Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1886-09-04
THE BEAUTIFUL EMPRESS EUGENE.
4 Picture Of Her In All the Bloom and
BriIliancy OF Her Charms.

Brilliancy of Her Charms.
The weather to-day is wet and dismal.
II reminds me OF the first day that
ever set ewes ON Paris. Il was in the
month of May, 1854. This "reminiscences,
and perusal of an article by my bril-
liant colleague Brander Matthews, which
have just seen, have impelled me to
write something about the Paris of over
thirty years ago. was 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, wheh 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 30 years of age, and
was 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
a 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 a 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 b, the frequent smiles
that disclosed her pearly. even teeth. 1t
was an expression Ike 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 OF the cries of "Vive rImperatrice!"
that marked her progress. There was
then residing in Paris gentleman from
Philadelphia, long since deceased, who
cherished an ardent and chivalrous adj
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
Plmperatrice!n with all the force of q
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 to
his greeting by most gracious bow and
one of the sweetest smiles. Even then
the Parisians had contrived to show her
that they hated her, and that in their
eyes she was 1the Spanish woman" the
alien and the intruder-an heir to all the
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 her
youth and grace, and to the poetic ma
ture of her beauty. / remember her az
the races, dressed all in pale delicate
lilac, her silk dress having fringes of the
same hue woven in its founces. She
had not yet invented crinoline; that was
to come a few months later.-Lucy
Hooper's Paris Letter.