Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-11-27

| wife not 20 attempt 10 lnleEISTO III INC
matter of his own personal relations
| with the sisters" living under their
roof. Though she tried to submit to his
will, yet there were occasions when
| terrible scenes occurred between hus-
| band and wife Then the latter would
| attack violently the girls. whom she
accused of all kinds Of dreadful things,
and would then fall on the ground IN
attacks of strong Mysteries, screaming
so dreadfully that people heard her
| from the street But tears and submits
sion were equally of no avail and Ras-
putin did not trouble about his wife's
rage or grief any more than he had
/ troubled in general with any other i'm
! pediment he had found in his way AS
| concerns the kind of life which the
! sisters" were leading at Pokrowskoie
this is how one OF them describes 1t:
! 1t is now already six months since
am here. living in a kind of night
! mare. / do not know TO this day
whether the blessed Gricha is a saint
! or the greatest sinner the earth has
/ ever known. l cannot find quiet place
/ in thiss miserable village. 7 would like
! to run away, to return to s.. Peters
| burg, but / dare not do so. / am so
| afraid, SO terribly afraid of the bless
ed" one. His large, gray, piercing eyes
| crush me, enter into my very soul and
1 aDSOluIely HE. al ulSIduCe OI
/ 5000 versts l feel his presence near
me. feel that he has got extraordi-
nary powers, that ne can do everything
that he wishes with me.
For two whole years RaSputin was
not allowed to show himself in the
Russian capital, but the influential
| friends he had there never left off try
! ing to get the decree of Punishment
! rescfnded. Among others, the archbish-
! op OF Saratoff, Hermogene, and lilo
dore worked most actively in his favor,
| and the latter in one Of his sermons
did not hesitate to call Rasputin the
| greatest saint which the modern Rus
sian church had ever known" At last
the efforts Of his friends proved sue
| cessful and Rasputin, toward the end
| of the year 1919, reappeared in st. Pc
/ tersburg, where this time his progress
was far more rapid than it had been
! formerly, and here his reputation of
! latter-dsy saint grew with every hour.
until at last he came to be looked upon
as real manifestation of the Divinity
upon earth.
1t was about that time that he WAS
seen more frequently at Tzarslloie Selo,
where the poor empress was eating her
heart away in anxiety over the health
of her only son, the little heir to the
throne, whose days seemed to be num-
bered. Rasputin, who had been intro
duced to her as pious, good man, whose
prayers had already worked miracles,
was very quickly able to influence her
in the sense that he persuaded her that
| the small grand duke could only be
cured IL constant prayers were said for
him by people who were agreeable to
the Lord. il is not to be denied that
! the pseudo-sa saint had cultivated to
considerable extent the science of hyp-
| notism and that he used it in regard to
| the consort of the sovereign in the
sense that she grew really to believe
| that the presence OF the prophet by
the side of her sick child might cure
| the latter. There was nothing else in
their relations TO each other, which re-
NAMED always. in spite OF all that has
been said, purely official ones
| Rasputin was far too Clever ever to
s-y one word capable of offending the
empress, whose proud temperament
would never have forgiven him any IA
| miliarity had he dared to venture upon
it. Whenever he was in her presence he
kept a most humble attitude, and Ger
tainly never discussed with her any mat
| ters of state and never dared entertain
her with auRht else than religious ques-
| tons He was far less guarded with re-
! gard to what he told the emperor, with
| whom it is unfortunately true that he
! sometimes allowed himself remarks he
would have done better to keep to him.
self. But the tar never looked upon him
in any other light than in that of jes-
| ter whose sayings were absolutely de-
void OF any importance whatever, but
who amused the tzar at times by the
daring manner in which he would touch
upon things and criticise people whose
| names only he would ever have dared to
mention in a disparaging tone before
Nicholas II. But between that and the
| possession of any real power and infu-
| ence there was an abyss which, unfor-
tunately, in view of the turn that events
were to talk, no one noticed among all
those who lamented over the almost con-
| slant presence of Rasputin at TzarSKoIe
| Selo.
COURT FOLLOWERS USE RASPUTlN.
All that / have said, however, refers
only to the emperor and empress. In re-
| gard to some people who surrounded
| them il was not quite the same 1t is
! certain that from the first day that the
| Prophet" was introduced at Tzarskois
Selo some intriguing persons applied
| themselves to make use of him for their
own special benefit and advantage. and
| tried to create around him a legend that
! had hardly anything in common with the
| real truth 1t is useless to mention
the names Of these people, whose inhu-
/ ence it must be hoped Is now at an end
! But it is impossible not to speak of their
| activity in regard to the spreading OF
l these rumors which attributed to Ras-
| putin an Importance he was never really
| in possession OF. This caused no small
damage to the prestige of the dynasty.
i Rasputin ought to have been considered
for what he was--that is, a kind OF jes-
ter, "un fou du roi," who, like Chicot IN
Dumas famous novels, allowed himself
i TO saw all that he thought to his SOW
1 ereign and whose words or actions no
/ one could take seriously into account.
| Instead of this some ambitious men ana
women, mostly belonging 10 that speclal
class of Tchinownikis or civil function
aries that has always been the curse OF
| Russia and that, happily, is losing every
day something of its former power prof.
| tied bv the circumstance that the SOL
i itary existence led by the imperial court
in its various residences did not allow
/ any outside rumors TO penetrate TO the
ears of the rulers of the country. They
Intentionally transformed Rasputin into
a kind of deus ex machina, whose hand
could be traced in every event Of impor-
lance which occurred and who could at
i will remove and appoint ministers, gen
| erals ladies in waiting, court of11clals
and at last induce the tar himself to de-
| y; ,,pcIA Grand Duke Memo