Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-03-31

CATHERINE
land had been Impoverished by war, and
the towns were filled with poor widows
and crippled soldiers.
Weakened by work and hunger, Nine.
Rabe succumbed to lung disease, leaving
Martha ut the age Of 3 without relatives
or means. There were no charities in
Sweden for the care Of pauper orphans at
that time, and the child must soon have
followed her mother had not parish
clerk, who was pinched to support his own
family, been moved by pity to give the lit
tie one home.
and brightness Us we'll as the fact that her
guardians burden was growing heavier
with the years attracted the attention Of
tho Lutheran clergyman of the parish
Ho offered Martha u homo and chances
for Improvement If she would help to care
for his children.
Tho parsonage was to the orphan girl
Ike palace compared with tho humble
house OF tho clerk, whom, to do her JUS
ticc, she ever gratefully remembered
When sho was about IS, against the pro-
tests of her friends, Martha married pri-
waite in Swedish dragon regiment
Ten months after her marriage Martha
heard that her husband was killed, and ut
tho same time Marienburg was captured
by tho Russians, under the immediate
command Of General Bauor.
Ten days after this event General Bauer
met on the street tho young widow. Her
beauty captivated him, and her dress in
Dictated her humble rank. One month
after their first meeting the Russian COM
mander made Martha his military wife, q"
position that implied more protection
than honor.
General Bauer took Martha to Moscow a
few months after, and, being ordered to q
distant service, ho left her, it is said, as
n higher servant with tho family of his
friend Prince Menshikoff. Attracted by
Mnrthn's beauty and brightness, the
princes interest was excited, and through
the stirring events that followed he was
ever her adviser and admirer in platonic
way.
Martha had been in The Russian capital
but n few months when she came unex-
pectcdly face to face with Peter the Great,
then on a visit to Prince Menshikoff
1t was on the part of the car case of
love mt first sight; and, unlike u majority
OF such cases, this attachment was as
strong and enduring as 1t was sudden.
Had Martha boon q woman of ordinary
intellect she would have felt her highest
ambition grntifictl when, before the age of
81, shc found herself the favorite of the
mighty barbarian, but shc Kept her own
councils and looked far into the future.
As a preparation for the power she had
resolved to WELD, Martha, whose religious
convictions were not proportioned to hor
religious training, decided, to abandon the
Lutheran church and join the Greek, then,
rs now, tho established church of the Rus
sian empire. And to moro firmly ally her
self with the new people and the new faith
this farsceing' adventures changed her
name ut the time of baptism from Martha
to Catharina Aiexiowa.
Peter, though entirely perfunctory in
his piety, was much fia;tcred by the con.
duct of his favorite, and he even boosted
to tho Greek patriarch at Moscow that he
had been the means OF saving one bright
SOUL
The cars temper was n volcano His
habits were barbarous, and he was incoH-
slant in his likes, though more persistent
in his disikcs. He was founding a great
city and working TO lead mighty but do.
graded people up to tho civilized heights
OF the nations to the west, yet he remained
to the last drunken barbarian, with oc.
casional flashes Of genius and CLEANS OF
truc Craftsmanship.
To subduo this man, 70 hold his affec-
tions, to outline his policy. and to urge
him resolutciy on to its enforcement, was
tho task set herself by this Swedish woman
bNore she was three years out of her teens.
After living with tho car fo- eight
years Catherine, not yet 20 years Of age,
induced him to marry her according to
the rites Of the Greek church. This was in
I'LL. This act legitimized her children
anu was necessary step in n journey that
had the throne itself Mt the end.
Just year after the first marriage,
which was private, Catherine prevailed on
the car to consent to public marriage,
ana TO wed her in the presence of his
mobiles, as IL she were the representative Of
. great royal family. Prudence suppressed
the objections of some Of the princes. They
came from the Black and White seas, and
great cavalcades poured into the ancient
capital from the east and from the west to
witness the public marriage Of the great
white Ear to Swedish woman Of peasant