The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-11-29
THE STORY OF THE WITHER o HAND.
Why the Young Emperor William Of Ger
many So Dislikes the English.

was sitting in the corridor of the
Kaiserhof Hotel one night, in Berlin,
when an officer of the Guard de Corps,
with whom l was acquainted, came in.
He was commanding the escort of a
distinguished foreigner at Berlin who
came to pay his respects to the new
Emperor, Frederick. the officer sat
down on bench beside me, after send
ing up bis card, and, learning that the
Ambassador was still in bed enjoying
his afternoon nap. we had talk about
court matters in Germany. 1t was inn
possible to hold conversation of in
terest on any other subject at the Cap
ital at that time. The whole civilized
world had its eyes centered on the
Capital of the German Empire, just as
it is to-day, and the English-speaking
world was particularly interested in
the attitude of the Crown Prince-the
present Emperor-toward the people
of Great Britain.
'.He hates the people across the chan
mel. does he not?' l asked.
'.Hate scarcely expresses his senti-
ments." said the Captain, with shrug.
sit is curious, in all the delving and
investigating of the newspaper CORE
spondents that the real reason has
never been published of the Crown
Princes antipathy toward the English.
He is of a peculiarly revengeful and
resentful disposition, and his dislike
for his mothers people dates back from
the moment of his birth. When twas
learned that the Empress Victoria was
about to give birth to child, and to
the probable heir to the throne of the
German Empire, there was great deal
of excitement in Berlin. The EN-
press, as you probably know, is a wo-
man of strong mind She is the oldest
daughter of Queen Victoria of Eng
land, and, over there, she imbibed all
sorts of notions concerning the superb
ority of woman to man, and the mis-
sion in life of the Queens daughter,
and so on. The result was that, at an
early period of her married life, she
convinced Frederick that she must
have her own way at all hazards and
when she made up her mind on the
eve of the birth of her child that she
must have an English physician to at
tend her there was great skurrying
and rushing around the palace. At the
last moment an English physician was
found and taken to the palace. He
was clumsy and excited. The result
was, that when the child was born it
was found that the surgical instruments
had crushed his left arm and hand.
From the instant of his birth Young
Prince Williams arm was withered.
He grew up a soldier in every fiber of
his bodY-a wonderful horseman,
skillful with his sword, and full of fire
and dash. But, even at the outset of
his career as an athlete and horseman,
he found himself handicapped by the
awful drawback of the withered arm.
He was obliged to eat with a queer
sort of combination of knife and fork,
which could be held in one hand, and,
for long while, it was impossible for
him even to hold the reins of his horse
in his left hand. By dint of continu-
Gus practice in developing the muscles
that were not withered in the hand and
arm he succeeded in acquiring the grip
on the reins, and he has it to this day.
A species of blind and angry rage pos
sessed him that he-the perspective
heir of one of the greatest empires in
the world. descendant of line of
kings extending over 900 years, and
the possible future master of Europe
should find himself crippled in the face
of every worldly advantage. By de-
grees this peculiar, sullen resentment
for which he is notable settled upon
| the bungling physician who had caused
him all this trouble, and thence, by
easy stages, he grew to dislike not only
the physician, but also the people of
his race, and this feeling extended so
far that William was actually and
pointedly antagonistic to his own
mother because she was English born.
Nothing on earth will ever convince
him that the English are not in some
way responsible for his withered ARM"
-Blakely Hall.