198 
THROUGH NORWAY WITH THE VESEY CLUB. 
Sep., 1890. 
couple of glasses, and in a vase is a bunch of roses. The 
compartment is lighted by the electric light, with a switch 
under the control of the passenger, and in the winter is 
heated, the heating being likewise under control. One of 
these compartments was secured to ourselves, and the seats 
were provided with suitable sleeping appliances. It is not, 
therefore, the carriages which are disposed to drive away 
sleep from any but the hardened traveller; the fault lies 
probably with the permanent way. At any rate, the noise 
and jolting were sufficient to neutralise the effects of but a 
couple of hours’ sleep during the previous night, and to render 
possible only an occasional doze. Before 2 0 a.m. we crossed 
the Norwegian frontier, and had made rather more than half 
our journey. The traveller should, however, be sure to wake 
up, orask the guard to wake him, in time to see the magnificent 
Sarpsfos, at Sarpsborg, a waterfall in which the whole of the 
huge volume of the Glommen river, by far the largest river in 
Norway, pours over a ledge of rock about fifty yards in width 
and seventy-five feet in depth. The railway crosses the river 
almost vertically over the fall. The train now approaches the 
Christiania Fjord, and at Moss I would suggest that the 
traveller should leave the train and take a small local steamer 
which starts shortly afterwards for Christiania. The Fjord, 
as I can vouch from personal knowledge, is well worth the 
trouble of turning out at 4 0 a.m. In our case, however, it 
was again raining fast; views were therefore impossible, and 
we remained in the train, satisfying ourselves with lovely 
glimpses from time to time as we approached Christiania and 
the showers intermitted. 
At Christiania we had Saturday morning at our disposal, 
and just as our friends found themselves in the thick of the 
Kaiser’s arrival, so we had what the Americans expressively 
call “ a front seat ” at his departure. His is an interesting 
personality. In my younger days 1 used to discuss at a 
debating society questions of the highest politics, and more 
than once considered the relative advantages of ‘‘freedom ” 
and a “ benevolent despotism.” There is more than a 
suggestion of a benevolent despotism about the Kaiser's rule, 
and there are few, perhaps none, more interesting questions in 
contemporary politics than the future of his method. It is 
telling an old, old tale to say that, personally, he is not half so 
good looking as his photographs. A fine-looking man, facially, 
is King Oscar, who sat by his side and exerted himself, some¬ 
what ineffectually, to arouse his subjects’ enthusiasm. The 
Norwegians are a democratic people. Monarchy in the 
abstract is not popular with them, and in the concrete it is 
decidedly unpopular. The marriage of Norway and Sweden 
