Omaha daily bee., 1902-05-11

say the kaiser's ready memory, diligently
furnished by years of newspapers and mag
acme reading in four languages, enables
MN to pour out streams of talk for hours
without ever being detected in error of
fact, though touching on nearly every pbase
or human activity in the last 100 years.
Inc aLtache thought, by the way. that
Wilhelm had little or no practical ac-
uualntance with the history of the word
III former ages-eXcept in so far as his
letlsh' the house of the HohenzolIerns.
was concerned. The kaiser is a man of
his own day, intensely interested in the
present and the possibilities of the future.
but cold toward the past. His press bureau
by the way, is possibly the best eouipned
IN the world; a numerous staff of i'm
perial readers" wades through German
French, English and American and Or.en-
tai papers every day to clip for him
editorial matter and articles on literature
ana science which may interest him. As a
sort or sided .sh he devOurs also fact
articles dealing with sport, especially. I
have heard, with pugilism. The kaiser does
some boxing himself in the privacy of Pots
dam; it is very probable that Prince Henry
or Prussia, returning from the United
states trip, brought a good deal of ring
gossip with which to regale the leisure of
his imperial brother.
ItnIy's Well Read King.
The same contrast that I have pointed
out between the older and younger gener-
ations of royalty in the case of English
relgning is exhibited also in the Italian
court. 1t is well known that old King
fiumbert contemptuously left books TO
those who liked them" and contented him
sell with being a mighty hunter on the
Alpt' queen Margherita was equally in
dlHerent to literature. She cared for no h.
ing but works Of piety and simple little
stories such as children read. Their son.
the present king, is of another way Of
thinking. He is a student. almost n
scholar, a meditative, deeply-read man
while the new Queen Helena, daugh er Of
the queer old prince of Montenegro. is as
learned a woman as lives today.
In Roman society, where deep culture is
looked upon as something almost uncannv.
sac Is pronounced a pedant. The Roman
ladles that wait on her complain of hav-
ing TO read to their royal mistress heavy
sslehtlhc treatises and ponderous historical
u'squisitlons' varied by plunges into pro-
found tones dealing with mysticism and
philosophy. They sigh for the easy prattle
and society gossip which was all that
Queen Margherita's simple taste reouiro1
from her companions. In Italy there is NJ
course another crowned head to be Thought
ot-the venerable pontif, Leo. He lives
dalIy IN the midst of the stateliest library
al the world the peerless Vatican coIIec.
lions Of priceless, ancient volumes have
been Tor years his daily joy, and he has
Kept the great library up to dav. person-
any seeing that no new book of zeal first
manu- III importance in any language of
the world be left unstocked. But of late
1t is said, the pope has practically
read little that is new. A cardinal Gamer
lengo' Keeps him informed as to the latest
results achieved in science and the big new
in philosophical thought but
apart from the world, politics and the prog-
fess OF the Catholic church, few things in.
'erest the venerable bishop Of Rome. His
valet told a French journalist the other
day that the pope kept by his bedside for
perusal the works of Thomas Ac-
qulnas' st. Augustine's "City of God"
the works Of Virgil, and the "Diyine Com
edy' OF Dante. Besides these and his bre.
wary he reads little or nothing; ne is an
old man and feeble; his literary davs are
past. "'
Cultivated Khediye.
one OF the most highly cultivated reign
hs princes in the world is a man scarcely I
''er heard OF in America or Europe-Abbas t