The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-01-25
THE THREE FRIENDS.

The ancient chateau of Ecouen, stu
ated on the northern route that traverses
the still more time -honored town of St.
Denis, near Paris, was originally the
appanage of the illustrious house of
MontmOrency, but is now the school of
the Legion of Honor.
This institution was founded by Napo-
leon l., in favor of the daughters of
his bravest soldiers, of those men who,
in exchange for their blood shed for
their country, received the cross of
honor on their breast.
But the daughter of the humble COM
Blatant in the ranks was here treated
with the same honor and distiction as
the heiress of the batoned marshal of
France; and when the great emperor
visited Eeouen, and he visited it often,
he would bend with an equal respect
before each and all of these daughters
of brave men, of whom he delighted to
call himself the father, and would find
in his grateful heart and memory some
word or expression for each and all
that would cause their young hearts to
beat with happy pride, and their young
eyes to overflow with happy tears. To
one he would say: Your father was
with me at the passage of Saint Ber-
nard; be good as he was brave, my
child" And to another: Rejoice,
my daughter; your father received his
grade as colonel on the battlefield of
Wagram."
At the time at which this story opens,
among the pupils of the institution
were three young girls whose deep and
devoted attachment to each other
caused them to be held. up as patterns
to all their companions. The names of
these three girls were Marie, Clarissa,
and Hortense. Marie was the daughter
of a poor sub-lieutenant who had lost
his sight from a wound in the head
during the Rhenish campaigns; Claris-
sa was the daughter of one of those
generals whom the wars of the first en-
pire had enriched, and on whom Ma
poleOn bestowed principalities while
waiting for something better to bestow
on them; and Hortense, the third
friend, was of illustrious birth.
Years went by, and the attachment
of the three friends grew deeper and
stronger as they emerged from girlhood
into womanhood; but there came day
when their mutual affection was des-
tined to encounter trial, one of those
trials at the sole thought of which the
eyes rain down tears of sorrow. They
must separate! OF the three, but two
would remain. What would become of
her, the cherished companion, who was
about to depart? What would become
of those she was so sorrowfully leaving
behind? Adieu forever to all the sweet,
innocent pleasures of girlhood, to the
sweet delights of study, to the tender
caresses and counsels of their wise, gen
tie, and beloved directress, Madame
Campan, to the long hours passed to-
gether at eventide beneath the chestnut
trees of Ecouen, where the mind whis-
pered TO them of Paris, the great city,
and waited TO them the pungent per-
fumes of the woods of Chantillyl All!
what tears the three friends wept be-
meath the trees, behind the ivy-curtain-
ed walls, before the altar of the chapel
of the chateau of Eeouen! She who
was about TO depart was the blind SUBJ
ieutenant's child, Marie. Her mother
was dead, and she must go and devote
herself henceforth to her sole remain
ing parent.
"Let us promise each other" said
Clarissa, who was also shortly to leave
Ecouen, to make her debut in the most
brilliant society of the most brilliant
city in Europe, "let US make a VOW.
that, whatever may happen to us in
our future life, to meet all three again,
on this very day and date, at the gate
of the palace of the Tuileries."
eyes," exclaimed Hortense, al
promise, Clarisss; promise, Marie;
on this day, ten years hence, will be
at the gate of the Tuileries. VIII you
meet me there, Marie?"
"Ah, Hortense! can you doubt it I?
solemnly promise to meet you there,
you and Clarissa, whatever betide me
in the interTal.''
George" said Hortense to one of
the gardeners who was passing by, " be
witness to our vow. We, Hortense,
Clarlssa, and Marie, we here make a
VOW to meet again ten years hence, on
this same day and hour, at six in the
evening, at the gate of the palace of
the Tuileries."
And Marie quilted Ecouen.
Three months later, Clarissa likewise