"PAPA" OF POTSDAM.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 253, 4 December 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

"PAPA" OF POTSDAM.

60ME INTIMATE STOiUES OV THE KAISEil's HOME LIFE.

About tho time that the South African War cnnio to an end an Eugiish lady, Mjbb Anna Tojiham, iru engaaed «» prrtnfm to the Kaiser's daughter, i nnoess Louise.

liincesa Victoria is now grown-up, and has become the Duchess of WrunaWjck, and Miss Topliam, having returned home, has written a book. "Memoirs ot the Kaiser's Court,'' in which she S"J«» many intimate glimpses ot •'lapa,' as sh„ must frequently heard tho hmperor oi Germany called. "Jn the intervals of inspecting regiment* and making warlike speeches, i'apa unliends to a considerable extent when in the bosun of his lumilv," writes Miss I'opham.

•Hut. however trivial the affairs of tht» moment tho Kaiser always Deems in a hurry. Ho rushes through his breakfast., rushes out with his dogs, and oxpoets everyone about him to be ready—and jn the correct attire—to rush and do anything that cron up without warning,

Tho Kaiser loves to dominate people, too. Ho dominated his daughter completely. "His ideas, his opinions on men and things are constantly quoted by nor, trenohent, fluent criticisms 0 n poisons of world-wide fame, astonishing verdicts on men 01 the hour issue from nor Jips <i\ bewildering confidences. " Tapu says that Herr Muller (the nnmo, ot course, is not .Muller) doesn't know what he is talking about,' sho would gay glibly of a wejj-known politv iiiui on whose utterances the world wa» hangmg with bated breath.''

SOMETIMES Hi: IS GUILTY OF

PUNS

But for nil this there is, According tft Miss Topham, an unexpected schoo|l>oy- «*•> sort of side to the Kaiser's character.

"Ho frequently recedes from his \vn»lik© attitude, and l>©oouic« itn ordinary humorous domestic 'Papa,' who make* aportive jokes at the breakfast table, and n even occasionally guilty of u more Htrocioiw form of pun. "This phase of 'i'apaY character was forcibly almost pamtuUy brought homo to me when one day his daughter, in a moment of relaxation, sought to uinuso herself by practising tho schoolbey trick of making her mouth and cheek the pop of a champagne cork nnd the subsequent gurgle of the How ing wine. " 'Whoever taught you these unjndylike accomplishments J" I neked. " 'S-s-sh! it was papa ;he can do it splendidly!' "

That is one of tJie few agreeably "human" stories of the Kaiser which Miss Topham has to tell. Ther© are other* which are by no means so pleasant to read. Th : s one, for instance: Miss Topham had seen, for the first time, her pupd parade in the uniform of the Doth's Head Hussars. Her lathtr turned to the governess. "She will ride at the head of the first regiment which invades England." ho eaid, with a rudeness and glee liardly looked for in tho ruler of a great nation.

THE KAISER ADMIRES KELSON. And yet the Kaiser lias apparently always been conscious of how dreadful it thing it is for one country to overrun and pillage another. H© has always envied us our old houses, our treasures.

" You never had a Napoleon to plunder and burn your country houses," he sighed when spoiling to "Miss Tophaiu 01 a Tint ke hud f*iti toEngland. "Your Keynoldses and Gainsboroughs—whero would they havo been if Napoleon's. Marshals had seen tnem? All our art treasures were absolutely destwyed, burnt by Napoleon. Art and war cannot live side by side. We have had too much fighting and must now re-create, rebuild almost from the beginnhig." In some ways the Kaiser is very English —lie appreciates our countryside, he is fond ot readin - both Dickons and Kipling. Nelson is one of h's heroes, and he swears by English horses—but,, on the other hand, ho is painfully— »u I Teutonicully—cocksure.

All things, including the ways of Providence, are plaiu to him; mid because he is so cocKsiire ho is prone to swashbuckling and to forgetting his manners.

(V,, n! ,„ <vnision Queen Alexandra and the Kn.pr< »- ol Gciiuaio »e«"e driv'ng in Herlin. .uid the horses ot tho.r cainag" w«re 1 Tightened by n salute ot i mis Tbij evidontly la.boured under inipnssion that tho behaviour ol th-j horses must be la <1 at the ( l<»°i" "' sonmMie. and so in subsequently proviitiii;' the Muster ut lli«- ilnrse, hn scornfully Laid:

"Here's tiio moo who made such a fearful bungle." Tliif*, lD say the least of it, was not very tactful from any point of view. Hut, then, tact is not u marked characteristic of the Kaiser. With him most people are— <|U'to openly—"idiots," and "fatheads." while as for English politicians—well, to the Kaiser, they are chiefly subjects for contempt. His*own children, says Miss Topham, whom the Emperor christened "our English Dreadnoughts." were brought up to regard their father as quite tbo most wonderful being in the world—ft pi sit ion which the Kaiser has hitherto fully |»ersuaded himself he was born to.