The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-22
QUEEN ELEANORA OF BULGARIA. ROYAL NURSE.
 IS FIFTY-FOUR TO-DAY

I
 Queen Eleanora of Bulgaria, whose proposed visit to America attracted much attention a few months ago, is the second spouse of the reigning Tsar, Ferdinand I. ;. Before taking up her residence in the royal palace, at Sofa. she was a. Princess Of Reuss- Kostritz, and had achieved wide ce- lebrity as a Red Cross nurse in the Russo-Japanese war. Born hfty- four years ago to-day. August 322. 1880 she was In her forty-eighth year when she became the bride of the Bulgar- ian Prince. The marriage was per formed in February. 1908. and with in a year the old Kingdom of Bulgaria was restored and the Prince became a Tsar and his wife the Tsarina. <
 The Bulgarian Queen or Tsarina belongs to the younger line of the an- cient family of Reuss. rulers of pet ty German states. From her youth she was .. serious student of social and economic problems. and interest ed in many philanthropic and human itarian societies. especially the Red Cross. She had practical training as a nurse. and when Japan and Russia went to. war she volunteered to serve the sick and wounded in the field. She was attached to the Red Cross organ ] & ization of Gen. Kuropatkin's Russian army, and her ninistrations won for her the title of e.sthe German Flor ence Nightingale 2 She was placed in charge of a Red Cross train equip ped by the Duchess Vladimir of Rus sia, and her work Of mercy often car ried her into the very midst of the. terrible carnage. On several occa- sions she was under fire. but she new CT hinehed from her duty. and prov ed herself an able. executive. a tender nurse and 8 brave woman. She was decorated on the field for her services, and her appearance was always the signal for hoarae cheers from Russian throats. while the Japanese cried s'banzai'' in her honor.
 She was a spfnster. well advanced in years. when the little god oe love -or perhaps a. shaft of dip1onacy- led her to the marriage altar and the throne. She soon gained the love and respect of Bulgarians by her tn-i terest in their welfare. which found expression in the founding of hospi- tals. schools. and other institutions for the public. good.
 When the Balkan war faned out and the Bulgars set about the task of crushing their old enemy. the Turk, the Queen again donned the uniform of a nurse. No danger dismayed her and she insisted on going to the relief of the bullet-shattered tand diseased soldiers in the hell-ho1e of Adria,norle. Both at the front and in her hospital at Sofia she was not only a directing force and executive. but found no task too menfa1 in caring for the sick and wounded troops. She 5tolled to the point of exhaustion and nervous prostration. until her royal husband at length forced her to take a rest. I No more strangely assorted pair could be found than Queen Eleanora and Tsar Ferdinand. The Tsarins is essentially practical, safe and sane, with a high sense of duty. Her spouse, on the contrary, shrinks from the sight of blood. and Ioathes shospf-, tals and the sight of sufferings He has a passion for flowers and per fumes. He has an abiding fear of disease and death, and after the Queens return rom the plague-in- fested camps the Tsar refused to see her until all danger of infection was past. The Queen is plain, almost homely, and belongs to that type of spinsters who forsake matrimony and children to mother the whole race of stricken humanity. Although a. Queen, she is still a spinster in spirit. and it has been said that if she were an American she would almost inevi- tably be a leader of the W. c. T. U.