Peter Christian had visited their brother, but he had been unable to learn
whether Rudelbach had managed to read the dissertation, and he wished
Peter Christian to infor mhi mabout this without delay.
When the father had finished writing this letter he had Søren Aabye
make a copy of it in the “copy book.” While this was going on they were
interrupted by an unexpected visitor, and Søren Aabye seized the opportu-
nity to write, at the botto mof the letter, “I (Søren) will soon write to you
in order, among other things, to refute Father.” Søren Aabye did not man-
age to write immediately, but it is easy to see what he wanted to protest.
Intheletterhehadbeensettocopysopainstakinglyhehadreadsomething
concerning himself: “I don’t know how things are with Søren. I cannot
induce hi mto write to you. Is it intellectual poverty, so that he cannot
think of anything to write? Or childish vanity, so that he is unwilling to
write anything for which he cannot expect to be praised, and, since he is
unsure of himself in this respect, he would thus prefer to write nothing at
all?” It was not pleasant for Søren Aabye to enter these lines in the copy
book, but in fact Peter Christian also thought that Søren Aabye was being
“childish” during this period. Indeed, Peter Christian wrote to his brother-
in-law Henrik Ferdinand Lund: “The fact that Søren is not growing is just
as inconceivable to me as the fact that he does not write—or rather, the
latter is explained by the former.”
Apparently, to write is to grow.Studiosus Severinus
PeterChristianreachedParisinthesummerof1830.Thepoliticalsituation
wasstrainedtotheburstingpoint,andrevolutionsuddenlybecameabloody
reality. His diary reports a firefight on July 28, when “a passerby with a
knowing smile put two musket balls in my fist” for use during the coming
battle. Back home, the family feared the worst, but Peter Christian escaped
from the country and returned home unscathed, carrying his German doc-
toral diploma in his baggage.
And while the fall of the Bourbon regime was touching off rebellions all
overEurope,SørenAabye’sschooldayswerecomingtoanend.Hismother
was concerned about how everything would turn out: “The young man is
a bit too free and easy about it,” as she put it. But when he became a
university student in October 1830, he had top marks (laudabilis) [Latin:
“praiseworthy”] in all subjects and did exceptionally well (laudabilis præ ce-
teris) [Latin: “outstanding”] in Danish composition, Greek, history, and
French. Headmaster Nielsen penned the following “school report”: “A26 {1813–1834}