Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-20
New Light on the Kaiser

great fight, all the orders were sud
denly reversed. Historians have puzzled
over that, but recently I read the ex-
planation-this German physician. He
had been away when the battle was
begun, but returned in time TO save
Napoleon from disaster. He saw that
the combined Russians and Prussians
were preparing surprise attack. Of
which Napoleon had no knowledge. Ma
poleon then, on this advice alone. al
tered his whole battle plan and saved
his army.
"Eylau was no dazzling feat of arms.
as was Yena or Austerlitz, much less
the campaigns of Italy. 1t was a tech
nical victory in so far as Napoleon held
his ground, but so heavy we're his losses
that few more such triumphs would
have ended his military career"
asked the Kaiser why, then, did
| Napoleon have such reverseS as in the
Moscow campaign of 1912. To which
he answered that the German physi-
clan of second-sight powers had warned
him OF impending disaster, but in vain.
Kaiser's Memory PrOdigi0us.
| The Kaiser would not vouch for the
| historical accuracy of this tale, but
biography has many instances Of
seeming similarity. Lincoln is known
to have consulted fortune -tellers when
/
astrologer at his elbow: the great con-
| querers of antiquity realized the inn
| portance of supernatural aid when Sc
lecting the time for battle.
At dinner there was uninterrupted
flow of good talk, at least whenever
the Emperor had the floor. He has
ever been a great reader in many fields,
notably history of the human race, re-
| ligion, archaeology, geography, ethnogra-
ply, the science of education His menu
ory Is prodigious and scarce q sentence
that he does not illustrate from some
classical quotation or anecdote.
To my great joy, no cocktails were
offered before this or any other meal,
! as would have been the case in Eng
land and America, or even modern
Rome or Paris. Per contra, the wines
were of the very choicest, notably q
! 1921 Niersteiner that would have re-
tailed in any we'll bootlegged American
cabaret at SIS bottle.
Pattern Of Temperance, Yet Liberal.
But as I have already limited, the
Kaiser is a pattern of temperance in
drink, no less than in meat and smoke.
But he Is not q fanatic, and his guests
cannot complain, not even those dessi-
Gated Yankees from the parched pre-
cincts where American dry law reigns.
The Kaiser, in his most autocratic
moments, never dreamed that he could
impose upon his people such a joke as
Congress has laid upon us in the name
OF free and enlightened republic.
He asked me to explain it.
said that I could not; it was an
other case of "cherchez la femme!"-
the curse of woman's vote
After dinner the main reception room
became q cinema hall, where the house
hold enjoyed series of pictures thrown
onto vast sheet.
The Emperor goes early to bed and
| has always been an early riser, so we
separated at about 10 o'clock for our
first night under the tiles of Doom.
The Kaiser's motor car carried us 10
the guest house, where we ordered
breakfast for z o'clock next morning in
our suite-the old-fashioned French
cafe au lait with honey or inarmalade
and some toast.
Elizabeth was the name of the good
looking maid who took charge of us at
Doom, who made up the room and
brought up our breakfast. She said she
had been IL years in his service and
he was model gentleman. The Kaiser
had already spoken of her to me as
"a pearl"
And so to bed.
Another Of Mr.. Bigelow's stories
about the former German Emperor
will appear in the editorial section
Of The Star next Sunday.