Obeying Orders. 
Frederick the Great, whose brilliant vic¬ 
tories elevated Prussia from an inferior to 
a superior position among European na¬ 
tions, was noted for the strictness of his 
military discipline. He trained his army 
to move like a machine. His soldiers were 
disciplined so to obey orders that they had 
no will of their own. 
The discipline which the great Frederick 
stamped upon the Prussian army remains 
to-day in all the clearness of the original 
impression. Not long ago a little event 
took place at Powdowsk, a military station 
near Berlin, which shows what is the Ger¬ 
man soldier's idea of obeying orders. 
The officer in command one morning 
posted a veteran in front of his own resi¬ 
dence, with orders to pace up and down a 
certain distance, and on no account to low¬ 
er his gun from the “carry. The officer, a 
pompous self-important man, was expect- 
ing visitors that d ty; and he wished to im¬ 
press them with his military style. Calling 
the soldier before him he gave his orders. 
“You are to pass the distance assigned, 
with your gun at the ‘carry.’ Do you un¬ 
derstand ?” 
“Yes, commander.” 
“On no account are you to deviate from 
your walk, or remove your weapon from 
its position. You understand? ” 
“Yes, commander.” 
“You will observe strict silence. On no 
account are you to speak with any on your 
beat. You understand ?” 
“Yes, commander.” 
“Very well; go and obey!” 
An hour after, the officer’s guests were 
ushered into his presence. They entered, 
each with a broad grin on his countenance. 
“My friend,” asked one of them of the 
host, “what is this procession in front of 
your house?” 
“Procession! Procession! There is no 
procession!” blurted out the host, growing 
red in the face. 
“But look for yourself.” 
The commander rushed to the window. 
There was the soldier, as stiff and erect as 
his own weapon, with eyes stolidly glaring 
right ahead, marching solemnly up and 
down his beat, while following him w T as a 
mob of young street loafers, armed wfitb 
old brooms, sticks, pitchforks and other 
improvised weapons. Seeing that the 
soldier was apparently oblivious to all 
around him, one bold scamp had affixed to 
the sentinel’s coat-tail a string, at whose 
end dangled a rusty tin can. And this 
unique procession had been going on for 
half an hour, to the intense delight of the 
populace in the street and the edification of 
the guests when they arrived. Out rushed 
the irate officer. The mob, seeing him, dis¬ 
persed, and he began to vent his anger on 
the sentinel. 
“Idiot! Blockhead! Senseless! Why did 
you not strike them down, disperse them V* 
“The commander forgets. I had orders 
not to remove my gun from position.” 
“True. I am a fool! But you might 
have ordered them off.” 
“The commander, pardon me, forgets 
again. I had orders not to speak.” 
“It is true. But—’’ 
“There is no but. You ordered. lobeyed. 
What more can be said ?” 
Indeed, nothing could be said ? The offi¬ 
cer swallowed his wrath as best he could. 
It would be altogether unmilitary to pun¬ 
ish a soldier for obeying orders .—The Am¬ 
bler Gazette. 
Harvesting Potatoes. 
BY JOHN M. STAHL, 
♦ 
As soon as the vines are completely dead, 
the tubers should be taken out of the 
ground; and often it is desirable to harvest 
the tubers before the vines are entirely 
dead, as in the case of a wet season. I do 
not consider it a good plan to allow- pota¬ 
toes to remain in the ground for weeks after 
they have matured. I know that this is 
often done, but I think it generally arises 
from a fear that the tubers will not keep if 
dug at once. I have found the keeping of 
the potato best subserved by early digging. 
I plant potatoes in drills and use a one- 
horse diamond, or bar-share plow, in dig¬ 
ging. The hoe, spade or fork is too slow 
when any considerable crop is to be har¬ 
vested; and none of the potato diggers 
which I have tried has proven satisfactory. 
