From Pole to Pole | Page 5

played
after another. Thus the good citizens of Berlin are entertained daily.
There are several noteworthy buildings round the Lustgarten, among
them many art museums and picture galleries, as well as the Cathedral
and the Royal Palace (Plate I.). It looks very grand, this palace, though
it does not stand, as it should, in the middle of a great open space, but is
hemmed in by the streets around it.
Perhaps it would interest you to hear about a ball at the Imperial Court
of Germany. At the stroke of nine our carriage drives in under the
archway of the Palace. The carpeted staircases are lined by
"Beef-eaters," in old-fashioned uniforms, as motionless as if they were
cast in wax. They do not turn even their eyes as the guests pass, much
less their heads. Now we are up in the state rooms, and move slowly
over the brightly polished floor through a suite of brilliant apartments
glittering with electric light. Pictures of the kings of Prussia stand out
against the gilt leather tapestry. At last we reach the great throne-room,
which takes its name from the black eagles on the ceiling.
[Illustration: PLATE I. BERLIN.
On the right is the Royal Palace, on the left the Cathedral, with the
Lustgarten in front. In the foreground is the River Spree.]
What a varied scene awaits us here! Great ladies in costly dresses
adorned with precious stones of great value, diamonds flashing and
sparkling wherever we look, generals and admirals in full dress, high

officials, ambassadors from foreign lands, including those of China and
Japan. Here comes a great man to whom all bow; it is the Imperial
Chancellor.
Chamberlains now request the guests to range themselves along the
walls of the throne-room. A herald enters and strikes his silver staff
against the floor, calling out aloud "His Majesty the Emperor!" All is
silent as the grave. Followed by the Empress, the princes and
princesses, William II. passes through the room and greets his guests
with a manly handshake. He begins with the ladies and then passes on
to the gentlemen and speaks to every one. The Swedish Minister
presents me, and the Emperor begins immediately to ask about Asia.
He speaks of Alexander's great campaign through the whole of western
Asia, and expresses his astonishment that a man's name can live with
undiminished renown through two thousand years. He points to the
eagles on the ceiling, and asks if I do not see a resemblance to the
Chinese dragon. He talks of Tibet and the Dalai Lama, and of the great
stillness in the heart of the desert.
Soon the orchestra strikes up and the guests begin to dance. The only
one who seems unconcerned is the Emperor himself. An expression of
deep seriousness lies like a mask on his powerful face. Is it not enough
to be the Emperor of the German federation, with its four kingdoms,
Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Würtemberg, its six grand duchies, its
many duchies and electorates, its imperial territory, Alsace-Lorraine,
and its three free towns, Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen? Does he not
rule over sixty-five million people, over 207 towns of more than 25,000
inhabitants, and seven of more than half a million, namely Berlin,
Hamburg, Munich, Dresden, Leipzig, Breslau, and Cologne? Has he
not by the force of his own will created a fleet so powerful as to arouse
uneasiness in England, the country which has the sole command of the
sea? And is he not the commander-in-chief of an army which, on a war
footing, is as large as the whole population of Scotland? All this might
well make him serious.
BERLIN TO CONSTANTINOPLE
The next stage of our journey is from Berlin to Vienna, the capital of

Austria. The express train carries us rapidly southward through
Brandenburg. To the west we have the Elbe, which flows into the North
Sea at Hamburg; while to the east streams the Oder, which enters the
Baltic Sea at Stettin. But we make closer acquaintance only with the
Elbe, first when we pass Dresden, the capital of Saxony, and again
when we have crossed the Austrian frontier into Bohemia, where in a
beautiful and densely-peopled valley clothed with trees the railway
follows the windings of the stream. When the guard calls out at a large
and busy station "Prague," we are sorry that we have no time to stay a
few days and stroll through the streets and squares of one of the finest
and oldest towns of Europe. The engine's whistle sounds again and the
train carries us swiftly onwards to Vienna, the capital of the Emperor
Francis Joseph, who alone is more remarkable than all the sights of the
city.
Vienna is a fine and wealthy city, the fourth in Europe, and, like Berlin,
is