_July 1st._
Went to the Von Gwinners' to lunch. It was Von Gwinner who put through
the Bagdad Railway scheme. The house is large, but there is a life-size
marble statue of a woman playing a violin in the drawing-room. He has a
beautiful garden.
Von Gwinner said the victor in this war would be the nation which
declared bankruptcy two weeks after all the rest. He expects they will
all be taxed to the verge of poverty when the war is over, but believes
Germany can hold out the longest.
Dined with Baron von Mumm Tuesday night at the Automobile Club. He is a
fraud, and Count Montjelas with him, and I hope to see them both soon
to tell them so. There was a crowd in the Leipziger Platz when I got
there, and the two men were standing at the window. I asked what it
was and they said: "Nothing, nothing, only the usual people going home
from work." Now, whether they knew or not, I am not sure, but it really
was the Socialists publicly demonstrating their disapproval of the
imprisonment of Liebknecht for two years and a half. That shows what a
Berlin riot is. I looked on and never knew it!
We've heard from Freiherr von B---- that there was a really
recognizable one in Düsseldorf. All the women went to the City Hall and
demanded more meat and potatoes. The Mayor stuck his shaved head out
of the window and tried to calm them with tales of beans and peas, but
they shouted they did not want them, they wanted potatoes and, when he
said he hadn't any, they smashed all the windows that couldn't resist
brick.
"That's just like the poor," said Von B----, "they won't eat anything
except potatoes."
Baron Böcklin showed us pictures he'd taken on the front. In one little
house in Belgium, which he'd made his headquarters, a woman sneaked in
on him one night when he was sleeping. He heard her and, jumping up,
caught her by the throat. She had a long knife in her hand. As Böcklin
was taking it from her, a man crawled out from under his bed with a
gun, but was covered by the sergeant who came to Böcklin's rescue. The
Baron let both assassins go, instead of having them shot as he had the
right to do. Böcklin's mother was an American, and his grandmother an
Englishwoman....
Heard a delightful story about Mr. Gerard from Mrs. ----. She said
that to tease Countess B---- he asked her why she hadn't married
some nice stockbroker in New York, who could have provided her with
much better-looking clothes, and more of them, than Count B----. She
went home in a rage and told the Count, who also became furious and
they both told all Berlin that Mr. Gerard was so anti-German that he
disapproved of German-American marriages. Mrs. Gerard implores her
husband to save his jokes for those who have a sense of humor but he
says, no matter what resolutions he makes, Countess B---- is more than
he can resist, and his remarks grow always worse instead of better.