England every year, and nearly twenty-five million pounds of butter. I do not wonder that the latter commodity finds a ready market. Never have I tasted purer, sweeter and more delicious butter than in Denmark; and if an extra charge of five cents be made for it at meals, one pays it gladly, not only on account of its excellence, but because the amount thus served is usually generous enough for a party of four persons.