Evening star., 1939-10-12
War Alarms Surround Ex-koiser
Doom, Dutch Mobilization Point. Is Highly M|itozed;
Wilhelm Object of Curiosity to Soldiers
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star stah Correspondent.

8tAI Stau CoIHNp0u06ut.
AMERSFOORT, Holland (By
MaiD.-He rules a tiny kingdom
now.
It is II acres Of dark woodland
surrounded by ditch Of black wa
ter in which the dead leaves are
falling. Little sunlight struggles
through the foliage of the beeches
and oaks to project shadows on the
thick, hussocked carpet Of dark
green moss.
Along a woodland road, just out
side the high fence topped by three
strands of barbed wire, company
of Dutch wagon train is in camp.
Sentries with fixed bayonets are
stationed at both entrances to the
camp. They can barely see, by
straining their eyes through the
trees, a stretch of lawn and some
blossoming beds of gladiolas in front
Of big yellow house. These Zee
land farm boys look in vain for
glimpse of the feeble old monarch
of the little, black kingdom. They
see him only on Sundays when he
comes forth in his open carriage,
according to an invariable sched-
ule to visit the big garden of roses
which he has provided for the
townsfolk and the visiting public.
1t is an eerie post for a sentry,
alone outside the black woodland
these early October nights with the
ghostly light of full moon shaken
into uncanny forms by the wind
tossed branches of the beeches. The
whole scene fits the picture of Ed
gar Allan Poe's House of Usher"
Doom Highly Militarized.
All around the home in exile of
the former emperor of Germany
are the alarums of war. Once
more, after two decades, the old
man is awakened from his troubled
sleep by the music Of army trump
eters. The little town Of Doorn-
which looks startingly similar to
Falls Church, Va, before the street
railway tracks were torn up-is
highly miitarized. The country
roads are congested with soldiers
and army trucks Big country houses
and public buildings have been
taken over as army billets and Of
fees. The town hall is plastered
with placards regarding the mo-
bilization and the military occu-
pancy of the neighborhood.
The soldiers, of course, are not
there because of the old man. Doom
happens to be a mobilization point,
conveniently close to the great dyke
breaking experiment east of Amers-
foort. To the soldiers the eX-Kaiser
is only an object of curiosity. They
have talked with the toWnsfolks
about him and received only praise
for his kindliness and his local
charities.
He must be fine old gentle
man." remarked the sentry at the
entrance to the wagon camp, rest
ing on the ground for a moment
the butt of his bayoneted rifle.
every, very kind to the poor
But none of the soldiers, he ex-
planned, ever has been allowed to
step inside the GROUNDS.
Special Invitation Required.
Nobody is admitted, except by
Invitation. A bulb salesman in Doom
boasted that once the German
gardener had taken him close
enough to touch the back of the
house but feared to let him go any
further. But the Doom folks bow
respectfully to the former Emperor
when he comes forth on Sundays,
All the rest of the week he re-
mains with his memories in the
black little kingdom of his exile.
1t is a strikingly symbolic spot.
Except for the rosarium and one
green mead where COWS are grazing,
the only open land surrounds the
house almost in the center OF the
estate. The old man and his re-
tinue are shut off from the out
side world by the encircling dark
forest like the haunted circle OF
black memories which surround a
peaceful garden of age in his own
mind. He has found peace beyond
the woodland just as he has found
peace beyond the memories.
His neighbors are humble folk,
small, prosperous farmers raising
truck for the markets of nearby
Amersfoort and Utrecht. They are
harvesting the yellow pears in their
thick-hung orchards. They are gath
ering truck-loads Of red-stemmed
rhubarb-hurrying a little because
they themselves have served their
conscript days and know the fasci-
nation of moonlit nights for soldiers
camped in the neighborhood of or
chards. Their little farms, golden
under the harvest sun, surround
the dark forest, as the golden har-
vest days Of the first decade of the
10Th century when man was be-
ginning to reap the full riches OF
science and peace, surround the
black circle of the ex-Kaiser's men,
ories.
It is a circle of death-this black
woodland. There are no birds now
in the oaks and the beeches. There
is only the ghostly patter Of acorns
falling and some very tiny, very
brown suqirrels who chase after
them. 1t is pleasanter, say the
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