¶ No; it is no use! As we said before, the old man is growing very weary of it all; and now along comes Arthur Mendell, who paints for posterity that remarkable Bismarck in which you see only the blazing eyes and the shining silver helmet—the Bismarck of the brave days of ’66 and ’70, when the German hosts carrying their deadly needle-guns, marched over the Rhine—at Bismarck’s word!
¶ Dear Old Bismarck, these wreaths of immortelles come to you in your retirement, but you have reached the time when the grasshopper has become a burden, and when you have but one wish left in this world—and that wish is to go in peace to your long sleep.
¶ Coming, Bismarck—coming very soon now, Old Soldier; and we know well how courageously you will answer up, when the invisible Skeleton in Armor calls your imperial name!
CHAPTER XVIII
Hail and Farewell
71
Prince Otto V. Bismarck receives his final and his one glorious decoration; and here we leave him, his fame secure among Germany’s immortals.
¶ The game is now all but played out. The last phase is to be the noblest expression.
In his prime, Bismarck was of massive proportions in mind and body; but of his moral nature both friends and enemies had often been in doubt for many years. Now, even that was revealed to be in concord with his herculean bulk.