y knew how many Germans in America were unfamiliar with the
make-up of the German flag, and that they only see it occasionally when
some celebration of German days takes place.

Well, when dad saw the German Emperor drive down the great street, and
got a look at his face, he said, "Hennery, I have got to see that
young man and advise him to go and consult a doctor," and so we made
arrangements to go to the Palace and see the Emperor and his son, the
Crown Prince, who will before long take the empire on his shoulders, if
William is as sick as he looks. You don't have to hire any masquerade
clothes to call on the Emperor of Germany, like you do when you visit
royalty in Turkey and Egypt, for a good frock coat and a silk hat will
take you anywhere in the day time, and a swallowtail is legal tender at
night; so dad put on his frock coat and silk hat, just as he would to
go and attend an afternoon wedding at home, and we were ushered in to a
regular parlor, where the Emperor was having fun with his children, and
the Empress was doing some needlework.

Dad supposed we would have to talk to the Emperor and the Prince through
an interpreter, and we stood there waiting for some one to break the
ice, when some one told the Emperor that an American gentleman and his
boy wanted to pay their respects, and the Emperor, who wore an ordinary
dark suit, with no military frills, took one of the young Princes he had
been playing with across his knee and gave him a couple of easy spanks,
in fun, and the whole family was laughing, and the spanked boy "tackled"
the Emperor around the legs, below the knee, like a football player,
and the other Princes pulled him off, and the Emperor came up to dad,
smiling as though he was having the time of his life, and spoke to dad
in the purest English, and said he was glad to see the "Bad Boy" man,
because he had read all about the pranks of the Bad Boy, and bid dad
welcome to Germany, and he didn't look sick at all.

[Illustration: And so this is the champion little devil of America 357]

Dad was taken all of a heap, and didn't know what to make of the German
Emperor talking English, but when the ruler of Germany turned to me and
said, "And so this is the champion little devil of America," and patted
me on the head, dad felt that he had struck a friend of the family,
and he sat down with the Emperor and talked for half an hour, while the
young Princes gathered around me, and we sat down on the floor a