The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1873-04-01

AuOtnef iuOmtut vi dSOul1iuS suo'
pense, and the whole truth, as by light
ming, flashed upon the vast assembly,
The simultaneity of the knowledge of
the event seemed really miraculous; for,
of the many hundreds there. from the
princess in the dress circle to the shop
boy in the highest amphi,heater, every
living soul seemed TO be aware of the
dread peril which had just been under
gone, when, among cheers and shouts,
and sobs, and waving of handkerchiefs,
and joyful enthusiasm which actually
beggars description, the whole house
rose as the Emperor Napoleon, the en-
press aud the suite, entered the imperial
box and showed themselves to the peo-
pie. He, the same alm,impassive prob
lem of man who landed at Bouloane
with the tame eagle; who lived on the
second floor in King street, St, James;
who rode down the boulevard, twenty
yards in advance of his staff, on the day
after the coup d'etet-rode calmly and
quietly down, while the cutters yet ran
red, and the ground was still cucumber
ed with corpses He looked neither bet
ter nor worse, neither paler. nor ruddier
than usual; the moustaehe had the same
twist; the eye the same quiet, fatiioniing
side glance; the frame the same courtly
inclination, in acknowledgment. Of The
plaudits Of the multitude.
Not flush, not quivering muscle,
not a movement Of the hand, not spar
kle in the eye. Surely Louis Napoleon
Bonaparte was the only man in the world
who could bear blowing up with gun
powder without changing countenance
AS for the empress, poor soul! much
as adulators and time-servers vaunted
her self possession and sang-fro;d, eve.
witnesses concur in stating that she was
as pale as death, and looked--as well
sue might dreadfuly scared and trem
bling from head to foot. Her white
robes were stained with blood; her own
fair face itself was grazed by splinter
from the glass of the carriage window
and it was only by special mercy that
Eugeuie de Monti;o was permitted to
hear once more the gratulations of her
people.
1t requires an intimate knowledge oi
the characteristics of the French people
to understand how, under these aston
ishing circumstances, the programme ol
the evening was played out, and how ev
erv operate fragment was performed as
per plsybill.
Every lorgnette in the house was OF
course almost perpetualiy pointed at the
narrow enclosure where sat he who ruled
over the destinies OF France, and whose
life had been so providentially preserv-
ed; yet all this while the wartling voice.
of the singers, the n;mhle feet OF I'll,
ballet dancers, were busy on Tie stage.
There never was, perhaps, II mere in
attentive audience, ar,isticallv speaking
for there was drama before the curtain
which, in intense interest, fsurrasse,l
five hundred fold, the mimic rage of th,
foctlights; Yet, in the midst Of this pre-
occupations resp!endan, tribute was of
| fered to the genus OF Madame RlstoIl
who, in the great scene of ''Maria Stu
ards" and in her famous apostrophe t
Queen Elizabeth, "Bastarola" positivel
electrified the huuse, and called down :
triple salvo Uf well mcli;ei plaudits.
Later in the everins,a pas ul,dance,
by tue Ferraiis; once more recalled tn
audience from the terrible real befor
the proscenium to the graceful ideal be
lyond it,sand it Was a stfange sight to sc
the white kids in HE emperors box agi
tated by applause.
A moment later or earlier in the ex
Iplosion OF the grenade, an inch neare
the murderons projeciile, and wher
would those white kid -gloved hands hav
been9 Where they indeeI. arc now!