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HERMANN THE IRASCIBLE--A STORY OF THE GREAT WEEP
It was in the second decade of the twentieth century, after the
Great Plague had devastated England, that Hermann the Irascible,
nicknamed also the Wise, sat on the British throne. The Mortal
Sickness had swept away the entire Royal Family, unto the third
and fourth generations, and thus it came to pass that Hermann the
Fourteenth of Saxe-Drachsen-Wachtelstein, who had stood thirtieth
in the order of succession, found himself one day ruler of the
British dominions within and beyond the seas. He was one of the
unexpected things that happen in politics, and he happened with
great thoroughness. In many ways he was the most progressive
monarch who had sat on an important throne; before people knew
where they were, they were somewhere else. Even his Ministers,
progressive though they were by tradition, found it difficult to
keep pace with his legislative suggestions.
"As a matter of fact," admitted the Prime Minister, "we are
hampered by these votes-for-women creatures; they disturb our
meetings throughout the country, and they try to turn Downing
Street into a sort of political picnic-ground.
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