ress. The palace of the Crown Prince was decorated
about the entrance with palms and other exotics. Here the Crown
Princess entertained the Prince of Wales and the Princess Christian
with her family,--three children of Queen Victoria under the same
roof. The Grand Duchess of Baden, only daughter of the Emperor, was
entertained in the Dutch Palace, connected with the Emperor's by a
corridor. One of those dramatic touches in real life of which Emperor
William was fond, was the betrothal of the Princess Irene, daughter of
the Grand Duke of Hesse and the late Princess Alice of England, to her
cousin Prince Henry, second son of the Crown Prince. It was announced
by the Emperor on his birthday, standing in the midst of the assembled
family, with the foreign princes grouped in a semicircle around, the
bride-elect leaning on her father's arm and blushingly receiving the
congratulations of all present. In the two days preceding his
birthday, the Emperor received not only his royal visitors, but the
representatives of Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Servia, Japan, and China.
The Old Schloss, with its six hundred apartments and reception-rooms,
was used for the entertainment of royal guests. All the sunny south
windows facing the Schloss Platz rejoiced for days beforehand in open
draperies and freshly cleaned plate glass, giving an unwonted look of
cheer and human habitableness to the majestic and venerable pile
through which we had walked, a few weeks before, with hushed voices
and muffled footsteps, gazing on the rich decorations of the public
rooms, the glittering candelabra, the silver balustrades, the ancient
plate, the historic paintings and monuments which recall past
centuries and vanished sovereigns.

But the streets witnessed the most memorable scenes. On the eve of the
birthday a torchlight procession of more than six thousand students
represented the Universities of Berlin, Bonn, Heidelberg, Jena,
Koenigsberg, Leipzig, Marburg, Munich, Strasburg, and others; the
Polytechnic Schools of Berlin, Brunswick, Darmstadt, Dresden, Hanover,
Karlsruhe, and Stuttgardt; the Mining Academies of Berlin, Clausthal,
and Freiberg; and the Agricultural Schools of Berlin, Eberswalde, and
Tharandt. Opposite the Imperial Palace stands the University,--formerly
the palace of Prince Henry,--amid old trees and gardens, and with the
fine colossal statues of the brothers Humboldt in white marble, sitting
on massive pedestals on either side the main ga