Part 41 (1/2)
”It is divided into two parts, the old town and the new In the new part are broad streets and fine squares
”We visited the Rosenborg Palace, the old residence of the Danish kings;--it is only a show palace now In the churchThorwaldsen's statues of the Twelve Apostles, regarded as the finest of his works
[Illustration: VIEW OF COPENHAGEN]
THE STORY OF ANCIENT DENMARK
It is a strange, wild romance, the early history of the nations of the North
The Greeks and Romans knew but little about the Scandinavians They knew that there was a people in the regions from which came the north winds The north as very cold Was there a region beyond the north wind? If so, how lovely it must be, where the cold winds never blow They fancied that there was such a region They called the inhabitants Hyperboreans, or the people beyond the north wind
They iion of eternal summer men did not die If one of the Hyperboreans beca from a cliff
The Northmen, or the inhabitants of Denin as the tribes that peopled Germany, and that came from the East, probably from the borders of the Black Sea They were fire-worshi+ppers, and their chief God was Odin
Denmark means _a land of dark woods_ In ancient times it was probably covered with sos was Dan the Faes after the reign of this king, the land was filled with peace and plenty It was the Golden Age of the North Frode the Peaceful was king in the Golden Age He ruled over all lands frodos There was no wrong, nor want, nor thieves, nor beggars in the Golden Age This happy period of Northern history was at that age of the world when Christ was born
According to the Scalds, the God Odin used to appear to men He appeared the last time at the battle of Bravalla, a contest in which the Frisians, Wends, Finns, Lapps, Danes, Saxons, Jutes, Goths, and Swedes all were engaged The dead were so thick on the field, after this battle, that their bodies reached to the axle-wheels of the chariots of the victors At the tiland It was approaching the North With the battle of Bravalla the e of Denmark and the North co of Louis le Debonnaire, ent to die on a rock in the Rhine, that the waters , and he desired nothing so much as the conversion of the world to Christ He was the son of Charledoms”
was his declaration of purpose He sent missionary apostles to the North to convert Denmark His missions at first were failures, but in the end they resulted in giving all the Northern crowns to Christ's kingdom, that Louis loved es becaland, Denmark ruled the sea One stormy day in December Gorm the Old appeared before Paris with seven hundred barks He cos conquered England Canute the Dane was king of all the regions of the northwest of Europe His kingdoland, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, and cumberland Such is the second wonderful period of Denmark's history
THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK
Royal people, as well as ”self-es of fortune No one, however high or low, is free from the accidents of this world All ood or bad, in store for thee in position than the present royal house of the little northern kingdo, Christian IX, was a rather poor and obscure gentle quietly in Copenhagen, and bringing up his fine fairls in a very domestic and economical fashi+on He was only a re monarch, and he seemed little likely to come to the throne
But death somewhat suddenly prepared the way for him, so that when old Frederick died, in 1863, Christian found hi of the fortunes of this once modest and little-known household Just before Christian cahter, Alexandra, a beautiful and an airl, attracted the attention of the Prince of Wales The prince became attached to her, and in due time married her
About the sa of Greece, and was crowned at Athens, and is still reigning there
After three years had passed, the second daughter, Maria Dagmar, who, like her sister Alexandra, was a very lovely and attractive girl, wasbeen betrothed to his elder brother Nicholas, who died She is now Empress of Russia
[Illustration: PALACE OF FREDERICKSBORG]
Soof Sweden and Norway, thus for a new link of national friendshi+p between the three Scandinavian nations