grace, dignity, and beauty shone all the brighter."

The queen now devoted a great deal of thought to the improvement of conditions. among her husband's subjects. She per

suaded Frederick to better the educational system, to improve the army, and to set about freeing the poor peasants in the country districts. She also helped to found the Luisenstift or Louise's Association for the benefit of orphans.

About two years after the Treaty of Tilsit the royal family returned to Berlin, which had been occupied until recently by French troops. Louise was in poor health, and the following summer, soon after her thirtyfourth birthday, she died. She was buried in a beautiful mausoleum at Charlottenburg, near Berlin. When you go to Berlin, you will be sure to see this mausoleum and the statue of Louise, made by a sculptor whom she had befriended.

At Louise's death, "All Germany seemed in tears.' General Blücher said,

Our saint is in heaven." Her subjects were devoted to Louise not only on account of her

beauty, her patriotism, and her misfortunes, but because of her great kindness and generosity. From the time when she was a young girl she seemed to find it easier to give money to others than to spend it on herself. On her eighteenth birthday, which came soon after she was married, her father-in-law asked her what she would most like for a birthday present. "A handful of gold for the poor of Berlin," she said. "And how large a handful would the birthday-child like?" asked the king. "As large as the heart of the best of kings," she answered quickly. After her husband became king, it is said that his treasurer felt obliged to complain to him of the large sums that the queen spent in charity.

Miss Bolton, in speaking of the love that Germans bear to Louise, says of her, "Gracious and beautiful, kind to the highest and the lowest, the cultivated friend of poets and statesmen, a devoted wife and mother, brave and able to lead, yet gentle and lovable, she was, and is, the inspiration of a great nation."

ABOU BEN ADHEM

ABOU BEN ADHEM (may his tribe increase!) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,

And saw within the moonlight in his

room,

Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold.

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

And, to the presence in the room he said, "What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,

And, with a look made all of sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. so,"

Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,

Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night

It came again, with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blessed;

And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

LEIGH HUNT.

THE GREAT HORSEMAN

THE King of Benares fled after a lost battle, and so came into a little village. At the sight of him, in armor and on a splendid horse, the simple people took refuge in their houses. Only one man stayed to meet him.

"Who are you?" said the man, “and on whose side do you fight? Are you for the king or against him?"

"I am for the king," he said.

Then the man took him to his home, and gave him his best chair, and fed his horse; and at night the man and his wife slept on the floor, and gave the stranger the best bed. Thus they kept him for several days. But all the time they knew not that their guest

was the king. It was enough that he was a stranger in need of food and lodging.

When the king took his leave, he said to his host: "I am the Great Horseman. My house is in the middle of the city. Should you come to town, I shall be glad to see you. Stand at the door on the right hand and ask the porter where the Great Horseman lives."

At last the king came home in victory, and he called the porter.

66

Porter," he said, "a man will come here by and by, and will ask you where the Great Horseman lives. Take him by the hand and bring him in to me." But days passed, and days passed, and the man did not appear.

By and by, the king increased the tax on the village where the man lived. Still he did not come. And the king increased the tax a second, and then a third time. Then the neighbors said to the man: —

"Friend, since the Great Horseman stayed with you we have had tax on tax. Go now to him, and ask his help."

So the man stood at the right-hand door

K