Connecticut western news., 1874-01-30
Alexis on America.

The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Baltic Gazette has seen advance sheets of the first volume of the Grand Duke zAlexis's, account of his voyage round the world. The first volume is exclusively devoted to description of the Grand Dukes adventures in the United States. The above mentioned correspondent writes as follows about 1t: '''>'
 "This is certainly o very curious work. To judge from what have read of it-whether his imperial highness wrote it himself, or whether an abler pen did it for him-the book is. in- tensely interesting The Grand Duke says that his reception in New York al- most stupefed him. Up to the last moment he had not thought that 50 brilliant an ovation would be rendered ln republican America to the son of a 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-calIed
 'Dirge of St. Catherine, which is played in Russia only at the funerals of a member of the imperial familyl The of hM Ia lno
 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. 7 -
 "The Grand Duke cannot praise too highly American,s hotels. American fare; he thinks, however, is too rich.
 There is at their tablea,' he exclaims, naive1y, always too much of D 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 gratified. I dined one day on baked pork and-beans, very palatable dish, which would cer- talnly 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 number ot curious anecdotes on his experiences with aborigines. In Wash lngton he was told that the Irish ser vant-girls at the residence of M. Catacazy were dying to see him. He put on a cap and an old traveling-coat, and went unheralded down into the kitchen among them. He was not recognized by the Riddles, 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 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 hlm on the successes 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 General Custer and his subordinate officers the Grand Duke has words of the warmest gratitude. General Busters photograph s published in the volume, which is most sumptuously printed and profuse- y illustrated. Only 0 few hundred |