The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1895-06-20
EDUCATION OF NICHOLAS |
The New Gar and What We May Ex-
pect From Him.

The New Gear and What We May Ex-
pect From Him.
When Alexander AlexandrOvich sud-
denly became the heir to the throne, ne
felt deeply the lack of knowledge ana
training for his future exalted position,
and tried his best to avoid a similar
mistake in the education of his sons by
wisely regulating the course OF their
studies and carefully selecting their
tutors. In this selection he differed
widely from the principles OF his
father, who had given his children
decidedly Western, that means Eu-
ropean, cosmopolitan education. The
first and chief consequence of this prln-
ciple was the appointment OF Russians,
solely Russians, as teachers, tutors ana
playmates for the imperial children.
True, there was an English governess,
a German and French governess, who
in turn taught the children their re-
spective mother-tongues. But that
was all. They spoke to the princes,
they read to them from different books
carefully selected by their parents, but
they had neither any influence upon
their education, nor did they spend
their leisure time with them. For all
branches of knowledge, for the ply
steal, mental and religious education OF
the princes, Russians exclusively were
appointed.
During his boyhood the progress IN
school work was somewhat slow, not
because he was dull, but on account OF
his frequent physical indisposltlon to
attend the lessons. Nicholas Alexan-
drovich was sickly boy, whether be-
cause he could not well endure the Sc
we're climate of Russia, Or because his
father insisted upon system OF hard
ening which was too rigorous for his
frail constitution, must be left unde-
cided. His early reading consisted
chiefly of Russian master pieces fit for
his age, but scarcely less time was
spent upon the reading Of Grimm's
fairy tales, Fenelon's Telemaque and
Walter Scott's as well as Charles
Dickens best works.
AS soon as the young prince was
physically and mentally strong enough
to enter into his studies more seriously,
he received regular staff of well-edu-
Gated teachers for the various branches,
and General Bogdanvich became his
chief tutor, upon whom was laid not
only the duty to instruct the prince in
military matters, but also the response
bility to supervise the occupation and
division of time of the czarevitch. The
superior knowledge and refined man.
ners of this gallant soldier qualified
him exceedingly well for his difficult
task, and his unrelenting strictness
had decided influence upon the work
and development of the young prince.
In consequence of the strict etiquette
at the Russian court the liberty of
Nicholas was very much restricted
during his school-time, and nothing
noteworthy as to his life reached the
outer world with the exception of the
publication of his examinations.
Remarkable at this period was the
truly home life which united all the
members of the imperial family. 1t
was really more the life of a wealthy
bourgeois than of rich nobleman.
Every minute which the emperor could
spare from his duties he spent in the
school rooms of his children, or in the
plain sitting room, reading, chatting,
Or listening to music. During the
severe cold of the winter and the ex
ceedingly warm summer months,
which the imperial family spent usu-
ally on their country estates, their life
was as plain and simple as that of
well-todo country gentleman, and the
princes enjoyed their vacation heartily
by roaming through the parks and
fields with their papa, hunting, fishing
and even fighting the village boys. So
also the visits to Copenhagen, which
Alexander III made regularly every
year to spend few weeks with the
parents of the czaritza, were great hol-
idays for the princes. DIR. E. Borges,
in Harper's Magazine for June.