Evening star., 1923-06-24

in the comparatively restricted prem
ises of his Dutch home. at Doorn. IL Is
to be hoped, in any case, that 1t Will
be kept intract. either as Hohenzol-
lern private property, or else as held
by the state for the use of the future
historian.
Both King Alfonso and his consort
are known to follow the example of
the kaiser, and of the English royal
ties in respect to the caricatures OF
themselves and of their ministers.
There is no doubt that Queen Ena.
who was brought up from her in
fancy not only under the roof, but
under the wing of her grandmother,
Queen Victoria, inherited her interest
and her tastes for this form of pic
torial diversion. and that she fire.
ouently perused with her the pages of
Punch in search of material In
these royal collections of caricatures
that have been published in the daily
and weekly press many nations hs.
ure. but there are no clippings or
this nature from the Muscovite press,
anything of the kind at the expense
of the imperial family. The only per-
son in Russia who INDUCED IN carl
cature. to her hearts content, was
the murdered empress, who, despite
the sadness of her looks. from whicn
anxiety was never absent-anxlety
for those most near and dear TO her-
had a wonderful gift for car1cature
Of humor. She was quick to catch on
to the weak point in the appearance
and manner of all those who came
within the range of her vision.
This ended by becoming generally
known at court and in the great
world at Petrograd. Every statesman
and every great dignitary OF the I'M
perial encourage. belonging to either
sex. felt or knew that he or she mao
formed the subject of carfcature by
the empress in which their shortcom-
ings were emphasized. for the enter
tainment of the. empress husband
and of her children. 1t did not add
to her popularity. Indeed, she was re.
garded with certain amount OF
dread. But Nicholas was delighted,
which she had made-one of them, In
deed, which exercised some influence
on the course of his reign. In the
early years thereof he was credited
with allowing himself to be unduiy
Influenced by his mother and by VaTl-
Gus members of the imperial family.
his uncles and his aunts, who could
not realize that the shy boy of yes
terday had become the autocrat or
Russia. The caricature showed him
in baby's clothes. seated in baby's
chair. surrounded by his uncles and
his aunts, each of them pressing upon
his attention different brands of in
fantile soothing sirups and patent
foods. The lesson had Its erect. Mich
olas was the first to show IT about In
high glee, much to the annoyance OF
the czarina mother. But from that
time on he commenced to manifest
greater amount of independence and
of emancipation from the influence of
his various relatives. The original OF
this caricature was sent by him to his
relatives in England and is now at
Windsor. What. has become of the
remainder of the collection of carica-
lures of the empress friends compiled
by her husband 1 am unable to say.
But there are many who will be in
terested to learn that one Of the most
cherished possessions ~of Emperor
William in his workroom at Potsdam.
until the great war. was the original
cartoon which appeared in Punch at
the time Of his sensational dismissal
of Bismarck, entitled Dropping the
Pilot"