Then a page about Port Arthur!
"What have we lived to see! Stoessel has surrendered Port Arthur! It appears there was no possibility of holding out any longer. Kondratenko is killed. Yes, many heroes have fallen at Port Arthur."
How significant and how true are the following words, which show a remarkable insight in a boy so young:
"Our Government is composed chiefly, not of Russians, but of Germans—and, of course, Germans do not care what becomes of us. Naturally, the result is that Russians lose. We are too careless—we do not sufficiently educate ourselves. It is imperative that every Russian should work at himself and educate himself from his childhood."
When one considers that the writer of the above lines was barely thirteen years old, one cannot but wonder as much at the serious trend of his thoughts as at the simplicity of his style.
Here is another charming page from about the same period, a little earlier:
"To-day I received a letter from my tutor, I.M. It was so touching that I nearly burst into tears—but of course I restrained myself. How stupid I was, when, at first, I was glad of the war! [Between Russia and Japan.] How much suffering, how many orphaned families it has occasioned! At the beginning I wanted to run away and go to the front. If, during our journey to the Crimea, it should be God's will to send me to the war now, I should still be happy. To-day at lunch they were saying that there were only 10,000 left in Port Arthur, that Port Arthur cannot hold out. At six o'clock in the evening, I shut myself up in my room and prayed that God might help us. I took my Prayer Book, and thought to myself, 'I will open it just at random, and read. Perhaps I may chance on something suitable, just for the war.' I opened the book and read, 'Special prayers for times of war!'"
The above is an extract from a diary.
"The education of the young Prince and his brothers," says the Novoye Vremya in an interesting article on the life of Oleg Constantinovitch, "was very systematic and thorough. They rose at half-past six, were taken for a morning walk in the park, and at eight were already at their lessons. Each lesson lasted forty minutes, and between it and the next there was an interval of twenty minutes. There were from four to five lessons daily. Luncheon was at one, and from two to four the young Princes rode daily with their uncle, the Grand Duke Dimitri. From four to seven preparation for the following day, at seven dinner, then forty minutes' reading with one of the teachers of foreign languages, then drawing and dancing. An arduous day's work indeed!"