The page, however, fearing something wrong, determined to send the note by somebody else, and just as he was going out at the palace door, he met a Jew banker who was well-known at court, and asked him to carry the King’s note. The Jew, glad of an opportunity to be obliging, went at once. On his arrival at the guard-house, the officer read the note, told the messenger to wait, and called out the guard. The Jew, thinking it was to do him honor as a messenger from court, begged the officer not to give himself any trouble. “I will not,” he replied, and ordered the guard to seize the Jew, and give him twenty-five lashes, which was immediately done. The Jew, with his honor and his back severely wounded, was going away; but the officer told him he could not go till he had given a written acknowledgment for what he had received. The Jew was obliged to give it for fear of getting another beating. The affair soon came to the ears of the King, who, though he could not help laughing heartily at the adventure, was obliged to confer some favors on the hero of it, as the banker frequently advanced him large sums of money, in cases of necessity. Did Not Stammer When Singing Frederick the Great once gave an audience to a man who stammered. This grew very tiresome to his Majesty, who asked: “Tell me, do you stammer when you sing?” “No—your—Majesty!” “Well then, just sing to me, what you wish to tell me.” Without Mercy “Well, I made one parson happy, for this world and the next,” Frederick the Great often said laughing heartily. “It was in Silesia. I had been quartered several times at the village parson’s without ever having seen him, so I sent for him. “‘How do you do, parson?’ “‘Very badly.’ “‘Well, Well! Have patience; everything will be all right in the next world.’ “‘I doubt it very much; I am afraid it will be worse.’ “‘How so?’ “‘I have two daughters, three sons, a small parish and—debts. If I die, without having satisfied my creditors, your Majesty will understand that I should be damned without mercy.’” He Did Not Understand Frederick the Great made the personal acquaintance of every soldier of his regiment of guards. Whenever he saw a fresh one, he put the three following questions to him: “First, how old are you? Second, how long have you been in my service? Third, are you satisfied with your pay and treatment?” It happened that a young Frenchman, who did not understand German, enlisted in the Prussian service, and Frederick, on seeing him, put the usual questions. The soldier had learned the answers by heart, but in the same order as the King generally interrogated. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the King began with the second question: “How long have you been in my service?” “Twenty-one years,” replied the Frenchman. “What!” said Frederick, “how old are you then?” “One year,” was the reply. “Upon my word,” exclaimed his majesty, “you or I must be mad!”