The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1886-08-27
IHF Bt3JrIFUL EsPHEss


The weather to day is wet and disma
It reminds me of the first day that I ever
set eyes on Paris. It was in the month
of May. 1854. This "reminiscences. and d
perusal Of an article by my brilliant
colleague. Brander Matthews. which 7
have just seen. have fmpaUed me to
write something about The Paris of over
thirty years ago. I was young girl
then. full of life and spirit and enjoying
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 IL the
/ United States had tipped over. and had
. poured its creme de Ia creme into Eu-
rope. 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 thirty years of age.
and was in all the bloom and briIliancy
Of her charms 7 saw her first in the
She was atuired 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 careless
ness 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 a vision of
the small, gracefully poised head, with
its wealth of golden chestnut hair the
long, slender throat the sloping shoul-
b ders, whittier than the gIistening pearls
that adorned them the soft blue eyes
and, above ali, the indescIibabIe and
unaCcOuntable melancholy of the expires
/ sion-a sadness not to be chased away
b. even by the frequent smiles that dis
closed her pearly, even teeth. 1t was an
expression like that which rests like a
: shadow on the handsome, intellectual
s features of Vandyck's portraits OF
- Charles Ia look prophetic, it is said,
: of coming misfortune and dreary doom.
a She was unpopular even then, despite
= her charms and her affability and when
G she went out to drive, few and far BE-.
b tween were the hats lifted in greeting tC
- heI, or the cries of 'Vive IImperatricel'
o that marked her progress. There was
To- then residing in Paris a gentleman from
}, Philadelphia. long since deceased, who
e cherished a chivalrOus and ardent admi
70 ration for the fair empress, and whenever
- he saw her carriage approaching he
q would rush into the middle of the street
O wave his hat in the air, and shout "VivC
IS lImpeIdtEjce :" with all the force of {
G pair of steutorian lungs. l do not think
that his honest, demOnstrative homage
s displeased in the least its imperial Obiec;
,- She used always to respond to his greet
g, ing by most gracious bow and one u
o. the sweetest smiles. Even then The
p Parisiaus had contrived to show her thai
they hated her, and that in their eye
she was "the Spanish woman, 80 the ahel
D. and the. iutruder-an heir TO all The uu-
o. popularity of the Austrian. Marie An
q tOine.te. She used to dress exquisuel
.a in those days, her toilets being of
+. sinp yet costly elegance, suited to be
.r youth and grace, and the poetic natur
.r of her beauty. I remember her at tn
10 races, dressed all in pale delicate lilac
n her silk dress having fringes of the sam
r. hue woven in its d0unces. She had nc
"a. yet invented criLoliue that was to com
~ few months later.-Lucy Hooper
.. Paris Letter