Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-01-28
The Birthday OF The Emperor
ss.lBy, G s. Straadvold }.

Grand Forks. n. d., Jan. 27.-It Is
about twenty years ago. but still re.
memberedt.a as though it happened but
yesterday. ~
From quaint and ancient Rostoc.,
had come to stately n modern
val atmosphere, | found myself IN
what man Germans piously are
pleased to consider the center Of the
world. Coming from the old Han.
seattle town. I arrived in the early
! hours of%a bright winter morning al
the magnificent capital sof a youne
empire.
1T. was. January 81. the. birthday OF
Emperor William the Second. ,
Slowly I drifted through the streets
and finally, directed by. a courteous
and soldierly' looking policeman,
found the famous Zeughaus-the ar
%senal. which is one Of the Sights
of the city on the Spree.
Before l entered. I. heard distant
Militaermusik playing He'll Dir i'm
Siegeskranz."
1t was the emperor's birthday.
Once inside the Zeugllaus. I passed
by {. vast number Of German wat
trophies. flags. standards and guns
of many kinds from many battle
fields. The history of modern Ger
many was boastingly reflected in the
collection of relics. Koeniggraetz
and Sadowa. Sedan and Metz, were
recalled as vividly as were the details
of the Prussian war against Austria
in 1866, the Prussian war against
France in 1S70-71..
And finally I stopped before a.
collection, of flags from my own old
country-Dennlark.
There were many. They were
sooty, tattered. ragged. Bullets haG
made holes in them. Gunpowder had
stained them all. The white cross in
the %blood-red ground had been black
ened by smoke and powder in the bat
ties of 1864.
bowed my head in sorrow and ST.
lence, remembering that it was Dem
mark that had fought the war of CIV
ready then began to nourish dreams
of ACKNOWLEDGMENT, of world, donin-
ion. y, -
Under the red-white cross banner
men. from my own home had bled.
Some had come back mutilated for
life. Others had died:
And Denmark herself had emerged
from the fight--mutilated. temporari-
~ stunned. My generation had been
shadow of the memories Of the war
Of "a.
Here I saw the flags that had been
carried high above the Danish armies
until the men who had carried them.
lay dead on the, battlefeld-the flags
which had been given to Denmark
centuries before as tokens of certain
victory.
Only a few months earlier I had had
occasion to wander among the graves
of fallen Danish warriors in Schleswig
where Germans had erected granite
monuments in honor of their foes.
"Hier ruben 257 tapfere Daenen''
(Here rest 257 brave Danes), was the
inscription on. one of these monu-
ments. EVERYWHERE, the Germans
had paid the tribute to the defeated
Danes that they were brave. Natur-
ally. The drawer the enemy, the more
glorious your WI victory!
Lost in contemplation. in mourn
full reverie, I stood before the con
quered flags-I don't know how long.
Then suddenly l heard a crash Of
music. The Militaermusik was almost
outside the Zeughads. and I heard the
tunes of the bombastic "Schleswig-
Holstein meerumschlungen' being
hurled against the wall of the build
ing. They went through the walls
and reached my very heart.
T. hurriedly left the hall where re-
posed the flags. OF my; old. country
Tic IldSS VIII Tie mite cross, with
the red of roses and of blood.
"Schleswig-H olstein e e u m :
~schlungen!"
1t was the birthday Of the emperor.
..-.-F" .ss - ~
If ! had chosen. ! would have had
an excellent opportunity of seeing: the
emperor in all his birthday splepdor
a little later. I knew he would drive
down Inter den Linden and receive
the homage Of his admitting people.
But. somehow. l did not feet that I
wanted to see the man who persona
fed the system, which. years before
his own ascension to the throne, had
resulted in the dislnembcrment of my
own country.
! went into one of the side streets,
and from far away l heard the SWELL
ing music of Deutschland, Deutsch-
land ueber alles-Ueber allies in der
Welt" .as@.
! was not allowed to forget that it
was the birthday of the emperor,
= - f-aAe-r A
Emperor William was horn at Ber-
lin 50 years ago today. Dates: may be
relatively u%nimportant, but January