fueen 



1 9143 A Noble Woman 



that it was more than a fortnight before he arrived in 

 London, and then penniless, unfed, and unknown. 

 By mere accident I heard of his pHght, but there was 

 no possible way to get him back home. I therefore 

 arranged with Frank F. Williams of Buffalo, an active 

 internationalist in London at the time, to have him 

 go to America to give lectures on the Balkan situation. 

 These over, during the course of the year he was able 

 to return to Sofia by a devious route. 



Soon after our arrival Queen Eleanora (princess of q% 

 Saxe-Reuss) sent an officer to the hotel asking me to ^^^^^°^<^ 

 visit her that afternoon, as she was very anxious to 

 meet some one from America, "the country to which 

 Bulgaria owes so much of education and culture," 

 and to which she looked as a possible help in the 

 disaster which had overtaken the land. We there- 

 fore repaired to the palace near by, a modest mansion 

 in a pretty park, not at all pretentious in equipment 

 and to be singled out as royal only by a Bulgarian 

 flag floating over the roof. 



The queen, an attractive woman, spoke excellent The 

 English. Deeply interested in the welfare of her ^!|^7«"j^/ 

 people, especially the wounded and suffering, she had 

 established a number of Red Cross hospitals, and 

 through the friendly interest of Professor Samuel T. 

 Dutton, who, as a member of the Carnegie Commis- 

 sion — to which I shall later refer — had visited her at 

 Sofia, she had brought trained nurses from America 

 to instruct Bulgarian girls. She had also helped to 

 educate officers' widows in kindergarten methods. 

 Loved and respected by the people, her presence no 

 doubt strengthened Ferdinand's waning prestige. 



At the time of our meeting she had just returned 



L 581 3 



