The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1876-04-13

Oh little adventures ana daily events. Bis
msr,k displays himself in this book as a
master of short humoristic letters
BISMARCK ON HIS ESTATE.
In his first letters Bismarck touchingly in
quires after his farther, who, subsequent to
the death of his mother, lived alone ON his
family estate, Schonhausen. He instructs
his sister to write to the old gentleman more
of the little events of daily life: "who has
been residing at their house, what they had
for dinner, how the horses are getting on,
whether the doors creak and the windows
rattle-in short, facts" Later on he writes
to his sister from his estate at Kniephof: :
''Only with d tficulty can | overcome an in
clinaiion to fill my letter with agricultural
complaints ou night frosts, sick cattle bad
crops, worse roads, dead lambs, hungry
sheep, want of straw, food, money, potatoes
and manure. To heighten my aggravation
John is whistGng outside, as persistent ly as
falsely, an infamous schottische, and have
not the courage to forbid it, as he Doubt
less Is endeavnring thus TO appease his
violent ioveSckness. The ideal ot his
dreams has lately, at the persuasions of her
parents, refu ed him and married a wheel
wright.
EXACTLY MY CASE,
with the execution of the wheelwright, who
is still hidden IN the lap of futurity |
must really-the deuce take it!-marry, for
since fathers departure feel lonely and
solitary, and mild damp state of weather
makes me melancholy, longing and in love.
No resistance is of avail must marry
the people will have it so-and nothing
seems more natural, as we two brothers are
left alone. My lady love does not produce
a great impression on me, but that no lady
does; it is any rate satisfactory where one
cannot change his inclinations with his
Shirt as seldom even as the latter may oc-
cur" How faithful Bismarck later on
clings to his wife and children may be seen
from many of his letters. After a short ac-
qualntance he married his wife, Baroness
Paulkammer, on the twenty-eighth of July,
1S47; made wedding tour to Italy, and then
settled down on his ancestral estate, Schon-
hausen, where he was shortly afterward
elected as a member of the Prussian House
of Commons. During his stay in Berlin, as
deputy, his eldest son was born, to whose
christening the worthy pastor Gossner was
invited. One extract from the few letters
in which he describes the cares and
TROUBLES OF NEWLY MARRIED HAPPINESS,
in spite of the long mien he draws, .the
pleasure and pride of the young father,
which he depicts to his sister from Schon-
hansen in the following humorous manner:
''rhe boy bowling in major, the girl in
minor, two singing nurses, and between wet
diapers and milk bottles sit 1 as loving fa-
ther. have for long time resisted the
entreaties of my wife to visit a watering
place with my family; but, as all mothers
and aunts were agreed that only sea air and
waller could help poor little Marie, should,
If refused, hear complaints at every cold
NJ
have very unwillingly decided to give up
my country leisure; but having done so, the
affair is beginning to take rosy hue, and
delight in the prospect of shortly being able
to seize with my own hands coast herrings
in the depths of the Baltic" A few days
later, still occupied with the excursion, he
adds: SIN reality, my yielding to this jour
ney gives me a right of being placed in the
new mad asylum, or at least of becoming a
lifelong member of the House of Deputies.
1 see myself already, with the children on
the Genthin platform, and then in the car
riage, with all sorts of childish necessarles
in the midst of a party turning up their
noses with disgust. Johanna, my wife, is
ashamed to give the boy the breast, and he
is roaring himself blue in the face; then a
visitation of passports, crowded hotel and
finally waiting with both crying monkeys at
Augermunde for horses. was yesterday
so desperate at all these prospects that
positively resolved to abandon the journey,
but Johanna fell upon me IN the night with
the boy ia her arms, and, with all arts that
deprived US of Paradise, as a matter OF
course managed that everything should re-
main as arranged. Ifeel, however, like one
who is shamefully used. Next year l shall
certainly have to H.
TRAVEL. WITH THREE CRADLES.
wet nurses, diapers, beds, and il
one only received a salary as deputy! But
| to travel with nurselings, on the remains oi
fine fortune, am very happyw Notwith
standing all these sighs and groans it il
palpable what satisfaction the young father
| finds in his little family. These letters o
his youth and manhood show US the grea
statesman in his private life, before entering
upon his political career. Although in thu
remaining part of the collection only ont
letter is of purely political nature, nearly
every line, even in the most harmless cor
respondence with his family, betrays IN hi
frank and candid character the politica
schemes and thoughts in possession of him
The next chapter begins with letters from
the time of his stay at Frankfort-on-the
Main as Prussian Minister to the German
Diet, where he feels very uncomfortable
As Prussan, filled with an overconscious
ness that his country is called upon to pla
a great role in the worlds history, he i
panied that it is thrust in the background
by Austria in the German Confederacy AM
not treated with due respect. The hollow
ness of the German Diet was soon perceive'
by him. Only few weeks after his arriva
in Frankfort he wrote to his wife: Il n0ve
doubted that the federal governments in tn
| q E,rk
insipid, stupid water soup in which no tfac
of fat can be found, surprises me. Send
groom from the stable or boy from th
kitchen when he is washed and combed.
will here make a show of him in diplomacy
Every one of us in the Diet act as thoug
he thought the other was full of astonist
ing schemes and plans, if he would onl
exhibit them, and in reality none of us kno'
in the slightest what will happen to Gel
many more than one of my ploughboyi
No one, even the most spitefui republican
believes what charlatanism and airs of in
portance are hidden in diplomacy" o
these complaints of the shallowness of of
cial life follows a description Of the charm
ing country round
ABOUT FRANKFORT
. and the numerous fine excursions indemn
fying him for vexations caused in the feS
: eral palace. His travels on the Rhine r
mind the npening man of his boisteroV
frolics when a student, travelling In th
beautiful neighborhood. Full Of sadne
and precoeions wisdom, be exclaims: IS
It might please God 70 I'LL my worthless
t ing with his clear and strong wine instes
of the effervescent champagne useless
wasted in youth and only leaving sour dreI
behind. How many are buried with who
i then loved, drank and played. Ny vie'
Of the world have these last fourteen yea
undergone many transformations, each sn
cessive change Of which / considered ~ u
: night one, and how much now appears sma
that then seemed 50 great" Also In Berii
when called 70 the Chamber, his never -
: is6ed spirit seems to yesrn for higher Pu
suits. There is somsthing demoralizir