| Show tragic memories of ahe asars tsars winter palace there can no longer be any frank gaye this winter palace haunted as it must be by one of these formidable souvenirs which impose upon royal dwellings a lugubrious nomy in entering under the new reign on the day when alexander III is holding court the servitors of his father cannot forget tho last reception of alexander LL which were darkened by so many tragedies one in particular we can see before our eyes as if it were yesterday on march was celebrated the twenty fifth anniversary of the accession to the throne of the emancipator who at that memorable date was to receive the tribute from his people magnificent fetes has been arranged but two weeks before the anniversary day the oi february tua explosion at winter palace occurred which ruined all those projects and spread and terror around the sovereign A repetition of the attempt was announced for the ad of march and in the capital smitten with unreasonable panic tho precaution of the police caused people to believe that it was a day of riot rather than of festivity when we entered these sumptuous halls where the imagination saw nothing but mines and ambuscades ambus cades alarm was betrayed on many a face alexander IL appeared bis fatigue and emotion scarcely allowed him to address a few words to his guests prince Gort chakoff who had been absent from russia for several years was seen chere for the last time the old companions of the emperor witnesses twenty biye years previously of the prodigy hopes that has greeted his accession to the throne looked without courage through the veil of present sadness upon their mastor grown old smitten physically and morally by bo many blows a prisoner iu this palace which threatened to fall in ruins over his head the 51 lust rious chancellor in the decline of age and success betrayed by his strength as well as by his plans leaned painfully on a console in the salon of peter the great in the of that court where absence had made him for so long a time a sti anger y A presentiment bof an inevitable fortune oppressed and hovered over all this august bomp and circumstance ono year after march 13 1881 there was a fresh meeting in this palace in presence of the bleeding body that had bean brought in from a neighboring noigh boring street the unforgettable vision of that afternoon is still present in the minds of the youngest of the dancers when a ball calls them to the palace they see once more the terror and desolation of these vast rooms the courtiers watching for the doctors to give them news of the agony an immense square all black with people the stupor of the crowd waiting with eyes fixed on the imperial standard finally the sign of the cross which passed overa 1 theao tearful visages when the standard fell down the flagstaff flag staff announcing that the drama was over the habitual guests of the palace who passed there the winter months of 1881 and heard on two occasions the dull explosion of dynamite retain in their ears that besetting anguish and more than one catch themselves listening for it between two bars of a waltz the viconte eugene melchior de vogue in harpers maezine for may |
