Page:Pontoppidan - Emanuel, or Children of the Soil (1896).djvu/11



"Emanuel, or Children of the Soil," Henrik Pontoppidan gives us a chapter in the Evolution of the Danish Peasant. The period he chooses for the story, about twenty years ago, was one filled with the falling echoes of great religious and political enthusiasms.

Until 1788, when Serfage was abolished under the regency of Frederik the Sixth, "the People's Friend," the Danish Peasant was simply a slave, bought and sold with the land he laboured on, and absolutely at the mercy of his feudal lord. Personal freedom became his then, but he was still without the other rights of a citizen. These were, however, granted him in the fullest measure by the Constitution of 1849, a constitution that was then the most free of any in Europe. This gave him, amongst other things, Religious Liberty, Manhood Suffrage, Free Education, a Free Press, and Parish Councils. The outburst of popular enthusiasm at this juncture was immense. The Peasant was half intoxicated with his new powers, and was anxious to experiment with them at once. vii