Omaha daily bee., 1905-12-24
BIG AND LITTLE ROMANOFFS
Men, Women an Babes " hos Fate Hangs
on Result Of Russisn Disturbances.
ORIGIN OF The PRESENT soVtRslGSs
Family by intcrma rriaEe Made More
German Than fundamentally
Grand Dukes The
Cars Children.

| poet Fushkin 10 pour water into glass Of
wine until 81 little wine remained that 1t
! hardly impaired the slightest taste or color
! TO the gohlets contents. This was by way
! or showing how little Russian blood re-
mained In the Romanons. who have since
Peter the Great been the reigning family Of
! Russia
| The Ruriks when they were driven from
power. were a pure blooded Russian line
| But intormarriaEes with German wives
have made the imperial family of today al
most wholly German. by blood IL not by
sympathy.
II was with Michael Feodorovitch Roman
| OIL, who was succeeded by Alexis that the
Romanoffs in 1913 began to rule Russia
older Russian descendants of the Rurik
families naturally looked upon them as
usurpers. Prince Peter Dolgoruki did not
hesitate so late as the time OF the Gar
Nicholas to make his opinion on that mat
ter known.
The emperor had summoned him from
Paris. where he was acting as secretary of
the Russian embassy, because of a letter
he had written which did not please the
car. The prince sent word that he would
send his photograph to St Petersburg in
stead. With this offer he reminded his mai
esty that his ancestors were grand dukes
OF Moscow when the ancestors of the Gar
Nicholas were not even dukes of Holstein-
Gottorp."
The Romanoffs are likely to have the dis
tinction Of being the last dynasty Of abso-
lutte sovereigns that Russia will know The
ruling house that preceded them was saved
from the necessity of having its wings
clipped by the people. even II 1t did disap-
pear from view two centuries and a half
earlier with its powers and rights I'M
abridged.
Children of the Gar.
The children OF the car now number
five. The youngest OF these young Roman
offs is Alexis Nicolaievitch. which means,
Of course the son of Nicholas.
This young man, who is heir to the throne
of all the Russias, is now little more than a
year old. But he is already Hetman OF all
the Cossack troops In Russia, commander
OF a regiment of the guard in Finland-if
that honor still remains TO him ii is rather
an empty one now-and he occupies the
same post In three or four other regiments
scattered over the vast domains OF his
father from St. Petersburg to eastern ST.
beria-
1t was at his birth that the nihilists de-
clared the czarina had given to the car
another daughter and imposed on the peo-
pie the child OF a peasant A revolt of
some kind might have followed the birth of
another daughter to the czarina, and the
nihilists urged that It was to prevent such
a disaster that the child was taken from a
peasant who had been smusgied into the
palace. The story never gained credence
and the devotion OF the Russian people to
the little heir has never faltered on account
of II.
1t was thought before his birth that the
little Grand Duchess Olga, who is now 10
years old might be declared the czar's heir
in case no son was born. The tiny princess
as child showed unusual spirit and so i'm
perious a will that the Russian people had
come to expect that she would be declared
heir apparent TO the throne.
The whole court is said to be devoted TO
the child, and it seemed a settled matter
that Olga Nikolaevna might succeed her
father when the coming of her three sisters
made the appearance OF a male heir more
and more doubtful. The only opposition to
this plan was expected from the Grand
Duke Vladimir, who would inherit as his
older brother, Michael. is In poor health.
Serge, the second brother, who died was
childless. The Grand Duke Vladimir who
retains his strong influence over the car
is the father of those two admirable young
men. the Grand Dukes Boris and Cyril.
The birth OF a son settled all these prob
lens of succession and delivered the Rus
sian people from the possibility of being
ruled by one OF the grand ducal group.
Traits of the Youngsters.
The children are Olga, the Grand Duchess
Marie, who is now 6. the 4-year-old Grand
Duchess Anastasia, and the Grand Duchess
Tatiana, the second daughter OF the czar.
who has now reached the mature age of s.
She was born at Peterhof.
These young women have been brought
up very simply by English nurses, and they
have been allowed to have only tho healthy
pleasures Of ordinary children. Only a
short time ago they could be seen driving
through the streets OF st. Petersburg IN a
large landau. They are difficult to keep in
a dignified position in their imperial equip
age, as an eye witness described them a
little more than a year ago, He said:
The three elder ones seem to rove all over
the landau. They stand UP. and then are
replaced In their seats. It scarcely lasts a
minute, when you may then on their
knees, looking out OF the front, bowling TO
the passersby and taking the keenest inter-
est in all that meets their eyes
Once again the nurses with kindly hands
place their valuable charges in more de-
corous positions. But half a minute later
the whole arrangement is again upset And
so It goes on.
One OF them asked lately, with much
who does ST. Petersburg be-
long tor" To which the reply was given
that It belonged to their papa
''Yes?" replied the little grand duchess,
with surprise. 81 did not know that. did .
know that Peterhof belonged to US Yes? /
The whole Of it?'
The elder once are fully alive to the ex-
allied position they hold in the world. One
day a certain person, whom will generally
term a court furnisher, being with the lit
tie grand duchesses. and thinking to say
pleasant, remarked:
81 saw four very nice little girls out rid
ing this morning"
mo. you didn't" replied the Grand OUCH
4ss Olga abruptly. and with dignity. You
saw four little grand duchesses"
At any rate. the four little grand duch-
ssses have unlimited popularity and to the
never ceasing JOY Of the people, rich and
poor alike. may be seen. of late out almost
any morning. their nurses seeing that they
never miss a bit of sunshine II there 4. anv
10 be found.
But they are always the busiest little
grand duchesses imaginable. II is a sight
n them on a morninR At