The San Francisco call., 1913-08-11
IN BERLIN
LAGs IN sU|NM[ R
But Stay at Homes Find Sol
ace in the Tiergarten and
the Bellvue Strasse

/
| BERLIN, Aug. 1o.-As usual at this
time OF the year all glory has de-
serted Berlin, which lies. a gloomy con-
| glomeration Of stone dwellings made
uninhabitables by the heat. on the
cheerless moorland heath. which sur
rounds 1t on all sides, with the Tier
garten as the only green oasis in the
/ desert.
Everybody who can possibly get
away either has gone orais going, and
one doomed to remain on duty here
adds to his torture by spending a great
part Of his leisure hours In the Pots
damer Piatz. watching the crowds of
people rushing away from the city as
| II 1t were stricken with the plague or
In danger OF siege.
one loves Potsdamer Platz these
days 1t seems to show that II one
really must go away there are scores
OF trains ready to carry him off at any
time OF the day. and the prison seems
less unbearable. Perhaps this feeling
Is strongest In the morning, when one
sees the army of workers pouring into
the city from the suburbs.
One may heave sigh at the sight of
ant fields, but be comforted with the
thought that Berlin even when the
kaiser Is away, is not the worst place
In the world to spend a summer.
You may, after all. enjoy yourself in
Berlin, even during these hot and sultry
days Berlin works and Berlin plays.
We have no forest at our gates, but we
/ have the Tiergarten. You walk through
| the Bellvue strasse, which is still
thronged with stylish carriages and au-
tos, pedestrians of all classes, mostly
slghtseers from provincial towns. and
elegant ladies Of the half world. Flap
pers are rushing to their first rendez-
vous. idlers In search of shade and
workers going to their work-vice and
virtue mingled together
| Then comes the evening with it's cool
ness and relief. Like giant moons the
arc lamps are hanging on their tall
| poles. the electric signs form a maze of
| gay colors, the crowd of carriages is
continually growing, all the streetcars
are full and every seat in front of the
cafes Is taken; the air resounds with
laughter of the young women. out to
enjoy the coclness OF the night until
the very hour of sunrise
In the war department everything
| Is feverish. orderly activity and bustle
The passage of the new army bill has
done away with every possibility of
the usual summer vacation. Everybody
is on duty, from the heads of the vari-
Gus departments down to the humblest
clerks
The provisions of the new law must
be carried out by the first OF October,
but as the work is being hurried for
ward now everything will be in work
in order at least two weeks ahead of
that time.
A new decree has just been issued
regulating the purchase Of the thou
sands of new horses needed for the
army, and military buyers are already
on their way to all parts of Germany
The kaiser had hoped that 1t would
be possible for German stud farmers
to supply all the horses wanted, but
this has been found impossible, and
large numbers of horses will be bought
In Denmark and probably also in Prus-
sia. Hungary and even in France
An unusual shipment arrived in this
city the other day billed to the great
new aquarium in the Berlin Zoo 1t was
nothing less than an enormous GUAM
tity of sea water which had been
brought to Germany by the -Hapag"
steamer Senegambia which had
pumped it into her ballast tanks in the
| midst of the Indian ocean