Cherry Tree v. Third Roll

Noble as is the legend of George Washington and the Cherry Tree, many a German editor hailed as nobler, last week, a tale which will be handed down to posterity as :

The Legend of Paul von Hindenburg and the Third Roll.

The tale teller, Herr Gustav Mueller, a snowy haired Silesian businessman said:

"I have not seen Paul von Hindenburg for 70 years,* except on innumerable posters and pictures, during the War and afterwards. . . . Yet I remember him distinctly -- tall for his age, athletically built, and handsome, too. . . .

"So kind he was, even then! Yes, every morning when the school bell rang for recess, Paul would produce three rolls from his knapsack, eat two, and always give the third roll to a very poor boy in the class below his."

With the moisture of nostalgia glistening in his eyes, Tale-Teller Miiller concluded that when Paul von Hindenburg left school to enter the cadet corps he wrote to his brother:

Dear Otto:

Don't forget to take one extra roll to school every day and be sure to give it to poor Schreiger.

Spurred by these revelations, snooping reporters went out to the boyhood school of President von Hindenburg at Glogau, Silesia, and there discovered the following scholastic report of his studies, conduct:

"Apart from a period of time when he was seriously ill, Paul von Hindenburg attended school regularly. He was an industrious boy, but lately slackened a bit."

* The President is 81.