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must quit, and the new ones may take possession:.
All is hurry scurry. 0 the m iseries of a "F lyttedag1”
which none but those who have experienced can
realize. Yet it would seem a pastime o f the people,
for the whole town appears changing quarters on
these days — a valid objection, one would suppose,
to lodging on flats.
But there is a day more remarkable, perhaps,
than the "Flyttedag.” The fourth Friday after Easter
is "
Store
Bededag
”
or Great Prayer Day, a day
more respected (though that is not saying much)
than Sunday; for, in addition to other observances,
an extra Service is held in all the churches. On the
E ve o f this day the Church-bells toll from 6 to 7
o’clock, and the whole town turn out to promenade
the ramparts during that hour. But,
mirabile dictu !
the people them selves do not know for a certainty
w h y they so strictly observe this day.
Some
suppose it was appointed as a day o f general
thanksgiving because that about this time one o f
the great fires, which have so often devastated the
city, c ea sed : Others, because the ravages of a plague,
were stayed: while not a few assert that one of
their k in g s, (perhaps Christian
IV.),
being in great
peril during a terrible storm , vowed to dedicate
something
to God if he reached land again.
The
ship weathered thp gale, and the Monarch returned
in safety to his faithful subjects; so the day was