Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-04-14
4......
/ LITERATURE AND LIFE


Carmen sylvia or Elizabeth, queen of
Roumania, is a fine example of what
nature will do for a loving romantic,
imaginative child. Born in castle on
the Rhine which had been for tnous-
and years the home of her ancestry, she
PASSED her childhood and early gillhood
amid the surrounding forests, dreaming
the poems romanceS and fairy tales to
which she afterwards gave expression.
Thirty years ago she became queen
of Roumania by her marriage with
zolern and at once, by her tact and
beauty, love and sympathy, she cap
tured the hearts of her people.
A few years later, on the breaking
out of the war between Turkey and
Russia, the queen laid aside her royal
robes and entered the hospitals where
she served Light and day until the
close oil the war.
After the war, in 1878, she began
writing for publication her first book
being called forth by the nerest acct
dent The introduction to this book,
"A Real Queens Fairy Tales, written
tells us that the great love in which
she was held by her people, suggested
to the superintendent of Roumanian
schols, the idea Of Offering as prize
for the most meritorious pupil, book
written by her majesty, and he at once
sought the queens favor. She grac-
iously complied, and at once set herself
to the work, completing it in a short
time.
This first volume of fairy tales has
been translated into many languages,
finding q warm welcome among chill
dren everywhere 1t contains eleven
dainty. exquisite tales drawn from the
old Roumanian legends. besides a
truly true one. the most fascinating
of all, because it is the personal story
of her own childhood. narrating her
elfish life in the forests, whe mas child
she listened to the secrets of the wind,
the trees, the birds and the flowers, all
of which, to her imaginative soul, We're
real companions. whispering to her
those tales she afterwards committed
to paper
When the moaning winds would
sweep thru the forests causing the
trees to groan with them, the little
princess would, in her own words. ''tie
my hood over my brown hair, and. with
my two big ST. Bernard dogs by my
SIDE would race thru the forest,
avoiding all the beaten tracks, and lis
ten to it's voices for the forest told
me stories all the time. The forest sang
the songs to me which wrote down
afterward at home, but which l never
showed to any one 1t was our secret
the woods and mine
This personal tale also tells how she
acquired the pen name of Carmen Syl-
va'-the Latin for "Waldgesang' by
which she was known in German. Both
signify the song of the woods.
The author tells beautiful tale of
the Linden tree to which she likens
herself, saying: LAS child. l always
thought 1 was not as good as others,
and not so we'll loved because ! was less
lovable" But this cannot be true, else
her people could not love her as they
do. She had one child whose loss
turned her mother love toward chill
dren wherever found.
This gifted. versatile woman has
written, besides fairy tales. poems,
dramas. romances. proverbs and phil
osophy. She is also a skilled linguist,
painter and musician, having composed
an opera libretto.
But more than all else, is she queen
and mother of her people to whose in
terests she devotes all her time save
the early morning hours before her
eight o'clock breakfast, which she gives
to her literary labors.
The late empress of Austria who Wis
tied the queen in her royal chateau hid
away in the heart of the mountains,
said of her: II cannot imagine any
thing more ideal on earth, than the life
and surroundings of Carmen Sylvia"
Every nation has it's book of fairy
tales. except America which has been
regarded as too new to lure the little
immortals away from their traditional
haunts. But L. Frank Baum who is
ambitious to fill all the literary gaps in
the lives of American children, has
brought out book of american Fairy
Tales narrating not only exciting and
wonderful stories, but also introducing
modern children who possess distinct
.humor of their own.
This is how Chicago looks to one
Englishman, at least Dean Stubs of
Ely, who visited America some two
years ago. and published his impress
sions in recent book entitled In a
Minister'S Garden"
Il thought it the most hatefully un-
lovely city I was ever in. There We're
fine buildings of course, warehouses for
the most part, of the skyscraping va
riety. but as a whole, hateful, simply
hateful, a clanking wilderness of end
less streets, monotonous, unpicturesque,
untidy, dirty, foul"
The February Critic" thru an in
terviewer. gives us a glimpse of VIM
ston Churchill in his beautiful home in
Vermont One bit particularly inter
esting gives US the cue to the authors
protraiture of character like
Abraham Lincoln.
I'm treating of such a character as
Daniel Webster asks the interviewer
of Mr.. Churchill. how would you por
tray him. just as really was, or with his
lapses omitted?'
Il should consider 1t wrong" replied
the author, ito expose the weaknesses
of man like Webster, because he is Il
historical ideal that should not be shat
tered. The same is true in regard to