Morning journal and courier., 1884-11-20
Caroline Bauer's Story.

About forty years have passed since Caro- line Bauer tat the age of thirty seven aban- doned her career as an actress, yet her name is still familiar to all who know anything of the history of the German stage In the rep resentation of comedy she achieved the high est distinction, and in tragic parts, according to the testimony of her contemporaries, she was hardly less eminent. Much interest was therefore excited in Germany by her "Aus mienem Buhnenleben" and her ''Komo- diantenfahrten, the former of which was published in 1871, the latter in 1875. Tbe present work [''Posthumous Memoris"l is of an altogether different character. She seems to have written it mainly for the purpose of denouncing two men by whom she believed herself to have been cruelty wronged-Prince Leopold, afterward King of the Belgians, and his friend and constant companion, the we'll known Baron Stockmar, her cousin. In 1894 she accepted an engagement at the Konlg- stadt theater, in Berlin from which she was soon afterward transferred to the Court theater in the same city. Here she speedily advanced to the front rank in her profession, and she was looking forward to many bril- liant triumph when, in 1898, she was unfor- tunate enough to attract the attention Of Prince Leopold. Struck by her resemblance
 
 much beloved wife, he sent his chamberlain one evening to Caroline and her mother to ask whether he might call upon them next dav In the theater he had looked well ''in the scarlet full-dress uniform of an English officer" but when he stood before the young actress in her own house his appearance was less impressive.
 ''He wore an unusually long surtout of black cloth, tightly buttoned from top to bottom His short, black hair, glossy with pomatum, seen by daylight, turned out to be a very ingenuously made wig. Add to this his pale, languid complexion, his weary, weary expression, his stopping, relaxed gait his slow, deliberate, subdued way of speak ing-all this reminded one more of pedan- tic, recluse professor and old bachelor of up- ward of fifty than of a gay prince of eight and-thirty. Only his finely shaped mouth, large, dark, melancholy eyes were exceed ingly interesting and attractive"
 To the astonishment of the two ladies Prince Leopold proposed almost immediately that Caroline should go with him into his 'Epolden solitude" and devote herself to him ''in true love and sweet, happy domesticity." :" No definite answer to this offer was returned during their first interview; but shortly af terward at Fullbach, near Coburg, in the presence of her mother and Baron Stockmar, Caroline agreed that ''the blissful love-knot" should be tied after the prince's return from Italy, where he was about to spend several months He soon ceased to write to her, and it seemed probable that he had changed his mind but about the end of April, 1899, she received a letter from Baron Stockmar in forming her that if she really felt able to renounce the stage" and if Cher heart har- bored the same feelings as her letters mani fested," she must 'Equit Berlin at the latest in few weeks" Accordingly, she and her mother started for London, where they found that house had been provided for them in the neighborhood of Regents Park. Then began a series of dismal experiences, all of which are described at great length and with intense bitterness. At that time the prince was a candidate for the throne of Greece-a fact which, according to the author, had not been clearly explained to her-and he was unwilling to form relation which would have to be broken off if he were made king. Again and again she protested vehemently to her cousin that she was being ill-used; but for many weeks Baron Stockmar only coun- seled her to have patience and to believe that all would ultimately come right. In the end, however, he demanded that justice should be done to her; and the result was that "a kind of marriage ceremony" was performed-a ceremony Ffso drearily desolate," she says, 'tthat my heart quakes even to-day, and the pen trembles in my hand when think of it.
 ''No clergyman placed his hand my head to invoke blessing, no bridal wreath adorned my locks Christian Stockmar had drawn up the marriage contract He, his brother Charles and another witness, whom I dare not name even to-day, signed the mar riage contract. In it I received the title of the Countess Montgomery, and modest an nual allowance was settled on me. My moth CT pressed me to her heart amid tears of joy"
 There was not much occasion for the moth CTS ''tears of joJ," for long before this called marriage her daughter had recognized that she could not be happy with her strange lover. As she describes him, he was man of cold temperament, indolent, pedantlc and thoroughly selfish. If we may accept her account of their relations, he never made the faintest attempt to please or amuse her. and, although he was comparatively rich, he 1n- sisted that she should be rigidly economical. A difficulty about money was, indeed, the immediate cause of their separation One of her brothers, a young German officer, sud denly appeared before her ill the summer of 1880, and demanded sixteen thousand forins, declaring that if his request were not granted he would shoot himself. "Shoot yourself, then!' his mother "shrieked, quite beside herself D for he had often tried her patience by his extravaeance. His sister was less se- vere She asked Baron Stockmar to provide the required sum, and to deduct it from her invested capital;" and when he "became furious'' and accused the two women of plot ting ''to extort money" she applied to the prince from whom she expected kinder treatment. put He pTofeu oNou peGGler III his distrust than Stockmar,' and bluntly de- cIined to make sacrifices for her brothers benefit This was too much for her to bear. Her Outraged pride blazed out, she ''hurled reproaches at Prince Leopold and Christian Stockmar, J and, having let them know what she thought of them, she went away, never to see or to correspond with either of them again.
 It would, of course, be unjust to assume that the narrative of an angry woman, in which she records long conversations that cannot be literally accurate, set forth the whole truth about the matters to which it re- lates. The essential facts, however, are plain enough, and there can be no doubt that the story will seriously damage the reputa- tion of two men who have hitherto been rep resented as models of prudence and good ness Fortunately, the lady's grievances did uot break her heart Soon after leaving London she returned to the stage, and she did not quit it until 1844, when she married a Polish count, whose promises seem to have ,,-ox,a5 mt Iaur D1ia1aadino 4bo,1 +I,a,a of