MY RECOLLECTIONS OF WILLIAM 11-1879-1903 235 



viduals. Nor was it &quot;meddling and muddling.&quot; If any 

 fine thing was done in any part of the empire, he seemed 

 the first to take notice of it. Typical of his breadth of 

 view were the cases of various ship captains and others 

 who showed heroism in remote parts of the world, his 

 telegram of hearty approval being usually the first thing 

 they received on coming within reach of it, and substan 

 tial evidence of his gratitude meeting them later. 



On the other hand, as to his faculty for minute observa 

 tion and prompt action upon it: a captain of one of the 

 great liners between Hamburg and New York told me 

 that when his ship was ready to sail the Emperor came 

 on board, looked it over, and after approving various ar 

 rangements said dryly, &amp;lt; Captain, I should think you were 

 too old a sailor to let people give square corners to your 

 tables.&quot; The captain quietly acted upon this hint; and 

 when, many months later, the Kaiser revisited the ship, 

 he said, &quot;Well, captain, I am glad to see that you have 

 rounded the corners of your tables.&quot; 



He is certainly a working man. The record of each 

 of his days at Berlin or Potsdam, as given in the press, 

 shows that every hour, from dawn to long after dusk, 

 brings its duties duties demanding wide observation, 

 close study, concentration of thought, and decision. Nor 

 is his attention bounded by German interests. He is a 

 keen student of the world at large. At various interviews 

 there was ample evidence of his close observation of the 

 present President of the United States, and of appre 

 ciation of his doings and qualities ; so, too, when the strug 

 gle for decent government in New York was going on, 

 he showed an intelligent interest in Mr. Seth Low; and 

 in various other American matters there was recognition 

 of the value of any important stroke of good work done 

 by our countrymen. 



As to his view of international questions, two of the 

 opportunities above referred to especially occur to me 

 here. 



The first of these was during the troubles in Crete 



