Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-10-09

news bureau. From the various frag-
smentary reports it has become known (
& that the czarina, who had come to
Russia with lofty ideals and a liberal
s4we stern education, Is an invalid and
martyr, alone in the palace Il OF the
car, misunde and tormented
with melancholy and fear. d. .s! III *
Now = chronicler, intimately famil-
lar with the home life OF the Russian
sczar, has described wildly the fer
4 ings of the woman who had hoped to
reform the Russian car and the Rus.
= sian land, and It may be said without
exaggeration, that Alexandra Feodo-
rovna Is today, the unhappiest OF all
queens. & n "a 58s II. ,s "a
Princess Alice Of IIesse- Darmstadt.
according to the biographer of the
1 czartna, lived amid ideal and tdyllic
surroundings throughout her child
hood. The small, good looking prin-
cess, dressed as beautifully as her
4 dolls. was told that the flowers daily
presented her were 80 beautiful and
fragrant for her sake, and that when
she was crying. the little flowers were
also shedding tears. and when she:
was laughing, the little flowers were
\ kind hearted and obedient, and she;
( did all she could to refrain from cry
+ ing, for she. recalled that every tear
4 drop OF hers would cause so much
pain to all those who loved her.
But the tears she repressed in her
childhood days she is shedding now
within the walls OF the palace, as the,
/. queen Of the long suffering Russian.
people. Being OF Z sensitive, impress
1 sionable and artistic nature, the prin--
cess was deeply interested in the best
kind OF literature. She familiarized
\ herself with the most important
works Of the masters Of fiction In Eu-t
y rope and she even made some at;
.tempts at writing poetry and dramas. mas
Al she was frail, the physicians
feared that she was undermining her
health by devoting most of her time me
TO books, and she was told that her
1 health was more important than all
the books in the world, and then for
the first time she learned that she
was not free. The books were now Sc
+ lected for her by physicians and she
was permitted to read only very.
# limited number Of such books. To
Il while her time away she took up the
study OF drawing, and soon showed
considerable talent In that direction.
@ Little by little she commenced to
Il notice the life beyond the boundary
of her fairyland; she saw the life Of
& the people who were suffering and
ii starving, and she learned that what
was new to her was not new to her
n father, to her mother, to her aunts.
to all those who lived contented in her
I fairyland OF luxury. And she began to
ask herself the question which she
was for q long time unable to answer:
How can they all remain care free
and 20 shamelessly cheerful when be-
yond the windows of this palace is
the moan Of an entire suffering ma
4 ton p p 81 f ~
Princess Alice became the czarina
Of Russia. She came to the Russian
{ land at time when the people, ex-
4 hausted by the burden Of absolutism,
were returning from the funeral OF
Alexander Ill, and were hopefully
waiting for more merciful reign on
II the part of the new car Nicholas,
who was reputed at that time to be a
Y liberal. ,. 5ls5 .s
The first day Of the new reign was
marked by the Khodinka tragedy,
when thousands OF people lost their
lives amid the festivities The tragedy
made profound impression upon the
i czarina. 1t seemed to her forebod-
Ing of terrible future.
The superstitious inclinations and
weaknesses of the czar, manifested in
his eagerness for a male heir to the
Russian throne. filed the czarina with
untold grief.
She had to obey the orders Of va
rious charlatane who were welcome
advisers Of Tho car. And the in
trigues directed against her In the