The Washington times., 1894-03-25
EMPEROR WILLIAMS
SHOOTING-B0X

Neither Remington nor I had intended to
tax the hospitality OF our kindly host more
than day, but we we're gladly persuaded to
prolong our stay. which gave US an oppor-
tunity to visit the vast and almost primevai
forests to which the Emperor of Germany
retires in order to hunt the wild deer and
boar. We drove long distance after this
amidst magnificent trees, mostly evergreens,
although oak and poplar appeared here and
there The forest. which includes about
fifty square miles. is watered by some excel
lent streams, stocked with a variety of fish,
chief OF all the trout, although pike. perch.
carp, and many others of excellent
quality are also abundant. Half a
dozen houses compose all there is of the vii
lage here, whose inhabitants are principally
occupied in work about the forest. We
passed through the village. over n bridge,
and up hill. on the top of which stood the
house which the Emperor is building as his
hunting lodge The dark evergreen forest
closes it in at the rear. and in many respects
1t suggests summer residence in the Adiron-
dack mountains.
1t is only since 1890 that the Emperor has
taken fancy to this hunting ground. and
until he built the hunting lodge for whose in
spection we had sought permission he lived
and slept in the very room from the window
of which Remington made sketch of the
building.
This hunting lodge of the Emperor's Is
cross between the typical Swiss chalet and an
American log hous =: there is 4 striking amount
of quaint Norwegian carving about II. and the
rafters of the roof come 10 point in the shape
OF grinning dragons heads-a feature of Sean
dinayian architecture have noticed at many
points in Norway. The Emperor took great
fancy to the simplicity and strength charac-
teriziug Norwegian buildings on his many
JOURNEYS along that coast. and had dozen
Norwegian builders come down on purpose
from Christiana in order to erect this house
for him. 1t is. of course. uDpainted. and fin
ished in the most severe style, as BELTS the
purpose for which it was originally designed.
| Inside, the walls and ceilings are all of the
| natural logs finished off roughly and stained.
| The ceilings are low. the rooms small. but
| every corner is pervaded with coziness. The
| large assembly or living room looks down a
| series of rustic terraces TO the little valley,
where the trout stream runs from the Russian
| frontier to the Baltic. At one eud of this
| large room is great double fireplace, about
which large family can gather in the even
| ing for the purpose OF spinning hunting yarns
| or telling ghost stories. 1t is an exact coun-
terpart of the fireplace in many 4 Norwegian
| house / have seen. rel reduced here with
!
elaborate chandelier consisting entirely OF
| antlers SO arranged as to form innumerable
! holders for candles.
The Emperor strongly dislikes anything in
| the nature of guards when he is on his hunt
| ing expeditions. although half a dozen coun-
| try policemen do duty here when the Emperor
is present On his first arrival they were
| drawn up in line to salute him. but he ordered
that it should not happen again, and now
they are carefully kept out of sight. He is a
man so indifferent to danger or personal
safety that the mere idea of having officials
watching on his account is in the highest
| degree distasteiu The furniture of the
rooms at Rominten was in harmony with the
| simplicity of the walis-hard-wood strongly
made. and merely stained, so as to disclose
the natural grain. which is. after all. the
! greatest charm about any furniture. On the
| walls hung many pictures of hunting scenes
notably the magnificent studies of Land
seer. Amongst the pictures our guides
pointed out two. which they said had
been done by the Emperor himself. / sus-
| pected the authorship at the time, because
they were colored copies of notable paintings,
and knew that the Emperor preferred to do
something more original than merely copy the
| work of another. OF course | did not men,
| ton my doubts to these officials. but on CON-
plimenting the Emperor in regard to them
shortly aiterward he emphatically disclaimed
| tueir authorship. anu gave me tie name OF the
friend who had copied them. However. it is
now tradition in the palace OF Romenter
that these two pictures were done by the En-
peror and there is little doubt that successive
| generations OF care-takeTs will receive this
tradition and spread the error amongst al
those who visit that interesting house. We
may expect before long to see these works re-
produced in some magazine as evidence OF the
Emperors taste as an artist. He is. tis true.
clever with his pencil. but in different and
more important way than is suggested by his
alleged works at his hunting box.
His study is a room of equal simplicity
with the Others. so arranged that should he
arrive mt an hours notice he would find il
ready for work. On the table in front OF him
stands a lttlc'framed photograph of his wife
Thers is scarcely more than room enough il
| the apartment for the large table which he
always requires for the purpose of spreading
out maps and plans. The room is a literary
workshop, and no more. Among the orna
ments. however. noticed an excellent pho
tograph of the Prince of Wales. his uncle
looking very slim and graceful in the uniform
of Prussan hussar.-Pouitney Bigelow il
Harper's.