The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-04-25
BERLIN AWAITS
TEDDY'S COMING
American Colony Is Prepared
to Cheer Itself Hoarse
WOMEN IN FASHION
Who NcEIccts or Refuses 10 Keep
Her at Work Though She
Draws Her Salary

/. 6ef Work Ih0uEh she
Draws Her Salary
Berlin, April 24-(Special. )-Berliners
are looking forward to the visit of ex-
President Roosevelt early in May with
great curiosity, while the American col
ony is preparing to cheer itself hoarse
from the moment of his arrival until his
departure. Americans are immensely
fattered by the fact that the Kaiser In
vited the famous statesman and his wife
TO take up their quarters at the royal
palace. In point of fact, it is a very ex-
ceptional honor. None of my German
friends can remember a parallel case, and
they say that hitherto only kings and
princes have enjoyed such a distinction
There Is endless speculation as to the
course the visit will take A lecture by
Mr. Roosevelt In the aula of the UNIVERSE
~, a banquet at the palace another al
the American ambassadors, a gala per-
torrance at the opera. a reception given
by the American Chamber of Commerce
and visit to Potsdam are certain to be
features of the four days sojourn. but no
one knows how the intervals will be filled
up The distinguished guest will speak in
public, besides delivering his lecture and
conjecture is rife as to whether he Will
commit any indscretion similar to the
Cairo incident.
Many other conjectures are in the air.
Will the Kaiser go to the station to meet
him? VIII he eat off gold plate at the
palace? VIII the Kaiser call him Colo
nell or simply mister? And a host of
questions of the kind. When the visit is
over some humorous historian ought to
nv ft.a nr,I-
| Wilhelm"
| The reputation of the German woman
| for LONELINESS in the sense of simplicity
of living and dressing has caused her to
| be compared unfavorably with her sisters
of New York. London and Paris. Partic-
ularly in respect to dress there is a gen.
eral agreement that she has deserved her
reputation, but there is now no less gen.
eral agreement that she has of late
| changed all that" and one can claim to
| worship at the shrine of fashion as sue
cessfully as the devotees of the goddess
in other countries.
A recent critic of Berlin female sartorial
progress, however, has arisen here to
assert that the progress Is not sufficiently
widespread.
He admits that the women of the up
per classes, the aris.ocracy, the military
and the official hierarchy, have vastly
improved in their knowledge with ele-
gance of dress and the application of
their knowledge with elegance and taste.
Women who belong to the theatrical
profession. those who are addicted to
sport and the half-world, are now in
almost all cases costumed in way to
make the German street scene far more
attractive and pleasing than 1t was a
dozen years ago.
But between the two extremes there is
still an enormous number of women who
know what taste and elegance are when
they see them, yet from motives of ira
dition and economy, chiefly the latter,
steadily refuse to follow their dictates.
These women, usually from 40 to 60 years
of age, pin their faith to silk. Silk is
their fetch, silk they reverence, and
the older it is the better; apparently
they like it. 1t is this clingirg to ira
dition and economy that gives so many
theatre audiences in Germany their look
of common-placeness not TO say until
diness, the effect being heightened by
another tradition in favor OF a light
blouse with the silk skirt and no appli-
cation of the hairdresser's art to dirnin.
ish the dowdiness of the whole appear
ance.
An unusual point of stage law and
practice has just been tried in Berlin
court An actress who must be of some
note, for she draws salary of 1880 a
year. or German stage first rate remuner-
alton, was fired by her director or
the ground that she had called him an
"intriguer'' before the assembled COM
pany The word used in German is
schikaniereen, from the FRENCH but
intrigue Is the nearest equivalent TO II
in the present connection.
What the connection was appears from
frI - .xral.a ina
in her defence that, although she was
engaged at a high salary, the director
had given her no parts but the small
est sort of play, and that during the
previous year she has on 800 days no
part at all assigned to her.
Indignant at such treatment, she lost
her temper and accused the director be-
fore the company of the schikanieren.
The court upheld the actress. 1t laid
down that the contract must be inter-
preted to mean that the director was
bound to assign her "in proportion to
her knowledge and capacity and where
he had other equally capable actors at
his disposal he ought not to exclude one
in particular, but should give work to
all in turn
otherwise, remarked the judge, actors
and actresses of the higher ranks would
be seriously injured, because they would
N~%%>
fer loss of reputation.
We have long been familiar with Anglo
German, COMMUNICATIONS and others OF
the type that the Kaiser once designated
as .hyphenated PARROTS" but there Is
probably only one "Chino-German.' He Is
General Yint-Chang who is about to re-
tire from the post of Chinese minister at
Berlin to become war minister at Pekin.
General Yint-Chang's claim to the title
of a "Chino-German" rests upon his
amazing fiueney in the German language.
He has not only fully conquered the Ian
guage. but has acquired the Berlin or
military" dialect so faultlessly that all
trace OF his exotic origin long since dis
appeared from his speech. There is no
foreign diplomat at the Kaiser's court
who can speak better Germin, and very
few who can speak as well.
The general, trim. weil-knit, soldierly
figure, acquired his command of German
while serving as lieutenant In the Prus-
sian army 20 years ago. Since then he
has been minister at Berlin on two differ
ent occasions.
A story is told of how he frightened two
German soldiers nearly out of their wits
during the Boxer uprising of 1900. Cen
eral Yint-Chang was commander of the
arsenal at Tien-Tsin when that city was
bombarded and seized by tile allies Meet
ing one day a couple of the Kaiser S
infantrymen prowling in forbidden parts
General Yint-Chang, recognizing their ma
tionalty, snarled at them in the most APP
proved Prnssian fashion. "Out with you,
YOU bIithering clockheads. or I'll give
YOU one on the side OF your jaw that will
set you spinning" all ratified off in the