The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-02-24
INTERESTING VISIT
To COPENHAGEN
RESTAURANTS BETTER THAN
AMERiCAN-DRINkING WATER
AND BUTTER ARE SCARCE
HOTELS ARE FILLED WITH FOREIGN SPIES
Register Correspondent Banquets at
Kings Hunting lodge-Has Ex
citing Time in Copenhagen

Brookings Register Bureau. Washington, DC.
(By j. E.. Jones)
Copenhagen has many interesting
and delightful customs, and the cafe
life has an abundance of devotees.
There are a great many Russian men
and women here, and it seems to me
that their manner and customs are
very much like those of the Danes. In
any of the popular eating places at
night one can see either the natives
or people from adjacent European
countries enjoying the white lights"
The restaurants and great eating
places in the hotels are very generous
ly supplied with divans, built for two"
and one of these pulled alongside Of a
table on which an eXtravagant amount
of food and a surplus number of bottles
and glasses are heaped, is a rare on
v%enience. The occupants of the divans
eat, drink, smoke cigarettes or cigars,
gaze into one another's amorous fishy
eyes, hold hands and enjoy the blissful
situation.
We are stopping at the Palace Hotel,
which is one of the best in the land.
At night people flock here from all
over the city and | know of no restaur-
ant in America, not even Churchills,
Rectors, The New Ebbit, The States in
Chicago or any other establishment,
that provides for half as many people
as may be found enjoying cafe life
in a great hotel of Copenhagen. Two
of the hardest things to get are butter
and drinking water. An American
friend explained that the Danes did
not believe in drinking water and that
the scarcity of butter was a situation
due to the war. One of these great
cafes, flooded with myraids of electric
lights, the occupants of the tables lis,
tening to the strains of the finest
music that can be produced by an
European orchestra. While you wait
for the next waiter, VINO proceeds upon
the assumption that you are in no
hurry, the cosmopolitan crowd fairly
fascinates you; flower girls in fantastic
costumes weave in and out between
the tables and the sound of merry
revelry causes you to shudder at times
when you realize that these merry
men and women-at least a large por-
ton Of them-are from Germany, Aus
tria, Russia, France and the other
nearby belligerant countries. We have
been hearing a good deal about our
hotels being h~oney-combed with spies;
and last night as | was helping a Nor
wegian friend whip an essay on yam
kee Doodle" into shape, l was some
what amused by the consciousness
that a very 'belligerent looking" gen
tleman was trying to ascertain the real
import of u manuscript. | do not
think he succeeded, and if he did |
can imagine his disappointment when
he reached the lines:
Yankee Doodle vent to town, upon
d lOdu vi SWltIHSo,
He pulled and l pulled and off cam
his breeches."
The Taxicab Man
One of the real exciting events of
our stay in Denmark occurred New
Years Eve. We had a great banquet
at the Kings Hunting Lodge, where
we were locked in by order of the
Chief of Police until about midnight.
A short time later, a number of us
took a cab and the party was distribut-
at various hotels. When we arrived at
our destination, we refused for good
ard sufficient reasons, to settle with
the driver-because he was trying to
put one over on u.s." The hotel was
at one side of the Raadspladsen, or
City Hall square. After our driver had
stormed and threatened for awhile, he
proceeded to make good his threat, and
very shortly four giant policemen in
full uniform, including fierce helmets,
made their way toward our hotel. At
that time there were perhaps twenty
five thousand people in the square,, and
the crowd having observed the move
ments of the police, proceeded to storm
the hotel. There was intense excite
ment and it was necessary to lock the
doors in order to prevent the front Of
the "hotellet" from being carried
away. The policemen were very col
teous. and after they had listened to
our story, stood by us to the extent of
deserving the taxi man. When we had