"
His hearers laughed, and an old gentleman remarked:
"You have mental colour-blindness, my dear Prince, and I should not
like to have you guide the engine of my life-train."
He had hit the mark. Prince Louis saw life uniformly grey. How
infinitely true are Schiller's words:
"Each mortal heart some wish, some hope, some fear,
Linked with the morrow's dawn, must cherish here
To bear the troubles with which earth is rife,
The dull montony [Transcriber's note: monotony?] of daily life."
But Prince Louis wished, hoped, feared nothing, and when he thought of
the future he beheld it in the form of a drowsy monster, yawning
noisily. He longed like a languishing lover for some excitement,
pursued it to the end of the world, but did not succeed in finding it.
He was just on the eve of going to Norway to hunt reindeer, when the
war of 1870 broke out. In 1866 he had been in Africa and did not hear
of the events of the summer until everything was over. This time he
asked permission to join his regiment, the first dragoon-guards, which
of course was granted.
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