Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-03-31
Thompson Feature Service, 1919, Copyright

fer His Majesty a bath after one
nights journey, as it involved the
insinuation of dirtiness on his
guests part.
Besides his bath, Wilhelm insisted
upon most luxurious bedroom fur
nishings, the carpeting throughout
of country residences, n four-in-
hand aid, a chef from some famous
Berlin or Paris restaurant or hotel.
Likewise, some of his hosts had to
build a carriage road, n mile, or
perchance, ten miles long lest the
invited guest cancel the arrange
mentS at the last moment.
And those Potemkin villages.
That nothing might CRATE on the i'm
perial feelings, the Baron or Prince
compelled his peasants to white
wash and paint farmhouse and
hovel, while he himself furnished
green's and flags to decorate the
streets, engaged torch bearers to
light up the highway on the eve of
the arrival and during the nights of
the visit, and employed four hun
dred to five hundred heaters, ut the
very least, a week or longer.
Wilhelm A-thirst For Blood
For the Kaiser was not content to
shoot the game on his friends do
would hire all the hare, deer, or roe
for dozen German miles in the
neighborhood and let them be driven
into his own preserves. OF course,
the dislodged game did not remain
voluntarily in its new environment,
and had to be kept from running
away by continuous beating up;
sometimes, too, much game was
trapped in other parts of the prov
ince and carried to and kept in
thickets on the spot selected for the
chase, to be released when the great
slaughter began. Besides Wilhelm
seldom brought fewer than twenty
gentlemen, and even more servants,
all of whom must be lodged and fed
and horsed, and a royal flunky in a
strange house pretends to be almost
as much as his master. Fed on
scraps at home, he impudently de-
mands the best of everything else
where, and generally succeeds in
obtaining it, as complaints on the
hosts part would lay him open to
suspicious of nearnesS.
Gross Feeders, but Insults in Place
of Thanks
For the Kaiser himself and his
titled friends, the caterers sent their
choicest wares beforehand. all the
next to follow; under the load of
mighty barrels branded in many
languages. groaned the ancient Gel
lar-beds of oaken beams, and mys-
terious bottles with dirty labels told
of old VintageS and lynX-eyed con-
noisSeurS.
And what said William to this
splendid hospitality, this lavish eX-
penditure for his benefit?
If everything went according to
program, if game was plentiful, the
weather fine. his bath and the cook
ing better than at his own house, he
would remark. on leaving: BE as
sured Madame" or -- (naming the
host without prefix of courtesy or
title), Il have enjoyed myself; and
if one thing gave me more pleasure
than the other, it was the fact that
you made no fuss, asked the Kaiser
to take pot-luck with you, so to
speak. That is as it should be. L
desire to be free to visit my people
without causing them the least trou-
bic or expense"
\ Peevish Poltroon
But if weather or wind, the ele-
ments above or those below Gin the
icy compelled us to feign enthusi-
kitchen), went against the imperial
grain, if the populace's shouts of
welcome did not seem hearty or loud
enough, or if one of the other guests
exhibited greater skill in bringing
down game than himself, William
simply ordered his carriage, drove
back to the house, and went to bed.
That happened in the course of
years once or twice at each house
visited, for there We're yet some
things completely oblivious to His
Majesty's claims of omnipotence-
game and guns.
1t seems incredible, but it's liter
ally true that shortage of Il couple
of hundred hare cost Count Botho
the proudcst Office under the Crown;
that a single buck came near de-
priving the nation of the services of
one of the ablcst officers in the
army; that for the sake of few
tough rabbits the Kaiser inSulted n