Omaha daily bee., 1884-06-05

risk of his own life. On his return to
the city a priest cameto congratulate him
on the divine mercy that had been vouch-
safed him.
Concerning Bismarck as a card player,
also in reference to how he sometimes
plays diplomatic games, Busch says:
"Tust before the outbreak of the Boz
hemian war he staked heavy odds on one
card-nothing less than Prussia's great
ness and his own fate. But neither In
this sense or the ordinary one is he any
friend of luckless gaming. He has new
err taken part in Bourse maneuvers, as
many another in high office has done in
France, Austria and Italy, and for a
long time he has not touched a card.
When a young man he enjoyed whist, at
which he sometimes sat full seven hours,
and played az much as twenty rubbers.
Games of chance had a fascination for
him at that time of his life also. But
he said, speaking of the matter at once,
they only interested me when the stake
was high, and that would not do for the
father of family
at goes without saying that Bismarck
as a diplomat maintains a good table,
though he does not allow the simplest
thing to be wasted. 4 \ Like Freder.
lex the Great when in health Bismarck is
q robust feeder, but it is to be observed
that, as a rule, he eats only once a day,
at about g in the evening and that per-
sons who have to think and study in
tensely need much nourishment. He
was formerly a great smoker, so much 80
that hn would sEnnYN n HrA nTn0 ErN,n
Cologne to Berlin on the railway train;
that is to say he lighted n cigar after
another. But after 1870 he denied him
self this enjoyment more and more, out
of regard for his health, the long pipe
TOOK tho place of the fragrant weed, and
one evening in 1881 he told me he had
given up smoking altogether, because it
did not agree with him.
"In music the prince takes am~orelively
interest. He does not play any instru-
ment, but he likes others tt play. Count
Kayserlingk taught him to prize music
during his Berlin student days. His fa-
vorite composers are the classical mat sers,
especially Beethoven. In the autumn
of 1881, one evening when we walked to-
gether in the twilight in the park in the
rear of his Berlin palace, and talked of
the newly elected Germanp arliament, the
prince hummed the air of the student
song, I'VE had built a stately house.. After
a pause he spoke of the Luck of Eden
hall, and compared it to the German
constitution. The melody ran through
his mind, and, in connection with his
thoughts at the time, suggested the COM
parison. M.
GAS he speaks German without a trace
of dialect, 80 also he has perfected him
self in his French to such a degree that a
person from the higher circles in Geneva
or st Petersburg could scarcely find any
thing in it to take exceptions to. de
can lay tolerably high claims to mastery
of the English language, and understands
Italian enough to express himself with
out difficulty. He is also acquainted
with the Polish language, and, during
his brief stay on the Neva, he learned
enough Russian to converse in that
tongue. 1t must have impressed the late
Emperor Alexander highly when Bis
march first answered him in the Mos
covian language. For a German that is
no small matter.
The chancellor is not 80 well up in the
classical languages as in the modern ones.
sat one time" said he, 81 could speak
and write Latin very well. Now | should
find it difficult, and Greek | have quite
forgotten" We find further that in liter
ature he has a preference for Goethe, and
that he does not admire Schiller so much,
because that poet inclines to a pompous
and declamatory style. He regards the
ap%ple-shooting episode and the contem-
plated murder of Gessler in civilian
Tell" as neither natural nor heroic. He
does not think too highly of the German
literature of these days, although he "has
at least taken notice" of the popular ro-
mances and novels of the time. He has
paid more attention to English romances,
and most of all to the French novelists.
"Send me a French novel," he wrote his
wife during the Bohemian campaign,
Shut only one at a time"
"From his temperament the prince is
of choleric nature. @ Consequently, an
noyance easily takes with him volcanic
form, and there are lively and sudden
outbreaks. But they are as soon over,
and there is not a trace Of after-sulki-
ness. When April 1, 1870, l was sum
moned to him on business, after having
received my instructions, / congratulated
him on his birthday and expressed the
hope that l might remain near him yet a
long time. He answered: 4 hope 80,
too, yet it is not always pleasant to be
near me, But you must not mind
that too much o,|3 ll...u.,5 9TH r.s.gi
"He never dealt hardly with his SER
wants and tenants. At Barbecue he
cut o piece of bread with his own hand
and carried it the guard in front of his
quarters. After the battle of Beaumont
/ saw him give some Bavarians cognac
out of his own flask, and divide the con.
tents of his c,gar-case among them. AT
ter Sedan he sent me with abundant sup.
plies of cigars to the wounded in the
hospital at Douchery. remarking,r mean.
while, Smoking viii please them best
better than eating Several times il
Versailles he visited the sick III the hos
pitfalls, aequainting himself with theil
condition, asked how they were treated
and had readings given for the enter
tainment. of those who were well enough
to enjoy them. He did not forget, eth
er, 10 order from our own kitchen az
apple dumping that one Of the sick had
asked for .'t' 'i I'D '' -'