The Opelousas courier., 1885-12-12
ALORD'S AMERICAN WIFE
How Lady Randolph Church
i'll was Won.
The American wgpa2 who May Yet
Virtually Rule England.

The New York Sun gives some in
teresting facts about the wife Of Lord
Randolph Churchill, the young En-
glish conservative leader who has
come into prominence after the fall of
Gladstone. Says the Sun: A few years
ago Miss Jennie Jerome, the second
daughter of Mr.. Leonard Jerome, met
Lord Randolph Churchill at a dinner
in Paris. Attracted by her beauty
and the brilliancy of her conversation,
he soon confined his attention to her.
Those who sat near them stopped talk
ing and listened to them with undis-
guised admiration. Miss jerome was
noted for her conversational powers,
but they had never seemed 10 her
friends as brilliant as on this occasion.
Lord Randolph, however, proved a
match for her. Her satire was met
with sparkling repartee, and her wit
and humor for once found q fair ex-
change. When the ladies had with
drawn, Lord Randolph turned to q
friend and said enthusiastically:
"That's the brightest woman l ever
met" and added, with the seriousness
of a fatalist, land l mean to marry
her."
singularly enough, while he was
saying this, Miss jerome vas making
an almost identical. remark concerning
him to one of her sisters. Perhaps
that evening she played her %fayorite
Chopin nocturne more tenderly and
wooingly than ever; at all events,
Lord Randolph was not slow in dis
covering that he had made as. deep an
impression on her as she had on him.
Within a fortnight of their first meet
ing they were engaged, and very soon
Rfterward married. BY. this union
Lord Randolph secured a wife whose
aspiring and ambitious temperament
has spurred him on in his political ca
reer. and whose income is sufficient to
form a welcome addition to his small
annuity. Mr.. Jerome conveyed to his
daughter before her marriage the val
liable property upon which the Uni
yersity Club of this city stands. Lord
Randolph is younger son of the late
Duke of Marlborough. Between his
elder brother, the present Duke, and
himself therShas long existed feel
3ing Of hatred, to which rather than to
his enthusiasm for Liberal cause, the
Dukes opposition to Lord Randolph
is credited.
That this opposition inspired Lady
Randolph Churchill to take part in her
husbands canvass, has not surprised
| her host of friends here, who know
her to be as plucky rs. she is accom-
plished, and who remember that, while
she can play Chopin divinely, she is
also an intrepid follower of the hounds,
and usually in at the death. Indeed
her friends openly proclaim that a
large share of her husbands political
success should be credited to her, that
his rise into prominence dates from
the time when she began to coach him,
and that his brilliant guerilla tactics
are inspired by her. 1t is possible
that her friends exaggerate the part
she plays in her husbands political
affairs, and that his unpopularity here
leads her American friends TO underes-
innate his ability. Though he is nom
inally a Conservative, he is in some re-
speet more democratic in his ideas than
the average Liberal His views on
the Irish question show strong traces
of American influence, and his politi-
cal methods .often have q dash of
American pluck in them. His wife,
during their ~sojourn in Ireland, won
the hearts of-the people, and it is no
doubt to her that the modification in
Lord Randolph Of the traditional Con-
| sentative views on the Irish question
is due. lie is thoroughly progressive,
another American characteristic. In
these opinions and methods his Wife's
influence may be traced. She is his
menter, and should Lord Randolph
ever become Premier, her friends say
she would virtually rule England. It
is almost certain that she will. some
day be Duchess of Marlborough, for the
present Dukes son, the Marquis Of
Blanford, is a sickly lad, and there is
little doubt that some day the Dukes
title and possessions will go to Lord
Randolph.
7Ne Students Laughed.
! A writer in the Vossiche Zeitupg
gives IN anecdote Of the famous