Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-11-08
LIFE OF THE DEAD RULER.
His Gigantic Strength and Cruel DISPOSE
tion-iIis Marriage.

tion-tIis Marriage.
The Emperor Alexander Ill, who was
born in 1S41, was never expected to
reign. but was intended to lead the life
of a soldier 1t was upon his brother
Nicholas, the CZarcvitch, that all the
best training was lavished. 1t was he
who. as the eldest son. was supposed to be
destined to ascend the throne and rule
automatically 10o,OO0,00O unhappy Rus
slams But this eldest son, tended like
n dollhouse plant, was overeducated. over
forced, and died of physical and nervous
exhaustion in the flower of his early man
hood. Alexander. who had always been
regarded as the fool of the family, now
became The heir to the throne. lie was
a suriy young giant. Opinions he was
believed to have none. If he possessed
any he ut least kept them pretty much
to himself Like his brothers Vladimir
and Alexis he was the performer of fabu-
LOUIS feats at the supper table. He was
4 splendid wrestler, extremely powerful,
who could drink more champagne than
any of his brothers. and who took pleasure
in initiating the tricks with which his
tory has credited Peter the Great. Thus
he used to crush horSeshoes III the hollow
of his hand, roll silver ruhles into tubes
between his thumb and finger. and used
to sally forth with his brothers to dis
reputable drinking places at night, IN
hled company. Whether he ever stopped
the sails of a windmill in full motion.
as Peter is reported to have dore, is not
on record. He had been brought up in
strict belief in the orthodox Greek church.
and while his rather was free-thinker
and believed in little else than pleasure,
the younger Alexander swallowed whole
the superstitons of his national ByZan-
tine faith. and made of his religious pre-
ceptor, Pobedonostzeff, his friend and con
tidant. almost the keeper of his con
science.
For the rest, he cared little for books
and less for art but he delighted in the
details of militarism, and, being big and
strong. was on the whole harmless and
even gentle though sury and self~con-
tanned.
Welded to Princess.
1t was this giant. living in intellectual
darkness, who. fresh from the Wine cellars
of st Petersburg, was thrown into the
arms of the beautiful Dagmar of Den
mark This princess had been bethrothed
to the heir apparent to the Russian
throne. What did it matter that Ncho-
las was dead? There was still an heir
apparent! Her parents were poor and
anxious for good matches for their daugh-
ters; besides there were high political rea-
sons Her sister had married the Prince
of Wales. Russia and England would
thus become related. The ever-meddlinc
finger in the pie. And then Denmark,
the best part of which had just been swal-
lowed up by Prussia. wanted powerful
friends. In short, the beauty and the beast
were united, the beautiful Dagmar to
the repusive and dissipated Alexander.
That repulsive giant developed into what
is called Il good husband. But not sud-
denly. Scandal had to pave the way.
At first Alexander neglected his wife,
who was too beautiful and delicate. q
flower for him to appreciate. But his
fathers attentions to her and the stories
which these attentions called into being
made him madly jealous. He satisfied
himself that these We're SANDERS. but he
began to see that the flower he was neg
lectins was beautiful and sweet. The
Empress Dagmar certainly had as little
brains as her husband. She was frivolous,
and, having been brought up in great pow
erty, was naturally very. extravaganza,
She loved dresses and vanities and cSp,~
cially dancing. If her husband was sui
len and taciturn, sort OF Saul. she was
animation, and he grew to lore her.
Alexander III. had few opinions aud Ia
tie learning, but he had an ambitious ia
vorite in the person of his old tutor. t'o-
bedonostzeff. This man was very nca-ly
Il genius-an evil genius, perhaps. bat
drifting toward republcanism. 1t was
then the fashion TO be either liberal and
"Western'' or to talk of a revival of the
old Republic of Novgorod under the
form of Il confederation of all Slavonit
countries.
Takes the Throne.
\ clever journalist saw how to turn
this latter movement to account. He ar
gued that the autocracy was a purely
national institution. and that the con-
federation of Slayonic nations should be
consummated under a Car. This man
was Karkotf. He won over Pobedonost-
Zeff. and he succeeded in inducing the
czarevitch to put himself at the head of
this national party. The czarevitch list
cd his father. The stories about Dagmar
and the treatment he had received as