Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-05
AUsTRIA,s pAsHlNo EMPRESS.
"A Royal Horsewoman Who Is Fond of
Gathering Around the Circus Arena.

Gathering Around the Circus Arena.
The Empress of Austria was not bred
for the throne; il was her elder sister.
who expected to leave a dukcdom for
an empire. Indeed, the affair had
gone far enough for the papers to be
ready 10 sign. and the young Emperor
had come in person to the castle TO see
his bride. He was alone in the great
historical hall, when the madcap Prin-
cess Elizabeth, not knowing any one
was there, came into the room in a
short white frock and her lovely curls
reaching below her waist. She paused
abashed on the threshold. making an
enchanting picture, and burst into u
ripping laugh as she fed. He gave
chase, and an hour later was found
romping with her in the rose garden.
Ii is said that her sister in her rage
spanked her, but in a few months was
obliged to humble herself and address
the despised child as Your Imperial
Majesty"
At this time she was of that peculiar
freshness of beauty which always
makes n think of things good to Eat
childish, yet voluptuous, the type both
men and women feel drawn TO, wish
ing to touch, to kiss, to caIess. The
young monarch fell madly in love with
her and overpowered all reason and
counsel. Every influence was brought
to bear on him; her youth, her lack Of
education, the unfitness Of her TEN.
permanent for the throne-he thought
of nothing but her smile, her laugh her
lips. The sister was forgotten and he
conquered.
Viennese society is the most formal,
the most exclusive and aristocratic in
the world and refused to accept this
young hoyden as its queen.
She felt stifled with the formality Of
the court-this select herd which felt IT,
self SO above the rest of the world, vet
whose greatest amusement was vulgar
gossip. The court geography she
could eve learn and the chase for
scandal did not interest her. She pre-.
ferred n mad gallop on her ~fayorite
horse, with the wind in her teeth and
her hair flying behind her.
The infinite number Of gossipino
card parties forming the only diversion
of cight-barrelled Viennese society,
which prefers g%amingto dancing found
stories to circulate OF the shortcomings
of their sovereign's choice; as she was
both daring and indiscreet and Scorned
to conceal her mistakes. The Arch
Duchess, her husbands mother, tried
in every way to ruin her, but could not
succeed, for this wild girl was a good
girl and her only missteps were against
sham and sn~obbiShness and bars 10
freedom of speech and originality OF
character.
She retired into a very small circle
of intimate friends and mingled with
the court rs little as possible. She had
a very large forest park inclosed with
high walls. In this were bear-pits,
cages for ferocious animals. Rare birds
sung in the trees, and fine domestic
breeds grazed on the lawns. 1t is said
that she could subdue the most savag
beast with Il glance of her eye, and
would walk the grounds with a lion or
a tiger beside her, simply holding him
by the name. In the centre If the
park was a clearing with a race-course
and also a covered amphitheatre. A
court lady told me of hearing Her Ma
! jesty say many times how she would
have enjoyed the savage sports of the
Colosseum, the fights between wild
animals, the great hunts of beast and
men.
Here the Empress would ride for
hours, changing her horses, exhausted
from fatigue, then, becoming more and
more excited, would call her COM
panions to the circus, where, altering
their costumes for more appropriate
ones, a performance would take place
never witnessed by any one outside
this imperial stock company. The SER
wants were turned out of the building,
even out of the park, and the gates
doublebarred. Grand Dukes were the
grooms and clowns, and the Empress
of Austria the queen of the area. All
this is, of course, the barest hearsay.
For years it was kept so quiet that ven
many members Of the intimate court
circle did not dream of its existence,
and it is only during the last few years
that rumors of it have reached the
outer world-ilself long a thing Of the
past.
She could ride all day without ia
tiguc, sleep on the ground, refresh her.
self with a bit of black bread and a
dash of sour wine at a peasants hut,
and then climb mountains till her at
tenJanes were almost dead with
fatigue. / speak of her always in the
past time, for everything is changed
now; the grief over her domestic trag-
edy has left her much broken, she does
not care for society, and can desire no
diversion from her old pleasures; she is
nervOus and
She has been one of the most individ-
ual women in Europe, but as her great
est powers were her physical beauty
and endurance, the loss of them leaves
her most helpless and unhappy. In her
family life she has been a noble char.
acter, deeply wronged in many ways.