In the army he has worked his way up like any other officer and has a firm grasp on all the multifarious details of the military establishment of the great country. He believes in militarism, or in force to use a more common expression, but in this he is right, for it has taken two hundred and fifty years to bring Prussia to the position she now holds, and what she has gained at the point of the sword must be retained in the same way. The immense sacrifices which the people make to support the army and navy are deemed necessary for self-preservation, and with France on one side and Russia on the other, there really seems to be ample excuse for it. To-day the German army is as ready as in 1870, when Von Moltke walked down the Unter den Linden, the day after hostilities were declared, looking in the shop windows. No ruler, except possibly Peter the Great, ever gave so many _ex cathedra_ opinions on so many different subjects in the same length of time, and of course it cannot be supposed that he has not made mistakes, but it shows that it is only by prodigious industry that he has been able to gather the materials on which these utterances are based. He is indeed the "first servant of the state," and long before his court or indeed many of the housemaids of Berlin are awake, he is up and attending to affairs of all kinds. He is a great traveler, and knows Europe from the North Cape to the Golden Horn; and while flying across country in his comfortable vestibuled train, he dispatches business and acquires an excellent idea of the country, and no traveler can speak more intelligently of the countries through which he has traveled, and this information is brought out with good effect in his excellent after-dinner speeches. In speaking of the versatility of the Emperor, something should be said of him as a sportsman. He has given a splendid example to the Germans. He has tried to introduce baseball, football and polo, three American games. This may be traced to the time when Poultney Bigelow and J. A. Berrian were the Emperor's playmates. Fenimore Cooper was one of the favorite authors with the young scion of royalty. The Emperor is fond of hunting, yachting, tennis and other sports and is never so happy as when he stands on the bridge of the royal yacht Hohenzollern. He is a well known figure at Cowes and won the Queen's Cup in 1891. William II. was born January 27, 1859, in Berlin, and until he was fourteen years old his education was intrusted to Dr. Hintzpeter, assisted by Major Von Gottberg, who was military instructor. At this time his corps of teachers was increased by the addition of Prediger Persius, who prepared him for his confirmation, which took place September 1, 1874, at Potsdam. As William was to lead an active life, it was thought best to send him to the gymnasium at Cassel.