clever she is, while there is no one whose approval he values more highly than hers.  Most people are in the habit of portraying the Empress Frederick as a woman embittered and soured by disappointment.  Yet if the truth were known, there are few whose existence at the present moment is of a more ideal character, She has lost a noble and devoted husband, but this bereavement must, to a certain extent, have been softened by the genuine sorrow manifested by all, not only in his own country, but throughout the civilized world, when he died.  Her marriage was a singularly happy one, unclouded by even the faintest difference of opinion with her consort, and she is now enjoying a delightfully contented eventide of life.

She resides during the greater part of the year in a home constructed in one of the loveliest portions of Germany, near Homburg, according to her own designs, and her own ideas; she possesses a vast fortune, which renders her independent of all her relatives, and which she is free to spend as she wishes.  With all her sons and daughters married, she has no domestic cares of her own, and is at liberty to order her mode of existence as she pleases, unhampered by any obligations or restrictions, save those which her son may see fit to impose.  Her rank is of the highest, for she is the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, and the mother of the present German emperor, besides which she has the status and title of an empress-queen.  In fact, she has the rank of a sovereign, without any of the responsibilities that are attached thereto, and while she may have experienced, at one moment, disappointment at being deprived by her husband’s premature death of engineering a number of political, social and economic reforms in Germany, upon which she had set her heart, yet she cannot but have realized by this time that her existence as an empress-dowager is infinitely more agreeable than that of an empress-regent would have been, for had she been at the present moment seated by her husband’s side on the throne, she would have found no time to devote to those arts and sciences to which she is so passionately devoted, and which nowadays occupy the greater portion of her life.

In spite of being a great-grandmother, Empress Frederick is still in splendid bodily health and vigor.  She rides on horseback daily in summer, and in winter spends a considerable amount of time skating on the ice.  She is not handsome, and, in fact, has never been even pretty, but has always had a bright, intelligent and pleasing face.  Moreover, she has inherited her mother’s peculiarly melodious voice.  Unfortunately, she is imperious, and intolerant of stupidity; it is this, coupled with her lack of tact, which is responsible for her unpopularity.

In spite of all her philanthropy, her generosity, and her cleverness, and notwithstanding the blamelessness of her life, she is not liked by the people of her adopted country, and this, while it has not prevented her from playing a preponderant role in German politics, as above described, has proved an obstacle to her exercise of any influence upon the German people.  After all, this absence of tact may be excused, for it is usually wanting in people of genius.  She is very tender-hearted, and will not, if she can prevent it, allow any living thing on the estate to be disturbed or killed.