BOOKS AND BOOK-MEN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 40, 1 October 1892, Page 974

BOOKS AND BOOK-MEN.

IT is somewhat the fashion amongst would-be cynics and disappointed oi ‘the baser sort' to revile the pioetical and other works of Carmen Sylva, whose portrait heads our column this week. It is most unjustly and untruthfully hinted that the fact of the authoress being a icen—‘a right down regular Queen, as Tessa sings in -he ‘ Gondoliens —accounts for her This is far from being the ease. The aunt of young Prince Ferdinand, who is so sc«?n to maary one of our Princesses, is one of the mast graceful minor pesets we have. Her verselets are invariably graceful ani p-vlisbed. embodying beautiful thought, hap-pily and often exquisite;;- expressed. Lately her health has been very bad, but she has ha«i time ani energy to write articles for some of the great English reviews ajjd some inspired short r-vems including some nicely turned Welsh verse. The Qaeen is romantic in character and frequently bases her little poems on most unpromising subjects. <»n one ocexsi-on she visited a large taper mill, and in her pocket-book wrote the following descriptive moreesi — Tncs-s t-ieces o: rig be -th k and bring. T: cds-.T old snreds arelu-t the tbinz. ;. o—. —n j i.—...t5.., ar.-, ;s .in. F.~. m roUe«s and wbeeh- and cyhnder- din. For Sor*is and ladies their roles to inditeFor pretty poets who straw; by mzht. And newspaper scribblers who bluster and blow : For llttie 3d- e letters where- complimeals grew. A:.d s-.ories -a herein lire adoctioes of men Are wres- hedly taught by an rswsfri'lod pern And ; ;st s-.-rh rags once wiped away The tears wtaa-eaz ibou weepess to-day. In her p«arents’ home she became acquainted with the chief writers, pvoets, sehc-lars. and artists of the day, and early showed a great gift for poetical composition, writing verses with facility before the age of tea. As she grew older she showed remarkable intelligence in all branches of study, and became especially proficient in languages, both sn-ient and modern. She married Prince Charles of Roumania, second son of Prince Anthony of Hohenz jilern : an-i her great popularity in the .ani of her alop*iion dates from her first ar-pearanc? among het people when, as a bride, she accompanied her husband to his eap>it&L She began at onee to enter with her characteristic energy into the life of the Roumanian tieople, to study their customs and to endeavour to understand their thoughts and aspirations. In 187<?, on the day after receiving from her brother the news of the battle of Sedan, in which he bal fonght with honour, her daughter was born, whose life, alas, was to be bat of brief duration, and whose death from diphtheria, in 1874, was a crushing blow to the Prince and Princess, a terrible sorrow which ■ can never be lightened, and will end only with their last breath.' Toe little Marie was their only child. Daring the anxious days of the war of 1877, in which Prince Charles and his brave Roumanians so greatly distinguished themselves, tne Frincesss worked day and night in the hospitals, sustaining by her presence, the courage of the victims of battle, and setting an example which was followed by the Roumanian women in the most unselfish manner. ’She helped to bind up-the wounds herself, and did not even recoil from those at sight of which even men could not help shuddering. How many of the dying re ceived the last words of comfort from her lips ! Many of them would take chloroform only from her hands, and she alone could persuade many of the wounded to undergo the neeessa-y ampatarioc*.' XVhen the victorious R ximanian army, beaded by the Prince, entered Bucharest on their re turn from lhe campaign, the war-song which they sang, acd which had inspired them io many battles, was composed by their own Princess.’the mother of berpeop-’e' She has from the first taken the keenest interest in the welfare of ter Rvomanian subject*, and her remarkaMe talents, her great personal beauty, and her rare powers of sympathy

fave endear-si her to all with whom she come* into contact. In Mareh. 18£1, Roumania was declares a kingdom, and on May 22nd of rhe same year the Princess was crowned Queen.