Evening star., 1923-07-29
Visit of Count Kessler Recalls
Proprietor of Old Eden Musee
BY THE MARaUIsE DE roNrENo,

BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY.
Count Harry Kessler, who has ar
rived in New York during the past
week for the purpose Of delivering
a series of addresses on Germany
and the European Tansle" at the In
stitute of Politics at Williamstown,
Mass, was formerly director of the
Grand Ducal Museum of Art and of
Art Applied to Industry at Weimar.
Unless 1 am much mistaken. he was
born in New York, where his father,
the late Adolph Kessler. spent SO
many years in business as head of
& Co., and was one of the propri-
etors of the old Eden Musee on
23d street. He owed his title of
count to that eccentric ruler of the
tiny principality of Reuss Greitz
who used to insist upon personally
administering at his palace the
birchings and canings to which the
school children had been condemned
by their teachers, insisting that 1t
was his prerogative as sovereign and
father Of his people.
The late Countess Kessler, who had
some American blood in her veins,
was an Irish woman, a member of the
old Lynch Blosse family Of County
Mayo, owned a very fine house in
the Cour la Refine at Paris and was
celebrated for her beauty. The lat
ter attracted the admiration of the
old Emperor William at Ems and he
| showed himself very gracious to her,
1tvHow hn - r1lH % = .
only daughter, who was christened
Wilma in his honor. Some Of the
least reputable organs of the Prus-
sian press tried-possiblyi IN the hope
of blackmail-to make the countess
out to be q secret diplomatic agent
of the German empire and she was
subjected to q considerable amount
of persecution in this connection, al
though she was the least diploma attic
and most impulsive of women For
of the French press took up her de-
fense, and before she died she had
the satisfaction Of seeing her daugh-
| ter Wilma married to the Duke de
of the favorite marshals of the first
| Napoleon. 1t may be remembered
that he met with his death on the
| battlefield. Queen Hortense was in
| love with him and 1t was for him
that she wrote "Partant pour la
Syrie."
- r y
| Before the great war Count Harry
Kessler, who boasts of descent from
that Johannes Kessler who was the
,, intimate friend and associate of Mar
tin Luther and of his fellow-re-
former. Zwingli. was vice president
and ono of the moving spirits OF the
National Association of German Ar
lists, but quarreled with that power
wul institution as the result Of his
| orsanization of an exhibition OF
Robins works at weimar. Indeed, he
| was always In favor of the promo
| tion. of friendly relations between
| France and. Germany, did all in his
| power to foster an understanding be-
| tween the artists and scientists OF
| the two nations, and while he still
| holds q commission OF lieutenant OF
| lancers in the Prussian army, devoted
\ himself to diplomatic and political
| fighting in the great war. He is an
| amiable, kindly and rich man, hlled
with the best intentions but can
hardly be regarded as measuring UP
! to the rank of the statesmen who
IL was promised were to bring en-
IIixhtenment to Wiiliamstown and
TO the United States generally about
the chaotic conditions in Europe.
| while the term Of the minister oi
foreign AFFAIRS is dependent upon. the
I iexisience of the cabinet, the per.