The Washington herald., 1913-02-18
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

for the revision Of the Turco-Montene-
grin frontier in 1879. In an open letter
declares King Nikita cLittie Nicholas'')
Of Montenegro to be an arrant humbug,
and even rascal. Baron de Constant
il no stranger to America, having spent
some time in this country in his efforts
in the cause of universal peace. He
was awarded the Nobel peace prize. and
his wife is an American. The baron's
appearance denotes that he is mentally
and physically well equipped for the
apostaiate he has undertaken.
Yet, though his letter to the King Is
teeming with forceful expressions that
leave little doubt as to what the writer
thinks Of the royal scamp" he did not
tell the whole truth in speaking Of the
despotic nature OF "Nikita's'' rule. whose
grandfather, Peter I, made himself a
sort of hereditary archbishop or patri-
arch. The present ruler and new-hedged
King therefore is spiritual as well as
temporal chief. His will alone is para
mount, for there is no bureaucracy as
in Russia, no public opinion to contro!
despotism, and his parliament is
elected by himself. His three sons
Danilo. Mirko. and Petcr-are "Voyvodes,
or chief magistrates. of the principal dis
| tricts of the little land, and the only
law they have to lay down or interpret
Is tnelF 1atner 3 Will.
The Black Mountain tMontenegro) is
far removed from European influence and
but few among the dwellers of the civil
lized countries possess any knowledge
Of its ruler or its ways and customs. II
is a land where the drones and not the
honey making bees have the mastery.
The Montenegrin male delights in
clothes Of brilliant hue. though mostly
| threadbare and tattered, while the fe-
males, plow. NOV, reap and dig. often
while carrying their babies on their
backs. The most these idle men ever
! consent to do is TO fish in the Lake of
| tween King Nicholas and the Sublime
Porte.
This fine sheet OF fresh water, as large
as the lake of Geneva. fairly is alive
with fish and waterfowl. An imaginary
line from northwest to southeast gives
one-third of the lake TO Montenegro, the
rest belongs to Turkey, including the
long arm of the water. Nicholas has a
''Konak'' OF the edge of his part and
often his wife and daughters enjoy their
sports of fishing and shooting. For. be
it understood. the women of Montenegro
are good shots and many of them have
acted as guerrillas in the present war.
Women unload the fishing smacks and
carry the fish up the steep mountain In
baskets strapped to their backs. Even
a goat can only. with difficulty and with
many halts climb that road. They have
breed of lean little horses in that coun-
try which in queer little loose jointed
'.shandry dams carry tourists up the
mountain from the Adriatic seaports of
Antivari or Cattaro: but it takes much
goading and the firing of old muskets to
accomplish the difficult task. for the
Montcnegrin. whatever his calling. al
ways goes about fully armed. Not in
frequently a master uses his pistol as a
bell when calling his servant.
have been at Ccttinic. but no hus-
band there ever walks with his wife He
does not even recognize her. should he
happen to meet her in the street Ma
ternal ancestry is OF no consequence and
a mothers people barely are considered
to be relatives Their capacity as sure
shots in mountain warfare thus far has
not emancipated the women Of Monte
negro from their Biblical servitude or
brought them a step nearer to an equal
ity with their '1ords and masters When
wife gives birth to daughter she
humbly begs her husbands pardon. The
patriarchal conditions are So ingrained
in her very nature that the very word
tremble FOR her life. She is the personi-
fication Of dull. chronic despair. She
is unseNed, ematurely old. haEgard,
miserably clad and utterly neglected.
The Turks. according to their notions.
are good to their womenfolk. He may
be the farmyard 'Chantecler" with his
harcn. but he would die sooner than eat
if hungry until each has had her fill.
Wen. il must he admitted, in order TO
t,o haf l. ipr .sNfLif3 - pChn Va =
educated at Paris in the Louis le Grand
Lycec. does what he can to make the
life of the women at his capital. Get
TIME. somewhat easier, but by using more
determined efforts he might have been
more successful His daughters in re-
ality have made him what he is They
were his fortune.
The young princcsses were educated in
St Petersburg in a school for the daugh-
ters of the Russian nobility. where they
could not help imbibing progressive ideas
tending to emancipation. But as they all
married abroad this had no telling ef
feet in Montenegro. beyond perhaps the
Introduction of tennis by their younger
sisters and the diplomats. The men OF
Montenegro. however. despise any game
I'm which players of both sexes are on
an equal footing, as women can and often
do. defeat men.
Lawn tennis nowadays. however
is played a good bit on the high pla-
teau that surrounds Cettinje, and not
infrequently the King. mounted on his
white horse. clears the netted barriers.
dispensing both players and spectators.
and then riding off. chuckling over the
good joke" Perhaps ii is a jest-per-
haps not.
His two oldest daughters. the present
Queen of Italy and the Princess Jo-
seph OF Battenberg, patroniZed the
game on the meadows OF Cettintc Now
their places are taken by their sisters,
Senia and Vera. the former exceed
ingly lovely and graceful. the latter
merely handsome.
The Kings sons also had the benefit
of a St. Petersburg education. the one
TO which Tolstoy and karopstkin were
sent They are likely youths. with ag-
lie forms and polished manners. who
have inherited their almond eyes, of a
soft expression, from their grandmoth-
er. Martinovitch. Being more civilized
than his subjects, and above their mas
culine prejudices, the King has ac-
knowledged the Martinovitch relation
ship by making his first cousin. a Mar
tinovitch, his minister of war-and he
could hardly have done any better.
King "Nikita'' loves to play his role
as the religious head or his nation and
among the natives he and his entire
family are spoken of as the ''archiposco-
pal elect" In fact he is the hereditary
Patriarch of the land Ia peaceful one,
/ must confess. In his youth Nicholas
was handsome. 1.-the and agile with glor-