Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-22
QUEEN WORKS HARD
Elizabeth of R0umania a High
Iy Talented Woman.
WRITER OF HIGH REPUTE
As Carmen Sylvia" Has Won Sc
cure Place in Literature.
DEVOTED TO HER SUBJECTS
Marriage to Prince Carol Not a Love
Match, But They Are De-
voted Couple.
WRITER OF HIGH REPUTE
DEVOTED TO HER SUBJECTS
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.


bly the most accomplished and intel
| lectual of all the royal women OF Europe.
She speaks, reads and writes SIX IAN
suases f1uently, and has written poems
in four. She is a poetess of no mean
ability and her stories and essays have
been awarded a high place in European
literature. They have been translated
into all the modern languages and have
been read by the people Of every civil
lied land.
A book of maxims. entitled THE
Thoughts Of a Queen was granted
medal of honor by the French Academy.
She has published more than thirty
books and has contributed hundreds OF
articles to magazines. She has shown
unusual skill in literary research in con-
nection with Roumanian legends and
folk lore.
She has written an opera entitled
Master Manole,' which has been sue
cessfully presented in Munich and other
cities of Europe. She is brilliant
pianist and was Il favorite pupil OF
Rubinstein and Clava Schurmann. She
is equally accomplished as an Organist
and frequently conducts orchestral con-
certs in the music hall of the palace at
Bucharest. She has composed sym
phonies and other orchestral pieces She
ed the gypsy melodies of her country to
that instrument, frequently calling atten-
ton to their similarity to the ancient
melodies for the harp in Ireland.'
An Accomplished Painter.
Queen Elizabeth is also an accomplish
ed artist. She has painted several pic
lures Of recognized merit and has done
miniatures of many of her friends on
ivory. She is skillful with a needle, in
embroidery ana in lacemaking, and has
introduced both arts among the peasant
women Of Roumania. She has also in
ed the government to plant hundreds of
thousands of mulberry trees throughout
the country.
She has founded schools. opera houses.
hospitals. asylums Of various sorts,
training homes for nurses ard home for
money.
Much of her time is devoted to char
ity and in organizing and directing
both military and civil hospitals and
Although the national religion is the
orthodox Greek and King Carol. her
husband, made a public profession Of
that faith when he was as crowned ,Uis in in
at the time Of their marriage in 1863,
and has continued to be an earnest and
active member of the Lutheran con-
gregation in Bucharest, for which she
erected a modest but appropriate house
of worship at her own expense. How
ever, she does not intrude her faith
upon others and participates in the
religious festivals Of the people with
that she is a Protestant and that she
recognizes the claims of their own
faith and always remembers that she
Is the queen Of an orthodox Greek
population.
One Of Busiest Women.
AS you may judge, she is one of the
busiest and one of the most incessant
workers of all the women in the world.
Those who know her well say that she
never wastes . moment. and she keeps
many assistants busy looking out for
the poor. finding employment for those
who need it and serving the interests
of the Roumanian people. Although
Bucharest has the reputation of being
a very immoral city, there has never
been scandal in the court; her ladies'
in waiting and maids of honor have
always been women of exemplary lives.
and their devotion to her is remark
able. Her sweet disposition, her gen.
erous heart and her anxiety for the
welfare of her subjects are universally
recognized. and it is said that no one
has even known her who has not loved
her the rest OF their lives.
Queen Elizabeth is better known
plume of Carmen SYLVIA" and many
people who have read her charming
lyrics have been ignorant of the fact
that they were written by a queen
Mamma Regina.
Queen Elizabeth is now sixty seven
years old, short in stature, matronly
figure, a bright complexion and pure
hoir small
her profile is regular Greek; her lips
are thin; her eyes are blue, and her
forehead is high. She usually brushes
her hair straight over roll and coiled
fashioned way. On formal occasions
she appears in royal robes; when she
goes out among the people in the
country she usually wears the ma
mensely, and while she is at home and
employed among her multifarious and
often distracting duties she dresses in
plain black with a white linen collar.
| the height Of fashion. and most of
the wives of the boyards. the land
owning aristocracy of Roumania, spend
| more for gowns and jewels than she.
| ON state occasions she wears a crown
| that once was worn by Josephine, the
unhappy empress Of Napoleon /, and she
owns a string Of pearls that was also
worn by Josephine, to whom her hus-
bands greatgrandmother was related.
Her Life a Sad One.
Notwithstanding her unqualified popu-
| Iarity. among her own subjects, her bril-
liant success in everything she has I'M
dertaken, and the respect and esteem IN
which she is universally held by the
royal families of Europe, Carmen Syl-
va" has had a very sad life. and when
her face is at rest one can recognize
| the effect SORROW has had upon her. The
saddest thoughts that come into her mind
are regrets for her childlessness. A babe
was born to her after she had been