Evening star., 1903-08-22
Copyright, 1903. by ]. W. Muller)
The ROYAL Palace. Winter. ]

nassion for fntrospection. this bit of Ham
let nature lie In my blood or is my train
ing to be blamed?
The century old ancestry OF my house
has something most respectable about It,
something even demanding worship, dead
ening as it's presence Is to me. From the
beginning there was neither the word nor
the deed for my house, but only the duty
In my most noble house one is born out
of duty, one lives out of duty, does good
to ones best ability out of duty, avoids
evil to ones best knowledge out of duty
permits himself to be married out of duty
dutifully brings dutiful children into the
world dies at last out of duty, and surely
will arise from the dead some time out OF
duty.
With all great things, naturally all small
things are duty for us But there really
is nothing small for us. The length or the
court train, the white cravat Tor eI. dihIel
and the black for evening tea are exactiS
as sacred greatnesseS as any act OF state.
SO must we stand. so move, so speak, pe IL
the evening circle or a revolution, or the
end of the world.
And how old am that l assume the right
To utter such criticism of our court? Re-
Gently ! became twenty. God be wltn me.
Still so young and already-but was L ever
young? That too. belongs to the many
many matters over which | brood
From the Royal Palace =
That | was born at all is a calamity for
me who must live with the whole ballast
Of dim tradition with all the jumbled mass
of venerable household articles of my an
cestors with a chaos of ideas that cannot
grasp were | to grope and search ior an
eternity. A.,
Happily | am but the second prince. AS
Ich / may even cite Hamlet In all peace
of soul for the state of Denmark cares
lot If l am or am not-and it does not ask
how l am. -,
MY father is a most excellent ruler; lnch
for inch king. At the same time men TOT
inch the first officer of his state. the h%rSt %
servant of the people. lie WORKS with an
his thoughts all his powers. he WorkS
increasingly, untiring ,
OF course that latter remark is not true!
The king of this land is weary. nave
watched IT secretly, have discovered 1t long
ago The Weariness of the king goes about
in the house like the restless ghost OF ham
let's father This, too, have l discovered
the wearineSS is a characteristic OF our
house. During a century all the kings OF
our house have been weary. mortaily
weary Wearily they lived, reigned, Ia
bored, fulfilled their duties, mortally weary
they went in the end to their last rest
For more than two centuries the WEAKNESS
of the kings of our house has been our
family ghost, our White Lady.
Naturally his excellency, the lord mar
shall knows what to do with the specter
about as we'll as the newest kitchen mental,
AS his eXcellency does not exactly belong
among the clear minds, our sprituS famll-
iaris is decidedly uncomfortable to him.
But the ghost belongs once and for all to
the royal household. so what can lord
marshal do? Nothing, except to treat the
specter with all due reverence, make obei-
sance and tell 1t to Its face that it is not
specter at all-not the shadow of a specter.
On the contrary, flesh and blood-and royal
flesh and blood too! And for the rest he
may comfort himself with the knowledge
t., oil hos
family ghost.
OF course. the WEAKNESS of my father is
secret of state. If the kings eyes were to
close at table, if he were to drop, tired to
death, In audience, no lackey would have
the impertinerGe, TO see 1t, and his excel
lency, the lord marshal. would rather allow
his head TO be most humbly chopped off
than to permit himself the remark Your
ma jeSty is weary. Your majesty should go
to bed
sees and feels my fathers WEAKNESS in
such measure as my mother and In the
whole kingdom not one would deny 1t so
positively, actually swear that 1t did not
exist, as my mother,
This is a woman the queeni
The crown prince was born only year
earlier than ], but seems to be ten years
older But my brother does not wish at
all ever to have been young or to be it
still His wish would not agree with his
duty, and the crown prince is duty from
head to foot. duty with every thought, duty
with every sentiment-therefore inch for
inch one of the true, the genuine. For
his genuinenesS there is the proof of the
right earlap and the family wart on the
left cheek And for his genuineness there
Is that other trait-my young brother, too.
is beginning to be weary
p love my brother. He is an honest be-
ing. But l do not believe that he has
great thoughts. How can he have them,
since II is one of his most noble duties to
have few thoughts of his own as pos
sible? What should he, with the weary
lines around the eyes, do with great
thoughts in his exhausted Epigonian soul?
Fortunately for him. he is conservative
TO truly wonderful degree, splendidly
thodox.
God. thank Thee that L
For what do L thank God7 That 1 am
"only" the second prince7
At any rate the state of Denmark may
congratulate itself that IT is So 1 would.
were l not only the second prince, set the
universe afire to burn out what is rotten
In the state of Denmark.
Our first sentimental lady plays an i'm
portant role. She becomes the fashion
When she appears a great part of the
court goes TO the play. Sometimes the
crown prince appears in the little box.
Then there Is a play at the play, although
one acts as II one saw only "Egmont' or
Is classic
In such nights the first row turns the
opera glass ostentatiously toward the
stage which is something that is not its
usual habit. and the court society has
developed 1t into a veritable art to con-
verse of the crown prince and the senti-
mental lady. superfcially yet enthusiastic
cally. apparently always critically. and yet
always admiringly. His royal highness
maintains an attitude of measured opposi-
ton And this is supposed not to be
comedy,
The house ghost walks daily receives re-
ports holds council about inner and outer
AFFAIRS. gives audiences. appears at table,
at great receptions and solemn functions
OF state. Everybody sees the ghost-no-
body appears to see II. Only / stare
straight into the face OF the specter, hail
1t: "'Who art thou?' receive no answer
brood and brood.
With US there is second spiritus ia
miliaris, close at the side of the first truly
the shadow of the shadow This is the
personal physician of my father. The herr
privy councillor is a great professor of
psychiatry. he is a specialist and authority
The famous man is everywhere. Softly he
treads. But i can hear hts step. l hear
him forever by the side of the king close
to his sidei