THE KAISER'S NOBLE ANCESTOR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 183, 16 June 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE KAISER'S NOBLE ANCESTOR.

The following letter appeared in a London contemporary recently : Sir, —The Kaiser, i believe, is very proud of his ancestors, and thinks or profeses to think, that God was always on their side. This is an account of one of them, the father of Fcrderick the "Great," and is given by his own daughter, a sister of that monarch. 1 take it from one of Lord Jeffrey's "Reviews" :

He (tiie King of Prussia) had always been in the practice of famishing his children, partly out of avarice and partly from the love of tormenting; but now even the soup made of .bare bones and salt was retrenched. He often refused to let them have anything whatsoever, and spat into the dishes out of which he had helped himself, in order to prevent their touching them! At other times he would insist upon their eating all sorts of unwholesome and disgusting compositions. this, however, was not the worst of it. Ho frequently threw the plates at their heads, and scarcely ever let his dairenter fjo out of the room without aiming a sly blow at her with the end of his crutch. The unhappy Frederick be employed himself almost every morning in caning and kicking for a long tin together, and was actually, upon cac occasion, in the act of strangling hi.u with the cord of a widow curtain wh-'-n he was interrupted by one of bis domestics. To make amends, ho\ev»r, lie once lning up himself; when the Queen, by a rare act of folly, was induced to cut him down. 'When free from gout he was still more dangerous, for then he could pursue his dauguiers with considerable agility when tiny ran away from his blows, and once caught the princess, after a cii:' of this kind, when he clutched her by t:v hair and pushed her into a 'im.nc", till her clothes began to burn.

Tliis is the Princess's own _\ccoiui t. 11,I 1 , is not Lord Jeffrey's. anil it is ot mine. It seems, however, to furnish a fine picture of "{rightfulness.' Poor Kaiser! With an ancestry and an example like this it is a wonder that 10 is not a great deal worse than he is. l!ut Heaven preserve ns from surli "kultur!" I fear we must look elsewhere than to Germany for our "sacred memories" and our "spiritual home."—A. KIPLING COMMON.

Cocoa Tree Club. St. James' St S.W.