A Royal Magazine Writer

Carmen Syjva," who i the queen o Boomania, contribute an idyllic sketoh toThe Forum. Sha wrftes of the Roamanían peasant. Her sketoh beginst A uu as big again s In the rest of Europe; tb iky Seep bluo overhead, ahadtag down to whltoj 3i fte horizon a shimmsrlng ourtaan of golden dut oioud; green mal and ripening wheat as Sr as the eje can roaoht and In the vast son ioorohed soUtude a single oart drawn by blaok taflaloes moves 6lowly on as though of tía own ooord, though on etoser observation the drlTr Al be seen stretched prone on top of hls nlgü pOed load: such Ís Roumanla. The team comei C bridge-for since Klng abarles began to rato ibvc are bridges. But ti peasant risa, stand rtreteht up in hi3 white blooae and white breeobe, fcroad leather belt and feit hat, and drive hto baffaloes past the bridge and almost perpendlooW)y down the steep bank lnto the water. The exquisite word painting contínue. Here a boy, with nothing on but an abbwviated shirt and normoue lambskto cap, hugs tó his breaat a goose nearly M Ug as hiinself. The married women all wear wlüte veil8 constantly. From her wedding day, nobody, not even her hnhand, ever sees a Roomanian peasant woman's liair. Aa a matter oí fon, a beide is expected to cry a little, when her hair is rolled up tight and tucked under tendkerchief whioh is henceforth to cover it during hr earthly existenoe. Women who work in the fields wear frequenüy' feit hats llke men, but the hat must be put over the white veil. To die unwedded seems to both men and women the greatest misfortune that can overtake one. The Roumanian peasante are unique. French fashions and modern ideas have not reached them. They are, therefore, the most pictureaque and interesting people ' of Europe. Descended f rom the Roman colonista who settled the country nnder Emperor Trajan, they preserve til Bomething of the noble carriage and dignity of character of the anoient Roman. They have aquiline features and piercing black eyes. But they are mixed with other strains of blood, both stern and western. They are quite as mach Oriental as Buropean. There are 900,000 gypsies among them. The Roumfynian language is a Latín dialect. But the admixture of wilder, younger and warmer blooded races than that of Borne has given to the people a f ervid poetic temperament. The common people speak naturally in metaphor. "Have you any sonsJ" the queen asked of an aged peasant woman of graceful and imposing presence. I had two firs, but the tempest laid .them low," was the reply. One day the queen visited seven schools in Iittle Wallachia. "Never have I seen at once so many strikingly beautiful ■ yes," she writes. "The most incompetent school master surely never could apoil what the good God made so perfect." Tüié genuine Romnanian is the laziest of mortals. In the morning he drinks a glasa of whisky. Through the day be has two meals, each consisting of some oorn cakes and a couple of onions. Two daya' work in the week will keep him bundantly supplied wlth these! Why should he work longer? In point of fact, i ■ be does not and will not work longer. Happy philosophyl Jolly content! What to tiim are revolutions and the contests at labor and capital? He owes hia content and security to the fact that Eou""■Tiia is a thinly peopled country. Final] y , the masculino Roumanian is not wiklly devoted to wif e and children. Bol he loves his mother passionately, and places her bef ore everybody else.