"MY EARLY LIFE"

By the EX-GERMAN EMPEROR

(For the next six weeks we shall publish each week a free supplement to the SPECTATOR continuing this autobiography of the ex-German Emperor. The series, containing the most interesting and important portions of "My Early Life' is appearing in Great Britain only in the SPECTATOR.Later in the year the book will be published in full by Messrs. Methuen's.] _ _ ,

CHAPTER I.

MY CHILDHOOD AND MY PARENTS.

OSBORNE is the scene of my earliest distinct recollections. Vivid to.fne_even now is the personality of my grandfather, the Prince Consort: He -took a great deal of notice of his eldest little grandson, and used to like dandling me in a table napkin. He died in 1861 i thiS- must therefore have happened on a visit paid by my parenta to the British Court between June and August in that year. I was then two and a half.

Clearer still are my memories of my second stay in England, which took place in March-of the year 1863, on the occasion of the marriage of my uncle, afterwards Edward VII. I was dressed in kilts for the ceremony in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and still recall my delight in the blue cloaks of the Knights of the Garter, and the deep impression made on me by the music of the Horse Guards, especially by the drum, fastened on one man's back and there struck by another, and by .the beauty of the Wedding March from 44 Midsummer Night's Dream. The performance was rather long for a child's patience ; when my Uncle Leopold (later Duke of Albany) told me not to fidget, I drew the little dirk belonging to my Highland outfit—an incident about which I was greatly teased in later

years. - -

No special incidents marked my next visit to Osborne in the summer of 1864, and it has consequently become part of my general childish memory of England,, to which I shall return.

MILITARY MEMORIES OF BERLIN.

The memory of any child born in Berlin must be tinged with a military colour. It was impossible to think of the capital of Prussia without soldiers and regimental bands: The midday changing of the guard was part of the picture of the city. So- called church parades still took place on Sunday in my child- hood. The garrison parade in Berlin occupied both sides of " Unter den Linden," the infantry taking the south side, the cavalry, on foot, the north. My grandfather took the salute at the Opera Place : a spectacle which the princesses of the royal house used to watch from the windoWs of their palace, where a window was likewise reserved for us children.

I can still recall watching the splendid Austrian regiments which took part in the war with Denmark march by the windows of the Crown Prince's palace -in the year 1864. Par- ticularly fine was the appearance of the Hungarian Infantry Regiment, King of Prussia No. 24 (known as the Prussian Foot), then commanded by my grandfather, with their snow- white coats and pale blue breeches. When, shortly after my accession, I became commander of the regiment, I presented it with an oil painting of my grandfather taking the salute in the Opera House Square. In the World War they especially distinguished themselves before Lemberg.

While my father was fighting in the 1866 war, my little brother Sigismund was taken from us. This loss was a heavy blow to my parents, and one which they never "got over.' My father's coming home at the end of the war is still vivid in my mind ; we were at Ileringsdorf, on the Baltic, and I:

had to "say' a poem referring to. Sigisrmuid'g deal..h. Later we all went to Erdmannsdorf in the Riesengebirge,

where, ray mother, had estaitilished .a hospital for. German and' Austrian_ wounded. , There we saw the troops returning from'

Austria, among them the battalion of the Royal= Grenadiers, whose nag she crowned with laurelsi September, after our: return, I saw-victorious troops pass or the second time along the Via Triumphalis of the city. •

Such were my earliest impressions. _

MY -FATS-SW-8 IDEALS, POLITICS AND CHARACTER.

My fathef liveg in-the mind of his own and of succeeding !_ generations as the victor of Koniggratz and Worth who helped to forge Germany's Imperial crown ; as the amiable and popular Crown Prince ; and, as Emperor, in the brief reign that followed his long waiting, touched with a sort of tragic radiance, as the man of sorrows, who bore with noble fortitude sufferings that carried him off before his time.

I cannot remember a time when he was not a passionate believer in the idea of Germany and an enthusiast for the creation of a new German Empire. As a boy I always regarded it as a special favour to be allowed by him to look at Bock's splendid book on the German Treasures of the Holy Roman Empire. It was so big that I had to spread it out on the floor, and I was never tired of looking at the pictures, which my father would explain as he squatted beside me on the ground. When the great year 1870 brought the fulfilment of his dreams within sight, he got Counts Stillfried, Hanna' and Seckendorfl to make designs for the insignia of the new Empire. He had no use for that of the Master of the Ceremonies, but had the water-colour sketches of the other two hung up in the ante- chamber of his workroom, writing " not approved " under Seckendorff's crown, and " good " under Harrach's, which, characteristically, was more mediaeval in feeling. To my father, the new German Empire was a continuation of the mediaeval, the Emperor the successor of Charlemagne.

It is common knowledge that my father was more or less a Liberal in politics ; so far as concerned relations with the States, a centralist ; and, in foreign affairs, inclined to England rather than to Russia. Whether he would have developed these ideas in action if his reign had been longer I cannot say. I do not believe it. His was a deeply religious nature. He frequently took part in my religious-instruction, and often took me with him to service in the Cathedral. I always- noticed that such hours were uncommonly congenial to him. In his extreme tolerance and genuine respect for other creeds he followed the traditioiii of our house ; at "the same time he never concealed his own Protestantism.

My father's goodness of heart amounted to tenderness, and even to softness. He had the most genuine sympathy with any and every form of suffering. Kindly and friendly in personal relations, he was full of jokes and a great tease. At the same time he was an authoritarian in his bones, and not too tolerant of opposition. A sort of presentiment of his terrible fate seems to have visited him. He was subject to fits of depression, and what he used, laughing at himself, to call " Weltschmerz." In such a mood he said to Hinzpeter, in the 'seventies, that he would never rule : the succession would skip a generation. My tutor told me of this long after my father's death : the words still held the tragic echo of the doom that was to translate them into actuality.

MY MOTHER : HER MANY INTERESTS AND GIFTS..

My mother was a much more complex character. Endowed with a keen and penetrating intelligence, and by no means devoid of humour, she had a remarkable memory, and a singularly well informed and cultivated mind. A woman of unwearied energy, she was passionate, impulsive, argumenta- tive, and had an undeniable love of power. Hinzpeter told me that during the first ten years of her married life she .was wrapped up in the husband she adored ; she was the wife rather than the mother, and her three elder children had a stern upbringing.- Not till :the Crown Prince began to be drawn into polities did she turn to her nurseries. Her younger children, who knew her as a tender mother, idolized her. The death of my brother Sigismund may have helped to bring this transformation about after 1870: her tender heart never recovered from the pain of his death and that of my brother Waldemar, thirteen years later.

Coming to Prussia as she did as a very young English princess, my mother had to learn to adapt herself to entirely new circumstances. In this she never quite succeeded. There. was a want of give2and-take, on both sides. Her qualities were inadequately appreciated ; her contrariety remained. Only too truly did her brother King Edward say of her that in Germany she praised everything English; in England every- thing

thing German.

Her interests were extraordinarily comprehensive, ranging, as they did, from politics, philosophy, arts and crafts, social questions and the education of women, to charity and garden- ing. Her political views, being those of English Liberalism, were bound to bring her into collision with the old Prussia of her day. Unlike many German princesses married to foreigners, the home of her birth stood first with her to the end. Even one like myself, purely German and Prussian in thought and feeling, can understand and even honour such faithfulness : but it did lead to difficulties such as should be avoided between' mother and son. On this I need not dwell.

My mother was an enlightened critic of art, and familiar with most of the European galleries. Her own collection of pictures formed the nucleus of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum. She painted herself both in oil and watercolours, landscapes in the Italian style, portraits, still life and above all flowers. I remember happy hours spent in the studio on the first floor of the Crown Prince's Palace at the Upper Wallstrasse corner, its window looking out over the Neue Wache, my mother sitting at her easel, while I read aloud to her from some humorous English tale, and how she every now and then dropped her palette to enjoy a hearty laugh. Her library, which was also her sitting-room, was always charming. It was in the archway between the Crown Prince's Palace and the Princesses', and had windows on either side looking down on the Linden and the Upper Wallstrasse : as a child I used to love to watch the bustle of the streets from thence. Between the windows were my mother's many books in open shelves, among which I delighted in browsing.

Italy had a magnetic attraction for her, and she went there every year, to renew her intimate contact with its art treasures. She spoke Italian as perfectly as English, German and French. On the rare occasions when I could be with her in the southern sunshine I felt how deeply attached she was to the country, its people and its history.

My mother did much to foster arts and crafts in Germany. The Arts and Crafts (Kunstgewerbe) Museum in Berlin, opened

on November 21st, 1881 (her birthday), was really her creation. As a child I saw in our home the first shelves of majolica ware that were to fill the ground floor of the Museum.

A PIONEER IN SOCIAL REFORM.

Unwearied, too, was her work for the improvement of the education and industrial efficiency of women, then at a very low level. One result of her efforts was the Victoria Lyceum in Berlin, the first of many subsequent educational institutions of the kind. In her charitable work, again, she was a pioneer in the sphere of hygiene and sanitation. It is impossible to overestimate what she did to spread things we now take for granted, such as baths. Nursing was in her own view her peculiar province ; she created the Victoria Association of Nursing Sisters and, during the war, set up hospitals in her Palace in Berlin, in Homburg and in Erdmannsdorf in Silesia : more than that, the establishment of the Imperial Health Department is due to her. She had the highest respect for the surgeons of the Prussian Army, and enjoyed a sort of professional friendship with Surgeon-Generals Wilms and Biiger.

- Her love of- nature was intense. She had a passion for' Flowers, parks and gardens—not my only inheritance from her At Homburg her love of garden architecture had free playi-. and what she made out of that piece of ground is amazing.: She 'was an indefatigable walker and• an enthusiastic horse-: 'Woman. •

'Assuredly my mother was a woman of great gifts, full of ideas and initiative. If, however, she was never quite appreci- ated as she deserved, the fault was not wholly that of others; r am convinced that history will give her the full recognition that, like so much else, was dirtied her in her lifetime: The traz:edy of my father's life was hers perhaps hers in even greater measure. - .

CHAPTER II.

MY PARENTS' INTIMATES AND ADVISERS.

A word, now, on those composing the inner and outer circle of my parents' lives. _ Nearest to my father was, undoubtedly, General von Mischke. The' sympathetic figure of the Major, as he then

belongs to my, earliest recollections. He was a straight and simple officer with a heart of gold, as we children felt : an` upright and genuine man, heart and soul devoted to my father. Mischke was an intimate friend : the niost intimate friend he had. The origin of their friendship I do not know. For us children, Mischke was there : he was father's friend ; he belonged to us, we grew up under his eyes. He possessed an uncommon fund of native humour, and drew on it with no small skill when he found my father cross or afflicted by " Weltsclunerz." He often accompanied him on his journeys.

Next to Mischke, Jassmund must be mentioned. My father's personal aide-de-camp in the 'sixties, he was dear to both my parents, and his death, in battle; in 1870, was a deep grief to them. He was buried at Bornstedt.

Another intimate was General von Stosch, Chief of the Admiralty for a decade. A fine character, and an able and extraordinarily efficient man. His services to the navy were priceless : he overcame all the prejudices then existing against this arm. He was an " intimate enemy " of Bistharck, who distrusted his influence with the Crown Princess, and suspected him of an ambition to be Chancellor. His dismissal in 1883 was resented as a personal affront by my parents.

General von Blumenthal, my father's Chief of Staff from 1866-1870, belongs to a different category. Him my father regarded with gratitude and deep respect. I have often seen him with my father, and we also visited the worthy general in Magdeburg, where he had command.

A thoroughly superior man was my father's later Chief Aide-de-Camp, von Winterfeld. He had earlier been my grand- father's aide-de-camp for a considerable time, and then occupied various posts on active service : under me he was General Commanding the Guards. Although but a short time with my father, he won all our respect and confidence.

Baron Roggenbach, Minister in Baden, though not exactly one of my father's intimates, was close to him politically and connected with our family in many ways. In the stormy days of the revolution, my grandmother, Empress Augusta, had learned to value his judgment and character : to the end of her life she regarded him with friendly confidence and frequently consulted him. This, of course, brought Roggen- bach into contact with my father, in whom he took a lively interest. My mother, too, he had known from girlhood, since both Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort had the highest regard for him. He was also on most friendly terms with my aunt Louise of Baden and the Grand Duke Frederick, his hereditary chieftain.

My youthful recollection of Roggenbach is of a superb raconteur : when he told anecdotes of the Baden Chamber in his rich dialect we laughed till we cried. He would often

come and listen to our lessons : we felt he was a very learned man. The only occasion on which I came into direct personal contact with him was on my return from San Remo in 1887.

I shall refer to this in its proper place. After my father's death he withdrew into retirement : in our last conversation

together, soon after my accession, he said that he desired, from now on, to live in the spirit of the inscription he had elected for his tomb : Bene vizit qui bene latuit.* When I told Prince Bismarck this he remarked grimly : " Male vixit, male latuit."t He and Roggenbach detested one another.

COUNT SECHENDORFF.

A Special part was played by Count Gaz von Seckendorff. Called from the First Guards (Infantry) Regiment to serve in my mother's household, he later- became the Empress's Chamberlain. Artistically he was exceptionally gifted : his water-colours, especially his Italian landscapes, were admir- able, and in time he developed into a successful painter of still life in oil. His unique knowledge of old masters made him absolutely at home in European galleries and museums : he had in addition a remarkable gift of tongues, and spoke

* Well lives he who lies well hid. t ill lives he and lies ill hid. English, French and Italian as fluently as German. Per- sonally he was distinguished by a blend of courtesy and cool reserve. He accompanied my mother on all her journeys abroad, and was invaluable to her in her visits to collections

and studios,. in the selection and purchase of pictures : he was thus of special service to her in Italy. She on her part secured him opportunities of extended travel. For instance? he accompanied the British Expedition of 1868 to Abyssinia, on Lord Napier's staff, and when my uncle, the Prince of Wales, went to India, he included him in his suite. FrOm that time on the Prince „held Count Seckendorff in high esteem. His latest achievement was the beautiful Exhibition of French masterpieces, mainly in French possession, at the Berlin Academy i few years before the World War. Altogether Count Seckendorff was an outstanding figure in the art world, and as such invaluable to my mother.

Another important person was Count Usedom, ex-diplomat and Director of the Royal Museum ; with his whiskers and clean shaven chin he looked just like a river pilot. He had been Prussian Ambassador at Rome in the 'forties and, according to my father, told excellent yarns of his experiences there, which could always be counted on to make my mother laugh. His wife Olympia, a resolute dame of English origin, was in the habit of giving forth her views on all and sundry, high and low, with quite appalling frankness ; her voluminous daughter Hildegarde was one of the infatuated Wagnerians one used to meet in those days. Her father's views on this were by no means respectfully expressed.

Ernst von Stockmar, the gifted son of the famous confidant of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, had been my. mother's private secretary. I often went with her to visit him, and used to be given the honourable task of cutting his books. As a young Lieutenant I continued to visit him, though I cut no more books. In his latter years he was crippled and had to take to a wheeled chair.

MEN OF SCIENCE, SCHOLARS AND HISTORIANS.

My mother also saw much of Virchow and Helmholtz, who were often at our house : Frau von Helmholtz was a close friend of hers.

In addition to Virchow and Helmholtz, I recall as frequent visitors to my parents' house Ernst Curtius, the great classical scholar, the historians Rai* and Treitschke, the philosopher Zeller—a great friend of my mother's—and Geffcken and Gustav Freytag ought to be mentioned. I never saw Geffeken, so far as I can recall : Treitschke made the deepest impression

on, me. Freytag's rather weak personality was a shock : his works, especially Ancestors, which I had read with enthisiasm,

had given me quite a different impression of him. Hinzpeter records that in 1870 he disappointed my father too, though in another way. He had taken him on his staff in the hopes that he would produce some great war descriptions : they were not forthcoming.

Hans Delbriick, the historian and, later, professor at Berlin University, I also recall. He had been tutor to my brother Waldemar, who died in 1879, and used ed to argue with my mother on political and historical questions, to her great delight. It was a meeting of two born controversialists and lovers of contention.

Professor Ernst Curtius, the archaeologist, my father's Rainer tutor, was a man whose sympathetic personality called out all my admiration and reverence. In his infectioui enthusiasm for old Hellas and the Hellenes he seemed tome like a veritable Herald of Classical Greece. He kindled in.me a flame of enthusiasm for classical antiquity,. and especially Tor Greece, that has never left and will never leave me. Some- thing elevated in his own soul enabled him to comprehend and to portray all that was noble in the life of ancient Greece : he never wearied of showing how superior the old Greeks were to every other nation of the earth in their power to inter- Penetrate all things with the spirit of harmonious beauty. I devoured his Creek History with feverish delight : to me it was not a dry historical work but a classical Saga.

Curtius was slight in build : there was a touch 'of classic grace m the fine sculpture of his features, while his expression was lit by an intelligence capable of flaring into passion. Like many a professor, he was absent-minded. I often met him on his walks and always saw the same sight. Hands behind his back, hat pushed off his brow, Olympus or the Acropolis before

his mind's eye, he pursued his dreaming way, unaware of what went on around fan, never recognizink anyone whom he encountered. If I addressed him he would at first hear nothing : then, as though awakened out of sleep, he would shake me warmly by the hand and say, " But, my dear Lieutenant, to what do I owe this pleasure ? What may your name be ? "

We owe it to Curtius and to my father that the German Empire took its due part in the discovery of ancient Greece, and its archaeologists played a leading role. ' I need. only mention Olympia.

CHAPTER III.

MY EARLY EDUCATION.

UP to my seventh year, my education was in female hands— female, but none too tender ! Frilulein von Dobeneek, my instructress, was a great gaunt dame of firm character and her method by no means excluded the use of the palm. Later " Dokka," as we children called her, took charge of my sister Charlotte : I do not know whether they got on better together. She meant well, ever so well, and I am too deeply involved to say whether the " blame " were more hers or mine. At the time, of course, I had no doubt : youth is as swift with its judgments as with its words.

My parents desired that the civilian side should predominate over the military in my education. There was no use, however, in blinking the fact that the future King of Prussia must learn the craft of arms in childhood if he was to understand and appreciate the basis of his kingdom. In January, 1866, accordingly, I was given a military governor in the person of Captain von Schrotter, then of the Guards Field Artillery, later Military Attaché in London. He was a simple, straight- forward person for whom I had a great respect. He succeeded in making the business of learning the divisions of the Army, its uniforms and weapons, pleasant for his pupil and in main- taining and extending an interest early awakened by the example of my grandfather and my father. I look back on my first military mentor with real gratitude.

Another soldier belongs to the picture of my earliest youth— Sergeant Klee, later of the Crown Guards. It fell to this excellent man to instruct me in the drum ! I did fairly well here, thanks to the love of the instrument native to every German boy : if the effect was not always perfectly harmoni- ous, it was noisy enough. For a boy of my age that, no doubt, was the principal thing. The good fellow who took such pains to make me a real master of the drum has kept a warm corner in my heart through all these years ; his recollection is a piece of the unforgettable happiness of childhood.

With the 1866 war a new chapter opens in the history of my education. For then the military governor assigned to me six months earlier was joined by a civil tutor, and a personality entered my life- which was to have a decisive influence on my whole spiritual development.

HINZPETER'S SPARTAN RULE.

George Hinzpeter was not quite thirty-nine when he became my tutor. Born in Bielefeld, he was educated at the local High School, where his father was a professor. Leaving the university with a doctor's degree in philosophy and classical philology, he returned home to teach. In the 'fifties he became tutor first to the two Sayn-Wittgenstein-33erleburg princes, then to Count Emil von Gortz-Schlitz,• afterwards an intimate of mine. It was in Count Gortz's house that my father made his acquaintance and heard such an account of his capacity that he determined to get hold of him for my brother Henry and me. In 1866 Hinzpeter came to us and stayed for nearly thirteen years.

Hinzpeter was an able man, thoroughly well. educated. His knowledge was extensive and his interests wide. Distin- guished in bearing and conspicuously upright, he was very ambitious. His educational system was based exclusively on a stern sense of duty and the idea of service ; the character was to be fortified by perpetual " renunciation," the life of the prince to be moulded on lines of " old Prussian simplicity " —the ideal being the harsh-discipline of the Spartans. When our Meiningen cousins came on a visit, I had, as host, to offer them cakes, but must take none myself : " Renunciation " was the word. Dry bread for breakfast : a frugality on the

lines of the black soup of the Spartans. No praise : the cate- gorical imperative of duty demanded its due ; there was no room for the encouraging or approving word. I remember an occasion when I went from Cassel to Berlin for my grand- father's birthday, and left before the evening party in my zeal for work. After travelling all night, I reported to Hinz- peter, who was still in bed. No word of commendation : only the instruction to prepare for the first lesson. This refusal of praise was part of a system with a perfectly definite' object. The impossible was expected of the pupil in order to force him to the nearest degree of perfection. Naturally, the impossible goal could never be achieved ; logically, there- fore, the praise which registers approval was also excluded.

Views on such a system will vary. To me it seems that an education from which all joy is excluded is psychologically false. Joyless a s the personality of this dry, pedantic man, with his gaunt meagre figure and parchment face, grown up in the shadows of Calvinism, was his educational system ; joyless the youth through which I was guided by the " hard hand " of the " Spartan idealist."

Under Hinzpeter work started at 6 a.m. in summer, 7 a.m. in winter, and went on to 6 or 7 at night, with but two breaks, devoted to meals and physical exercises. The strain on a boy of seven was pretty severe.

MY DEBT TO HIS TEACHING.

Hinzpeter's aim was the harmonious development of his pupil's mental powers by the old " classical " methods of mental gymnastic; Its points were the acquisition of the power to solve mental tasks through constant practice : a conscientious pursuit of knowledge and understanding : the achievement of a historical point of view ; and, above all, the habit of duty. There must be no disturbance of this plan either by the demands of a ceremonial kind, inevitably considerable for a prince of the reigning house in Berlin, or by the claims of other branches of my development, such as riding, swimming, fencing, dancing and practice in French, English, &c. All this had somehow to be fitted in ; but Hinzpeter's great plan must not be disturbed.

His religious instruction was, to my mind, quite excellent. Though a Calvinist himself he gave his pupils Bible and Hymn Book and left all dogmas and creeds severely alone. They were, in his view, " products of the human spirit " apt to " personify " the grand and simple outline of the Christian Faith as taught by our Lord, and confuse the mind of a child. To this wisdom I owe the fact that questions of dogma and interpretation have never been of great importance to me, and I have always been able to approach the problems presented by the co-existence in Germany of two great creeds with genuine detachment. I have always stood aloof from theological controversy, and to this day regard the notion of a dominant orthodoxy with horror. No other principle in religious education could have been proper for a future king.

At a time when they were almost entirely neglected, Hinz- peter's heart was stirred by social questions. His Christianity implied a real acceptance of the love of one's neighbour. As a son of the soil, he knew the labour question at first hand. On Wednesday and Saturday afternoons he used to take my brother Henry and me over a factory or workshop, smithy or foundry, pointing out everything significant, with two ideas in mind—an understanding of the productive process, and a grasp of the social question. His general attitude may be indicated by the fact that whenever we visited a workshop we had to go up to the overseer, take off our hats and thank him in suitable words. In this way we gained a respect for the craftsmanship of the manual worker, and an appreciation of the conditions under which he worked. Early on I thus learned to understand the German workman and to feel the warmest sympathy for his lot.. This was, in fact, Hinzpeter's greatest contribution to my real education, and I have never forgotten that I owe it to him.

I shall often have to refer to Hinzpeter again : all I need say at this point is that, despite the hard school he put me through, I have never lost my sense of grateful respect for all he did for me. I learned from him the biggest lesson a man can learn— to work and do his duty. I never lost touch with him : up to' his death I saw land corresponded with him. He used to keep 'me in touch with the movement of scientific n%earch and, especially, with the progress of social studies. In 1889, when

there was serious trouble . among the Westphalian miners, his experienced counsel was placed at my service. In 1890 I made him a member of the Prussian Chamber, and in the same year he became an executive member of the Committee I appointed to go into educational reform.

Bismarck and many others believed that Hinzpeter set me against the great-Chancellor. This was not the case; though his constitutional views certainly did not allow for an omni- potent Chancellor. What'• Hinzpeter did. to raise the social status of the teacher ought never to be forgotten by university men. I was glad to be able to show my appreciation of him bk .making, him a professor and a State Councillor. Not that any such external honours exhausted my gratitude. We can never fully repay our parents and those who have brought us up.

CLASSICS, HISTORY AND LANGUAGES.

In my first four years with Hinzpeter I was mainly occupied with Latin, arithmetic, history and geography. Latin came comparatively easily, thanks largely to my excellent memory.

My favourite subject from the first was history : at first the classical legends. My devotion to the classic world, which later found scope in archaeology, and still' remains with me, dates from these early days. At the same time I soon acquired an intense interest in German history, sharpened, of course, by the events of 1870. For arithmetic and mathematics generally I did not care, nor was I ever good at these subjects. I learned what I had to, but never reached a more than average standard.

For languages, on the other hand, I had a decided• gift, notably for English and French, which were, of course, especi- ally important, in view of my future positioh. I had naturally learned the rudiments of English from my mother, and later she often spoke English with us, by way of practice. My first definite instruction was given me by Miss Archer; a friend of hers. She was a lively, pleasant person and I enjoyed my lessons. Her educational, abilities were remarkable, and the school she later set up in Berlin was said to be very successful. After her came Miss 'Byng, like herself a charming English- woman, who subsequently acted as governess to my sisters.

My English teachers were constantly changing, but up to the time of my removal to Cassel my French teacher, Mlle. Dar- court, remained unchanged. She was a delightful elderly Frenchwoman, who came to us from Lord Seymour. In 1875 she married Hinzpeter. She did not, however, accompany her husband to Cassel, and only joined him permanently after I had passed my Abiturienten (school leaving) 'examination, They then settled in Bielefeld, where I often visited them.

PHYSICAL THAWING t AGONIES OF THE BIDING SCHOOL.

My physical training proceeded step by step with my mental education. My actual constitution was sound ; I could stand mental effort and bodily exertion at least as well as, and in some respects -better than, my companions. Unfortunately, however, I was abnormally prone to catch any infectious disease that was about, and suffered from it in an uncommonly acute form. If anyone near me had a trifling cold I invariably caught it, and that in a feverish form which meant at least a week's complete incapacity for work. I had therefore to try to prbtect myself as far as possible from infection.

One definite disability I did suffer from. At birth my left arm had received an injury, unnoticed at the time, which proved permanent and impeded its free movement. Medical science had not then at its disposal the orthopaedic methods which to-day would have overcome such a condition. I was subjected to what would now be called purely lay treatment, with no result save excruciating pain.

The gymnastic exercises given me from 1866 onward by the competent and sympathetic Captain von Dresky, of the Second Thuringian Infantry No. 32 (later head of the Central Gymnastic Institute), were originally designed .simply and solely to strengthen this arm. He only. gradually bp:night me to real gymnastic exercises, and, of course, I could never practise them with the enthusiasm of ordinary children. Swimming, on the other hand, though difficult at first, I grew to like excessively, and acquired considerable proficiency in it. I also showed a decided turn for other aquatic sports, such as sailing and rowing._ And I became an excellent shot. My greatest troubles were with riding. It gave me some, atrocious hours. On this I will quote Hinzpeter's account of his educational methods :— " Biding, at first actually dangerous and forced upon him with stern discipline, despite his tearful resistance, was finally mastered and practised with delight and skill. The process, which it cost unspeakable self-control to watch, illustrates the method so aptly that it may be worth setting out in detail. When the prince was eight and a half years old, a lackey still had to lead his pony by the, rein, because his balance was so bad that his unsteadiness caused, intolerable anxiety to himself and others. So long as this lasted, he could not learn to ride : it had to be overcome, no matter at what cost. Neither groom nor riding-master could do it. There-: fore the tutor, using a moral authority over his pupil that by now„ had become absolute, set the weeping prince on his horse, without stirrups and compelled him to go through the various paces. He':' fell off continually : every time, despite his prayers and tears, he was lifted up and set upon its back again. After weeks of torture, the difficult task was accomplished : he had got his balance. These morning exercises in the alleys of the Park were a nightmare to everyone : worse for the torturer than for the tortured. Such an unusual, if natural, weakness could, however, only be overcome by unusual energy and ruthlessness. This once done, and the prince put on a level with other boys, thanks to the fact that his own powers had been called into action, he could be handed over to his riding-master for further, and, as it proved, rapid instruction."

The result justified Hinzpeter's method. But the lesson was a cruel one, and my brother Henry often howled .with pain when compelled to witness the martyrdom of my youth.

CHAPTER IV.

ROUTINE AND RELAXATION.

TUE daily routine was confined within a fairly narrow compass. During the winter we lived in the Crown Prince's palace in Berlin ; my.room was on the upper floor, at the corner looking on to the Upper Wallstrasse. Here in Berlin we looked upon ourselves almost as prisoners. For the capital, with its sea of stone buildings, remote from the country, has no attraction for boys. How great, therefore, was our joy when, in the spring, we went to Potsdam ! Weeks beforehand we looked forward to the moment of the great removal to the New Palace—to freedom ! And how great was our sorrow when in the late autumn we had to return to Berlin ! Potsdam was my second, and I must say, my favourite, home ; there I felt happy. I often look back with a feeling of tranquil melancholy upon the :mall simple, attic with its round window on the second floor of the New Palace..

TUE PLEASURES OF POT.SDAII.S.

I have already mentioned that the time from six in the morning—in winter from seven—till late in the evening was. entirely occupied by work. We always took breakfast together with our parents, but midday dinner only when no guests had been invited. In the holidays, or on half-holidays both my parents, or my father alone, went for walks with us in the immediate or more distant neighbourhood of the pretty town of Havelstadt. Then, under the guidance of my father with his many historical interests, we visited the castles of Potsdam, especially Sanssouci and the Town castle, or stood by the vault of the Great King in the garrison church. Or else we made excursions to Bornstedt, to Wildpark, to Pfingstberg, to Fuchsberg or to our beloved Pfaueninsel. We especially loved to linger on this charming island with its memories of my great-grandmother, Queen Louise.

Of the relative whom we often visited, I remember first and foremost Princess Liegnitz, the second wife of my great- grandfather, Frederick William III. I recollect her as a sunny, gentle, benevolent old lady, who enjoyed the respect of all the members of our family. My parents also were very much attached to her, and often sent me to her with flowers ; she lived in the villa named after her at the entrance to the Park of Sanssouci:

Another old lady, who by her great amiability inspired us children with the greatest respect, was Queen Elisabeth, the consort of my great uncle, King Frederick William IV. She lived a very retired- life, in the summer at the palace of Sanssouci, in winter at Charlottenburg Palace. She possessed a wooden model of Jerusalem, called the " Heavenly Jerusalem," with removable domes ; when I went to see my great-aunt I was always allowed to play with this beautiful model. My parents loved her very dearly. My aunt Mary, too, the wife of Prince Charles, my grandfather's brother, had a warm place in my parents' affection. We very frequently went to visit the old lady. Prince Charles, on the other hand, I saw only at Court festivities and other large gatherings.

Whenever the weather made it possible my father used to bathe with us every day in the holidays. We went either to our private bathing place on the Gaisberg, between Potsdam and Caputh, or to the military swimming baths in the Havel, or else we went rowing. These boating trips took place at Glienieke on the Jungfernsec, where I was coached by one of the sailors of the detachment stationed there. I was able to indulge my passion for sailing, partly on Prince Frederick Charles's cutter Uskan,' partly on the fine frigate ' Royal Louise.' The latter was under the command of Captain Velten, who, in the war of 1870-71, as captain of artillery on board the gunboat ' Meteor ' under Lieutenant-Captain Knorr, had taken part in the victorious fight off Havana against the French corvette ' BOuvet: The ' Royal Louise,' which lay at anchor in front of the so-called " Sailors' Station " outside the New Gardens, was a present from King William IV. of England to King William Frederick III., to whom it was solemnly made over on the occasion of a garden party on the Pfaueninsel.

SPORTS, GAMES AND PLAYUATES.

When at a riper age I had mastered the use of a gun, my father used to take me shooting with him. - Heaven knows with what joy I paid homage to this noble sport, and even now, when the time comes round for the stags to " bell " in the woods, how I should like to seize my beloved rifle and go out stalking ! I shot my first game in the year 1872, on the birthday of my grandmother, the Empress Augusta ; it was a pheasant. Soon after I brought down my first hare. I shot my first stag in Wildpark in the autumn of 1876.

In winter, when we were in Berlin, we used to like going to the museums, to the theatre, to the Renz Circus, or even to the Zoological Gardens ; from the last named, and also from the Botanical Gardens, we derived much entertainment as well as instruction. My father often liked to go to the theatre, and he frequently took us children with him. As time went on these visits became more frequent, especially when the Meiningen company organized their celebrated performances.. At that time ballets, which according to the Paris fashion lasted the whole evening, alternated with operas at the opera house. Later on I did away with these ballets lasting the whole evening, and. replaced them with folk-dances, which were given in the costume of the peoples represented. From my youth upwards I had a great liking for good music, for I know nothing more fortifying. It was, therefore, always a great joy to me when my father took us to the opera. How- ever, we were not allowed merely to take in the music with our ears, but, according to his instructions, had to pay due heed to the melodies. In this way I received my musical education and acquired a good memory for melody and

rhythm. _ Of course, we played all the games in which German boys delight--robbers and soldiers, Red Indians, or military drill. The scene of action was mostly the park of Sanssouei or the field at Bornstedt. These games brought me in contact with a great number of boys, many of whom became my dear comrades.

Amongst these I must remember to put first and foremost my brother Henry, my junior by three years. From the year 1868 we lived together ; later on he came with me to Cassel, and the good relationships of our youth have never been disturbed. From his earliest youth he was engrossed in naval matters and wanted some day to go into the Navy ; as I myself took a great interest in the Navy, this was a further bond of union between us.

This is why I think only in the second rank of those other comrades whose figures have remained clear in my recollection. Many a merry, fresh, boyish face, many a serious, thoughtful one, rises up in my memory. Again I see them before me, as once in the fair days of youth : Mortimer von Rauch, son of the Master of the Horse ; various cadets--such as von Rex, von Haenisch and von Moss ; then the two brothers von Bronikowski, one of whom served later in the First Infantry Regiment of the Guards, while the other was in the Navy with my brother Henry ; their father was a great singer and often made music with my mother. Then, too, I see the ever happy

and amiable Prince George Radziwill, son of the Chief Aide- de-Camp, who later became an officer too, and also Karl and Lothar Bunsen, sons of the well-known deputy.

But my favourite comrade was Eugen von Roeder, the son of the Colonel of the First Regiment of the Guards, who fell at St. Privet. He had a rich artistic nature and, like me, was full of enthusiasm for the tradition of Frederick the Great. He was not a strong character, and was subject to fits of melancholy, yet afterwards he made a good soldier. We remained friends after our boyhood. He served with me in the First Regiment of the Guards, and later on became ehamberlain. •

Poultney Bigelow, the son of the American Ambassador in Paris, struck a special note in our circle. He had a rare, thong nature and was an uncommonly amiable fellow ; amongst us boys he held a place of high esteem because, coming as he did from the " Wild West "(!), he was able to tell us tales of murder about trappers and Red Indians, and acted as expert in our games of Red Indians. He was brought up at Potsdam and was filled with enthusiasm for the tradition of Potsdam to a degree which was quite astonishing in a foreigner ; later on he wrote a book about Queen Louise. With him, too, I maintained our relationship unbroken beyond our youthful days, and I rejoiced when some little while ago he remembered me in the old spirit.

But we did not only play Red Indians and other games in wood and on the heath—we had higher ambitions ! For instance, on birthdays, festivals or other special occasions, we acted plays in which comrades and brothers and sisters took part.

On Sundays and festivals we went regularly to church. We also frequently went to the Friedenskirche, in a chapel of which lies my brother Sigismund, who died in early youth ; or we went to hear the sermons of von Stechow or Persius in our small private chapel in Berlin. We celebrated New Year's Day in church festivals with our grandparents, at .whose house we many times searched for Easter eggs. At other times this charming custom was practised in the palace garden at Charlottenburg or Schonhausen. As for Christmas, I remember with special distinctness how, during the preceding weeks of happy anticipation, my father used to visit with us the celebrated Christmas market and buy pyramids and little sheep, and how he talked to the stall-holders in his gentle and benevolent way. Some of the most precious memories of my life are associated with these hours.

I ENTER THE PRUSSIAN ARMY ON MY TENT TI BIRTHDAY.

My tenth birthday was of special importance in my life, since on that day, according to the custom of our family, I was given a commission in the glorious Prussian Army. This event occurred on January 27th, 1869, when my grandfather invested me at the same time with the Exalted Order of the Black Eagle and the uniform of the First Infantry Regiment of the Guards. The ceremony took place before a small family circle ; my father handed the order to the Emperor on a gold charger, and I had at once to put on the uniform in order to report to His Majesty. With a deep bow the Emperor told me that I was still too young to gauge fully the importance of the fact that I was now a Prussian officer. But the time of understanding would come, and then I should discharge my duty as my father had done. The solemnity of the moment made a deep impression upon me ; it was like receiving my knighthood.

A few months later—on May 2nd, the anniversary of the Battle of Grossglirschen—I took part in my first parade wearing the tall busby of the Grenadiers. It was one of the last of those " church parades " which I have already mentioned ; soon after they were abolished. The regiment piled their arms in the pleasure garden and marched to the garrison church, where they attended the service in the presence of the King and the Royal Family. The sermon was preached by the Court Chaplain Rogge, who nearly two years later had the privilege of delivering the sermon at the inauguration of the German Empire at Versailles. After the service the battalions marched back to the pleasure garden, took up their arms and were ordered to fall in. The orders died away, and all at once unbroken silence reigned in the vast square. Then on the right wing appeared the King, and immediately the order to present arms broke the deep silence. With a smart jerk the rifles went to their appointed positions and the battalions were turned into statues. At the same instant, with a resounding crash, the drums and regimental band struck up, and the military march boomed triumphantly over the square. Meanwhile with searching glance my grandfather slowly paced down the front and inspected his motionless Grenadiers, and the boy's heart beat Faster as the King's eye. met his. Then the battalions formed up for the march-past and I marched by in the rear. It was a never-to-be-forgotten day. For what could be finer for a Prince of the Blood, a grandson of the King and an officer of the First Infantry Regiment of the. Guards than to stand on duty before his great and awe-inspiring liege !

SUMMER EXCURSIONS.

Every year we regularly went for a trip of varying length, for a change, and to get to know the world, and especially our own German fatherland. Hinzpeter generally accompanied us ; our parents rarely took us with them as they, naturally, had social engagements to fulfil, or employed the time carrying out plans for their own culture and relaxation.

I got to know the beautiful Black Forest in the summer of 1867, on a walking tour with Hinzpeter and with Frederick, a boy of about my own age, heir to the Grand Duchy of Baden, and subsequently himself Grand Duke.

The charm of these hills now seen for the first time, the mysterious dimness and rustle of the tall fir trees, and the soft rippling of the springs made a deep impreision on my youthful mind. I remember, too, that once we had a distant view of Hohenzollern, so that for the first time I was able to see the ancestral castle of my race. I remember, too, how hard the walking was for me in the great heat, because Hinzpeter had forbidden us to drink water by the way. This arose from an obsolete hygienic notion prevalent at the time which in the war of 1866 actually claimed many victims ; it was not recognized till later that the human body needs liquid when on the march and that a cold drink is harmful only when at rest after the march.

In the spring of the following year our parents went with us to Reinhardsbrunn, in Thuringia. This stay was remark- able because I then saw and played with the future Empress for the first time. It is well known that my father was on very friendly terms with hers, Duke Frederick of Schleswig- Holstein-Augustenburg ; the family used to come and visit us from Gotha, where they were living at the time. Here, too, there was the opportunity of studying certain industries, as we visited copperworks and a glass-blowing factory. The dopperworks with its primitive methods made quite a mediaeval impression ; everything was still exactly as Schiller describes it in his "Walk to the Smithy."

In the summer of the same year we went with Hinzpeter to Blankenberghe, and there enjoyed seaside life to the full. There, on the occasion of some festivity or other, we also saw some Flemish folk-plays, which in parts were rough and powerful, in parts decidedly coarse ; they had come down from the Middle Ages. I remember, too, how archers in old Flemish costumes and with bows as tall as themselves shot at small clay birds. One of the events which specially amused the people was the contest for a goose. The bird, whose throat had been well soaped, was hung head downwards from a pole. Then the competitors were driven past below in carts and had, at this moment, to grab at the goose's neck. As this had been well soaped, the hands of the competitors often slid away amidst the loud shouts of the onlookers, and in, the end the bird, that had been snapping desperately all round, generally had its head torn off. This cruel sport greatly revolted us. Another thing to note about Blanken- berghe was that King Leopold used to send us very fine fruit, but that Hinzpeter's Spartan principles here again did not allow us to partake of the fragrant gift. We were on no account to become sybarites.

In the early months of the next year my brother Henry, Who was very delicate as a boy, had to go in for a cure. 1, too, was taken with him to Oeynhausen—or Rehme, as the health resort was then called—and also our three comrades, Mortimer von Rauch and the two Bunsen brothers. Hinzpeter was in charge of all of us. We made numerous excursions, among which I specially remember that to the castle, so rich in legends, of the celebrated Duke of Saxony, Wittekind. As usual we also visited factories. For instance, we once more went to a glass-blowing factory in Porta Westfalica, where I myself blew a bottle. But, perhaps, the most remarkable event was my visit to Krupp's at Essen. The works, which, viewed in the light of the conditions of the time, were stu- pendous, made a lasting impression upon me, and I was specially struck by the enormous thousand-pound steam- hammer, which was then the largest in Europe. We also visited the workmen's dwellings. From that time dates the great life-long interest which I have taken in the development of the firm of Krupp.

In July, 1869, our travels took us once more to the North Sea, this time to Norderney, in the company of our parents and the painter, Count Harrach, a personal friend of my parents ; my uncle, the gallant Prince Albrecht, son of the Regent of Brunswick, and subsequently himself Regent, was also of the party. The stories of Max and Moritz by William Busch had just come out at the time, and on all occasions everyone quoted verses more or less apt. Prince Albrecht was specially good at this, and therefore much looked up to by us children. I remember that we once undertook an excursion from Nordemey to Heligoland, where the Governor, Sir Henry Maxse, showed us over the island; which at that time still belonged to England.

FIRST SIGHT OF GERMAN IRONCLADS.

At the end of our stay at Nordemey we made a stormy voyage in the paddle-steamer ' Roland ' to Wilhelmshaven, which, in June, had been opened as a naval harbour, and there, for the first time in my life, I saw German ironclads. As we arrived in the roadstead, I was standing in the bows of the ' Roland,' and with a beating heart watched the huge, tall rigging, and then the hull of the foremost vessel gradually come into sight, a sailor telling me this was the Konig Wilhelm.' Soon after the Kronprinz ' and the ' Friedrich Karl,' that were lying behind her, became visible.

The closer we came, the more powerful was the impression made upon me by the Konig Wilhelm,' then probably the largest ironclad in the world. Heavy on the water lay the ironclad hull of this colossus, from whose gun-ports a row of 21 cm. guns looked menacingly forth. When we had anchored near to her I gazed speechless upon this mighty ship towering far above us. Suddenly shrill whistles resounded from her, and immediately hundreds of sailors swarmed up the sky-high rigging and lay out on the yards. Three cheers greeted my father as we were being rowed over, while Admiral Jachmann, the victor of Jasmund, received us on the spacious deck. The tour of the ship, whose crew then consisted of about a thousand men, revealed to me an entirely new world. The drive from Wilhelmshaven to the railway station proved to be not altogether easy going, as the naval quarters were mostly still under construction-and the streets had not yet been paved. That evening we travelled home rid Bremen, but it was late before-sleep visited my eyes, for the impressions gained on board the Konig Wilhelm' left me no rest and recurred again and again to my mind's eye.

But a journey which we took a few months later to the Mediterranean Sea was to have an even far deeper influence upon me.

CHAPTER V.

FROM PEACE TO WAR.

Ix the winter of 1869-70 a large circle of relatives and kinsmen of the Prussian Royal Family were assembled at Cannes. Besides our parents and us children, who, with Hinzpeteri took up our residence at the Grand Hotel de la Mecliterranee, there were also the Grand Ducal family of Hesse-Darmstadt, Prince Albert (son) of Prussia with his aide-de-camp Count Schulenberg, Prince Frederick and Princess Louise of the Netherlands (brother-in-law and youngest sister of my grand- father), with their daughter Marie, and the Grand Duchess Alexandrine von Mecklenberg-Schwerin, second sister of the Emperor William I. and mother of the future Grand Duchess of Wied. At the beginning of our stay in Cannes my father Was away in the East with his brother-in-law, the Grand Duke Louis of Hesse, where they had gone for the opening of the Suez canal.

PARADISE ON THE RIVIERA.

We stayed seven months—from October Srd, 1869, to May 8rd, 1870—in Cannes, where the amazing flora of the Riviera seemed to me like a peep into Paradise. The cactus, aloes, roses; tuberoses blooming out of doors the whole winter long, and in the spring the anemones in every colour of the rainbow, the cork trees and strawberry trees (I grasped later what Horace meant by his Arbutus I), the pines and olives, the palms and bananas which until then I had only seen in the forcing houses of the Botanical Gardens, were .marvels that I could not fathom. And above all the endless horizon of the deep blue and green seas, glittering under the rays of the southern skies. It was a new deep breath of life with which I filled my boyish breast.

Cannes, consisting at that time of a few hotels and a number of English-owned villas, was as yet untouched by the fashion of Riviera life. The English colony had been founded by an elderly man, a Mr. Woolfield, who had also built for it a hand- some church. His open house enabled my mother to give us opportunities of meeting English children at tea, and games, and of thus practising their language. On Sundays we either went to the English church or to our own German service. held in a big room, for as yet no wealthy German had been found to follow the British example of presenting his country- men with a church of their own. We also saw Lord Brabournc and his family, he himself being very popular in Anglo-Saxon nursery circles for his delicious fairy-tales, published under the title of Stories for my Children.

MY FATHER'S RETURN FROM TILE EAST.

When greatly to our happiness my father's return from the East was announced, we went to Villafranca to fetch him.

The drive along the coast of the blue Mediterranean, that I have so often traversed since those days and always with the same delight, was indescribably lovely.

There in that fine harbour of Villafranca lay the Hertha ' and the ' Elisabeth ' alongside of some American frigates with their flagship ' Franklin.' My father came ashore to take us on board the Hertha ' amid salvos that echoed and re-echoed a thousandfold from the mountain heights which surround this picturesque bay. I stood on the decks, a boy marvelling at the wonders of this ship of war that had 'sailed to the East under the ensign of the North German Union, carrying my beloved father to that distant land of Oriental fairy tales, and my childish heart beat fast with the premoni- tion of things to come.

My father in the family circle was never tired of telling us of what he had seen and done on his journey, of Jerusalem and the Holy Places, of Egypt, of the Sphinx, of the Tombs of the Kings, of the mummies and of all the wonders of the Orient. Yes ! father had even ridden on the back of a real live camel, just such a camel as we had seen in the Zoological Gardens !

We spent Christmas all together at Cannes and then' my parents returned to Germany. We children remained behind with Hinzpeter, and we moved from the Hotel to Villa Gabrielle. When we were not kept with our noses to the grindstone of lessons by Hinzpeter, we rode and walked in the surrounding woods. Every now and then, to my great delight, I saw something of the French' Army, and when the soldiers came marching by with their musique or Clairon en Me I would join in the throng of Cannes schoolboys who kept step alongside of the column. What attracted me most was the clanging notes of the bugles : I introduced these into the battalion that I commanded in after years and always made use of them when the regimental band was not

available. .

. Our days in Paradise came to an end with the spring. We made tracks homewards, taking Marseilles, Arles, Nimes, Orange and Avignon oq our way vid Switzerland. My childish imagination was greatly stirred by the sight of the marvellous examples of Roman architecture. We stood on the fine bridge at. Avignon and looked at the Palace of the

Popes, now used as barracks, so that I could entertain myself amicably and pleasantly with the French soldiery, little dreaming that before the year was out the gigantic struggle between the two nations would terminate in a once more united German Empire.

. Such were the earliest impressions on a boy's mind of that beautiful country whose people stood in eternal enmity to his own, and who were in after years to pursue him with their poisoned arrows of vituperation in the columns of a hostile Press. Experience shows, however, that the recollections of childhood preserve their vividness and freshness long after other memories have grown dim, and so, in spite of all that has happened since those days, the picture of that paradise at Cannes remains in my mind's eye illuminated by the sunshine of a beautiful legend.

THE OUTBREAK OF WAR.

The Franco-German War broke out some months after our return from Cannes. I can call to mind quite clearly the morning on which my father came into the schoolroom, just as Mlle. Harcourt was giving us our French lesson, and how he turned to her in great excitement, saying, " Ah ! Mademoiselle ! Vos compatriotes ont perdu la tote ! Its veulent nous faire la guerre ! " (" Oh, Mademoiselle ! Your compatriots have lost their heads ! They want to make war on us ! ") I still see before me the consternation on the face of the poor Frenchwoman.

A few days after this we children were summoned to my father's study to take farewell of him, as he had been appointed to the command of an army and was leaving for the front at once. His parting .was heartrending as no one could tell the issue of the struggle or what might happen to my father—nor, indeed, to any of us. He was certain only of one thing : that if our arms were victorious, the unification of the whole of Germany would follow and the King of Prussia would be crowned German Emperor. He referred to this several times during those momentous days.

The phase through which the German peoples now passed was destined to happen only once again in their history, for —just as in 1911—the whole country rose to a man to defend it, forgetting for once their wrangles with one another. As I was eleven years old at the outbreak of the Franco-German War, I had a fairly clear apprehension of events as they fell out, and I followed with absorbing interest the inexorable chain of events in the world's history of which I was fated to be a witness. Yet amid all my enthusiasm for the greatness of my Fatherland there was mixed with it—and, indeed, could it be otherwise ?—a feeling of worship for my father and grandfather who were destined to play parts of such magnitude in this immense drama, and of pride in the renown of my family. The first news of victory, my father's triumph at Worth, how it stirred me ! How jubilant was I when the first trophies of our successes reached the New Palace !—a helmet, the Liitzelstein colours, the keys of the cities of Nancy and Bar-le-Due, and when, at the sight of a captured flag bearing the French eagles displayed on the balcony of my father's study, the youngsters cheered and cheered, I roared my hurrahs with the best of them !

HINZPETER'S REBUKES, Hinzpeter had hung up a large map of the war-zone in our schoolroom on which we were expected to folldw the operations very closely and point out the positions of the German and French Armies every morning to our tutor.

All the same my brother and I had our own particular little fashion of celebrating the great victories. For instance, when the news of the successes at Worth was brought to us we had already gone to bed, and, of course, we remained there very demurely until our tutor had taken his departure. The moment he was out of the room we had a wild pillow fight in honour of the great day. This quaint celebration was repeated very frequently. Besides that we amused ourselves by buying. up all the " extra specials that were sold in the Unter den Linden to make a collection of them. The various newspaper sheets were oiled and turned into paper lanterns with a candle inside them to illuminate' the schoolroom. Childish pastimes, indeed, but they gave expression :to our enthusiasm.

Towards the end of August my mother took us all to Homburg v. d. Wale, where she, in conjunction with others, established a model hospital for the wounded. She was aided by the expert advice of the architect Jacoby, and a building was constructed of which the wall could be rolled back to convert it into an open air pavilion when wanted. We regularly visited the sick at this and other hospitals, while any mother was entirely absorbed in this beneficent work. .

Indeed she did wonders for the improvement of sanitary conditions, for it is unbelievable how little was understood by the Germans of that day of the necessity for public

n _ _ . 'hygiee..

We were -still in Homburg when. the news of the great . victory at Sedan reached us. Henry and 1 were already in -bed when the noise of the great crowd shouting in the streets ,floated up to us mingled with the strains' of music from a leighhouring. bandstand, while the room was–flooded with light _from below our windows. Up we jumped in our night hirts and looked out, and there we -saw-a torchlight pro. cession of the local fire brigade headed by their chief, the architect Jacoby, who had come to congratulate the Crown Princess. The news -of the success, the glare of.the torches, the wild excitement, and the songs la the multitude all combined to make us forget everything else in that portentous momentleast Of all did ' we remember that we could be clearly seen by everyone out of doors in our white night shirts : so that we were not prepared for the dreadful lecture that Hinzpeter gave us the following morning rebuking us for being a law unto-ourselves.

THE RETURN OF THE VICTORS.

And then came that proudest of days when my grandfather was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. This event was not previously known to many at home, and I was one of the .few in the secret as to what January 18th would bring about. It is difficult to describe the tumult of emotions I. underwent on that great day.

On March_17th, just two months latlr, my grandfather and father came home from their victorious campaign. In company with my mother, my grandmother, the Empress Augusta, and my aunt Louise, I drove to meet the conquerors at the Wildpark Station in Potsdam. With what an ecstasy I flung myself into my father's arms and saw my much. respected grandfather for the first time as German Emperor. Truly a significant moment and " what a change by the. Grace of God ! " we could say with truth.

The reception of Emperor and Crown .Prince as we drove through the streets of Berlin was deafening and could he heard from the Crown Prince's Palace breaking out again and again for many hours after, until at length my father stepped out on to the balcony surrounded by his family and showed himself to the enthusiastic Berlin multitude.

Four days later, on Mira 21st, the opening of the first " Reichstag " (Imperial Diet) took place in the White Hall of the' Castle of Berlin:- Little as I understood of the real significitnce of this event, I was happy enough to be allowed to assist at it, My. father, who. greatly desired to link up this celebration of the new German Empire with that of the Middle Ages, had privately arranged for the ancient throne from Goslar..to- he_Sent to,Berlin for the occasion, a proceeding that subsequently led to rather unpleasant interpellations on the subject... Aly -Mother, who knew of this weakness of the Crown Prince's in :favour of that older Imperialism, was always trying to combat it, which gave evidence of her clear, calm political. outlook. the troops returned from France to their Potsdam garrison on July 13th. My father rode by the side of Mir mother, the latter in the uniform of her own Hussar regiment, and I was with them—naturally in the uniform of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards.

We vieut to the Wildpark to meet the-return of the Potsdam troop, but though I did not go further with them, I_ was a witness 'of the' botindleSs' pilb7ic lejoicing 'in: the splendidly decorated town. The . soldiers were crowned and literally smothered with wreathS and even the hilt of my father's

milord Was hung with thirm._ . _

tln July 16th, three dayS later, in sweltering heat, the entry of the victorious army into Berlin through the Brandenburger Tor took place.. Never shall I forget that day The troop covered . with glory 'and laurels, with their old Emperor at their head, surrounded by his immortal Paladins, and all round us a people overflowing with gratitude to those who had conceived and fought for the unity of Germany ! I myself was permitted to assist at this historical event, for I rode behind my father on a small dapple horse by the side of my uncle, the Grand Duke of Baden.

{To be continued.)