ble to manage the two-groschen pieces.
And it was the pride of his life that the King knew him personally,
and if he ever drove through the place would silently look at him from
his great eyes, while the horses were being changed, or, if he was
very gracious, give him a slight nod. With respect and a certain awe
the people looked upon even these subordinate servants of the new
principle, and the Silesians were not alone in this. Something new had
come into the world in general. It was not a mere figure of speech
when Frederick called himself the foremost servant of his State. As he
had taught his wild nobility on the battlefield that it was the
highest honor to die for the Fatherland, so his untiring, faithful
care forced upon the soul of the least of his servants in the distant
border towns the great idea of the duty of living and working first of
all for the good of his King and his country.

When the province of Prussia was forced, in the Seven Years' War, to
do homage to Empress Elizabeth, and remained for several years
incorporated in the Russian Empire, the officers of the district found
means nevertheless to raise money and grain for their King in secret,
and in spite of a foreign army and government. Great skill was used to
accomplish the transportation. There were many in the secret, but not
a traitor among them. In disguise they stole through the Russian lines
at the risk of their lives, although they knew that they would reap
small thanks from the King, who did not care for his East Prussians at
all. He spoke contemptuously of them, and showed them unwillingly the
favors which he bestowed on the other provinces. His face turned to
stone whenever he learned that one of his young officers was born
between the Memel and the Vistula, and after the war he never trod on
East Prussian soil. But this conduct did not disturb the East
Prussians in their admiration. They clung with faithful love to
their ungracious lord, and his best and most enthusiastic eulogist was
Emanuel Kant.

Life in the King's service was serious, often hard--work and
deprivation without end. It was difficult even for the best to satisfy
the strict master; and the greatest devotion received but curt thanks.
If a man was worn out he was likely to be coldly cast aside. There was
work without end everywhere: something new, something beginning, some
scaffolding of an unfinished structure. To a foreign visitor this life
did not seem at all graceful