Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-25
HIS BAvARIAN Majesty
Some Anecdotes About the Eccentric
King


MultifariOus are the anecdotes-fables.
some of them, 1 really believe, saws
Itnstey's HdGdzine-told of the King. He
is misogynist, hater of court ceremo-
nlals, yet withal man who stands upon
MS dignity; passionate lover of music
| and mountain scenery, and a great
strickler for the autonomy of Bavaria.
He will not have it Prussianized at any
price. His favorite seat is a hunting
lodge up in the mountains. tits said that
he sleeps in large, lofty room, with the
ceiling painted to represent the firma-
| meut, and practicable moon shedding n
mellow hight from one quarter of the aTti-
| nclal heavens. The perspective is managed
so as to give the illusion of spaciousness,
and through the distant trees cut out in
the canvas, as he reclines, may be heard
| the plash of falling waters. Their lula
by bushes him to sleep. Macenas had a
| f0ndness for the same soporific. Some
times His Majesty rises IN the night, has
Diack steed saddled, and dashes off at
| WhlrlWInd speed up and down the hill
roads-which are well kept for that rea-
! son like phantom hoIseman pursued
| by some relentless decree of the super-
! natural powers. The finest stud in Baya-
ria is TO be found III his stables. but the
| cattle are cast soon and often; they are
thoroughly worn out and broken down
| AFTER very lew years in the royal ser
| vice. he plays practical Jokes on his re-
| tinue sometimes. 1t is related of him
that Minister arrived in hot haste once
10 crave an audience on important bust
ness OF State. The King was out hunting
| the chamOis, but by some chance the
Minister succeeded in catchingup with the
party. Ludwig preceded him to a game
! keepers hut, where he sometimes used to
| lunch, and went in telling him to attend
MN. The Minister waited one hour, two
hours, and at last losing patience, and
! fearing that his royal master had been at
| tackled by some sudden illness, forced in
| the door. No King was there. He had
made his exit by window at the back,
and was away on the high hills in pursuit
| OF the game. In the capital His Majesty Of
ten commands an opera-generallV one
| by Wagner, for whom he has as strange a
prediction as a predecessor on the throne
mad Tor Lola Montes-and this opera is
| produced in the middle of the day. The
theatre is darkened, and nobody is admit
ted to the auditorium but himself. If he
is pleased he sends the prima dOnna-not
a bracelet nor ring, but a bouquet of
| flowers plucked by his own hands, He
once had "Lohengrin" enacted on the
| Starnberger See, the borders OF the lake
having been illuminated a giOTRO at his
| expense. When the war with France
| broke out he was displeased, but dare not
attempt to stem the tide of universal
German feeling. However, he declined to
| go to the front, and withdrew himself to
his beloved sOlltudes while the stirring
events which led to the building of the
German Empire were thrilling the world
with excitement. At the close of the duel
OF Iltans, the Crown Prince Of Germany
came to Munich to pass the victorious
| BaYarlans in gala review. The King fled
again to the mountains. He knew the
popular commander would receive an en-
thusiastic greeting, and he did not choose
to play second fiddle in his own capital to
any domestic foreigner. He takes deep
interest in the Passion Play, and when
Josef Meyer was drafted into a fighting
contingent, he gave strict or
| ders that he should be de-
tanned at Munich and employed as a clerk
in the War Office The village of the
Mystery lost its own share in that con-
tllct which brought mourning to so many
humble tiresides in the Fatherland, and of
the actual performers two or three who
had speaking parts in 1870 we've killed in
the field or Succumbed TO their wounds