The Washington weekly post., 1900-12-11
NY SUMNER AMID ROYAL PALACES
BY MRS. T. DE WITT TALMAGE.

No sooner had stepped ashore from
the Oceanic than the question was asked
me for publication: 'You have had abund-
ant opportunity this summer of studying
royalty in Europe. What do you think
of 1t in comparison with republican sim
plicity?" AS this question has come to me
the third time. I proceed to answer II,
though somewhat reluctantly.
Yes. we have had an opportunity of see
ing the inside of palaces and communing
with princely and imperial households.
such as has seldom been granted to persons
unofficial. The publication of my hus-
bands sermons In all the languages Of
Europe for many years seemed to open
every door we might wish to enter And
the first remark desire to make, In reply
TO the question as TO the contrast between
republican simplicity and royal manners,
is that there is no contrast at all. The
higher in station the more unpretending
the parsonage. II is the people who are
afraid of losing their place. or who are
struggling for something higher, that take
on airs. The higher the prince or prin-
cess. the emperor or empress. the more
unconventional Republican simplicity is
no more marked than royal simplicity
While the ''show-rooms' of palaces may
be bejeweled, and richly upholstered, and
embarked with lustrous statuary, and
aglOw with masterpieces of painting. the
Giving, rooms of European potentates
are for the most part as plain as the
rooms of people ordinarily prosperous.
While the tourist, catalogue In hand. Is
permitted to pass through sleeping apart
ments which we're once occupied by some
Marie Antoinette, or Napoleon, or Maria
Theresa, and the pillows of the couch and
the canopy are ablaZe with splendor, Cor
the most part the sleeping apartments
are as unpretentious as a hundred homes
in the same city of Berlin. or Vienna, or
ST. Petersburg. or Copenhagen, While
the banquet OF a king or queen might
easily swamp what we would call many
thous ands of dollars, and the gleam If
the chalice and the fash of the plate are
something to be remembered for a life
time, the ordinary breakfast or luncheon
or dinner Of palace is as plain as ordi-
nary cutlery, and tablecloth, and ice
pitcher can make it. The breakfast-room
at Stockholm where King Oscar and his
Queen sit, morning after morning, Is
probably as simple as the breakfast-room
of many Of those who read this sketch.
When Emperor Francis Joseph invites
any one TO dine with him at Vienna he
sometimes apologies for the plainness of
the meal. Mr.. Gladstone, who was in
some respects king, called the repast 10
which he invited my husband at Hawar-
den "a few snacks.'
The pomp of royalty is seen on great
occasions, but no person, however high
ly born, can always walk on stills. The
vast expense of prircely and imperial
households is in the support of official at
tendants, who must be ready to respond
at the first CALL though that call may not
come more than once a year or once in
FIVE years. Hundreds of horses must be
ready, though some of them may never
be harnessed for service except at a roya.
marriage. coronation, or at imperial OBJ
sequies, and those occasions are very far
apart.
The conversation of these people is sur
prlsingly familiar. The Empress of Rus
sia, without any Hesitation, expressed to
me the preference she had for the Chinese
above the japanese. She said: 1.-THE Japa-
nese may pretend to be friendly, but they
stab you in the dark" She cannot for
get that when Nicholas, now her hus-
band, was travelling II Japan he received
a ruffian stroke that felled him senseless,
and that now. when the Emperor is ex-
cited or overworked. that japanese wound
OF many years ago still disturbs him
The crown prince of Denmark, in style
and language that We are familiar with
in oxr own homes, said TO US: Come, let
me show you into my den," and then took
US through his study. And the crown
princess said to me: Come. let me show
you my garden. You Will find Il as outlet
as though IL were many miles from CO.
penhagen. With what simplicity the
DOwag Empress Of Russia showed US
ber pictures and asked as about where We
had heen, and invited US to come again on
the alorrow. Simplicity reigns in all the
high places We we're permitted 10 visit.
But ohe must 90 abroad In order Ia
fully appreciate home life in America.
There are more happy people In our coun-
try than in any other land. Great palace.
and royal families, however kind and be-
Eeyolent and exemplary, imply multi
tUde OF people with not enough 10 eat or
wear or shelter them. ! mad rather ike
ten years In America than thirty In any
other country. While there is no contrast
between republican simplicity and royal
| manners. there Is contrast, side and
awful. between our cOuntry-Where every
healthy and INDUSTRIOUS man can make a
! lands. where poverty Is the cornfoos a..
/ heritanee OF the people. Thus much have
learned from my 1Ournsyinss this ssrr.
/ z er In the capitals OF Europe.
Copyright, 1850. The christIan Herald. gsx Yark