The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1916-04-04
My Cousin
From America
By EUNICE BLAKE

VINO ueSplSeu the making OF money
and who have had no other profession
than the army. which. 10 say the least.
is not lucrative. The original family
estates were conferred on Otto Won
Mueller for military service.
One of my uncles, Caspar Won MUel-
Ter, rather than be poor aristocrat III
Prussia chose to be rich commoner
in America. At any rate, he went
there to attempt to make fortune. He
succeeded. and at the beginning of the
twentieth century was the only rich
one OF the family. He was loyal TO
his relatives and entered upon a cor
respondence with my father, his broth
er, with view to starting the family
on new career of prosperity by means
of his great wealth. He had only one
child, a son, and his plan was to mar
ry him to one Of the family in Prussia.
| Yhen the young man was to remove to
| the fatherland and by means of his
| wealth secure a position at the kaiser's
court.
| Our Won Muellers in Germany were
quite pleased with the plan. The arts
| tocracy and the commercial classes had
| been drawing closer together. The kai-
| ser himself owned a pottery Caspar
| Won Mueller's millions, though acquired
| in trade. were not to be despised. To
make Il long story short, it was ar
ranged that he should come over to
| Germany, and l, being the only girl
| Won Mueller Of suitable age for him, it
| saS hoped that a match might be ar
| ranged between him and me.
One evening a lot of us Won Mue.lers
| were sitting i'll a public garden listen
| ing to an orchestra and drinking wine
| or beer. Two young men came in and
took seats at Il table near us. They
seemed to be English-at least they
spoke the English language The feel
ing against the English people was
very strong. and even the language
was irritating. But one of the young
men opposite me was very handsome
and l could not help glancing at him
occasionally Whether or no he was
encouraged by this or because he ad.
mired me- he gaZed at me continually.
Finally my brother Otto, a lieutenant
in the army, noticed his eyes continu
ally bent on me- Rising. Otto went tC
the table where the young man was
sitting and said, Il will pig stick you,
and threw card on the table bearing
his name and address.
This was equivalent to a challenge
to fight. AS soon as Otto returned t
us / gave him a piece of my mind, tell
ing him that did not need him to pro
tect me and he had no right to chal
lenge a man simply for admiring me.
| did not know whether the stranger
would fight, but l determined to pre-
vent meeting if possible. My cousin
Gustav, a boy of fifteen, was of ou
| party, and, Otto having left us, takin.
Gustav with me. | went to the tabl,
where the two strangers were sittin:
and said to the one who had been look
r ing at me:
Il have a request to make of you
SIR"
. Rising and removing his hat. he ask
! ed to be informed what it was.
E spoke in German, and he replied in tn
same language. though with a foreigl
! accent
81 have seen my brother challeng
you. I beg that you will decline t
fight
, But your German men expect
r Never mind what our German me
h expect You have the request of
German woman. 1t should be of great
er import to you than the demand O
any man
He hesitated for a few moment.
then said
II "Frauein. | shall consider your RI
I quest Il command. | beg to offer a
I apology for looking so intently upo
you. Iii the first place, l lost siste
few years ago who greatly resemble
you. In the second place, admit thu
you excited my admiration the momeI
} | looked at YOU
no apology is necessary | than
You very much for granting my r,
l. quest"
e AS l was turning away to rejoin tt
party at our table he said:
. May | ask. fraulein. TO be informe
2 as to whom l have the honor to obey
> 4 am Bertha Won Mueller"
He looked at me with an eXpreSSio
which | did not understand. but sal
y nothing further.
u The duel, of course, did not tai
= place My brother in speaking of
: said contemptuously that the man W;
= doubtless an Englishman and the En-;
-e fish would not fight. \ few days aft
= the occurrence my father told me tn;
my cousin had come from America al
=. would call the next afternoon. Faith
" hoped that | would make myself
agreeable as possible.
80 The next day when went down in
- the drawing room to see my cousin
- stood speechless with astonishmer
- He looked at me with an anus,
- smile. He was the man who had a
20 mired me at the garden and whom
= had prevented fighting my brother
- Cousin Bertha" he said. that vi
quite an episode. my meeting the q