The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1918-09-13
z he Kaiser as | Knew / linn
for Fourteen Years
By ARTHUR N. DAVIS, D. D. S.


fared In at the waist which. with the
sporty angle at which he wore his cap
gave him n swagger which was quite
foreign to the rest of the officers of the
army. He was of slender figure, which
was accentuated by his height. He
was nearly six feet tall
He came into my office, l remember
with copy of Life in his pocket. He
took 1T out and opened Ii and showed
me cartoon of himself which appar-
emily caused him considerable umuse-
ment and which, he said, he intended
showing his family.
There were two beautiful rings on
his left hand and he wore wrist
watch, although at that time wrist
watches were used almost exclusively
by women. He seemed to be bright
and quick, but by no means brilliant.
Perhaps the quality exhibited by him
that impressed me most on that first
occasion was his excessive nervousness.
He trembled all over. 1t was plain to
see he was dreadfully afraid of pain.
and he evidently realized that 1 had
noticed his condition.
81 suppose the crown prince and the
future ruler of Germany ought to
be brave at all times" he remarked,
but ! inst hate to have to 60 to q
dentist"
II" nSi"l me II l had seen any men,
~ '' g.. a.. lately. and | told him
''r ''"' chamberlain, u
Count Won Eulenburg, had been to see
me the previous day.
"Tm not surprised he has to 20 to
the dentist; he eats too much !" the
crown prince declared. "He can't ex.
pect to have good teeth; he's alwaye
eating. AS for myself, eat very little.
/ wp1t to remain thin. hate fat peo-
plt."
The crown prince and / did not get
along very well at that time. Apart
from the fact he was sucl n physical
coward that 1T was almost impossible
to work on him satisfactorily, he
seemed to have no idea of the meaning
OF an appointment.
He would agree to be at my office
at 9:3O and 1 would plan my day ac-
cordingly. At about ten he was ant
To call me nm TO say he would be on
hand at eleven. and he would actually
PSrrive about twelve. This haprened
several times, and old him that i
couldn't have my work broken up in
that way.
Although I did not see the crown
prince again professionally until 1915,
the crown princess came to me in
1913. and from that time on paid me
more or less regular visits She was
Il woman of great charm and intelli-
sence, and although she was more
Russian than German in her ideas, and
for some time after her marriage was
rather generally criticized on that ac-
count, she soon became extremely
popular and today is very much ad-
mired by the German people.
she was one of the most democratic
and informal of my royal patients.
remember one day when / was work
ing on Princess Hatfield, we heard q
loud "Hoo-hOo" from the anteroom.
The crown princess had heard that
the Princess Hatfield, who was
great chum Of hers, was In my office
and had followed her into my place
unannounced.
tion, was an extremely intelligent and
beautiful young woman, and because
of her intimacy with the crown prin-
cess, l took a keen interest in the
views she expressed from time to time.
Her mother was an American.
When she called on me on one occa.
sion after the war had started, I re-
speated to her the giSt OF n cOnyersa-
tion had had few days before with
her fathex> Excellenz Won Stumm. He
informed me that he had been trying
to convince all Germans OF influence
that II would be a serious mistake to
annex Belgium.
From morning to night have been
trying to teach our people some sense"
he had declared "With the history OF
Poland and Alsace-Lorraine in mind,
why should we take more responsible
tiles on our shoulders by retaining
Belgium The Lord only knows we
have our hands full as IL Is. I don't
see and 1 never have seen how Ger
many can possibly win this war;"
"Your father seemed to be very pes
simistlc regarding the outlook" told
her.
"The sad thing about It," she re-
piled, sis that father is always rightl
never knew him to make q mistake
In Judgment"
When the crown prince called to see
me again | was surprised to find a
considerable change I'm his general ap-
pearancp Althnuph of coursa ba yyas