“Let every tongue proclaim it,
And waft it every gale,
My child has lisped out “mother!”
Ye birds chirp forth the tale.
Beside myself with gladness,
I can scarce my joy believe;
My heart leaps up within me,
And laughs from morn till eve.
My native tongue I thank thee
For such a word divine;
For ever and for ever
A mother’s name is mine!”
But whilst this treasure of the princely house flourished and grew in
its nurseries, there was much trouble in the country. The Strousberg
railway affairs became a great difficulty to the Prince. He employed
every means in his power to arrange the matter according to the best
interests of Roumania. A crisis in the ministry necessitated a change
of Cabinet. A revolution broke out in Bucharest. The Prince would have
resigned, but his steadfast calmness impressed the passionate and
excitable people of Roumania; the stormy political waves were gradually
subdued, and the work for the country proceeded quietly once more.
Meanwhile Princess Elizabeth diligently studied the Roumanian language.
Her knowledge of Latin and Italian were a good foundation for the
idiom of the country, and she soon overcame all difficulties. She is
now entirely mistress of the Roumanian language, and the Roumanians
proudly declare that their Queen speaks it better than themselves,
as she forms her sentences with peculiar exactness. In the year 1871
the first society for the relief of the poor was founded by Princess
Elizabeth, and soon after a society for the translation of children’s
books. “There are absolutely no Roumanian books for the schools and
the people,” Princess Elizabeth wrote to her mother. “I will undertake
this. I have already divided my best French children’s books amongst
the young ladies, and have gained the interest of some gentlemen. The
poet Alexandri will criticise and correct the translations, which are
then to be quickly and cheaply printed. In this manner the language
itself will become more fixed, and the young people, who do not speak
their own language correctly, will learn it to perfection. It is
curious how zealously the people take up this idea. They regard it as a
safeguard against the revolutionary ideas of the young people, who now
discuss nothing but politics. Politics excite the people here to such
an extent that men, women, and even children have no other interests.
General Florescu is the most eager in furthering my plans, and thinks
that if I interest more people in this movement it would have a good
influence on society. Private theatricals and concerts also awake more
noble ambitions. Societies for relieving the poor, for translating and
teaching, everything is arranging itself by degrees.”
In April 1871 the Prince travelled with his consort through Moldavia
to Jassy, that she might also learn to know this part of her country.
The journey resembled a triumphal procession, and their reception was
brilliant and hearty everywhere. At all the greater places deputations
and petitions were received, the customary bread and salt presented,
and a _Te Deum_ heard in the church. The Princess writes--“It is
impossible to imagine such enthusiasm and the cheers given by
thousands. Our time in Jassy was filled up with audiences, visits to
churches and schools, expeditions to the neighbouring monasteries, &c.
Joyful enthusiasm prevailed among all the people.”
On her return the Princess wrote to her mother--“How shall I describe
to you the magnificent country through which we drove, our eight horses
with postillions cracking their whips and shouting, the three or four
hundred peasants who accompanied _ventre à terra_, their mantles of
white goat’s hair streaming in the wind, and their high, white fur caps
on their heads! What shall I say about the nice people in Moldavia, and
of the proud feeling it was to hear on every railway line, on every
bridge and highroad, that my husband had had it made, and then to
gallop onward! And then returning here, after thousands had greeted us,
again to clasp the best beloved amongst all those thousands, healthy
and blooming, in my arms!” Does not untold happiness resound in these
words? And now the Princess of Wied was soon expected, a pleasure which
Princess Elizabeth and her husband were eagerly looking forward to. In
July 1871 the wedding of Prince William of Wied had been celebrated
at the Hague. A few weeks later the Princess of Wied first visited
her children at Bucharest, and held her first grandchild in her arms.
Bright happiness filled their hearts and their home.
For the health of the little Princess it became desirable to spend
the summer with her in mountain and forest air. It is the only remedy
against the attacks of fever to which every one is subjected soon or
later in the Roumanian plains. From this time the Prince resided in
the Carpathians in the summer. There in the valley of the Prahova, two
thousand nine hundred feet high, upon a precipitous rocky mountain,
stands the monastery of Sinaia. A Prince Cantacuzéne had built and
named it after the Temple on Mount Sinai. It had been used till then
as a Hospice for the many caravans of ox-carts which, laden with
maize, proceed day and night almost uninterruptedly over the mountain
paths to Transylvania. The peaks of the Carpathians tower in fantastic
forms behind the monastery. Carmen Sylva has enriched them with poetic
legends in her poems. First comes Virful-cu-Dor (the Heights of
Longing), then Furnica, Piatre Arsa, the two Jipi which arise like the
teeth of a giant. The deafening waterfall Urlatoare (the Howling One)
rushes down to the Prahova valley, and the Omul and Caraiman, eight
thousand nine hundred feet in height, stand dark and threatening with
their mighty rocks.
[Illustration:
_Woodbury Compy._