o history has given him the title of
most powerful of all Russian Czars and has called him "Peter the
Great."

V

Frederick the Great

The Boy of Potsdam: 1712-1788

A little boy and girl sat playing on a harpsichord in one of the great
stiffly-furnished and lofty-ceilinged rooms of the Potsdam Palace,
outside Berlin. The boy wore his yellow hair in long curls, his eyes
were merry and he laughed often, while his sister, who was a little
older, seemed quite as happy. The children were practicing for their
music lesson, and only too glad to be free of their teachers for a time,
because music was dearest to them both.

Without a word of warning the door of the room was thrown open, and a
big, heavy-faced man stood on the threshold.

"What's all this?" he cried, his voice snarling with anger, and his
small eyes shot with red. "Haven't I given orders that you're never to
touch that thing again?"

At the sound of the man's voice both children had jumped from their
chairs and stood, stiff as ramrods, facing the speaker. The boy had
raised his hand to the side of his head in salute.

"Please, sir," said the girl, "we're both so very fond of music."

"Silence," commanded the man, who was no other than their father,
Frederick William, King of Prussia. "Fritz can speak for himself; he
doesn't need a girl to defend him."

"Wilhelmina has told you, sir," said the boy, "how much we both love
music. Indeed I'd rather listen to it than do anything else, and I want
to learn how to play it for myself. I don't care anything about being a
soldier."

The King's face was almost purple with anger. He looked as though he
would box the boy's ears on the spot, but he held himself in check.

"You little brat!" he cried. "A soldier you shall be, and nothing else!
Do you think the kingdom of Prussia can be ruled by a crazy fool of a
musician? Don't talk to me of harpsichords, or books, or pictures.
You're not to be a woman, but a king!"

The boy knew his father too well to attempt any answer; there was no one
in Prussia who would dare speak freely before King Frederick William.

After scowling at his son in silence for some minutes the man spoke
again. "Listen to my orders and see that you obey them. From to-day your
music-masters are discharged, every instrument is moved from the palace,
and if either of you two is found playing such things I will have you
locked in your rooms for a week to live on barley and water. Now,