The Empress felt that Marie should be punished for this, so nurse was told to take her off to bed. But the Emperor intervened, saying that he had always feared Marie would be growing wings and he was glad to see that she was only a human child after all!
I remember one occasion when the Tsaritsa was covered with confusion by the little Grand Duchess Tatiana. The Crown Prince of Siam was visiting St. Petersburg and during part of his stay, he was a guest of the Emperor and Empress, who were then occupying the Winter Palace. The dusky Prince went to pay his respects to the nursery. The Empress herself accompanied him to present the children.
On the way they met Tatiana and the Empress called to her second daughter: “Come, Tatiana, and shake hands with this gentleman.” Tatiana held off shyly, looking askance and with manifest disapproval upon the brown-skinned potentate from Siam. At last she exclaimed: “That is not a gentleman, mamma; that’s a monkey!”
The Empress flushed with mortification and retorted: “You are a monkey yourself, Tatiana.” The Prince laughed heartily at the incident and before the end of the visit of his Imperial Highness to Petersburg, he and Tatiana became fast friends.
Tatiana has always been a bright child, with an amusing, alert mind. One day she and her English governess were walking in the garden of the Winter Palace, when one of the Emperor’s beautiful great collie dogs came bounding along the path behind them. With a puppy-like caprice the dog jumped on Tatiana’s back and threw her down. As the little Grand Duchess clambered to her feet, the dog gamboled off down the path in a mad frolic with another dog. Tatiana was not hurt, but considerably frightened, and after gazing after the dogs for a moment in silence, great salt tears began to drop down her cheeks. The governess tried to comfort her by saying “Poor Sheilka, she did not mean to hurt you; she only wanted to say ‘good morning’ to you.”
Tatiana looked up at her governess and quickly replied: “Was that all? Then I don’t think she is very polite; she should have said it to my face, not to my back.”
The Grand Duchess Tatiana is one of the sweetest of children. One day when she was being got ready to go out, the governess went to get her coat to go with them. When she returned, the nurse, Mary, was shaking Tatiana. “How dare you shake Tatiana?” Miss Eager exclaimed. “You are paid to take care of her,—not to correct her.” “She is paid?” said Tatiana in surprise. “Yes,” the governess replied, “She is paid and I, also, am paid,” at which Tatiana put her head on the shoulder of the governess and cried. “You have seen me get my money every month,” said the governess. “I always thought it was a present to you,” the child said. The governess then explained that it was necessary that she be paid, as she had no money of her own and that her way of earning money was looking after the Royal children. The next morning when the governess awoke, Tatiana was standing by her bedside and she said, “May I get into your bed?” As the little Grand Duchess cuddled down in the arms of her governess, she exclaimed, “Anyway, you are not paid for this.”
Another day, as the Royal nursery was going to the beach at Livadia after a terrible storm, the Grand Duchess Olga picked up a little dead bird which had fallen on the grass and said, “I will keep this poor, little bird forever.” The governess did not interfere but watched Olga carry it, followed by Tatiana who was sympathetically interested. The governess wondered how long the children would carry this bird before getting tired of it. Presently, Olga said, “Perhaps I am doing wrong to take this little bird away because even at this moment, God may have sent an angel for the bird and what if it is not there? I am going to put it back.” Whereupon, she retraced her steps to the spot where she had found it. The next day they were going to the beach again and they took the same path as on the previous day in order to look for the bird. When they arrived at the spot where Olga had found and replaced it, the bird was gone. “Suppose we had taken it away!” said Olga. “Then God’s angel could not have found it.” “Oh,” replied Tatiana, “I think it would have been perfectly lovely if He had taken it out of our hands!”
Anastasie has always enjoyed the reputation of being the most mischievous of all the children. One year, when the Dowager Empress was about to celebrate her birthday, all of the Imperial children were arranging their gifts for their grandmother. Anastasie, for reasons of her own, determined not to take any part in these arrangements or to select any gift for her grandmother. She refused even to learn a piece of poetry to recite to her as all the other children did. “At all events, she will take grandmamma a bouquet of lilies of the valley tied with a bow of mauve ribbon?” “O yes, I will gather a bouquet in the morning,” replied Anastasie. The following day, all the children were dressed to go into the carriage to offer their congratulations to the Dowager Empress. Anastasie alone, appeared with empty hands. “I thought we were going to walk so that I could gather some wild flowers for grandma; now I shall have none.” “When people go to offer congratulations, they go in carriages,” their governess explained. Anastasie thereupon went to the cupboard and took a little toy from it. When the nursery arrived at the Palace, the other children gave their grandmother gifts and recited their pieces of poetry until it came Anastasie’s turn when she hung her head and all the other children turned away with shame and chagrin for their sister. “Have you nothing for grandma?” the Empress Dowager said. “Yes, I have brought this, Grandma,” Anastasie replied. “But have you made nothing for me with your own little hands?” “Nothing, Grandma,” was the answer. “Well, dear, you are a very little child,” said the Empress Dowager, “but perhaps you have learned a piece of poetry to say to me.” Anastasie looked more chagrined than ever, but, unwilling to confess her negligence, thought to deceive the Empress Dowager by repeating the following lines:
I have a pretty doll,
Her name is Miss Rose,
She has two pretty blue eyes,
And a very small nose.
She can’t stand long,
On her tiny little toes,
She just makes a curtsy,
And then, off she goes.