, it was just at this stirring time that I was driving through
Norway, or cruising in her fjords, and talking with graduates of her
university, with sea-captains, hotel proprietors, traveling men,
porters, drivers, serving-maids--all, in short, who spoke English
enough to make themselves clear. It was as if all Norway spoke with
one voice. From Hamerfest to Stavanger there was the same complaint of
the same wrongs, the same quiet insistence upon the same remedy. Nor
was it only the subjects of King Oscar who spoke; Norwegians settled
in France, in England, or in America either hurried home to vote or
sent their vigorous endorsement of the revolutionary proceedings. A
window in Christiania was completely filled by the mingled flags of
Norway and the United States, crossed by a banner bearing the words,
"For Disunion." It was the voice of Norway and America. It was a
modest desire they expressed. In the words of Olaf Sprachehaug, our
humble-minded _skydsgut_, the whole country was saying, "And now I
t'ink we get a king of our own." They have their own king now, and all
the world wishes them joy in him.[j]

CHAPTER XI

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SWEDEN

The present reigning family of Sweden is too young to be very
numerous, and in this brief survey it is well to begin with a bit of
information about that grand democratic monarch, Oscar II, passed away
less than two years ago. How the Bernadotte dynasty was formed has
already been shown in a previous chapter, and something of the kings,
who succeeded the former Field Marshal of France has also been
related, so that we have in these few pages simply to deal with Oscar
II, the late king, and his four sons and their families.

Oscar's grandfather, the originator of the Bernadotte dynasty, was
still on the throne when he was born, in 1829, as the third son of
Crown Prince Oscar and the beautiful Josephine of Leuchtenberg. He
seemed far removed from the throne then, and thus he found freedom
to develop himself more in keeping with his individual tastes and
inclinations. Another factor to be borne in mind is the character of
his governor and principal instructor, the historian, F.F. Carlson,
who gave to his pupil a fondness for scientific exactness as well as
an insight into the true causes of civilizatory development found none
too frequently in professional thinkers, and hardly ever in princes.
The things that drew him most strongly in those days were the sea, and
music.