Show jour journey hey 1 1 to copenhagen Is told by D R wheelwright copenhagen den aug 26 1925 editor box bos elder news today is my birthday anniversary As important an event as this should ie be I 1 had entirely forgotten it until my brother in law brought me a bouquet of flowers I 1 believe this is the first bouquet ol of flowers I 1 have ever received the first day in copenhagen was the most enjoyable day ot of the entire trip As usual I 1 got up early took a walk over to the mission house where I 1 acted as mission secretary 20 years ago copenhagen surely looked good to me and it I 1 were to live in any city in europe I 1 would prefer the capitol ot of denmark which is the largest city in scandinavia the population has hag increased about in the past 20 years being now about upon our arrival here we were met by our old friends mr air and mrs aage Godt bergsen and their charming daughter aase we spent sunday with them visiting marken where a monument which had been erected by the scandinavian americans was being unveiled among the speakers was the king who Is very democratic he was at the station when we arrived and was almost the first person we saw in denmark after the services at marken we drove out to Lang elinie this is one of the most beautiful promenades in the city the evening we spent at diioli this amusement park has been in continuous operation tor for 85 years it is now in the very heart ot of the city and is visited dally daily by about people the main attraction Is the concert hall where two concerts are gh gi en each evening by a symphony orchestra ot of 65 pieces the open air rants do an enormous business they advertise american lee ice cream but it aint old copenhagen has not changed very much the streets street are narrow and crooked the main business street of copenhagen called St roget is only about 30 feet wide bicycles and horses are not permitted on this street after 10 a ni there is a continuous stream of 0 humanity going each way the shops are arc small and more ot of the goods are on display in the windows than are on the shelves behind the counters english and german is ia spoken about as much as danish on oil this street as it Is the mecca of the tourists we had planned to leave here hera the following thursday tor for germany and then home via england but monday night a sudden illness halted our plans our son sterling had a nervous breakdown and has been very III ever since the suburbs of copenhagen have grown wonderfully where there were open felds before there are now solid blocks of houses the buildings here are all tour four stories this being the height allowed by law As we were walking down the street the other day I 1 took the time to count the families under one root roof and there were and this was only one of many such houses some of the old landmarks that will be remembered by many of our old friends who have come from here are round hound tower sometimes spoken of as suicide tower as several people have bave jumped from it ft to the pavement below and been dashed to pieces the top is now encircled by a double iron fence frue kirke our ladies church is now undergoing some needed repairs in this church are christ and the twelve apostles cut from solid marble by the danish sculpture nichole church is now used as a public library for foreign books here are books in many languages the greatest number being in english german and french in addition to the many public libraries there is ia the royal library which is similar to our congressional library at washington D C the royal library contains many rare old manuscripts which together with the books are available to the public upon certain conditions I 1 became well acquainted with one of the librarians mr air F r kolbye we have made good use of 0 the libraries acs ics on account of 0 having to remain here so long copenhagen en has three wonderful museums the state museum of art houses the paintings of nearly all the danish dails masters the ca collection lection to if very large and very interesting on one e of the paintings that interests int erasts the visitors irom from utah la Is that ot of a mormon missionary distributing tracts at a country farm house there Is a large collection of sculpture that has been gathered from all over europe and there is a large collection of copies from ancient rome and greece Thorvald sons museum contains the works of that famous sculpture either in the original or copies it seems impossible that ono one man could accomplish so much in a single lff etim Is by tar far the largest and most elaborate this was presented to the city of 0 copenhagen by the brewer jacobsen Jao whose bust in marble and I 1 portrait in oil are to be seen in several p places I 1 aces I 1 it contains works of art from every age slid and clime the egyptian leol collection colle clion lection is very complete both in i originals and copies to go through this museum without stopping to study any ny 0 of the works 0 of art in particular requires about two hours copenhagen boasts of 0 a large zoo and also a botanical boto garden the I 1 greatest change noticeable in all scandinavia since our last visit Is that it has become so americanized especially is this ihli case casewitz wIth norway and denmark where two years english Is ii compulsory in the public schools all employees in business houses must speak english and almost everybody can an speak enough english to make themselves I 1 understood american made goods are featured in all the stores and very prominently displayed in the windows the export and import agerman business language has changed from german to english in one window display I 1 counted twelve american made articles when we were here before there was not a single exclusive candy store and now there are hundreds it if not thousands sweets and meats meals seem to be the main eats but coffee Is still the main drink with beer a close second the beer Is not intoxicating as they have cut the alcoholic content from four or five fire percent to about 2 percent and have raised the price from ten ore to fifty ore a glass norway and sweden have a 1 form of limited prohibition but denmark is wide open the habit eem to have been acquired by the entire population the women as well as the men smoke and as there is no age limits small bm hoys s and girls smoke we met several families where the gentler sex had not taken up the vicious habit the wages in copenhagen are the highest of any city in europe and equal to wages paid in LT IS A for the same class ot of work but even at this I 1 dont see how the people live as the prices tor for clothing shoes food and housing are higher than at home and of course the people have no cance chance to raise a few chickens a little garden or a cow to help out we sr sometime complain about our taxes at home or at least some people they ought to ba here tor for a little while at home there Is con constant start complain ing about the payment of ove live per cart excise tax on an automobile and that Is 13 only on the wholesale price but here there is an excise tax ot of from 20 to 25 per cent on the retail price for example a ford sedan sells for 1075 kronor kroner and the excise tax Is 1000 kroner gasoline Is per gallon there are a few european cars but the big majority are made in america today we have had a trip to hille rot roil and visited castle I 1 invited all the te elders elder at korsgaden Kors gade to be my guests president hansen and elder aagaard ca could not go but five others came who with two ladles ladies from new york my mv brother in law my two hoys boys and myself made up the party it was raining so hard when we left that we did t ke our but regretted regret ed it later when the rain stopped the old castle Is used as a historical museum it was built between the years and 1608 by king christian IV as one of his residences six danish kings have been crowned in the church adjoining the castle in this museum ons one can trace danish history in pictures art and furniture from the earliest ages to the present time the wall and ceiling decorations are wonderful the knights hall is the most magnificent of 0 anything I 1 have ever seen the walls are arc covered with ta pets ries over which hang life size oil paintings of the royalty past and present the ceiling is done in relief and the figures are in natural size and colors the floor is a dream sil smooth looth as polished glass the pillars supporting the musi musicians clani stand are inlaid with stiver silver ebony and mahogany and the halt half has not been told to me the greatest wonder of all Is not in the museum but in a private house in a pane of glass in second story of this house can he be seen the figure of an old batly knitting nobody knows how the image got in the glass class it was as there 22 years ago and Is still there the story goes that an old lady sat in front of the window or rather in the room back of the window tsin dow knitting and after she died they saw the image in the glass why it should be there I 1 do not attempt to explain I 1 can only say as they say here it Is far ar beyond my understanding and far into the priests we expect to leave here on S S united states sept alth yours truly D H R wheelwright |