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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (May 23, 1915)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY? MORNING, MAY 23, 1915 'r ,,..yyyx ffWMB jKJd W-'-y -yy H,. '' jul- "- ' " " "'-taW-. i:m,,X .OirfKi w tl-l.-.-v Nr 4 -, 1 . f III- .... I , . Luflxemburg's Girl '3s VI - 1 v V n- I Ruler amudl Her ;CX ; Five Fatherless y Vr i ;;U . .-"-v-i f Sister s.-' Form a- 11 ; f - " jt- j. - -,;rrts' - Back- O'a-'. k W- V : '. ". ) y-fcumm ground Sv'mA : vT - - -;, .:ttirj&tete to the i- V V . ; . 1$ ' , - -'' ' 'ffr Z&&W, i y. WN.i M-' S. : I --. 4 , V'1:- jpmr , y X f::y,K :y-;i:y::i--r- .- 1' - t V-,' . Xfrn 'SS ... ! i;1" V'i-' w-v' - -' - 'y v I -. V j3b XJVv I zv 1 " v Princess Antoinette, Next to Youngest of the Six Sisters Sie s Considered Even More Beautiful Than Her Royal Highness, Adelaide. Marie Adelaide, Grand , Duchess of Luxemburg From , a Photograph Taken Since the War. Her Costume Is of the Plainest Almost That of a Nurse. By STERLING HEILia HEN the German army entered Lux emburg on Aug. U a lovely young girl went out to meet them and barred the way with her auto mobile, She was the ruler of the land. "Your grand ducal highness had best go home and play the piano,"' said General Von Biilow. Tears stood in her eyes as she went. Thus Marie Adelaide was on her dignity wjien, three weeks later, the kaiser trans ported his headquarters from Mayence to her little capital and stayed a month. He put up at the German legation, with his generals, courtiers and cooks. Machine guns stood on the roof and the streets around were barred. From his window he had a sweet view of hills, valleys and little River Alzette ; and he would sit long and "gaze. As to the Ruins. "What are those ruins I see from ray window?" he asked the grand duchess on his formal call. t "Sire," she replied, "they are the re mains of a fortress constructed by Vauban for the French king, Louis XIV." Conversation languished. "And the old walls beyond the wind mill?" , . "Sire, they were of a chateau built by the Marquis de Crequy after he had dic tated peace to the Elector of Brandeburg." - Conversation languished more. Again the polite kaiser ventured : ? "And the charming road up to them. Has it anv historv?" "Sire, but little." replied Marie Adelaide, "except than in 1795 along it General Am bert forced the imperialists to capitulate." T,hen she mentioned her automobile per rmtfi W hen the Germans entered thuv promised - to respect all constitutional rights. Yet Luxemburgers may' not: auto mobile over their own roads without per mission. i "Even I carry a permit," she said, "and my cabinet ministers must have a pass, signed and dated by a Prussian major. "It is for your own proteection,' said the kaiser. ! Marie .Adelaide could not see it, and re solved to be very stiff whenever she should meet the kaiser in his big gray car striied garnet. "There he comes!" exclaimed her : 13-year-old sister Sophie, as they rolled be- gTand all the pretty names of our towns Merise into Mersch. Merschl Is Said Her Royal-Highness to the Kaiser: "lYou have changed and villages. You have turned Lincieres into Jung linster, and La Rochette has become Fels, Rosiere is Roeser, and sweet Andelheme is Hosbertl it a military necessity? My people are worried." Said the Kaiser to Her " IV hat is that delicious perfume you are using ? "Hp Royal Highness: side the Alzette. "Chauffeur, to the right!" began the wounded beauty. But it was the kaiser who did the snubbing, because his auto. swerved into the highway ahead and went scorching toward Traves. To their great surprise, ten minutes later they be held the kaiser coming out of the legation. "Quick, the pastry cook's !" said Marie Ade laide. It took only five minutes, and yet "There's the kaiser in front, eating plum tarts," whispered Sophie, staring at the well-known figure in the gray car. "What activity!" "It's not possible !" said the grand duchess. And she told her minister of state that evening. "He cannot, be everywhere." "Will your highness have the, explana tion?" asked the genial Eyschen. "His im perial and royal majesty is at the front." "?!" A humble citizen of Sirck, across the border, had a similar dilemma when he came on a business trip to Luxemburg. Returning to Sirck, he asserted in the cafes that the kaiser was notjat the front, be cause he was here. They took him to the lKilice. . ' "You are accused of . spreading false news," said the commissary. "The kaiser is auf dem front. The proof is thatthe papers say so." "But," insisted the Sircker, 'I arrive from Luxemburg. I saw the kaiser this morning with my own eyes." "It proves nothing," said the commis sary. ' 1 I ?!' -Three Kaisers! ! "There are three kaisers in Luxemburg. How do you know which one you saw?" And it was true." O "One real kaiser and two imitations," said the minister of state to Marie 'Ade laide. "Two. officers, having the build and look of the kaiser; hate received the order to 'make up' as Ms doubles. They wear the great blue cloak, falling low over the boots, the cap with garnet band, they wax their mustaches and black their brows to meet over the nose. They even reproduce his voice. Captain Weiss actually harrangued the troops yesterday. And they circulate in great gray automobiles with the garnet stripe and black imperial eagle, constantly outwitting the curious. No spy or assassin can keep up with the kaiser. He is simul taneously in the faubourgs, on the road to Treves, and at the flower market. In real ity, he is working at the legation." How Shall She Resist. How shall a romanticJ girl resist such doings? Few women resist the personality of the kaiser. Her subjects have criticised the grand duchess for inviting him to a second dinner after the state affair. But, remember, all her ladies of honor are Ger mans, and all her officers of the palace, ex cept one, who is grand ducal. It is hard to stand against such influences. Slender girl among great and terrible things ! The worst is that she is. only 21, beau tiful, unmarried and has five younger sis ters to look after, each prettier than the other. Charlotte Is aged 19, Hilda 18, An toinette 16, Elizabeth 14 and Sophie 13. "I shall not marry," says the grand duchess.-, , ' . 1 . "We shall not marry," repeat Charl lotte, Hilda, Antoinette, f Elizabeth ' and Sophie. .. - ' ' Yes, but young things must marry. "It is their nature. And whom shall they marry? It is very complicated. .The Lux emburgers want their sky about it. They dread the fate of their cousin, Queen Wil helmina, for them. They have no brothers. Their father is dead. And the law of 1907 rules the eventual succession of the female line in these six girls. - s - . They are white doves among eagles. " Marie Adelaide defends her people with bill picks. "You have stopped our telegraph and telephone service," she said to the kaiser. "My merchants are losing money. You v have .taken over our mail service. German soldiers replace my postmen." . The kaiser said ' he would see to it A month later telephone subscribers were al lowed to send local messages. "You have seized our railroads," she con tinued. "My people may not ride without a dated permit, and 800,000 German sol diers have ridden free, " The rolling stock is ruined. Yet you signed us a treaty never to use our railroads for military pur poses," The kaiser coughed. ' "You have changed all the pretty names of our towns and villages. You have turned Lincieres into- Jungllnster, and Merise into Mersch. Mersch ! La Rochette has be come Fels, Rosiere is Roeser, and sweet Andelheme is Hosbert! Is it a military necessity? Do you seek only 'right of pas sage,' as you promised?' It has the odor of annexation. My people are worried." The kaiser sniffed the air. "What is that delicious perfume?" he in quired, to change the subject. " Marie Adelaide gave 'him a harder bill pick. ' On the Kaiser. "It is called 'Champs Elysees,' " she answered,' handing him the bottle with the name on latest triumph of the Guerlain house of Paris. . The kaiser had ; no right to see an impertinence. .Yet, at that mo ment, all Luxemburg was joking about "the landau of the Champs Elysees." It was a magnificent open landau, which 'came to the little city empty. German sol diers escorting it said with awe: "It is Hhe carriage in which our . kaiser will enter Paris down the , Champs - Elysees in triumph!" And they put it in the best garage. A Daily thereafter the bourgeois of Lux emburg made their afternoon, walk past the garage. They wanted to see the laudau of the Champs Elysees. Rut it remained in its shelter. So thereafter each time that there was a rumor of Paris being taken the Luxemburgers , said : "Nenni, the landau is still there !" , ' " No Great Riches. Except for their rich mines, they are a peasant democracy. You can scarcely dis tinguish between classes. Grand , old names are borne by poor people. "A Lux emburger is always active," runs the prov erb. The same man may be a wine grower, tanner, miller and storekeeper. They are . very honest, "real," they call it. Every family has its house and garden. The roof is tight, walls white, garden cultivated, and flowers in the windows. Like the Swiss, they "receive" much among themselves. Their "grechen" wine, from the Luxemburg Moselle, harsh, thin and sweetish, "makes you shut one eye and can't open the other." It costs 8 cents the liter, and the Germans buy it to make champagne, y Such a people might seem tempted to make a good thing where Belgium made ruin. The comparison strikes anyone. And the grand duchess, with her army of 400 men. could only protest. "The occupation of Luxemburg is con trary to, the law; of nations, and the pro testation of the grand ducal government is justified." said Chancellor Bethmann . In l, the reichstag on Aug. 4. "We shall repair the harm we cause as soon as our military end is attained. TV When Germany paid an account of $100,000. for damages to houses destroyed, farms sacked.fields trenched and cemented, . vehicles and stock requisitioned, etc., Ger manjapers represented the "good affair which Luxemburg had made. ' "Good affair?1 repeated duchess. "We have spent S250.000 in hos pitals and: Red Cross, caring for wounded Germans. Yet French wounded and pris oners, who ought to be interned the mo ment they touch our neutral soil, may not receive a cup of coffee from us at the rall rbadLetatiqns 1 Sire, this smells annexa tion l" . ") ' The kaiser scratched his nose (they ay). "And our mines and factories? Yoii put, out their "proprietors and run them for yourselves. Will yon reimburse? Will you pay damages? Do you keep account? When proprietors complain, too much you arrest them. You have requisitioned all our food reserve, paying in paper money, at your own estimate. We have no horses left to till "the ground, nor wheat to last till harvest. We shall come to 'bread tickets yet 1" j Tho girl ruler's prediction has come true. Luxemburg is on bread tickets. When the imprisoning habit grew Marie Adelaide wrote the kaiser. . "More than 100 Luxemburg lawyers,, professors, land - owners and proprietors liavetbeen sent to Prussian prisons," was the complaint. "Yotir majesty can Imagine the feelings of my people when they see honored citizens led to the railroad station by a squad of Prussian soldiers. By lnter-j national law no country gives up its own citizens, even criminals, t be judged In a foreign land." -. : And She Is; Reproved. Her subjects have criticised her for ac cepting what they call the Iron Cross from the hands of William II. It is Inexact. What she accepted was' a kind of medal re- served to the high dames of the Germanic Red Cross, a little Jewel, not beautiful, of no Importance. . As much say she Is a woman. And there is the marriage;problem. "I shall never marry." she says. "We shall never marry," repeat Char lotte, Hilda, Antoinette, Elizabeth and Sophie ' ' . Tut, tut. .v 1 And who is there to feiarry but a Ger man princeling? So some say: ST I "Our grand duchess is a heroine. j "And others: , . "Our grand duchess is-grand duchess, j The big and little highnesses have 'made it VP together.'