Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-03-23
THE CARS JULEPs.
MINISTER CURTIN SHOWED THE EM-
 PERoR HOW TO MIX THEM.


 ican Whisky For His Cellar.
 ''I was in Paris, " said Colonel w. F. M. Mccarthy of this city, that I be- came acquainted with an aid of the Czar Alexander H. The Russians are greatly interested in applied chemistry and novel mechanical devices for war fare. I had some ideas on these subjects which an aid asked me to put before his superiors. The Grand Duke Constan- tine was there, and was presented to him. Our interviews finally led to my going to St. Petersburg, where I was presented to the czar himself
 II first met the emperor in the Win ter palace one morning at o'clock. He was an early riser, and the machinery of the court was all in operation by that hour. His majesty received me kindly and at once put me at my ease. l love Americans, he said, with smile, and I soon learned that this was true An drew G. Curtin of Pennsylvania was then minister from the United States at the imperial court and there was no- body in whose society the czar took more satisfaction.
 ''Fll never forget the mysterious er- rand upon which was dispatched one oold and stormy night by, and I may say with, General Curtin, as he was universally called in St. Petersburg. My entry into the emperor's s secret serv- ice had by that time become an accom- plished fact. I had become a Russian, had sworn allegiance to the ezar, spir- itual and temporal, and had been en- tered on the official list of the chanoel- lerie az Vasil Makroff William F. Mason Mccarthy ceased to exist from that hour at least in Russia \ mes- senger had come asking me to tue American legation at o'clock that evening, without uniform These words naturally excited my curiosity wore the imperial crown on the col lar Of my uniform coat. and h that dress passed at will through the streets of St. Petersburg by day or by night For l was supposed to be all the while on my imperial masters business When l got to the embassy, learned to my surprise that the minister and I were to visit the ozar incognito.
 General Curtin had parcel under his arm when we reached the palace and to my amazement he was prompt ly admitted without question to the czar's private apartments. l followed after him. The emperor at once dismiss ed his attendants, gave us hearty hand shakes and bade Us be seated in front Of l ol q--. ble looking sitting room. General Cur tin was evidently very much at home there, and from the packet under his arm he BOW produced large black bot tie. A servant brought lemons, crack ed ice, Q silver bowl containing a mag nifcent bunch of mint, loaf sugar, yer mouth and brandy. And thereupon in my presence the American minister gave the czar lessons in the art of mak- ing mint juleps and whisky cocktails.
 "The whisky was old Monongahela rye, sent to General Curtin from tho state of Pennsylvania, of which he had been governor. His majesty said he had never tasted anything so good in his life as the juleps, and he forthwith commits stoned General Curtin to order for the imperial cellars largo quantity of the rye whisky, which he had never heard of until after the arrival of Curtin in St. Petersburg. Ten barrels of Monon- gahela rye were shipped from Pennsyl- rania nos long afterward to the czar You'd never guess my part in the fes- tivities. 1t was nothing more nor less than telling nigger stories. Of course 1 knew plenty of them, having been brought up in the south in aptebellum days, and the ezar never tired of hear ing them. Folklore tales and the quaint conversation between Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Ear delighted him AfterWard, at the czar's request, I sent to New York for all the books of this desorip- tion could get
 " General Curtin won the affection of his majesty by his genial personality, his fund of aneodote and his unaffected sincerity. He would tell story after story of American life and incident, at many of which Alexander laughed as merrily as Q schoolboy. I love to be with men, he would say. I love Amer. jeans as l hate sycophants He was heard to say more than once that the happiest hours of his life were those i passed in this way with General Curtin.
 "The peculiar affection for the Unit ed States cherished in Russia, in spite of the Russians dislike for foreigners in general, is national religious sentiment In every Russian church the