Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-06-17
HERO OF BLACK MOUNTAINS
Comes From q Line Who Has Ruled
Many Years.

II
land Of the Black Mountains for many
ages. But the family served while 1t
| ruled, and found service honorable.
And similar humble pride exalts the
present occupant of the throne. HIS
schooling in Paris, begun so sensa-
tionally, shows the boy to have been
father to the man. He was born poet
and knight-errant, but not inclined to
! bend his talents to the exacting exer-
cises Of the classroom. Insensibly he
grew to sort Of unofficial leadership
Of his fellows. He was always present
at the students battles, the Fighter Of
others wrongs, and invariably fought
the winner of combat ito teach him
to make generous use Of his VIC.
tory" NJ. Sevrette. who Is now. as he
was in King Nicholas student days In
Paris, professor at the college, tells
US how gladly the future warrior
Ter fed the labors Of the study. He
had to do just the same mental SER
vice as the others.
'Petro," his master would say, "Pe-
tro, please go and boil some water in
my room, and, bring It to me with my
soap and razor" and the future soyer-
eign would trip blithely away to per-
form the office of barber's boy, content
because It gave him brief respite
from his studies The ruler who has
recently hung his shield in the arena
as challenge to all Europe was. in
his youth, as docile a flag" as was.
say Lord Roseberry, when he used to
gallop off before breakfast to a tall
or's in the High street at Elton to get
the breeches of his fag-master. a par
sons son, mended, or as the father OF
the present Duke Of Marlborough.
when he coursed dutifully over the
same historic highway to buy his Sc
nior's breakfast Of democratic bloat-
ers.
But, as already indicated, service Is
combined with the theory OF govern
ment in the Montenegrin royal family.
For hundreds Of years prince and
much Of equality In certain things, and
in none more than the matter Of COM
pliance with the dictates Of the very
ito do" The rulers of Montenegro
have each beer prophet priest and
prince to the nation. Until 1896. the
people used to elect their ruler, but In
that year they chose a young monk,
Danillo Petrovitch, and decreed that
though he, as one vowed to cellbacy,
could have no heir, yet he should
choose his successor from one Of his
own blood. Thus the young monk OF
Niegush became the first hereditary
prince Of the land. as the present rul-
er, also a native of Niegush. became
the first hereditary king. For CEN
tury and half priest princes Of the
house Of Petrovitch nominated as their
successors other priest-princes Of the
line. and every head Of the house, up
to 1852, was an unmarried monk, who
was also general in battle. spiritual
guide in time Of peace, teacher and
inspirer.
The present kings uncle, Danillo IL
was the first to throw of the priestly
role. He declined to VOW himself to
celibacy, married rich and beautiful
woman. and, more warlike than his
predecessors, raised the banner OF re-
volt against the hated Turk. and re-
deemed his little land from the rule OF
the Turk. s4
King Nicholas was born In time to
take a glorious part In that campaign
for freedom. The great heroic figure
of the movement, however, was Mich
olas' father, Mirko, "the Sword Of
Montenegro" as he was called.
Although Mirko never ruled, he en-
bodied the national spirit as few OF
his house had done. In war he was
terrible, in peace he was par excellence
the patriarch Of the people. This man
| whom the Turks had such good reason
to fear was, when his sword and
shield were hung upon the wall prac-
tically the only schoolmaster in the
land. It was ''the Sword OF Montene-
gro" who taught the children Of the
feudal chiefs their three RS, and
trained them to feats Of hardihood and
bravery. tG
Danilo II. was slain by an assassin's
dagger on the field of battle, and the
Turks, in spite Of the heroic valor Of
Mirko and his son. threw vast armies
into the little mountain kingdom and
again subjugated 1t. Famine followed
defeat, and cholera supervened upon
famine, and In this Mirko. hero Of SO
many fights, died when with his son
he was tending the stricken. King
Nicholas succeeded, thereto, to but
the shadow of a sceptre, the skeleton
OF a dominion, while he himself all but
shared the fate of the uncle in whose
stead he was called to reign.
How he quietly reorganized and re-
armed his people, how by superb tao
tics and indomitable valor he won back
his land from the oppressor and gave
her new territory, is now part OF the
history of modern Europe. 1t is a fact
that he raised a new spirit In the
Montenegrins. They are but hand
ful-25O000 of them-but he made
them one Of the most formidable
forces in Europe.
In the meantime, he wrought In the
art of peace as great a revolution as
in the arts of war; He gave the coun-
try q constitution. Better still, he gave
It a system of national education
Montenegro he's produced many nota-
BILE poets, but they had to sing their
verses; they could not write them
This warrior prince, however, made
education as much a sine qua non as
feats Of arms. And he actually made
his people work. There was In them
good deal of the old spirit OF the
brigand. The men did not toll; the
labor of the farm was left to the wo-
men. They were fighters first and
foremost, and when there was not ar
external enemy to buffet they KEEP
their hand in by means Of the san
culinary vendetta
J Nicholas himself sought bride Of