Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-11-08

reaved Family and Country.
St Petersburg. Nov The angel
OF death. in the shadow of whose pin
ions the autocrat of all the Russians
has been lying for many days,
beckoned and the soul of the man who
had in his hands the lives and desti-
MES OF millions upon millions Of men,
was borne away. Calmly, and peace
fully as. q sleeping babe he, who by
the slightest word could have plunged
Europe into war, the horrors of which
would defy description, fell into a
dreamless sleep which he feared not.
He, though at the head of the church
whose members number over 10000
900 persons, took the last rites a few
days before his death took him from
all his greatness. At 2:15 o'clock in
the afternoon the summons came and
a few hours later the thunderous boom
ing of cannon at Livadia and st. Pc
tersburg announced the ear was dead.
Nicholas reigned in his stead. On light
ming wings the news of Russia's loss
spread throughout the world and it is
safe to say that everywhere the intel
Igence has created sympathy for the
family of him, who by his policy main
tanned the peace of Europe. From
America came words of sympathy, for
the dead ruler always had been a
friend to the great republic of the west.
and the Americans have not forgotten
. how we'll his fathers friendship sus-
tanned the north in the war of the re-
bellion.
Among the peasants of Russia he
will be mourned with deep and abid-
ing sorrow, for was he not the "Deas-
ant czar?" None of the grandiloquent
titles borne by him were thought as
much Of as this one bestowed upon him
by his lowly subjects, whose virtues
were magnified in him, and whose
vices in him We're entirely lacking He
who denies the popularity of the car
among the loWly classes Of Russia is
blinded by prejudice. His kind acts
in seasons of plague and famine will
never be forgotten, and in thousands
upon thousands of homes, from Vladi-
vOStOck, on the Pacific, to the fortress
es of the Caucasus, millions of people
as they kneel will pray from the bot
tom of their hearts for the repose of
the soul of their little father" who
to them was as great in soul as he was
in stature. There will be sincere
mourning, too, in the royal and impe-
rial families of Europe Not couvell-
tioral mourning prescribed by rule,
but mourning of little children, for
who has not heard of the annual visits
of the car to Copenhagen, the home of
his beloved czarina, when with the
children of emperors, kings and prime
es around him, he was the biggest
child of them all, joining in all their
sports and romping with them like a
big boy.
Death will be the most bitter loss to
the wife that he loved so WELL 1t was
a proverb in st. Petersburg that he
was the "only Russian who was true
to his wife" His home life was an
ideal one, and all his pleasures were
found with his own family. But as a
car and not as a man he could be as
stern and unrelenting as fate itself.
He baniShed men and women to Sibe-
ria, but they were men and women
who sought to kill him or to overturn
the government of which he was abso-
lutte head, and which he, by the most
solemn oaths in the mother city of Rus
sia-MoscOw-had sworn to maintain
in its integrity.
Tuesday when the doctors informed
the car that there was no longer room
for hope, his majesty composedly
waited for the end, attending to neceS
sary state and family affairs, in short
intervals Of consciousness and freedom
from pain. These were necessarily
brief. the doctors having had recourse
to sedatives to procure sleep and allay
pain. Wednesday the car was still
able to be taken to the window of the
palace, whence he gaZed out upon the
country that he loved. Night passed
with all the aggravating symptoms and
the dry cough. DR.. Zaccharin re-
manned in attendance upon him
through the night, only snatching brief
intervals for sleep in an ante-room.
Morning broke with rain and wind and
heavy clouds and the weather was
much colder. AS the day advanced,
the weakness increased so rapidly that
the car himself recognized that he
could live only a few hours. He eX-
pressed the desire to receive the sac
rament. which was administered to
him by Court Chaplain Yanisheff and
Father Ivan in the presence of the
whole family. The car then con-
versed long and earnestly with Father
Ivan, concluding by asking his family
again to gather round him. He spoke
to each member separately aud at the
greatest length with the czarina. He
blessed all of the children present.
The scene was one of the deepest pa
thos, all being in tears. All this time
his majesty was sitting UP in an arm
chair After taking leave of his fam
lily he grew gradually weaker, and
his voice became so indistinct that it
was scarcely audible. About noon a
convulsive fit Of coughing was fol-
lowed by slight rally. Then the car
remained quiet. seemingly free from
pain. At 2:15 o'clock he heaved
deep sigh and breathed his last in the
arms of the empress, who then broke
down with the weight of her grief.
The doctors fear the results of the re-