Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-08-29
AN EMPEROR'S VALET.
INCIDENTS OF NAPOLEON'S LIFE
TOLD BY HIS SERVANT.

Napoleon had a Belgian valet who for
hfteen years was in constant attendance
upon him, and who admired him to the
end of the chapter. This man wrote, or
protested to write, memoirs of his master,
six octave volumes of about 300 pages each.
which appeared in 1880. The work has
sunk into oblivion. While not lifting a
finger to dress himself, Napoleon dispensed
with assistance in undressing, but he flung
his garments all over the room-his watch
sometimes missing the table or bed at
which it was aimed and falling broken on
the floor. .
AS to dress, he despised dandies, never
wore rings and abominated scents, except
eau de Cologne, with which he was often
rubbed and which was his specific for
bruises. When coat tails became shorter
he stuck to the old fashion until Constant
got the tailor to shorten them by impcrcep-
tible gradations. He disliked tightly fitting
clothes, found a new hat uncomfortable
though lined with silk and wadding-and
stuck to m old hat as long as possible. He
put on every morning a clean white waist
coat, with knee breeches to match-he never
wore trousers; out as he h%abitually wiped
his pen on his breeches, after three or four
washings they were done with.
NAPoLEON's P~LAYFULNEss.
Constant denies, however, the common
story of his keeping snuff loose in his
waistcoat pocket; he always used a snuff
box, and though he frequently took a
pinch, he simply held it to his nose and
then dropped all or nearly all on the floor.
His snuff injured the carpet, not his waist
coat.
A pinch of snuff was not the sole kind Of
pinch in which Napoleon INDUCED. He
was addicted to playfully pinching peo-
pies ears, not merely the lobe as commonly
stated, but the whole ear, and sometimes
both ears at once. The better the humor
he was in the harder the grip. He also
administered friendly slaps on the cheek,
hard enough sometimes to cause the effect
OF a blush. AS to demonstrations of anger,
Constant never but once saw him strike.
An bridegroom had put ON the wrong
saddle, and Napoleon had no sooner mount
ed than the horse reared and threw him.
The head groom coming up at the moment,
the emperor give him a lash in the face
with his whip, but presently being told
that the poor man deeply felt the humilia-
ton, he sent for and soothed him, present.
ing him a few days afterward with 5000
francs. He was not a graceful equestrian,
and every horse he rode had to undergo a
special training, that it might not resent
lashes on the head and ears, fldgeting in
the saddle, or being pulled up sharp while
at full gallop.
HE WAS NO EP1CURE
Latterly he had always Arabian horses,
and it is pleasant to hear that his ~favorite
Styrie, after the Marengo campaign, passed
the rest of his life in case and luxury. He
did not care for the chase, but hunted just
enough to keep up royal traditions. Con-
slant denies that he was ever wounded by
wild boar, as asserted in the Memorial de
Ste. Helene. He did not shoulder his gun
well, and never fired without b%lackening
ing his arm, to which eau de Cologne had
to be applied.
Napoleon was no epicure. He usually
drank nothing but diluted Chambertin,
and was no judge Of wine. He liked plain
dishes boiled or roast chicken, mutton
chops, grilled neck of mutton, haricot
beans or lentils. His table manners were
not very refined. He would use his fingers
in lieu of fork or spoon, and would dip his
bread in the sauce, the dish being then
passed round the guests, who had to dis
pense with squeamishness.
The bread had to be particularly good.
AAo NV A"op, luloICu UIIC tflDIC Ill UWtlVo
minutes, leaving Josephine and the COM
pany to take their time. When he dined
alone he commonly took only eight or ten
minutes. Indigestion was the natural con-
sequence Of his speed, and he had some
times to stretch himself at full length on
the carpet till the pain abated. He de-
tested physic and professed to disbelieve in
it, a subject of playful discussion with his
doctors CnnStant no,yo,, Erau, Xiv, ,b1;ooJ
to keep his bed a whole day. He was very
sensitive to cold, and had fires and warm
beds nearly all the year..
WHY HE WENT TO ELBA ALONE.
How was it that Constant did not accom-
pany so kind a master to Elba? He was
blamed for it, but his version is this: He
had agreed to go, and Napoleon gave him
100000 francs, bidding him to bury the
money in his small farm near Fontaine-
bleau, That it might serve for his family.
A few days afterward Gen. Bertrand told
him the emperor had found his accounts
100000 francs short. Constant explained
what had passed, but Bertrand came back
with a message that the emperor had no
recollection of giving him a present. Con-
slant "thereupon went and dug up the
money, finding it after some difficulty and
In terror lest it should have been stolen.
Bertrand took the money, but Constant
was so chagrined at the emperor having
allowed Bertrand to think he had embez-
zled the sum that he sent word to the en-
peror that he should not accompany him.
Napoleon sent a message, wishing him
to go, and offering him 800, 600 francs, but
Constant was obstinate, though no sooner
had his master started than he repented
staying behind. Constant added that the
emperor was not offended, for on returning
from Elba, looking over the pension list
and seeing Constants name, he said he had
done well to remain in France, and he or
dered his pension to be increased. Con-
slant was not summoned to Paris during
the Hundred Days, and never saw Napoleon
agajn.
Whether we accept this version or not
it is a pitiful ending to fifteen years. con-
slant intercourse. 1t seems quite possible
that Napoleon, in the tumult of reflection =
on his fall, had forgotten the gift made to
an old servant, whose comparative poverty
tends to confirm his asseverations that he
never accepted brides. Constant died in
obscurity in 1S45.-Temple Bar.
An Old Fashioned Bridge.
A project is on foot for spanning the
Danube canal, in Vienna, with a bridge
lined with shops, after the model of the