The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-20


 I told her what my experience had been and she expressed surprise, stat
 ing that she had given orders to Gen eral von Kessel, the commander of the province of Brandenburg, to see that everything was arranged so that would suffer no inconvenience on the way. No doubt the reason I had been overlooked by that old general-he was seventy-s was because he was very much occu- pied just then in his coming nuptials With young woman of thirty-six
 l arranged a large upholstered chair near window overlooking the beautifui park at the rear of the castle, but the kaiserin would not be seated until her maid. Martha, had left the room. and she seemedsvery determined that none of har servants should be aware of the nature of the work 1 was doing for her. when It was found that needed ta- pie Tn connection with my work, the Elm , press summoned Martha loudly. When the maid appeared she was directed im- periously to go to Majestys room and bring the small mahogany table which IS there noticed that the Empress always referred to the Kaiser as Ma Jesty' when addressing the servants in. stead of saying His Majesty as is more customary, but perhaps the ''su. preme war lordp was entitled to less de- ference in his own household. SERVANTS ALL TIMID During the time I was there I could not help observing how extremely timid the servants seemed to be of the Kais- erin. One expected to find the utmost serV1lity among the Kaiser's underlings, but confess it came rather as a shock to me to see the maids walking so tim idly and talking so fearfully when in the presence of their white haired, royal mis- tress. l noted particularly how very 1 gently they knocked at the door before entering and how, after knocking, they immediately placed their heads against the panel that they might catch the kaiserin's low command to enter the first time, and so make it unnecessary for her l to repeat it. Their demeanor was par l ticularly noticeable because the Kaiserin never seemed to display the slightest im- | patience or i'll temper when dealing with her servants Indeed. she seemed to me to act no diffrently from the humbest hausfrau in the country.
 l In the course of my work on the Elm l press frequently had 10 stop while she perused a telegram or messagethat had l been brought in to her. While. Of course, made no effort to pry into the 1 communications she was reading, she | usually held them in such manner that l it would have been difficult for me td have done so had I so desired, but. I could not help noticing part of the contents of , one of the telegrams It was from Won Gontard, the adjutant, and began: ''The English are attacking on our left" from which I inferred that the Empress was bai Eat, inf ne oil in the military situation.
 VISITS TO HOSPITALS The Kaiserin spent a good deal of time in the military hospitals and sometimes spoke of the horrors of war, but never discussed any of the political phases of the conflict. She asked many questions about churches and home life in Amer ica. and told me of the pleasure with which she looked forward to the coming baptism of her daughters 2-month- old baby at Braunschweig. where she was going for the occasion She asked about baptism in America, and was shocked when I told her I was not baptized until 1 was years of age.
 Before I left Hamburg she asked me whether I vas comfortably situated and if everything was all right for me I told her that everything was quite satisfac- tory, and mentioned particularly how nice it was to have food exactly as we had had it before the war.
 Yes, she replied. i've have every thing. am very careful what I eat. l watch my health very closely"
 remarked. too, how wonderful it must be to have 50 palaces like the Homburg establishment, the beauties of which had deeply impressed nsc. adding: His majesty. understand. has 60 of them, has he not?"
 Not quite 6o." she corrected. Between 50 and 60"
 Between 50 and 50 palacesl I could not help thinking of the remark the Kaiser once made to me when talking of the manner in which American millionaires made their fortunes; Tt breeds social ism!'
 When the time cams Tor me to return to Berlin, the Kaiserin bade me adieu, but uttered not word of thanks for my having given up my practice for three days to work exclusively for her.
 All the time I was at Homburg the Kaiser was at the adjoining town ot kreuznach, and so I had no opportunity of observing the two of them together on this occasion. It did occur to me, however, that the Empress looked better and happier than had ever seen her be- fore the war, and I attributed the im- provement in her general condition to the fact that the Kaiser now seemed to de-