Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1907-09-07
SALEM GIRLS WRITE
OF LIFE IN BERLIN
Chamng Letter In Which They Tell of Visit TO the SOSS and Its His.
orta rnshlagGke Glimpse of Peasant and Peep Into the
Realms of Student Life -

were on ladders poliShing the glass
prisms on the candlelabra and
Evelene, who, like the rest Of us.
was having some difficulty in man
aging her new shoes, whispered sar-
castlcally, II should think the Dutch
ers would devise some scheme for
making us polish their old glass
candlelabra like we do these pesky
floors" 1t might be said here, that
! most of the floors, in Germany, are
of hard wood and polished. The
more pretentious are inlaid In var
ious styles, that of small squares set
| diagonally against each other being
most common. The floors of the
Schloss offer a great variety of pat
tern and are highly polished. Now
we were conducted into a room fur
nished by Catharine II. The chsirs
were bought by her request In Paris.
The white frames, antique In form,
beautifully carved and decorated
with gold leaf are upholstered In
white and pink lowered tapestry,
and arranged in a stiff, straight line
around the room. The ever present
table placed before the settee, the
seat of honor, alone breaks the mo-
notony. A beautiful morror In
gloden frame; an old portrait of the
great Electo and white marble
mantle complete its furnishings
Next was shown a beautiful room
with tapestry hangings and exquisite
furniture OF priceless mahogany in
land with solid silver. Immense
silver candlesticks, at least 8 feet in
height, stand on each side of the
table and two before the long French
mirror. The room following this
belongs to the time of Frederick
the Great. It's ceiling and walls
are beautifully decorated with
paintings and mirrors so placed.
that no matter where one stands
all that transplres about him,
still row of beautiful chairs, tho
(omnipresent) inlaid table, re-
production of the sigesauli (about
two feet in height) exquistely
wrought In solid silver and a large
old clock. In the Ritter saul. which
was formerly the throne room, the
wall is hung in rich, but old, red vel
vet. Opposite the royal chair, which
stands on n small elevated square
under a canopy OF red and gold. is
arranged the collection of silver
plate, among which are immense
beautifully carved platters, sufficient
In size to hold a roast lamb; large
elaborated decorated soup toureens,
handsome gold-llned beer stems, all
works OF art. To the left OF the
silver display which extends from
the "sideboard" almost TO the cell
ing, are two large flreplaces, with
brass fireboxes and golden andlrons.
On the mantles are arranged some
especially beautiful steins. Between
the fireplaces, near the ceiling, Is
what was once the trumpeters gal
lery. Formerly the playing Cupids
and mythical figures, which adorn II,
were of pure silver, but during 1745
were melted down. by Frederick the
Great. TO meet the exigencies OF
war. Now came three or four rooms
old paintings of former
Prussian rulers. only one of which |
was especially intresting. It's mural
decoration consists OF the coats of
arms of ancient and modern times. |
Then the white Room" containing |
the marble busts of the nine Prus-
sian rulers was shown. after that the |
art gallery which is very long and |
narrow. The guide with much pride |
Informed us Il was used as a state |
banquet hall, and woud seat 400 per-
sons. Aside from portraits Of all
the ancestors we had already seen, II
contains paintings OF many famous
battles. two Van Dyke portraits
(Charles of England and Catharine)
and an immense canvas by Werner
king William of Prussia proclaimed
emperor in 1871"
The concert hall is a large empty
room. The mural decorations were
elaborate but aside from these, and
the boxes, there was little TO see
On leaving this room we removed
our felt shoes, and ascending a large