The Shasta courier., 1864-12-17
FredeIickthe Great.

FredcIickthe Great.
The following sketch would seem to cha
the great King of Prussia into very sd i
individual: ~
Frederick the Great was very i'll, and a.
Grumkow fcalling to express his regret,
Majesty replied II trust to give sd
thrashing before die, to many scoundfel
who is hoping for my DEATH" The Grown
Prince coming in a few minutes after, the
persons present prepared to retire; but the
King recalled three of his Wallets, who were
in hopes that he was about to recommend
them to his successor. Said the King: My
son, these three fellows are the greatest
scoundrels whom have in my service. They
all three deserve hanging, and | hope you
will have it done after my DEATH" Upon
this. one of of the Wallets who had served the
king since his childhood, spoke up, after get
ting safe distance from the royal bamboo,
and said: $50 that is the reward of my long
service, and for having had hardly dry bread
to eat for forty years slavery If we have
deserved the rope, why does not your Majes-
ty have us hung at once? You would have
the pleasure of seeing it, and we would be
freed from the harshness of the most migrate
ful master in the world.o His two comrades
expressed their opinion much in the same
way. The king fell into furious passion,
but. as he could not then seize and punish
the daring fellows, he contented himself with
a threat Of making them eat sticks when he
got well again. A few days afterwards, the
king, falling into passion with bis servants,
asked for his pistols. and ordered them to be
dod ohox C.
each feared lest he might be the target, un.
til the armorer completed ejob. The king
at once raised his salary by fifty thaelers,
and laid the loaded pistols by his bedside
The Wallets, however, straightway fed, and
consented to The pistols being removed.
clerk in the Excise accused some gener-
al officer. who stood we'll with the king. of
defrauding the revenue, but was unable to
his charge, and was at once dis
missed. As he had no private fortune, he
was almost starving when he sent petition
to the king, imploring employment. The
king sent him back the letter, with the mar
ginal note, manu- propid, :" go to the devil"
The next day, September 80, 1913, the poor
wretch blew out his brains.
The king was not very gallant in his BE-
navior to the ladies. Fraulein ION Kameke.
was not pretty, but clever; had a fortune of
100000 thaelers. Of course she had plenty
Of admirers, but refused them all, as she was
resolved to die an old maid. at length, Ma
or Count Won Donhoff offered his hand, which
was respectfully declined. But the gallant
Major did not understand defeat. and applied
10 the king, who always delighting to inter-
Iere in matters of this nature. readily acted
,s an intermediator. He spoke to the moth
er and daughter, who replied with all proper
respect, that the count could entertain no
hopes. A few hours after the interview, the
ladies' we're informed that the king left them
the choice whether they would accept the
counts offer, or leave the court and city as
beggars. The marriage ceremony was per
f,rmed on the same day, to the great regret
Of the queen, who was attached to the young
lady.
The older the king grew. the more arbitra-
~ became his actions. The Procurator, Ne
nnder, highly respected man, had drawn
up petition on behalf of clergyman at
and sent it to the king by the
usual course, namely, through the hands of
courier. 1t so happened that, on the very
day when the petition reached the king, he
had issued an order prohibiting the custom.
Neander. of course, could not anticipate this
but the king, who was in an awful temper,
resolved to make a warning example of the
man. He had him arrested, and
him to wear the Spanish cloak "a
ell-shaped wooden machine, through an
opening in which the head and arms issuedl
for three days.
The kings Wallets, who had a very hard
1uty, end were exposed to the coarsest ILL.,
treatment, received their dinner from the
court kitchen, as they could not leave him.
The sick man, however, ordered, cn. March
IA, that they should feed themselves, and
have their dinners brought from home; each
vas obliged to show his dish to the king, who
either ate portion of it or gave dish from
lis own table in exchange for it. On the
'ame day he ordered that any one who cough
ID or sneezed in his room should pay ducat,
% go to the poor. A few DAYS after he de-
,lared that he had turned against the food
which the physicians had ordered for him;
he wanted Strengthening soup, and ate with
sood appetite bacon and bears, ard picked
pork and cabbage. The cook, who wished
10 give him a change, roasted him wood
sock, which the king really enjoyed, but, as
the patient was IN q particular bad temper
shas day, the cook did not dare enter the
price of the bird on the kitchen list :: which
the king daily revised. When it appeared
on the next day, however, the king struck it
out saying very augrily, that he would not
have any such dear rubbish. On the cook
that his Majesty had seemed great
ly to enjoy the bird on the previous daT. the
king made answer: II faneief it was pre-
sent, and..oaly ate it ont of politeness to the
giver." The cook. in fine. had to paw for the
OFT of his own pocket, and be glad
that he was not punished for his extraTa.
gance.
Attacks of mental arrangement, to which
the king was subject during the last years of
his life occurred repeatedly in l740. As a
rule, however, they did not last long; and,
as the king, after such attacks. had moments
of perfect lucidity. no one dared to take the
measures which would have been for the ben
of the country and Crown Prince.
.The display of ordinary civility to the prince
I his sonl offended him. One evening, when
Frederick entered his fathers room, and all
the persons present rose, the king shouted
angrily "Sit down again!'' and when the
prince did not at once obey, and the others
remained standing, he cried,