Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-03-18
The Daily Life of the Caar.

The administration of the least des.
potic of all the Cars ought to be pret-
ty well tempered by this time, although +.
from the beginning his reign has been a !
mild one and fraught with measures in
tended TO promote the happiness and |
freedom Of his people II is said that |
at one time he actually intended 10 I
grant Constitution TO the Empire, but I
was persuaded that IL was impraOtict.
bio. Accounts Of the private life md I
habits OF the Czar differ greatly, for al |
though no other European sovereign Is
regarded by his people as occupying
such an intimate, paternai, patriarchial
relation, and as standing s0 close 10
them, in reality no other one is so mac.
cessible and surrounded by such mystic
rious secrecy. There Is always a great
deal Of talk all over Russia, among all
who have the least grievance, Of going
to ST. Petersburg 10 lay the matter be-
fore the Czar--but nobody ever seems
to 90. There are very few Of those lit
tie semi.domestic anecdotes related
about the Gar that are told OF other
sovereigns. According 20 some people,
he is m incarnation of evil; has passed
his life in the widest dissipation, and Is
now almost crazed with remurse for
crimes that are darkly limited at, while
othors state with great positiveness that
he is OF noble nature, rather above
the average morality Of SovereigRs, un-
! ostenta,ious, and very plain and simple
in his ways Of living.
Franci Stanley, the correspondent Of
the Manchester GudrtiiaB and the st.
Petersburg G0los during the Russo
| Turkish war, saw the Emperor at Gorny
Sudcn, surrounded by the evils of a
battlefield, n badly-constructed tent, a
wet day, and highly smelling camp.
| He says: Notwithstanding that all
these evils were heaped together on the
| day that | saw the Emperor, he struck
me first rs being superior mani sec
ondly, rs being every inch King. lie
I has both the reserve attached 20 his
position and kindly temper, which,
/ without ever trenching on bo8hoHHc,
I lends a charm 10 his rather melancholy
! dispositon-a disposition easily ac-
counted for II the prophecy in regard to
the Romnnoff family has any weight
with him; for that prophecy runs that
no 'RomanoH doth the years Of sixty
see.
! In the great square of Alexander, on
the left bank of the Neya, facing the
/ river, stands the Winter Palace, one Of
the most spacious and imposing Of the
/ royal residences in Europe. In front
stands the grand column of Alexander.
According TO Theophile Gauuor, tho
place presented the following aspect of
a winter evening: "The trees of The
Admiralty, diamonded with frost, had
the appearance of great white plumes
fixed in the ground, and the red granite
of the triumphal column was coated
with ice. The moon, rising pure and
clear, flooded with its pale radiance all
this whitencss of the night, gave blue
tint to the shadows, and made the mo.
tionless equipages-whose ice-coyered
lanterns, like polar glOw-worms, dotted
with points of yellow light the immense
expanse suggest the figures of phan'
tasmagoria. In the background thC
colossal Winter Palace famed through
all its windows, like mountain pierced
Z with holes, and ignited by interior igni
tion.n
II is an immense structure of foul
= stories in height, with frontage of l6C
feet The ErimitNge, the palace bull
+ by Empress Catharino, and containing
the magnificent art galleries, is con
= uected with the Winter Palace by
arcades, so that the Imperial residenc'
altogether has frontage Of 500 feet
IL is said that q, 900 people live within it
walls, and tales are told ot sheep, ani
even cows, that arc kept on the roof
The principal entrance is from the river
by stately ilight of marble steps, Tn
] chief state apartments are the throne
, room OF Peter L., the Hall OF st. George
e the White Hall, the Alexander Hall, an
D the Gallery of the Field Marshals. rh
Hall of ST. George Is magniiicen
apartment, ll0X6O feet in size. Tn
v Field Mnrshals' Hall contains portrait
= OF the Russian Field Marshals an
o Generals who distinguished them5elyC
n in the war between the allied power
j. and France in the war of lSl3-li.
4 the Alexander Hall are many battl
Il pictures of the Russian army and navy
y In one room are the crown jewell
o Among the treasures IL contains Is th
s great Orloff diamond, 1874 Sd carat
d Ii receives its name from Count Owes
e who presented it 10 Catharine IL. II
d set In the top of the Imperial sceptc
3, 1t is the largest Of the crown diamond
y of Europe, and is perfect, with the e.
ception Of two slight flaws. The ln
perial crown and the coronet of ii
n Empress are resplendent with jewels
"A immense value.
" The drawing-roon OF the Empress
n . gorgeous apartment with gilded wal
is aud ceiling. The effect is most strikir
40 when lighted at night with hundreds
o. WAX tapers. Tho rooms inhabited I
Up the Imperial family face the Neya NJ
re the Admiralty Square, aud are ye
nj beautiful. General Moltke, who yisit'