do. I have searched through several bushels of photographs of
the Jungfrau here, but found only one with the Face in it, and in
this case it was not strictly recognizable as a face, which was
evidence that the picture was taken before four o’clock in the
afternoon, and also evidence that all the photographers have
persistently overlooked one of the most fascinating features of
the Jungfrau show. I say fascinating, because if you once detect
a human face produced on a great plan by unconscious nature, you
never get tired of watching it. At first you can’t make another
person see it at all, but after he has made it out once he can’t
see anything else afterward.
The King of Greece is a man who goes around quietly enough
when off duty. One day this summer he was traveling in an
ordinary first-class compartment, just in his other suit, the one
which he works the realm in when he is at home, and so he was not
looking like anybody in particular, but a good deal like
everybody in general. By and by a hearty and healthy German-
American got in and opened up a frank and interesting and
sympathetic conversation with him, and asked him a couple of
thousand questions about himself, which the king answered good-
naturedly, but in a more or less indefinite way as to private
particulars.
“Where do you live when you are at home?”
“In Greece.”
“Greece! Well, now, that is just astonishing! Born there?”
“No.”
“Do you speak Greek?”
“Yes.”
“Now, ain’t that strange! I never expected to live to see
that. What is your trade? I mean how do you get your living?
What is your line of business?”
“Well, I hardly know how to answer. I am only a kind of
foreman, on a salary; and the business–well, is a very general
kind of business.”
“Yes, I understand–general jobbing–little of everything–
anything that there’s money in.”
“That’s about it, yes.”
“Are you traveling for the house now?”
“Well, partly; but not entirely. Of course I do a stroke of
business if it falls in the way–”
“Good! I like that in you! That’s me every time. Go on.”
“I was only going to say I am off on my vacation now.”
“Well that’s all right. No harm in that. A man works all
the better for a little let-up now and then. Not that I’ve been
used to having it myself; for I haven’t. I reckon this is my
first. I was born in Germany, and when I was a couple of weeks
old shipped to America, and I’ve been there ever since, and
that’s sixty-four years by the watch. I’m an American in
principle and a German at heart, and it’s the boss combination.
Well, how do you get along, as a rule–pretty fair?”
“I’ve a rather large family–”
“There, that’s it–big family and trying to raise them on a
salary. Now, what did you go to do that for?”
“Well, I thought–”
“Of course you did. You were young and confident and
thought you could branch out and make things go with a whirl, and
here you are, you see! But never mind about that. I’m not
trying to discourage you. Dear me! I’ve been just where you are
myself! You’ve got good grit; there’s good stuff in you, I can
see that. You got a wrong start, that’s the whole trouble. But
you hold your grip, and we’ll see what can be done. Your case
ain’t half as bad as it might be. You are going to come out all
right–I’m bail for that. Boys and girls?”
“My family? Yes, some of them are boys–”
“And the rest girls. It’s just as I expected. But that’s
all right, and it’s better so, anyway. What are the boys doing–
learning a trade?”
“Well, no–I thought–”
“It’s a big mistake. It’s the biggest mistake you ever
made. You see that in your own case. A man ought always to have
a trade to fall back on. Now, I was harness-maker at first. Did
that prevent me from becoming one of the biggest brewers in
America? Oh no. I always had the harness trick to fall back on