The Washington herald., 1915-03-21

prince so speedily and prodigally squar-
dered as To have left him cynic at ~.
Although the statue is of one somewhat
beyond the young manhood OF a King
who came to the throne at %, il is of u
Frederick yet in his prime.
As soon as Frederick was of age. his
man princess and promptly yoked him
to her. To the crown prince the ccre-
mony of mating was meaningless. hut
he raised no objection to it. Il shall
marry" he said with cheerful resiCua-
ton, but after the deed has been done.
l shall say: Good morning. madam. and
a pleasant journey to YOU" In his
honeymoonlcss wedlock the bridegroom
suited his actions to those words and
the couple lived happy-and apart-ever
after
Thus utterly alone did that most mon
aStic reign of Frederick the Great be.
Thus friendless and solitary he ruled for
fOTty-siX years. bearing up. in
Macaulay's phrase. against a world in
arms with ounce of poison in one
pocket and quire Of bad verse I'm the
other"
Thanks to his civic talents. which bal
anced his martial gifts. he revived his
PROSTATE land and stood his kingdom
on its feet. But so weak and wasted
srapeshot at jena was enough to lay it
low again.
A Black Sheep.
nephew inherited the childless
Frederick's crown but not his indiffer-
ence to women. Seeing there are ladies
present. il would ne just as well not
to pause before the statue of this
Frederick William H. Still, he fitted
well enough, perhaps, in an age when
that obese debauche. George " of
England. then Prince of Wales, typi-
as THE first gentleman of Europe
when the Bourban King of Spain
praised before the world his wifes
favorite. Godoy. for having helped him
through twenty years bear the bur
den of the crown. and when the Gar
Alexander ] was altogether worthy
of the grandmother who brought him
up. che naughty Catherine.
erick William II immured his first
Queen in the fortress town of Custrin,
and for full seventy years she re
NAMED an exile from the court and
was no happier for being kept at the
side of her unworthy husband and
made a witness of his shamelessncss.
The Mother of the Empire.
The tall. handsome figure standing
next in the row. that of Frederick
William Ill recalls to memory poor
enough King but paragon of do
mestic propriety. The political for
tunes of the HohenzoIlern throne sank
lower in his reign than IN any other.
bul fTeucrlck Nllllafn u ana MS
beautiful Queen Louise united their
home ly virtues to lift il out of the
moral mire in which they found it.
Although Louise truly is the mother
of the German empire. her familiar
face is not i'll the row of family por-
traits in the Sieges Alice. since no
woman may wear the HohenZollern
crown. She has. however. an album
all to her lovely self. where. on
bosky isle in the Thiergarten. she
stands in marble as white as her wom-
ans soul.
Louise was only q and gay little
provincial princess when, in 1897. her
husband become King. As daughter
of one of the poorest of princeiy fam
lilies. reared in poverty and close to
the soil. she had imbibed the true ma
tive spirit and her gentle bosom was
agitated with the emotions of German
thing unknown to the
court and aristocracy OF Berlin
Her enthusiasm and her prophetic
spirit drew along the phlegmatic ans
self. 1t was she who. in 1905, joined
the hands of her husband and the Car
Alexander above the tomb of Frederick
the Great by lantern light, while the
bell of the old Garrison Church At
Possdam tolled the midnight hour and
the two monarchs allied themselves
against Napoleon. Then came Jena,
from which field she fled before the
French conqueror in a flight that car
ried her to Berlin and on to Konigs-
berg. through the winters storm to
Memel, the last town in her realm.
a anmii iina siCn a az T&sit For Gods sake
no shameful peace" sne implored her
husband as they hurried on before