Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-12
eature s ervice. 1919, Copyright


| raveling numerous instances of Tex
travagance."
These servants-think of it!-had
e.-ten English breakfasts in Eng
land, instead of the customary cof-
fee and rolls and paid London prices
for beer, which are considerably
higher than those prevailingln Pots
dam. So the bills were ruthlessly
cut, and the next salary day saw
many clenched teeth. many tears,
when it developed that the differ
ence between the advance and the
reduced bills had been deducted
from the wages. It is not quite safe
to mention the jubilee year among
the ex-Kaiser's former servants.
The continual trips of servants
Letween Potsdam and Berlin were
responsible for everlasting bubbles
| between the employees and the
| treasury. Count Puckler, when in
charge of the travelling accounts, is
| sued an order commanding all men,
! bers of the untitled retinue to utilize
zone-tariff trains only, as their rates
were considerably lower than those
of fast trains.
The mon and women would COM
| ply with this request, but could not
always do so on account of the ur-
| -
! when. afterward. the bills for rail-
! way fare were presented, the most
' dbominable d rows ensued, and SER
wants valuing theiS standing with
Tie Cour t-marshaps office very fire.
quently suffered the loss of their
| advances rather than fight for what
! was due them, for though they
might be ever so much in the right,
| they dared not attempt to prove
4, 1t, hnfK DinC OF n
to invoke the testimony OF th2ir
Majesties.
1t often happened that the Kaiser
or Kaiserin ordered an attendant to
proceed to the capital instantly.
Now, if the Court rt-marshal doubted
| the command, the correct way would
have been to inquire of the Kaiser
! or Kaiserin, but that would be
against tradition. Besides, to call
in doubt an employees veracity is
| easier.
So, by making the Kaiser Il pres
ent of part of he money advanced
OH his behalf, men servants and
maids, in their small way, helped TO
support the spectacle of imperial
splendor enacted before the world
the many marks and pfennigs wrung
! from them contributed to the royal
radiance that blinded onlookers!
What do yC.l think of William,
ImperatOr-Rcx NOW, when you
/ learn that servant girls wages were
no more safe from him than pupil
| lory funds in Belgian banks? When
! it is revealed that in the midst of
peace he conhscated his Wallets
! stipend as unblushingly as the poor
box in q French village church dur
! ing the war?
Can you imagine an Empress
clam oring in vain fo. a couple of
! toothbrush holders? Well, Auguste
! Victoria wanted some for a week
and longer, and could not get them.
81 will have them today" said
the Empress. Send for them"
/ did so then and there, and re-
peated the order every morning for
an entire week, but only on the aft
ernoon of the t>nth day were the
holders produced.
! 1t had taken all this time to
scrape together So necessary to pro-
! cure the much-CCVctcd articles, and
Her Majesty had made twelve SEP
aratc and distinct rows about the
matter.
Imperial Niggardlincss Run Mad
! Scenes and annoyances like these,
! growing out of the chronic with
holding of necessary funds, were not
! limited to demands for extras. We
went through the same farce every
! time n piece of china or glass was
broken, for the Prussian Court had
no duplicates of such necessary
articles as wash-pitchers, bowls,
I pals, soap dishes, or water-bottles.
When one of these things in the
| Kaiserin's chamber, for instance,
was smashed, her chief tire woman
had to carry the pieces & the
| III ID 1Ch hnfT ni iGfn
before the House marshal, who laid
them before the Court marshal, who
laid them before the treasurer. ..
Then the tre.-jurer authorized the
making of an estimate to replace the
/ articles, the two marshals counter
signed the document, and sent
wagon into town to fetch it, or OF
dered it sent from Berlin. OF course,
all this took time; and in the in
terim the Kaiserin had to do with
! out the most necessary utensils
sometimes.
! AS long as I can remember, my
| royal mistress never owned enough
| trunks to carry, besides her toilets,
! the linen for the imperial bed and
bath rooms, and that despite the fact
! that the Court was almost contin-
uously on the road. Quite fire.
quently Her Mat"3ty's linen was sent
! on a journey iii dry-SoodS cases or
even in cardboard boXes-odds and
| ends from the store-room.
Starved at Royal Board
As to- the royal table, it was
| hardly letter served than the aver
! age 75 cents tabled hote. while ar
| rangements at the Court balls were
such as to permit only every ninth
or tenth of tk>. invited persons to oh
tain swallow of third-rLte cham
| pagne and a sandwich.
The visits of royalty were made
| occasions of great display, of course;
reasonably liberal extra appropria-
! tions were made at such times, and
! lest the chasseurs made Il mistake,
all foreigners &C. the best cham
pagne, which otherwise were fur
nished to their Majesties only, but
even then the Court-marshal man.
aged to save an honest penny here
and there.
(To be continued)