Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1902-02-25
The CARS OLD NURSE.


Grief of an Autocrat for the Woman
Who Had Loved Him.
A picture of the way in which love
levels all earthly distinctions is given In
James Creelman's book. "On the Great
Highway" Mr.. Creelman was in Rus
sia as a special correspondent at the
time when the Czar. Alexander ILL.,.
walked, grief-stricken mourner.
through the streets of St Petersburg.
behind the coffin of his old English
nurse. He says:
On that dark. stormy day when the
Cars English nurse died in the Win
ter Palace, was in St Petersburg. and
remember well how the wet snow fell
from the blotched sky, and the wind
whfstled up the frozen Neva.
Wherever | went in Russia there was
always present in my mind the figure
of Alexander I'LL. as | once saw him.
riding at the head of his cuirassiers. an
arrogant giant, on great black horse.
towering above his soldiers, the incar-
nation Of brute force. splendid and ter
rible. But was yet to see the human
nature hidden under that glittering he'll
met and breastplate.
The Gear was with his ministers
when a messenger told him that his
nurse waRdead. Through the dull.
harsh nature of Alexander there ran
one stream of tenderness-lovef for this
woman. Kitty. who had mothered him
in boyhood. And she was dead.
oT1fo of oil no
alone through the storm to the dark
ened room In the Winter Palace where
his dead nurse lay. The giant krelt be-
side her body with great cry, and the
attendants withdrew and left him
alone.
For a long time he remained there
with bowed head, and when he came
out Of the hushed chamber there was
a look on his face that no one had ever
sen there before.
A whisper went about the city that
none but himself and his brothers
should keep watch over Kitty's coffin.
Alexander was the second son. and
while bis elder brother. the heir to the
throne, was alive, the big. awkward
boy was neglected. Even then. how
ever, he was the favorite child of the
English nurse, and his sullen nature re-
sponded to her touch.
There was little known about the life
of this humble woman. She was quiet
and shy, rarely seen outside the mag
a patient soft-voiced subject Of Queen
Victoria, but she modified and subdued
the boys hard nature.
How true was the love Of the Car
for this friend of his boyhood is shown
by the humility with which he followed
her to the grave. No mourner rode that
day. Through the snow and the slush
the Gear and his brothers walked be-
hind the hearse, side by side, the Gar
In the middle. Not note of pomp vio-
lated the simple pathos of the scene.
The autocrat was simply a man walk
Ing humhly and reverently after the
corpse of the woman who had loved
him.
1t was long way to the cemetery,
but the Czar walked the whole dis
lance. He sat in pew of the Church
of England for the first time, and
watched the coffin at the altar rails. At
the cemetery. when they lowered the
coffin into the frozen ground. the keep
er Of the cemetery laid a piece of car
pet at the feet of his imperial lord, and
the Car sank on his knees. He knelt
there with the snow falling upon his
bare head until the grave was filled.
Then, as he went away. he turned for
last look at the mound where he had
laid the woman who had loved him
ever since he was boy,