By the Rev. JOHN KELLY, Translator of “Hymns of the Present Century.”
PART II.
Shortly after the visit to Düsseldorf her mother was requested to bring about a meeting between her daughter and the Prince of Roumania, Prince Charles of Hohenzollern. The Princess Elizabeth was very anxious to attend a concert to be given in Cologne in October, at which Clara Schumann was to take part. It was arranged that they should go to Cologne for the purpose, and that the meeting with the Prince, who was then in Paris, should take place there. They put up at the Hotel du Nord. Hours passed, and the Prince did not appear. The ladies went into the flower garden to dine. The dinner came to an end, and Princess Elizabeth had not noticed that she had been narrowly watched for a considerable time by a group of gentlemen. One of them stepped forward and introduced himself to her mother as the Prince of Roumania. Princess Elizabeth, ignorant of the fact that the meeting had been pre-arranged, stretched out both her hands to him with unfeigned pleasure, and said, “I am so glad that we have met here accidentally.” For several hours they remained together among the flowers, and in the Zoological Gardens, in animated conversation.
On her return to the hotel she exclaimed enthusiastically, “What a charming man he has become!” While she was dressing for the concert the Prince spoke to her mother, and asked her consent to the marriage. Princess Elizabeth, however, was only thinking of enjoying the music, and was beside herself with impatience on account of the delay caused by the Prince. When he left, the young Princess burst out of her room into the saloon, exclaiming, “But, mamma!” As if terrified she stopped at the threshold, when she saw the grave and agitated expression on the countenance of her mother, who ran forward, and threw her arms round her daughter’s neck, and said, “My child, the Prince of Roumania has asked your hand.” The astonishment of the daughter was great, but it became clear to her at once that, unconsciously to herself, her heart had been quite won by him.
When her mother asked her whether she would like to take time for consideration, she answered simply and decidedly, “Just let him come; I shall love him very much.” And when the Prince came and saluted her as his betrothed, she said to him in soft and winning tones, “It makes me so proud, and at the same time so humble.” That same night the Prince had to return to Paris. The entry in her diary on the 12th of October is, “I am engaged, and a happy bride.”[1] The public betrothal took place at Neuwied, on the 16th of October, and on the 15th of November they were married.
Princess Elizabeth had, previously to the appearance of Prince Charles as a suitor, rejected every proposal of marriage, but when, long before her engagement to him, her friends made plans for her, and wished that there might be a throne in store for her, she would jestingly reply, “The only throne that could have any attractions for me is the Roumanian, for there I should have something to do.” That this was no mere idle expression of a passing feeling is proved by her whole life and work in her new home. She has become in heart and life a Roumanian, and devoted herself with all her powers to the well being of her subjects. A wide and quite uncultivated field of work lay before her. The first thing to do was to make herself acquainted with it. She felt that for this purpose something more than crowded receptions was necessary, and she arranged to receive the ladies who were announced for presentation at Court singly. “It was too disagreeable,” she said, “to say what I did not really feel at receptions. In order to avoid a falsehood I took pains to feel the interest which I showed. Everyone needs sympathy. Now everybody interests me, and I find them all to be interesting. The receptions do not bore me any longer. On the contrary, I delight in them. One must do thoroughly whatever one does, if it is to succeed; one must be thorough if one would be anything.”
On the 8th of September, 1870, a daughter was born, who received the name of Maria at her baptism. The child was enthusiastically welcomed by the people, who said, “God bless the new citizen of Roumania! May she grow and prosper in the joy of her parents, and the welfare of her country!” Henceforth the infant daughter became the most important personage in Roumania.
The Princess Elizabeth studied the language with zeal, and acquired a perfect mastery of it. The Roumanians say, with a dash of pride, that she speaks it better than they do themselves, for she constructs her sentences with peculiar elegance.
“WAKING WOODS.”