Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1886-09-04
THE BEAUTIFUL EMPRESS EUGENE.
A Picture OF Her In All the Bloom and
Brilliancy OF Her Charms.


Brilliancy OF Her Charms.
The weather to-day is wet and dismal.
1t reminds me of the first day that l
ever set eyes on Paris. 1t was in the
month of May, 1854. This Renaissance,
and perusal of an article by my bril-
liant colleague Brander Matthews, which
l have just seen, have impelled me to
write something about the Paris of over
thirty years ago. / was a young girl
then, full of life and spirits, and enjoy
ing to the utmost the delights of trip
to Europe, then far more uncommon
thing than it is nowadays, and especially
this season, when it seems as if the
United States had tipped over and poured
its creme de La creme into Europe. Paris
was very different then, socially and
politically, from what it is at present.
The empire was in the first blaze of its
glory.
The Empress Eugene was then the
royal beauty par excellence of Europe.
She was not quite 80 years of age, and
wa in all the bloom and brilliancy of
her charms. / saw her first in the i'm
perial loge at the Coincide Franchise.
She was attired in pure white and wore
splendid necklace of immense pearls.
On the front of the box before her was
placed great bouquet of roses with
long stems, made up with seeming care
lessness and tied with ribbon. She
was very, very lovely, and her grace
was even more attractive than her
beauty. AS | write there rises before
me vision of the small, gracefully
poised head, with its wealth of golden
chestnut hair; the long, slender throat;
the sloping shoulders, whittier than the
glistening pearls that adorned them; the
soft blue eyes; and, above all, the indie
scribable and unaccountable melancholy
of the expression-a sadness not to be
chased away even by the frequent smiles
that disclosed her pearly, even teeth, 1t
was an expression like that which rests
like shadow on the handsome, intel
lectual features of Vandyck's portraits
of Charles Ia look prophetic, it is said,
of coming misfortune and of dreary
doom.
She was unpopular even then, despite
her charms and her affability; and when
she went out to drive few and far be-
tween were the hats lifted in greeting to
her or the cries of "Vive pImperatrice!"
that marked her progress. There was
then residing in Paris gentleman from
Philadelphia, long since deceased, who
cherished an ardent and chivalrous ad-
miration for the fair empress, and when
ever he saw her carriage approaching he
would rush into the middle of the street,
wave his hat in the air, and shout "Vive
PImperatrice" with all the force of a
pair of stentorian lungs. do not think
that his honest and demonstrative HON.
age displeased. in the least its imperial
object. She used always to respond tc
his greeting by most gracious bow and
one of the sweetest smiles. Even ther
the Parisians had contrived to show hel
that they hated her, and that in theil
eyes she was "the Spanish woman" thu
alien and the intruder-an heir to all thu
unpopularity of the Austrian Marie an
toinette. She used to dress exquisitily
in those days, her toilets being of ;
simple yet costly elegance, suited to hel
youth and grace, and to the poetic ma
ture of her beauty. l remember her a
the races, dressed all in pale delicat
lilac, her silk dress having fringes of tn
same hue woven in its tiounces. Sh
had not yetinvented crinoline; that wa
to come a few months later.-Luc,
Hooper's Paris Letter.