Three Little Princesses.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 328, 26 December 1888, Page 6

Three Little Princesses.

Tjijb ' Gorman ia' publishes, fclic following 1 sketch uuder the above heading : —

How}. They Had to Make Their Own FrocjKs, They wore three blight little girls with long and waving hair, who merrily ran about/ and played in the garden on tho road to Jugenhoim. All tho inhabitants ot the good free ciby of "Frankfort/ knew them. Afc that time, 25 years ago, many things wore different in this di&brict on the banks of the l\lain ; there were things which .sinoo have vani&hcd — a free city, a Bundestag, and diplomatists of all nationalities ; and when the' clever gentleman went past the threo little girls, which happened very otten, they bowed very low io them, and murmured mysterious words, .such as the law of succession of 1853, Sleswick, the question of duchies, complication, (Jernian Confederacy, etc. But the little girls heeded them not ; they had other and more impor taut things to think of ; they had to learn diligently, and had to sew their own dres&cs. Dagtnar had even learnt to cut them out ; they all could &ew, and therefore made their own toilettes, for which purpose each ot them received 12s (tour/ bhalei) ;i month, which musfcduilico to dreSs them from head to foot, boots and shoes included.

The Datightors of a King who Gave Drawisp; XtQ&sous. And truly, they weie marvellously pretty in their bimplo Lhin cotton frocks — for at that Lime thin cotton was worn, which was nofc only much cheaper, bub also much more durable than muslin, tailatane, and laco. Only the boots wore out far too si.on, I which was often a gieat tiouble to ! the little girls, who were always dancing and j 'imping about. Uow often luid they not been told nofc to run about so much on the gravel paths, where fhe boots get hO quickly torn ; it was 01 no good, for they always forgot, and clanced and jumped the more, because theirs hearts were light and free from trouble. Teihaps they would have behaved better had they known that one day they were to be respectively an Empress, a Queen, and a Duchess. But \rho could have dieamed of that? Certainly not the three little giil&, for they were only the daughters of the Duke of Sleswick-Holstein-Sunderburg-Glucksburg, \»ho, in expectation of the crown of Denmark, gave drawing lessons in order to increase hi& modest income. One day the crown did come, and tho three little girls were seen no more in the garden on the road to Jugenheim ; at supper time they were no longer summoned home-Alexa-ndra, Dagmark, and Thyra, quickly come in to supper, papa has come home.' Alexaudra, Dagmar, and Thyra had become Royal Highnesses, the daughters of the King of Denmark. And this was only the beginning of the splendour.

One of Them is the Princess of Wales. Alexandra became Princess of Wales. Some day she will be ' Queen of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of their Colonies and Dependencies in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia ; Empress of India, Defender of the Faith.' Thus says the ftotha Calendar, and that never tells any lies : — For twenty years the Princess of Wales has waited for the triple Grown, but Queen Victoria does not think or descending from her throne. And Princess Alexandra waits gladly, for she is a thoroughly loyal, highminded woman, and very fond of her mother-in -law. Queen Victoria. She appears to the public pleasant, elegant, and a universally acknowledged leader of fashion, taste, and manners ; time goes on without leaving a trace on her ; her daughters grow up, her sons become bearded men, but she remains ahvajs the same. Her husband travels about for months ab a time, bub that does nob disturb her amiable equanimity ; the world knows only the pleasant, smiling Princess. The Princess of Wales does nob. interfere in politics. Ab the Castle ab Sandringham she receives her ; husband's friends, who alone know that for I some time past visitors have been requested to speak very loudly when the Princess addresses them. Ab Buckingham Palace she gives audience to the Americans who wish bo be presented to her the Queen.

What She Sees In The Firelight. She opens and visits hospitals, fathers all kinds of philauthropic schemes, is officially interested in science and art in England, invents costumes, makes things and people fashionable, and reigns with smiling grace over fche boundless empire of frivolities, of ephemeral playthings, and of the absurdities of the fickle goddess of the day. •lhis is for the present her part in fche world, and she has accepted it and plays it with pleasure, according to the world. But her friends — happily she possesses sueh — say that sometimes in the gloaming she sits silently before the big fire-place in the large hall ab Sandringham, gazing into the fire ; at such times she neithor sees nor hears what passes around her, and does not heed the weeping of Princess Maud or the talking of Prince Albert. ' Her Royal Highness is asleep,' say the courtiers j, but they are mistaken. Her Royal .Highness is thinking of the little Alexandra at Jugenheim, who sewed her cotton frocks, and who once thought it was her vocation to marry a small German prince, who would be very faithful and very 'domesticated, and who would make her very happy. And when Her Royal Highness thinks of the little Alexandra Her Royal Highness is always sad- Only the Gourtiers do not know this, and an hour later the Princess herself knows it no longer. She smiles and is happy.

Another is the Empress of all the" ,Kussias. Dagmar, the second of the three sisters, has become Empress of all the Russias. Her empire stretches from oue end of the world to the other, and the simple moushik and tlie wild Tai'tar aliko see in her tbp mighty sovereign lady who Tulee, though this does not appear, 1 over everything and everybody around her, the Emperor of the Russians not' Excluded. Yefc she has remained gentle, good, and lovely, as she was 25 years ago, when she fitted her own and' her sistera' dresses. In bhe vast Empire of Russja, eaten up by corruption, undermined by Nihilism, where hardly anything is respected, where murderers doer the steps of the Czar, not dares to raise itself against the Empress, for everybody knows thab 1 she is good to the poor, sad with the sad, and pitiful bo the oppressed; and for these reasons Dagmar, now Maria Feodrovna, is beloved everywhere in Russia, and she ,kna\vs that she is beloved. She is the good genius of her consort, who has faith only in her; of her children, to whom she is a strict but affectionate mother ; to Russia, which she shelters, to Denmark which defends her. For she has known how to become a Russian and yet remain a Dane, as she knows how genially' tig combine the old Russian head gear with the latest State toilette from Worth. J • , ■ '

Yet' Sometimes the Czarina Weeps, She, -too, is elegtiht^and bright, like he' sister, the, Princess of Wales, although sho too^h'aslfier hours of thoughtful reflection, When 1 ,- in the great Peterhoff Park, she

— j*s - ~r~zTZr, '• ~~ — — ' liafceitiß patiently for hours together when her 'consort;, the Czar, blows tho trumpet with all tho power, of his mighty lungs, the is perhaps thinking ot another Romanofl, vliA, with luelaricholy sound, played tho piaaio in a room of the ' hospital at Mice, and , * who died quietly in her arms, recommending her with his last breath to his biolhon Then the happy, mciry Czarina weens, bub nobody thinks fchab she can wcej> Mich Icarb when bhc is' dancing at the Couib ball or in the circle of her famih . Shoih passionately fond ot diincing, and she danee v , dancci-, | danccb tilL she- is out of breath ; dancer witli joy over a new set of precious stones, dances with her cliildien by hei s>ide, and while .she dances she thinkb of the wild little Dngmnr <it Jugenheim who was told not to dance and jump about so much, in ordei to her boots. That was twenty-in c yeais ago. Now she may do what she likes, tor is she not Czaiina V

The Pitiful History of Duchess Thyra Thyra, the third and youngest of the three sistcis, became Duchess of Cumberland. She would, at present, be Queen of Hanover had not the throne been overburned in 1866. Afc Jugenheim she us>ed bo be called the little one, and she has always lemained bhe game to her family. Hci two big sisters indulge hei, spoil her, ana iulfil her every wish, &o that it almost looks as if they were trying to indemnity her bej cau&e she has not received a crown. Alas ! j why weigh bhe aching head ofc the little ! Duchess down with the weight ot a crown ? Or rather, we should say the crown &he wears is not infeiior to the proud crowna of Russia or England. Whenever she is seen surrounded by her childien, pale, thin, ■ with eyes feverishly brilliant and red with tears, Duchess Thyra ot Cumbeiland i& lowJy and rc-\cienbly And when last year, during her tsevcic ilineas, she had to be separated h'oin hoi family in order to allow fc'.ic wenvy '-pint. ?o rest, and the restless houl to b« come quieted, everybody felb that mirftorluno h-id lent a higher majesty to the much-nicd Piinceco than heraldiy had lent to her brilliant >ibte'.>. And who can wonder thab bhe little Duchess, longs for the days ab Jugenheim, when no heavy velvet lobes pressed on , her weak shoulders, and when, Mnder the thin cotton frock, her heait beat liohtly, when she was a poor Prince*)'*, bub a happy child 9

The SSisliop and the Soldier. The writer of this story arrived in Auckland, from India, in '62, and u as despatched with stores to the front, under order? 1o return quickly. The day of my return was intensely wet, and I entered the 'bus at Drury, with water running out of my clothes as if just fished from the sea, whereupon an old gentleman I •■•ook for a farmer, peeled off his coat, giving the Jehu and I the impression he wanted to fight. But with "a '(lood-day. soldier, I am sorry to see you so wet,' he offered mo the garment, which I declined, declaring that I would a= soon think of c^mmiltinrj sacrilage as accept of so generous an offer. At his request I gave a description of the country I had paused through, till we shopped at the Papakura Hotel, where I invited him to have a ' nobbier.' A minute after I received a brandy from the hand of a smiling barmaid, and called out from the dooi^ ( Come along, old man, you're as welcome as the (lowers of May,' but with a pleasant smile he declined. 1 saluted him with one hand and drank -from the other, lifted my change, bid good-bye to my fair hostess, and resumed my seat. The following dialogue then took place : ' Well, soldier, you had some spirits ?' ' That is so, sir.' 'And with what eftect?' ' Well, I feel a tinkling through every vein in my body, and a glow from head to foot.' ' Well, Mend, had I seen you in your wet condition it's probable I would have accepted your kind invitation.' And here followed a neat little speech upon cause and effect, while hiseje was riveted upen the end of a bottle poking out of the basket, which T pulled forth, and explained the 1 names, habits, and peculiarities ' of the insect I had in it, and the difference between rum and spirits of wine for curing purposes. With a smile upon his genial countenance, he adroitly allot in leading questions which kept me educating upon the cause and effects of the Maori war 5 upon this and future generation^. In face, 1 taught him all I knew, and perhaps a little more. Truth is stranger than fiction, and as the cab plays with the mouse, so the old gentleman rolled me about at will, till the 'bus stopped ab Otahuhu and took up a passenger, by whoee salutation I was made aware I had had Bishop Selwyn for a pupil. Toopy.