The Red Cloud chief., 1888-04-06
EMPRESS
Tho Court Life Of the Third Nano,.o,..
Beautiful Wife.

utterly monotonous and wearisome
She rose at about ha.f-past nine, and
.ook the late breakfast replacing lunch
IN france. with the Emperor alone. a.
iaIf-past eleven. AT two her ladies
came. In Paris they slept ut their own
homes but in the country residences
they had their stated turns Of WAITING
and during that time lived at the pal
aces. Amongst her ladies. Of course
some We're more agreeable TO her than
o'hers; but she must accept the mex
orable urn of precedence. and could
not choose her companions. Day after
dav she drove out with the lady whose
privilege entitled her to a seat in the
imperial carriage; day after dav she
went to the Bots de Boulogne and
bowed necessarily To the crowd; dav
after day she returned Just in time to
dress for dinner; and then came the
weary evening. where nobod, had any
thing to say. or, if they had. dared to
say It. No n could sit down till she
gave the gracious permission: but this
She did invari ably in the case Of ladies.
Herready good-nature would have will
lnSly extended the privilege to the gem
ilemen in waiting. but this was con-
trary to rule. and must not he. So the
ladies sat in 4 circle and the gentlemen
stood ut ease" tired out before the
close Of the evening. When her Majesty
retired. scarcely had tine last fold of
her skirt passed the door before all the
weary attendants threw themselves on
the sofas. The presence Of Majesty
necessarily prevented all animated con
~versation; every one awaited the pleas
ure of the sovereignS. The Emperor
spoke very little. and in a soft. lanyuid
voice; the Empress. feeling that the
general chill would he unbearab,e if
she did not take the lead, chatted inces-
sanity with a sort of feveri>h vivacity.
Her Voice did not seem to belong to
that sweet face: il was the Spanish
Voice. cultural and harsh. She spoke
French with perfect ~flucncy. but with L
decided foreign accent.
the WEAKNESS of those evenings be-
came SD uncomfortable that all kinds of
experiments were tried TO vary their
monotonv. One night the Empress
suddenly took a fancy ;omake artificial
flowers. and a chamberlain was imme-
.iiatcly despatched. AT nine O'Clock in
the evening. 10 procure the Necessary
materials. Another time she. who pos
sessed the most beautiful specimens of
ceramic art that France could afford,
was seized with a violent desire for
.'potichomanic." and this again must
be satisfied Immediately. Reading
aloud WAS proposed. But what book
could be chosen for such an assembly,?
Some m proposed Jane Eyre. the we'll
known novel: the Empress was amused.
bu; the Emperor utterly wearied.
Then they tried Joscphus and the Wars
of the Jews. Here the Emperor was in-
tensely interested. but the Empress
yawned. and the attempt was given up.
The Emperor was iii general more
popular in the imperial household than
The EMPRESS; his languid gentleness
WAS III nobody. way. but the Empress
Mas often irritable and capricious. She
= certainly intelligent. but her edu-
cation had been neglected. and she
cared for no intellectual employment
or artistic occupation. She hated mu-
sic: she had no taste for the fine arts;
eve a welLwritten play At the Theater
Francois did not amuse her. She would
have liked the small theaters-any
thing. in short. thai could make her
laugh; but this undignitied kind Of
pleasure could not often be enjoyed.
Her life had been one of constant
amusement. the empty existence OF
watering-p!aces. and now she vas in
fact a prisoner. She gave state balls.
but they were filled with such Il motley
crowd that she could only dance the
opening quadrille and walk through the
rooms. Then she gave select private
balls. but the absence of the French
ari>tocracy obliged her to invite 4 large
proportion of wealthy foreigners-Rus-
slams. Wallachians. and also Ameri-
cans. These were unknown i'm French
society. and splcndor of dress seemed
the only means of being remarked. To
attain this end no eNtravagance seemed
too excessive. and the Empress was
blamed as having originated the love
of dress. which spread in all classes
and became a complete mania
So far rs she herself was concerned.
the accusation has been greatly exag-
gerated. She certainly liked dress.
and preferred fragile clouds of tullc
AMI @auze to the heavy bat durable
ma@niticence of valuable lace and bro
caded stu.f> worn by the Bourbon Prin-
cesses. But the light clouds in which.
the fa!r Empress appeared like an In
.iae OF >ylph were very expensive. and
could only be WON once. Everv one
wished to bs ike tie Empress. and at
ever bail filiuy dresses costing fabulous
prices we're torn 10 pieces. and had To be
replaced. Husbands -rumD.ed. and the
Empress Was accused IF rUiaing fami-
lies tx setting the example of -ytraya-
t,Jy EirGf.p ., Earrrrss