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ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS, FACSIMILES, ETC.
Harper & Brothers Publishers New York and London MCMXIV
1913, 1914 By Harper & Brothers Printed in The United States of America Published October, 1914
[Illustration: LILLIE DE HEGERMANN-LINDENCRONE Reproduced from the portrait painted in 1880 by B. C. Porter.
LILLIE DE HEGERMANN-LINDENCRONE Frontispiece
INSCRIPTIONS IN ONE OF THE ROOMS AT AALHOLM, BEARING THE DATE 1585 " 168
A LETTER IN ENGLISH FROM KING OSCAR " 234
JULES MASSENET AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS CAREER " 246
FÉLIX FAURE WHEN PRESIDENT OF FRANCE " 252
LINES FROM "LA PRINCESSE LOINTAINE" WITH ROSTAND'S AUTOGRAPH " 260
THE EMPRESS OF GERMANY ON HER FAVORITE MOUNT " 280
EMPEROR WILLIAM IN THE UNIFORM OF THE GUARDS " 280
THE THRONE-ROOM OF THE ROYAL PALACE, BERLIN " 290
THE ROYAL PALACE AND LUSTGARTEN, BERLIN " 306
MADAME DE HEGERMANN-LINDENCRONE, the writer of these letters, is the wife of the recently retired Danish Minister to Germany. She was formerly Miss Lillie Greenough, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she lived with her grandfather, Judge Fay, in the fine old Fay mansion, now the property of Radcliffe College.
As a child Miss Greenough developed the remarkable voice which later was to make her well known, and when only fifteen years of age her mother took her to London to study under Garcia. Two years later Miss Greenough became the wife of Charles Moulton, the son of a well-known American banker, who had been a resident in Paris since the days of Louis Philippe. As Madame Charles Moulton the charming American became an appreciated guest at the court of Napoleon III. Upon the fall of the Empire Mrs. Moulton returned to America, where Mr. Moulton died, and a few years afterward she married M. de Hegermann-Lindencrone, at that time Danish Minister to the United States, and later periods his country's representative at Stockholm, Rome, Paris, Washington and Berlin.
Ambassador A man, just a little below God. Attaché The lowest rung of the ladder. Blunder How absurd! Why, never!... Chancellery The barn-yard where he is plucked. Chief The cock of the walk. Colleagues A question merely of time and place. Court Where one learns to make courtesies. Decorations The balm for all woes. Dinners The surest road to success. Disponsibility The Styx, whence no one returns. Esprit (de corps) The corps is there, but where is the esprit? Etiquette The Ten Commandments. Finesse A narrow lane where two can walk abreast. Friendships Ships that pass in the night. Gotha (almanack) The Bible of a Diplomat. Highness His, Her, make a deep courtesy. Ignoramus A person who does not agree with you. Innuendo An obscure side-light of truth. Joke Something beneath the dignity of a diplomat to notice. Knowledge (private) News which every one already knows. Legation Apartments to let. Letters (de créance) The first impression. Letters (de rappel) The last illusion. Majesté (lèse) Too awful to think of. Majesties Human beings with royal faults. Nobodies People to be avoided like poison. Opulence When in service. Pension Too small to be seen with the naked eye. Poverty When out of service. Quo (status) Diplomatic expression, meaning in French, Une jambe en l'air. Ruse A carefully disguised thought as transparent as a soap-bubble. Secretary Furniture easily moved. Traditions A door always open for refuge. Traités (de paix) A series of dinners paid for by a lavish government. Uniform A bestarred and beribboned livery. Visits The most important duty of a diplomat. Wisdom Good to have, but easily dispensed with. Xpectations A tree which seldom bears fruit. Yawn What a diplomat does over his rapports. Zeal Something a diplomat ought never to have too much of.
Dear Mother,--After my hurriedly written letter of the 24th you will know that we have arrived here safely. My first introduction to my first post as diplomat's wife was made unwittingly by a gentleman walking with a friend just behind me. "Who is that gentleman?" said he, indicating Johan. "That? That is the Minister of Denmark." I, struggling with an arm-load of flowers culled from well-intentioned friends at different stations on the road, my maid and Johan's valet bringing up the rear with the overflow of small baggage, passed unnoticed. Now we are quite established here, and I have already commenced my diplomatic duties. There seems to be no end of card-leaving and card-receiving, and a list of rules on etiquette (the Ten Commandments of a Diplomat) as long as your arm. I never knew of anything so confusing. I try to remember the things that I must do and the things that I must not do. How many cold shower-baths of reproval have I already received; how many unruly things have I already done! We are invited to many dinners, luncheons, and entertainments of all kinds. I am knee-deep in engagements, actually wading in them. The engagement-book you gave me is already overfilled.
We were very much amused at the collection of newspaper cuttings you sent us. Johan thought the one describing him as "a massive blonde of magnificent proportions, whose pure heart and clean hands had won all hearts in Washington" [previous to winning mine], was much too personal. "The medals [his prized decorations] were not his fault, and should not be laid up against him; and as for the gold key which he wears on his back, it is considered a great honor, as few Danes have had it conferred on them, being, as it is, the key of the king's own bedchamber, and giving the wearer the privilege of entering there when he likes."
Another one which amused us says "the bride is to be congratulated on having annexed as fine a specimen of a viking as any one could desire, and, although she has not secured a golden crown for her marble brow, she has secured a name that ought to be good for a 'three-bagger' on any diamond, and that just to see it written on a hotel register makes any hotel clerk faint." Johan asked me what a "three-bagger" was, but I could not tell him. Then the worst one! "Mr. de Hegermann is envoy extraordinary and parson to his Danish 'nibs.' " Johan was horrified at this lèse majesté. We looked the word "nibs" out in the dictionary, only to find that in cribbage "nibs" means the knave of trumps. This made matters worse; to call his sovereign a knave--even of trumps--seemed too disrespectful.