The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-04-05
The Three Horse-shoes.

Maurice de Sake was son OF the King
of Saxony, and a fine Lad he was-tall
and strong and handsome, and brave as
lion. But the King, like certain old
woman of whom you may have heard,
hal SO many children that he didn't
know what to do, and so, as Maurice mad
such lot of elder brothers as to have
not much chance of inheriting the crown,
or ANYTHING else that would keep him in
bread and butter, his father sent him
out to seek his fortune, like many an
other Prince in those days. SO he went
over to France. and entered the army of
King Louis XIV.
Now. at thai time there was always
war going on somewhere or other, and
the French armies were fighting In every
part of Europe; and the King cared very
little who his officers were, or where
they came from, if they were only brave
men and clever fighters, and ready to go
wherever he liked to send them. So,
as you may think, it was not long before
our friend Maurice, who was quite as
brave as any of them, and a good deal
cleverer than most, began to make his
way. First, he got to be Lieutenant,
then a Captain, then Major, then
Colonel, and at last, while he WAS still
quite young man, he came out as
Count de SAKE, and Field Marshal of
the Army of Flanders, with 80, 900 men
under him That was pretty good pro-
motion, wasn't it ?
Curiously enough, the one thing that
this great General specially prided him.
self upon was neither his skill in warfare
nor his favor at court, but simply his
strength. There was nothing he enjoyed
so much as showing off the power of his
muscles, and astonishing the people
about him by bending an iron bar, or
telling horse with one blow of his fist;
and he was fond of saying that he would
give his purse and all the money in it to
any man who was stronger than himself,
if he could ever fall in with him.
Now, it happened that, one day, while
the French and German armies were
living pretty close to each other, Mar
shall de SAKE sent message to the
enemy's camp. asking some of the Ger
man officers TO dine with him; and
after the meal he began to boast of his
strength, as usual, till at last an old
German General, who sat at his left,
said that he would like to see specimen
of what his Excellency could do. SAKE
made no answer, but took up q large
silver dish, which was standing before
him, in his strong white fingers for, big
and powerful as his hands were, they
were white and smooth as any lady's,
and he was very proud of them, and,
without more ado, rolled it up like a
sheet of paper
"Can your Honor unroll that dish
again ?" asked he, handing it to the Ger
man; and, although the General was q
strong man, and tried his best, he found
the task too hard for him, and was forced
to own himself beaten.
"Your Excellency's strength is very
great" said he, "but, nevertheless,
venture to think that there is one man
in Flanders who can match it."
"And who may he be |" asked SAKE,
frowning.
GA blacksmith in the village of Sche-
veningen, Dirk Hogan by name. AL
the country around knows of his exploits
and, when l met with him myself, / saw
such things as / should have thought i'm
possible, had my own eyes not Witnessed
them"
When the Marshal heard this. he
looked blacker than ever and the frs
thing he did next morning was to send of
messengers in every direction to inquir,
for village called Scheveningen, and
man named Dirk Hogan. And, sur,
enough, some of them came back will
news that there was such a village, ant
that Dirk Hogan, the smith, had beer
living there till quite lately but tina
now he had sold his forge and gone away
and nobody knew what had become
him.
This was a decided disappointment
for our friend SAKE, but he had some
thing else to think of just then TIL