Evening star., 1926-10-03


4 i of the best known rulers
of Europe. Like her royal
mother-in-law, Carmen Sylvia. she has
written copiously. and much of her
work is familiar to Americans. Her
beauty. too, is almost legendary. In
short. she will come somewhat in the
guise of the lovely queen of the fairy
tales-mysterious, romantic, not quite
human, a being to conjure with.
The other picture that has been
painted of her here has been that of
a clever. very worldly woman. using
her gifts for what they would bring
her, and ruling her husband. the King,
and her country by intrigue of uncer
tain sorts.
Neither picture is true. Like most
people who, because of position or
achievement, are much before the pub
lie gaze, observers have seen in her
the things they have chosen to see,
rather than the reality. She is un-
questionably beautiful--some believe
the most beautiful woman on a Euro
pean throne at the present time-and
she is unquestionably far too clever
and too gifted not TO use this power
that has been put into her hands 80
lavishly But use 1T selfishly she does
not. unless 1t can be called selfish to
= give all of her strength and her time
10 the developing of her adopted coun-
try, and the enhancing of it's great
ness. And her so-called intrigues are
Of the kind that have been Woman'S
gentle weapon since the beginning of
time-the use of her influence with
those who love her for the good of her
people.
She is fairy-tale Queen in the
sense that she has received from for
tune nearly every gift in its keeping
ancestry. prestige. charm and bril-
lance of mind and body. and throne.
But how bitterly she has paid for her
privileges, few of us here in America
>remember now that the war is over.
And few. during the ghastly days of
Rumanian sacrifice, had time to I'M
derstand the agony of the little coun-
try in the Balkans. that was spending
its all to help the cause of the allies
and to win back to itself the lost prov
inces that foreign aggression had
taken away in an earlier generation.
To understand Marie it is necessary
70 understand something of Rumanian
history. For. even though she was
born an English princess, the dauGh-
ter of the Duke of Edinburgh and his
Russian grand duchess, with Victoria
of England as her paternal grand
Gar Of all the Russias, as her mater
nal grandfather, Marie today is heart
and soul Rumanian.
Back in 101 AID. Trajan, the Ro-
man Emperor. conquered the Daclan
tribes and made their territory, adj
jacent to the Black Sea. into a Roman
province. ColQnists were sent from
Italy and the stream of Roman blood
began to flow in Dacian veins. Set be-
tween the northern barbarians and
the Slavs and Turks. Dacia, or Ru
mania, as it was later called. became
q truly Roman outpost of civilization,
with Latin manners and customs and
Latin pride.
This lasted until 271 a. D., when
Aurelian, hard driven by the Goths,
the Huns, the Gepidae and the Avars,
withdrew with the Eagle toward the
South. From then on, through many
generations, the various parts OF Ru-
mania fought to hold some semblance
of unity and liberty. Their entire
history Is one of wrong and bloodShed,
with succeeding tyrannies, now Bar
barrie, now Hungarian, now Russian,
now Turkish, but always with a stub
born retention of language and Latin
culture by the sore.pressed people.
And always there was the dream of
q reunited country.
* 4; *
COMING down through the centu-
~ ries to 1914. we find the Rumanian
Kingdom definitely established, with a
ruling house out of the southern
branch Of the Hohenzollern family,
and the hope of some day achieving
that union with the following prov
inces: Pennsylvania and the Banat.
Bucovina. Bessarabia. Macedonia and
the Tiniok and Morava Valleys Of
Serbia. In each Of these large ma
jority of the population was still def