The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-02-18
lHF { IN PARIS.
PARIS .Lan,anru Ia le

-~'~St
Emperor Alerander-Austria and the Jesu
its-The Emperor Napoleon Ska
tiag-Rachel; her Career, Her Death, ana
Her FuneraI-TAe Death of Resehid RasAa-
4 Copy Of the Psalter, Printed 6y Gluten
berg, is l46l-Fust Ball at the Thileries.
To the Editor Of the National Era
We are still without political news of moment
but we are in daily expectation of the meeting Of
the International Congress for the final settle
ment Of the pending question of the Principali
ties.
Emperor Alexander is said to be earnestly
engaged in the liberation of the serfs. May he
live long enough to see the realization of his
noble undertaking.
Austria, the country of eternal darkness, is
proetsssins inverssiy. The clergy is a-:un,sh aas
under the cloak of the Concordat, and the Jes-
uits now earnestly wage war against the study
of the classics, under the pretence that the
youth of the present day CLEAN from them ideas
of infdelity; that they are misled by the philo-
sophical works of illegal and Kant, and by the
study of the natural sciences, especially from
the works of Alexander Humboldt; and they 20
so far as to recommend to the Government the
suppression of the press, for the interest of the
church. In their wrath, they ascribe to the
fact that Gutenberg was born in the city OF
Mentz, the awful explosion of the powder maya.
zine. We wonder to what they will ascribe the
bursting of q hot-water furnace at the church of
st. Sulpice, in Paris, few days past, during
high mass, killing three persons, and danger.
opsly wounding many.
Until the first Of January, we were favored
with beautifully mild weather, but it suddenly
turned cold, the river closed at many points, and
all the gamins of Paris who could afford pair
of skates, hocked towards the Bots de Boulogne,
to glide over those beautifully frozen lakes.
That smooth ice revived, even in the Emperor
himself, the desire once more to try bis skill in
in the favorite sport of his youths and the mighty
Napoleon threw aside crown and sceptre, un.
girded his sword, and shouldered his skates, to
join the rush to the Bots, fastened the runners
to his heels, and away he sportively went, pele.
nsele, with the crowd, at the risk of his neck.
All Paris was astonished at this unprecedented
Imperial taste. Could the Chariuari only say all
it wishes, this skating mania would afford an
endless theme for humors.
The grave has just closed over a woman Of
genius, who for the past eighteen years was
the glory of the French stage. Rachel, whom
it is scarcely too much to call the creator OF
French tragedy in modern times, died at the
Villa of Sardon, near Cannes, in the department
of Var, Sunday, the Sd inst, at eleven O'Clock
z. M. Rachel was borne in March, 1920, al
the little Swiss village of Num- during one oil
the peddling tours of her parents, who were Jew
hawkers, named Felix, gaining living by pc
riodically visiting various towns in Germany
and Switzerland.
family settled down in Lyons, where the father
and mother courageously struggled against DOW
erty. The mother sold and bought old clothes
the father gave German lessons, and Sarah, the
eldest daughter, went about singing at the DIFF
ferent cafes, to the accompaniment of an old
guitar, always followed by little Rachel, who
went from table to table, collecting the offerings
of the kindly disposed. Towards 1880, the
family removed to Paris, where they have re-
sided ever since.
Sarah and Rachel continued their visits to
the cafes. On one of these occasions, the lit
tie wanderers attracted the attention of Choron,
he was struck with the intelligent physioQnomy
of Rachel, and proposed to the two sisters that
they should enter one of the classes of the In.
stitution of which he was founder, for the studv
of sacred music. After speaking with the cid,
tiers, he visited the father of the children. and
asked Felix for his little daughter, promising, at
the same time, to take charge of her future
welfare. Rachel was inscribed, at the school.
under the name of Elisa-that of Rachel not
seeming to the master an appropriate one to
the singer of sacred music. 1t did not take
Choron long to perceive that the child was not
born to be q professional musician; he felt con-
WINGED, however, that she was talented, and
feeling much interested in the intelligent child,
endowed with such expressive features, and 20
sonorous voice, he thought, and Justly too,
that they were better suited to declanatory ex.
preston than to music. He took her to Mr..
Saint Aulsire, who was then director of .
school for defamation, enjoying high reputa-
ton as dramatic instructor; he at once ad.
mitted the little girl, and proved indefatipable
in the pursuit Of his task. He first began by
teaching Rachel to read ct the same time he
read alond, verse by verse, the parts Of Her.
mione, Iphigenie, Mary Stuart, &c, compelling
her to commit them to memory-t6ereby labor.
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