s in his pockets, and rush to a
newspaper office to tell the world that he has kept his soiled napkin
as a souvenir. The only indiscretion in such a case is when the host,
or his advisers, or gentlemen anywhere, heed the lunatic laughter of
such a social jackal.

To count one's words, to tie up one's phrases in caution, to dip each
sentence in a diplomatic antiseptic, in the company of those to whom
one has conceded hospitality, what a feeble policy! Better be brayed
to the world every day as indiscreet than that!

It is a fine quality in a man to be in love with his job. Even though
you have little sympathy with Savonarola's fierceness or Wesley's
hardness, they were burning up all the time with their allegiance to
their ideals of salvation. They served their Lord as lovers. Many men,
even kings and princes and other potentates, give the impression that
they would enjoy a holiday from their task. They seem to be harnessed
to their duties rather than possessed by them; they appear like
disillusioned husbands rather than as radiant lovers.

The German Emperor is not of that class. He loves his job. In his
first proclamation to his people he declared that he had taken over
the government "in the presence of the King of kings, promising God to
be a just and merciful prince, cultivating piety and the fear of God."
He has proclaimed himself to be, as did Frederick the Great and his
grandfather before him, the servant of his people. Certainly no one in
the German Empire works harder, and what is far more difficult and far
more self-denying, no one keeps himself fitter for his duties than he.
He eats no red meat, drinks almost no alcohol, smokes very little,
takes a very light meal at night, goes to bed early and gets up early.
He rides, walks, shoots, plays tennis, and is as much in the open air
as his duties permit.

It is not easy for the American to put side by side the attitudes of a
man, who is the autocratic master and at the same time declares
himself to be the first servant of his people. Perhaps if it is
phrased differently it will not seem so contradictory. What this
Emperor means, and what all princes who have believed in their right
to rule meant, was not that they were the servants of their people,
but the servants of their own obligations to their people, and of the
duties that followed therefrom. If in addition to this the claim is
made by the sovereign, that his right to rule is of divine origin,
then his