The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-15

it gives into the private life of great war lord.
 It seems that a number of high state officials had suddenly arrived at Potsdam. Now, high state officials in Germany, and elsewhere. have healthy appetites, or as the vulgar say, they can shift it" on occasion. The Kaiser is a hospitable man, indeed, an ideal host and when he saw Von Pumpernickel and the others come stalking up to the front door, it would flash on him that he had better re- p1enish the larder in a hurry. Hence, as the report relates
 The Kaiser's butcher received an ur- gent messake from Potsdam to forward a large quantity of cold sausage and ham.
 No doubt the host knew what his guests liked, and the fact that a large quantity was ordered shows that he knew they liked plenty of it. So the urgent message was sent, the order was executed with promptitude, the situation was saved-but alas, there had been a technical breach of the law.
 A Contract
 Little did the general public know on that fair Sunday morning of the agitation that ran through the halls of stately Potsdam. And here I come to the point 1 mentioned at the be- ginning-the contrast between the stately grandeur of that part of a monarch's life that Is known to the public and some of these smaller in cidents which confront him, even as they confront you and me or MT Snooks, of Peckham. Thus we find that behind the scenes life at Pots | dam and at Pecihah is much the same. l can imagine the sentinels standing rigidly at their posts at Pots dam, and each great court official ir | his place. To the casual observer l there was all the pomp and circum- stance of court life suggestive of the | divinity that doth hedge a king-but at that very moment the cook made the staggering announcement-"We' we ardly any sausage in the 'ouse, and are quite hout of cold am" Then there was mounting in hot haste-a sortie was made. there was a dash to the butchers, supplies were ob- tained, and later on no doubt the dis tinguished guests had the time of their Hives.
 | And now we come to the sequel the melancholy sequel. showing that the great days in which rnonarchs did ex- actly as seemed good in their own eyes have passed away. The butcher was prosecuted before Berlin petty jury and was fined 6 shillings for trading | on Sunday during prohibited hours, l was in vain that the butchers repre- sentative quoted the act which allow. exceptions to be made on unusual oc casions of urgent public interest. Ans again, 1t was in vain that he urged the court to remember that the saus ages were needed for the Kaiser guests, who were high state officials The court decided, coldly, that
 d) State officials can be fed wit other materials than sausage and har if necessary.
 pacity as purchaser of household good holds no privileged position.
 | I am no advocate of the divine right 0 kings, but I do think that this decisio was unreasonable and harsh.
 | Other Days
 Can any one imagine Frederick tn Great being treated in this way? Is conceivable that if William the Conquerol or Gustavus Adolphus Charles XIII c Sweden or Napoleon had wanted fe'
 cold sausages to share with his friends any such trouble would have arisen There were other days in which any ma
 who interfered and any petty jury tha returned verdict of this sort would hay run a good chance of being made sausag meat themselves. In those days monarch went about battle axe in hand, and whe they wanted anything they ''axed' for in very real sense. But now we m the law stepping in and deciding agains | the Kaisers butcher for carrying out on of the Kaiser's orders on Sunday is to be hoped that the high state official who are indebted to that good butche for their pleasant Sunday repast of col
 sausage and ham will put up the shil lings which he had to pay by way of fine They may not be legally liable, but I ar
 sure everyone will admit that the butche has moral claim against them
 And apart from the merits of the lega aspect of the case, there Is a valuabl
 lesson to be learned from the simplicit
 of the fare provided. There are peopl
 who think that monarchs eat only rar
 and expensive dainties-nightingale
 tongues on toast and trifles of that sort
 The Kaiser has always set his face agains
 vulgar and ostentatious extravaganza fl
 living, and after this incident there is no
 one of us who need be ashamed to pe
 away at cold sausage and ham on Sun
 day, and to provide 1t for our guests
 Should any visitor grumbe at such far we can reply That which is good enoug
 for an Emperor and good enough for hig
 state officials who visit him is or shoul be. good enough for you--and if you don like it you may lump it." I am told b those who ought to know that the sam monarch is quite content to smoke cigar of the sort known in the north of Eng land as two fors,' a phrase that mean two for threehalfpence." Here we hay another lesson for ostentatious bounder
 who think it a fine thing to fling none about like to think of those high stat officials munching their cold sausage an ham. and then lighting up their three : farthing cigars.
 7 Not Their Fault
 | It is not the fault of monarchs ths
 such a lot of nonsense is written abou
 their splendor. about their superhuma
 gifts and so forth. This stuff is pr6
 duced by toadies, and I feel quite certai
 1t merely bores those about whom 1t l written I have no doubt that moder
 monarchs-like nothing better than to |