Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-12-13

an island connected with the mainland
by two bridges. This is in the district
where the sailors live The tower is
surrounded on the outside by a narrow
spiral stairway, which those who are
not subject to dizziness may ascend in
order to get good view OF the harbor.
The most famous of the towers is per-
haps the old Round tower This has
a diameter of over 10 feet. 1t is
assembled by a cauSeway which is so
wide and which aScendS so gradually
that it is said the car Peter the Great
Of Russia, during his visit to Copen-
hagen in ZIG, rode up on a horse, while
his wife drove up in a carriage drawn
by four horses. In the iron fence
work on top of the tower the letters
r. F. P. are frequently repeated. This
in reality stands for the motto of
Christian ", "Regna firmat pietas,
but the Copenhagen wits always trans
late it into three Danish words which
mean that the kingdom has no money.
When the kingdom does get any
money its friends will expect it to fix
up the capitol buildings and that dis
trict of the city which was destroyed
by the great fire of 1884. The empty
walls of the once handsome palace of
Christiansborg, with its adjoining
courts and government halls, still
stand without an attempt at their
restoration. The people of the town
scurry through the once beautiful
square. and under the once beautiful
arches back and forth to their daily
trade. The children play in the sand
about the once beautiful fountain, and
the rain and the sunshine stream un-
limited through the open lCof and EN-
pity windows of this a;estic ruin
The king and the royal family have
taken up palmer quarters; the offices
Of the government, which were located
here, have been scattered about over
the town, and what beautiful relics
and pieces were saved from the con-
fiagration are now housed elsewhere,
usually in an Inadequate way. The
royal picture gallery, for instance, is
in very unsuitable quarters. These are
pictures which were saved from the
great fire mostly by citizens of Copen-
hagen, who ran in and tore the valu-
able canveSSes from their frames and
carried them to points Of safety.
Many of these are still as they were
brought out of the fire, and in order
to be preserved ought at once to be
better cared for.
1t was only by the greatest efforts
that the fine Royal library containing
over 100000 volumes, including many
rare archives regarding the peoples of
the north. and the wonderful Thor
waldSen museum were saved from the
flames. These occupy buildings i'm
mediately adjoining. The Thorwald-
sen museum is, of course, a priceless
collection. 1t is rightly the pride Of
the Danes, and, besides containing the
greatest part of the work of the great
sculptor, contains as well his tomb.
This museum was in the extremist
danger during the whole time the fire
laster, ard was only saved through the
labors of several prominent officers of
the navy. These, with the aid of
sailors and students from the univer-
city, spreads ship canvas over the roof.
This by night and day was kept
soaked with water. The walls were
flooded constantly also, and nothing re-
mains today to tell of the perilous ex-
perience of the building except the
cracked and faded plaster of the eX-
terror. There were wall paintings
here commemorative ThOrwaldsen's
return to Copenhagen after an Is
years absence in Rome. These ought
by all means to be retouched and suit
ably restored. g,
Copenhagen is a seat for learning Of
a certain kind, and a student of north
ern institutions will find better facili-
ties here than anywhere else in Eu-
rope. 1t has a very venerable univer-
sity, which is SO old that 1t was en-
abled in 1879 to celebrate its 400th
jubilee 1t was founded by Christian
l., an old king of whom it was said
that he was "a head higher than the
tallest man in his empire Besides
being Of great size, he had an inclina-
l4Ou Luz Tic SCltlICcS. AAC II W 40. lioo.
who about the same time founded the
famous Swedish university Of Upsala-
The university of Copenhagen is at
tended by 1000 students. The build
ings in the center of the city, if not
fine, appear to be we'll qualified for
their purpose. A large festal hall, or
aula, is handsomely decorated, and
makes a better show than such things
do in the German universities. Be
sides the royal library the students
have the use of the university library,
which. though smaller, contains as
many as 100000 volumes. There are
also here and in other parts of the city
exceptional facilities for the study Of
history of the northern peoples. There
are museums stored with rare anti
Duties. The best of them are perhaps
the museum of northern antiquities,
the ethnographical museum, and a
great historical museum in the ROsen-
borg palace. There is a geological
museum also which is well stocked
with the skeletons of northern ami
mails, and which is especially well off
in the matter of whales.
The city contains a number of very
tastefully decorated parks and public
squares These in several cases con-
tain monuments and fountains, some
Of which are beautiful, while others
are only curious. The most central
square in the city is the Kongens Ny
tory. This is an irregular space from