on
my side was, that I was too busy listening to find time for talking.

"Dear! dear! And you are going to Iceland!" he continued. "A long way
from California! I would like to visit America, but it is very
dangerous to travel by sea. A vessel was burned up not long since, and
many of my friends were lost. It was a dreadful affair."

From this he diverged to a trip he then had in contemplation through
Switzerland and Spain. He was sitting for his statuette, which he
desired to leave as a memento to his friends prior to his departure. A
young Danish sculptor was making it. Would I like to see it? and
forthwith I was introduced to the young Danish sculptor. The likeness
was very good, and my comments upon it elicited many additional thanks
and several squeezes of the hand--it was so kind of me to be pleased
with it! "He is a young student," said Andersen, approvingly; "a very
good young man. I want to encourage him. He will be a great artist
some day or other."

Talking of likenesses reminded me of a photograph which I had
purchased a few days before, and to which I now asked the addition of
an autograph.

[Illustration: [Signature: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN]]

"Oh, you have a libel on me here!" cried the poet, laughing
joyously--"a very bad likeness. Wait! I have several much better; here
they are--" And he rushed into the next room, tumbled over a lot of
papers, and ransacked a number of drawers till he found the desired
package--"here's a dozen of them; take your choice; help yourself--as
many as you please!" While looking over the collection, I said the
likeness of one who had done so much to promote the happiness of some
little friends I had at home would be valued beyond measure; that I
knew at least half a dozen youngsters who were as well acquainted with
the "Little Match Girl," and the "Ugly Duck," and the "Poor Idiot
Boy," as he was himself, and his name was as familiar in California as
it was in Denmark. At this he grasped both my hands, and looking
straight in my face with a kind of ecstatic expression, said, "Oh, is
it possible? Do they really read my books in California? so far away!
Oh! I thank you very much. Some of my stories, I am aware, have been
published in New York, but I did not think they had found their way to
the Pacific Coast. Dear me! Thank you! thank you! Have you seen my
last--the--what do you call it in English?--a little animal--"

"Mouse," I suggested.

"No, not a mouse; a little a