The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-01-23
A Grand Dukes Book on America.

The st. Petersburg correspondent of
the Baltic Gazette has seen advance
sheets of the first volume of the Grand
duke Alexis account of his voyage
round the world. This first volume is
exclusively devoted to description of
the grand-duke's adventures in the Uni
ted States. The aforementioned cor
respondent writes as follows about it
"This is certainly q very curious
work. To judge from what have
read of it-whether his imperial high
ness wrote it himself, or whether an
ADLER pen did it for him-the book is
intensely interesting. The grand-duke
says that his reception in New York al
most stupefed Linn. Up to the last
moment he had not thought that so
brilliant an ovation would be rendered
in republican America to the son of a
monarch. He was very weak when he
landed in New York, and during his
progress up Broadway frequently felt
ike fainting. But every body was so
Kind to him that he tried hard to look
pleased, as he was in his heart of hearts.
Broadway. he says, in his opinion. is
the finest ihoroughfare in the world,
and the people look not monotonous,
but cay, lively and bright. What
amused lin perhaps. more than any
thing else, was that the bands, upon
catching sight Ct him, struck up, net
the regular Russian anthem, but the
so-called "DDge Ct st. Catherine"
which is playe] il Russia only ut the
funerals of a merob Ct tue IL &c. ial
family! The cheers CT the rccl lc Vel
more deafening than airy he hal LeaIt
in Europe; from which &C r'IGytUlls
concludes that lung diseases cannot bt
very prevalent in the new wcll1.
to the soldiers, the variety OF uniic1r1
struck him as extremely odd. He say,
he saw, peacefully, side by side, helm
eted Prussians and kepied' Frenchmen,
relocated Englishmen and Irish troops
bearing the banner of the Green isle.
"The grand-duke cannot praise too
highly American hotels. American
fare, he thinks, however, is too rich
There is at their tables, he exclaims,
nGively, always too much of a good
thing. I asked for the peculiar dishes
of America, and at the hotel they could
not give me any. Their cooks were
italian and French. The landlord
shrugged his shoulders when I asked
him about it. Out west, however, my
desire was at once gratiied. 1 dined |
one day on baked pork-and-beans, a |
very palatable dish, which would Ger |
tainly bear transplanting to Russia
American manners, the grand-duke |
thinks, are a little awkward and angu-
lar, but decidedly pleasant on account |
of everybodys trankness. He tells a
number of curious anecdotes of his ex-
periences with the aborigines. In
Washington he was told that the Irish |
servant-girls at the residence of NJ
Catacazy were dying to see him. He
put on a cap and an old travelling coat,
and went unheralded down into the
kitchen among them. He was not re-
cognized by the Biddies, and chatted
with them half an hour. He found out
that not one of them had an idea of
where Russia was situated, and one of
the girls even asked him if the car al
ways wore a crown on his head, adding
that she knew the queen of England
always did. Equally amusing is the
account of his reception at Omaha, in
Nebraska, where a member of the legis-
lature congratulated him on the sue
casses of his father in the war with
France Another legislator OF that
state wanted to know if it was always
cold in Russia.
These funny episodes in the west,
however, were amply made up for by
The extreme kindness and consideration
with which the army officers there
treated the grand-duke. For Gen. Gus
ter and his subordinate officers the
grand duke has words of the warmest
gratitude. Gen. Clusters photograph
IS published in the volume, which is
most sumptuously printed and profuse-
Iy illustrated. Only a few hundred
copies of the book will be issued"