The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-08-17
TAe Agel Enprss, Ave,sta.

Lucy dOOper's Paris Letter: A
strange, weird figure is TINT of the
eldest of the three Expresses, tho
aged widow of William I. Sorrows
and bercavements have accumulated
on her head, but have not sufficcd to
bend her will or to qucnch her u.s.
founding vitality. Shepossesses what
was once given us IL recipe for u long
|'life-a hard heart ind a good digcs-
ton. "She will never diet" once said
of her an exaspcratc,l German shop
keeper ut the time of the demise of
her husband. "Slic loves to worry
people and to give trouble, and she
will keep OH living just to keep on
making herself disngrNablc." 1t is
said that she was once beautiful, with
n genuine royal beauty, tall, slender,
and graceful, with brilliant eyes and
finely formed shoulders, which she
delighted in displaying, covered with
jewels, under the low cut cor
sagcs of her state toilets. But
that in SO long ago probably no one
now living remembers the charms of
her prime. Her shoulders were her
latest point of vanity, and of late
years she wore false ones modelled in
wax, the juncturc with the throat
bcing concealed by IL collar necklace
in diamonds or pr,,rls. But for the
last twenty years she has been little
more than ~ living skeleton, kept
alive by medical appliances, and too
feeble to walk, IL fall that she once
had at Baden Bn,cn some years ago
have deprived her of her powers of
loromotion. Yet she has invariably
and intlexilly fulfilled her social
duties as Empress. Rolled in ~
wheeled chair to the entrance of the
thronc-room, her attendants would
afterwards place her on the throne the
days of grand ccrcmonials or the
evenings of grand balls. 1t was
plinful to sec this remnant of u
woman, installed in lerplacc of pride,
the weird, witllernl face and still,
shining eyes, emerging from IL mass
ofrostly stutls, and apparently con-
ccntrlting in them all the energy
and vitality of tho hidden figure. II
used to take hours to prepare her for
one of these bricfapImarlnccs, during
which her active participation w;ls
limited to the exchange of 1. few
scarce audible phrases with some
prominent guest or high dignity, after
which she would disappear like an
apln,rtion. For some years past she
has been too feeble to bow to the
passcIs-by during her daily drives,
so she caused her c;,rri;,gc-sri,t to I've
mounted on rockers in such Il way
that ~ touch from the foot of the
lady-in-wniting who sat opposite to
her would cause the aged Empress to
bend forward at the right moment.
She has always beef, above mll
things, the Qupn-tonsort. Never 1.
happy or loving wife, welded from
political necessity, and ruled with IL
rod of iron by that ,lcspotic martinez
her husband, she llus never been cs-
prcially devoted tn the two children
born of that lovclcss union. She
has taken delight in the exercise of
her sorial functions, first us Queen
and afterwards lis Empress. She is
also an Intelligent woman, and is
well vcrscd not only in German but
in French literature as we'll, always
taking care, with n certain degree of
Alteration, to exchange IL few, words
in public with the French AMBUSH
dor in his own language at the great
court cercmonials. She has always
been fond of dress, but us an actress
is fond finer costumes. taking great
interest in arraying herself to appear
i'll public to play her part as a SOW
ercign. This finil skeleton, wrapped
in an imperial mantle or sllroudcd in
laccs and cmbroi,lcrics and Jewels,
showed like the ghost ofsome van.
islc'l and ancient dynasty ut the
grand official entertainments. She
was the She Of Rider Huggard who
had survived. erlast passage through
the fire: