Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-12
THE GERMAN CAPITAL.
The Reality of inter der Lindeu-HeaIth Of
the Kaiser.

The RcaIiU Of Inter der Lindeu-tealth Of
the Kaiser.
Inter der Linden, writes a Berlin
correspondent TO the New York Eccniag
Post, has a very fine sound. The lime
tree is as much lik an elm as it is
like any other tree, and Meath the
Fins" is the idea the American can
understand, and the idea " Under der
Linden is intended to convey, and
does convey until the thing has been
seen, " Meath the Elms, " broad-spread-
ing, thickly-shadowing, with grass un-
derneath upon which to stretch ones
self at full length and think Of all lovely
things, and all this in the midst of a
vast city. Let us start at once, and
there make our home.
The reality is sad enough. Inter der
Linden is street, with houses, num-
bers, shops, palaces, &C., about a mile
long, and about two hundred feet broad.
In the middle is a dirt-walk, perhaps
fifty feet wide, row of trees on each
side of it, guarded by iron rails sup
ported in very ordinary stone posts.
Upon one side Of the dirt foot-path are
are about twenty feet of thicker dirt
for horsemen upon the other side,
about twenty feet Of stone roadway.
Then come two more rows Of trees,
those Of the roadway being in nav
row plate-bande. Then on each side
follow ordinary street and sidewalk,
reaching to succeed shops, hotels,
and palaces. The limc-tree in its pro-
per growing places is lovely tree
not very large, but large enough, with
dark-green and very thick foliage.
There are many excellent specimens in
the Thier garden, and even in some of
the squares where grass is allowed to
grow beneath, seeming to require the
companionship Of verdure. But just
where of all places they ought to grow
and flourish, Just there they will not
that is, at all cOmmensurately with the
expectations or hopes of those who put
them out. AS lines will not grow,
experiments are being made with other
trees. Naples, elms, and horSe-cheSt-
nuts have been substituted, but none
Of them seem hearty.
The one thing to do in Berlin
Just now is to see the Emperor, that
one may know Of ones own know
ledge-sO far as eyesight imparts know
ledge-hiS physical condition and pros
poets. According to my eyeslght, the
change since the last time | saw him is
painfully startling. lie is no longer
upright, his chest has fallen away so
that his orders overlap he has hardly
strength to reach his hand TO his he'll
met; his eye is dull and heavy. The
newspapers speak of him every morn
ing as being fully reestabliShed in
health, and as having worked for
hours the day before with his vari-
GUS ministers and generals. That Tan
not be; there is no more work IN that
head or in that hand. And what has
the kaiser done for the people: Are
there any fewer poor old women and
little. half-nourished children working
on their knees in the fields, Juggling with
feeble fingers at the roots and weeds, as
though their lives depended upon
it-as, indeed, they do? And what
novels they crawl into when their
DAYS work is done, and What they
eat before they fall dead asleep
All the while strong husbands and
brothers are far away, watching lest an
irritated foe acquire means for revenge;
and all the while, too, the Emperor,
" Allerhoechst, is distributing medals
and honors, which they have dug out
Of the ground for him, though they are
poor, sick, ignorant, starving, and help
less. There is not a second Of rest
from labor for either play or prayer;
and what the Emperor has done the
nations about him must also do or be
engulfed. The strain must break
soon.
Another and less solemn side OF the
question: Is the individual German
any better than he was
twenty years ago? Is he any more
clearly in his personal habits: Is be
any more likely to defer to a lady,
unless he knows her name and knows
that she is a countess? Is he any less
of a most fearful nuisance when let
loose in Switzerland? y his scholarship I
less pedsntic, are his ideas less vague,
is bis language less confused or his |
cooking less aboninableG
There was time just after the French /
war when dining in Berlin was tolora-
Die. OF the French prisoners, Of course,
nearly the whole number knew how TO
,ook. For some years their teachings |