Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-07-30
GERMANy'S YOUNG EMPEROR.
A Pen Picture OF the Active Ruler
of the Empire.


His School Iife--Dignity ms n Ruler, but
I'm Private Life He Relaxes and Becomes
a Jolly Good Fellow--How He Over
comes the Accident to His Arm.
When, not long ago, a French journalist
asked, How can we help writing about
William II?-he necessarily proyokes COM
ment." 1t was only a prediction of what the
same writer has been continuing to do
Not an article from the pen of this writer
has since come to the gossip's notice which
did not expatiate on that young monarch's
sayings and d0ings, not very often, it is
true, in very approaching or flattering
manner. And this is the cause with the
most important part of the French press
generally. Nor is it possible to pick up
any journal of either hemisphere, in
whichever Language il may be printed
without alighting ON William the "Surpris-
ing'-or rather 1.-THE Sudden, nPloetzliche,
by which new appellation the Germans
have recently increased the nomenclature
of his surnames. There exists, moreover,
by this time whole library of books on
this remarkabable individual. From the
latest addition to the biographical sketches
of William ii, as given i'll Paris paper,
the following extracts may contain some
items new or worth repeating, and charac-
terlstic OF this representative of mon
archical power in this nineteenth century.
Williams boyhood was marked by one
innovation in the family traditions of
Hohenzollern's training, the importance
of which 1t is not easy to eXaggerate. His
father had been the first Of these royal
heirs TO be sent to university. He in his
turn was the first to 60 to public school
the gymnasium at Cassel being selected
for the purpose. The innovation was
credited at the time to the eccentric liberal
izing notions of his mother the English
crown princess. The old kaiser did not
like the iIna and RiqYnarpk rnhatnaptlv
opposed it; but the parents had their way,
and at the age Of Is the lad went along
with his 12-year-old brother Henry and
their tutor, DR.. Hinzpeter. They were
lodged in an old castle, which had been
one of the electoral residences, and out of
school hours maintained a considerable
seclusion. But In the school itself William
was treated quite like an ordinary citizens
son.
1t may have been difficult matter for
some of the teachers to act as if they were
unconscious that this particular pupil was
the heir of the Hohenzollerns, but men
who were at the school at the time say that
they did 50, with only one exception; This
solitary flunkey, knowing that William
was more backward in his Greek than
most of his class sought to curry favor
with the prince by warning him that the
morrow S examination would be upon
certain chapter. The boy William received
this hint in silence, but went to the class
room and wrote upon the blackboard in
big letters the information that he had re-
ceived, so that he might have no advan-
tage over his fellows.
During his three years at Cassel William
| was very democratic in. his intercourse
with the other boys. He may have been
helped to this by the fact that he was one
| of the worst-dressed boys in the school
| in accordance with the ancient family
II,I,
| dren wear out their old clothes. He was
only an ordinary scholar so far as his
studies went. AT that time his brother
| Henry, who went to different school,
| was conspicuously the brighter of the two
| Those who were at Cassel with the future
emperor have the idea that he was con-
tented there, but he himself, upon rellec-
| ton, is convinced that he did not like it..
At all events, he gathered there very
intimate knowledge of the gymnasium
| system, which he now greatly disapproves.
In the matter of personal appearance
there are two quite distinct and different
| Williams. Those who see the young en-
per0r at a state occasion think of him as a
tall man, with stern, thoughtful face
and the most distinguished bearing of any
sovereign in Europe. He holds himself
with arrow-like straightness, bears his
uniform or robes with proud grace, and
draws his features into kind OF mask of
imperial dignity and reserved wisdom
and strength very impressive to
the beholder. II Is with what may be
called his official countenance that the
general public is chiefly familiar, for he
assumes it in front of the photographer S
camera, just as lie does on parade, at
formal gatherings, and even in his carriage
when he drives through the streets. But
in private life, when the absence of cere-
monial and the pretense of none but
fnta L. l.
quite another William. He does not now
give the impression of being a tall man,
and his face wears softened and kindly
| expression prone to break into an eX-
tremely sweet and winning smile. As d
boy he was very white-skinned, with pale
ilaxen hair. Years of military outdoor
life burned his face to tawny brown,
through which of late pallor, the
product of over-work and sleeplessness, at
times shows itself. His hair is of average
| darkness, but his small and habitually
curled moustache is of light yellowish
color.
An observer who studied him closely
during whole day when he visited Russia
three years ago describes him ut the first
morning review of troops as carrying him
self almost pompously erect, and wearing
u countenance of such gloomy severity
that everybody was afraid to approach
him, so that the officers who saw him fol
the first time whispered to one another
another that new William the Tacturn
had come into being. But in the after
noon, when the czarina presided over 9
little garden party, William appeared in q
straw hat and jaunty holiday costume
smoked cigarettes continuously. and
laughed and chatted with everybody gaily
and affably
The insuar tendency of his outdoor
tastes is very marked. There is no gentle
l.
or more interested watch upon the details
Of English sport year by year. He ride;
like an Englishman. His love for exercise
for its own sake is truly English. He
fences admirably, is u skillful boatman
swims and bowls well and with zest, anc
delights in mountain climbing. No othel
Prussian Prince has ever been so fond Of
shooting.
What renders this all the more remark
able is the fact that his left arm is practi
cally paralyzed. He has trained himself
to hold the rein with it when he rides, but
that is the sum of its usefulness. The arm
is four inches shorter than its fellow and
has malformed hand with only rudi-
mentary. fingers. The arm is so wholly
even place ii on the hilt of his sword with
his right hand. 1t is in this posture, oil
else in the breast of his coat that he Gus
tomarily carries it when out of the sad
die. All his photographs show it thu;
disposed Of
At the table he has a combined knife
and fork which slide into each other. He
uses this with much dexterity, first to cut
up his meat and then to eat it, all of COURSE
with one hand To have become skilled
marksmen under such weighty disad.
vantage indicates great patience and deter
mination. William uses very light Eng
lish gun, and carries it on his shoulder
with the stock behind him. AT the proper
moment he brings the weapon forward by
a movement Of his right arm with incred