Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1871-12-02
Eugene.

! An English lady, who recently paid II
visit to the ex- Empress Eugene at CHS
elhlrst, thus narrates the interview:
/ The ladyinwaiting babe me sit down,
and some ordinary phrases passed. As
we spoke, from round the corner of the
open door, without the sound of foot
fall or the rustling of a drapery. the
| empress stood before me-
The lady waiting arose, arranged a
slight cushion in an armchair, courte-
| sled and departed.
The empress seated herself. and sign
ed to me to do the same.
She looked what Tennyson calls
divinely fair" but as one who has suf.
fercd much. There was worn, weary
look, inexpressibly pathetic, in her eyes,
just touched under the lower lids with
black her cheeks were thin and very
pale, her fair hair simply arranged low
sides and with curls on the forehead
and it was her own hair distinctly and
palpably her own. Her dress was of
black paramatta, self-trimmed, with
small tunic, and general look of scant-
mess about it. She wore a little white
shirt-collar and cuffs, and not single
jewel, save one diamond-star that held
the little collar. Her manner suits her
imperial presence-simple, courteous,
earnest. 1t is as of ready-witted wo-
man, sweet tempered, full of human
interests and feelings. impressionable,
mobile, fascinating; emphasizing all
she says with her grandly-cut Spanish
eyes, that might almost, indeed. stand
her in lieu of speech, so eloquently do
they converse There is a wonderful
and varied charm about her, Cleopatra
like, that neither age nor custom can
wither or stale. TO see how the woman
struggled with the empress, and how it
brought her down to claim sympathy
and pity from a solitary stranger, was
very touching. Decorum alone kept
the tears from my eyes.
For while the Empress kept her
state" as tie old chronicles have it, in
the arm chair (perhaps she forgot no
royal canopy hung over her head.
Then she rose and moved near me, seat
ing herself on light chair, and
straightway lapsed into the easy flow of
talk of the high-bred lady. This duali-
ty, the Empress and the woman, is one
of her great charms. Both moods are
perfectly natural, but in an Instant she
can evoke all the divinity that doth
hedge queen, or as quickly subside
into the lively, elegant woman of the
world, asking and answering questions
in rapid succession, without vestige of
court etiquette. y.N
She began in English (which she
speaks readily, and with good accent,
only now and then wanting word,
which she asks you with her eyes to
supply by regrettiug that the Emperor
was too ill to see me. ,,
g Not seriously i'll, far from it," she
said, " thank God, but suffering greatly
from rheumatic pains in consequence
of q chill when he first arrived at Chisel-
hurst. The weather had been warm
and fine, and he had been tempted out,
too much wrapped up for it was SO cold
at Wilhelmshohe), and he had incau-
tiously taken off his paletot, md so
caught cold which had produced an at
tack of rheumatism"
Then she expressed much interest
about the place | came from. 1t was
associated with her early life.
"Ah, how happy I was then! 1t
seems like dream-so happy" and her
glorious eyes glistened. g How we'll |
remember the house where | was at
school, the broad terrace, and the
distant hills, and my companions
my dear friends-they have not forgot
ten me y
"Yes,' said ], "young Miss B"
" Young! All, no /" and she laughed.
" She is not young, she is my age, and
that is not young"
II is NOT o1loIyaI 10 fro Il ;ot ,<,,,a
reigns, but, as she said this, she was
ment. She looks wonderfully youth
full, and her present thinness is very
becoming in this respect.
When first came to England" she
continued, 81 desired to go there
"Ah, madame, why did you net
come? We would have received you
with enthusiasm
She bowed.
L" Yes, | wished it; it was my first
thought; but it could not be-
:" But, madame, will you not come
among us, end see your old haunts 2"
"Some time, perhaps, but not how. |
cannot: the Emperor is ill. / cannot
leave him, and 90 nowhere. | think
of nothing, day and night, but of poor
France. All, what horrors will be
passed through ere France can be at
peace Those dreadful scenes are al
ways before me the end is not yet"
Her eyes filled with tears, and rested
on her shabby black dress-and this
was the late queen of fashion-and her
look seemed to say, "See how
mournw And it was true. There is
often whole world of pathos in little
trihes that involuntarily bear witness to
the individual mind.
Madame" said |, there is but one
consolation--the worse things go in
France, the more the Emperor is sure
to be recalled. 1t is the Emperor alone
who can govern France. They are like
bad children, and require the master
hand of " holesomc restraint and discip-
line"
I" | do not wish to return-I suffered
too much but | trust that events will
justify the emperor. Surely the world
must come to see what kind of people
he had to govern. The emperor knew
that these people were in Paris-,tor
t,oenty gears he kneso il, and he did not
shoot them. He was too merciful."
Madame" said !, 1t is AS though
the Fenians ruled in London. The
Reds are the same all over the world"
"The emperor is blamed for every
thing" said she; "yet how rich and
prosperous France has been for so many