SOO Ten Years of my Life. 



Next day, July 15, 1870, Avas a memorable day, which will 

 be remembered in history many thousand years. War between 

 Germany and France had been declared, and our dear King 

 was to leave for Berlin at eight a.m. We all went to the 

 station to say farewell to him and give him bouquets. 



Our leave-taking was an affecting scene. The good King 

 had t^ars in his eyes, all the ladies cried, and even the aides- 

 de-camp and General Treskow were crying like children. The 

 King gave Eleonore, Countess Larisch, Mrs. von Schrecken- 

 stein, Mrs. von Pommer-Esche, and myself each his photo^ 

 graph, and I kissed his hand, much against his will. 



We breakfasted with Prince Albrecht and General von Her- 

 warth, but we all felt very sad and remained so all day. At 

 seven o'clock p.m. Countess Larisch fetched me to go with 

 Eleonore and others to Lahnstein to see the Duke off. When 

 he was gone the Duchess went up to the Castle, but as we did 



not feel in a mood to follow her, I with Mrs. von S , and 



the Princes Plnlip Croy, Solms, and Hohenloe, returned to 

 Ems, where we took supper with Prince Albrecht, his aide-de- 

 camp, and three other ladies. His Royal Highness was also 

 more serious and silent than usual. 



Next morning little Ems offered a curious spectacle. Every- 

 body seemed to be in a panic. People were running about 

 like ants when their hill has been disturbed by a stick. The 

 streets were crowded with porters carrying luggage, for every- 

 body hurried home. Landlords were distracted and forgot 



their bills, as did many of their guests. Mrs. von S was 



(juite frantic, raving about her curtains and furniture, believing 

 that the French would be before her in Dusseldorf Prince 

 Croy appeared, and mildly censured her for thinking more 

 about her furniture than about her husband, who was, however, 

 not very likely to come in too close contact with the French, 

 as he was aide-de-camp to an inactive General, Prince Hohen- 

 zollern. 



Felix arrived for me in the afternoon, and I returned with 

 him to Coblentz. This city was filHng with a crowd of soldiers, 

 reservists joining their regiments, who poured in by thousands 

 from all directions, mostly anticipating the official summons. 

 Their number was so great that all of them could not be 

 quartered, and many bivouacked in the streets or found shelter 

 in outhouses and barns. 



