Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-12
Ibsen and Bjornson Intensely
Jealous of Each Other.
RELATED BY MARRIAGE
FORMER BELIEVED TO BE ON HIS
DEATH BED.
Empress Dowager of China Issues Edict
Requiring the Soldiers to Cut
Off Their Queues.
Ely VIM. E. CURTISS.

Ely wM. E. CURTISS.
Written for The Evening Star and the Chicago
Record Herald
A cablegram from Christiania tells of the
serious illness of Henrik Ibsen, the dra-
matte poet, any the announcement Of his
death at any time ought not to be a sur
prise. Mr.. Ibsen suffered stroke of par
alysis in 1904, from which he has only par
TALLY recovered. and he is getting to be a
very old man. He has done no writing
| since, and has spent most of his time sitting
| in the window of the apartment house in
which he lives, on one of the busiest streets
of Christiania. He has pension from the
government and considerable property.
While he is much beloved and admired by
! the people, he is an unhappy and discon-
| tented man, filed with eccentrietes vain,
selfish. irritable and unreasonable. He has
| never been able to get on with his wife, and
| has been separated from her more than half
of the years they have been married.
Nor have his relations with his son and
! only child, Sigurd Ibsen, been any more
| agreeable. The latter is eminent in poll
| ties and public affairs. He spent twenty
years or more in the diplomatic service and
was at one time secretary of the legation of
Norway and Sweden at Washington. He is
at present member of the Norwegian cab
met and one Of the leaders of the liberal
party. While Sgurd Ibsen has never en-
| tirely broken off his relations with his faith
| er and has patiently eHdured the old gen.
seman pecuiiarities. his marriage to the
daughter of Bjornstjerne Bjornson, his
| fathers most formidable rival in literature
and popular estimation, has been a perma-
| nent cause of disagreement. These two ia
nous men have never been friends. They
| have always been intensely, jealous of each
other, and. while Bjornson has always treat
ed lbsen with tolerance and has never called
| MIN anything worse than "a pompous old
Ihon Gorxy 49,, II
| up at the mention of Bjornsons name and
| his vocabulary has never been sufficient to
permit him to express the contempt he
| feels.
The Rivals.
The people of Christiania are very proud
| of their popular heroes, and have erected
bronze statues of both in plaza in front
| of the National Theater The figures are
| generally admired, but are unsatisfactory
to the originals. 1t is seldom that any man
has the privilege of criticising his own
statue. Such honors are usually reserved
until people are dead. But the admiration
OF the Norwegians for their two most ia
nous men could not be restrained. Ibsen
would have been perfectly satisfied if only
che monument had been erected, provided it
was In his honor, but the fact that the dis
t1nction is shared by his rival and enemy
makes 1t no honor at all, and he has never
been so cOndeScending as to inspect either
statue. Bjornson is a hearty, good humored
lmpetuous boy of sixty-five years. and no
one was so much interested in the statue
project as himself until the figures were I'M
yelled, when he pronounced Ibsen's a per-
feet likeness and his own "a permanent
calumny" His son, who is the manager of
the theater, has frequently jo1ed the old
gentleman about the statue, but nobody
else has ever dared take such a liberty 81
Before his illness in 1901 Ibsen was a IA
miliar spectacle upon the streets He. al
ways took walk every morning at pre-
cisely the same hour, and always went the
same way. He was so regular in this habit
that the people of Christiania could set
their watches by his coming and going
Having reached the Grand Hotel, he en-
tered the cafe, took a special seat in the
corner, which was always reserved for him.
and read the morning newspapers for exact
~ an hour, in the meantime slipping sort
of "highbal!'' of whisky and soda, which
the Norwegians call "a pjolter." Having
finished his glass, he walked to the post
office, and then perhaps to a bank or a
book store and returned to his home. This
daily program was terminated by his ILL
ness. Since his stroke of paralysis he has
not been able to walk without assistance
but on sunny afternoons he has usually
taken a drive and at certain hours every
day he may be seen sitting in his window.
This habit is so regular that the hotel
clerks and guides always direct strangers
there to see him, and his enthusiastic adj
mirers make 1t point to pass the house
and lift their hats to him On his birth
days. at Christmas, New Year and other
holidays 1t is customary for people to send
him presents. Little girls often leave
punches of flowers at his door.
Ordered to Cut Their Queues.
The cable dispatches from China bring
the news that the empress dowager has
issued an edict requiring all of the soldiers
in the army to wear European dress and
cut off their queues. Her orders have al
ready been obeyed in the province of Ho-
nan. The viceroy of Honan, who has been
SO prompt In carrying out these instruc-
TONS has son being educated in the
United States. and the youngster had not
been six weeks in this country before he
cut off his own queue to escape the teasing
of his schoolmates. The viceroy was great
ly shocked when he heard the news, be-
cause a young man without queue in
China is quite as conspicuous as young
man with one would be in the United
States. 1t was difficult to reconcile the old
gentleman to the situation. but he seems to
have obeyed his imperial orders in that re-
spect very promptly.
Ii Hsing Jul, for many years viceroy at
Marking. who recently died of old age, has
been succeeded by Chou Flu, recently gov
ernor of Shantung province, who is regard
ed as one of the most progressive and en-
terprising officials in China. This illus
trates the reform tendencies of the en-
press, and is full proof that she is in
earnest in her determination to modernize
China. Chou Flu was one of the group Of
able and progressive young men who sur
rounded Ii Hung Chang while he was
viceroy of the metropolitan province. He
has a large foreign acquaintance, a foreign