Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-04-15
L MARRIAGE.
The Event 10 Come Oh in May
Princess Stephanie's We'd
ding Gift.
New YORK World Ylenna Letter.l

| N6M lUIk HOAAN VA aNNNSAA
Grown Prince Rudolph will hunt
the roebuck on Count SchonborR's
hunting grounds as soo as he returns
from his eastern journey in May.
After that, it is said, he will write a
journal containing all his impressions
de voyage, and will publish it, and,
like his two other books, present it to
a select circle. This does not look as
if the marriage was to take place that
month, and yet it has been generally
reported that everything is being pre-
pared for the wedding in May. | am
told that the Princess Stephanie, to
please her future mother-in. law, is
becoming a very good horsewoman,
and that she spends several hours a
day in the riding school. She is also
learning Bohemian and Hungarian,
and is therefore certainly not living
an idle life, for we must suppose that
she often writes to her intended.
When he was in Brussels the last
time the queen used to arrange must
cal entertainments for a very select
circle, during which she sang her
charming songs. The young couple
we're allowed to sit aside on a sofa and
we're not expected to take any notice
of the company if they chose to have a
chat to themselves. The princess of
Flanders has had a beautiful present
prepared for the young bride-a fan of
wrought gold, bearing a fine painting
by Dell Acqua, a rOcoco wedding, the
shepherd bridegroom esembliDgCrown
Prince Rudolph, the shepherdess,
Princess Stephanie.
/ have c a splendid piece of work
made by the fairy fingers of the lace
workers of Bohemia, which is to be a
wedding gift to Princess Stephanie.
In an enormous al5um-like box Of
embroidered green velvet, which
opens and displays tive equal sides,
lies a lace skirt front, a large collar
and a pair of broad cuffs. 1t is impos-
sible to describe the beauty of the
work. The tablier or skirt front is
meant for a dark velvet court-dress,
of course. 1t is of the old Venetian
lace, every inch OF which is the pro-
duce of needle and thread, without
the aid of any other implement. The
lace is a quarter Of an inch thick,
many parts of the splendid design be-
ing in relief. 1t is almost incredible,
and yet true, that six girls have COM
pleted this work in about a years
time. In summer they sit in front OF
their houses to catch all the light they
can, and in winter, when the days are
short, they have a large glass globe
full of water in front of a tallow can
die, and in the small patch of bright
light which the water prisms throw
out they do their delicate work.
Americans cannot possibly imagine
the dreadful poverty of the dis
tricts of the Erzgebirg, where these
girls live. Any other people would
starye there. There are about 10000
laco-making girls and women, with
families, who earn from five to ten
cents a day. They have no ground
to till, only little bits of garden, where
they grow a few potatoes. AT the
beginning of the century the mines
there were exhausted and given up.
No new industry has replaced the old,
and every year large numbers of these
fall a prey to typhus caused by ]
munger. The people are clean and as
cultivated as they can be in
condition of poverty. Great
efforts are being made for reviving the
old lace industry in the country, but
the government cannot or will not
grant the funds necessary for COM
mencing the industry on a large scale. .
The lace-makers have not the means
to emigrate. When | visited those :
parts last autumn, Twas told of an in
stance of the governments short :
sightedness in matters of public vel =
fare. One of the small villages in the
poorest districts had for about sixty
years sent numberless petitions to the :
government for a small church, divine
being held by a priest, in a barn, i
there being no other building suitable ;
for the purpose. At last the poor vii
received the promise ola church,
and very soon afterward an architect
arrived, with his plans and his work
and greatly surprised the vii :
by laying foundations for a very !
large building. The villagers eagerly
watched the growth of the work, until
the church was half built and a fine
belfry was beginning to show against
the sky. In the meantime they had J
made friends with the architect, and
when they asked him whether he knew
why such a very large church was
being built for about 100 parishioners, :
he shook his head and deemed it pru-
dent to inquire Of the authorities why
indeed 80 much was being expended
upon that poor Bohemian village. The
mystery was solved in no pleasing way
to the government. A large village in
had also petitionedfor a church,
and, as chance would have it, that
Syrian village bore the same name as
the Bohemian one; the plans had been
changed by mistake, and the village
with several thousand inhabitants has
now a very small church, only large
enough to hold 200 people, while our
Bohemian village glories in what
it calls its minister. This happened
only three years ago, and the churches
are there now to prove that my story
is a true one.
Tabler's Buckeye pile ointment is a
safe and effectual remedy for piles or
l.---l- J. Il i. L i