wished to make the acquaintance of a man noted in science,
literature, or art, he must be found at professorial gatherings
across the Neva. He rarely, if ever, appeared in the throng of
military and civil officials at the Winter Palace. But at Berlin
such men took an honored place at the court among those whom the
ruler sought out and was glad to converse with.

As to the world outside the empire, I doubt whether any other
sovereign equals him in personal acquaintance with leaders in
every field of worthy activity. It was interesting from time to
time to look over the official lists of his guests at breakfast,
or luncheon, or dinner, or supper, or at military exercises, or
at the theater; for they usually embraced men noted in civil,
ecclesiastical, or military affairs, in literature, science, art,
commerce, or industry from every nation. One class was
conspicuous by its absence at all such gatherings, large or
small; namely, the MERELY rich. Rich men there were, but they
were always men who had done something of marked value to their
country or to mankind; for the mere "fatty tumors" of the
financial world he evidently cared nothing.

A special characteristic in the German ruler is independence of
thought. This quality should not be confounded, as it often is,
with mere offhand decision based upon prejudices or whimsies. One
example, which I have given elsewhere, may be here referred to as
showing that his rapid judgments are based upon clear insight:
his OWN insight, and not that of others. On my giving him news of
the destruction of the Maine at Havana, he at once asked me
whether the explosion was from the outside; and from first to
last, against the opinions of his admirals and captains, insisted