The Old Bachelor's Nightcap

There is a street in Copenhagen with a very strange name. It is called 'Hysken' street. Where the name came from, and what it means is very uncertain. It is said to be German, but this is unjust to the Germans, for it would then be called 'Hauschen,' and not 'Hysken.' 'Hauschen,' means a little house; and for many years it consisted only of a few small houses, which were scarcely larger than the wooden booths we see in the market places at a fair time. They were perhaps a little higher, and had windows; but the panes consisted of horn or bladder-skins, for glass was then too dear to have glazed windows in every house. This was a long time ago, so long indeed that our grandfathers, and even great-grandfathers, would speak of those days as 'olden ×' indeed, many centuries have passed since then.