Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-26
ADAY In VERSAILLES
Scenes at a Grand Fete Given in
Honor of President Carn0t.
A PAGEANT OF GREAT SPLENDOR
In the Historic Groves Once Owned by
French Kings Witnessed by
A COACHING PARTY OF AMERICANS


PARIS, May 14.-Last Sunday the old
fete in commemoration of the visit of the
President of the Republic, his Cabinet, any
number of distinguished personages and
more than 10000 individuals from Paris,
including untold numbers of foreign visit
ors. Ever so many mail coaches and pri-
vate carriages made the trip to the palace
town that Louis XIV. created. Our turn
out was fine one, spanking team of four
grays, wearing harness spick and span, and
an extra set of silver-tipped crossbars hang
ing at the hind end of the coach. And you
should have seen those who rode on it: Mr..
and Mrs. M. II. DeYoung and Miss Dean,
of San Francisco; the two Misses Libbys,
of Chicago. beautiful girls, rich and good;
Mrs. Cecile Wentworth, an American
painter of much talent, who exhibits annu-
ally at the Salon; Mrs. Seymour. wealthy
widow from New York, charming in her
ways and handsome; Mr.. German, Presi-
dent of the new bank which New York and
Chicago capitalists have just started here in
Paris, and three other gentlemen.
We bowled merrily up the Champs Ely
sees, through the Bois de BouIogne, and
over the bridge at St. Cloud. Going up the
hill of the old town I saw famous lady
just descending from her carriage at cor
ner villa, and my cry of "Vive pAdiny p
was echoed loudly by my friends when they
learned that she was not only compatriot,
but the leading prima donna of the grand
opera. Mr.. de Young, who held the horn,
footed Adiny few of his best notes, and
she, all radiant, sang back, "Vive PAmer-
ique!" with her purest tones.
A GLIMPSE OF THE OLD FLAG.
Further up the hill we met Mr.. VanBer-
gen in an open carriage with his son, carry
ing the Star Spangled Banner. VanBergen
is one of the Oldest and best liked members
of the colony in Paris, and he was coming
from his country residence at Montretout
with the flag for his house in the Champs
Elysee.
We were on the road at least two hours
ahead of the Presidential party, but already
there were plentyof vehicles going toward
Versailles. There were also regiments of
troops marching thitherward, and it was
pleasant to see them give way for us that
we might proceed swiftly, as all good mail
coaches should. We got finally into the
Avenue de Paris, and many were the rem
iniscences that that thoroughfare called up
to those of us posted in French history.
Here, more than 100 years ago, lived GER
tain Countess who had royal favors be-
slowed upon her: there was the house, with
its italian balustrade, that Bontemps, head
valet de chambre to Louis XIV. built after
he had retired from domestic service. And
it was from that house that Mehemet-Riaz
Bey, the bogus Persian ambassador whom
Nine. de Mantenon invented to distract her
royal lover, started to the courtly reception
given him by King and courtiers.
PICTURESQUE SCENES.
The nearer we got to the old town the
more numerous were the historical mansions;
those of the Princes of Cont and of Conde,
of the Duchesse d 'Angouleme, ,and the house
in which Nine. de Genlis wrote new edi-
tion of her "Annates de la Vertu." At
Versailles there were flags and decorations
everywhere. The people of the town were
in the streets, doors and windows teemed
with human beings, and there was life and
animation. Versailles had completely lost
the cold and solemn aspect so habitual to it.
The streets were crowded with mail coaches
and carriages, and every incoming train
from the capital brought more spectators.
The magistrates of the place were in their
official robes, and so were the town authori-
ties, the members of the university and the
leading citizens, all awaiting the arrival of
President Carnot.
Our whip knew his way 10 the Hotel de
Reservoir, and so we missed going through
the immense triangle of the Place d. Armes.
There were thousands of soldiers resting at
ease in that part of town. Guns were stacked,
cavalry horses were without riders, and the
army Of Versailles was taking things easily
along the sloping greensward, under the
shade of the four rows of magnificent old
trees.
The park of Versailles may not now be as
beautiful as it was in the days of the ''le
Roi Soliel," but it is still veritable
Olympus, or rather an Elysian Field, where
it gods do not wander, human beings may.
We left the park for while, and walked to
the grand Trianon. The richly gilded and
oddly furnished rooms were crowded with
sightseers, SO we hurried through, with
hardly glance at the royal bed which was
once made up for Queen Victoria, though
she never slept in it, and out of doors again,
around the bend in the road to the stable
house where State carriages are under
cover.
CHARIoTs OF FRENCH KINGS.
You should see the splendid chariots
which emperors and kings used to ride in,
in those other DAYS. The one that carried
Napoleon ]. and Josephine to their corona
ton is valued at 100000 francs, and weighs
know not how many thousands of pounds.
1t took eight stout horses to draw it through
the streets of Paris. and it is wonderfully
beautiful. There are half dozen others in
the same room, including one the young
Prince Imperial rode in when he went from
II I. L i
It is richly made, but not much larger than
the army ambulance which brought his dead
body back from the rushes in Zululand
Barnum has tried frequently to buy one or
two of these chariots, but the State has al
ways refused to part with them.
Itwas time to retrace our steps to the park
again if we would see the waters in full
play; and as we roamed along my mind
was full of old memories of the time when
these buildings. these stones, these trees,
were witnesses of stirring scenes in French
history. The shaded walks, the marble
statues, the fountains, the .orangery, and
the grassy swards, all have an indescribable
charm in which the past is inextricably
interviewer with the present, now in gay
and bright colors, and now somber-like and
dark with the flow of blood.
A MONARCH OF RENowN.
The dominant thought at Versailles is the
presence everywhere of Louis XIV, and
after him Marie Antoinette stands out the
boldest The King was an absolute prince
before whom even proud Venice humbled
herself and Kingdoms asked of him a
sovereign. He was the very apotheosis of
despotic monarchs, and on the day of his
death the grand old chateau that he built
took on the appearance of tomb, and its
days of pride, pomp and circumstance were
over until the coming of the Austrian.
Louis XIV. tried to change the somber tone
and failed; and it was not until the reign of
the shepherdess of the Trianon that park