Twenty years in Roumania

A real enterprise--The glamour of the _Arabian Nights_--Off to an unknown country--Light on the way--A friend at court--I figure as a Nihilist--The Hungarian “express”--Wild men...

Hazy ideas about Roumania--“Bucarest, Turkey”--A letter for Sinaia goes to Simla--The physical features of the country--Its mineral wealth--The chief towns--The Cernavoda Bridge...

The Government of Roumania--The Parliament--Lively elections--The batiusi and their big sticks--Military picnics at election times--“General Post” after an election--Party handw...

The religion of Roumania--The head of the Church must be a monk, and therefore a celibate--The priests are of the peasant class, unlearned and little respected--A priest’s month...

Roumania’s capital--A garden city--Modesty on the trams--“A town of one street, one church, and one idea”--The Calea Victorie--Two hundred churches--The church of Doamna Balash-...

The land system--The Dominele or squirearchy--The simple life of the peasants--The beginning of a revolt--A premature outbreak--The countryside in flames--King Carol’s new guns...

Trade and commerce--The only strictly Roumanian shops belong to Princes--No English shops, though they would be welcomed--English catalogues unintelligible--An English firm and...

Severe restrictions on Jews--The Jews as traders--Their vigorous methods--They exploit the peasants of the countryside as wine-shopkeepers and moneylenders--The Jews as tenants...

The educational system--Long hours of study and no fresh air or exercise--Take Jonescu, as Minister of Education, introduces the bath-tub to the schools and provides for walking...

Take Jonescu, an enlightened Minister of Education--“La bouche d’or”--His personality--A true Roumanian in his almost Oriental love of luxury--His town and country houses--Madam...

The National Theatre--The students’ riot on behalf of the national language--Racing as a fashionable amusement--English jockeys and trainers--The Battle of Flowers--The devotees...

The blessing of the waters: a picturesque ceremony--Diving for the cross--Baptising the Jew--The child rain-makers; a charming custom--How I watered the human plants--The peasan...

Pretty Roumanian women--Adventitious aids to beauty--Paris toilets--Childish extravagances--Men with London tailors--A dandy in blue boots--Some quaint superstitions--Warding of...

English nurses introduce the bath-tub--Matutinal ablutions in a country house--Abstinence from ablutions a proof of holiness--The funeral of a Metropolitan; dead prelate in the...

The servant question not so acute as in England--Establishments of thirty servants--Five or six for professional people--Terms and duties of service--An unwilling bather--A high...

Convict life in the salt mines--A Roumanian Jack Sheppard--The trick that laid him low--Procedure in murder cases--The reconstruction of the crime--Scant justice for servants; n...

King Carol as a diplomat--Lichnowsky as a Secretary of Legation--The scandal about his chief’s (Prince von Bülow) wife--I see something at Bad Hall--A great ladies’ man; he goes...

The French colony--An outspoken abbé--The German colony--Its schools, churches, and hospitals--A split in the camp of deaconesses--Teaching or nursing?--A well-conducted hospita...

The coming of King Carol--Roumanians dislike the Germans and _hate_ the Hungarians--King Carol a reticent, self-contained, lonely man--His only public appearances--A ball for th...

Queen Elizabeth (Carmen Sylva)--An early dilemma: no divorcees, no court--A quaint divorce story--The true story of the meeting of Carol and Elizabeth--Did she love the country...

Ferdinand of Sigmaringen becomes heir to the throne--He is a good soldier and a favourite with his officers--The friend of the Allies--His marriage with Princess Marie--The Prin...

The Princess in a merry mood--How Prince Ferdinand deluged the tablecloth--A curtain lecture for Princess Marie?--The royal children--Elizabeth a beauty--Mignonne (Marie) “a bea...

Winter in Roumania--Fêtes on the ice--An “escaped bear” causes a sensation, till he loses his head--Prince Carol establishes the bob-sleigh as a society craze--An unlucky accide...

Sinaia and its summer Court--Gay life in the Carpathians--Court ladies in national costume--Sinaia at various seasons--The monastery and the Queen’s room there; she decorates it...

Franz d’Este and his morganatic wife at Sinaia--My recollection of him at Vienna--Society girls with cold feet--The German Crown Prince popular at Bucarest--But he was only ther...

A delightful equestrian excursion--We leave Sinaia in order to witness the sunrise from Omul--Midnight in the forest, and the ghostly hours before the dawn--Gathering edelweiss...

Cholera in Russia--I hurry back to Roumania--I am put in quarantine on the frontier, and liberally disinfected--The soldier guard aims his gun at me--My Jewish room-mate and her...

The beggars of Bucarest--A plan that failed--Was it inspired by Count Rumford’s Munich scheme?--Where the beggars spend their holidays--No lack of charity--Footless, and yet wan...

Roumania’s early history--Michael the Brave--Stephen the Great--A Spartan mother--Brancovan’s noble efforts bring about his end--Oppression promotes union--Greek extortion--Russ...

Turkish influence on Roumanian mind and manners--The origin of the people--Clearly descended from the Romans of Trajan’s day--Collateral evidence of Latin origin in the language...

A real enterprise--The glamour of the _Arabian Nights_--Off to an unknown country--Light on the way--A friend at Court--I figure as a Nihilist--The Hungarian “express”--Wild men...

Hazy ideas about Roumania--“Bucarest, Turkey”--A letter for Sinaia goes to Simla--The physical features of the country--Its mineral wealth--The chief towns--The Cernavoda Bridge...

The Government of Roumania--The Parliament--Lively elections--The batiusi and their big sticks--Military picnics at election times--“General Post” after an election--Party handw...

The religion of Roumania--The head of the Church must be a monk, and therefore a celibate--The priests are of the peasant class, unlearned and little respected--A priest’s month...

Roumania’s capital--A garden city--Modesty on the trams--“A town of one street, one church, and one idea”--The Calea Victorie--Two hundred churches--The church of Doamna Balash-...

The land system--The Dominele or squirearchy--The simple life of the peasants--The beginning of a revolt--A premature outbreak--The countryside in flames--King Carol’s new guns...

When staying in the country, I always took great delight in witnessing the village scenes. Roumanians, as I have already mentioned, are a musical race. They also love dancing. S...

Trade and commerce--The only strictly Roumanian shops belong to Princes--No English shops, though they would be welcomed--English catalogues unintelligible--An English firm and...

Severe restrictions on Jews--The Jews as traders--Their vigorous methods--They exploit the peasants of the countryside as wine-shopkeepers and moneylenders--The Jews as tenants...

The educational system--Long hours of study and no fresh air or exercise--Take Jonescu, as Minister of Education, introduces the bath-tub to the schools, and provides for walkin...

Take Jonescu, an enlightened Minister of Education--“La bouche d’or”--His personality--A true Roumanian in his almost Oriental love of luxury--His town and country houses--Madam...

The National Theatre--The students’ riot on behalf of the national language--Racing as a fashionable amusement--English jockeys and trainers--The Battle of Flowers--The devotees...

The blessing of the waters: a picturesque ceremony--Diving for the cross--Baptising the Jew--The child rain-makers; a charming custom--How I watered the human plants--The peasan...

Festivals are numerous, and are conducted on a very lavish scale. Baptisms, marriages, and “names-days” are usually made the occasion of great feasting. Birthdays are not celebr...

Pretty Roumanian women--Adventitious aids to beauty--Paris toilets--Childish extravagances--Men with London tailors--A dandy in blue boots--Some quaint superstitions--Warding of...

English nurses introduce the bath-tub--Matutinal ablutions in a country house--Abstinence from ablutions a proof of holiness--The funeral of a Metropolitan: dead prelate in the...

The servant question not so acute as in England--Establishments of thirty servants--Five or six for professional people--Terms and duties of service--An unwilling bather--A high...

Convict life in the salt--mines--A Roumanian Jack Sheppard--The trick that laid him low--Procedure in murder cases--The reconstruction of the crime--Scant justice for servants:...

King Carol as a diplomat--Lichnowsky as a Secretary of Legation--The scandal about his chief’s (Prince von Bülow) wife--I see something at Bad Hall--A great ladies’ man: he goes...

The French colony--An outspoken abbé--The German colony--Its schools, churches, and hospitals--A split in the camp of deaconesses--Teaching or nursing?--A well-conducted hospita...

The coming of King Carol--Roumanians dislike the Germans and _hate_ the Hungarians--King Carol a reticent, self-contained, lonely man--His only public appearances--A ball for th...

Queen Elizabeth (Carmen Sylva)--An early dilemma: no divorcees, no Court--A quaint divorce story--The true story of the meeting of Carol and Elizabeth--Did she love the country...

Ferdinand of Sigmaringen becomes heir to the throne--He is a good soldier and a favourite with his officers--The friend of the Allies--His marriage with Princess Marie--The Prin...

The Princess in a merry mood--How Prince Ferdinand deluged the tablecloth--A curtain lecture for Princess Marie?--The royal children--Elizabeth a beauty--Mignonne (Marie) “a bea...

Winter in Roumania--Fêtes on the ice--An “escaped bear” causes a sensation, till he loses his head--Prince Carol establishes the bob-sleigh as a society craze--An unlucky accide...

Sinaia and its summer Court--Gay life in the Carpathians--Court ladies in national costume--Sinaia at various seasons--The monastery and the Queen’s room there: she decorates it...

Franz d’Este and his morganatic wife at Sinaia--My recollection of him at Vienna--Society girls with cold feet--The German Crown Prince was popular at Bucarest--But he was only...

A delightful equestrian excursion--We leave Sinaia in order to witness the sunrise from Omul--Midnight in the forest, and the ghostly hours before the dawn--Gathering edelweiss...

Cholera in Russia--I hurry back to Roumania--I am put in quarantine on the frontier and liberally disinfected--The soldier guard aims his gun at me--My Jewish room-mate and her...

The beggars of Bucarest--A plan that failed--Was it inspired by Count Rumford’s Munich scheme?--Where the beggars spend their holidays--No lack of charity--Footless, and yet wan...

Roumania’s early history--Michael the Brave--Stephen the Great--A Spartan mother--Brancovan’s noble efforts bring about his end--Oppression promotes union--Greek extortion--Russ...

Although so many years have passed since the Roumanians shook off the yoke of the Turk, still many little indications remain to show that Turkish influence on mind and manners h...

Roumania’s object in the war--Hungary’s attempt to Magyarise Transylvania--Sympathy of the Motherland--“Awake, Roumania!”--The new boundaries of Roumania--Room for her people--“...