queen, deeply moved. "May they
bear adversity like him, without despondency, and enjoy prosperity
without haughtiness! Oh, my friend, why will we say, then, that we are
returning to Berlin poorer and less powerful than when we left the city
three years ago? No, we return richer and more powerful: for we left
with five children, and we return with seven--seven hearts that love us,
and belong to us. Do they not constitute wealth and power? Come, my
husband, let us hasten to our children! and with what a mother's pride
shall I show our treasures to the good people of Berlin!" She smiled and
drew the king along; her eyes, from which the tears had long since
disappeared, were now radiant with love and joy--not a shade of
melancholy was to be seen in her countenance when she embraced her
children.

The journey to Berlin could be performed but slowly and in short stages.
The snow-clad roads were almost impassable. Besides, every city and
village through which the royal family journeyed, would have its share
of congratulation. They were greeted with triumphal arches, and hymns
and addresses of welcome. No one had escaped the miseries of war;
mourning mothers and wives, amid the ruins of a former prosperity, were
everywhere to be seen; but all this was forgotten during those happy
hours when the people, delivered at length from foreign oppression,
rejoiced again in the presence of the sovereigns who had endured the
same afflictions. The whole journey resembled a triumphal
procession--everywhere enthusiastic receptions and love-offerings!

On the eighth day at noon they arrived at the village of Weissensee, a
league from Berlin. The shouts of thousands of happy people received
them. The whole population had gathered at the roadside in order to
greet the returning king and his family, and at the entrance of the
village were halting fifty young citizens of Berlin mounted on fine
horses. They had been commissioned by the inhabitants of the capital to
escort the carriage in which Louisa was to make her entry, and which the
citizens desired to present to her. It was a splendid gift, richly
decorated with silver, and lined with violet velvet, the favorite color
of the queen. The eight magnificent horses attached to the carriage wore
violet harness, adorned with silver rings and buckles. The queen entered
it with her daughter Charlotte and her third son, Prince Charles; the
king and the two oldest princes mounted on horseback.

"Now