They had no idea of what flag it was: they just happened
to have it on hand. But they found out quickly. I gave them half an
hour in which to find another. The hospital was full of very sick
patients, or I should have made them fire a salute to old Dannebrog
by way of reparation. As it was, I think they had visions of ironclads
in the East River. They had one of a very angry reporter, anyhow.
But though I did nothing to deserve it, I wear the cross proudly
for the love I bear the flag under which I was born and the good
old King who gave it to me. I saw him often when I was a young lad.
In that which makes the man he had not changed when last I met him
in Copenhagen. They told there how beggars used to waylay him on
his daily walks until the police threatened them with arrest. Then
they stood at a distance making sorrowful gestures; and the King,
who understood, laid a silver coin upon the palace window shelf
and went his way. The King must obey the law, but he can forget
the principles of alms-giving, as may the rest of us at Christmas,
and be blameless.
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