, 1912-03-23
Yours sincerely,
(Signed) MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN.

If anything further were necessary to
make my welcome to Copenhagen complete
1t was the unexpected arrival of this friend
ly letter from the American Ambassador, in
which he expressed the interest of the King
i'll my work and his desire to honor me, as
the letter stated, with q ''private audience
AS this brief interview with the King and
the subsequent dinner at the summer palace
at which I was present seem to have
aroused considerable interest, probably be-
cause it was an unusual honor to have been
conferred upon an American Negro, perhaps
1t will not be out of place for me to tell what
the interview and dinner were like and give
some of my impressions of royalty at close
hand. Before | describe my interview with
the King, however, [ want to say something
of what l saw of Denmark on my way from
Berlin to Copenhagen. OF all the places
that I planned to visit during my brief So
journ in Europe I think I can safely say that
Denmark was the country from which [
hoped to learn most, the one in which,
therefore, [ felt the most lively interest. In
order not to miss anything that was worth
seeing I was out Of bed early i'll the morn
ing.
OF course the first thing that [ encoun-
tered was another change of language. Dur
ing the past few weeks, however, languages
had changed SO frequently that l had grown
accustomed to that. Besides, the difference
between Danish and German is not SO great
as that between German and Hungarian,
for instance, and both are more like English
than any of the strange tongues to which
my ears had been accustomed.
The first thing that attracted my atten-
ton, after crossing into Denmark, was the
appearance of the children. They seemed
to have a sparkle in their eyes and a rich
aOlo,,r ~ THAR foonc +hot ip1inotal vi0Cr on1
health, they had, too, an alertness and &C
tivity in their bodies which was in marked
contrast with the appearance Of the children
which have seen III many other parts OF
Europe. The Danish children, in a word,
seemed to be enjoying life
And then, too, l soon began to note that
the women of all classes were better and
more sensibly dressed than in most places
[ had visited. They seemed happier, they
talked more, laughed more, and, apparently
read more than any women | had seen Ia
Europe. [ confess, however, that | was a
little startled when | saw women III Il first
class restaurant sitting at II table with gem
tlemon smoking and apparently enjoying it.
The change that [ have indicated ID the
appearance of the children and the women
WAS equally marked in the case of the men.
l nave referred particularly to the changed
appearance of the children and women, how
ever, because my observation has taught me
that the appearance of children and women
is a pretty good indication of the civilization
of a people.
AS the train journeyed inward toward Co
peGhagen [ soon noticed the fine farms and
stock which were in evidence on every hand,
I had recently been in portions of Hungary,
where the government is spending large
sums of money in teaching the people me-
thods Of farming, but it did not seem to me
that the Hungarian government was sue
ceeding to the same extent as Denmark in
getting results from the money spent in the
education of its farming population. The
difference, it seemed to me, consisted in
this: Hungary was forcing her methods on
the people from the outside Denmark was
bringing about u change i'll the methods of
farming from the inside, that is, by making
each individual man and woman more inteIll-
gent, more skilled and more patriotic.
As my train approached Copenhagen it
seemed to become generally known that l
was on the train, and long before | reached
Copenhagen many sorts of people approach
ed me and babe me welcome to Denmark
This welcome was not the usual formal, ste
reotyped greeting. There was something in
A. yIo,du and the manuar of the Dau1lla that