Page:H.M. The Patrioteer.djvu/378

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370
THE PATRIOTEER


The present certainly offered more tangible matters. To gether with the creator of the monument Diederich planned artistic arrangements for the unveiling ceremony, in which the creator proved to be more accommodating than might have been expected of him. Generally speaking, he had so far shown only the good side of his profession, namely genius and a dignified point of view, while, for the rest, he turned out to be polite and competent. The young man, a nephew of Mayor Scheffelweis, was a proof that, in spite of obsolete prejudices, there were decent people in every walk of life, and that there is no need to despair of a young man who is too lazy to earn an honest living and becomes an artist. The first time he returned from Berlin to Netzig he still wore a velvet jacket, which only exposed his family to unpleasant remarks. But on his second visit he was already the proud possessor of a silk hat, and very soon he was discovered by His Majesty, and was permitted to make the successful likeness of the Margrave Hatto the Powerful for the Siegesallee, together with the likenesses of his two most important contemporaries, the monk Tassilo, who could drink one hundred litres of beer in a day, and the Knight Klitzenzitz, who introduced compulsory labour amongst the inhabitants of Berlin, although they hung him afterwards. His Majesty had drawn the special attention of the Lord Mayor to the achievements of the Knight Klitzenzitz, and this had again redounded to the advantage of the sculptor's career. One could not do too much for a man who basked in the direct rays of the imperial sunshine. Diederich placed his house at his disposal, he also hired the horse which the artist required to keep in good health. And what ambitions were conceived when the famous guest described as very promising little Horst's first attempts to sketch! Diederich decided on the spot that Horst should follow art, that most opportune career.

Wulckow, who had no feeling for art, and did not know, what to say to His Majesty's favourite, received from the mon-