THE GREAT FREDERICK
"I declare, Hans, I should think you would get tired of playing war,"
said Bertha. She was sitting under the trees rocking her doll. She
was playing it was a baby.
Hans had just come home after an afternoon of sport with his boy
friends. But all they had done, Bertha declared, was to play war and
soldiers. She had watched them from her own yard.
"Tired of it! What a silly idea, Bertha. It won't be many years
before I shall be a real soldier. Just picture me then! I shall
have a uniform, and march to music. I don't know where I may go,
either. Who knows to what part of the world the emperor will send
his soldiers at that time?"
"I know where you would like to go in our own country," said Bertha.
"To Berlin, of course. What a grand city it must be! Father has
been there. Our schoolmaster was there while he served his time as a
soldier. At this very moment, it almost seems as though I could hear
the jingling of the officers' swords as they move along the streets.
The regiments are drilled every day, and I don't know how often the
soldiers have sham battles."
Hans jumped up from his seat under the tree and began to march up and
down as though he were a soldier already.
"Attention, battalion! Forward, march!" Bertha called after him.
But she was laughing as she spoke. She could not help it, Hans
looked so serious. At the same time she couldn't help envying her
brother a little, and wishing she were a boy, too. It must be so
grand to be a soldier and be ready to fight for the emperor who ruled
over her country.
"The schoolmaster told us boys yesterday about the grand palace at
Berlin. The emperor lives in it when he is in the city," said Hans,
wheeling around suddenly and stopping in front of Bertha.
"I think you must have caught my thoughts," said the little girl,
"for the emperor was in my mind when you began to speak."
"Well, never mind that. Do you wish to hear about the palace?"
"Of course I do, Hans."
"The schoolmaster says it has six hundred rooms. Just think of it!
And one of them, called the White Room, is furnished so grandly that
2,400,000 marks were spent on it. You can't imagine it, Bertha, of
course. I can't, either."
A German mark is worth about twenty-four cents of American money, so
the furnishing of the room Hans spoke of must have cost about
$600,000. It was a large sum, and it is no wonder the boy said he
could hardly imagine so much money.
"There are hundreds of halls in the palace," Hans went on. "Some of
their walls are painted and others are hung with elegant silk
draperies. The floors are polished so they shine like mirrors. Then
the pictures and the armour, Bertha! It almost seemed as though I
were there while the schoolmaster was describing them."
"I never expect to see such lovely things," said his sober little
sister. "But perhaps I shall go to Berlin some day, Hans. Then I
can see the statue of Frederick the Great, at any rate."
"It stands opposite the palace," said her brother, "and cost more
than any other bronze statue in the world."
"How did you learn that, Hans?"
"The schoolmaster told us so. He said, too, that it ought to stir
the blood of every true German to look at it. There the great
Frederick sits on horseback, wearing the robe in which he was
crowned, and looking out from under his cocked hat with his bright,
sharp eyes. That statue alone is enough to make the soldiers who
march past it ready to give their lives for their country."
[Illustration: Statue of Frederick the Great.]
"He lived when the different kingdoms were separated from each other,
and there was no one ruler over all of them. I know that," said
Bertha.
"Yes, he was the King of Prussia. And he fought the Seven Years' War
with France and came out victorious. Hardly any one thought he could
succeed, for there was so much against him. But he was brave and
determined. Those two things were worth everything else."
"That wasn't the only war he won, either, Hans."
"No, but it must have been the greatest. Did you know, Bertha, that
he was unhappy when he was young? His father was so strict that he
tried to run away from Germany with two of his friends. The king
found out what they meant to do. One of the friends was put to
death, and the other managed to escape."
"What did his father do to Frederick?" Bertha's eyes were full of
pity for a prince who was so unhappy as to wish to run away.
"The king ordered his son to be put to death. But I suppose he was
angry at the time, for he changed his mind before the sentence was
carried out, and forgave him."
"I wonder how kings and emperors live," said Bertha, slowly. It
seemed as though everything must be different with them from what it
was with other people.
"I'll tell you about Frederick, if you wish to listen."
"Of course I do, Hans."
"In the first place, he didn't care anything about fine clothes, even
if he was a king and was born in the grand palace at Berlin. His
coat was often very shabby.
"In the next place, he slept only about four hours out of the whole
twenty-four for a good many years. He got up at three o'clock on
summer mornings, and in the winter-time he was always dressed by
five, at the very latest.
"While his hair-dresser was at work, he opened his most important
letters. After that, he attended to other business affairs of the
country. These things were done before eating or drinking. But when
they had been attended to, the king went into his writing-room and
drank a number of glasses of cold water. As he wrote, he sipped
coffee and ate a little fruit from time to time.
"He loved music very dearly, and sometimes rested from his work and
played on his flute.
"Dinner was the only regular meal of the day. It was served at
twelve o'clock, and lasted three or four hours. There was a bill of
fare, and the names of the cooks were given as well as the dishes
they prepared."
"Did the king ever let them know whether he was pleased or not with
their cooking?" asked Bertha.
"Yes. He marked the dishes he liked best with a cross. He enjoyed
his dinner, and generally had a number of friends to eat with him.
There was much joking, and there were many clever speeches.
"When the meal was over, the king played on his flute a short time,
and then attended to more business."
"Did he work till bedtime, Hans?"
"Oh, no. In the evening there was a concert or lecture, or something
like that. But, all the same, the king was a hard-working man, even
in times of peace."
"He loved his people dearly, father once told me," said Bertha. "He
said he understood his subjects and they understood him."
"Yes, and that reminds me of a story the schoolmaster told. King
Frederick was once riding through the street when he saw a crowd of
people gathered together. He said to his groom, 'Go and see what is
the matter.' The man came back and told the king that the people
were all looking at a caricature of Frederick himself. A caricature,
you know, is a comical portrait.
"Perhaps you think the king was angry when he heard this. Not at
all. He said, 'Go and hang the picture lower down, so they will not
have to stretch their necks to see it.'
"The crowd heard the words. 'Hurrah for the king!' they cried. At
the same time, they began to tear the picture into pieces."
"Frederick the Great could appreciate a joke," said Bertha. "I
should think the people must have loved him."
"He had some fine buildings put up in his lifetime," Hans went on.
"A new palace was built in Berlin, besides another one the king
called 'Sans Souci.' Those are French words meaning, 'Without a
Care.' He called the place by that name because he said he was
free-hearted and untroubled while he stayed there.
"I've told you these things because you are a girl. But I'll tell
you what I like to think of best of all. It's the stories of the
wars in which he fought and in which he showed such wonderful
courage. So, hurrah for Frederick the Great, King of Prussia!"
Hans made a salute as though he stood in the presence of the great
king. Then he started for the wood-pile, where he was soon sawing
logs with as much energy as if he were fighting against the enemies
of his country.