Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-02

A GUST or fresh air IN my race, tne tTdiH-
"A pie OF feet loud greetings in cultural Ger
man, awoke me with a start. 1t was broad
daylight and through my compartment, to
which l had crept in the night weary with
standing, filed the jovial members of the
choral society," with bags In their hands ana
huge cockades Jn their buttonholes. There
was band on the platform and huge choir
of men who bawled a stentorian-voiced hymn
of greeting Dusseldorf" was the name
printed on the station lamps.
All the passengers. save the members or
the choral society, had left the train, ap-
parently, for every carriage door stood open.
I sprang to my feet and let myself go win
the stream of mem Thus l swept out OF
the train and right into the midst OF the
iostling crowd of bandsmen, singers and
Snectators on the platform. l stood with
the new arrivals until the hymn was ended
and thus solidly encsdres by the Dussel-
dorfers, we drifted out through the barrier
into the station courtyard Inere n,raa.s prahes
we're waiting into which the jolly choristers'
guests and hosts, clambered noisily. But
I walked straight on into the Streets
scarcely able to realize that no one had ques-
toned me, that at last, unhlnoereo' s'ooo
before my goal.
dusseldorf is a bright. clean town with
touch of good taste in its public buildings
to- remind one that this busy, industrial city
has found time even while making money
to have called into being a school OF art OF
10 own 1t vas a delightful morning with
dazz,ins sunshine and an eager nip IN the
air that spoke of the swift, deep river that
bathes the city walls
rev-red in the clear. cold atmosphere
otter the foulness of the drinking den ana
the sitting heat OF the journey. eNu.'Iu Al
tho sense of liberty / experienced at nav
;nS once more eluded the grim clutches OF
CIubfoot Above all. my heart sang wlthin
me at the thought of an early meetlng Win
Francis. In the mood l was In, l would
adn,it no possibility of disappointment now
7 would together at last
came upon a public square presently
and there facing me was a great, big cafe,
white and new and dazzling with large
pate-glass windows and rows OF tables on
a covered yaranda outside 1t was un-
doubtedly a "kolossal" establishment after
tba hest Berlin style. So that there might
he nc, mistake about the name, 1t was plac-
arded all over the front of the place in gilt
letters three feet high on glass panels
Cafe Regina. ,
and at that early hour l had the place to
mvself l felt very small, sitting at tiny
table with tables on every side or me,
stretching away as 1t were into the Ewig-
ket, in a vast white room with mural paint
ings of the crassest school of impressionism.
ordered a good, substantial breakfast
and whiled away the time while 1t was
coming by glancing at the morning paper
which the waiter brought me.
NV eyes ran down the columns without
NV needing what l read. for my thougn,s
were busy with Francis. When did he come
to the cafe? How was he living at Dussei-
dorf?
suddenly, found myself looking at a name
7 knew . it was in the personal para
graphs.
Lieut.. General Count Won Boden," the
paragraph ran, "Aide-de-Camp to H. M. the
emperor, has been placed on the retired list
owing to i'll health General Won Boden has
left for Abazia, where he will take up his
nermanent residence" There followed the
usual biographical notes.
OF a truth. Clubfoot was power In the
land.
ate my breakfast at a table by the
omen door, and surveyed the busy life of the
square where the pigeons circled in the
sunshine A waiter stood on the veranda
idly watching the birds as they pecked at
the stones. / was struck with the pro-
found melancholy depicted in his face His
cheeks were sunken and he had a pinched
look which / had observed In the features
of most of the customers at Haase's, / set
II down to the insufficient feeding which is
general among the lower classes in Germany
today.
| pearance. his eyes were hollow, there were
| deep lines about his mouth and he wore
| hagEard look that had something strangely
J pathetic about It. His air Of brooding sad