"THE IDOL OF ALL RUSSIA."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 113, 10 June 1909, Page 4

"THE IDOL OF ALL RUSSIA."

Tliiu, according to a paper by Sergius Volkhovsky, in the Lady's Realm, is not the 'J'sar, but a certain .Russian gipsy singer :

Ten years ago Wialsewa was a servant on a country estate in the province of Moscow. Nobody knows exactly wno her parents were. She had grown up in the village without either mother or father, and, when sixteen years old, went to serve at the manor house. They took a fancy to Vera, as Wialsewa was then known, and liked her to sing to them ill the evenings. She had a beautiful voice. On« day a young officer came to see the ladies. His name was Wialsew and his regiment was in Petersburg. He fell iu love with Vera, and asked her if she would like to make a career as a singer in a gipsy chorus in Petersuurg. The girl, who felt restless in the manor, agreed. They went to the capital together, and Wialsew paid for her to have singing lessons.

Tile writer tells a story which recalls the beginning of Tolstoy's 'Resurrection When Wialsew invited his guests Vera was tins principal singer. She was beautifully dressed in a gipsy costume, and her dark hair was then undyed. People still speak of that evening with enthusiasm, Vera sang song after song, and still, though the night lengthened into morning, her listeners had not had enough. They covered her plate with money and begged her to sing on. Before many weeks were past Vera sang with her bodice covered with jewels. All Petersburg was at iicr feet. Grand Dukes vied with each other for her favor, and it was whispered that the Tsar'himself had heard and was enamored. Wialsew began to be jealous of his rivals. He begged Vera to leave all this and go away with liim to some quiet place where tliey would be alone. She consented, and lor awhile Vera disappeared from her old haunts. But her gipsy, nature could not bear the monotonous life of Wialscw's country house, and she was soon in Petersburg again. Some say that he tlicp offered her and married her ; others that the. Had already been married for some time. He. settled all his fortune upon her and begged her to leave the restaurants. She refused. When her husband was ordered to the front in the Japanese Avar, she followed him, and her tour across Siberia elicited the homage which might lie accorded to an empress. Her arrival in .Manchuria was hailed as if it, were a victory over the Japanese. Iler husband died from the effects (if a wound received in the war, and left her a largo fortune. She cannot settle down, but goes from town to town singing, with her gipsy chorus.