Omaha daily bee., 1919-02-20
Bertha's American Visitors
Stars and Stripes. France.

/ stars ana oulpesi france.
1t nestles, glistening white amid the ever.
! greens, on the crest of bold bluff overlooking
/ the valley of the Sayn. 1t is-or used to be-
! the hunting lodge of Frau Bertha Krupp vor
/ Bohlen.
At present it is the headquarters of the
Sixty-fourth brigade, Thirty-second division
/ Everyone. from the general to the owliest buck
is billeted either in the luxurious lodge itself
or in the little less comfortable older lodge be-
side it.
Frau Bertha. so the story goes, when she
heard that this little estate OF hers was included
in bridgehead territory, sent a communication
through official channels requesting that no
Americans be quartered there. The commanding
general continues the tale, wrote "disapprov-
ed" across the face of the request and took
possession of the Krupp apartment himself. He,
better than any German, knew that Americans
transform no property into martyred Rheims.
But Bertha perhaps, was only bluttng tor
the cottage is still full of valuable property, in
GLIDING silver and linen chests fine pictures and
prints, dinner sets-and wine, some of which is
of the vintage of ~. incidentally, there are
also in the white-tiled cellar peaches from Cali
fornia, preserves from France, mustard of the
81 varieties brand, and other edbes. 1t is a
question if the Essen owner would have left all
this had she believed the imperial Prussian
psychology of war could be applied to America.
Or she may have had some sort of an idea that
her request would be gracously granted.
The Krupp hunting lodge is marvel OF
modern conveniences in the midst of wilder
ness 1t is such wonder playhouse as lovers
picture in their airy moments of shadowy
dreams. And the cuisine! Why the meals al
most cook themselves. Take the word of the
headquarters cook for it,
The cottage is in bungalow style, with panels
in the walls and visible ceiling beams. These
are especially noticeable in the reception hall,
the walls are literally studded with trophies of
the chase-decr horns, slender. pointed, none
more than II inches long, peculiar to the ami
mails in this region. Below each set is the name
of the successful hunter with the date and place
of his kill.
Rumor has it that the ex-kaser and his eld-
est son used to run up here, leaving their identi-
ties at Potsdam and essay shots at the game
which abounds all about; but if they did
they were either about as successful as they
were in the late unpleasantness or they bore
their trophies away with them; or (and this is
inconceivable) they hid their success under nom
de plumes.
Leading off from the reception hall in one
corner is the Krupp-Bohlen suite, two small
rooms (all the rooms are small indeed, the
great charm OF the place lies in the fact that
everything is i'll rustic minlature).
Just below the top of the canopy of the vast
bed and stretching across its foot is a decorated
panel on which are painted some German hero
glyphics, together with the mysterious letters,
sc. B. Just what do they mean3 Everybody
around the place has taken a guess. Some
assert the letters signify "Gros Bertha; others
insist they stand for Grain Bohlen" Countess
Bohlen).
The sole window of the bedroom over1ooks
a glorious view down the valley, with its rag
ged sheets of mist about the mountain peaks,
mass on mass of greenery, the CLINT of the tor
rent below and on the left, on another emf
nence across the valley, the remains of ruined
castle, perhaps another stronghold of the great
lords of Sayn, who hourished hereabouts in the
18th century.
Another wonderful view of the valley can
be obtained from a veranda leading off from the
dining room, whose walls also are lined with
deer horns and shelves containing plates and
stems. Among the latter is one in the bottom
of which a music box has been cunningly hid
den and strains of THE Count of Luxembourg"
tinkle forth when the guest lifts the stein to his
lips And on the stein is caption which, trans
lated broadly. says:
THE bird who doesn't drink, who doesn't sing,
Who has no tales of love to tell.
That bird, let's pity him. for he is S. 0. l."
OFF the dining room is the generals study,
beautifully furnished, with great fireplace and
easy chairs Here, as everywhere about the
place, one comes upon sprlgs OF poetry and
quaint sayings, painted on the mantels, on the
even in the bedrooms. There is one in bed
room upstairs that every soldier in the A. z. F
would like to see repeated in English in a gen.
eral order. 1t abjures one never to be in a
hurry ABOUT getting up III the morning, tnat IL
leads to complications, particularly i'll temper
The rooms, above and below, are all lighted
by electricity There are electrical stoves in
case the supply of wood or the ornate German
stoves give out, and then there's hot water heat
as further precaution. Catch the Krupps
catching coldl There is while-tiled bath room
for the officers and another for the men. There
is meat cooler, built according to Hoyle, with
double walls and heavy doors; and there is a
house telephone. The stable, oddly enough has
only three stalls in it and as these aren't enough
to take care of the headquarters horses, an addi
tional stable is being put up in little grove not
far from the lodge.
There is barber shop in connection and a
pressing estabshment-in fact, nothing has
been overlooked, not even to the dog kennels,
of which there are four.
There is one other interesting feature-the
cabinet in the attic with its glass drawers each
of which contains the lower jaws of the deer
killed in one year, all beautifully mounted and
enameled, with the place where the animal was
shot, and its weight. The collection, apparently,
was started in 1914 In 1917 IS kills we're pre-
pared in 1918 none. The Krupps were too busy
making shells.
Politeness Always Pays.
French politeness maintains its reputation
despite the stress of war. Early in the fight
the press censor of Paris, when asked by a