National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1874-01-23
Alexis on America.

Tho st. Petersburg correspondent OF
the Baltic Gasctte has seen advance.
sheets OF the frat volume OF the Grand
Duke Alexis's account OF his voyage
round the world. The first volume 10
exclusively devoted to description OF
the Grand Dukes adventures In the
United States. The ab0ve.mentione cd
correspondent writes as follows about
IL:
"This 10 certainly very curious
work. To Judge from what ! have read
Of it-whether his imperial highness
wrote it himself, or whether an ADLER
pen did it for him-the book is in
tensely interesting. The Grand Duke
says that his reception in New York al.
most stupeHed him. Up to the last
moment he had not thought that 30
brilliant an ovation would be rendered
in republican America to the son OF n
monarch. He was very weak when he
landed in New York, and during his
progress up Broadway felt like fainting.
But everybody 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
thoroughfare in the world, because
everything there, houses, shops, and
the people look not monotonous, but
gay, lively, and bright. What amused
him perhaps more than anything else
was that the bands, upon catching
sight Of him, struck up, not the regu..
lar Russian anthem, but the so.called
'Dirge Of ST. Catherine which is
played in Russia only at the funerals OF
a member OF the imperial family The
cheers OF tho people were more deafen-
ing than any he had heard in Europe
from which he playfully concludes that
lung diseases cannot be very prevalent
in the New World. As to the soldiery,
the variety of uniforms struck him as
extremely odd. He says he saw, peace
fully side by side, helmeted Prussians
and 'kepied' Frenchmen, red.coated
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.
naively, always too much of 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 gratifed. 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 little awkward and angular,
but decidedly pleasant on account of
everybody's frankness. He tells a
number OF curious anecdotes ON his
experiences with aborigines. In Wash
ington he was told that the Irish SER
vant.girls at the residence of M. Catacazy
were dying to see him. He put on
cap and an old traveling-coat, and went
unheralded down into the kitchen
among them. He was not recognized
by the Biddies, and chatted with them
for 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 Czar always
wore q 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 Legislature
congratulated HIM on the successes of
his father in the war with France
Another legislator of that state wanted
to know if II VIVA always GOLD in nussit.
'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 General
Custer and his subordinate officers the
Grand Duke has words of the warmest
gratitude. General Clusters photograph
is published in the volume, which is
most sumptuously printed and profuse-
ly illustrated. Only few hundred
copies of the book will be issued"