The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-09

coIhe TO play at being a nun, but to become
one IN reality. She believed with all her
heart that she was making the sacrifice of her
self and her own will to the service of Heaven.
and the more sef-denial and modification the
more acceptable her offering would be: so she
had chosen the hardest rule she could find
Inc first night that she passed in the con-
vent whimsical difficulty a1ose-the Prin
cess had never undressed hersAlf in her life.
and did not know how to set ibout it. One
OF the sisters who had seen something of the
world in former days. guessed at the diff
Guilty, and obtained leave to assist her Then
the Princess had brought no night-clothes,
and nightcap had to be borrowed from Law
sister.
The Princess was thirty-three years of age
when she entered on her convent life, and
she never tllnched from the severest auster-
Ties. Her retirement from the world made
great noise at the time, and the Due de
Choiseul announced it formally, and with
much pomp, to all the European courts
The, King often went to see his daughter.
and was very gracious and pleasant to
the nuns. Seated upon the straw bed
in her little cell, he found it every hard,
though q tautcg6 was always placed for et-
quette; he frequently stayed to Join in what
ever religious service in the chapel might be
on hand, desiring that no notice might be
taken of him. The sisters, Mesdames Ade-
laide, Sophia, and Nictorine, were grieved to
lose their sister; they wrote charming notes
to their cher petit cmur;' indeed, the evil
dence of simple sistery love amonst these
poor princesses is very touching; they were
not clever, but they had thoroughly good and
refined natures, and they continued good, in
nocent human beings in the midst Of that
terrible and corrupt Court.
The Princess was very ardent in her new
mode Of life, refusing all dispensations; how
ever, III the severe Lent fast she was COM
manded to eat fish once a day. which she de-
tested, and as it was neither well-dressed nor
particularly fresh, il became, to her great sat
isfaction, an additional penance. She was,
however, evidently much happier in the con-
vent than she had been at Court. The rules,
she said, were far lighter than those of Court
etiquette; besides, she enjoyed the novelty of
having companions and equals, and even of
having a superior There is an account of her
delight at taking her turn in ldtchen-work
At first there was a difficulty made about
suitable costume: she had nothing but her
Court attire, being only on trial. and not even
| as yet novice. She would gladly have gone
to work just as she was, but the thrifty Pri-
Dress made her understand that those magnif-
cent silk dresses would hereafter make beau
tiful vestments for the services at the altar:
so the Princess wrote TO her father to send
her proper ldtchen-maid's dress, The King
dld not know much about the costume suit
able for that department. but the result was
dress made in the height of the fashion, of
ptah sH6 tG66ta, which she put on with
great complacency, and began at once to
scour an immense black kettle, rubbing it
outside as well as inside, and wondering why
1t did not come bright Her difficulties
with the dirty candlestic5s were great,
and even cost her tears for they would not
grow clean upon her hands. Her zeal in
sweeping and brushing and dusting was often
greater than her success; but there was
nothing she refused she enjoyed doing every
thing, and her bright, cheerful submission to
the rules was a constant lesson and a great
charm to the community. SIZE suffered much
from the use of the fat-soled convent shoes,
after being all her life accustomed to high
heels; she never complained, but persevered,
and refused the offered permission to wear her
! own shoes When the period of her noviciate
Yas over, she took the final VOWS amid great
pOr1p and ceremony, wearing for the occasion
o most dazzling attire shot with gold. and en-
broidered IN colOred flowers, with more than
a million francs worth of diamonds on her
neck and arms. The Pope sent her an auto
| graph letter of the most paternal politeness,
| the NunciO oficiated at the ceremony, all the
| Court attended the King alone was absent; !;
! and thencefOrth she became Sister Therese
! de st. Augustin She was twice elected
Prioress of the order, and she did her duty
thoroughly and well.
Whatever may be our objections to con-
ventUal life and conventual VOWS, it is impos-
sible to withhold respect from the simple
minded, single-hearted piety of the Princess
Louise. She lived till the 9TH of September
1876; two days before her death Marie Antoi-
nette and her two children and Madame
| Elizabeth visited her; she had borne a long
and very painful illness with courage and
gentleness. On leaving her, the Queen ex-
claimed, ''How can one suffer 50 much and
be so calm ?" The last words of the Princess
were, MY God, my all, my eternal portion!
She was taken away from the evil which was
so shortly to fall on her family. She was
buried in the royal vaults of ST. Denis. and
her grave shared the fate of those of her an
cestors which, in 1893, were desecrated and
the remains thrown out into pit.
"A road from Broadway, Saratoga, to the new