Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-17

| feet certain dignified air in public,
has in it ring of true courtesy, no
matter what people, who, like my
self, are behind the scenes, may
she is always sure of good recep-
ron,' as the newspapers say, for
her condescension, though studied
think of il.
Domestic Virtues Myth
AS the eighth Henry's daughter
posed as the virgin Queen, so does
the German Empress pose as the
ideal HauSfrau; but while the first
succeeded only In dcIuding the un-
thinking. the present august lady
hns tricked the entire civilized world
into cretliting her with fanciful do
nestic virtues.
am told that (for many years
before the war;, one could not open
a magazine or newspaper, printed
either in Europe, America, Asia or
Africa, not to forget Australia, with
out encountering some such article
as THE Kaiserin as a Mother" THE
German Empress Investigating Her
Kitchen" 'Auguste Victoria Super
intending Her Linen Chest" Books
of travel, the A. b. c for the young,
and religious tracts alike TEEN with
allusions to Her Majesty's facilities
in the line of sewing, child-bearing,
darning,an plain cooking.
| AS matter of fact, the Empress
| has visited the lower regions of her
residential castles where the very
bad indigestibles that grace the i'm
| perial table are prepared, but once
in her life, ESQ the servants tell me),
and on that occasion she designed
, to look into the department where
the linen is kept, but never more.
| 1t was great and wonderful
event, however, while it lasted, and
the royal housekeeper, BARONESS
Won Larisch, and her host of white
capped and ditto-ap aproned girls and
women probably passed an hour OF
| supreme anxiety lest the great lady
should know enough to find fault
with things as they were. In this
unpleasant anticipation they were
luckily disappointed, however, ana
aside from the cheap copy" it made
for the press, generally despised but
often appealed to by royalty, the
visit resulted merely in a single rec
omm endation: 1t was ordered and
decreed by Her Imperial and Royal
Majesty that thereafter the all-high-
est table linen he marked in n diff
terent-colored thread from the most
gracious bedclothes. From time i'm
mem orial, at the Prussian Court,
table coverings and sheets alike have
| been adorned with red crown.
| The only thing about the house
which really interests Her Majesty
| is the daily menu, and that its COM
position be agreeable to her as well
as to the Emperor. To that end the
| "Speisenfolge" proposed is placed
| on her dressing table nightly, so
she may strike out or add anything
she likes.
Overbearing to Her Servants
But while not a Hausfrau in the
accepted sense of the word, Auguste
! Victoria unfortunately inherited
from her mother certain disagree
! able traits that in a. more or less
pronounced degree are found in the
majority of German women, quail
ties dignifed as positive virtues by
many, and which poets and like
irresponsible persons not unfre-
quently laud to the skies.
Her Majesty is peevish, unjust,
and petty in the treatment of her
retinue the very best reason why the
royal household in the Neues Paiais
or Schloss is as little free from veXa-
tions and even domestic brawls as
other institutions of the kind, be
they extensive or small, in Berlin,
erland for that matter.
Sprung from nonpuissant stock
and reared in comparative poverty,
Auguste Victoria seems to abhor the
very conditions that gave her dis
comfort in younger days.
|. In Her Majesty's eyes an untitled
servant is of no more consequence
than q beggar, and that poverty and
uncleanliness are necessarily synony-
nous terms is one of her fixed
ideas.
In the majority of Berlin house
holds those obligato squabbles be-
gin in the bright and early morn
ing and the Empress would not be.
German unless she followed that
fashion and kept up a continuous
performance till night. Every ma
ton, you must know, boasts but one
sort of clay for high and humble,
and loftiness of station does not