The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-14

Czar's brains are not frozen solid. As
q matter of course he is immensely
popular with the clergy, whose condi-
tion he has improved very materially.
Alexander III. was married October
%, 1866, to Princess Dagmar, of Den
mark, who assumed the name of Maria
Feodorovna. Though this union was
generally regarded as marriage des
convenances, and in consequence not
apt to be the ideal ofconjugal felicity,
it has proved quite the contrary. It
can be safely said that there exists no
family in the world, be it crowned or
uncrowned, whose happiness in family
life is greater than that OF the I'm
perial Russian family. There is no
greater delight for the Emperor than
to cast away the cares of Government
and seek the society of his wife and
children. He is fairly idolized by his
family, and there is no one who serves
him in any capacity but has the warm
est praise for his kind and unassum-
ing disposition.
At home he has always been the
very essence of kindness and good
natured jollity, and has taken such de-
light with his family and intimates,
who were never sure of what was in
store for them when the Gear was in
one of his "rollicking moods" Now
ne IS so changed, has illness having
made him so irritable that his children
realize Row sick he must be. A dis
ease that could produce such change
in one so unaccustomed to exhibiting
anything like i'll temper has awakened
the greatest anxiety on the part of the
Empress and her children. He has
always been devoted husband whom
not even his worst enemies have ever
accused of a single fault against his
wife, and he has been such an affection
ate father that his children fairly adore
him. In fact all children are very
fond of him, and during his visits to
his wife's parents in Copenhagen he
has always been the heart and soul of
the young peoples entertainments.
He would superintend all their sports
and was the merriest romp among the
whole lot of young princes and
princesses.
To these children the Imperial auto
crat was simply Uncle Saska, to whom
they all turned for sympathy when
any project was On hand that they
feared would be frowned down
upon by their elders. He was ex-
tremely fond of fishing, SO one day
they prevailed upon him to take them
fishing. He rowed them himself to a
good fishing ground, where fine
catch of fish was secured, but instead
of returning to the Palace the En-
peror suggested that they land on one
of the small islands and play Robinson
Crusoe for the rest of the day. OF
course the proposition was met with
yells of delight from the young royal
Fridays, and in the midst OF this little
group of children, who during that
day were his only companions, the
mighty Car of all the Russias was su-
premely happy. He gathered dry
branches and built the fire, prepared
and broiled the fish. It is certain
that never was there jollier host or a
more noisily happy crowd gathered
around an impromptu feast than these
children and their royal entertainer.
The Gear has been a perfect giant,
both in stature and strength, but is
sadly wasted and so very weak that
it is pitiful to see him; he who
used to challenge the whole crowd to
wrestle and whom no one was able to
throw, although the Princes tried
singly and in q body until the pers-
piration streamed from their faces and