The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-11-24
A ROMANCE OF ROY Atty.
An Emperor Who Preferred the Mad
Cap Sister to His Stately Fiancee.
From the Cornhiu Magazine.

From the Cornhiu Magazine
Caroline, the eldest and perhaps the most
beautiful of the daughters of the Duke Max
imilian in Bavaria. was. while still child
selected as a fitting bride for the heir to
the Austrian crown, and although there
was no formal betrothal, her father was in
formed that she must be educated in such
way as would fit her for her future grand
eur. This was more easily said than done,
for money was scarce in the ducal palace;
but the whole family, from the duke him
self to this youngest child, seem to have
thrown themselves con Gmore into the work
and to have cheerfully econo nized for the
sake of the fortunate Caroline. She had
professors and teachers of the best, and she
well repaid all the care that was lavished
upon her, for at nineteen, clever, accom-
plished, and regally beautiful, she was the
very ideal of what queen should be.
When the time for the marriage drew
near the young Emperor Joseph came on
visit to the duke in Bavaria (the family
title is Gin" not "of9, that he might make
the acquaintance of his future wife. He
gazed at the stately young creature who
had been SO carefully trained for him with
respectful admiration, but he fell violently
in love with her madcsp younger sister,
Elizabeth, who. regarded in the family as
mere child, and one, too, for whom n. high
destiny was in store, had been allowed to
pass her days on horseback securing the
country side. Minister'S and courtiers stood
aghast, but argument and persuasion were
alike wasted on the emperor, who refused
to see that lack Of accomplishments was
biemish in the one whom he loved, and
few months later Elizabeth, though child
that she was, knowing no more of the Ell
quette of courts than the veriest little
gamin, entered Vienna in state as Empress
of Austria and Queen of Hungary.
Although this happened moro than thirty
years ago, she had not yet learned to submit
with patience to the restraints that hedge
in the lives of soverigns, and the Viennese,
in spite OF their love for their beautiful en-
press, openly mourn that the Emperor
should have chosen one who regards court
ball as penance and state ceremony as a
thing scarcely to be lived through. From
the day of her marriage it seems TO have
been her constant endeavor to shake off the
letters of her station, and perhaps e hap
piest hours of her life are those in which,
while following the hounds in England OF
hunting the chamois i'll ner native land she
is able to forget that she is empress-queen.
For her age, the Empress Elizabeth Is the
youngest looking woman in Europe. When
one sees her slight, graceful form, eyes
brilliant.with life and vigor, and complexion
that fiushes and pales with every passing
emotion, it seems absurd that she should be
the grandmother of big boys and girls.
Caroline, the forsaken one, seems to have
met her fate with true royal equanimity.
Perhaps she thought that as her sister gained
what she lost, it did not really matter If
one may judge by her face, her life has not
been a happy one. When she was about
"a, she was married to the prince of Thurm
and Taxis, who died some nine years later.