The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-03-15


as the great Christmas gatherings Oh
the Hohenzollerns afternoon tea was
long ago substituted for the coffee
drinking which is a more character
istic German fashion. l suppose II
would be a crime to say afternoon
tea," in Berlin today.
Scowls for the Englishman
While 1 was in that apartment
young officers came from time TO
time and made my acquaintance
bowling and clicking their heels IN
the customary fashion. l quite unoer-
stood they were showing me these at
tentions out of compliment to Prince
Oscar and in no way to Halter me.
Indeed, they almost scoWled openly
at the Englishman in their very acts
of politeness.
They were all very much or the
same type. All of them had monocles'
or nearly all, and all seemed to eX-
perience the same difficulty in keep
ing these articles of adornment IN
Place. All had their heads either
shaved or cropped so closely with
hair clippers that it was impossible
to tell the difference. They all show
ed signs of an expansion round the
waist line, due to their beer bouts
| at the university, characteristic Oh
German better-class folk which L al
forwards turned to a very profitable
account.
My two other pupils, the Princes
Sigismund and Friedrich Karl, sons
of Prince Leopold of Prussia, and
cousins of Prince Oscar, stayed by
me and chatted naturally and enter
tainingly of the Kaiser's Christmas
celebrations. They described to me
the proceedings on Christmas eve,
when the Kaiserin distributed pres
ents to the needy in the grounds of
the Neues Palais, and the Kaiser hal
ed them within the hall for entertain
ment.
| They also told me of the presents,
mainly trifles, which the members of
the Hohenzollern family made one
another to mark the day, and Of the
dishes served at the Christmas din
ner, which included wild boar roast
ed whole and the haunch of some
particular venison from the Kaiser's
East Prussian estate. They made me
feel quite at home and participator
in the festivities.
At the end my four Prince pupils
escorted me to the entrance, where
Prince Friedrich Karfs car was wait
ing to take me back to Berlin.
| Among the first reflections which
occurred to me when I was settled
down at Kabinettshaus as sports tu-
tor to Prince Oscar and his younger
brother, Prince Joachim, was feel
i ing of profound thankfulness that I
had not been born one of the sons
of the German Kaiser. 1t required as
often as the sun rose; for no day
passed during my eighteen months in
the capacity without bringing me
fresh evidence of the hard life led
by these younger scions of the House
of Hohenzo1lern.
Prince Oscars Civil Governor
retired colonel, with a touch of the
herr professor about him-made ev-
cry regulation which determined the
LIE of the Prince. He made every
payment for him, too, down to pay
ing for the fat, straw-tipped Turkish
cigarettes, stamped oscar Prince of
Prussia" which the young man smok-
ed at every spare moment of the day.
If Prince Oscar ever had a twenty
mark piece to call his own I never vet
heard about it; yet of course, he lack
ed for nothing he took a fancy to.
Very early in the morning, some
where about dawn, I could hear
Prince Oscar rising to begin lis heavy
days work 1t was the signal for me
to turn over comfortably in bed and
thank heaven it was he. and not my
self who had to rise. Before six
o'clock breakfast he studied, hard and
conscientiously, as it was his habit to
do with anything he undertook. Half
an-hour sufffced for his breakfast,
and then his duty as lieutenant in the
Grenadier Guards claimed him.
A route march, in full kit, of fiji
teen or twenty miles was quite an or
binary preliminary to the lesson for
, which he returned to me, at about
eleven o'clock in the morning, with
the most commendable punctuaHty
He would arrive sometimes nearly
tagged out, unbuttoning his tunic as
he entered the house, because he was
, any of the lesson.
a "I have another duty before nit
= tagessen," he would explain. in ex-
D O1 Ills
: The morning, however, was the
a easy part of most for overworked
l Prince Oscar. In the afternoon he
q had more study and more ceremonial
duties; while the evening was filled
I with this kind of employment. have
:. never met a man in all my life who
was harder worked and had fewer
q opportunities for anything that would
! be accounted relaxation.
n Never Protested
= He never, as far as I know, thought
n for one second of uttering a protes
n against the tyranny of his Civil Gov.
ernor, of his military duties, or of hi!
It father the Kaiser. He had been &C
d customed to submit without hesita
:. ton from his infant days; and the
!, experience had made a mature younE
g man of him. He was not brilliant
e I never remember his saying any sin
T gle thing that might be accounted
S clever. But he thought before w
spoke, and delivered himself CT hi
|. opinion carefully and sensibly. evel
upon the most trivial subjects.
l, When he had a change it was il
S the way of a double dose of harC
s work, in anticipation OF one of tn
d "Prufungs,' or examinations, he wa
= constantly called upon to pass. H
s had got into such a habit of bcin.
h tested in his requirements that h
was unable to believe that he hat
e acquired anything until he had PROVED
e the fact before a body of examiners
For that reason he even arranget
y an exhibition, with me rs partner, O
re his new athletic requirements, whicl