Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
But even in the last months of her life, Anastasia could be happy. She and other members of her family performed plays for their parents and others in the spring of 1918. Her tutor Sydney Gibbes said that Anastasia's acting made everyone laugh. On 7 May 1918, Anastasia wrote a letter from Tobolsk to her sister Maria in Yekaterinburg. In the letter, she described a moment of joy, even though she was sad, lonely, and worried about her sick brother Alexei: "We played on the swing, that was when I roared with laughter (laughed loudly), the fall was so wonderful! Indeed! I told the sisters about it so many times yesterday that they got quite fed up (tired)", adding, "One could simply shout with joy." In his memoirs, Alexander Strekotin, one of the guards at the Ipatiev House, called Anastasia "very friendly and full of fun". Another guard said Anastasia was "a very charming devil! She was mischievous and, I think, rarely (not often) tired. She was lively, and was fond of (enjoyed) performing comic mimes with the dogs, as though they were performing in a circus." Another guard, however, called her "offensive and a terrorist" and complained about some of her sharp remarks. Anastasia and her sisters learned to wash their own clothes and make bread at the Ipatiev House.