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THROUGH SCANDINAVIA TO MOSCOW
THROUGH SCANDINAVIA TO MOSCOW
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS By WILLIAM SEYMOUR EDWARDS Author of “IN TO THE YUKON,” ETC. CINCINNATI The Robert Clarke Co. 1906 COPYRIGHT 1906, By WILLIAM SEYMOUR EDWARDS DEDICATION To my life-long chum, my father, these pages are affectionately dedicated....
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FOREWORD
FOREWORD
These pages are made up of letters written during a little journey through Scandinavia and into Russia as far as Moscow, some four years ago, before the smashing of the Russians by the Japanese. They were written to my father, and are necessarily intimate letters, in which I have jotted down what I saw and felt as the moment moved me. The truth is, I was on my honey-moon trip, and the world sang merrily to me—even in sombre Russia. Afterward, some of these letters were published here and there;
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I. London to Denmark Across the North Sea.
I. London to Denmark Across the North Sea.
Esbjerg, Denmark , August 25, 1902 . We came down from London to Harwich toward the end of the day. Our train was a “Special” running to catch the steamer for Denmark. We were delayed a couple of hours in the dingy, dirty London station by reason of a great fog which had crept in over Harwich from the North Sea, and then, the boat had to wait upon the tide. The instant the train backed in alongside the station platform—only ten minutes before it would pull out—there was the usual scramble and gr
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II. Esbjerg—Across Jutland, Funen and Zealand, the Little Belt and the Big Belt to Copenhagen—Friends Met along the Way.
II. Esbjerg—Across Jutland, Funen and Zealand, the Little Belt and the Big Belt to Copenhagen—Friends Met along the Way.
Hotel Dagmar (“Dahmar”), Copenhagen, Denmark , August 27, 1902 . Here we are in “Kjoebenhavn,” which word you will find it quite impossible properly to pronounce, however strenuously your tongue may try. My letter, beginning in Esbjerg, was broken short by the necessity of sleep. We wisely remained upon the ship and took full benefit of our comfortable berths. In the morning we were up betimes, obtained a cup of coffee and a roll, and then, sending our bags and baggage to the railway station, se
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III. Copenhagen, a Quaint and Ancient City.
III. Copenhagen, a Quaint and Ancient City.
Kjoebenhavn, Dannmark , ( Copenhagen, Denmark ), August 28, 1902 . The Copenhagener declares that his beloved “Kjoebenhavn” is not really an ancient city, although he admits it has been in active business since the middle of the tenth century, nearly one thousand years. My Danish friends assert that it is my “Yankee eye,” which is so new, and prove the modernity of their town by telling me how many times it has been bombarded, how often sacked and razed, how frequently burned up; and yet, despit
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IV. Elsinore and Kronborg—An Evening Dinner Party.
IV. Elsinore and Kronborg—An Evening Dinner Party.
Helsinoere, Dannmark , August 29, 1902 . We left Copenhagen Friday evening, about four o’clock, from the Nordbane station. We were in plenty of time. Nobody hurries in Denmark. The train of carriages, with their side doors wide open, stood on the track ready to start. Prospective passengers and their friends moved about chatting, or saying good-bye. It was a local train to Elsinore, where it would connect with the ferry across the Sund to Helsingborg and there with the through express to Stockho
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V. Across the Sund to Sweden and Incidents of Travel to Kristiania.
V. Across the Sund to Sweden and Incidents of Travel to Kristiania.
Kristiania, Mission Hotel, Pilestradiet 27 (Alfheim) , August 31, 1902 . Hilsen Fra Kristiania! Our ancient tavern, the Sleibot, in Elsinore, cared for us most comfortably. We were given a large room looking out over the waters of the Sund , with wide small-paned casemented windows, and a great porcelain stove and giant wooden bedstead. For breakfast we had fresh herring, the fish which will now form the chief diet of Helsinoere for many a month, and more of the good Danish coffee. The bill for
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VI. A Day Upon the Rand Fjord and Along the Etna Elv—To Frydenlund—Ole Mon Our Driver.
VI. A Day Upon the Rand Fjord and Along the Etna Elv—To Frydenlund—Ole Mon Our Driver.
Frydenlund, Norge , September 1, 1902 . We left Kristiania about seven o’clock this morning and drove six kilometers to Grefsen, a suburb where the new railway comes in, which will ultimately connect the capital with Bergen on the west coast. Grefsen is up on the hills back of the city. The cars of the train we traveled in were long like our own and also set on trucks, the compartments being commodious, like the one we rode in from Helsingborg. We traversed a country of spruce forests, rapid str
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VII. A Drive Along the Baegna Elv—the Aurdals Vand and Many More to Skogstad.
VII. A Drive Along the Baegna Elv—the Aurdals Vand and Many More to Skogstad.
Skogstad, Norway , September 2, 1902 . Here we are eighty-four kilometers (sixty-one miles) from Frydenlund, where we spent last night. All day we have sat in an easy carriage, inhaled the glorious buoyant air, and driven over a superb macadamized road. We have skirted the shores of five lakes or vands —called fjords ,—amidst towering snow-marked mountains, passing beneath cliffs rising sheer above us for thousands of feet, the highway sometimes a mere gallery cut into the solid rock, and we are
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VIII. Over the Height of Land—A Wonderful Ride Down the Laera Dal to the Sogne Fjord.
VIII. Over the Height of Land—A Wonderful Ride Down the Laera Dal to the Sogne Fjord.
Laerdalsoeren, Norge , September 3, 1902 . We left Skogstad early and began to climb a long ascent, a dozen miles of grade, still following the valley of the Baegna Elv foaming and tossing by our side. The two days so far had been clear and cloudless, but now the air was full of a fine mist, and we probably ascended a thousand feet before the curtain lifted and a panorama of snow-capped mountains, profound valleys, and sheer precipices burst upon us. A thousand rills and rivulets and brawling br
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IX. A Day Upon the Sogne Fjord.
IX. A Day Upon the Sogne Fjord.
Stalheim Hotel, Norway , September 4, 1902 . To-day we have spent mostly on the water. We left Laerdalsoeren—the mouth of the valley of the river Laera—by ship, a tiny ship, deep-hulled and built to brave the fiercest gales, a boat of eighty to one hundred tons. Casting off from the little pier at eight o’clock, we were upon the waters of the majestic Sogne Fjord until after 3 p. m. This great fjord is the first body of water that I have seen which to my mind is really a fjord , the others along
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X. From Stalheim to Eida—The Waterfall of Skjerve Fos—The Mighty Hardanger Fjord.
X. From Stalheim to Eida—The Waterfall of Skjerve Fos—The Mighty Hardanger Fjord.
Odda, Norway , September 5, 1902 . We left Stalheim by Skyd (carriage), at nine o’clock. The drive was up a desolate valley, through a scattering woodland of small firs and birches, close by the side of a foaming creek, the Naerodals Elv, hundreds of becks and brooklets bounding down the mountain sides to right and left. After an hour’s climb, we reached a flattened summit where lay a little lake, the Opheims Vand, two or three miles long and wide, encircled with snow-fields. Here and there we p
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XI. The Buarbrae and Folgefonden Glaciers—Cataracts and Mountain Tarns—Odda to Horre.
XI. The Buarbrae and Folgefonden Glaciers—Cataracts and Mountain Tarns—Odda to Horre.
Horre, Hotel Breifond , September 6, 1902 . To-day we have driven thirty miles from Odda, all of it up hill, except the last six miles. We started about nine o’clock with two horses, an easy carriage, and a driver whom I have had to resign to H’s more promising Danish, for he is elderly and very weak in the foreign tongue. From the first we began to climb. The driver in Norway always walks up the hills, and the male traveler also walks, while the female traveler is expected to walk, if she be ab
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XII. Over the Lonely Haukeli Fjeld—Witches and Pixies, and Maidens Milking Goats.
XII. Over the Lonely Haukeli Fjeld—Witches and Pixies, and Maidens Milking Goats.
Hotel Haukelid , September 17, 1902 . This morning we left Hotel Breifond about eight o’clock and although we started alone, three other carriages soon caught up with us, and we set off together, ours being the first in the line. As it is the etiquette of the drivers never to pass each other, we have kept this order all the day. Next behind us was a Dane with his Norwegian wife, from Bergen, to whom H talked in their own tongue. Next to them were the two young Frenchmen with whom I have managed
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XIII. Descending from the Fjelde—The Telemarken Fjords—The Arctic Twilight.
XIII. Descending from the Fjelde—The Telemarken Fjords—The Arctic Twilight.
Dalen , September 8, 1902, 7 P. M. Our series of great rides on land and water is at an end. For eight days we have been inhaling the crisp, buoyant, ozone-laden atmosphere, viewing the majestic scenery, watching the sturdy, strong-faced men and women, the rosy, yellow-haired children; and now it is over. H and I agree that in our lives we will never again experience a more delightful outing—our sure-enough honeymoon. This morning we left the Hotel Haukelid with only sixty kilometers for the day
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XIV. Kristiania to Stockholm—A Wedding Party—Differing Norsk and Swede.
XIV. Kristiania to Stockholm—A Wedding Party—Differing Norsk and Swede.
Stockholm, Sweden , September 12, 1902 . We came over here night before last from Kristiania, by the night train; by sovevogn (sleep-wagon), the first I have tried in Europe. We traveled first-class and had a compartment to ourselves. About 9 p. m. a porter came in at a way-station, put all our bags out in the corridor, pulled out the round cushions at the back of the seats and put them into the overhead racks; he then pulled out a linen cover with which he overlaid the long seat, and unholed sm
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XV. Stockholm the Venice of the North—Life and Color of the Swedish Capital—Manners of the People and their King.
XV. Stockholm the Venice of the North—Life and Color of the Swedish Capital—Manners of the People and their King.
Stockholm , September 13, 1902 . While wandering about the city I have not taken a guide. A guide or a courier is to me always a very last resort, but I have followed the movement of the crowd, and enjoyed the being lost in it, immersed in it, becoming one with it, while yet so separate. I could not read the signs, nor understand the speech. I could only see. My vision became my one guiding sense. My eyes became abnormally alert. Color and form and action,—I caught them all. And what I saw, my m
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XVI. How We Entered Russia—The Passport System—Difficult to Get Into Russia and More Difficult to Get Out.
XVI. How We Entered Russia—The Passport System—Difficult to Get Into Russia and More Difficult to Get Out.
St. Petersburg, Russia , September 16, 1902 . It is not easy to get into Russia; it is yet more difficult to get out. Before leaving the United States, I had taken due precautions and secured a passport from the State Department, signed by Secretary Hay, with the Great Seal of the United States upon it. In that passport I was described. I had also provided myself with a special letter from the State Department, in which all consuls and officials of the United States in foreign lands had been bid
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XVII. St. Petersburg—The Great Wealth of the Few—The Bitter Poverty of the Many—Conditions Similar to Those Preceding the French Revolution.[2]
XVII. St. Petersburg—The Great Wealth of the Few—The Bitter Poverty of the Many—Conditions Similar to Those Preceding the French Revolution.[2]
[2] These letters were written in the early autumn of the year, 1902, and present a glimpse of Russia as it then appeared. Grand Hotel de l’Europe , St. Petersburg, Russia , September 18 (N. S.), 1902 . So much has been jammed into the last two days that my pen is like to burst. Splendor and squalor, the glitter of twentieth century civilization, the sombre shadow of barbarism, are here entwined in inextricable comminglement. The city is filled with stately buildings of gigantic and imposing dim
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XVIII. En Route to Moscow—Under Military Guard—Suspected of Designs on Life of the Czar.
XVIII. En Route to Moscow—Under Military Guard—Suspected of Designs on Life of the Czar.
Moscow, Russia , September 19, 1902, 10 P. M. We took the Imperial Mail train as determined. Foreign travelers generally journey by the night express, which arrives at Moscow only an hour behind the Imperial Mail, but it leaves St. Petersburg at so late an hour that there is little chance to see the country traversed. We made up our minds to take the more democratic train, which goes in the middle afternoon and stops at all way-stations. This would give us an opportunity to see more of the peopl
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XIX. Our Arrival at Moscow—Splendor and Squalor—Enlightenment and Superstition—Russia Asiatic Rather Than European.
XIX. Our Arrival at Moscow—Splendor and Squalor—Enlightenment and Superstition—Russia Asiatic Rather Than European.
Moscow, Russia , September 20, 1902 . It was toward ten o’clock when we drew near the suburbs of Moscow, a city of more than a million inhabitants. We saw straggling wooden houses, mostly unpainted, rarely ever more than one story high, and unpaved streets filled with country wagons, not the great two-wheeled carts of France, but long, low, four-wheeled wagons with horses pulling singly, or hitched three and four abreast; and I noted that the thills and traces of these wagons were fastened to th
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XX. The Splendid Pageant of the Russian Mass—The Separateness of Russian Religious Feeling From Modern Thought—Russia Mediaeval and Pagan.
XX. The Splendid Pageant of the Russian Mass—The Separateness of Russian Religious Feeling From Modern Thought—Russia Mediaeval and Pagan.
Moscow, Russia , September 21, 1902 . We have just been leaning over a guard rail of burnished brass, peering down into the half twilight gloom, beholding ten thousand Russian men and women bending their swaying bodies, as a wheat field bends before the wind, crossing themselves in feverish fervor, even bowing the forehead to the marble floor and kissing it rapturously in the solemn celebration of the mass. We drove in a landau ,—all four of us and our Hungarian guide,—through the narrow, crowde
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XXI. The First Snows—Moscow to Warsaw—Fat Farm Lands and Frightful Poverty of the Mujiks Who Own them and Till them—I Recover My Passport.
XXI. The First Snows—Moscow to Warsaw—Fat Farm Lands and Frightful Poverty of the Mujiks Who Own them and Till them—I Recover My Passport.
Hotel Savoy, Friedichs Strasse , Berlin, Germany , September 23, 1902 . “ Hoch der Kaiser, Hoch der Kaiser! Gott sei Dank! Ich bin in Deutschland angekommen! ” have my brain and blood and bones been crying out all the last fifty miles, since we safely crossed the Russian border. Until the moment when the last Russian official waked me up, held a light in my face, and, staring at me, compared my visage with what the passport said it ought to be, and handed me back that document to be mine forever
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XXII. The Slav and the Jew—The Slav’s Envy and Jealousy of the Jew.
XXII. The Slav and the Jew—The Slav’s Envy and Jealousy of the Jew.
Now that I have had a glimpse of Russia, you ask me, “Why is the Slav always so eager to do to death the Jew?” Wherefore this hatred which so constantly flames out in grievous pillage and wanton murder and blood-thirsty massacre of the children of Israel? You say to me that in America for two centuries we have had the Jew; that we now have millions of Jews, and that they are patriotic and loyal citizens of the Republic; that Jews sit in our highest courts and render able and fair decisions, ente
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XXIII. Across Germany and Holland to England—A Hamburg Wein Stube, the “Simple Fisher-Folk” of Maarken—Two Gulden at Den Haag.
XXIII. Across Germany and Holland to England—A Hamburg Wein Stube, the “Simple Fisher-Folk” of Maarken—Two Gulden at Den Haag.
London, England , Hotel Russell , September 27, 1902 Crossing the Russian border in the night, we arrived at Berlin almost before the dawn; the city lies only three hours (by train) beyond the Russian line. The station we entered was spacious and clean, in sharp contrast to the dirty stations of Russia; we were evidently come into a land blessed with a civilization of higher type. Leaving the car, we were instantly beset by a regiment of smartly uniformed porters—old soldiers all of them—and wer
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