The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1872-01-30
AEESE%ES EE7s OWN EsoWE,
Unparalleled spaemd0Ts eG Roy
Giiy,

A writer in the Chicago Mail SAYS
The apartments of the Grand Duke at
his New York hotel have furnished col
ums Of fine descriptive writing" to the
penny-a-liners Of the metropolis. I'll
might moderate The yauting ambition
.of us simple hearted Republicans to get
a glimpse Of "tbe apartments that
Alexis. left behind him in the Royal Pal
ace at st, Petersburg
1t is no eXaggeration to say that "the
long result of time affords no parallel
to the splendor that there surrounds the
royal family of Russia. Think over all
the choicest minerals in the best cabi-
nets that you have seen; add to them a
profusson of "barbaric pearl and gold,
polish and shape these into articles of
furniture, Of forms most graceful and
most beautiful; embelished rosewood
doors with mosaic or Sevres china
fresco and carve the ceilings, vast as
they are, lofty with various colors such
As the Oriental sunsets yield, and forms
borrowed from ancient Greece; meas
ure out tapestry and lace, velvet and
satin lasishly as you would wall paper
for New England cottage; give rose
wood for oak, ebony for pine; instead
of paper hangings' to initiate the
splendor of marble columns and pilas-
ters, or ''stucco" to encrust the ceilings
and arch the doorwSys, Won shall ex-
haust the riches of Oriental and Siber-
ian qusrries for genuine msrble of every
hue and press into your service sll$the
variety that architecture yields,to nould
your choice material into forms worthy
of their richness and variety.
Then, in these great saloons, spark
ling with polished marble, with serpen-
tine and vert antique, with prophyry
and lapislazuli; hang up huge chandel-
iers, blazing with crystal; strcw "arti
cles of virtu" over mantle pieces of jas
per and tables of malachite; place on
the walls the chief diGuyres Of score
of the most renowned French artists,
and then you will have gained some idea
Of the treasure poured out so latishly
in these long luxurious vistas where
statuary CLEANS and pictures glow.
From the windows of these rooms,
made Of single plate Of Fresch plate
glass, but larger than any rindov Of
the Clarendon, the endless streets of St.
Peters burg, lined with score of psla-
ces, stretch far away, and the steel l-hued
waves Of the Nova, flashing among its
great network of isles, sre the only Fl
val to the brilliancv within. The suite
Of apartments just described forms but
an episode OF the palace, which is the
winter home of the mighty Gar him
self, whose household, all quartered
here, numbers 5000.
The least ornamented room Of this
palace is, however, its center Of attrsc-
ton, for here, in three plain glass cases,
presided over day and night by faithful
guardians, sre electromagnetic of the
Empire. Some sccount Of these will
add intercSt-sadly needed-to the COM
NOR place brow of the young foreigner
who win soon inhale smoke from our
big ruins at Chicago.
Passing by the cases filed with mere
orders, aigretes and necklaces, all brist-
ling with precious stones, we psuse, our
attention being compelled by the strange
light issuing from the small, central
case, shaped like those under which
handsome clocks are kept, where CLEANS
the crown Alexis is to wear, if he out
lives two elder brothers, some day. 1t
contains forty-four "great" diamonds
underlaid by siver-lesf work. Below
these is band to fit the royal brows
studded with twenty-eisht "grest" ds
monds (tcchnicslly i. called by lapida-
ries J, and on the summit of the crown
is cross of eleven diamonds, surmoun.
ted by hinge, polished, but uncut ru
by.
The coronct Of the Empress. though
much smaller, is, from its exquisite
symmetry, even more beautiful 1t con
tains 102 diamonds of the finest quail
itv, and many others hardly less radiant,
Think Of that and be We tantalized, O
radiant maidens whom Alexis has ia,
ken o1t to dinner, or supported in that
supreme hour of your aggrandizement,
when side by side you tripped the light
fantastic toe.