Evening star., 1938-08-14

FORMER kAI
lightful converSationalist. When for
eign guests are present, which often
happens, he converses with them in
English and French, languages which
are just as familiar to him as German.
Though his conversation is very quick
and fluent, he is a great listener and
always surprises his guests by the
sharpness of his questions. Many a
time they find to their own embarrass-
ment that the Emperor is much better
informed on the situa tions in their
own countries than they are them
selves
When the table is broken up. the
ladies leave the room first and the
Kaiser shakes hands with the remain
ing gentlemen. After this little cere-
mony. an old German custom. he pro-
ceeds to the library. where coffee is
served and cigarettes are handed
around There he generally stands at
window overlooking the beautiful
park and talks to the person whose
converse ton interests him most at
the moment.
Long Nap After Lunch.
After lunch the Kaiser retires to his
rooms in order to take long nap. rec
ommending his guests to do the same
thing. The guests 60 back to their
own rooms. which are distributed over
several remodeled buildings that for
merly served as stables and hothouses
My grandfather has transformed
these places into very cozy guests
apartments. each of which Is furnished
in different style and bears a differ
ent historical name. The Kaiser has
his tea generally only accompanied
by the Empress and the members of
his family who happen to be at Doorn
The other guests have their tea
brought to their respective rooms.
During the summer time he fire.
quently takes an afternoon stroll
through the village and over the main
highway. He is always greeted very
courteously by the village people, who
walk or ride by on their bicycles. Many
times motor cars will stop and the
occupants will wave to the Emperor,
invariably getting a warm reply on
his part. During the spare time be-
tween tea and dinner the Kaiser re-
tires to his study, located in a little
tower where he is absolutely undis-
turbed. As the head Of our family, he
studies and decides all the questions
and subjects which are brought up to
him by his children and many grand
children. He is perfectly informed on
every member of his large family and
takes a never -tiring interest in even
the smallest details OF our lives.
I was lucky enough to spend many
an hour closeted with my grand
father in that cozy tower study, filled
with books and objects remembering
former days. 1t is generally in this
room that We say good-by to him be-
fore going on some long voyage. I
shall never forget that impressive mo-
ment when he gave me his blessing,
before set out on my first trip to the
Americas. with the following words:
"Good-by. my boy How lucky YOU
are to have such grand trip ahead of
you. I never had the chance of doing
it myself, but l am happy to give you
the opportunity of seeing the world. I
can't think of any better education
for young fellow than travelling" It
was a wonderful feeling to start out
on my first great life adventure with
my grandfather's image in my heart
and these kind words OF encourage.
ment ringing in my ears.
Reads Innumerable Books.
1t is in that tower study that the
Kaiser reads an innumerable amount
of books and does his scientific work
on archaeology, a subject in which he
is particularly interested. Once a wear.
mostly in the fall, he invites half q
dozen or more famous archeologists
from different countries to spend a
week as his guests at Doom. There
will be all-day sessions and discussions
on the latest archaeological develop
ments in the whole world. The pro-
cedures OF these meetings are after
ward written in reports which are fire.
quently published. Those discussions
sometimes get to be very heated and
passionate. But strictly scientific
methods, based on the principle OF
searching for the truth, always decide
the dispute.
Dinner is served at 8 o'clock. But
my grandfather generally appears Is
minutes ahead Of time. II there Is q
war going on, which seems to have
become rather habit with this cock
eyed, restless world of ours, there will
be big map on the table in the en-
trance hall, with red and blue pins.
The position Of the pins will be altered
every night, according to the press re-
ports of the day. My grandfather,
with his sharp eyes and his perfect
knowlege of world geography, always
beats the gentlemen of his encourage
or his guests to the point in finding
some little village or hamlet in China,
Spain, India or wherever it may be.
He also gets q great kick out of the
extraordinary pronunciations given to
many of those spots by people less
linguistically versed than himself.
Dinner is just as simple As lunch,
many times only one course being
served. The same spirit Of good fel.
lcwship and perfsct ease prevails.