t mornings were not too frequent, two Americans were set down at
the station in Potsdam, armed only with a well-studied guide-book and
a few words of conversational German. We did not wish to be shown
everything, and so, declining the offered services of guides, engaged
a drosky by the hour, with a kindly-faced young man for driver. He
took the greatest interest in us, and supplied us with such
information as we wished. For the rest we were set down at Sans Souci,
free to stroll through its rooms in charge of the palace official,
with our freshly read Macaulay and Carlyle in mind, striking the
balance for ourselves between these two differing estimates of
Frederick the Great, with every particular standing out vividly in the
light of the object-lessons from that monarch's life which crowded on
every hand. It was fortunate for us that we were the only visitors
that morning, for this was the first palace we had entered, and the
dreams of childhood were realizing themselves like the lines of a
remembered fairy poem. The sympathy which spoke or was silent at will,
sure of being always understood, gave the final touch of perfection to
a memorable day. Beautiful for situation, the long, domed, one-storied
building, the favorite residence of Frederick the Great, is impressive
because of its history. As we wandered through the suites of elegant
rooms and heard the stories connected with Frederick and Voltaire,
their shades seemed everywhere to flit before us. The first terrace
leads to the spot where the King buried his favorite horses and dogs,
and where, before the palace was built, he once expressed a wish to
lie at the last. "When I am there I shall be without care," he said in
French; and so the palace afterwards built for him here took the name
"Sans Souci." The great iron gates at the north of the palace had
been but twice opened, we were told,--once by the force of the First
Napoleon, and once when the greater monarch, Death, had laid his hand
on King Frederick William IV., who was carried hence to his last home.
The great fountain was not playing that day; but the drive through the
vast and famous park, with its enticing views and bewitching beauty,
left nothing to be desired except a convenient place for physical
refreshments. Past the orangery, with its wide views over land and
lake, and Bornstedt (the favorite country home of the Crown Prince) to
the north; past the "old windmill" known to history, to the New
Palace,