The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-05-02
'THE CZAR'S FAMILY AT HONE
CzARTNA A GRACIOUS HOSTESS.
BUT SERIOUS MINDED.

BUT SERIOUS MINDED.
A Forme or Lady b Victims TeTs or Q visit
to Tsarskoe-seloJThe -Four Dangh'
tiers Dlgnined, but All me Family un.
bends Bcfsre the F~1ye-Year-Oid Son.
ST. PETERSBURG. April 1.Fn 70 the
c~xarina's custom to 'ksep In ,topch With
hose Of her ladies who have married and
her service. At this Easter season
each rear her Majesty sets apart some
for receiving the visits al forrner
danes d'honneur. bearing the pevs OF
their families and for an hour or two
reviving old compspionehips. Tha writer
has just met one Of thsm who hsa peidher
annual private vilt to court. Stories have
here from abroad representing
the CEArina - wholly broken In health.
mind and spirit by the gloomy oppression
the courts secluded LIE. This hdy's
experience Of an afternoon wilt to the
Cars family h frst hand evidence on the
subject.
When she arrived at the little palace
Of Tsarskoe-Selo-A mansion no larger
than rich family might occupy and
not to be COMPOUNDED with the great palace
half Q mile away, which is used only Tor
State ceremonial purposes the nrst OF
the Romanoffs that she saw WAS the
Cars eldest daughter. the thirteen-year-
old Grand Duchess Olga. a serious faced
girl. tall for her 20 already almost her
fathers height. As she led the visitor
to the Czarina's private apartrhetits she
told her that her mother was resting on
sofa to Ease a pain In her left side. In
the first minute or two Of her meeting with
the Empress the latter was visfbly suffer-
ing, but her welcome was quite cordial
and her animation came naturally - the
conversation developed. One would say
that the Empress now looks decidedly
more than her 81 years. She has become
stouter than most matrons OF 20 are.
moves rather. heavily. and her skfn has
a habitual, high colored underfdsh. such
as is noticed often in people whose heart
action is not satisfactory. Her enpres-
sion and pose Of features, always rather
austere, have taken q fixed seriousness
which IL tracing lines on her q Q
Yet the Czarina was a ~considerate and
resourceful hostess. Other visitors came.
also former ladies in waiting. Her MAJ
| esty played piano duets With n Of them.
| and she Gang in English and Russians The
imperial children were brought in. The
! girls have a range OF education FAR beyond
what one would expect at their age. Their
talk with each other is usually. carried
on in English. the language IN WHOM ne hs
was Princess Alice Of Hesse. Tho Oysrina.
however, has acquired perfect proficiency
in Russian. an achievement which the
DowaRer Empress Marie Feodcroyna.
although it 10 we'll over forty years since
abe became consort TO q Gar OF RUSSIA.
speaks Russian at all; mostly French and
sometimes English.
the Cars daughters. as my In
formant noticed, never let you forget
that they are grand ducheeses'; but they
are not forgetful Of the feelings Of Others.
their books-htstory, geography, htera-
ture and languages; 80 far none OF them
has shown their mothers taste and aptt-
hlde for music. Even when their hair 10
getting brushed they arc kept talking
lessons" with one or other OF their gov
trouble with them IN the score OF good be-
hayior; one after another as they grow up
thew become quiet, obedient, a~fectionate
girfs-dirniied and undemonstrative. 1t
r. only to their little brother 1Ahoeoha'-
"a every one calls the five-year-old Care
witch kiexis--that the entire imperial lam
ily unbends with q will. His 1avonte
toy is q drum about half as big as himself;
? With II stripped or him as on a regfmental
baudsman, he goes humping ana march-
ing along the corridors OF the palace. fol-
lowed in military step by his four sisters
In Indian file. Ids Amazon army. he has
abundant animal spirits. II is only o
that a eoverness is being engaged for him;
hitherto his upbringing, outside OF his
family and nurses, has been entrusted toe
herculean, good natured sailor from the
VI ont STANDARD, whom Alexis himself
chose as his playmate. The " elder
!. girls take their meals daily with the Car
and Czarina.
The private sorrows of an Empress
= are a fine theme for romantic speculation;
but il Is a certainty that Czarina Alex
andra has no oAuoe for the chief grief
that the drama Of history has sscri4ed
] to the consorts q absolute mona "a hs.
and always has been. Her health is a real
care to him, any wish she may express is
his law: >but like most OF the other Prin-
cesses descended from Queen Vfctoria
OF England she has practically no intel
lectual intereets and little mental yigof.
The tact that she Is in a position Of UNI
paraIIeied power and opportunity to
Affect tho government Of millions OF her
fellow creatures has simply never occurred
to her. Her range of interest is limited
to her family and household; and Tor the
rest she has the artistic accomplishments
Of a moderately gifted gentlewornan.
She hates the struggle OF politics. At the
Winter Palace in st. Petersburg on the
|, day of the opening OF the first DuIna abe
DELAYED the luncheon to the great per-
sonages OF the empire for half an hour
while she wept bitter tears OF outraged
dignity at what she thought the brutal
III breeding OF the revolutionary majority
Of the Duma in not bowling In Response
to the s~alutations from the throne.
There are, however, outstanding fects
in her life that have greatly deepened her
1 natural seriousness. Her three elder
sisters-Princess Louis Of BattenberG and
Princess Henry OF Prussia both with
genial sailor husbandsl and the Grand
Duchess Elisabeth, widow OF the fnur
J dsred Grand Duke Serge-made Tar ieea
! brilliant matches than she. but how mucn
more sunshine IL theirs!
In the delicate matter Of marital pro-
priety among the members Of her D
bands family the Csarina IL out OF sym
patty with the sentiment alike Of the
, Russian masses and OF the ruling families.
: Most Of the Grand Dukes and q CONSIDER
able portion OF Russia's public ~
maintain or have maintained publicly
their ~morganAtio alliances. end IL newer
! OCCURS to the Slav mind to Eve the sub
! ject q thought, II 10 not that opinion
! u immoral; rather 1t 10 non-moraI. 70
this the Oxarina cannot reconcile hersen
! The widespread resentment felt amone
!, officers OF both navy and army when sne
Soc,,rnd che eynulA5on Of her husbands