The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-04-25
The Kaiser's Favorite Flower.
Translated from the "Gartenlaube" by C..
Sherman.l

Translated from the "Gartenlaube" by c. X.
Sherman.l
EmperorWilliam L. is as every one knows
very fond of flowers, and his birthday table
is always ornamented with magnificent bou-
quets; and, among these more brilliant sisters
a very modest wild flower, the corn flower
or blue bottle (Centaurea Cyanusl never
fails to appear. All the sons and daughters
of the immortal Queen Louisa cherish, in
memory of the dear departed, a decided
preference for this flower, and this prefer
ence dates back to an apparently very insig-
spent the two years from 1906 to 1903 in Ko-
nigsberg, and lived during the summer
months on a country estate. The solitude of
the place, broken only by the rustling of
trees, the singing of birds and the hum of
insects soothed the troubled spirit of the
sorely tried queen. Here she often rambled
about with her children, giving motherly
words of counsel, which would cultivate the
mind and heart and steel the character.
One morning. as the queen was about to
take her customary walk in the park, a
peasant girl stood at the garden gate, and
offered her q basket of corn flowers. The
queen gracieusly accepted the present. gen.
erously thanked the girl, took with her the
flowers, over whose beautiful blue color the
Princess Charlotte, then ten years old, ex-
pressed fonG admiration, and went into the
park. When they had come to resting
place, the princese attempted, under the
mothers direction, to weave garland of the
corn flowers, and so great was the mothers
Joy over the success of the attempt that the
usually pale cheeks of the princess flushed
to bright red. And, when she pressed the
completed wreath on her beautiful hair, 1T
was so becoming to the fine, noble-cut fea-
lures that the admiring brothers and sisters
among them the present emperor-gave
loud expressions of joy. How delighted the
queen must have been as she saw the eyes Of
her children glisten over trife whose ma
terial value was scarcely worthy of account.
The force of arms had brought misfortune
on misfortune to the dear fatherland. Who
could have imagined that the princess, then
adorned with a garland of wild flowers,
would ever wear the diadem of an empress2
Who would have dreamed that the appar-
emily annihilated Prussia would extend its
protecting arm from cliff to sea, and would
exalt Louisa's son to mighty power and
honor as emperor of United Germany?
But the queen saw an Eden to rise in the
glad hearts of her children, through inno-
cent Joy, out of which springs of purest de-
| light must flow. " it'll deep emotions she
pressed her dear ones to her heart, and the
corn flower, which had given her SO much
pleasure became her favorite flower, is also
that of her daughter Charlotte.
When Charlotte, twenty years later, as
empress of Russia, gladdened her home with
a visit, the people OF Konigsberg thought to
awaken in the memory of the mighty en-
press an exceedingly pleasant recollection,
when young maidens. ornamented with
corn flowers, appeared before her, scattering
the way with flowers. And they were not
disappointed. The empress expressed her
thanks and Joy that they chose the corn
flower with which to honor her.