CORRESPONDENCE.
THE DOCTOR-DUKE AT MERAN.
[PROM A CORRESPONDENT.]
Sac,—I have lately returned from a trip to TyroL An account of some of the pleasant sights and people met with at the country-house of friends may interest your readers. My destination was Meran,—that charming winter resort of delicate. cheated Austrians and Bavarians. Its environment of hills and vineyards, its gardens fall of roses and rare shrubs, its Italian sunshine and bracing air ; but above all, its simple, picturesque people and institutions, all Catholic to the core, made the change from English surroundings perfect—us refreshing as a new mental birth. At the end of a long journey, it was delightful to drop all personal responsibilities, to be taken possession of by a kind young hostess, who met me and my companion at the Moran Station. She carried us off at once to Marienruhe, a pretty modern Tyroller house, covered to the eaves with the delicate madder- tinted Moran rose. Driving through the galvanised-iron gate into the garden, I was soon up the steps and in the vestibule, where I heard a cheerful voice bidding me welcome, and looking up, I spied the dainty little figure of my dear old relative, in the prettiest black-lace hood and shawl, coming tripping down the broad, stone stairs of the first storey. Was it possible that this fairy godmother was really in her eighty-ninth year ? Even so ; an active literary life and a buoyant spirit have kept heart and manner young and sympathetic.
Next morning I was taken over the house, and heard the history of its erection, seven years ago. At its commencement and at its completion, the Catholic custom of Tyrol was observed, and a short religious service was performed, in which not only the owners, but also the architect-builder, and all his workmen took part. I was told that no disputes occurred during the building of the house, and that not a penny was either demanded or paid over and above the contract. The house and garden occupy an acre of land, more or less. The house consists of a ground floor, two storeys, and an attic storey. It has sixteen good sitting-rooms and bed-roome, three kitchens, with store- rooms and endless closets. The doors and windows—all double—fit well, and do not rattle. Water and other modern conveniences are provided on each storey. There are ventilators and electric-bells in every room. The deep- carved barge-board and balcony, the evenly laid, par- goaded oak floors,—indeed, the woodwork throughout the house won my admiration. A kitchen is in the attic storey, and a lift and speaking-trumpet serve the dining-room. For the sake of quiet, the private chapel is on the top storey. The price of this, land included, was £1,900.
For the last two or three winters, the central figure of in- terest at Meran has been H.R.H. the Duke Carl Theodore of Bavaria. Quite quietly and unobtrusively, he has there been treading in the steps of our great Master, and with no motive but the highest, be has spent his days in healing the sick and giving sight to the blind. Elizabeth of Hangary was elected a Saint for her pious ministrations to the needy. But she left husband, home, and children. Our Doctor-Duke, however, plies his benevolent labours in addition to his care and thought- fulness for all dependent on him. He is the source of joy and happiness to a sweet woman, and bright, loving, and well. instructed children, and the rest of his family lean on him for affectionate advice and judgment in cases of emergency. If, therefore, canonisation is due to piety and moral worth of a high order, surely some future Conclave of Cardinale will bestow an aureole on the memory of this man, who is now so unconsciously earning the honour,—Noblesse oblige!
The force of character required to break through prejudices of birth, firstly to study earnestly, and then to carry on hard work year after year, for the simple sake of relieving suffering humanity, are marks of a rare individuality. From his mother, the Duchess of Bavaria, he presumably inherits his strong sympathy with suffering. She showed even in childhood a love of every creature that called for care or protection. It is from his mother that the Duke's sister, the Empress of Austria, inherits her passionate love of horses ; but in the case of the Duke, a finer moral perception has directed the love of animal life towards a higher development. Like all Germans, whether prince or peasant, the Duke bad in early youth to pass through the dispensation of military service. At its termination he relinquished his command, resolving to study surgery, for which he had always had a strong predilection. After walking the hospitals at Munich and gaining his diploma, he began practice as an oculist at Schloss Possenhofen, on the Sternberg Lake. There he built, and at his own expense supports, a hospital that employs six Sisters of Charity. His wealth and position did not smooth all difficulties from his path. Far from it. In his student days he met with many petty annoyances,—some too ugly to retail here. It was whispered "that College authorities wished to have no Royal amateurs in the profession." All such modifications and innuendoes he wisely ignored, and in course of time, having lived them down, and having won for himself distinction In his profession, public comment is taking quite a different direction, and in certain German Universities we have heard it asked, —" Why did not his Royal Highness visit our schools of medicine? Why should Munich have the exclusive honour of being the alma muter of such a man ?"
Two or three years ago, delicate health obliged him to winter in the warmer climate of Meran; but in spite of delicate health, he built a consulting and waiting-room in his garden, and opened a small hospital, where he performs operations for cataract, and where the patients are afterwards nursed. The number of patients has increased this winter, and he has had the assistance of a clever young oculist, the grandson of the poet, Frederick Ruckert. From the first, the Duke has had the sympathy and help of his wife, who by her sweet presence in the surgery and hospital, encourages the poor and suffering. She has learned to pick up quickly each instrument and hand it to her husband at the moment he needs it.
The first day I went down into Meran, we passed a knot of people, mostly poor, seated on benches beneath the trees, near a small, one-storied building, with open windows and fluttering muslin curtains. This building, I was told, was the " Garten Hans, or consulting-room of the Duke," and the little crowd were his patients awaiting their tarn. Here the Duke and Duchess spend several hours of five days in the week in dispensing advice, medicine, and sympathy. No applicant is dismissed without at least a kindly interview. The nominal hours of consultation are often far exceeded, so that the cook at Villa Bavaria complains bitterly that "his best dishes are often utterly ruined with waiting for the return of their Royal Highnesses from the Garten Hans." I was inquisitive to learn • the number of his patients, and the question elicited from the Duchess that "her husband had last year 4,000 visits from patients, and he had performed 200 operations. This year the visits of patients amounted to considerably more than last year, besides 250 operations." Be receives no fee whatever. I heard it suggested that those who were capable of doing so should be permitted to leave an offering, which, at the discretion of the Duke, might be dispensed in charity.
In appearance, the Duke is tall and slim. His gait and bearing are entirely military, but without swagger or self- consciousness of any kind. His face is oval, with rather finely cut features. His head is of the Ifelanclhon type, well covered with curly, crisp hair, indicative of a nervous tempera- ment. His mouth is well closed, but not thin-lipped. The striking features of the countenance are the clear blue eyes, which show extreme sensitiveness, having just that wistfulness that one sees in a thrash listening to sounds beneath the sod.
The Duchess's lady-in-waiting came one morning to say that the Duke and Duchess would call that afternoon. He saw my dear relative's eyes—threatened with cataract—and he not only examined them, but also "her too many spectacles," which would harm rather than assist her sight, he said; therefore she should try his pattern spectacles. "When should she go to the Garten Hans to do so ?" "Oh !" he replied, rapidly, "the room is too cold for you. I will come up again, and will bring my bundle of pivotted spectacles ; and," said he, laughing, "I will grind away like an organ-man till you are suited, and then, please, you must never use but the one pair." Of one -operation at the hospital we heard the next morning from A. P—, who visits and helps in difficult cases, her devotion to the suffering being only second to that of her Royal friends. The operation was one of unusual anxiety and pain, and when it was over, she said to the patient,—" Poor loan! you thought yourself in purgatory, didn't you, to have such dreadful pain to bear ?" "Oh, no !" said the Duchess, who had held the poor -old man's head through the operation ; "he must have dreamed of heaven, I think, for I'm sure no angel there could have behaved better than he did."
Last week, something quite amusing happened at the Garteu 9Efaus. A lodging-house keeper of the name of Ladamer, living at Obermaie, has a little eon whose eyes have always been weak, and his mother told him last winter that when the Duke came he should be cured. "What's the Duke to do with sore eyes P" demanded little five-years-old. "He's a kind gentleman, who attends to people with bad eyes." "And does one say 'Duke' when one speaks to him ?" asked the child. "No," replied the mother; "one says, 'Your Royal Highness." The other morning, the little fellow ran to his mother, holding up a piece of paper, saying,—" The Duke has sent thee this." "The Duke !" 'exclaimed the astonished mother. "Yes," he replied; "I have been to the Duke, and he sent thee this. I went down to Villa Bavaria, and they showed me the Gaston Hans, and I jumped up at the latch of the door, and in the room were a lady and gentleman. Then I walked in, and I said, Your Royal Highness, I am Oscar Ladamer, and I have sore eyes.' The gentleman and lady laughed, and they took me up, and they looked into my eyes. Then they asked me where I lived; and I said everything quite right, mother, for I said, 'Pm Omar Ladamer, five years old, and I live at Villa Rosetta, Obermais.' Then the Duke wrote that paper, and told me to give it to thee, and thou would'et know what to do." The Dnchess laughed as she told us the story, adding that when she said to the little fellow, "Come again at 12 o'clock to-morrow," he replied, "No, I can't do that, because at 12 o'clock I go to have dinner with my sister."
More than once during my stay in Moran, the Duke's children came in for an afternoon visit. They are all sweet, frank, gentle children. They were evidently fond of coming to the house, and felt at home there. But I noticed that my friends strictly observed the -etiquette required towards even the children of Royalty. They were duly handed to the sofa and placed on the right hand of their hostess, and they, on their parts, directed their remarks and stories to her. It was amusing to hear them straggling through a story in their pretty, broken English. A sweeter picture, I thought, was never seen than when, at parting, the eldest girl, Princess Elizabeth, bent her pretty head over the hand of my dear aged relative. It was with amusement that I watched my young cousin's low, Court curtsey to the tiny four- year-old Prince, who with a certain childish dignity proffered his chubby mite of a hand to receive her parting kiss. This handsome, curly-headed little fellow is embued with the family characteristic of tenderness of heart. Seeing some one enter
the room who was lame, he exclaimed,—" 0 weh I 0 web! how sad, how sad ! and I can walk quite well."—I am, Sir, dm.,
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