Morning journal and courier., 1892-02-12
Ernperor Williams Favorite Game
 IErom Harper's Weeklyl

From HarperS Hetkly.l
 While gemsbok or chamois stalking ap- pears to be the favorite sport of the rulers of Austro- Hungary and Saxony, that of Emperor William and the House of Hohen- zollern is wild boar hunting. This species of game abounds in the imperial preserves of Koenigs- s-Wusterhausen, of Letzlingen, of Goehrde, and of Springe, the latter quite near to the ancient city of Hamelin, celebrated in legendary lore for it's ''pied piper" and for its rats. The preserves at Goehrde are, however, those most effected by the young monarch, as they were also by his grandfather, the late emperor Elm peror William. Persons invited for the first time to these imperial shooting par ties have to go through regular form of initiation, somewhat akin to that practised in the case of people ''crossing tbe line" for the first time at sea. On the evening before the day on which the hunt is to be- gin, and when the party are assembled in the smoking and card rooms of the Jagd- schloss after dinner, the great oak table ln the dining room is cleared and ornamented with several lines of chalk. The grand huntsman from Kotze or his deputy, Count Falkenstein, thereupon, after receiving the the emperor's final instructions, selects dozen members of the party and conducts them to the dining room, where they par take up their places around the table. each armed with a wooden spoon of different size. At given signal the huntsman in charge of the imperial pack ot blood hounds, who has been stationed at ths en- trance leading into the dining room, sounds the view halloo on his hoen, and immedi ately every one of the wooden spoons is rubbed up and down the oaken table in a manner that produces sound similar to | that of the noise made by pack in full pursuit. The person about to be initiated 1 is thereupon seized and blind-folded, after | which the doors are thrown open, and he | is carried into the dining room and laid upon the table athwart the chalk lines. | The emperor draws his short hunting knife, and after making several mystic passes with it in the air, strikes the pros | trate body of the neophyte a smart blow with the flat of the broad blade. The huntsman toots forth the signal of "dead, | dead. ." which is used to call the pack of | the quarry, and the newfedged "wardman" | is permitted to struggle off the table and | on to the ground. I may add that the em- peror's blow with the hunting knife is not | the only one which the neophyte receives while stretched on the table, nor does it l | but only the conclusion thereof. Indeed there is sometimes good deal of rough horse play on these occasions, in which the emperor, who delights therein, takes prom inent part.
 The boar-hunts on the following day | partake of the nature of the chamois drives, the only difference being that the drivers, or "treibers" are assisted in their
 work by a carefully-trained pack of boar
 hounds, which are accustomed to obey the
 horn signals of the huntsman in charge,
 and are of much service in driving the
 quarry from its lair in the dense brush and
 underwood. Another difference is that
 the shooting party, instead of firing in the
 direction of the drivers, are under strict
 orders only to fire away from them That
 is. one is practically forced to wait until
 the wild boar rushes past before ones rifle
 may be leveled. Of course it sometimes
 happens that the boar, instead of charging
 past, charges directly at one in the most
 fierce and aggressive manner, and it Is fol
 the sake of being prepared for an assault
 of this kind with kind of pike or lance
 which goes by the euphonious name of (
 ''sow-pen."
 The costume worn on these occasions i'
 an exceptionally hideous uniform, specially invented and devised by the present em
 peror. It consists of double-breasteo
 frock-coat of gray cloth, with grass greer lappels and collar, green striped panta looms, with high boots and grey Tyroles' hat with a wide green band. Any persor
 who ventures to assert that the emperor looks well therein is guilty of reckless disregard for the truth and of the bases fiattery. For the gray coat and hat, ant especially the green facings, cuffs, collal B and hat-band, only serve to intensity thu
 bilious tint of the emperor's complexion