The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 11, 1898, Page 23

THE SAN "RANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1898. COUNTES S OF LARISH ARIE LARISCH’S novel, which has long threatened to appear and rattle the family skeletons of the Hapsburgs for the pres- ent generation, has been pub- last and a great shout has from the court society of 1. Not since the suicide of King s there been such m in Vienna. Aar h tells now for the first t his y of the mad King, v patron of Richard Wag- ner, the recluse of the Castle of Starn- t 1 who took his own miserable had Kkilled five of his suite rs. Five years ago the Coun- h wrote this book and its n at that time was prevented r, who bought the copy- authoress at a fabulous Nothing more was heard of the tess until a year ago, when she husband and five children to ive with a Munich opera tenor name of Otto Bruck: ie Larisch has had one careers of living been a romance the.most fanciful fiction-teller 1 never invented or dreamed of. Marie Brucks, she calls he: Marie Bruck solubility ot toman we must still call her Coun- and consider her the run- one of the richest noble- Austria, whose castle Silesia are among and most remunerative prop- \ the « ‘untry. Larisch 3 and may truly be ’ \ething of the world in this of life truth indeed, was she had lent willing aid to the fatal love of her im- perial cousin, the Crown Prince, for the Baroness Vetsera. She had sought and gained the friendship of Baroness Vet- sera, the mother, who had for vears been the mistress of Archduke William, the Grand Master of the Order of Ger- She tempted young Bar- often to her house, took her and visits, went shopping and managed so well that the Crown Prince continually met the pretty girl with whom he believed him- self madly in love. It must be supposed that the singer’s income, added to the annuity from the book she never published, are insuffi- cient for Countess Larisch’s wants. and that she is trying for an addition to her income, either by a large sale of the book or by a second suppression of it, for which she would no doubt ask a high price of the regent of Bavaria. especially as the mad King. about whom she writes, still has a live bro- ther—mad King Otto, who sits on the throne of Bavaria. She cannot expect any pecuniary help from her father. who only waited for his fi wife's death to marry another actress, An- toine Barth, who is his present mor- ganatic wife. Countess. Larisch’s book, “A King's Fairy Tale,” has already been prohib- ited for sale in Bavaria, where the poignant feelings excited by the tragic life and death of their beloved King Ludwig have scarcely yet been wholly appeased. “'A King's Fairy Tale,” which she is_telling, is the poetic history of King Louis II of Bavaria, the key to his mysterious soli life and the true account of his tragic death. The book will be read with breathless interest. as it is known that the author, Countess Larisch has learned much from her father about King Louis, and also from her aunt, Princess Sophie. who was the King’s betrothed for several months. The King of this tale does not seem a real man, but a youth from Swanland, who wished to live for a time on earth. MAD KING " oF BAVARIA N WITH AVIEW OF STARNBERG , WHERE HE COMMITTED SUICIDE., The first chapter reveals the young King in his private observatory ab- sorbed in astronomy. When his pro- fessor in astronomy retires the . King sleep and dreams a dream. He ands the language of the stars and hears the music of the spheres. He sees three brilliant castles on the shore of an emerald lake, over which sail singing swans. With them sails a mythical youth, a swan king, who an- nounces his intention of descending upon earth, or, as the author expresses it, “the will to live on earth is awakened in him. An angel warns him in vain that on earth kings have to suffer more than other mortals. The swan king refuses to be warned; the angel has to consent to his earthly Journey, but he comforts him by prom-. ising that a noble human maiden will reveal herself to him with a song. “A limit is fixed for yourlife,” says the angel, “if you live it to the end; but if you leave the earth of your own free will, if you feel your powers failing, then you will return here and be a swan again.” ¥ In the second chapter the reader is in the full reign of King Louis TI, the scene being. the lake of Starnberg, not far from Munich. The reader is ini- tiated into the intrigues played by the persons of the court of this King. Baron von Decken, the favorite and aide-de-camp of the King, is in con- versation with a banker named An- thony, and both admit the necessity of getting the King to marry. The reader learns that the courtiers’ party intends marrying the King to Princess Clarisse, the daughter of ex- Queen Honesta, who lives in Biarritz. Suddenly an illegitimate daughter of THE SCENE OF THETRAGED Countess Larisch Has at-Last Published Her First Volume Regarding MAYERLING, 'OF CROWAPRINCE RUDOLPH \ % AARY VETSERA the banker appears—a passionate beauty of the Southern type—Wally von Sartory, who declares to her father that she loves the King and will not let them couple the sun-god Phoebus to an earthly princess. He loves art, and she will become an artist as a means of finding the way to his heart. Wally von Sartory is no definite character, but a type of the numerous young singers and actresses and artists who tried to gain the King's love in those days. In chapter III the King is shown to the reader in the idyllic solitude of his castle on the shore of Starnberg Lake. The castle is Schloss Berg, the scene of the catastrophe in which the King ul- timately lost his life. Countess Larisch describes the hand- some young King with ‘a certain amount of enthusiasm—"tall and straight, like a noble pine, with inde- scribably beautiful dark blue fairy eyes, with curly ‘brown hair framing an open brow, and a sad, sweet mouth on a classically cut face.” The author shows the King deeply inferested in a conversation with "Richard Wagner, whose name in the story is Reinhard Meister. The King is. speaking with Wagner on the tradition of the Knight of the Swan, which the composer-poet used in his opera “Lohengrin.” The King confesses that he is on the look- out for a song—his own song, he calls it—which an angel sang to him in a dream. He must have the song, and he knows a woman will sing it to him some day. The King tells the master a secret, that he never yet cared for a woman, saw no poetry in any other woman than his mother, and Wagner admits that poetical women are very rare. ‘Wagner, L \‘. L \ N however, returns the King's confidence, and says he has found such a woman— the wife of a friend. No doubt this is Cosima Bulow, whom Wagner later married. In the evening of that selfsame day the King walked along the jessamine paths to the lake, listening to the night- ingales in hopes of hearing his song. He rowed across the lake to the oppo- site shore and believed he heard the singing of the swans. It was a mis- take. As he approached the shore he heard a melodious human voice. He could distinguish the words—it was the song of the wondrous flower—his song, which said the wondrous flower is the purest love. “This is my song!” the King cried, jumped out of the boat, ran across the lawn to the castle, where a delicate woman's figure appeared at an open window. The moon was shining, and she recognized the man below and cried: “The King!” He confirmed this and asked her to come down. The young lady immedi- ately obeyed and appeared in the frame of a porch in the ivy-grown tower. The King, asking who . she was, sh swered: “Your Majesty's cousin, Elsa!” She is no other than Princess Sophie of Bavaria, the youngest sister of the late Empress Elizabeth of Austria, who lived in such complete retirement with her parents, sq that the King had not seen her.before she was seventeén or eighteen. Q A few days later the King is resolved, takes an official trip to Castle Possen- hofen, and asks his uncle for the hand of his youngest daughter, which he is promised with the greatest alacrity. Princess Elsa finds herself the “King's bride,” and’finds her chief delight in repeating this to herself. Countess Larisch describes a meeting of the King and his bride, the trysting place being the park around Possenhofen. Bride and bridegroom composed verses and each read the latest composition to the other. In the meantime the beau- tiful Wally von Sartory was at work to attain her ends. §he crosses the lake at night and watches the King and the Princess in the park, and hears the song, which she soon learns. Countess Larisch, gives her readers the text and the music of the wonderful song—but she does not mention either poet or composer, and only says Princess Elsa received it in some mysterious manner. Wally von Sartory gets herself made lady-in-waiting to Princess Elsa, and when she is alone with her she uses her hypnotic powers, sends the Princess to sleep and suggests to her that she must not love the King—she must not be- come. the King's bride. The Princess suffers from these suggestions in her sleep, and she wakes up with a painful sensation. Still the suggestion has taken effect. She shows her ladv-in- waiting a blue silk watchguard on which she has embroidered a crowned silver swan. The Princess worked it for the King, but now, obeying the suggestion, she does not care for it and gives it to her lady-in-waiting, who is treacherous enough to show it to the King as a present from - the Princess, and then gives it to the King’s aide-de-camp, Baron Decker, saying she was desired by the Princess to present him with it. One evening she arranges the candles on the piano at which the Princess is seated, while she sings the song to the King in such a manner that they top- ple over on the music and the only copy of the song is burned. The Princess cannot sing the song because her maid of honor has before this sug- gested in her sleep that she must for- get the words and music of the song. " THE PRESENT the Secrets of the House of Hapsburg and It Has Been Promptly Suppressed. In the confusion he discovers the watchguard on Baron Decker’s waist- coat, and, accustomed as he was to be- ing deceived, he immediately suspected his bride. This is the beginning of the rupture which leads to the break.ng off of the betrothal between the ing and the Princess. The King refuses to be in- formed of affairs of state. Like Fred- erick the Great, all he wishes is to “suf- fer and be silent.”” At last he resolves to retire to the solitude of the Swan Castle in the Bavarian Alps, where he built a splendid castle containing hun- dreds of works of art, all referri the Myth of the Swan. This is schwapstein,” the actual marvel of the Bavarlan Alps. He suffered from insomnia and can never 80 to sleep without drugs. He dines at a table with room for thirteen guests, and at which thirteen chairs stand before thirteen covers. He has terrible visions and the word passes around that the King sees ghosts. One day the King ordered his car- riage and drove to the court theater, whose performances he directed that he alone should attend. He had heard that a new actress has been appointed —Wally von Sartory—who has become famous in the meantime. He does not recognize the singer. After the per- formance he sends for her to the con- servatory, where she is to declaim por- tlons of other poems. At last she has attained what she strived for so long. She speaks the part of Phaedra. She speaks with irresistible passion and im- presses the King so deeply that he. leaves his hiding place and walks up to her. She is just speaking the love scena with Hyppolitus. Suddenly she falls on her knees before the King and gazes up into his eyes with the expression of maddening love. The King is speech- less for an instant, then recovers from his surprise and putting her away crie§ out: “Go! Go!" S She makes one last attempt; she runs to the piano and sings the song of the wondrous flower. But the effect is not what she expects—the King stood mo- tionless and cried: “Elsa!” She then betrays to the XKing the whole intrigue against his love. To escape from his thoughts the king runs into the park and seeks the shore. One shade will not leive him—the King tries to walk away from it and his feet touch the water. Then a fresh vision appears to him: he sees Elsa coming to meet him in'the swanboat on the lake. He shakes the shade that clings to him with all his power and flings it from him, while he cries: “Leave me! I must cross the lake. T shall walk over the water. Elsla, I am coming! Our Father, who art in heaven”—and as he said these words . he strode into the lake. COUNTESS LARISCH. So ends this remarkable story—and so ended the life of the Kingof Bavaria. OOOOG0OOOOOOO0OOOOOOOOOGOOOOOOOO00000000000000000000000O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOO006000000000600000000000000000000000 Plan of the Biggest Telescope in the World. Unique Position of a Monterey Chinaman. The Only Subject on the Pacific Coast Who Has the Right of Directly Addressing the Emperor in Peking. EE WING SUN KEE is proba-, bly the most important of all Chinese residents in this State. His present address is Monterey, Cal., and he enjoys the unique distinction of being the only one of his countrymen who has the privi- | lege of addressing his sovereign direct. | No palace flunkey or court favorite can intercept a letter to his Imperial Ma- jesty sent under the private seal of Lee ving Sun Kee. All this comes to a man of brains and untiring ener it means years of toil and study, the passing of civil service examinations that would frighten the average college student and aspirant for honors into a state of chronic nervous prostration. Probably few even enlightened Western barbarians” know what a civil examination in the Flowery King- dom means. “To succeed,” says Dr. his life in that country as a medical missionary, “it is necessary to devote thirty or forty years to constant study of the classic: And Dr. Williams, a man of undoubted education in both English and Chinese, once told me that the examinations as conducted in Pe- king he considered the highest from a literary point of view in the world, in fact, he said it had been admitted by some of the great universities of Eu- government examiners of Peking was acknowledged to be the greatest honor that any student could expect in this world.” 1 found Lee Wing Sun Kee living in the most primitive fashion in the un- assuming little fishing village near Monterey, and it was not at all diffi- cult to recognize in him the gentleman and scholar which a few minutes’ con- versation proved beyond the shadow of a doubt. He was seated on a plain wooden couch, so common in all Chi- Kingdon, who spent the best part of Lebc wiNG SUN KEE, the Chinese Moy Personally Address the Emperor of the Flowery Kingdom. nese houses of the poorer sort, without Letter Writer in California Who rope that the degree conferred by the | | ornament or mark of comfort save for the clean bit of bamboo matting with which it was covered. When addressed in his own language, and in words be- fitting his position, he arose with all the dignified grace of a mandarin and bade me welcome. With the proper apology for my intrusion, and a re- fusal to be seated until my worthy host would condescend to do the same, we lighted our pipes and soon became quite chummy and “comfy” like. I ex- pressed my surprise that a man of his learning could content himself with such humble surroundings. “Well,” he said, “it must seem rather queer to you because you are a West- erner and presumably a follower of Christ, while I am a pagan, a believer in theosophy and a student of Confu- cius. Here I have peace and quiet and time for contemplation. Besides I am able to do_much good for my country- men in this part of the world, for you must know I am the official letter- writer for my people here. No, I am no longer rich, in fact, I am quite poor, and I depend entirely on what I may earn writing letters to supply my sim- ple needs. It is'next to impossible for one of your people to imagine how very necessary and important a personage | the public letter-writer is to the Chi- | nese. But with us the spoken language is never written and the written lang- uage never spoken, and as the written language comprises something like 72,- 000 characters you may readily see that it is almost impossible for a man in the ordinary walks of life to accom- plish anything like an education. “You say you want to know some- thing of my life, and why I have chos- en this spot so far away from my home for a residence. Oh, well, it is no great secret. I am not an anarchist or a members of the Black Flags. I am a simple scribe and a man of peace. Although if a man on earth has good cause for complaint against his own government I am that man. “But I will explain to you why I am an exile from my native land. First, I will tell you something of the crim- inal laws of China. If a corpse is found on the property of another it devolves upon the owner of the property to prove who committed the murder. Now, this is sometimes a very difficult thing to do, especially if the deed be com- mittted in the night. Strange as it may seem to you, thfs law has made suicide very common in China. “If I do not tire you I will explain to you how this all comes about. You see the Chinese religion, as it is prac- ticed, is based almost entirely on filial affection, for it is belleved that the bones of the parent can only rest in peace through the prayers of the off- spring. Well, this means that the son who is faithful to the parent is sure | of eternal salvation, and any sacrifice he may make in this life means so much to his credit in the life to come. Frequently it happens that a man’s parents may be very noor and if a dutiful son wishes to do something to relieve the burdens of this world for his father or mother, he may make it known to the wealthy people of his vil- lage that he is willing to commit sui- cide for a fixed price. Now allowing that T am a wealthy man, and you are my enemy. I can hire this man to kill himself on your premises. “I had an enemy in my native town. We had quarreled over the administra- | tion of justice in a very simple case. I knew I was right and presumed I had | convinced him that he was wrong. The | dispute continued for a year, when fin- | ally there was a murder done on his| property. The victim was one of my | family. A feud ensued which was kept up for months until one morning a man was found dead at my door with a bul- | let through his head. “Of course i was asked to explain | away the mystery, which I was unable | to do. My property was immediately confiscated and 1 was given to under- | stand that if I could not produce the | real culprit within a given time, my life must pay the penalty. | “So I am here in California earningl‘ my living with my pen. I have no com- plaint to make of the poor people of my province. They know no better. They are firm believers in what you call the old Mosaic law, ‘An eye for an eye, and | a tooth for a tooth.” But I do think my government might have done some- thing for my relief. However, God has been very kind to me. I am given all that I need to support the body, and I can easily bury the nains of mental starvation in my faith.” “Yes, I have the privilege of address- ing the Emperor direct. I won that honor through passing my last civil ex- amination at Peking in 1890, after hav- ing first passed all the local examina- tions in the province of Kwang Tong. The last degree entitled me to the hon- orable office of 'Holder of the Seals.’ This is my official seal. No, I cannot give you an impression of it as it is against the ethics we are all bound to observe. I am very bproud of it, of course, and it insares the safe delivery of my communications to the Emperor in person, which; as you may imagine, is a very great advantage. “The highbinder wars which are so common in San rrancisco are prolific of correspondence between the people and our Government, and I believe I am the only person in this part of the world who can have a letter delivered to the head of the Imperial Govern- ment. So you see I am Kkept pretty busy, and I assure you I do all in my power to quiet these” worse than silly quarrels between the people, many of which have been carried across the sea, where they have -been in a state of revolution for more than a century. No, I scarcely think they will ever be defi- nitely settled. It is one of the evils of -a paternal form of ‘local government which these simple - creatures have hugged to their bosoms, as it were, since the history of man. A = “No, I in no way interfere with th labors of the imperi-" consulate of this State. They are for the most part wise and hofiest men who * do - all in .their power for the poor people they repre- sent. But the Chinese as an individual has long since lost all confidence in hig,| Government, and never claims even its protection unless it be the last resort. “Oh, to be sure we are all delicate on the subject of the Manchu dynasty, but with that subject I have nothing to do. Let the bearers of arms settle questions of war.” ‘W. C. BUNNER. Proposed by a Philadelphia Man Who Believes it Will Reveal Wonders in the Heavens. T LAST the secrets of the heav- ens are to be an open book. No longer the planets will continue objects of problematic mysti- cism, for the efficacy of what promises to be the most mar- velous telescope ever wrought by man is vouched for by the inventor to lay bare all that which until the present time has puzzled astronomers. With the aid of this instrument it is said that man will at last be able to com- municate with such other beings on Mars as correspond to the inhabitants of the earth. Whatever their habits, their stature, their whole manner of ex- istence will be revealed minutely for the benefit of those fortunate enough to gaze through this wonderfully made lens. It has been left for a resident of Philadelphia to conceive of a telescope with such enormous power of attrac- tion. For years the idea has been slow- ly maturing in his mind until now he has reached the stage when he con- siders a practical experiment safe. | That such a telescope will cost much | money is a natural-inference. The tele- scope, according to the statement of | the inventor, should primarily be a na- | tional affair, and the achievements that would result would therefore redound | to the glory of the country as well as | to the individual scientist. | According to the inventor, Rudolph | M. Hunter, it is simply a question of | supplying lenses in sufficient quantities | to bring close to earth the wonders of | the heavens. Where other telescopes consist of one lens of the refractory | kind measured simply by inches, the | Philadelphia inventor proposes to use | any number of lenses placed together | in the form of a reflector, as shown dis-’| tinctly in the accompanying picture. | “I propose to build a telescope of such magnitude that nothing need any long- er be mysterious as far as the planets | are concerned,” said the inventor, “or| rather it would be for the Government of the country to stand behind an en- terprise that is to be of untold benefit to the nation and to man. I have no desire to gain a profit from my inven- tion. “The great reflector will be supported at an angle upon an immense platform. This platform rests on trucks that move on_ a circular, or rather spiral- like track. The object of the track? Simply the manner in which the oper- ator will be able to focus his enormous instrument. The weight of the whole would make any other method an im- possibility. By moving the platform along the track one way or the other the distance from the operator in the tower can be lengthened or lessened. Hydraulic power devices will changa the angle of the reflector in whatever direction desired. Electrical power is to be the means of moving the reflector on the track, and the smoothness of the carriage will be something new en- tirely in locomotion. —_——— “T am one of those who think the loss of a faithful servant the loss of a friend,” |is a recently reported saying of Queen Victoria.