The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-12-05

was, il is sure, deeply sorry for her
husband And pity is akin to love.
The Moscovites had an instinct of tris.
On the few church and ceremonial
days when the Grand Duke Serge
drove out from the Kremlin the Grand
Duchess Elisabeth sat beside him, and
they returned safe.
AS the political black clouds weigh
ed down more and more tbreateningly
on the governor OF Moscow the car
in ST. Petersburg was advised to abol-
ish the office. This was decided on;
and one February morning Serge was
driving out in a single horse closed
carriage to pay a final poor prendre
congo" call on one of the successors
to part Of his authority when the
young student, Kalaieff, threw the
bomb that killed master and coach
man together. In few minutes the
Grand Duchess, bareheaded and wrap
ped In pelisse, darted across the
snow and knelt by what remained in a
biood-drenched cloak of her husband.
A day later, again bareheaded, she
at the simple funeral Of the coachnaan,
taking her place side by side with his
peasant wife and the family of poor
people She went to see Kalaieff in
prison and begged in a simple, pitifui
way to be told why the young man
killed her husband. Kalaieff remained
unmoved by this appeal, but her own
distress brought tears to his eyes. He
would not ask for pardon, although
she said to him, stretching out her
hands, that she herself as Christian
woman pardoned him, and would pray
for him to God.
1t is from that tragic day that the
Grand Duchess put this world behind
her and fixed her whole being on the
consultations of religion. For many
months she lived in complete seclu-
sion. Then Trepoff, who had been
transferred to ST. Petersburg as gov
nor and had beaten down the angry
population, had himself fallen in dis
grace and died Of sheer exhaustion and
an overweight heart. The car and
his family were cruising at the time,
and none of them, nor of the mag
mates at the court, would return to
stand by Trepoff's grave. The czar
even signified that the occasion need
not be recognized, but the Grand
Duchess Elisabeth defed his will
She left her retirement In Moscow,
came to ST. Petersburg and attended
every one of the elaborate services
for the dead held beside Trepoff's
collins and stood by while it was put
in it's grave.
When she returned to Moscow she
gave her mind to organizing her re-
Egious life into system. At first
she took the regular vows of a nun
of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Then in a large, bare house outside
the Kremlin gates she started on the
beginnings Of a Convent Of Mary and
Marta At first ten ladies of high
Russian families worked under her
Their day began at in the morning
with prayer. Later they occupied
themselves with needlework for the
aged poor and for the sick in hos
pitfalls, and they were taught the dis
pensing of simple medicines. Since
then the numbers in the convent
have grown to about thirty. Some
of them go out reading to the bedrid-
den; and the Grand Duchess herself
sometimes performs the duty of wash
ing the dead. There are no servants
whatever in the convent. All the
work is done by the aristocratic sis
tiers themselves.
AS Mother Superior the Grand
Duchess has four rooms. At frsr
some of her followers thought that
her complete devotion might pass
away as her personal sorrow was soft
ened by time. But the travail of her
soul is leading her rather to more
complete abnegation of earthly con-
Germs. She attends all the severe
night services of the Russian Ortho-
dox church where prayers of interces-
sion are said. One of the sisters of
the convent has mentioned to her fam
lily how the Mother Superior, the
Grand Duchess, on returning from the
night service, pins an ikon over her
bed and again prays alone before it.
At times the life of Serge's widow
seems to suggest a remote parallel
with that other fate-crcssed imperial
woman, the Empress Elizabeth of
Austria. With both great beauty and
physical health bore them till middle
life through years of what seemed
complete enjoyment of this world,
and then came a sudden turning aside
But with the Russian Elisabeth this
has been marked by no falling of the
mental faculties. Women like the
Grand Duchess Serge make their
choice definitely and with serene vi
sion. Even among the Moscow poor,
as they see her TALL graceful figure in
her white robe moving actively and
noiselessly among their dwellings,
there is just a silent look of recogni-
ton. They know of her vows aud like
all the other Russians, see in Ter a
woman who will live for the rest of
her days, the world forgetting, by
the world forgot Sunday Magazine
of the New York World