Fearing that it would be difficult to secure rooms in Paris during the Exposition, the Doctor had written from Washington during the winter and engaged them at the hotel which a few years before had been one of the best in Paris.  Many changes had occurred since he had last been abroad, however, and we found that the hotel where we had engaged rooms was far from being suitable for us.  The mistake caused some amusement among our American friends, who were surprised to find Dr. Talmage living in the midst of a Parisian gaiety entirely too promiscuous for his calling.  We soon moved away from this zone of oriental music and splendour to a quieter and more remote hotel in the Rue Castiglione.

Dr. Talmage was restless, however, to reach the North Cape in the best season to see the Midnight Sun in its glory, and we only remained in Paris a few days, going from there to the Hague, Amsterdam, and thence to Copenhagen in Denmark.  In all the cities abroad we were always the guests of the American Embassy one evening during our stay, and this frequently led to private dinner parties with some of the prominent residents, which the Doctor greatly enjoyed, because it gave him an opportunity to know the foreign people in their homes.  I remember one of these invitations particularly because as we drove into the grounds of our host’s home he ordered the American flag to be hoisted as we entered.  The garden was beautiful with a profusion of yellow blossoms, a national flower in Denmark known as “Golden Rain.”  We admired them so much that our host wanted to present me with sprigs of the trees to plant in our home at East Hampton.  Dr. Talmage said he was sure that they would not grow out there so near the sea.  Remembering Judge Collier’s grounds in Pittsburg, where every sort of flower grows, I suggested that they would thrive there.  Our host took my father-in-law’s address, and to-day this “Golden Rain” of Denmark is growing beautifully in his garden in Pittsburg.

We saw and explored Copenhagen thoroughly.  The King of Denmark was absent from the capital, but we stood in front of his palace with the usual interest of visitors, little expecting to be entertained there, as afterwards we were.  It all came as a surprise.

We were on our way to the station to leave Copenhagen, when Mr. Swenson, the American Minister, overtook us and informed us that the Crown Prince and Princess desired to receive Dr. Talmage and his family at the summer palace.  Though it may be at the risk of lese majeste to say it, some persuasion was necessary to induce the Doctor to remain over.  Our trunks were already at the station and Dr. Talmage was anxious to get up to the North Cape.  However, the American Minister finally prevailed upon the Doctor to consider the importance of a request from royalty, and we went back to the hotel into the same rooms we had just left.