KAISERS PRIVATE LIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12698, 29 October 1904, Page 1 (Supplement)

KAISERS PRIVATE LIFE.

The Emperor of Germany usually rises about five o'clock in the morning, and is generally to be found in his workroom at six. First, says Everybody's Magazine, there is served to him a cup of tea or bouillon and a sandwich. Then, lighting a cigar, he reads over such clippings from newspapers and magazines published all over the world as are deemed worthy of his attention. At seven o'clock the Emperor is ready to re- ; ceive the reports of his adjutants and the ' Ministers of State, and to this work he usui ally devotes some three hours. When the I person who is to have an audience- is ad- ! mitted to the room mid makes his bow, \ the Emperor, who receives standing by his i desk, slightly inclines his head in response, and says, "Please," as a signal for his visitor to begin, listens attentively to what he has to communicate, but never makes any comment. Tho substance -of all the visitor has said, however, is contained in the paper that lie invariably hands to the Emperor's secretary at the close of tho audience. These papers are numbered in accordance with the order of their receipt;, and after the visitor has departed the Emperor usually writes upon. the former's communication a terse direction to his secretary, so that, if there are in connection with it any papers to bo prepared foi the Imperial signature, they ; may be ready to hand' in the file when ; Emperor arid secretary begin - their afternoon's work. Every day after breakfast the Emperor takes a stroll in the Thiergarten, and before he returns to the palace, at two, to begin his afternoon's work, it is his custom to drop in at the office of a Minister or foreign diplomat for a little chat, or to visit at the home of a friend. The Emperor's intimates, bo it known, are mostly men who " do. things." That he prefers intellect and achievement to blue blood is evident to all who come in contact with him, and it has caused no end of heart-burning among the old Prussian aristocracy. In his intercourse with his friends the Emperor is very informal, quite the "good fellow." The Emperor has not what wou'd be called a profound mind ; if is more given to scintillation than to original thinking: but more than one person has testified to his really wonderful ability to talk intelligently on a wide range of topics, and this quality makes him a delightful companion. The Emperor breakfasts with his wife and their flock of six boys and one girl about half-past ten, and dines with them about five, both of these meals waiting upon the finishing of his work. All the children have participated in these family gatherings ever since they were able to sit up in a hijrh chair, but neither nt breakfast nor at dinner is ever an unnecessary word spoken unless there happens to bo a guest present, who chats now and then with the Empress. It would bo a great mistake, however, to attribute the silence at meal .times to an unsocial spirit; on the part of the Emperor it is merely another manifestation of his penchant for concentration. "When I eat, I cat." he has more than once remarked; " when I sleep, I sleep; and when I work, I work." Of course the Emperor has to talk at tho banquets givon at night, but his eating on those occasions is a mere formality. In all its appointments the workroom of the German Emperor is eminently business-like, ns becomes the room that is the scone of tho labours of one- of tho busiest men in the world. The flat-topped desk that stands near the middle window is built of ebony on massive lines, but it is without ornamentation, and on it there seldom reposes anything except; a blotter, an ivory paner-cutter. a cornier inkwell, a steel pen in la woodon holder, and the Emperor's watch. The chair in* front of tho desk is without a cushion. Two or three leather chairs, a case of files, and a long table complete the i furniture. Over the hardwood floor a strip of red carpet extends from tho main entrance to the desk, but there are no nigs. And tho walls are bare except- for a large portrait in oil of Frederick the Great, which is so hung as to permit tho Emperor, while seated at his desk, to look up at it and get inspiration.