At that time I cherished a
sincere admiration, with only slight reservations, for Heiberg, Hertz,
Hostrup and many others as comic playwriters, and was not far short of
attributing to their works an importance equal to those of Holberg. And
yet I was unable to avoid giving offence. I had, it appears, about
Heiberg's _Klister and Malle_, an inseparable betrothed couple,
used what was, for that matter, an undoubtedly Kierkegaardian
expression, viz., _to beslobber a relation_. This expression was
repeated indignantly to the Headmistress, and the thoughtless lecturer
was requested to call upon the Principal of the college. When, after a
long wait, and little suspecting what was going to be said to me, I was
received in audience, it appeared that I had been summoned to receive a
polite but decided admonition against wounding the susceptibilities of
my listeners by expressions which were not "good form," and when I,
unconscious of wrongdoing, asked which expression she alluded to, the
unfortunate word "beslobber" was alleged; my young hearers were not
"'Arriets" for whom such expressions might be fitting.
I was not asked again to give lectures for young ladies.
VIII.
Hitherto, when I had appeared before the reading public, it had only
been as the author of shorter or longer contributions to the
philosophical discussion of the relations between Science and Faith;
when these had been accepted by a daily paper it had been as its
heaviest ballast.
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