Smyrna times., 1890-02-12
TRULY ROYAL LANDLORD.
PRINCE, lNNKEEPER, DOCTOR AND
PHlLANTHRoPlsT.

A Bavarian Dukes Hotel in the Alpine
MOuntainS-Expending the Profits for
the Benefit of the ''shabby Genteel''-A
Free Hospital for the Poor.
Perched high up on the great Alpine
range that separates Tyrol from Bavaria
is a large hotel that enjoys the unique |
distinction of having for its landlord a |
prince; one, too, who, perhaps more than |
any other in Europe, has stood forth as
the champion of his order, though it is
not so much the rights and privileges of |
royalty, as it's duties, that he insists upon.
The owner and director of the Grand
hotel at Kreuth is Karl Theodor, the
duke in Bavaria. His father, the Duke
Maximilian, was a well known traveller
and writer, and his mother, daughter
of a king of Bavaria, is to this day in the
south held as model of all royal virtues.
THE MINERAL SPRING.
Duke Karl Theodor's home is a few
miles distant from Kreuth, at Tegern
where he has turned his palace into a
hospital for the blind He is himself one
of the nAost skillful Oculists in Europe,
and his door stands open the whole day
long to visitors who choose to consult
him. He takes regular fees from such
as can afford to pay them, but the poor
and needy he shakes heartily by the hand
and assures them that they can form no
idea of what pleasure it is for physi-
clan to see his patients.
The tiny hamlet of Kreuth owes its
existence to a spring of mineral water,
supposed to possess marvellous medicinal
qualities. 1t bubbles up clear and spark
ling on a little natural terrace, formed
on the mountain side some 5000 feet
above the sea, right at the head of the
valley. About the year 1911, the Bene-
dictines, who owned a great monastery
at Tegern, discovered the qualities Of
this spring, and built on the terrace a
badhaus, which they used as a hospital
until the suppression of their order, in
| 1903. The badhaus then was used for
farm buildings; but a few years later
King Max took possession Of it, and re-
stored it, seemingly with the intention
of turning it into some charitable insti-
tuition or retreat. Queen Caroline and
Prince Karl both cherished the same
idea, and added considerably to the
buildings. But money was a scarce
article in Bavaria in those days, as now,
and for the lack Of it the owners of
| Kreuth found themselves thwarted
whilst attempting to carry out their
eleemosynary schemes. To their dis
covery of the imRossibility of doing
good, in the way they desired to do it,
without money, we owe the establish
ment of the present systematic strang-
est combination of charity and business
it ever entered the brain of man to con-
ceive
All the buildings planned by the for
mer owners of Kreuth are now COM
plete. Roads have been made, gardens
laid out, and the conveniences and lux
uries Of a first class hotel introduced
into the badhauser.
THE HOTEL KREUTH.
A hotel, Kreuth now is, in name and
fact, for three months in the year. Dur
ing June, July and August it is a charm
ing health resort, thronged by wealthy
tourists, who come and go at will. 1t is
il the midst of the most perfect scenery
in Europe, surrounded by lofty noun
tains, with exquisite views on every side
Of winding valleys, silvery lakes and
foaming torrents. In the hotel visitors
are provided with every comfort and
luxury they can reasonably desire; and
for these their royal host requires them
to pay just what they would have to pay
neither more nor less-in an establish
ment of equal standing, but of a less an
omalous nature. AS everything is con-
Quoted upon sound economic principles
the duke Is his own butcher, baker and
brewer-this innkeeping is most lucra-
tive; and, when the end of August comes.
Karl TheOdor has always a handsome
sum at his command. This he always
sets to work to spend in a manner
worthy of his race. An intimation,
worded with the most delicate courtesy,
is conveyed to the paying visitors that
the time is at hand when their rooms
will be required for the use of the
dukes personal friends These, as soor
as the ordinary tourists depart, be-
gin to arrive, and in the course of a few
days there is not a room left in the hote
without its occupant. For the whole oi
September, and as much longer as the
weather will permit, the duke entertaini
some three hundred of those whom hC
styles his friends AS a rule, thest
friends are not chosen from among the
very poor, but rather from that class.
the most to be pitied of all-the shabby
genteel Poverty stricken artists, strug
Cling literary men. haf-pay officers, pool
professors, university students-all ari
there enjoying the rest and change they
sorely need and can i'll afford TO pay for
During the time they are at Kreuth, moi
only are they provided with rooms, but
/ they are fed, tended, cared for anC
( treated as hOnored guests The only diff
ference made between the rich pleasure
: seekers who had preceded them ant
I themselves is that they, the poor, ar,
. welcomed with a little more effusivi
I friendliness, and little more trouble Il
9 taken to prevent their feeling lonely Of
: dull.
y In the month of May, too, the hotel il
/. put to a like use; and, as each of hi
' guests is invited for a fortnight. it fol
{: lows that in the course of the year thI
' Duke Karl Theodor must entertain
I nearly a thousand of them. Thus h,
0 chooses to spend the money he ha
: gained by his three months innkeepinl
I "a right regal way, in truth, of combin
ing the roles of prince and trader.-Lon
don Graphic.