ANECDOTES. 437 is a present from the Austrian Imperial Chancellor to the Chancellor of the North German Confederation. Some give a friendly assent to this, others kindly add, that Bismarck has already, in return, sent some Neunaugen and Flunder from Pomerania, to his colleague in Vienna; and why should it not be believed? Formerly, at any rate, the most friendly and social relations existed between Bismarck and Beust. An old Colonel D-mutters something like "timeo Danaos," but swallows the rest of the words, as he can not immediately find the Latin terminations in the lumber-room of his memory, but instead, enjoys another goblet of the supposed gift. He is almost frightened when his neighbor remarks, that Beust as well as Bismarck is a descendant of an Alt Mark family; Büste, the family seat of the Beust family, is only distant a few miles from Bismarck; certainly, the family had not lived there for a long time. Colonel D— begins to have a better opinion of the Austrian Chancellor, and drinks up his beer in comfort. Another is telling how Bismarck laughingly said, that "his colleague, the Minister of Finance, would to-day convince himself that this dwelling was much too small for the Minister-President, and would think of how he could get him out of the difficulty." Thus the little circle got happily into the downward way of telling anecdotes, whence there is no return. To a somewhat complaining deputation from the new provinces, Bismarck good-humoredly explained that Prussia was like a woollen jacket, very unpleasant at first, but when people got accustomed to it they found it very comfortable, and at last came to think it a great benefit. Bismarck allowed another deputation to whine for a long time about universal military service and the weight of taxation; he then said, very seriously and in a tone of the greatest astonishment, “Dear me, these gentlemen probably thought they could become Prussians for nothing!" A well-known politician promulgated a very paradoxical statement at Bismarck's dinner-table; some one present started forward to refute it. "Pray don't trouble yourself," exclaimed Bismarck; "if you will only have patience for two minutes, the learned Herr Professor will at once contradict himself in the most brilliant manner!” In the year 1848 there was a great deal rumored about a fall. ing away of the Rhine Provinces. "Where are they going to fall to?" asked Bismarck. "And in France they no longer say, 'travailler pour le roi de Prusse,' to indicate a lost labor of love, but 'travailler pour le maître de M. de Bismarck!" whispered a fat diplomatist cautiously to his neighbor. "How is it," King William merrily once asked the MinisterPresident and his cousin Herr von Bismarck-Briest, "that the Bismarcks of Schönhausen are all such tall, strapping fellows, and those of Briest the contrary?" Count Bismarck replied, “Because my ancestors all served the King as soldiers in battle, while my cousins were engaged in civil affairs!" Herr von BismarckBriest added, with presence of mind, "That is why I have put my seven sons into the army." It was true that six Bismarck-Briests fought in the last war under the King's standard; a pity that the seventh was not there, but as a Landrath he was "exempt." "But," whispered a pale assessor, who has been guilty of innumerable verses, "Bismarck is deficient in æsthetic culture; I have heard from the best authority, that once at Frankfurt, when Goethe's pearl, 'Happy he who closes up his door without hatred of the world!' was performed on the piano, Bismarck burst out with, 'What a tailor's soul this Goethe had!' The pale assessor looked as if such barbarism froze him; some laughed, others shrugged their shoulders. "The ideas of the moment were confused with opinions or meaning!" said a Provincial Government Councillor, who knew how to combine his reverence for Bismarck with his æsthetic aspirations; for in fact he only knew Bismarck and Goethe. "I remember you in my boyish days very well," said Bismarck, in 1864, to the Body-Physician of Prince Albrecht, the Privy-Councillor Dr. von Arnim; "you then enormously struck me with your energy." "This is completely altered now," replied Arnim, quietly; "you now strike me enormously with yours." The negroes in America are very fond of assuming fine names of famous men, such as Cæsar, Scipio, Hannibal, Aurelius, Washington, King James, Abraham Lincoln, and so forth. One of A NEGRO COUNT BISMARCK. 439 these black gentlemen got very drunk, and shouted like a madman; he was seized and put into prison, but brought sober before the magistrate the next morning. "What is your name?" The negro answered, with great dignity, "Count Bismarck." There was Homeric laughter. The magistrate said, "You are discharged; one must overlook a little from any one bearing so great a name; but for the future take care to do your illustrious god-cousin in Berlin more credit!" There was no end to this. Anecdote succeeded anecdote, one joke the other; each departing story-teller leaving another in his place, until the circle round the altar of Gambrinus was broken up by the news that their Majesties and the Court, after having partaken of supper in the Countess's salon, had taken their departure. This was the signal for supper for the rest of the guests. A buffet supper is the saddest conclusion of a "rout"-it is almost somewhat humiliating to stand with one's hat under one's arm and the plate in one's hand, after having had great difficulty to procure knife, fork, and all the other utensils employed in civilized nations for the business of eating! But humanity can. even support this, and with a little care and patience it is possi ble gradually to get a complete supper, from a cup of soup to a fruit-ice. Modest minds content themselves certainly by absorbing a gigantic portion of ham-pie with a spoon-or whatever the fortune of war has favored their plates with-ask for nothing more-but "go in " for the wine, which is foaming in any quantity. In the mean time the dance music is beginning again, and with it the actual period of enjoyment for dancers, and the terrible hour for chaperonizing mothers and aunts, who sit out the last cotillon with a heroism brave unto death. The non-dancing guests now really begin to enjoy themselves -the crowd being no longer so thick, there is more room, as the saloons reserved for the Court are now open, and there are plenty of seats. Presently a smoking-room suddenly opens-a smok ing-room with noble cigars, iced champagne, and hot coffee. Everywhere one sees the Minister President busy among his guests, conversing in the most agreeable tone, seeing that there is nothing wanting, inviting every one to drink, and himself rejoicing in the gayety he disperses. And whoever departs at about five in the morning, with a hearty shake of the hand from Bismarck, will certainly carry away with him the impression that the First Minister of Prussia is also the most delightful host in Prussia CHAPTER VI. BISMARCK'S HOUSE AT BERLIN. "Tis but a hut or little more, The threshold narrow, slim the door- Proudly uprears the laurel-tree. Bismarck's House in ordinary Costume.-Its History.-"Sultan Uilem and Grand Vizier Bi-Smarck."-" Bismarck, grand homme, Bakschisch!"-The Cuckoo Clock. -Daily Habits.-Sunday at Bismarck's. IN that portion of the Wilhelms-Strasse at Berlin, which has remained comparatively quiet, although it is bounded on one side by the animated and famous street Unter den Linden, and on the other by the noisy and busy Leipziger-Strasse, one of the arteries of Berlin circulation, not far from the Wilhelms-Platz, stands a plain one-storied house, with twelve windows in the front-the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-since 1862 the official residence of Count Bismarck. It is the most modest ministerial residence in Berlin; in no large State of Europe does the Foreign Minister live so quietly as Count Bismarck does here. To the right of the MinisterPresident is the Hotel of Prince Radziwill-entre cour et jardinwith its railings and stately front court; to the left is the building of the Royal Privy Court Printing-office of Messrs. Von Decker; opposite the former Palace of the Order of St. John of Balley Brandenburg, so magnificently restored by Schinckel, and now the property of Prince Carl of Prussia. One advantage Bismarck's dwelling enjoys, with all the aristocratic houses of the Wilhelms-Strasse--it has a large garden with fine old trees in it, which extends as far as the Königsgrätzer-Strasse. The whole extent of the Wilhelms-Strasse, from the Linden to the Leipziger-Strasse, formerly belonged to the Thurgarten-the |