¶ He has his superstitions to the end; about the number 13, about the number 7; and he believes that the moon has power to make human hair grow. “It is best,” he says, “not to make scoff of such matters.”
¶ Sometimes he goes over his orders of honor, forty-eight in all, and of great distinction; also, his learned degrees. University of Halle made him Doctor of Philosophy; Erlangen, Doctor of Law; Tuebingen, Doctor of Political Science; Giessen, Doctor of Theology, and Jena, Six-fold Doctor, that is to say Doctor of Medicine; and Goettingen, Doctor of Law.
¶ They bring him a joint of wild boar, shot in Varzin forest, and he has a feast. His fondness for game he never gives up. Also, to the last he has his champagne. After the Franco-Prussian war Bismarck refused to drink German champagne, and told the Emperor, quite plainly, “Your Majesty, my patriotism stops with my stomach; I simply must stick to French champagnes.”
¶ He tells how he used to drink Affenthaler and Merkgraefler, years before at Frankfort; these were first-rate, at one florin a bottle, or wholesale, the old man explains; by the 100 liters, only 14 kreutzers (8 cents) a bottle.
¶ “Red wine is for children, champagne for ladies, and schnapps for generals,” is one of his drinking mottoes, but he tells that he himself prefers his old-line invention, the Bismarck champagne and porter, a most powerful decoction, putting ordinary mortals under the table very early in the evening—but not the Iron Chancellor, not at all!
¶ He recalls amusing stories of his ancestors. “One ancestor put pigs’ ears in pea soup and made a gastronomic hit.”
¶ Bismarck’s eyes water one day and he explains, “The wine my ancestors drank to excess comes back in punishment for their sins.”
¶ What do you think? Bismarck’s old enemy, Herr von Sybel, the eminent author of the ponderous “History of Prussia,” called today, and Bismarck was glad to see Sybel, and they chatted a long time. As he and Sybel talked of history, Bismarck had moments when he held himself the one authentic builder of the German Empire.