70 DR. COOK'S OWN STORY. 



nearly so good as land legs ; he had been so used to the swaying deck that the 

 solid soil was new to him. Mr. Stead took him in his arms, held him tight and 

 began to interview him at once. 



"It took at least ten minutes to be propelled through a sea of applauding 

 and hand shaking people. I owe it entirely to the honesty of a Copenhagen 

 tailor that my coat tails were not torn off and that I was lifted up the steps of 

 the home of the Geographical Society with no loss except one button. I am 

 afraid that if the aegis of the United States had not been upon me, which was 

 both a halo and a nimbus on this day, at least one of my ribs would have been 

 broken. The adventure recalled a Georgetown football game on Thanksgiving 

 Day. 



"Dr. Cook was forced to make a little speech, and then, led by a private way, 

 he finally reached his hotel. There was to be no rest for him, however. Know- 

 ing this, I arranged that he should come to the Legation to lunch in quietness. 



THE DANISH FAREWELL. 



"When he left Copenhagen on the afternoon of the tenth, on his way to 

 meet the Scandinavian- American liner Oscar II," Dr. Egan writes, "he was the 

 center of admiring throngs. Among those last to say farewell was Count 

 Christian Holstein-Ledreborg, the son of the Prime Minister, sent by his father 

 to see him off. 



"Flowers were showered upon him. Old men and women asked to clasp 

 his hand, and at that moment he was the hero of this nation of Vikings. His 

 speeches on receiving the very high honor of the Royal Danish Geographical 

 Society's medal and on being made an honorary Doctor of Philosophy in the 

 University of Copenhagen were brief, direct and simple. This university knows 

 perfectly well how to blend in its functions solemnity, simplicity and brevity. 

 None of these functions ever occurs without music forming part of it, and a 

 great part, and the cantata for an orchestra of stringed instruments which pre- 

 ceded the short speeches was an admirable preparation for them. 



"On Friday, when he left, he was loaded with honors and followed by 

 the acclamations of the people. He stood for a few moments on the upper deck 

 of the Melchior. Admiral de Richelieu had toasted him, the center of a crowd 

 in the cabin ; but now he stood alone, and the cheers that greeted him were as 

 much a tribute to his personal character as to his epoch making exploit. Kindly, 

 simple, firm and sincere, he had in a short time made the sons of the Viking's 

 love him." 



