Let the
dead past bury its dead. You see, in regard to the calendar, I am for
democracy and you are for aristocracy. All things I hold, are august,
and have a right to be lived through on their merits. No day should be
sacrificed on the grave of departed events. What do you think of it,
Wilhelm?'
'For the noble, yes, all days should be noble.'
'Exactly my position,' said the king, and felt pleased at what he had
been saying.
And then, since the American pressed his idea, the king contrived to
shift the talk from the question of celebrating the epoch they were
making to the question of the probabilities that lay ahead. Here every
one became diffident. They could see the world unified and at peace, but
what detail was to follow from that unification they seemed indisposed
to discuss. This diffidence struck the king as remarkable. He plunged
upon the possibilities of science. All the huge expenditure that had
hitherto gone into unproductive naval and military preparations, must
now, he declared, place research upon a new footing. 'Where one man
worked we will have a thousand.' He appealed to Holsten. 'We have only
begun to peep into these possibilities,' he said. 'You at any rate have
sounded the vaults of the treasure house.'
'They are unfathomable,' smiled Holsten.
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