The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-10-20

@. W. Stevens, the London Daily
Mail correspondent whose book re-
viewing America, "The Land of the
Dollar" has been highly appreciated,
is now giving to London readers his
impressions,of Germany, the land I'm
der the Iron Heel" This is his picture
of Kaiser William:
"A man Of middle size, sitting con-
strainedly and bolt upright; a dead
yellow skin, hard-pencillcd brOWs,
straight. masterful nose, lips jammed
close together under dark moustache
pointing straight upward to the whites
of his eyes. A face at once repulsive
and pathetic, so harsh and stony was
1t, so grmly solemn. A face in which
no individual feature was very dark,
but which altogether was black as
thunder He raised his gloved hand in
a stiff, mechanical salute, and turned
his head impassively from left to right;
but there was no courtesy in the salute,
no light in the eye, no smile on the
tight mouth for his loyal subjects. He
looked like a man without JOY, without
love, without pity, without hope. He
looked like a man who had never
laughed, like a man who could never
sleep. A man might wear such a face
Ice.
He was gone again, and the crowd
was flooding the street bshind him.
'Ach,' sighed an old lady in Grape, pity
that he always looks so cross. SO diff
ferent from our dear. dear old Kaiser.
And / saw more than one gray head
shake as she spoke, not angrily, but
with a kindly and even touching re-
gret. But all the older men are not
quite so sparnC in their condemna-
tion. The young-I am speaking COM
monty of the well-to -do-dre often ecs-
tatiC i'm their admiration; he is Ger
man through and through, they will
tell you; he means to make Germany
the only nation on earth, they tell you,
though they. do not tell you how. Even
their elders will own that he is a rous-
ing SPEAKER. He hits the nail on the
head; his speeches thrill us all through
when we read them in the newspapers
Then, perhaps. they will tell you an
anecdote of his readiness. One day as
he rode through a by-street he came
on a score of SoCialistic wOrkmen.
Eighteen took off their caps reluctant
ly, two' remained covered. WhereOn
the Kaiser rode straight up and saluted
them till' their caps came off for shame,
if not for loyalty.
THAT was well and kingly done. But
that is almost the only action | have
heard of him which might win his
peoples personal love. The young may
admire him and trust in him, but he is
not the. beloved sovereign his grand
father Was-not even what his father
was. The old Kaiser came to his study
window every morning of his life to
greet his people, the present Kaiser
began by shutting a gate of the royal
palace that had always stood open.
1t was a small thing, but it was no.
ticed. The old Kaiser and Unser Fritz
had a smile and a CHEEKY word for the
meanest of their subjects; this Kaiser
has sometimes a machine-made salute,
and always a scrowl He SEEMS to de-
splse his people, and even the Germans
dislike Eoo.-dbyious a show of scorn,
even in q Kaiser. What has he done?
they ask. His father and grandfather
had done great things for Germany;
this man has talked much and done
nothing
a LATER VIEW.
And this about later view of him:
In the evening of that day l saw
the Kaiser again. There was a state
performance at the opera, for the King
of Siam. and the house was decorated
with simple good taste which shamed
the luxuriance of Covent Garden on
gala nights. In the first eight rows of
stalls or so sat only officers; the ladies'
had to scramble for the back seats as
they liked. The whole house. from
floor to upper gallery, shone with or
ders and uniforms. The ballet was to
of g n n
came FIVE past, a quarter past, half
past, and the. royal box was still empty.
If punctuaiity be the politeness of
princes, this was an unmannerly prince
indeed.
AT last a chamberlain, or something.
came to the front of the royal box and
tapped thrice with his wand. The
whole house rose. Then appeared the
Kaiserin-plain, plump not interesting
on the arm of the little yellow King
of Siam. Behind came the Kaiser.
Stiffly he moved to the front of the
box; stifHy he brought his heels to-
gether and drew himself up. He SEEM
ed to bring himself into position in
pieces you could see him squaring his
shoulders; you could see him initiating
his chest. Then, with a fixed unmov-
ing face, he pushed his head forward
perhaps two inches; that was his sa-
Lutte. A king who cannot smile is bad;
a king who cannot bow is worse.
He fixed himself very bolt upright
and stared unwinking straight before
him at the stage. The curtain went up
and the ballet began; the Kaiser still
sat without moving a muscle, a face
and figure like that of statue. Now
and again the King of Slams ques-
tions became too insistent; the Kaiser
bent over for a moment, as If he had
one joint in the middle of his back,
and then drew back to the jointless
craven image. Once he turned to
somebody behind him, and. | hope he
laughed. Laughter on that face would
be like moist grass in a desert.
1T was over. The Kaiser rose,
squared his shoulders, inflated his
chest, pecked at his people, and went
The last | saw of him he was giving
his arm to a princess he looked like
a cOlored plate out of a book of eti-
quette. ] wondered vaguely whether