The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-01-30

blessing them and enco 1raging them. Discre-
ton is thrown to the winds. Several times he
has penetrated to the battlefields of Poland and
would have exposed himself to the shrapnel of
the Prussians had not his encourage ~skillfully
rendered this impossible.
His dress is simple and he Is often seen in
peasant garb-that is a suit of ONE fine ma
terial cut in peasant blouse style, a manlylook-
ing costume of which the true Russian is very
proud.
More remarkable still, the queen, always be-
fore the most exclusive of royalty, has gone
among her people, visiting the sick and wound
ed. The Russians scarcely knew her before.
There is in all this ostensible activity a little
more than the lesire to arouse and encourage
the fighting nation. There is more, for instance,
than inspired the visit of King George to his
troops in Flanders. This extra element is anxi-
ETY., a lively fear and not of German howitzers.
The victories of Russian arms have their sweet
ness mixed with bitterness for the czar and his
family
Why? The reason is none other than the ma
jestic figure of tn. Grand Duke Nicholas Mich
olaievitch, the commander in chief of the Mus
covite forces. The car Las long suffered by
physical comparison with his soldier cousin
now he suffers in a more serious way.
If ever there was a king in looks 1t is Mich
oIas Nicholaievitch. He is full six feet six inches
in his stockings, lean but graceful. with a head
In which the keenest Intelligence is combined
with vast dignity and force.
When he is With the car the latter Dy COM
parison is weak and insignificant looking, a cod
died monarch. In secret the cars subjects are
not slow to speak of this and many avow history
of the past twenty-five years would have been far
different if this tall Mars had been in his cousins
place, that the humiliation Of the defeat by Japan
would have been spared the proud Russians.
1t has to be that the commander in
chief has taken his commission to make him die
tator of Russia. The proclamations to the Poles
and the Jews promising liberties in exchange for
LOYALTY during the war were not signed by the
czar. but by Nicholas Nicholaievitch. This was
astonishing in itself and many have maintained
made the promises null and void because the
promising party would never have The power, If
he had the wish, to carry out his obligations to
the oppressed peoples.
Yet, would the car dare to oppose his victori-
GUS general by refusing to grant a request to
carry out these promises? Such an issue might
prove a popular one for .!icholas Nicholaievitch.
The history of Grand Duke Nicholas begins In
an unhappy youth. He chung to his German
mother. whose Russian husband had woefully
wronged her and ruined the family fortune. But
come to manhood, he followed straight In his
fathers footsteps, for the parent was one OF
Car Alexander Us famous field marshals. who
many times had scourged the enemies OF Rus
STA.
Alexander III was not especially fond Of the
Young Grand Duke Nicholas, for noble and peas
ant alike consciously or unconsciously gave more
homage to this splendid giant than to the three
spindling. dull sons Of the ruler. He ordered
that the grand dukes army activities LAust be
limited to the cavalry-but the only result was
soon to be told that his horsemen' thanks TO