NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13399, 30 January 1907, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE KAISER.

To see the Kaiser at Christmas, writes Wolf von Schierbrand, in Lippineott's. is to see a man who lias shed all the pretensions of a demigod ; one who has stepped down from his pedestal to become a good plain burgher, overflowing with the milk of human-kind-ness. " Every Christmas Eve, when early dusk gathers in a northern clime, wrapped in an ample cape mantle, wholly unattended and not easily recognisable, it is his custom to stroll through his park around the Neues Palais, where the boughs are laden with feathery snow, and then through Potsdam. His pockets are full of gold and silver pieces, and, like another Santa Glaus, he distributes his bounty to the children and humbler folk ho meets. Nobody is overlooked —the men at the sentry boxes ; the park labourers and the white-haired gardeners in Sans Souci : the crippled veteran and the sturdy beggar--each ami every one receives his dole. Often he pays at Christmas debts of courtesy incurred during the year. To Baron von Lyncker, his marshal of the household, he sent a magnificent present, (worth about 10,000 dollars), a. chest of solid silver plate, in recognition of the extra and rather vexatious labours that official had had to perform dining the year 1900. the year when the Crown Prince attained his majority. To Dr. von Leuthold, his body physician, he handed a fine gold repeater, set in precious stones, and bearing the motto. ' Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re.' This had reference to a past difference in opinion between the doctor and his Imperial patient. In the Royal household the Christmas festivities are conducted on an elaborate scale, and yet, we are told, in the same spirit which makes the day dear to the heart of all the German people."

A NEW RECRUIT FOR ESPERANTO. The North American Review makes the following important declaration in favour of Esperanto:—" As a result of painstaking inquiries made personally in France and England, and through agents in Germany .and: Switzerland, we have become convinced that Esperanto will .soon be recognised, the world over, as a language capable of universal use, and that', in consequence of such recognition, it will be generally adopted and acquired. The need of such a- vehicle of expression, not for the displacement of any existing language, nor for the purposes of literature, but for ordinary service in business, travel, and communication, lias long been admitted, and indeed is so obvious as to render the setting forth of reasons therefor superfluous. There are now in various parts of the world nearly 100.000 registered students of Esperanto, rendering the estimate not unreasonable that there are several hundred thousand actively interested in it. In Great Britain alone there are more than 60 societies, supplemented by outlying groups in Australia, New- Zealand, India, and Malta. Having become convinced, as we remarked at the outset, of the practicability of Esperanto as. a universal language, we shall soon begin a regular presentation in this review of primary lessons by competent teachers, supplemented from time to time by authoritative articles, in the hope of arousing general interest.''