Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1900-01-01

Emperor William, busy man though
he is, having finger, so to speak, not
merely in German pie, but likewise
also in a great many foreign ones, has
found time nevertheless to learn SWc-
dish, and during his recent visit to
Sweden for the purpose of shooting
over the immense preserves of Count
ThOtt, was able to converse quite
fuently with the crown prince of Swe-
den.
1t was on the second day of his visit
that while sitting at table in the
evening dinner, he suddenly, dur
ing a pause in the conversation.
volunteered the remark in Swedish
that the weather throughout the day
had been abominable, but that he
hoped that it would prove fair on the
following day. 1t seems that the
Swedes present, the crown prince first
and foremost, looked at the emperor
for couple of minutes with open
mOuthed and Open-eyed astonishment,
unable to believe their eyes, until the
emperor continued to talk about other
matters, still in the most fluent SWe
dish, just as if he had spoken the diff
ficult language all his life. Naturally
the Swedes appreciated the delicate
compliment paid to them by the kaiser
in taking the trouble to learn their
language, and before they rose from
the table their qualification found eX-
preston in a speech by the crown
prince and some very hearty cheering.
The kaiser has already during the last
10 years mastered the even still more
difficult Russian tongue, as well as
sufficient amount of Hungarian to be
able to converse in that language,
while his French and his English are
absolutely faultless, his accent in Eng
hsh being, indeed, less cultural and
less foreign than that of the prince of
Wales. William II is, of course, well
acquainted with ancient Latin and
Greek, having pursued the usual
course of classics in the Gymnasium
(college) of Kassel, in Hessen.
A Paternal Potentate.
According to an article on King
Menelik of Abyssinia in the Windsor
Magazine, it would seem that this
dusky rulers government is truly
''paternal one. If chief has dis
pleased him in some slight manner he
calls him to the palace and settles the
score at once with a heavy cane. He
does not rebuke the offender, nor put
him to public shame, but, in truly
fatherly way, gives him a sound beat
ing with is own strong hands, and the
chief departs the better for it. Again,
instead of getting reports about occur
rences in the city from his policemen
or other subordinates, he finds OUT
what is going on himself with the help
of a powerful pair Of field glasses.
With these in hand he spends many
hours in a tower built for the purpose,
from which he can sweep the principal
streets and open places. And as the
people never know when the emperor
may be watching them, they are care
full what they do.
King Menelik, moreover, is constant
by supervising all that goes on in the
palace, making his tour of inspection
at all times of the day or night. Now
he stops at the kitchen, which is a
building by itself and sees what the
cooks are doing; now he looks in at
the treasure house, where the gold and
precious things Of the kingdom are
guarded; now at the saddler's and
blacksmith's; now he watches the wo-
men making hdromel, and now the
children chanting their reading lessons
in dull singsong. Or, again, he walks
through the gardens, where acres of
fruit trees are growing, many Of them
specially imported from Europe He
loves every detail Of gardening, and is
partiularly interested in experiments
in irrigation, fe"tilizing and the like.
The Engine n Africa.
The children of the desert were
filled with awe when [irst the silence
of the primeval solitude wa1 broken by
the putting steam engine. Town at the
other end of the Cape to Cairo line the
simple Matabeles, when frst'confronted
by locomotive, were certain that the
strange machine was worked by the
labor of an indefinite number If oxen,
which they assumed were shut up in
side. Hence, when the engine stopped
they gathered in curious crowds wait
ing to see the door open and the oxel.
come out, nor could they for many
days be persuaded that the power OF
the locomotive could come from other
than the strength of the OK. The
Arabs of the SOudan, more imaginative
than the Matabele, saw in the fire
horses of the railway one of the
Djinns of the Arabian Nights, har-
messed by the magic Of the infidel to
the long train of cars. The steam en-
CINE was to them living, sentient be-
ing, of which belief there is curious
evidence in the fact that on one occa-
sion a sheik made an impassioned re-
mOnstrance against the cruelty of MAX
ing so small an engine draw so huge
a train.
ENiTnorYac