Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-02-10
Bismarck in the Country.


From tie London Daily News.
The chancellor is exceedingly fond of nature,
and OF life in the country. He prefers spending
his holidays in Varzn because the forest reaches
to his very door. whilst at SchOnhausen he has
IN hours walk 10 get to the forests edge
When he was in France, and was told that the
emperor intended naming him state minister.
he told a friend that he thought his ideal of life
was To De 10 years an ambassador 10 wears a
minister and then for the rest OF his life
country geHtleDan-pur ct simple. Often
since then he has repeated his wish OF withdraw
Ing from public life and spending his last years
In the country. In his park at Earzin, Prince
Bismarck knows every fine tree. lie often
walks in ii by moonlight. and when he is tar
away his memory carries him back to the be-
loved place While he stayed in France during
the war he more than once dreamed of his oaks
and e!ms. In his letters to his wife he often
draws landscape pictures. which show his love
for nature under all aspects. One Of his finest
descriptions IS the View from window Of the
burg al OIen. with the pale silyery Danube
and the dark mountains against glowing sky:
then Zarssoia Zclo Castle Chanbord. the Col de
Vasque ami the country between Bordeaux and
BayOnne. which he renders thus: "HemlOck
trees, heather and vast mOOrs wherever YOU
look, sometimes as III PnInerana. then similar
to our own downs. then almost as bare
as parts CT Russia This / saw with
found that What had taken for hemlocks were
pines. and what had seemed guinevre and hea-
Their was an accumulation of beautiful, rare
plants, with leaves like the cypress and myrtle
Heather blooms in wonderful coiOrs and with
0OWerS twice the size of ours. The river AdOur
on whose border is situated BayOnne bounds
this B-minor rendering OF our native heath,
which, by being similar TO our own country and
yet idealized. made my heart ache for home"
The chancellor also loves animals, the chase,
farm no fo,-
flower Is, a. all the world knows. the blue corn
flower. Bismarck prefers the heather bell to all
other flowers. He likes to have q large collec-
ton of fine horses and dogs. When quite a
young man he always had two foxes following
him about. His fayOrite do" was "Sutel :"
who was killed by yagTant be@gar This dog
was so dear TO the chancellor that he still has q
photograph Of him on his writing table, In St
Petersburg he kept some young bears in his
room, which We're a,terward presented to the
geological garden at Frankfort. Bismarck
tells prettily of the jackdaws in the park of
Varzin, chow they teach their young to fly, and
are taken to the sea-shOre for diet of worms "
and 'how they go to town in winter, fer all
the world like fashionable people" From
lis earliest youth until about the year 1877
Prince Bismarck was passionate and fOrtu-
Fate hunter. He has ceased hunting altogether
now, and leaves this amusement to his sons and
MS guests. AS young man Bismarck was so
excellent sportsman that he shot the heads Off
the ducks on the pond with small pistol which
ne stili keeps In glass case at VarZin. He
gained trophies in all parts of Europe, in his
own woods. in the Taurus. the ArGennes and
the Alps. in the park of Ferrieres, in the forests
OF Sweden and Russia. where he hunted the bear
the wolf and the wild boar. In St Petersburg his
luck lie the chase had become proverbial One
day Bismarck went out with six other NlmrOds
to hunt the bear. One of the seven told the
days history in the following words: 'We all
had bad day-except him. Comes the first
bcar-the Prussian takes aim and kills him.
Immediately aiterward appears bear No 81
aim at him and miss him; Bismarck aims and
Kills him under my very nose. Then bear No 5
comes out OF the underwOOd-Co ~ aims two
shots at him and misses him: Prussan shoots
again and Kills again We met no more bears
that day. and can tell you we did not enjOy
seeing one man kill all three" Bismarck tells
OF having met bear once who came suddenly
upon him because he was entirely enyeOped In
snow. and difficult TO distinguish from his sur
roundings. He missed him at the first shot, but
instead OF try ing to escape he shot second time
when the muZzle of his rifle almost touched the
bears nose, and killed him. Prince Bismarck
Was an excellent rider in his early DAYS riding
between "a and so English miles i'm a day: and
even in later years he able to stay i'm the sad
die as long as was required of him. At the bat
tie OF k0nigsgratz he did not stir from the
saddle for twelve hours. and on the day follow
Ing Sedan he was on horseback from . O'Clock
In the morning to 10 at night. For two wears
he has not been on horseback. He tells us that
he was thrown of his horse at least fifty times
IN his life. and once broke three ribs in his fall
He was first-rate fencer. and proved his skill
In more than twenty students duels. He ALWAYS
enjoyed swimming much, and QTacticed 1t when.
ever there was an opportunity. Thus he writes to
the countess from Frankfort in 1851: lon Saturday
drove to Rudesheim with two friends. There
We took n boat and rowed out upon the Rhine
and swan in the mOOnshine. with only nose and
eyes out Of the tepid water as far as Bingen tC
the Mouse tower, where the wicked bishop
found his tragicai end. 1t gives one strange
dreamy feeling to lie in the water In O warm
night. carried along softly by the stream, ant
20 gaze upon the sky with the moon and the
stars and on all sides the wooded mountaintop:
and the ruined castles in the moonlight
should Ike to enjoy such a swim every night O
my life"
When Sir Rowland Hill introduced his uenn,
postage Lord Lichileld, the postmaster general
said: .'0f all the wild and visionary scheme
which have ever heard or read Of 1t is tn,
most extraordinary"
People should remember that II they are care
less as to allowing themselves to get into low
state Of health they run the risk Of picking III
any malady going about. As Sir James Page
IN. linn lot olodlo