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Show EUROPE'S 11 LORD MITLE SIDE Book by Miss Anne Top-ham, Top-ham, Teacher of Emperor's Daughter, Sheds Light. NOT FOND OF ALCOHOL Regrets England Has Never Experienced Napoleon's J Devastation. I Special Cable to The Tribune. LONDON, Sept. 19. In these days, when the German kaiser is ln the field with his troops fighting almost all the rest of Europe, it Is refreshing to get a glimpse of the crested war lord at home. The man "without his shining armor" is shown very Intimately in a new book, "Memories of the Kaiser's Court," published pub-lished here today, by Miss Anne Topham, who was English teacher to Emperor William's only daughter, Princess Victoria Vic-toria Louise, now the duchess of Brunswick. Bruns-wick. Naturally, therefore, we get many Intimate Inti-mate glimpses of the royal father on the domestic side as "Papa," who makes the "sportive jokes with his family at the breakfast table and Is even occasionally guilty of the more atrocious form of pun. Once at the emperor's hunting lodge ln east Prussia, where the Russians now are, Miss Topham said something about the unyieldingness of the chairs. "Here we live hardy," quoth the emperor with a laugh and he asked every other day If the chairs were getting any softer. Child Betrayed Secret. Miss Topham's first impression of the kaiser humanly was, however, "distilled through the alembic of his little daughter's daugh-ter's mind." One day she amused herself her-self with the schoolboy trick of making with her mouth the "pop" of a champagne cham-pagne cork and the subsequent gurgle of the flowing wine. "Whoever taught you these unladylike accomplishments?" I ask, in the reproving reprov-ing tones appropriate to an Instructor of youth. "S-s-shI It was papa," she answers gleefully, repeating the offending sound with an even more perfect imitation than before. "He can do it splendidly," and she "gurgled" with persevering industry. Keen, blue eyes of rather quizzical brightness blue eyes almost too violent ln contrast to the deep sunburn of his face a hearty almost painful handshake, and a volume of personal questions this was Miss Topham's first introduction to the kaiser. They had many a talk often on English subjects, and out of one of these sprang the remarks by him: "You English people, you drink those awful fierv spirits horrible stuff whisky, brandy, what not? How can you imbibe such quantities of poisonous liquid ruining ruin-ing your constitutions? Simply ruining them whisky and soda everywhere no it's awful; I tasted it once like liquid ireUgh! your drinking habits are fear- fUThere the emperor was not indicting a nation, but merely expressing his own repugnance re-pugnance to strong drink. He showed, Miss Topham tells us, an intense love and admiration of English life, as apart from English politics, for which he has a "perplexed, irritated wonderment and contempt." Exception Is Rule. "Not one of your ministers," he said to me on one occasion, "can tell how many ships of the line you have in your navy. I can tell him he can't tell me. And vour minister of war can't even ride- i offered him a mount and every opportunity to see the maneuvers. 'Thanks very much for your majesty's gracious .offer. Sorry I can't accept it. I'm no horseman, unfortunately.' A minister min-ister of war! and can't ride! Unthinkable!" Unthink-able!" He gave his short, sharp laugh. But life as Jived In the English countryside country-side has for him irresistible charms. During his visits to England he had noticed our riches in relics and treasures treas-ures of the past and this led him to remark: re-mark: . "Ah. you have never had a Napoleon to plunder and burn your country houses," sighed the emperor, almost apologetically, once when talking of his English visit. "Your Keynoklses and Gainsboroughs, where would they have been If Napoleon's marshals or his soldiers sol-diers had seen them? Perhaps burnt or destroyed or sent1 to the Louvre. Think what lt means to the children of a house to live with one of those pictures, to absorb ab-sorb it unconsciously into their mentalities; mentali-ties; they must grow up with a love of beautiful things they cannot help It. We have nothing of the kind; our houses were stripped and burnt." Miss Topham suggested something about Cromwell and the way his gentle Ironsides In their zeal smashed up the beautiful sculptures of our cathedrals and stabled their horses in the naves. Belittles Cromwell. "Ah, Cromwell!" he replied. "Cromwell "Crom-well did nothing in comparison with Napoleon; Na-poleon; besides, that was much further back long ago Gainsborough and Reynolds Reyn-olds not yet born. All our art treasures were absolutely destroyed burnt by Napoleon. Na-poleon. Art and war cannot live side by side. We have had too much fighting, and now must recreate, rebuild almost from the beginning." "Yes. It is lucky for us that we live on an island and that the PYench fleet met ils Trafalgar," J said. "Nelson saved our art treasures for us, I suppose." sup-pose." "I expect he did,' returned his majesty, nodding his head emphatically. "So you recognize that, do you?" and he turned away laughing and still nodding vigorously, vigor-ously, thinking. I am sure, a good deal about Nelson and the fleet. Miss TojUiam taught the ladles of the German court how to make pancakeR. "Fancy an F:ng1i.hwoman knowing how to cook!" quoth his majesty. "Ha ria "' he laughed, "the British 'dreadnought' again to the fore," for so Miss Topham was genially nicknamed. Can Understand a Joke. One gathers that In his lighter moments mo-ments the kaiser Is friendly to J"kes and oareless chat, not. however, on the pr'n-clple pr'n-clple of "laugh and grow fat." for he has a horror of getting stout, and keeps the enemy at bay with characteristic pertinacity perti-nacity : On" at a fancy dress bell given hv Prince Adalbert, his Bailor son, at Kiel', 'he emperor came to lt, unknown to the guests, wearing the dress of his own ancestor, an-cestor, the great eict-.r, a full-bottomd flowing wig and the long coat and hroeehes appropriate to the period. During Dur-ing the first part of the ball the dancers were maBked, and the emperor was talk- lri with a Irirty. who, he1!v1nn: him to bp the crown prince, whom she knew very well, sn'd to him, archly: "Vour Imp-rinl highness 1r splenoMrlly disKui.orl. How rllti you make yoiirsflf no stout? A little cushion stuffed inkle .somewhere, T suppose?" JliF majesty told this story aj.rain.st himself sevpra I time,, especially vhn the Indy. who, prevlonn to her mnrriaicn, was attached to the bp. r vice of the empress, em-press, happened to he present. He would roll liis eyes In pretended anger while he said: "Of course, there was no cushion there whs only me; hut I believe Hii" t-a.ld it on purpose. She knew who It was all the time." War and politics, art' and music, n -erylhlnsf, a.s we .ludK" from Mis Topham's Top-ham's book, has come within the Intei est. of the kalHer. Jlln patronage of music has b'en unfortunate;, hi:t ho coinfrt -; himself by 1nveie;hinK aKainpt the, wont of musical taate shown in Herlin. And here Is a musical anecdote from .Miss Tup-1)8 Tup-1)8 in: "On my first visit to WllhelmRhoh. as we we.nded our way to the little ch, pej ln one wing of the palace, the emperur pa id tha t he hoped I would "slmr In h loud, deep voK-e" In church, because the p!rif:intc was nfuaily very bad. I com-' com-' mentPfJ on the slowneHH of German hymn fdm-'Inc and his ina.lesty told me how HJ:rprisfd he was once, when viMtin at YVincipnr, 'with prand mamma,' p year or two before Bb died, to hear the ora n burst out suddenly into the Austrian national na-tional n nth em, not knowing that ft. ).,id been adopted a an Knirlish hymn tune." Always the book returns to tho em-; peror's affection for his daughter. 1 |
