Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-26

graceful creatures who reminded me equally
of the society of St Petersburg and that of
Naples. As to the men. they had French
flied look, or at least that is the impression
they gave me when L saw them next day in
the Chamber, to which I paid state visit
That day I was much amused by the con-
trast our carriage and procession presented
to the streets we passed through, lined with
little houses built at random and paved with
huge irregular blocks of stone and full OF
crevices, which caused my diadem and my
self to make many an involuntary bow.
That evening there was general illumina-
tion, and in all my life had never before
seen such sight In the very streets where
to-day one magnificent house elbows an
other, in which gas and electricity share
the honors between them, there were then
to be seen only oil lamps and candles,
while none of the houses was more than one
story high.
The Queen Has the Measles.
The day after that entry into my capital
had the measles. To be i'll and to know no
one, neither my husband nor my ladies of
honor nor the doctors, nor even my maid,
was little hard. 1t was above all exasper-
ating to hear myself called nervous" by
people who knew nothing of my past lite,
for with my Spartan training nervous and
badly brought up seemed to me synonv-
nous terms. Many proud and silent tear
during that time bedewed my pillow.
My first excursions out were a series of
surprises. There were picturesque streets
in the city in which every doorway was
blocked up with piles of stuffs of all colors,
with rusty iron and with blue and brown
pottery. In other parts were queer COM
binations of Lilliputian houses, ,ridiculously
md Ian nd hn
those poor willows from which every
year they strip the branches, or
the acacias which scent the air of
the whole city in the spring. There were
opening on to the streets the shops of
bakers, cobblers and blacksmiths; innumer-
able inns where they sold an ardent spirit
extracted from prunes and called tzuica
These last were dark, dIngy dens in the
murky depths OF which one caught glimpses
of mud-eyed brigands with sad smiles The
urchIns bathed to their hearts content in
the lovely mud of the river, wallowing in it
with wells of delight; the water carriers
drove their mules into it, wading up to
their knees into it themselves in order to
fill their barrels, while in the deepest
depths of the mire one saw confused shapes
moving, grayish, hairless bodies, something
like the backs of hippopotami; numberless
heads with horns that curved backward and
black muzzles glistening in the sun; these
were the buffaloes.
Useful Antediluvian Beasts
Later on enjoyed a closer acquaintance
with these antediluvian beasts, which are
so common in Roumania They give an
abundance of rich milk, from which they
make a very white but tasteless butter, but
which Yields an excellent cream. To keep
them you have to feed them on dried maize
leaves and give them a bed of mire. They
die in summer unless they have marsh,
and in winter unless they have an under
ground shelter and woollen covering. In
the streets or in the country one sees them
harnessed one before another to heavily lad
en- wagons, their hoots sinking in the dust in
dry season or in the deep mud when it
rains. Speaking of mud, what was not my
amsZement the first time / was splashed
with it to see that that of the principal
streets lett greasy spots on my clothes, and
when saw them plow! A plow dragged
by four or six huffaloes, scarcely scratching
the ground with the branch of a tree in
place of a plowshare; and they called this
plowiug! And what is more the soil was
30 rich that nothing more was needed.
Dating from the diphtheria epidemic the
carrying through the streets of corpses
in open cof1ins has been stopped. Before
this funerals were sort OF public fes-
tlval. On a nearSe covered with gildeQ
angels, garlands and riboons the dead
girl was placed, dressed in her last ball
dress, her hair elaborately dressed by the
hair dresser, decked with flowers, and often
painted in order to look more iifelike.
military band followed playing Chopin's
Funeral March," /. was rather CHASTITY to
see that painted fower-crowned head
dragged over the rough pavement and roll
ing from side to side on its satin cushion,
while the bowling women beat their breasts
and tore out handfuls of hair.
They are fond Of flowers in Bucharest.