The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1883-12-15
A Story Of Chambord.

When wrote respecting the Count de-
Chambord end his doings, little thought
that Paris still contained an interesting
and curious relic of his puposed king
ship, or rather group of relics, in the
shape OF the royal carriages ordered for
the triumphal entry of the King into
Paris. Twelve of these vehicles were
ordered, but only six of them were fin
ished when the refusal of the Prince to
accept the tri-colored flag put an extin-
gnisher on the hopes of his adherents.
These six magnificent carriages have
ever since been stored away awaiting
the hour of the restoration of the mon
archy. The whole half dozen were exc
cuted in six weeks, so great was the
hurry of the Royalists, and so certain
was the advent of the King considered.
The largest and handsomest, that in
tended for Henry V. himself, is of great
size and magniticence. The four Ian
terms alone cost $1,000. 1t is lined
throughout with white satin, and the
arms of France are emblazoned on the
ceiling in the center of golden sun.
The seven large windows of plate-glass
render the interior almost as visible as is
that of an open carriage All the metal
work is in repousse silver, and the ham
meredith is fringed with gold The
panels are painted with fieur-de-lis on q
background, and are highly vanished.
Access is obtained to this truly royal
vehicle by series of four steps covered
with pate blue velvet worked with fleurs-
de-lis in Aold thread. The other car
riages are upholstered with pale blue
satin figured with fleurs-de-lis in the
same color. These six carriages cost
100000. They were ordered by the
Count de Damas, who still pays the
annual bill for their storage. They
were to have been paid for by COM
mittee of enthusiastic Legitimist noble
men; but on the final dispersion of all
hopes of restoration the Count de
Chambord very generously insisted on
settling the bill himself. / wonder
what ever became of the eight snow
white steeds that were to have drawn
the royal carriageP They were pur-
chased. and were being trained to as
sumo the housekeeping, solemn gait
appropriate to horses that have so Inn
portant mission to perform, when the
final catastrophe came that swept the
embryo royalty into the dust. re-
member hearing about the controversy
that took place between two highly
born Legitimists who were charged
with the purchase, respecting the color
of the animals. Eight perfectly
matched and very superb horses of a
pale-cream color, with silken, silvery
tails and names, were offered. Noble
man No. preferred the cream-colored
horses, while No. would hear of moth
ing but white ones. Finally, the dis
pute was settled by a third party.
GOOD heavens, gentlemen" he ex-
claimed, eff you select cream-colored
horses to draw the Kings carriage,
every street boy in Paris, on seeing it
approach, will lcry, Here comes the
the hippodromep and so the white
ones were chosen. Where are they
nowP Some years ago the carriage of
certain far Parisienne was pointed out
to me as being drawn by two
of these favored animals. Certainly l
never saw such beautiful white horses
in my life. They were white as snow,
without single hair or shading of an
other color in their perfectly-groomed
coats, their nostrils being tinged with
pale pink, and their full flowing names
and tails shining like floss silk If they
were not the chosen steeds of royalty
they certainly looked it.-Cor. SprtqsG.
field (Mass.) Republican.