ordinary word for "heir." Loyalty and great respect, it would seem, are
quite consistent with great familiarity of thought and expression.

The Emperor is probably spoken of more frequently as Nicolai
Alexandrovitch--"Nicholas, son of Alexander"--than by any other title,
and I feel sure that the Grand Duke Nicholas, Commander-in-Chief, and
his doings at head-quarters, have been spoken of all over Russian plains
and Siberian steppes this winter as familiarly and as proudly as of some
one who had gone from their own village. "Ah! Nicolai Nicolaievitch!
What a man he is! How well he has fought this war! How proud we are of
him!" etc., etc. I was told lately of a touching incident which
occurred at a great service in Russia (the translation of the remains of
a great saint) at which the Grand Duchess Serge was present, and, when
she arrived, had gone quietly up to a gallery pew, arranged for her and
other great ladies. Soon afterwards an old peasant woman, to whom she
had once shown a kindness, arrived, and at once began to inquire:--

"Has Elizabeth come yet?"--the Grand Duchess's Christian name--"I want
Elizabeth. She told me when next I came where she was to be sure and ask
for her. Where's Elizabeth?"

The Grand Duchess in her exalted gallery caught something of what was
going on, and, hearing her own name, at once came down.

"Here I am, little mother!" And then with "Dear Elizabeth!" the old
woman threw her arms about her neck and began her story.

Such a thing is only possible in Russia, and yet it is the one country
in the world where we have always been led to think that between the
highest and the lowest there is that "great gulf fixed," which if not
bridged over in this life by sympathy and love, has little hope of being
passed in the world to come.

Rank and position and high office if worthily filled need no buttressing
up. Least of all need those who hold them give themselves airs. Their
office is enough in itself; and last year, when I had a large party of
German youths to take about London, and by the kindness of those
concerned took them to see one or two great places where they were most
courteously and graciously received--they were the sons of working men
in Frankfurt--I was more than pleased to hear one of them say to his
friend, "I notice that in England the higher the rank the less the
pretence." So it is in Russia. The more exalted the position the more
unaffected and simple the one who fills i