The
t,
Omaha Sunday Bee. Magazine Pag
II hfjtlll Plj.MI 'p!amsiH ,y,
AMI I I .1 II ) a.l I I ITT. B1 -VM
Fuerstenstein, the Pless Castle, Where the Princess Is' Reported
to Be Virtually a Prisoner.
London, Oct 17.
I ONSIDERABLE anxiety Is felt In the
highest social circles concerning the
rate of Princess Henry of Pless, the
beautiful and popular Englishwoman, mar
ried to a great German nobleman.
The Princess's husband Is understood to
have gone to the front In the German
army, while her brother and brother-in-law
and many of her other English rela
tives are fighting with the allied forces.
The Princess was originally Miss Daisy
Cornwallis West, daughter of Colonel and
Mrs. Cornwallis West, and member of a
family that has been right at the top of
fashionable society ever since the late King
Edward was at the height of his social
fame. He thought Mrs. Cornwallis West
the most entertaining person he had ever
known, and her daughters are equally ad
mired by all English society. All the West
women are lively as well as beautiful, and
their path through live Is constantly
marked with exciting episodes.
The Princess's sister Is the Duchess of
Westminster, an equally beautiful woman,
and wife of the richest nobleman In Eng
land. She has had a serious disagree
ment with her noble husband, as most
people know, but it Is believed that his
heroic conduct In the present war has
started a reconciliation between them.
rhe Duke, who was formerly an officer
in the Royal Horse Guards, went to the
front with the Ninth Lancers at the be
ginning of the war. At Complegne, where
the British army was severely pressed by
overwhelming numbers of Germans, the
Duke rescued Captain F. O. Grenfell, the
well-known, polo player, who was severely
wounded, and carried him to safety un
der heavy fire. The general of the cav
alry brigade In which the Duke was serv
ing reported him for distinguished brav
ery. The same general also made these
remarks about his men:
"Our men went through the Uhlana
like brown paper.
"We have established an unquestioned
personal ascendency over the enemy.
Theii1 cavalry cannot oppose us unless
they are two or three times our number."
All these little facts have a bearing on
the Princess of Pless's position, for her
husband is an officer In one of the despised
German cavalry regiments.
Pictures from England
Irritate the Germans.
The Duchess of Westminster herself Is
working as hard as she can making and
collecting garments for the British sol
'diers In the Held, especially warm under
wear, which they will greatly need dur
ing the coming Winter. She has turned
her house near London Glfford House,
Roehampton Into a headquarters for this
kind of work. She has been repeatedly
photographed with her friends and serv
ant busily engaged in this patriotic labor.
She has been to see various contingents
of soldiers off to the front and has en
couraged them as only a beautiful and
charming woman could do.
aThe brother of the Duchess and of the
Princess of Pless Is George Cornwallis
West He was married some years ago to
Lady Randolph Churchill, the dashing
American woman, wb,o was then a shade
older than his mother. Recently she ob
tained a divorce, and he then married
Mrs. Tatrlck Campbell, the brilliant
actress. Young West has been made the
subject of a few pleasantries on account
of his penchant for mature wives, but bis
bravery and patriotism are beyond sus
picion. He served In the Boer war.
He was formerly a lieutenant In the Scots
Guards. He returned to this regiment at
the outbreak of the present war, but was
soon promoted to be lieutenant colonel of
a battalion of naval reserves organlred for
land service because there were more of
these men than the navy needed. It Is
probable that he was sent to Ostend to
strengthen the British force there in the
difficult position It occupied after the fall
of Antwerp. It was once rumored that be
was shot as a spy.
Much of the news concerning the pat.
rlotic and warlike doings of the West
family has filtered through, perhaps ex
aggerated and embellished, to the German
relatives, frtenas and servants of the
Princess of Pless in Germany.
No news has been received from tha
Prim-ess for many weeks. It is not known
certainly where she Is, but it is believed
she is at the castle of Furstensteln, an
immense country estate In Silesta.
That was the last place from which sha
wrote to her friends in England. Sha
said that her surroundings were terrible,
but did not go Into details because all
letters are opened by the German Govern
ment, and any person or English birth io
Germany Is naturally subject to suspicion
of being a spy.
The Princess said that her husband has
had not then gone to the front It is be
lieved that he must have done so since
then, learlng ber in a very pitiable situv
tlon, surrounded by hostile and excited
persons and suspected of sending Informa
tion to ber British relatives.
Friends of tha Prin
cess believe that sho Is
practically a prisoner
In the great Castle of
Fuerstenstein. There
are over a thousand ser
vants, tenants and de
pendents of the Prince
in the castle and estate
surrounding it. All the men tire or hava
been soldiers In the German army. They
must look on the Princess as an enemy
and an English spy.
Every step she takes is watched by
these excited patriots. Every letter she
writes must be intrusted to one of them,
and It Is presumed that it is taken, prompt
ly to an army officer for examination.
Every word she utters Is reported. She
never goes out without being followed by
these spies and it Is believed that she
would not be allowed to go beyond the
boundaries of her own estate if aha
tried to.
An English lady's maid In the employ
of the Princess has sent many of the par
ticulars concerning their treatment to her
sister, who is employed in the West family.
Some of the English newspapers show
ing members of the Princess' English
family taking an herolo part in the war
have reached Furtensteia and hava
caused the greatest excitement among tha
ignorant peasantry. They Imagine that
the Princess' brother is taking advantage
of his knowledge of Germany to assist the
English in various underhand ways and
that she is supplying him with informa
tion. One of the English newspapers shows
the Princess's English brother-in-law, the
Duke of Westminster, scattering about a
hundred German cavalrymen single-handed.
Tkla has naturally aroused great in
dignation among the German servants and
peasants.
The Prince of Pless Is a lieutenant
colonel "a la suite" of the Seventeenth
Prussian Hussar Regiment This Is an
honorary rank. In his youth he had a
military training like nearly all German
Her German Husband at War with
Her English Brothers, She Is
Believed to Be a Prisoner
in a Gloomy Castle Hemmed
in by a Thousand Spies
J''
J"!'iA.K m 1
v " X if -S s
lw - - - -v vy-v I
it
V V
A 7 ', Ks.y.y I I
j . f I j if
rj?'' ' : ' '' 'o-V''"' . ' ' y i -J- - J
y: Vx ' -osr;-:'- jyi' j
" t ' v r u 7 f- It I
i 11 3
Princesi Henry of Plesi, the Beautiful Englishwomaxt V7bot
Position in Germany, Surrounded by Hoitil People, '
Excites Great Anxiety in England.
Three Recent Pictures in English ,
Newspapers Which Have f
Greatly Embarrassed
the Princess.
1Her Sister, the Duchess of West
minster, Making Clothes for
British Soldiers Fighting
Germans.
2 Her Brotherln-Lsw, the Duke of
Westminster, Who Was Report
ed for Distinguished Bravery In
Action Against the Germans.
t Her Brother, Colonel George Corn
wallis West, Now Commanding
a British Battalion Against tha
Germans.
' K -'
1 AlM
zyy:yy
1 ) y !
The Princess's Brother, Colonel G.
Cornwallis West, Who Also I Fight
Her Husband's Countrymen.
noblemen, but soon gave up army life to -take
charge of his Immense estates. As all
the German reserves have been called but
and there Is a great need of officers, it is
believed he must hava been called Into
active service, although no news has been,
received from him.
The Prince owns about 50,000 acres and
Is one of the richest men In Germany. In
addition to the castle mentioned he owns
the castle of Pless and about six other
castles and country estates. He has a
great hunting estate at Promonlty in Up
per Silesia and a palace In Berlin.
He is an intimate personal friend of the
Kaiser, who has confided many secrets tq
him. The Kaiser
once sent the Prince
on a mission to New
York. His Majesty
has .performed some
of his most ' awful
slaughters of deer
and other game on
the Prince's estates.
The Prince and
Princess have three
sons, for one of whom
the Kaiser acted as
godfather. His
Majesty has always
expressed the great
est admiration for
the-Princess. He once
said that she was tha
most perfect type of
English beauty. She
has a delicious, well
curved figure, a mass
of lovely blond hair,
large violet eyes
shaded by long lashes
and a very winnlag
expression. Much of
ber charm may be
attributed to her Irish descant. Her
mother was a Miss Flta Patrick and eame
of an old Irish family. '.
Experience proves that whatever friend
ship the Kaiser may have shown for the
English Princess In the past,' It aa be ot
little service to her now.. Tha cldsest
personal relationships between rulers and
cltiiens of the warring countries are ut
terly . annihilated. The Kaiser is fighting
against the country of bis mother. and the
country which his grandmother ruled. .Yet
according to all accounts be l more bit
ter against England than anybody in Ger
many. The Princess of Pless is in' the most
cruel position of all those whose private
relationships have been disrupted by tha
war. Members ot royal families placed in
a corresponding position are supported
by the tradition that requires them to be
faithful to the country where they marry
or take up their residence. It is essential
to their existence that they should stlok
to this tradtlon. The Queen of the Bel
gians bravely stayed at her place while
the German armies, one of them com
manded by her brother, the Crown Prince
of Bavaria, attacked Belgium, her adopted
country. '
With private persons it is different. The
Prince of Pless is not a member ot a
reigning family, and bis wife is virtually
a private person. Technically, a woman
becomes a citizen of her husband's coun
try, but no one supposes on that account
that she will lose all affection for her
native country. Americans do not sup
pose that the many American women
married in England will be indifferent to
the fate of their native land.
Similarly, the Princess of Pless must
feel a filial sympathy for England, and this
is regarded as a crime by the waning
nation that surrounds her!
Real Human Nature in Flies, Ants and Dandelions-
kLANTS and animals are a good deal like
human beings. . Some are ambitious,
some are Indolent. Some attain prosper
ity, some remain miserably poor. Some profit
by prosperity, others are spoiled by It Some
are rankly individualistic, others so strongly
socialistic that they weaken themselves and their
race.
"Nothing Is more successful than the fly," says
Professor A. S. Pearce, of the University of Wis
consin. "It Is impossible to exterminate him.
He adapts himself so remarkably to changing
conditions that if he were wiped out, say, in the
United States, he would find a breeding spot in
some remote part of South America, where even
Roosevelt has not penetrated."
The bee, too, is a remarkable creature, but
likely to be the victim of specialization. The fly
can live on anything, but the bee lives only on
honey. The bee Is on the road to destruction
because it has so limited its food, and If the sup
ply of honey should be destroyed it would die.
Often when flowers over a large area have been
killed by frost or drought, swarms of bees have
been found dead.
The dandelion Is a progressive. It Is always
np to some new wrinkle to preserve Itself. It
bas lately developed a faculty for growing with-
The Princess's Brother-in-Law, the Duke of Westminster, ou ,e," 'rtied. it is tun of improvements.
4 " JrrL t i ! vj tii i vv" t Tna bamacta Is an example of the Idle rich.
Who IS Distlngulanlng mmsell u is always looking for a "snap." It attaches
At the Front. itself to something so that It doesn't have to
work for a living; all it does is to let the water
bring food to it But It has lost a great deal
through this characteristic. It has lost sensi
tiveness, which Is always the penalty of settling
down to live without a struggle.
Ducks are remarkably co-operative, and so are
pelicans. Often a flock of pelicans will swim
far out, form a seinl-clrcle and then swim toward
shore, driving the fish before them until they get
them Into a convenient cove, where they devour
them at will.
But the most complete communal life is that
of ants. They make other ants serve as slaves.
Some ot them have developed Into door-tenders.
They have bard heads, with which they plug up
entrances. Friendly ants announce their pres
ence by stroking the heads in a peculiar way,
giving the password, as It were, and then are
admitted. These ants even raise a type of mush
room on which they live.
The "sanguinary ants' 'are what Prof. Wheeler
calla the "facultative slave-workers." Here,
also, we find gradations in the extent to which
evolution has operated to produce greater or less
dependence of owners on slaves for the dis
charge of the duties of the nest.
For Instance, In the case of Formica saw
ouinea. typical slave-holder of Europe, we
may And the ants living both in Independent
slaveless colonies and in neste where the ser
vice is slave-discharged.
And many ant communities are pestsred bt
hoboes. About 1,600 varieties of parasites whlcn
prey upon ant communities have been found
panhandling ants, which make their living like
human "bums" by begging or stealing food from
their honest, hard-working brothers.
But ants will pay the penalty of this co-operation.
Such condition means high specialization,
each aoit learning to do only one thing, becoming
in truth a piece-worker. Some little change in
their environment would force a great many to
drop out Their usefulness would be ended.
The horse is another example ot too much
specialization. It has specialized too highly on
speed.
The worst thing that an animal can do la to
be too successful, because if the conditions
under which he Uvea change he suffers extermi
nation. Ixok at the sabre-toothed tiger, once
the mightiest and perhaps the only mammal of
its day. It probably lived on the giant turtle,
until it killed off the turtles, and then it bad
to die.
Man Is the most successful creature so far,
because he has kept his balance, but the worst
thing about him Is the large size of his brain,
for it Indicates that he has let himself grow too
much In one direction. Biology teaches us that
success Is attained by keeping the power to
improve; by gotng out and struggling; by net
looking around for a snap, but principally by not
permitting oneself to crow into a rut
CoBjrrlshL Ilia, b the 8Ut Conaur. Orsat Britain Rlshts Rsssrvsd.
