San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-09-29
TNN NETV Poppy fields in bloom
'Nl lNlA give American cowboy
beautiful impression of
n RDfA1 picturesque Dutch
ton
By TOM MIX

Holland is worth a great deal of
anyone's time. OF course, / perhaps
am prejudiced because of the welcome
afforded me at every stop of the train.
But also it is as picturesque as guide
books ever painted. Ny glimpse of
the country from the train told me
that.
Our trip from Rotterdam to Ans
terdam had been through the poppy
fields and at that time of the year
they were in full bloom. had never
seen such an impressive sight. As far
as one could see from the train
stretched away field after field Of
highly colored poppy beds; purple,
! red. yellow, white-the colors of a
rainbow and as harmonious. No won
der, in the centuries gone by, the
world went poppy mad and wars were
w9ged and fortunes paid for a single
exotic plant.
Then, the cities-the tiny glimpses
had Of them-with their waverins
canals, their lazy peace. understand
too, that Holland is a fine place for
the tired business man. One can sleep
there better than any place in the
world. 1t is recommended that a per-
son, tired out with work and worry,
go to Amsterdam, get room looking
out over the canal, take a drink OF
Bols and 90 to sleep. After twelve
hours that person will wake up feel
ing as fresh as in the days of child
hood.
WOODEN SHOES
And, do not mistake ii, there still
are wooden shoes. From the general
appearance of the countryside the need
Of this footwear is evident, for the
ground, much of it below sea level,
is very damp, a succession of canals
draining land that otherwise would be
a vast swamp.
But I must get on with my story.
After Amsterdam and a night on the
train-in tiny compartments, with
cunning water in each room-wc
reached Berlin early in the morning.
Ii was election day, and as we pulled
into the capital Of the German En-
pire the opposing flags of the Republi-
cans and the Monarchists were seen
hanging from windows OF every home.
Ii was the day the German people
Unexpectedly chose Hindenburg for
President over Marx, the Republican
candidate.
There vas an air Of expectancy over
Berlin as we got off the train at the
Zoologiseher station. choosing this
place instead Of the downtown station
| in order 10 avoid the crowd which
might have gathered there, contrary to
police orders, to geet US. IL was
serious day in Berlin and l did not
want to intrude. History was in the
making: il was felt that Germany
that day was making a most moment
GUS decision.
SLIPS INTO BERLIN
Quietly, with only few newspaper
men TO meet US, we slipped out OF
the station and were taken by motor
10 the Hessen Hotel nearby for break
fast. There l had the first Amer
ican coffee / had tasted since leaving
New York, and it was great. You'll
never know how good is American
coffee. with cream, until you've been
drinking the kinds Of other nations
But Berlin is a wide awake place
and quite capable Of giving the wand
erer that which his palate calls for.
After a splendid breaktast--cereals,
ham and eggs. fruit and coffee, not
forgetting the cold meats which Ger
mans seem 70 prefer, often for break
fast-we left the Hessen for the Ad-
Ion Hotel in Inter Den Linden. The
drive carried US through a most in
teresting city.
Berlin is very new now. you know,
Iand was planned as carefully as Wash.
inrton. D. G. It's streets are wide
and clean. its homes conforming 10
uniformity thought necessary under
the old regime. The result. is an
astonishingly beautiful city 10 look at,
but rather cold and monotonous in its
architecture. But that uniformity is
symbolic of the characteristics which
have made Germany so powerful a
ustion-it Is an evidence OF, as we
call il, the Teutonic mind, and 1t
must be taken as such.
HEARTY GREETING
At the Aldon, despite the police
regulation against crowds assembling,
about a thousand jovial Germans had
gathered. ] felt deeply obligated By
this showing Of friendship, for, after
all. this was a day Of greatest i'm.
portance TO Germany. The people had
no time for cowboys from America,
no matter what their sentiment might
have been.
In the crowd were a number oil
German Boy Scouts, who, later on
that morning. stood at attention in the
garden Of the Adlon while l reviewed
them. Two, l might add, were a.
the front door Of the Adlon each Of
the three days l was there from early
in the morning until the great iroE
gates closed at night. Ii was a pref
" tribute paid me By members OF
great world organization and 1 wal
proud 10 be 50 honored. -,
The three days in Berlin passed al
too quickly. There were receptions
and such things; there were people 4