Year: 1868




Ex-Governor Fairfield, Of Michigan,
In campaign speech, delivered at
Nenia, Ohio, related the following beau
tiful incident of Prussian history:


II remember-if you will pardon me
for this word Of illustration; I know q
windmill h an ordinary thing. that
there is nothing beautiful about it.-but
l remember seeing one that seemed
beautiful. 1t had its shistoly. Its histo-
ry you will allow me to revert to. When
Frederic the Great was Emperor Of
Prussia, he went out little way from
Berlin and built him palace at San
Souci. He and the Empress were seat
cd one Sabbath afternoon In their beau
tiful groands, and the Empress said; 4
don't like that old windmill over there,
wish you would buy the grounds aud
tear IL away, rs 1t mars the beauty OF
our grounds, being right alongside, and
so near them here I'm do 1t to-mor-
row. said he. So OF the morrow he
went to tho miller and told him he
wished to buy his little homestead. y
don't wish to SELL said the miller,
But said the Emperor, Il must have
1t. wish to extend and bcautify my
grounds, and your windmill Is a sore
eye to the Empress.' But said he.
my grandfather Is buried yonder, and
my father Is buried there, and this has
been the home Of my ancestors 20. gem
I ~, 4.
and I cannot sell it, The Emperor,
getting out of patience, said he would
order his men to tear the mill down,
and take possession Of the grounds.
Said tho miller, may 1t please your
Majesty; there are laws in Prussia, and
I can sue you Il don't care, said the
Emperor, and went on and tore down
the mill. The miller sued him, and the
courts decided against His Majesty, and
declared that he should rebuild tho
mill, and pay, to the last farthing, all
the miller had lost.


"The Emperor bowed his head, went
and rebuilt the mill, and paid all damag-
es. After awhile Frederic the Great
was in his grave and the old miller was
gone; and By and by another miller was
there, and another Emperor was on the
throne. The miller wrote to his reigning
Majesty, that so many years ago his
grandfather had refused to sell his wind
mill and homestead to him, but, said
he, am poor and need the money,
and will sell, and hope the price may
be such as to please your Majesty; 1
must have s., ,OO0.' The Emperor, with
his own hand, wrote a reply. He wrote
simply this: You say you are poor.
l am sorry for 1t. You are willing to
sell your windmill for 5000. The
windmill cannot be sold. 1t belongs to
Prussian history. Inclosed find my
check for $4,000. Yours respectfully
And the name and the great seal of the
Emperor was affixed. l stood near the
mill on u beautiful afternoon, such as
this has been, and l wandered among
the trees or listened to the singing birds,
and caught the fragrance from ten thou
sand beautiful flowers that filled the air
with their perfumes; thought the most
beautiful thing Of all l saw was that
windmill, with its ungainly arms, and,
as | watched itswing around those arms,
the tears came unbidden to my eyes, for
it seemed to me to swing those giant
arms around as for the defence of the
hulnbIest men-for the poor rs well as
the mightiest. And that rs the glory Of
government everywhere. Certainly,
then, if there is any class Of men any
where that ought to be protected by the
government, it is the men who have
hitherto been deprived Of their rights
and have been trampled IN tho dust"
Lond applause