"Of course she is human," laughed the doctor.
"But she looks like any other woman."
"Certainly she does. If you met her in the street you could not distinguish her from any other lady."
"Have you seen Queen Victoria, commodore?" asked Miss Gurney.
"I have not."
"I have seen her several times; and she isn't a bit different from any other woman; but I suppose on state occasions, when she wears the crown and her robes, she looks like a queen."
"Did you think, Lincoln, that kings and queens went about with crowns on their heads and sceptres in their hands?"
"Well, no, sir; but I had an idea that they must appear different from other people."
After a drive to the garden opposite the Royal Palace, the party proceeded through Unter den Linden, pausing a moment at the Brandenburg Gate, an immense triumphal arch, on which is a car of Victory, carried to Paris by Napoleon, but returned, after much negotiation, in 1814. Beyond this is the Thiergarten, or "garden of animals," a vast tract of land, covered with trees, with roads and paths through it. Very little has been done to make a park of this territory, so that it does not compare with the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, or with Central Park in New York, which is, without doubt, the finest in the world. It was well filled with people at this hour; but generally it is dull and monotonous, like a drive through the woods in the country. Half an hour's ride brought the party to the Zoölogical Gardens, which contains a very large collection of animals, and a fine park. Part of the latter is used as a beer garden, in which there is a large, semicircular, covered stage for the music. There are also several buildings for restaurants, though most of the people were seated at little tables under the trees. A band of about one hundred pieces was playing German airs when the tourists entered, and two or three thousand people were present in the grounds. Ladies and gentlemen, in groups of three or four, were seated at the tables. Nearly all the men were smoking and drinking wine or beer. A few of the ladies drank beer, but most of them were partaking of chocolate, ice-creams, tea, and coffee. The scene was peculiarly German, and everybody seemed to be happy. From this place the party went to Kroll's Garden, where the same scene appeared, though it contains a large hall, with a stage where opera is given at twenty-five cents a ticket, with a good seat. The excursionists returned to the hotel, and the next morning the business of sight-seeing was commenced in earnest by the entire company.
They walked to the Lustgarten, an open space at the end of Unter den Linden, on the three sides of which are the Royal Palace, the Cathedral, and the Museum. The first is a vast structure, owing more of its grandeur to its size than to its beauty. At the gate are some bronze horses, held by grooms, like those on Monte Cavallo, at Rome, presented by Nicholas of Russia. The ascent to the second story is by a winding inclined plane, up which a carriage can be driven. In the guard-room the visitors were provided with felt slippers, worn over the boots or shoes, to avoid scratching the polished floors. The apartments are magnificently furnished, but they need not be described, for every palace contains substantially the same series of rooms. The White Hall is the most elegant, containing the statues of the Brandenburg Electors, and allegorical figures of the eight Prussian Provinces before the recent wholesale annexation. In one room there is a silver gilt mantel, representing one of pure metal which Frederick the Great melted down to obtain the money to build the new palace at Potsdam, in order to show the princes of Europe that his funds were not exhausted. The new chapel is very rich, and has a lofty dome, from which it is lighted. The floor is of the most beautiful marble, and the walls and ceiling are elegantly frescoed. The palace formerly had the reputation of being haunted by a "White Lady" who appeared only to announce the death of a member of the royal family.