Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1889-05-04
THE MAREcHAL NEIL ROSE.
How this Lovely Flower Came by its
Name---An Interesting Story.
Fruit Growers Journal.

lOVelleSl TOStS VI lto hlHu ,tIlc uOloStlSi
and in its name and origin there is
one of the hitherto unwritten ro-
mances of the court of France in the
Second Empire. In 1869, when the
French army was sent to help King
Victor Emanuel drive the Austrians
out of Italy, the Third Army Corps
was commanded by General Neil.
This officer, as his name implies,
came of one Of those noble Irish
families who emigrated to France
after the battle of the Boyne in 1900
as did the McMahOns, the Fitz
Jalneses and 9th ers, who are now
Irish in nothing but their names.
General Neil had commanded and
fought his corps with such eminent
ability and distinguished courage
that when peace was made, with his
countryman and friend Mcmahon, he
was created a marechal of France. 1t
was we'll nigh autumn before General
Neil was able to return to France.
He had been terribly wounded, and
had suffered besides from the dread
full fever of the Italian marshes. For
months he was between life and
death, with only his surgeon, who
was his constant companion, and a
soldier servant who proved an adj
mirable nurse in his illness and con-
valescence.
One daya peasant woman brought
him whole basket of wild roses
from the Campagna region, says
Leslie's Popular Monthly. General
Neil had always been extremely
fond of roses, and most of these were
new to him and thus served to amuse
him until they were withered. He
observed, however, that one particular
shoot had not faded and died like
the others, but had grown into a
beautiful green plant of perhaps ten
inches in length. When he looked
to see why this one had grown and
the others faded, he found that bit
of the root had been put away with
the flower, which was of whitish
yellow hue. Scarcely knowing why,
Neil determined to keep the shoot so
curiously preserved. When he re-
turned to Paris he placed the young
shoot. with an expert fioriculturist,
and the next spring it bore four of
the loveliest buds in the world, of a
pale lemon tinge. AT that time
General Neil was sent for to receive
the highest military rank then known
in France, the grand cross of the
Legion of Honor and his commission
as Marshal of France, in presence OF
three emperors and all the kings in
Europe worth naming. After the
solemn ceremony was ended, and he
wore for the first time on that day
the grand cross of the Legion OF
Honor, he went to the reception OF
the Empress and presented to her a
curious yellowish rose of perfect form
and perfume, but different from any
she had ever seen, and told her its
story.
"And so you have proved the
truth of what the old able used tC
say in his dreadfully tedious sermons
at Pau about casting his bread or
the waters" said the Empress (who
like Queen Elizabeth of blessed
memory slowed fine many to the
handsomcst and most daring, as wei
as one of the ablest of the marshal'
of the second empire. "Dear me, hi
was tedious, that good abbe," con
tinued her majesty, with the softest
look of retrospection in her lovely
dark eyes, snow, Monsieur II
Marechal," said she vivaciously,
shall christen this rose for you"
"Do So" said the Franco Irisl
soldier, bowling very low, but flash
ing at her glance Of profound ad
miration so warm that it deepeneC
her color little as they stood alone
for though the great salon of tn,
palace was crowded, no one dared t
interrupt the tete-a-tete, which sh,
herself had allowed, between TIL
empress and the handsomest genera
of his day.
Lightly putting the rose to he
lips, she said: 1T is named thu
Marechal Neil, for the soldier san
pur ct sans reproche, as gallant il
the salon as he is on the battlefield
This gracious speech went straigh
to the great soldiers Irish heart.
"You will wear it tonight, you
majesty, will you not, and afterward
give it to me to keep, this happ.