Miss Leutwein In A Palace

MISS LEUTWEIN IN A PALACE

She Will Become It's Social Head

WAS ANN ARBOR GIRL

Her Uncle, a Governor General, Has Sent For to Take Charge of His Colonial Palace in South Africa

The people of Ann Arbor will be pleased to learn of the good fortune, which has come to Miss Isabel Leutwein, formerly of this city. It is thus told in the Journal:

Miss Isabel Emanuella Wilhelmina Maurine Leutweln of Kalamazoo, in company with Mrs. Estelle Bosman of that place, spent Thursday in this city en route to New York, where they will set sail Saturday upon the Graf Waldersee for Hamburg, Germany.

This is the first stage of a journey which is expected to prove a very notable one for the two Michigan ladies and to result in experiences and honors of an unusual character. In the reasons which led to their venturing on the trip is an interesting story.

Miss Leutwein is a niece of his excellency, Theodore Leutwein, governor general and imperial commissioner of the Gorman colonies of Southwest Africa, a famous war general who conquered several savage tribes and made them tributary to the vast region which he controls.

His palace at Great Windhoek resembles in many respects the imperial palace of Germany and at his court, diplomats and nobles from all over the world are entertained daily. The general has been an intimate friend of Emperor William from childhood, and when located at his magnificent residence in Berlin, he enjoys almost daily consultations with him. At the age of 18 he was made a first lieutenant in the Germany army, and through the joint agencies of personal ambition and family influence, he rose gradually to his present responsible position.

The general some time ago lost his wife and he has no near female relatives to share his honors with him, although he has two sons, graduates of Heidelberg. Consequently the household duties have in the past two years fallen from the dowager of the nobility to another, ending with a middle aged grand duchess of Hesse.

The branches of the Leutwein family in America and in Germany have kept in communication with each other and in recent years the excellently written letters in German of Miss Isabel have attracted the admiration of the governor-general. The result has been that Gen. Leutwein has invited his young niece to join him and become the head of the domestic and social side of his official establishment. It is in response to this invitation that Miss Leutwein, accompanied by her friend, Mrs. Bosman, left Kalamazoo Thursday morning, and after a stop of a few hours in this city continued her way on a 10,000-mile journey, which will end in southern Africa. The colonial palace has always been in charge of a woman of mature years, and now both sides of the water will be interested in seeing how an inexperienced American girl, reared among English speaking people, will fill the difficult position.

Miss Leutwein's mother was the daughter of an English-born woman of French descent, a member of a wealthy and famous family, and was disinherited by her father for eloping with an Englishman, equally as respectable, but endowed with fewer of the indigo blue corpuscles. They fled to the United States and became model citizens, democratic in every thought and impulse. At Plymouth, Ind., where they resided for some time, their daughter met Prof. Carl G. P. Leutwein, who was traveling, and shortly after they were married.

Prof. Leutwein finally moved to Ann Arbor, where he taught modern languages in the high school, teaching in the summer at Bay View. His marriage was a happy one, but after some years his wife died, leaving him with seven children, the youngest still an infant. Miss Isabel took upon herself the duties of housekeeper and mother, depriving herself of all the outside pleasures in which young girls of her age delight. Consequently her many friends rejoice over the rare good fortune that has come to her by her distinguished uncle's favor, and agree that it was well merited.

Shortly after their arrival in Germany, Miss Leutwein will go to Paris as the guest of Mrs. Josephine Hunt, where suitable gowns will be made by a costumer of the German court. Among other interesting keepsakes which the young lady had while in Detroit was a note written by the German emperor to Gov. Gen. Leutwein, saying that he will be pleased to meet his niece as soon as convenient to her. Consequently, a presentation at court will take place before they leave on the general's private steamer for South Africa, whether they may possibly be accompanied by Rev. Emanuel Leutwein of Freiburg, another uncle of the girl, who is an eminent divine. Another interesting article she had was a letter from the general to his favorite niece, Isabel--whom, by the way, he has never seen--telling her that American girls are beginning to be considered by the staid German nobles and high military officials as worthy of admiration, as they are held to be in England and France, and that their company is sought even in Germany, because it is unaffected, fresh and charming, and that he will be proud to show to the world (Germany) his little American rose.

He has promised to allow her three years of vocal and instrumental training at Berlin, and many other nice things if she decides to remain.

Now the question arises: Will the American girl please her uncle, or will he be hard to suit, or will the homesickness she could not hide even in Detroit grow upon her until she will be glad to quit the enchanted whirl for her own cozy fireside in the celery belt?

If the governor general wants a society butterfly he will be disappointed in Isabel, for she is modest and reserved--almost too quiet--but thoroughly kind and good, with a levelheadedness nothing could overbalance, and the fine, high-bred charm of manner that comes from careful training. In appearance she is slender and of medium hight, with a fair complexion, blue-gray eyes and a halo of brown hair, auburn in the sunlight. She plays both piano and violin, and speaks French, German and Spanish fluently.

Mrs. Bosman, who accompanies her, is the wife of Dr. J. W. Bosman of Kalamazoo, both of them well and favorably known in that city. She is an old friend of Miss Leutwein, and, as that lady's guest, will share equal honors with her.

Miss Victoria Theodora Leutwein, the eldest sister of Miss Isabel, who held a position as instructor in one of the Chicago high schools, has magnanimously agreed to keep house for her father, and is in no wise jealous of her younger sister's good fortune.