Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-05-01
characteristics of the Three Political
Divisions Of the Scandinavia.
Described by Tutor.
The People Imagining the King Made
for Their Benefit. Have Little
Respect iar Him.
The Romantic u. rgia@e of Prince
Oscar With a C3uHloner Rails
ed by His Instructor.

/
! the first place thele are hut few court
| stands and but scan. opportunity for
| arousing popular passion. except in one
! instance, and the oScaslOn for it might
| easily be avoided.
Whenever King Oscar II. visits Nor
way he Is accompanied by 4 Sgeedish
| escort who wear Swedish uniforms and
| the yellow" lining OF their coa5 Is a
! standing grievence In the eye of the Nor
weigen people Were King Oscars at
I tendents attired in court costumes witt. a
/ red lining, all would go well; the crowd
I ould.be delighted.
/ But as it is, whenever those officials ap-
pear in the streets with their saffron lapels
! the national honor is at stake and the peo-
| pie exclaim, why are we to be insuted
| with the yellow" The fact is that great
rivary exists between the two countries
and a mistake is made in thus bringing
| Sweden to Norway; it creates, as have
said, an i'll feeling that cannot b rot over.
The royal palaces at StCc tu:m and
| ChIistiania are very liffer-a5. That at
Stockholm is an impo-in@ tdsGce, built in
the Italian renalssaHre style; while the
| palace at Christianit Is a square block of
uncertain architecture, but possesses,
however, the advantage Of finer site than
any in Europe. The rooms IN the palace
| in Stockholm are prob 3h'y second to none,
not even those at EeIas;he>; they are
most tastefully and elegantly decorated.
In the Christania palace the La toopo is
fine, but the whole aspect of the place in
duces an impression that the building was
never intended for d royal residence.
An invitation to private dinner at the
latter palace affords NE an opportunity of
depicting high life in Norway. At the
appointed hour, from fifteen to twenty
guests assemble; they are received by the
austere chamberlain and the mistress of
the robes or one Of the head maids of
honor. The guests, including those func-
| tlonarles, may be OF any rank, and are IN
vited by the express order of the king.
The officer commanding the guards at
tends, as d matter of course.
About twenty minutes after meeting,
the king makes his appearance. The in
voluntary expression which comes to every
ones lips is
"What a handsome man. His hand
some, ford face is set off by gray hair and
beard; but age only seems to add grace to
his person. His broad shoulders. tall and
erect figure, well becomes his office. He
is every inch a king.
When Oscar H. enters the grand hall,
where the guests are assembled, he con-
verses for time with each person. then
dinner is announced The guests file off
into a splendid room and seat themselves
at well furnished table, Toward the
end of the repast the king calls upon one
or another to take glass Of wine. Nat
urally his guests all rise, but it may so
happen that some uucultured individual
from the rural districts remains in his
seat. Some time ago It CHANGED that the
king wished to drink i glass Of wine with
newely appointed chamberlain.
You healthr' graciousiy said his ma
jesty.
Your healthy responded the chamber
lin, without rising from his chair.
Your health again repeated the king.
Your health!' curtly reJolned his sub
ject, who remained sitting; whereupon
| King Oscar put his glass down without
drinking and tasHrj to other guests,
speaking on various topics. 1t Is but a
few years ago that one lady, who had been
! appointed maid of honor, or to some other
similar post, forgot herself to such an eX-
tent, or did not know manners. that the
queen, it is said tod her point blank to 60
and be instructed by tie mistress of the
robes in etiquette before s.n again ven
| tured to come to her presence.
The Norwegians are in many ways a
peculiar people, owing to the fact that the
customs of the country permit Of one
brother possibly being Il poor village
! blacksmith and another a minister of state,
so that their manners are either rXa2ger-
ated in wouId-be poIitencss "r coarse in
! their notions OF ideal personal superiority
or equality to king or authorities.
! The Swedes, on the other hand are a re-
! fined people, and have gained for them
| selves the proud title of being the gentle
| men, of northern Europe. Some French
writer wittily summarized his apprecia-
! ton Of the Scandinavlans when he said
! The Swedes are the gentlemen, the Danes
are the Bourgeois, and the Norwegians the
| laborers of Scandinavia"
| In one sense the sturdy 'laborers' may
| lay claim, if not to matters, at least to
| personal respect in d rough way. The
| Norwegian peasants are hne, hardy race of
men, who, in their own country are to be
admired as honorable kind harted people,
even if considered somewhat ''slow" and
boorish in their bearing.
They are however, vastly different from
what they were twenty years ago, and con-
tact with the outside world has taught
them many things. They have gradually
grown to be eXtOrtinnate. ans often exact
unreasonable sums from rich travellers for
lodging and food.
The people, too, imagine that the king
| Is made for their especial benefit. He is
not, to their minds. an object Of res, ,ect
They know that King Oscar H. IS the
great grandson of a French lawyer. and
this deadens their enthusiasm and defer
ence for royalty. the more so as some Of
those poor people can date their descent
from the earliest times in Norwegian his
tory and claim lineage with the old Morse
kings; while they live like their fellow
peasant, and with them, they are proud Of
their antique stock. and look down CT a
man, their sovereign, who can only point
back to some tive generations and Is not of
I, val blood on the fathers side
1t thus happens in Norway. when the
stOrthing, or parliament IS invited to
solree at the palace, that you see a num-
Der of members attend In frock coats of !
an unknown age. while the distention Of |
the lower part of their trousers betrays |
the presence of high Wellington top boots |
underneath, in this costume they swagger !
about, proud of knowing that they are the |
defendants 0 kings, yet not too proud to |
work on their FARMS while acknowledge |
ing the king as their head at present, not !
exhibiting their superiority IN an almost |
offensive manner.
A supper at the royal palace, Christi !
ania, may be described as follows
The guests, on entering the reception |
room, and after bowling to tue chamber |
lin and the mistress Of robes. finds him |
self in overheatad appointments in the |
midst Of d crowd, where, somewhat IN |
commoded by the cioSeneSS of the atmo-
sphere he remains until the arrival Of the
king.
His majesty's approach Is heralod by the
appearance of an individual Of great |
height, made higher by three gigantic
ostrich pIumeS ornamenting his cooked
hat, who precedes the royal party. A lane
forms, and his majesty. followed by the
royal family. passes through It They
graeiously greet their guests as they walk
along. On reaching the throne the QUEEN
takes her seat in the state chair She Is
an invalid and can with difficulty take
part IN any ceremony.
The king proceeds TO various OF his sur
rounding subjects and talks generally on
political topics. One may have IN such
case, a very pleasant conversation with
his majesty: otherwise the time passes in
an uncom tortab'y state of loungiag about
until supper = announced.
This neal Is served IN different rooms.
If Of rank or importance. the guest is
shown into the royal apartment: if of the