Durango semi-weekly herald., 1901-09-19
IN SWEDEN CAPITAL.
William E. Curtis Visits the Ancient
and Beautiful City of Stockholm.

STOCKHOLM. Sweden. August l.
(William f. Curtis in Chicago Rec
ord-Herald) The capital of Sweden
is surprise to travellers who do not
expect to find so beautiful and SO mod
ern city up here in the north. Swed-
es everywhere are proud of 1t and are
prone to boast of its attractions, but
people of other nations do not take
them seriously until they come and
see for themselves. To their aston
ishment they find one of the hand
soonest cities in the world and most
delightful place to spend the summer
as multitude have discovered long
ago.
There is an old city and "A new city.
The former is very antiquated and the
latter is very modern. The former
has very narrow. gloomy and crooked
streets some of them not wide-enough
for two carriages to pass. without any
sidewalks. and walled in with high,
old-fashioned buildings. five and six
stories high, of brick and stucco, all
painted yellow. that are as ugly as
buildings can be. The new part is
as handsome as any section of Paris,
Il succession of immense and impos-
ing apartment houses fronting upon
wide streets, interspersed with lovely
little parks and divided by swift flow
ing streams and large basins of wa
| ter
Some Swedish writer's have been
pleased to call Stockholm "the
northern Venice" and the title is not
inappropriate. because the city is ON
a group of islands connected by mas
sive bridges, and much of the trans
portation and passenger traffic is car
ried on by water. The canals. howev-
er. are much wider than those of Ven
ice. and on each bank are wide qlays
where steamers and ferryboats land
and the freight as well as the pass
enger traffic is handled. 1t is rather
novel to see harbor right in the res
idence portion of a city, but here you
have it,
Ocean steamers for Russia, Ger
many and other parts of the Baltic
and North sea land their freight and
passengers on the quay in front OF the
royal palace, not more than 300 feet
from its walls. The king can look
out of his window and see the steam
ers leaving and landing, and on the
roof of wing of the palace. he has
had a plank walk laid down with rail
ings where he takes his exercise. The
smoke from the steamers blows di-
rectly into the palace windows when
the wind is east, and it must be a
nuisance. although the royal family
do not spend much time there dur
ing the summer and in the winter
season, of course, the windows are
closed
The king of Sweden is a very Dem
ocratic parsonage and recognizes the
rights of the people to do as they see
fit more fully than any sovereign l
know of. Around the corner on the
north side of the palace is a cafe, al
most directly beneath the windows
of the queens apartments, where peo-
pie sit under the trees from noon till
midnight in the summer and drink
beer and hear band play. 1t is one
of the most popular and best patroniz-
ed beer gardens in Stockholm, and
everybody goes there the rich and the
poor, and drink their beer together,
but the continual music and applause
must annoy an old lady like Queen
Sophie, particularly when they keep
it up till the middle of the night.
They say the king goes over there
frequently himself and takes a glass
of beer at one of the tables just like
the men who have been unloading the
steamers in front of the palace, and
the queen shows her Democracy by
permitting what almost any other per-
son would considerable intolerable.
A little below the palace. but not
more than 800 or 400 feet. is the fuel
dock, where vessels from up the coun-
try bring the winter firewood for the
city during the autumn months. Low
sheds are erected for its temporary
protection, and all Stockholm comes
there to buy supply for winter use.
Other freight is handled on several
of the principal residence streets sim
liar to the Lake Shore drive or the
lake front in Chicago. and within $50
feet of the finest residence block is
the mooring place for sailing vessels,
which dump their cargocs on the very
doorsteps of the aristocracy. where 1t
lies until 1t is hauled away.
This is a great convenience to the
general public, and the people who
are the most concerned do not appear
to be disturbed about it. but it does
not make any difference whether they
are or not. The boats came first and
acquired what are known as the an
cient water rights. free navigation in
and through all the water ways, from
the foundation of the city, and the
privilege of landing their cargoes any
where along their banks. In the old
part of London you sometimes see on
the side of a building in a court yard
the painted words Ancient Lights
Such sign signifies that when that
property was originally sold the pur
, chaser and his heirs and assigns re
ceived a guarantee that a certain area
should be left open TO give light and
ventilation to that part OF the house
. La. l.s