She dropped and ducked and bent her little body with all the grace of a d.u.c.h.ess of the Court.
Denmark is about the size of three-fifths of West Virginia, comprises fifteen thousand square miles and contains less than two millions of people,--about sixteen hundred thousand. She possesses no deposits of coal or iron, no forests of valuable timber; she has few manufactures.
Her people are farmers making a pinched living off the land, raising lean crops and selling b.u.t.ter and cheese, or they are crowded--one-fourth of them,--into the city of Copenhagen, or they are gaining a hardy livelihood upon the sea. And yet this diminutive kingdom puts up $275,000 a year for the keeping of the King, and also provides him and his family, tax free, with palaces and castles, and estates whereon to fish and hunt and play.
[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ANCIENT MOAT, NOW THE LOVELY OERSTEDS PARK.]
To an American mind it is amazing that a competent people will accept and suffer burdens such as these.
In the great state of New York, with its seven millions of people, with wealth of coal and iron, with immense primeval forests, with cities whose commerce expands with a swiftness almost incredible, the Governor is paid $15,000 a year, and allowed a single mansion wherein to dwell. Ma.s.sachusetts, Vermont and Michigan, and many other commonwealths, pay their Governors but $1,000 per year, without a mansion for their residence.
The mighty Republic of the United States itself, with a continent for domain, and eighty millions of people, pays its President $50,000 per year, and gives him the use of the White House for his home.
Therefore, do you wonder, as I stroll about this fine old city, and look into the unhopeful, wistful faces of its plainly clad, not over-rich nor over-busy people, that I begin to comprehend why Copenhagen holds the highest record for suicides of any city in the world, and why so many of her vigorous, and alert and capable, young men continually forsake their native land for the greater opportunities and freer political and industrial atmosphere of the United States?
The Dane always gets on if you give him half a chance. He is called the "Frenchman of the North." Graceful and supple in his manners, with a mouthful of courtesies of speech, he is naturally a social diplomat. The blunt Norwegian calls him a fop. The martial Swede sneers at his want of fight. But the Dane has always held his own, and as a financier, a diplomat and man-of-the-world able to make the best out of the situation he may be in, he still gives proof of possessing his full share of the Scandinavian brain.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A VISTA OF THE SUND.]
IV.
Elsinore and Kronborg--An Evening Dinner Party.
HELSINOERE, DANNMARK, _August 29, 1902_.
We left Copenhagen Friday evening, about four o"clock, from the Nordbane station. We were in plenty of time. n.o.body hurries in Denmark. The train of carriages, with their side doors wide open, stood on the track ready to start. Prospective pa.s.sengers and their friends moved about chatting, or saying good-bye. It was a local train to Elsinore, where it would connect with the ferry across the _Sund_ to Helsingborg and there with the through express to Stockholm and Kristiania, a night"s ride. We would go to Elsinore, and there spend the night, and go on by daylight in the morning.
A good many acquaintances had come down to see us off, just for the sake of friendliness. I had kissed all the rosy-cheeked _Froekens_ and been kissed by the _Frus_, having dexterously escaped the embraces of the men, when there loomed large before me an immense Dane, near six feet high and proportionate in girth, brown-bearded and blue-eyed, holding an enormous bouquet in either hand, an American flag waving from the midst of each. He made straight for me, folded me up among the flowers and kissed me joyfully on either cheek, and all before I really knew just what had taken place; then he doffed his hat, and bowing profoundly, presented first to me and then to H one of the bouquets with which he was loaded. And these bouquets were tied up with great white ribbons! Of course, we were evidently but newly wed.
We suddenly became of interest to the entire company. Nor was there escape, for General C is well known and popular in Copenhagen. Others now came up and were introduced, and H and I held a _levee_ right then and there, and of kisses and embraces I made no count.
The ride was along the _Sund_, that lovely stretch of salt water, only a few miles wide, which joins the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic. It is more like the Hudson River below West Point than anything I know, except that the sh.o.r.es are low and more generally wooded to the water"s edge. Or, perhaps I should say that it is another and narrower Long Island Sound, as you see it a few miles out from Jamaica Bay. The busy waters were alive with a mult.i.tudinous traffic from Russia and Germany and Sweden and Denmark itself, and the fishing vessels that abound along these coasts. Here and there villas and fine country houses peeped out among the trees. The _Sund_ is the joy of the Dane.
He loves it, and the stranger who looks upon it does not forget it.
One then understands why the Danish poets have sung so loudly of it.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ELSINORE.]
Our way lay through much cultivated land, market gardens sending their produce to Copenhagen, dairy farms where is made some of that famous Danish b.u.t.ter every Londoner prefers to buy, and which is sold all around the world. Here and there we pa.s.sed a little town, always with its sharp-steepled Lutheran church and dominie"s snug manse along its side. The church, the Lutheran church in Denmark, is no trifling power. It is as bigoted and well entrenched as is the Roman hierarchy in Mexico and Spain. We should have liked to be wedded in the Vor Frue Kirke, where the dear old grandmother had been married. But it is a Lutheran church, and we were Dissenters, and without the pale. Nor could we present the necessary proof. We had no papers to show we had been duly born. Nor had we legal doc.u.ments to prove that our parents were our very own. Nor could we show papers in proof that we had been christened and were legally ent.i.tled to our names, nor that we had been regularly confirmed. Without these doc.u.ments, sealed and authenticated by the state, and in our case also by the United States, no Lutheran pastor would have dared to try and make us one. So we ran the gauntlet of less stringent English law, in itself quite bad enough, and lost the experience of the quaint Danish ceremonial in the n.o.ble church.
At the fine big Government station in Helsinoere (Elsinore)--for the Government owns and runs the railroads in Denmark, just as it does in Germany and much of France--we were met by an aunt and uncle and cousin of H"s. They were a charming old couple, and the son was a young naval engineer (shipbuilder), working in the ship yard at Helsinoere. All have lived in America and speak our tongue. We were to dine with them and spend the evening, when General and Mrs. C would go home on the last train at 10 P. M. I left the ladies together, while D and I strolled over to the ancient, yet formidable, fortress of Kronborg, which for centuries has commanded the gateway to the Baltic.
Built of Norwegian granite, when erected it was believed to be impregnable. Its casemates, lofty walls, turrets and towers frowned threateningly across the three-mile strait to Helsingborg in Sweden, and no boat sailed past except it first paid the dues. To-day, these walls of rock, these ramparts in the air, no longer terrify the mariner. _Sund_ taxes are no longer levied! The ancient fortress does little else than fire an occasional salute. But the Danes still love and honor it, and a few soldiers are stationed in it, a solitary guard.
A vista of the _Sund_ I tried to kodak from the top of the great tower, and I bribed a soldier for a dime to let me take his manly form, although a camera is forbidden within the precincts of this place of war.
But Kronborg is famous for other things than mere Danish tolls and wars. Kronborg it is, where Hamlet"s shade still nightly wanders along the desolate ramparts. There it is that the Danish prince beheld his father"s ghost. There he kept watch at night with Horatio and Marcellus. And close by in the park of Marienlyst Castle is Hamlet"s grave. We did not see it, but many pilgrims do.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SUND FROM KRONBORG"S RAMPARTS.]
Then we descended into the deep dungeons, or part of them, and a pretty, rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed Danish la.s.s told us tales of Holger Danske, who lives down in the deepest pits, whose long white beard is fast grown to the table before which he sits, and who is to come forth some day and by his might restore to the Danish race its former great position on the earth; and she told us also of the human tragedies which have in past ages been enacted in these keeps. She spoke in soft, lisping, musical Danish, the only sweet Danish I have heard; for the Copenhagen speech is jerky, the consonants are chopped short, and the vowels are deep gurgled in the throat, difficult for foreign ears to comprehend.
After seeing the fortress, we visited an ancient monastery, suppressed when the Roman church was driven from these northern Lutheran lands, and now become an Old Ladies" Home--shocking transformation in the contemplation of those monkish shades which may yet roam the forsaken cloisters!--of which inst.i.tution the old uncle is now Superintendent with Government pension for life!
And then we came to the cozy home where the ladies were already met.
We entered a narrow doorway, a sort of interior storm door, and turned to the right into a comfortable sitting room, beyond which was the dining room, with the table set. The aunt is a gentle, round-faced, rosy-cheeked little woman, in a white lace cap and the prettiest of manners. With her was an old spinster friend, _Froeken_----, a slim, wizen-faced dame of sixty, in brown stuff dress, with tight sleeves and close fitting waist, and old lace at the throat, fastened by a big mediaeval-looking gold brooch, and with a gold chain about her neck.
She possessed very small, bright black eyes, and lips that stuck straight out. She courtesied,--dropped down straight about ten inches and came up quick, a sort of bob--smiled, and said in Danish, "she was rejoiced to meet H"s "_Mand_."" All were very friendly, and H to have caught a _Mand_, sure enough, was treated with distinction.
The table was set for eight; there was beer in gla.s.s decanters, cold fried fish, cold smoked goose breast, cold smoked salmon (raw), cold sardines, cold calveshead jelly, cold beef loaf, cold bread, black bread, rye bread, cold rolls (hard and shiny with caraway seeds in them), gooseberry jelly, spiced currants, and also tea, this latter piping hot. At each place was set a pile of salted b.u.t.ter (at least a pound) on a little dish. I sat next "_Tante_," with _Froeken_--across the table from me, her black eyes boring me through with steady gleam.
You take your fish up by the tail and eat him as you would a piece of bread. "b.u.t.ter him thick, yes, thick," "_Tante_" said to me. I laid on about half an inch, she did, they all did. It was delicious b.u.t.ter and that fish went down wonderfully slick. The goose breast was good, but I discerned it to have been a gander. The raw herring I did not find so attractive as the goose. There were also several sorts of cheese, of which every one ate much. You put a heavy layer of b.u.t.ter on your bread, then a layer of thin cut cheese, then a layer of herring or sardine or salmon, and eat it fast. There was no hot food, there never is. The rule is to stow away cold fish, b.u.t.ter and cheese, and wash it down with the strong brown beer. The sweets are then taken to top off with. Pickles and preserves together--just like the Germans. (I have not yet run into the sour foods in which the German stomach delights.) Having begun with a mild cheese, you gradually ascend to the strongest with the final sweets. H says the meal was only "supper," not dinner, but I confess I am so mixed on these Scandinavian meals, that I cannot yet tell the difference. At breakfast, the Danes take only a cup of coffee and a roll, the Spanish _Desayuno_; not even an egg, nor English jam. About one or two o"clock in the day, they dine, having soups, meats (roast or boiled), fish (fresh and salt), vegetables and beer. At night, it is about as I have told you, and they often dare to add a little more cold fish and cheese before they finally retire. The soups at dinner are very good; and the meats are better cooked than at a British table, on which, after a while, all meats begin to taste alike, and you grow tired to death of the eternal boiled potatoes, and boiled peas steeped in mint.
I have had very nice cauliflower at Danish tables, and the lettuce of their salads is delicate and crisp, while the coffee of the Danes, like that of the Dutch, is better than you will find in either England, Germany or France; it seems to be the real thing, with neither chicory nor hidden beans. The Danes are skilful cooks, although their palates seem to be fondest of cold victuals and raw smoked fish.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FISHING BOATS, ELSINORE.]
We stayed the night in a comfortable inn, close by the water side, an ancient ale house where sailors used to congregate in the halcyon days when all pa.s.sing ships must lay-to at Helsinoere to pay the tolls then levied by the King, hard by where now the fishing boats tie up. There were many of these and one in particular was continually surrounded by an excited crowd. It had just arrived loaded down to the decks with a catch of herring. The fishermen had had the luck to run into one of those rare and extraordinary schools of herring which are sometimes chased into the protecting waters of the Sound by a whale or other voracious enemy outside. The nets had been let quickly down and millions of fish as quickly drawn up. The boat had been filled to sinking, and word flagged to brothers of the craft to hasten up and partake of the abounding catch. Twenty thousand dollars" worth of herring had been caught within a few hours by the fishermen of Helsinoere alone, to say nothing of what were taken by the crews of other fishing boats along the coast. The entire population of the little town is now busy cleaning and salting fish, fish that will feed them well and keep them easy in stomach until the winter shall be past and the spring be come again. Women were selling fish along the streets, boys were peddling fish, how many for a cent I do not know, and men were giving fish, gratis, to whosoever would carry them away.
These extraordinary catches do not often happen. No such luck had befallen Helsinoere for many a day. It may be years before it again occurs. The fisherman of these northern waters sails forth upon his cruise each day inflamed with very much the same spirit of adventurous quest as in America are we who, living upon the land, drill wells for oil or dig for gold.
Helsinoere is rich to-night, and the herring is her king.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A SNAP SHOT FOR A DIME, KRONBORG.]
V.
Across the Sund to Sweden and Incidents of Travel to Kristiania.
KRISTIANIA, MISSION HOTEL, PILESTRADIET 27 (ALFHEIM), _August 31, 1902_.
_Hilsen Fra Kristiania!_
Our ancient tavern, the Sleibot, in Elsinore, cared for us most comfortably. We were given a large room looking out over the waters of the _Sund_, with wide small-paned cas.e.m.e.nted windows, and a great porcelain stove and giant wooden bedstead. For breakfast we had fresh herring, the fish which will now form the chief diet of Helsinoere for many a month, and more of the good Danish coffee. The bill for lodging and breakfast was seven _kroner_ (about $1.90) for us two.
The dear old couple were on hand to see us off, and waved _farvel_ as we boarded the immense ferryboat which takes on, if needful, an entire train, but usually only the baggage cars, for through travel to Swedish and Norwegian points. The boats are long and wide and strong, and smash their way through the floes of drifting ice the winter through, for this outlet of the Baltic is rarely frozen solid for any length of time. The four-miles pa.s.sage is made in twenty minutes, and after we got under way, it was not long before even ma.s.sive Kronborg faded upon the view, and we were making fast to the pier at Helsingborg, in Sweden.
[Ill.u.s.tration: KRONBORG.]
In England, owing to the smallness of the tunnels and the present cost of enlarging them, the railway management is compelled to keep to the ancient diminutive style of carriage first introduced sixty years ago.
But here, in these northern lands, where railway building is of more recent date, although the gauge is the same as in Britain, the carriages are half as large again, and are many of them almost as long as our American cars, so that the riding in them is much easier than there. And in Norway I have already seen cars which, except for being shorter, were exactly like our own.
We traveled first along the sea, then through a flat country. There were scores of sails upon the Kattegat, a mult.i.tude of ships and barques and brigs, schooners and sloops, and small fishing smacks, and larger fishing luggers going far out upon the North Sea. There were also many black hulks in tow of big tugs carrying coal to the Baltic cities, and steamers bound for English and German ports and even for America. The waters were alive with the busy traffic.
We pa.s.sed wide meadows and much gra.s.s land. Cows were feeding upon these fields, red cows mostly, with herders to watch over them. The cows were tethered each to a separate iron pin sunk in the ground, all in a single row; and thus they eat their way across an entire meadow,--an animated mowing machine. Now and then we returned to the sh.o.r.e of the sea, pa.s.sing some fishing village nestled along the rocks, or we rolled through forests of small birches, pines and spruce.
In the same compartment with ourselves sat a couple of young Germans.
They were much interested in each other. I noticed that the lady"s rings were most of them shining new, and one, a large plain gold ring, was in look particularly recent and refulgent. H came to the same conclusion also at about the very same moment. The two were surely a bridal pair. And they talked German, and looked out across us through the wide windows as though we were never there. So I spoke to my wife in good United States, and we agreed that these two were newly wed.
And then the bride"s n.o.ble face and fine brown eyes appealed to me, and I declared her to be the loveliest woman I had yet seen this side the sea. The while she and her _Mann_ still conversed in low, soft German. But it now seemed to me that they looked out across us with a kindlier feeling in their eyes and, in a surrept.i.tious way, the German beauty was peeping at the fine large diamond on H"s left hand (the wedding ring she had already succeeded in making look dull and old).