[17] Of her three sons, Abel slew his brother Erik for the crown, and was himself slain by a peasant in the highway. His body was buried in a swamp, with a stake driven through the heart to lay his grievous ghost. Christopher, who took the sceptre last, was poisoned by a monk in the sacrament as he knelt at the altar-rail in the Domkirke; and in the division of the kingdom between the brothers that gave cause for their quarrels, began Denmark’s woes, which in our own day culminated in her dismemberment, when Germany took Slesvig, Abel’s dukedom. Queen Bengerd herself was the worst-hated woman in Danish history, as Dagmar is yet the best-beloved. In death the people’s hatred would not let her rest. When her grave was opened in my boyhood, it was found that the stone slab which covered it had been pried off and a round boulder dropped in the place made for her head. Yet her beautiful black braid was there, and the skull, so delicate in its perfect oval, that those who saw it marvelled greatly. [18] It is upon his “History of Ribe Town,” in two stout volumes, that I have drawn in these sketches for the ancient records that enliven its pages. [19] The river was included, I suppose; at all events, it contributed to his revenues. An old law provided that whoever polluted the stream by throwing any uncleanness into it should lose his life. The Thirteenth Century had a curious way of anticipating the things upon which the Twentieth prides itself with much vaunting. We cry out against water pollution; they prohibited it. It is easy to understand that there were no sewers in Ribe. [20] The summer of 1904, the year of our home-coming. [21] October 11-12, 1634. The worst flood in Danish history. Over twenty-two thousand persons perished in it, all along the coast. In one village hard by Ribe--Melby--only one young man was left alive. BY JACOB A. RIIS THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN _An Autobiography_ “It is refreshing to find a book so unique and captivating ... one of the brightest, wholesomest, most fascinating books of the season.”--_Record-Herald_, Chicago. “It fairly bubbles over with happiness, energy, and inspiration.... It is partly the pleasure of watching a desperate, thrilling contest against big odds, with success at the end, that gives this book its keen appeal.”--_Boston Herald._ “As varied and delightful as any romance.”--_Publishers’ Weekly._ _Cloth, $1.50 net_ THE BATTLE WITH THE SLUM “Mr. Riis is a man who does not theorize, but who knows. His book is full of pathetic pictures, painful in their truth but beautiful in their meaning. No one who is interested in sociology can afford to miss what he has to say.”--_Current Literature._ “The book thrills you as much as the most exciting romance and to far better purpose.”--_The Boston Herald._ _Cloth, $2.00 net_ CHILDREN OF THE TENEMENTS