The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-09-10

aa
but common sense all humor but good
humor, They would 10 for fine moral
lesson against what is known as i.world-
{ liness. = 'a 81
| Early in the summer Of 1848 Madame
Bonapartc returned to America and took
| up her residence i'll Baltimore. The last
eighteen years of her life were spent in
retirement. She lived in a quiet board
ing-house. Her time was employed in
recall ling the brilliant events OF her Eu-
ropean career aud in obtaining safe in
vestments for the. savings of her large in
come. Her fortune amounted to 81 500,
600, which yielded her an income of
nearly 100000. per annum, out Of which
she spent something like 5000 a year.
80 In her old age she often said,
"Once had everything but money; now
have nothing but money"
Parsimonious to all others, she was llber-
al to her grandsons. .ig. d. She was
annoyed by the familiarity of Mrs. - :,
who remarked: MADAME, am very
glad to meet you. I hear yon were once
very beautiful. How old are you now?'
To which Madame Bonaparte CURLY re-
piled, Mine hundred and ninety years,
ninety nine, days, and nine minutes"
When negroes were admitted to Congress
she caustically remarked that Balloons
were in the senate and monkeys in the
House, which was carrying republican
principles out to their legitimate ends"
-. Her perfectly Unconditional nature
was one of the causes of her prolonged
existence. She was free from all those
corroding passions which consume human
life. Her beauty, in one form or another,
never torsook her. The fullness of figure
which generally disappears with advanc-
ing age she still retained, and the palms
OF her hands were as rosy as an infants.
Her forehead was still fair, and her dark
eyes never lost their brightness until
quenched by death. N ..s<.7f -s''7.-3
- To these observations on the published
book may properly be added a word con-
corning the Suppressed letters" copies
OF which appeared in the Tribune Of
August Is, 1879. They were left out of
the book at the request of some Of the
surviving members Of the family, but.
will doubtless be included in subsequent
editions, as they have now seen the light.
They are all!o the subject of the sons
marriage, and are a little more Indecent
ly violent than those not suppressed, Of
which mention is made above. 1t seems
certain that the expression on page PA of
the book, "One who had received moth
ing but unkindness from her **'
declared her to be the most lovely crea-
ture she had ever beheld,' must have
been scarcely yelled allusion to Mad
anne Bonapart's daughter:in-law, whom
she never torgave for being the cause of
her sons '''nesullionce."
The book unsconsciously incalculates
unmitigated contempt for the whole b.
napart family except "Madame Mere"
She seems to have been wise ana good.
and one is at a loss to account for the
issuing of so bad a growth from SO fine
stock, until he bethinks himself that
deluge of unearned millions might be ex-
pected to debauch almost any family on
earth. ~. b.:
The reader lays down the book with
feeling OF profound pity for the wasted
life, and regret that such an unlovely
picture of a woman, now dead and gone,
should ever have been allowed to see the
light. Self willed girl, lovely bride.
Princess after some sort, neither, deserted
wife, discarded supplient at Napoleon's
feet, witty, brilliant, dissipated fine lady,
hanging on at courts; undutltul daughter,
contemner of her father and her father
land, unwilling resident at home in her
old age, skint1int millionaire, sordld,
withered, dying, and at last dead, with
out loving triend, was there no one to
close her eyes, her tomb and her history
all for good, in kindly silence and fast
flowing Oblivion? And yet, perh :ps, the
publicity which is loss to the henor of
the dead is gain to the wisdom of the
living. The book has it's place in the
world and the times. Any American who,
after reading it, persists in worshiping
the golden calf as there displayed, must
have something very vealy in his (or herr
own nature or constitutions. @.1
('The Life and Letters of Madame Bo-
naparte." BY Eugene L. Didier. With
portrait from the studies by Gilbert
Stuart. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons. 1879. Price $1.50) J.K.