Part 17

To-morrow we had intended leaving this, but during the night poor Vicky had the dreadful fright of Waldie’s being taken ill with the croup. Thank God, he is better this morning, but our journey will have to be put off for a few days, so that Vicky cannot now reach Berlin in time for Christmas. As we don’t wish to spend that day _en route_, we have telegraphed to our husbands, who reach Naples to-day, to ask whether they will not join us here, that we may all spend Christmas together before leaving.

This is all unsettled, and I will telegraph as soon as every thing is definitely arranged. Rollet[95] is here to-day, and spends this day in quiet with us.

CANNES, December 20th.

We both had the happiness yesterday of receiving our dear husbands safe and well here after so long a separation. They had been to Naples and Pompeii, and Louis went for a day to Rome, so that he has seen an enormous deal, which is very instructive for him, and will be such a pleasure for him to look back upon in later years.

I am so glad that Louis has had the opportunity of making this journey; and it seems to have done his health good also, for he looks very well.

The journey back is so long and difficult for me to manage alone with Louis--as Vicky’s people, particularly in the nursery, have helped mine--that I am obliged to wait until the 26th, and to go with Vicky and Fritz, for they travel slower than I would do if I went with Louis, who goes back direct day and night. The doctor would not consent to my travelling with Ernie from this warm climate into the great cold so fast, and during the night, for he is cutting four back teeth at this moment.

The day before yesterday we visited Lord Dalhousie and Lady Christian, and found him very gouty, but in good spirits. Lady Ebury and Oggie[96] came to see us this afternoon. Prince and Princess Frederic of the Netherlands and their daughter have arrived here. The poor Princess is so weak, and looks like a shadow.

HÔTEL DU JURA, DIJON, December 28th.

Just as we were leaving Cannes your last letter reached me, for which many thanks. It was cold the morning we left Cannes, very cold at Avignon, where we spent the night, and still colder, and snow and frost, on reaching this place yesterday evening. We and the children are all well, and the poor little ones are very good on the journey, considering all things. In an hour we leave for Paris, rest there to-morrow, and then go to Cologne, where I shall take leave of dear Vicky and Fritz, and go straight home. I have been so much with dear Vicky this year, that the thought of parting from her costs me a great pang, the more so as I do not think it likely that I shall meet her in this new year.

On New Year’s eve I arrange a Christmas-tree for all my children, and in advance I thank you for all the presents you have been kind enough to send us, and which we shall find at Darmstadt. * * *

1870.

At the beginning of this year, and soon after his return from the East, Prince Louis was laid up with scarlet-fever, and, soon after, Princess Victoria and the little Prince took the same illness. Though the attack was a severe one, all made a good recovery, and no ill effects remained behind. Princess Alice undertook the nursing entirely herself. During this time of enforced seclusion from the social world her intercourse with the famous writer and theologian, David Friedrich Strauss, was a source to her of great interest and enjoyment.

The Princess became acquainted with this remarkable man in the autumn of 1868 at her own particular desire, and after considerable hesitation on his part. Strauss had spent the winter of 1866 at Darmstadt. He returned there again in the spring of 1868, and remained there until the autumn of 1872. His own account of his acquaintance with the Princess was by her wish not published at the time, but has been since, with the consent of his family and that of the Grand Duke. From this the following narrative is taken almost verbatim:

“Although I was entirely unaccustomed to associate with persons of high rank, I soon felt entirely at ease with this lady. Her simplicity, the kind manner in which she met me, and her keen bright intellect made me forget all differences of social position.”

Strauss visited the Princess very often, and their conversations lasted sometimes for hours. He himself speaks of them as “most delightful and refreshing.”

Very often they read aloud, and this no doubt led to a suggestion from Strauss, that he should write down notes about Voltaire--whose works they were studying--and afterward read them to the Princess. She entered readily into this plan. “Her idea was to have a select circle of listeners. Besides herself and one of her ladies, with whom she was very intimate, Prince Louis, and the English Minister then at Darmstadt, Mr. [now Sir Robert] Morier, were to be present.” The illness of Prince Louis prevented this plan from being carried out.

“She, however, asked me,” Strauss writes, “to come and see her, if I was not afraid of infection. She said that the next few weeks would be very solitary ones, and it would be of great value to her if I felt disposed to put up with her as sole audience for my lectures on Voltaire. To this I was only too willing to agree.”

The manuscript took the form of seven lectures, and the author was rewarded for his pains “by the keen interest and unwavering attention of his listener.”

After repeated revisions, the printing of the work on Voltaire began. Strauss gives his own account of this in the following extract:--

“When it first occurred to me to write something on Voltaire for the Princess in the form of lectures, I naturally cherished the hope that, when the little book was printed, I might obtain her permission to dedicate it to her. As the work progressed, however, this hope became fainter, and by the time the book was ready I had entirely given it up.

“I could only take pleasure in my work, if I felt I had been perfectly sincere; if, instead of condemning Voltaire, as is usually the case, I stood up for him upon essential points--nay, even went so far as to intimate that here and there he had seemed to me not to have gone far enough.

“The Princess might naturally have scruples about allowing a book of such a tendency to be dedicated to her, considering her position and what was due to it; and to ask her to allow the book to be dedicated to her seemed forbidden by that discretion which I was bound to observe. The thought then struck me of writing with my own hand into the copy of the book which I gave her the Dedication, in the terms in which it now stands printed on the second page of the volume. Meanwhile, on the one hand, the friendly intercourse with the Princess continued, whilst on the other the printing of the book advanced. One day in the most kind manner she told me how much she felt she owed to our acquaintance, and how much it had helped to clear her views in many ways. I, on my part, expressed to her in all sincerity the animating and exhilarating influence which our intercourse had exercised upon myself, and, in particular, how it had cheered and encouraged me in my labors on Voltaire.

“‘It would be nice, if you would dedicate your book to me,’ the Princess rejoined. How agreeably surprised I was can easily be imagined. I acknowledged without hesitation how this had been my first intention, but that I had given it up out of regard for her, not wishing to expose her to misinterpretation. The Princess replied that the fear of being misunderstood would never prevent her from doing what she thought right. I pointed out, that the matter must be well and carefully considered, and that, first and foremost, she must obtain her husband’s consent. Her answer was that she had no fear on that point; but that she would of course consult him about it. I told the Princess that I had made several changes and additions since I first wrote the lectures. I would therefore bring her the proof-sheets as soon as they were ready,

## partly that she might glance over the whole again, and partly that

she might draw the Prince’s attention to any doubtful passages. They would then be able to form their own opinions.

“I sent her the proof-sheets, and received them back from the Princess on the 11th of June, 1870, with the following letter:

“‘DEAR HERR PROFESSOR:--I return you your “Voltaire” with many thanks. My husband read through the fifth chapter of it yesterday; he does not think that its contents are such as to justify my refusing the dedication. The value which I place on the dedication of your book will always be far greater than any little unpleasantness which might possibly arise from my accepting it.

ALICE.’

“The dedication was thus unqualifiedly accepted, but now--in what words should I put it? I had got accustomed to the form in which I had meant to write it myself into the copy I wished to present to the Princess. I intended saying that I had written lectures for the Princess, and that she had allowed me to read them aloud to her. Would not this make the Princess, so to speak, an accomplice of this objectionable book? Could I state this publicly? I felt myself bound to leave to the Princess the choice between this dedication and a more formal one, in which these allusions were omitted. Upon this the Princess sent me the following answer:

“‘I should not like any change made in what you have written on the first page, and am greatly touched at your kind dedication.

ALICE.’

“When I was at last able to send her my book in its complete form with the dedication printed, I received the following note from her, written from Kranichstein, on the 27th of June, 1870:

“‘I have not been able till to-day to thank you for your “Voltaire” received yesterday. The book itself is the cause of the delay, as I devoted my spare time to reading over what you had yourself read to me so beautifully last winter. I seemed to hear your voice and all your observations again. I must thank you once more for that great enjoyment, and for the kind terms of your dedication.

“‘ALICE.’

“Seldom have the negotiations about the dedication of a book been carried on in a way like this, and seldom has a Royal Princess shown herself so courageous and amiable.”

All must agree in this opinion, from whatever point of view they look at the subject. It was like the Princess’ straightforward nature boldly to acknowledge to the world her friendship for Strauss, even at the risk of incurring the most unfavorable criticisms.

Strauss says, further, in his “Memoirs”:

“The memory of the Princess Alice will be inseparably connected, as long as I live, with one of the most gratifying episodes of my life--the writing of my work on Voltaire.”

To this must be added that though, as time went on, the Princess agreed less and less with Strauss’ avowed religious views, and especially differed considerably from those enunciated in his book, “The Old and the New Faith,” she never thought otherwise of Strauss than with gratitude and esteem, as one in whom she had met with the most beautiful characteristics of the best German scholarship--viz., unflinching sincerity, combined with a rare gift of saying what it has to say clearly and pleasantly, and a winning modesty of personal demeanor.

In the end of March the Prince and Princess with their family went to Mayence for change of air after the scarlet-fever. The Princess went much into society during her stay there; but this did not prevent her from making use of every possible opportunity for furthering those institutions which she had so much at heart. She visited the hospitals at Mayence, Offenbach, and Giessen, and had many consultations with the heads of these various hospitals with a view to possible improvements.

The quiet, happy time at Kranichstein during the summer was suddenly brought to an end by the declaration of war between France and Germany. Prince Louis had to go to the front with his division, which, together with another division, formed the Ninth Army Corps, and part of the Second Army, commanded by Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia. The Princess took leave of her husband on the 25th of July. She, however, saw him again once or twice before the final leave-taking, on the 1st of August.

On the 15th of August the Hessian division for the first time encountered the enemy, before Metz, and on the 16th took part in the battle of Mars-la-Tour. During the terrible battle of Gravelotte, on the 18th of August, Prince Louis and his division occupied a central position in the irresistible force, which drove Marshal Bazaine back into Metz, and held him imprisoned there with an iron grasp.

On the 19th Prince Louis and the troops encamped on the battlefield, and he had the pleasure of meeting his brother Henry. Prince Louis took part in the battle of Noisseville on the 31st of August, when General Manteuffel commanded the troops engaged. He and his division also formed part of the army investing Metz, partly doing outpost duty, and partly serving in the reserve.

On the 8th of October, whilst the Prince was in command of his division at Gravelotte, where the troops were concentrated in hourly expectation of a sortie of the French from Metz, he received the news of the birth of a second son, who had been born on the 7th.

Ever since the Prince’s departure the Princess had remained “at her post” in Darmstadt, helping, comforting, and advising all around her. She was proud to be the wife of a German officer serving in the field in such a cause, though her life for the present was full of anxiety and care. She worked, like any other woman, to alleviate as best she could the sufferings of the sick and the wounded, and giving aid to those who were plunged into destitution by the war. Whilst she was living with her children at Kranichstein the “_Hülfsverein_,” or Committee of Aid, had its headquarters in her palace at Darmstadt. She herself went there every day, visited all the hospitals, also the ambulances at the railway station, and superintended the organization of “Committees of Aid” all over the country. The Committees which she had organized long previously now proved themselves an untold blessing.

The “Alice Society for Aid to Sick and Wounded” had sixteen trained nurses ready for work at the beginning of the war. Through the voluntary help of some of the best doctors and surgeons, who arranged classes at different places for the instruction of all those who were anxious to help to nurse during the war, the number of nurses was increased by degrees to one hundred and sixty-four. These were sent to the different hospitals in Hesse, to ambulances near Metz, to the hospital trains, and the hospitals on the steamers.

In her own palace the Princess arranged a depot for all necessaries required for the sick and wounded. Later on another was established in the Grand Ducal palace. Besides the many regular nurses, a number of women and ladies joined together to serve out refreshments, during the night as well as the daytime, to the wounded, who were constantly passing through Darmstadt and halted at the railway station. Similar committees were, thanks to the Princess’ own initiative, formed all over the country.

One of the hospitals at Darmstadt, erected by the English National Red Cross Society, and supplied with English surgeons, received the name of “The Alice Hospital.” Under a special arrangement it was subsequently taken over by the Hessian military authorities. In this hospital, as in others established independently of the “Alice Society,” women and girls of all classes lent their aid.

Simultaneously with the aid to the sick and wounded, those who had been rendered widows, orphans, or destitute by the war were cared for through the Princess’ exertions; and “The Alice Society for the Education and Employment of Women” did good service. Out of this Society sprang the “Alice Lyceum,” which was intended for the intellectual culture of women of the higher classes. Lectures were to be delivered in it on all the interesting subjects of the day. This Lyceum continued for some years to attract a more or less numerous audience. In the first winter of its existence lectures on English and German Literature, the History of Art, German History, and Natural History were given. The lady at the head of it was Fräulein Louise Büchner. Its subsequent failure was caused by numerous external difficulties, and not because the original idea for which it had been founded had proved otherwise than sound.

The little new-born Prince continued to thrive, and the Princess made a comparatively quick recovery. The Crown Princess of Prussia, who was then living at Homburg, came constantly to see her sister; and later on, in November, they went together to Berlin. The christening of the little Prince, who was to bear the name of the victorious general of Weissenburg and Wörth, was deferred till his father’s return.

Prince Louis had garrisoned Fort St. Privat on the 29th of October, and saw the 173,000 French prisoners and Imperial Guard pass before Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia.

On the 30th the troops marched farther into the interior of the country. Troyes was reached on the 10th of November, a few days later Fontainebleau, and soon after the troops confronted the “Army of the Loire” at Toury. The battle of Orleans took place on the 3d and 4th of December, and on the 5th the victorious troops made the entry into the town. Part of the Hessian division moved along the left bank of the Loire, and fought the engagement of Montlivault on the 9th of December; the other part of it surprised and took possession of the Castle of Chambord, with five guns and many prisoners. Blois was soon after taken; and from the 10th of December till the 14th of February, 1871, the headquarters were at Orleans. During the expedition against General Chanzy the Hessian division alone guarded the line of the Loire from Gien to Blois.

January 8th.

* * * My three girls have had fearful colds--Ella bronchitis, which Ernie also took from her, and during twelve hours we were in the very greatest anxiety about him; the difficulty of breathing and his whole state caused great alarm. Thank God, he is now quite convalescent; but those were hours of intense suffering for me, as you can imagine. Weber is most attentive and most kind on such occasions, and in such moments one is so dependent on the doctor.

* * * Some very good lectures have been given here lately, undertaken by a committee, which we are at the head of, and of which Mr. Morier is a member. They have been a great success hitherto, and we are going to one to-night by Kinkel, who in 1848 was a refugee in England, and is now a professor at Zürich.

January 16th.

BELOVED MAMA:--We are very grateful for your kind enquiries, and for your letter received this morning. The violence of the fever and the great pain in the throat have abated, and dear Louis is going on favorably. The nights are not good as yet, and his head pains him.

I am cut off from all intercourse with any one in the house, on account of the dear children; and I trust they may escape, for they still cough, particularly Ella and Ernie. I see Christa when I am out walking, not otherwise, as she comes in contact with the part of the house where the children live. I read to Louis, and play to him, as my sitting-room opens into the bedroom. I keep the rooms well aired, and not hot, and at night I sleep on a sofa near his bed. The first two nights were anxious ones, and I was up all night alone with him; but now, thank God, all seems to be going well. * * *

January 20th.

I am happy to say that all is going on well. Louis has no more fever, but his throat is still far from well; it has still the character of diphtheria, though in a mild form--a sort of skin and bits of blood come away when he coughs. He is a very good patient, and I leave him very little alone save when I take my walks, which in this high cold wind are very unpleasant. I hear Ella is still so hoarse and coughs, and Victoria is not quite well. Orchard writes to me every evening, and Dr. Weber sees them in the morning before he comes downstairs.

This instant Weber tells me that Victoria has the scarlet-fever, and I have just been up to see her. She suffers very much, poor child; the fever is very high and the rash much out. It is too late now to separate the others, and those who are not predisposed will escape; but those who are inclined to take it have it in them by this time.

It is a source of great anxiety. Orchard and Emma have never had it. * * *

January 23d.

I was very glad to get your dear lines of the 22d, full of sympathy for me during this anxious time. Victoria’s fever has been very high; and so much discomfort and pain, with a dreadful cough, which she has had for the last six weeks. She is very low, and cries every now and then from weakness, etc., but is a very good patient, poor little one. Amelung comes every afternoon and sits with her, and she is a great favorite with the children, as she knows countless pretty stories.

Louis is not out of bed yet, on account of his throat, etc.; but he is much better, though in this treacherous climate, which is so proverbially bad for throats and lungs, I fear that even with the greatest care there is a risk.

The other children are as yet well, though I don’t think Ella looking well; she has still a cold, and is as hoarse as when I came home. Ernie is all right again, and looks the best of them all. I doubt their escaping, though it is quite possible, as they did not take it when Victoria did. I keep the rooms fresh and continually aired.

All the balls and parties are going on here now. Of course, I can neither go anywhere nor receive any one, on account of the infection. It is a wearisome time indeed, and being so much in sick rooms and so little out begins to tell upon me. How kind of you to send the books! Louis will be delighted. I have just read to him Russell’s book of Bertie and Alix’s journey, and am now reading to him a new Life of Napoleon, by Lanfrey, which is very well written--more against than for Napoleon. Of course, newspapers and the _Revue des Deux-Mondes_ I read to him besides. * * *

January 31st.