Our Little Roumanian CousinWinlow, Clara Vostrovsky
General
Our Little Roumanian Cousin
Winlow, Clara Vostrovsky
Children -- Romania -- Juvenile literature
So the carriage took them to the big Museum building where Jonitza
alighted. Indoors he found much to interest him. He lingered before
the displays of magnificent royal jeweled collars and crowns, and the
specimens of Roumania's mineral wealth: gold, silver, copper, rock
salt, and others. There were drawings and paintings, too, to be looked
at. He stood long before one of the latter. It represented a Roumanian
boyard or nobleman of long ago, dressed in a long, loose, rich costume,
with several jeweled daggers in his embroidered belt. A crowd of
dependents surrounded him, some bowing low, some kissing his hand, some
trying to get him to listen to the tale that they had to tell.
Although Jonitza's mother was late in returning to the Museum, he had
still much to see when she did come. A richly dressed young woman, who
treated Jonitza like an old friend, was with her.
"It is still early," his mother remarked to his mystification. And
she gave some orders to the coachman who then drove them past the
"Institution of the Blind," the particular pride of Queen Elizabeth
(Carmen Sylva), past the University and schools of various kinds, past
a beautiful pure white marble statue of some _voivode_ or other, and on
to the extensive Garden of Cismegiu; then again to the Calea Vittoriei,
where the carriage stopped before the renowned restaurant of Capsa.
Here Jonitza's father, who evidently knew of their coming, was waiting
to escort them into a room with tiled glistening floor, lofty mirrors,
beautiful flowers, and exquisitely neat tables. The place was crowded
to overflowing, but above the hum of voices could be heard the
fascinating music of a Roumanian Gypsy band.
Hardly had they entered, than two fashionably dressed men joined their
party. After considerable banter, the conversation became so serious
that Jonitza did not understand all of it. Now and then he caught a
quotation that he had heard before, as, "Leave a Hungarian to guard
the thing that you value most," and "There is no fruit so bitter as
foreigners in the land."
Everything tasted very good, but Jonitza would have enjoyed it more had
some attention been paid to him. As it was, he was glad when the party
at last arose and while the rest of the company went to the theater, he
was sent in the carriage home alone.
At home, he found only servants and so went at once to the little room
that was his own during his stay at the capital.
Here he threw himself down for awhile in a big armchair and gave
himself up to thoughts that he had never had before, about Roumania's
past history, about the old-time ballads of _heiduks_ and chieftains
that he had heard in the mountains, and about what he had caught in
the conversation at the brilliant restaurant that night regarding
Roumania's future.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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