The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1877-05-17
A Dwarf Diplomat,

N DWdTl DipiOudt
IPari. Correspondence New York World.I
In one of the broad avenues of this |
city, near the Arc de Iriomphe, lives a
little man who is Tom Thumbs inferior
in height-and therefore his superior in
dwarfsh merit-by the full thickness of
a pocket volume. He has ready wit,
an intelligent face, dresses carefully, and |
has plenty of money, and his turnout is,
if not one of the most splendid, at least
one OF the neatest, in Paris. He
drives pony not much larger than a
Newfoundland dog, in a trap that re-
minds you of the vehicles to which the
goats are harnessed in the Champs
Elysees. Everything is in keeping about
him, with the exception of his cigar,
and that, being of the ordinary size, is
big enough to serve him for a walking
stick. He has an establishment, and his
servants (who, it must be confessed, are
as much out of keeping as the weed, in
being of the common stature) seem to
treat him with the most profound re-
spect. 1t is not to be wondered at, for,
to say nothing of the fact that he is their
master, the gentleman in question is no
less a person in dignity than the ex-
dwarf of her ex-Msjesty the Queen of
Spain.
Before her downfall Isabella always
kept dwarf, if only to show her regard
for the ways of her predecessors on the
Spanish throne. To judge by what one
sees in the picture gallery at Madrid,
Spanish court would have been only
more complete without monarch than
without a monster. There is the King
and there is the pigmy-the latter often
in the same picture, and always close at
hand. Sometimes ne shows sad face,
as of one ever murmuring at fortune
for having made him greater than other
men only because nature has made him
immeasurably less; sometimes he seems
pleasantly pulled up with sense Of self
Importance, as though he understood the
royal Eve" to include himself and his
master. Many a Minister of State is
missing from the pictorial gallery. but
there seems to be no break in the picto-
rial succession of dwarfs. When these
pictures were painted nearly every court
in Europe had curiosity Of this de-
scription, and the little men were so
highly priced that they were among the
few objects of interest which princes
could present to one another. But the
|
common sense spread upwards from the
luton brought it almost to standstill
and the diminutive courtiers went into
limbo with the last remnants of feudal
ism. One court, however, continued tt
give them an asylum; and the small
gentleman who now lives here so pleas
antly shared the confidence of Isabel;
with Majori and the Bleeding Nun, aue
accom- panied her in her hasty figh
from the Capital
He left one palace only to find sheite
in another. The Queen had laid by TO
rainy day, and her Partisan exile wa
only less splendid than her state a
, Madrid. He had a suit of apartment
given him in the regal mansion in thu
Avenue du Roi de Rome, and at a fxe'
: hour every morning he was admitted int
$ the room of his beneiactress, with tn
t lapdog and the parrot, both brought lik
!, himself, with no little difficulty, acros
t the frontier in those trying moment
f when the Queen had to surrender every
thing but what was absolutely indis
4 pensahle to her comfort. He was of us
S to Her Majesty in a thousand ways hi
e wit entertained her, and her favorit
e mornings amusement was to see hiI
make sport of the old ministers who ha
# contributed to her downfall, or of tn
e new ones who were serving the Provi
e ional Government at Madrid Fl
r speeches la CASTELAR, were highly re
d ished and he somehow contrived to loo
II tall for the purpose of caricaturing th
gait and bearing of Figueras. When th
r latter undertook his desperate Journey |
It Barcelona to quiet the Catalonian il
If transigentes, with Rogue Barcia in h
train, the dwarf made a great hit by a
d pearing before his mistress one day all j
1t red and carrying a puppet (made up
r, rude imitation of the Republican mini
Ii teri. of which he pulled the strings t
is symbolic the relations existing betwee
Figueras and his unwelcome associate
lie This representation was much applaude
,r and the news of it went the round
@ Paris in all circles in which the roy
W family was known. Poor King Amadeu
Id who had previously left the countr
at was, of course, not spread and the diva
er was particularly happy in satiric
Id touches on the solitude in which tt
st King lived, through the refusal of Il
n- native nobility to attend his court.
~ But he was a good deal more than
8 +; buffoon--he was trusted counselor al
w he was really one of the few wire-pulle
ne who shuffied puppet after puppet off
of scene at Madrid until the stage was |,
clear for the entry Of Alfonso. He b.
Id sound head, and the smallness of
el shoulders gave him exceptional opport
de mites of using it to advantage. He W
er employed in confidential missions, a
ot in this "a ma citv was iDvalua hle for
he was about the only person known to ha
he Queen who was allowed to enter Spai
he No one thought of suspecting him
I'M was only the dwarf; and, besides, he b
h capital excuse for his presence in
i'm country-he had come to look after
tn property" a patch of ground in
lar neighborhood of Aranj 1ez, bestowed
nd him in kind of freak of good nature
the Queen. He talked much about
got property, and of the penniless conditi
Dig in which he had been left bv the fall
ck, the dynasty and pretended ankle
sts to save his estate from confiscation ga
uff him an opportunity of seeing many
the men in power and of quietly SOU
of ing them as to their disposition towa
big the exiled house. But his chief bl
wn ness lay among leaders of the Alfonl
ing party, and he was the most faithful q
Y of the most intelligent GO between for tn
I'd, and for the cabal in Paris. He was
g a free from molestation from all parties
air, I the parrot could have been, and he
full, all that birds gift of accurately rept
leg ing whatever was 50 d in his heari
, of joined to an intelligence that was
the his own. His memory was wonderf