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RUMANIAN DANCK GIRLS 



NOTES ON RUMANIA 



THE general public had been wont 

 to regard the little nations of the 

 Balkan Peninsula as comic-opera 

 governments until recent events adver- 

 tised the fact that they had been growing 

 up into strong and lusty manhood. Bul- 

 garia, Servia, and Montenegro have al- 

 ways kept themselves well in the public 

 eye, the marriage of a daughter to the 

 king of a great power, a spectacular revo- 

 lution, or the change of faith of a crown 

 prince, all having contributed to attract- 

 ing and keeping the attention of the 

 Western World, 



One kingdom alone has kept to the 

 even tenor of its way, and its history 

 since its establishment has been a record 

 of quiet progress. 



Formed in 1859 by the union of Mol- 

 davia and Wallachia, two principalities 

 tributary to the Sultan of Turkey, Ru- 

 mania's beginnings were not auspicious. 

 Its first ruler, Prince Cuza, a dissolute 

 but well-intentioned man, strove by the 



most despotic methods to bring to frui- 

 tion his democratic ideals, with the result 

 that he was compelled to abdicate after 

 a reign of seven years. 



The choice of the people then fell upon 

 Prince Charles of Hohenzollern, a mem- 

 ber of the elder branch of that famous 

 family, the younger branch of which is 

 headed by the Emperor William of Ger- 

 many. 



To Charles of Hohenzollern, ably aided 

 by his consort. Princess Elizabeth of 

 Wied, better known as Carmen Sylva, 

 the remarkable progress of Rumania is 

 mainly due. He has raised her from a 

 bankrupt vassal principality into a con- 

 tented, prosperous, and independent 

 kingdom. 



Rumania is shaped like a boot, the 

 Transylvania Mountains — the Hungarian 

 boundary — forming the front and instep, 

 and the River Danube— the Bulgarian 

 boundary — the sole until it turns north, 

 flowing through the country till it joins 



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