PATER’S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3193, 26 May 1915, Page 74

PATER’S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

“WHAT I FOUND OUT.’’ This is the name of a book said to be having a large circulation at Home. It is alleged to be written by an English governes:—English on her lather’s side, but American on her mothers —who went to Germany in I£o9 “to teach the children of a Princely House,’’ and remained there until war broke out, and then, with difficulty, escaped disguised as a peasant. “During her residence in the palace, she met the Kaiser, Prince Henry of Prussia, the Crown Prince and Princess, Count Zeppelin, the Krupp family. General Bornhardi, Herr Dernberg (who has become to notorious in the United States), and many other members of the German militarist party” ; and what she saw and heard forms the subject of the book. Per?onally, I am a little bit sceptical of the book. Why remain anonymous? The family, if the narrative is true, can easily be identified, and is, no doubt; so why any secrecy about it? The family is clearly related to the reigning house, or in close intimacy with it; and the details given of the family make it easily identifiable. \

The writer tells us* that her father was an Englishman of good birth, who held a small post in the diplomatic service in Washington, and that he there married an American girl, the daughter of a naval officer “who had met the present Kaiser be ore he came to the throne, and the Kaiser’s brother, Prince Henry of Prussia. This naval officer, through his command of modern languages and through his position, had interesting meetings with notable personages, and it was to please him that she had a German governess when a g’rl in Washington. When she was 18 her father died, and she, not being left well off, took up shorthand and typewriting with a view to taking up secretarial work. In 1&02 Prince Henry of Prussia “arrived in America on his celebrated peace-making visit, after the Manila embroglio.” The authoress was presented to him because of the acquainted eship that had previously existed between her sailor grandfather and’ the Prince; and when “a great lady of the Prussian aristocracy wrote to her employer to recommend an English governes', he recommended her, and when her name was submitted Prince Henry was able to add his recommendation.” At fir-t she did not feel very comfortable in her new situation. The servants struck her “as more unsympathetic than the most statuesque British product. They were Prussians; and in their stony manner I received the firs£ hint of the Prussian disl’ke for anything English which was to startle me on almost every side.” And what marie it mors uncomfortable was the fact that it was assumed she was an American, an impression she had not the opportunity at all times to dispel. THE ZEPPELIN GAME. One of the boys was about five and the other about six, and just a week or so before the governess arrived they had had appointed “ ‘Herr Lieutenant von X ,’ a sort of ‘military governor,’ whose business it was to teach the elder Prince to be soldierly in mind and body 7.” This lieutenant was a pupil of Count Zeppelin, and he brought with him a game “which the Count invented and ordered to be made for the Princes, to teach them a warlike spirit.” On the first day of the governess’s arrival, when tea was ready, she was told that it would have to be delayed because the two boys and their cousin—a little Princess who* was being educated with them —were busy destroying London. “Perhaps I opened my eyes,” said she, “at this announcement, and again Frau Z , who with the best intentions was always saying the wrong thing, broke into apologies. ‘lt is only children’s play,’ she explained, ‘gnd you mustn’t think anything of it. One must give the towns they play with some name, and to-day- it hapens to be London.’ ” Then follow 16 pages describing the game in detail, with references to it again, further on. ; The game was played in the Kegelbahn, or howling alley. On the floor “a city had been erected —a city of churches, theatres, shops, and houses, a few of the largest seeming to be built up of separate pieces. There were parks, too, with tiny upstanding trees, mossy imitation grass on wooden trays, and sheets of ‘pretend’ water made, not of glass, but of glittering mica.” When the governess peeped in she saw three toy Zeppelins being manoeuvred with the tiny cars suspended filled with bombs of flour about the size of a pill. “The toys were propelled through the air by but were guided in any direction desired.

slowed down, or stopped by means of a long grey string attached to each. There was also another string, not so thick as the grey one, which matched the shade °f the car. This was bright red in colour, and its use was demonstrated while I looked 0:1. The elder Prince, who was playing, drew in his Zeppelin, which he had been allowing to career about aimlessly as if to frighten the population. Having made it pause, buzzing audibly like a cheap watch or a mechanical insect, he pulled the red string, whereupon a shower of white pills tumbled out from the bottom of the 3in or 4in car. They fell over one of the green places in the city, and most of them broke into powder, spattering the isinglass water. “‘Worse than ever!’ cried the lieutenant. ‘ You drop too many always, and in the wrong places. -Look at the white spots my bombs have left on important buildings ! I never waste time or material. Xow, watch again the way I do it——’ ’’ At this point some visitors arrived. At last the game was concluded, with London, successfully bombarded, and the lieutenant, after congratulating the young folk on their execution, turned to the governess and said : “You must not think, gnadige Fraulein, that we mean a bad welcome to you, because we have played at destroying your capital. It makes the game more interesting for intelligent children like those to pretend that they are attacking cities the names of which they hear mentioned by grown-up people, and about which they learn in geography and history. That is all. And it is a very harmless sport.” While the lieutenant was putting the Zeppelins away in their hangars the governors took the opportunity of studying the plan in detail. The plan was on a large square of American cloth, and on it were the location of St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, the Bank of England, the Tower bridge, Trafalgar square, 'the Admiralty buildings, Buckingham Palace, three railway stations, and so on. When the game was not being used, the miniature buildings were packed away and the ground plan rolled up. The only defect in the game seemed to be the disproportionate size of the model buildings and of the Zeppelins., I should add, perhaps, that St. Petersburg and Paris are worked out in the same detail as London. WAR GAMES POPULAR.

We are told that war games were very popular, and one is outlined. One of the possessions of the young princes was a large chest containing six drawers, “ each containing 150 smart, painted, tin soldiers —engineers, artillery, cavalry, and infantry, representing famous regiments of Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia, France, and England,” to which were added after the Balkan wars soldiers representing Turkey and the various Balkan States, “Lieutenant von X- was very fond of helping the princes to play ‘ soldiers,’ giving them long lectures on strategy and the planning of battles. At one end of the playroom these ‘ battles' often remained on the floor for two or three days, like unfinished games of chess on a chessboard, and woe to the ‘ Schlafs Kopj ’ (sleepy head) of a servant who inadvertently disturbed a single soldier while the fate of countries was being decided.” We are told that the* battles always eventually went to Germany and Austria, though Austria was sometimes saved by the superhuman skill and courage of the German forces. Italy seems to have been regarded as a suspicious neutral ready to turn traitor.

The war game is only one of many interesting points touched nnon by the governess, supposing her tale to be a true one. But is it? We are told that a year' or so before war broke out what she saw and heard put her on guard, and caused her to draw out her German acquaintances and to make mental notes. At last she thought the British Ambassador in Berlin ought to be made acquainted with what was going on detrimental to the peace of Europe, so she wrote a letter to him and put it with other family letters to be taken to the post. The letter, however, didn’t get there, and one day she was startled at hearing that Britain had declared war, and that she must regard herself as a prisoner, and not allowed to leave tho house.

Whether “ What I Found Out ” is true or not, I do not know, but it contains a picture of German life consistent with what the war has developed.