The morning call., 1894-11-25
THE LATE CAR.

A wise CT tic once said that the reading
which people like best is accounts of other
people. The trait is growing more marked
than ever in our time; there is positive
craze for information about the inner life
OF those who fill or have filed place in the
worlds history. Publishers are beginning
to food the bookstores with Biographies OF
the late Alexander III of Russia.
His was life not devoid of a rugged sort
of romance, such as might be expected in a
Muscovite. His elder brother, the Caro-
witt, was highly intelligent, but under
sized. and troubled with spinal disease
Alexander was stupid giant. with the
muscles of Hercules. The brothers were
tenderly attached to each other. Alexan-
der hung on Nicholas words; Nicholas
was never tired If admiring Alexander's
sinews. When Nicholas lay on his death
bed at Nice, with bis brother and his be-
trothed-Dagmar Of DenDark-at his side,
the elder called the younger to him and said !:
Alexander. l leave you the succession
to the throne of Russia. But would leave
you something more precious to help you
bear the burden" and placed Dagmar's
hand in his, adding: SIT Is my last wish
that you should belong to each other"
Many months afterward the Czarowitz
Alexander visited Copenhagen and drove
Dagmar in little phaeton TO the woods
If Elsinore. Under the shade of the
Danish frs he reminded her of The last
words of her dead fance. 81 have not
forgotten" she replied, "but [ pray you
do not speak more on the subject till my
mourning is ended" This was ON Sep
TENDER 10. and after they were married
that day was always kept as a family holt
day. to be spent by the Gar and his family
in the woods of Elsinore.
His public life was unhappy. he was a
dull man. monstrous In size. silent, timld,
uncoutb and uncOurtly in manner; he
was Of all Russians the most Russian, and
he could not understand why Russians,
for whose happiness he was always toiling
and planning, should seek his life His
days were made miserable by his dread of
nihilist consDiracies; sometimes for weeks
together he would shut himself up in
fortress and deny himself to all but per-
CONS he knew. His happy time came in
December, when he betook himself to
Denmark. There he and mis- wife and
their children met the Princess of Wales
and her daughters, and sometimes the
pUOb 4OnbS oODs bhO5 ali lOSOu, duQ
they would spend days in the woods
irolicking like peasants. he would drop
the name Of Marie, which his wife
had taken when she married, and call her
by the dear old name of DaRmar. He
would go down on hands and knees and
give the children ride on his back. Once
when his wife and her sister seated them
selves in an idle haycart he jumped between
the shafts and galloped over the field with
them, while the women shrieked with
laughter and terror. They occupied rooms
in little country inn by the waysde and
ate merry meals at which the choice dish
was Dagmar's chocolate.
The love between Alexander and his
wife was romantic. Contrary to the es-
tablished custom of his family he never
gave her cause for jealousy, and she.
though her troth had once been plighted to
his brother, adored him with fanatical
worship. They were rarely separated.
He had taste of war on the Balkans in
1873. and 1t left him profoundly disguised
with that royal pastime. He resolved that
no Russian blood should be spent in wars
| if he could possibly avoid it. Hence, the
sententious remark of Nj. &c Giers-"Alex-
ander's life is standing guarantee fol
| European peace"