News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-02-13

truth, were tame enough, but which
| his hatterers foand=yefy why n
60 90 oruent he saw just then
Louis XVI. take from sugar basin
two delicately broken Jumps of sugar
and sweeten his coffee with them. As
the king took mouthful OF the coffee
the ministerial friend of the people
approached and asked respectfully:
"How does your majesty find the
coffee this EVENING""
LAS usual, excellent"
''The best mocha is always upon
your majesty's table; but does the
sugar sufficiently moderate the bitter
ness OF the coffeeP''
Louis XVI. was sensitive to mock
cry and and irony even to timidity;
therefore he said inquiringly:
"What do you mean by that"
Maurepas laughed. Your majesty,
permit me one question. How much,
sire, do you think these two pieces of
sugar cost?" The king looked uneasy.
do you wish to test my mathemat-
ical abiity?" Maurepas continued to
laugh. ''Well. then, l will answer
your problem: Sugar costs the peo-
pie about so sous pound. If reckon
eighty pieces to the pound it makes a
sou for each piece; but since to me as
king everything is quadrupled, / have
this evening consumed 8 sous worth
of sugar"
This sugar is the gift of one of
your subjects, who. counts himself
happy that it is considered worthy of
a place on your majesty's table; there
fore it costs you nothing, sire, but the
giver values every piece at a full
Louis dor"
"You are beside yourself M. de
Maurepas. Eighty Louis d. or for
pound OF sugarl At that rate should
be compelled to sell Rambouillet to
supply my brother with sugar for
year, for you know he takes handful
to every cup. But explain to me your
Jest"
I'm a moment your majesty" And
he took the sugar basin and emptied
the contents upon the marble table
and counted the pieces. "Forty-three,
with the ones used forty-fve. worth
1,080 francs; but look, your majesty,
what dazzling whiteness and how light
1t is and how sweet, without any bitter
after-t ste."
Come, now" said Louis. interrupt
ing his babble, 'is sugar ever bitterP"
"And your majesty will never guess
from what this sugar is made"
The king was not without some
knowledge of chemistry, therefore he
answered hesitatingiy:
Naturally from the sugarcane."
pardon me, your majesty, it is
beet-root sugar"
'Beet-root! What is beet-root?"
The duchess of Chartreuse, who was
drew near and said: "Beets,
sire. are little red leaves, of which my
make salad"
NJ. de Maurepas cut off her explana-
ton with malicious laugh. "Beets
are edible roots, which people as well
as cattle find palatable, and now they
have been found to yield sugar"
Respect kept the brilliant company
out OF hearing distance. and they
eagerly the strange proceed
ings. All this examining, weighing,
and counting of the sugar tossed up
the court gossip among them like a
bright soap-bubble. Who first whis-
pered it: THE king has been poisoned
by cup of coffee?"
Heaven forbid And we have
drunk the same coffee %
gar"
Some one go tell the queen ~
So whispered, murmured, and chat
tered the excluded circle.
Marie Antoinette sat with the
duchess of Polignac, her tende rly low
ed friend, at cards.
What ais you. Agatha?" asked she
kindly, as the favorite sighed.
a. D4ls
roguish brown head and said, saucily,
Three millions, my adored queenr'
Sigh not, my angel; l will beg
Louis to grant them to you. We owe
it to the great families"
The designing princess lifted the
queens lace sleeve to her red lips,
whispered gratefully, "Oh. that l
might be permitted to die for my be-
loved queenm
Live for me, you dear child, and,
my word for it. / will provide the s.
600. 900, for which you will be willing
to live"
At this moment a courtier approach
ed and broke to them the dreadful It'd
ings:
"His majesty has been poisoned by
M. de Maurepas with sugar"
A moment later the queen, white to
the very lips, stood beside her hus-
band.
''For heavens sake. Louisl" cried
she in her distress, unmindful of all
ceremony.
What is the matter, my queenP"
asked Louis in the gentle way which
he had never abandoned toward his
beloved wife. "What brought you to
mep You are very pale" He seized
a glass OF water. poured some of the
newly discovered sugar in it, and hand
ed her the glass"
"Drink. 1t is too warm In the
saloon and the company is too excit-
ing. This sugar water will refresh
you"
The queen cast a penetrating glance
at Maurepas, who now fully under
stood what he had only half heard.
With a quick movement he took the
glass from the kings hand and drain
ed it at draught
Red with anger the king demanded
an explanation OF this insolence, but
Marie Antoinette offered the minister
her hand and WAS about to explain TO
the king when suddenly the broad
leaves OF the great door flew open and
the palace guard led in man quite up
to the feet of the king. The terrified
appearance of the prisoner, his coarse
coat, the brown waist-coat and panta-
looms, the broad, clumsy shoes with
leaden buckles, contrasted strangely
with the gay silken attire. the gilded
hangings, the laces and diamonds of
the surroundings.
What does this mean?" asked the
king astonished.
Permit me, your majesty. TO bring
this man before you, who understands
how to make sugar out of vegetables
Dumoret is trying to ruin our colonies
and make them useless to us. This is
the discoverer of beet sugar
"Discoverer? No, that honor does
not belong to me-" exclaimed the
Chemist Dumonet at was a learned
Maj Serre, who. during the regency,
deceived by the beautiful red color the
beet gives out in cooking, fancied ne
could make red wine out of it. Instead
of the desired wine he found the bot
tom Of his rctort covered with fine