The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-11-01
The Countess Potocka.

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The Countess POtocka.
OF the many who have admired the
beauty of the Countess Potocka, in the
photographs and engrayings from the
pastel portrait by an unknown artist, in
the Berlin Museum, hardly one in hun
dred has known any thing of her ro-
mantle story. A full account of her life
is published Gor the first time in En-
glish) in ,Scribner for November, ac-
companied by large engraving OF the
portrait. The writer. Mr.. Clarence c.
Buel, thus describes the purchase OF
the little Fanariote in Constantinople:
Within the decade of years preceding
the outbreak of the first French revolu-
| ton, the French ambassador was one
day taking his customary morning walk
through the streets of Pera, the Frank
ish suburb of Constantinople. Near the
grave of Count Bonneval, n French adj
venturer of the time of Louis XIV, he
came upon band of frolicking chill
dren. The extraordinary beauty of one
of them, a little girl twelve or thirteen
years of age, excited the Frenchman's
admiration He watched their play,
with schetning eyes fixed on the gleeful
maid. "Here," he thought, " is jewel
for my palace He called the child to
him. She responded cheerfully, and
stood before his excellency, with the
naughty self-possession of born prin-
cess. lit .,,t.5, .;--s 49,
ne" Little gil, who are you, and where
do you liye?": asked the Marquis per-
suasively. I'll
81 am Sophie, sir, and my mamma is
a Greek" the child replied. -.- .
| "a Fanariote,p exclaimed the Mar
quis, no less delighted at this intelli-
gence than charmed with the child's adj
dress. fTell your mother she may
bring you to the French ambassadorial
palace at noon tomorrow"
Sophie made her Saldm in a pretty
bow, and leaving her playmates towon
der at what had happened, skipped
away to narrow street near by, and
disappeared in dingy bakers shop.
! Her mothers unattractive and d'ssimu-
lating face frightened as Sophie related
the interview with the marquis. One
admiring look at her child explained to
the mother the meaning of the mar
4 quis's favor
"This is good fortune, Sophie" said
B. she; ave will go TO the palace"
Sophie's father is, invisible at the point
where this history begins, perhaps lying
behind the scenes with q Turkish pom
lard in his heart, paying the grudge OF
race. Sophie was Fanariote-as the
marquis had been delighted to learn
because her parents were descendants
of the Greeks who remained in Con
stantinople after the downfall of the
Eastern empire in 1853, and who were
assigned to quarter of the city called
the Fanar. The Fanariotes, Z" kissing
ardently the hands which they could not
bite of, became interpreters and pri-
vate secretaries to their conquerors and
the foreign embassy. Subservient,
adaptable and shrewd, they exercised a
powerful influence in the State till the
Greek insurrection nipped them stalk
and flower. ~ - '"' wy
; Sophie's mother had the scheming
disposition and unfeeling heart Of 8
Fanariote grated on comparative pow
erty. SO mother and daughter appear
$ ed at the ambassadorial palace on the
appointed day, and were placed before
I. the marquis. The Frenehman knew
4 with whom he had to dealua Fanariot'
4 and doubtless poori not oyerburdenec
with sentiment, and susceptible to posi-
ton and gold. a edifs .
q" How much money would the mother
S demand for her little Sophie, if she were
d disposed to sell?n
3. And he promised, in the same breath
e to educate and otherwise provide for tht
little FanarioteIas if she were. his owl
9 child I@i@lHL~ i - 90 u
5 The motherlet flow aiwhole reservoir
: of tears. She might be poor baker
woman, she said, but she had hear
g for all that, and came of an exceeding
4 " good family. Her ancestor-anc
a here she courtesied profounaty-was
: indeed, no other than the celebrated
: Byzantine emperor, Manuel Komnenos
: How could his exce1lency think, for /
$ moment, that she, the mother, woult
D sell her princely baker-daughterl
THE Marquis did not dispute the Illus
h trious, ancestry Of the little Banariote
! The excessive grief of the mother
: strengthened him in his conclusion tina
i 1900 piasters (s375) would prove I
. sufficient bait for the eovetous baker
Y woman, and he stated his terms, Tit
5 mother made the palace ring with he
: doleful cries, till the Marquis, losing al
4 patience, told her to sign the contract
: which he had already prepared, or tak'
: her daughter and 60. Afew fatherl1
: earesses smoothed out the brow OF th'
' child. whose first impulse was 20 shrink
from the ambassadors seeming austeri
, tv. The mother rallied at the basenes'
, of the world, and finally consoling her
self with the Turkish proverb, "Th'
r nest of blind bird is built by God,
, she signed over to the Marquis, beyond
recall, all claims upon her daughter
r took the 1900 piasters, and withdrew.