Part 8 (1/2)

But the hale old Emperor of Germany has not only recently cohty-sixth year, but--what is still --at the same time marked the seventy-sixth year of his service as an officer in the Prussian army

It is related that, on the 22d of March, 1807, on which day Willia of Prussia, called him into his study and said,--

”My son, I appoint you an officer in my ariave his father a prompt military salute, and retired An hour later he reappeared before the king, attired in the unifor the salute, announced to his royal father that ”he was ready for duty”

[Illustration: WILLIAM BEFORE HIS FATHER]

Even at so early an age, Willia to humbler officers the duties and hardshi+ps

He at once devoted hin; and fro zealously tostep by step, not by favor, but by hteen, Willia an active part in the overthrow of Napoleon, and witnessing that hty downfall A little later, he was proe under heavy fire; and from that time on, for nearly half a century, William devoted himself wholly to the military profession

When he ascended the Prussian throne, there was no dorim and relentless hand; and the people believed that their new hty tyrant

It was not until after the great triuan to discover that King William was not only a valiant soldier, but an ardent lover of his country, and a kind-hearted, whole-souled father of his people

THE STATESMAN

For the last sixteen years, no sovereign in Europe has been h Williaht” to rule as sturdily as did his mediaeval ancestors, and has not a little conten has been on the whole brilliantly wise and successful While this has been in a great reat men around him,--notably of Bismarck and Von Moltke,--the e the power and towering fortunes of Germany

His paternal ith his people, his e, his fine, frank, hearty, chivalrous nature, his sound sense in the choice of his advisers, and his perception of the wisdo Prussia and Gerht in Europe

[Illustration: KING WILLIAM'S HELMET]

Beneath his coed exterior there beats a very kindly heart Many incidents have been related to show the siood-nature of his character In his study, on the table at which he writes, there has long remained a rusty old cavalry helmet, the relic of some military association of the emperor

Whenever the death-warrant of a conden, the emperor looks at it, and then slyly slips the fatal document under the helmet Soned, take occasion, in his absence from the study, to pull the papers out froh to catch theirthereat is his repugnance to doo even a hardened crihty-six, the stalwart old kaiser cannot hope to dwellbefore his fine qualities, soldierly courage, and affectionate nature will grow dim in the memory of the fatherland

The stories related at this ely from Grimm and Fouque, and are to be found in A of the stories, told by Herive it here

SNEEZE WITH DELIGHT

Many, ood cobbler and his wife They had one child, Jaht years They were poor people; and the good wife, to help her husband, had a stall in the great market, where she sold fruit and herbs

One day the cobbler's as at the market as usual, and her little boy ith her, when a strange old woman entered the stalls

The woman hardly seemed human She had red eyes, a wizened, pinched-up face, and her nose was sharp and hooked, and als and tatters

Never before had there entered theperson