128 MAY IN DENMARK 



On the whole, perhaps, the mean speed of Danish 

 trains is less than those of any other country ; but it is 

 a narrow land, and there is always the risk of running 

 over the edge of it. Besides, as you cannot fail to 

 observe, the train officials have an immense deal of 

 gossip to exchange with the station officials and 

 bystanders. The time-tables have been arranged to suit 

 this requirement, and we run into Copenhagen punc- 

 tually to a minute. It is Sunday evening, and ex- 

 cursion trains are discharging crowds of trippers 

 returning from the country. Most of these people 

 carry wild flowers, and especially large sprays of beech 

 with new tender foliage. The beech leaves are sadly 

 withered, and I am disposed to pity these people for 

 the disappointment they have earned by carrying home 

 material of such transient beauty. But they know 

 well what they are about. Next day my business took 

 me into a number of houses in the town, the suburbs, 

 and the country ; every room seemed to contain fresh 

 beech boughs, which, set in water, had revived, and 

 formed a charming and simple decoration. As the oak 

 is to England, the chestnut to Lombardy, and the pine 

 to Switzerland, so the beech is the glory of Denmark. 

 Comparatively few holiday makers ever think of 

 Copenhagen the 'market harbour' (just as our own 

 Chipping Norton is the 'market north town') as a 

 place of quiet resort ; yet it possesses many agreeable 

 qualities not to be found in cities of wider renown 

 Moreover, except Italy, Denmark is perhaps the only 

 country in Europe where an Englishman may feel sure 



