Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-03-10

make sugar ont Of vseeeabasa Denoess
| Is trying TO ruin our colonies and make
them useless to us, This Is the discovsfes
| of beet sugar.
..Discoverer. No. that honor does mot
| t.slcny TO me- exclaimed the Chemist
| puu,ouet. 1T WAS = learned ma or. Serre.
vino. during the regency. deceived By the
BEAUTIFUL red color the bees gives out in
cooking, fancied he could make red wine
out Of il. Instead Of the desired wine he
found the botrom Of his retort covered
| with fine sugar At that time France
was rich in colonies on the Mississippi.
therefore no one paid any heed to the dis
covery. Nor Was it fully developed l
learned abroad. in Prussia, new improve
ments. expended my small possessions to
tess it. and hope have succeeded
1T is not q poison. them cried Marie
Antoinetre, meanin.iy. The king for the
| first time understood what had preceded.
| and discovered also that the chemist was
bound At sign the bond was Gu, and the
| guard left the room without Dumonet-
| Meanwhile the queen bravely took
| piece Of sugar in her lovely mouth That
was the signal for the young courtiers to
| rush upon the before distrusted sugar,
wing with each other to exhibit their
| courage, their devotion. through this
harmless poison.
Gently, my ladies, my lords" cried
Maurepas; every little piece OF that
sugar cost golden louis."
| but the sugar 10 not one bit better
than our ordinary sugar. demonstrated
the queen, land it il only curiosity
leading to ruin
Dumonet dropped on one knee. Your
majesty is in . measure correct. Ex-
perimenting in q small way, at the same
expense as great trade, naturally makes
this sample excessively dear; but II your
majesty will advance me two millions
for the development Of larger facilities
for the manufacture, shall be able to
furnish pound Of sugar for ten sous in
stead Of four francs"
The king recoiled involuntxriy, and
Marie Antoinette grasped her famous
necklace, which had cost two millions, -
il the plain man before her had been .
robber Her disappearing glance gave
direction to the kings snswer.
"Dr. Dumonet, honor enterprise: &C.
cept this snuff box As . recognition Of 1t.
But two millions the state cannot posa-
bly, lend you. That 10 too much money
for the exhausted exchequer."
Dumonet received the gift respectful
". Sire, sooner or later my enterprise
will find the money"
The whole, shallow. subservient
swarms of courtierlings cried out An ex-
cited echo to the royal words:
Two millions for sugar! Two mill
ions! The man should be in . mad
house! How can any one be 90 shame
less? Just as il it were not all the same
whether one pays ten sous or four francs
for pound Of sugar. And il any can't
pay it let him take his food unswest.
ened. What has the government to %
with thaty'
And 80 Dumonet was dismissed. He
had only needed . million; the second
was the price demanded by the minister
for the introduction. This evening Mau-
repas composed the only good verse Of
his life, which. translated. runs Some
what thus:
Although his Life to swssssa
II all his royal care,
Two million francs for sugar
The king finds rather dear.
The Juror which his wit created at the
court consoled him somewhat for the
lost million, and was it not all the
same whether at his death there should
be deficit Of one paltry million more
or less? He left, in fact, . round ten mill
ions in debts. 1t was a noble sum; nine
would not have sounded so impressive
Dumonet migrated to Belgium, whore
he found more appreciation. and lived
safe and respected while the revolution
storm swept over his unhappy father
land. who laughs last" etc. .
"And my queen would have died With
meY' asked Louis, a. he accompanied her
to their chamber that night. She was %
beautiful. so dainty; In her wonderful
eyes beamed the reflection Of loving
tears. The next morning the king grant
ed $500, 600 out Of the state co6ers 70 the,
unfortunate" Duchess Of Polignao.-
Translated from the French for The 81.
Paul Globe.