The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-27
DOM PEDRo's GREAT LOSS.
His Marriage and How Successful It
Was.

] was
! "Dom Pedro is more to be pitied than
would be his wife had she survived him"
says the Paris correspondent cf the London
| Truth, who explains that by this is not
meant that her attachment was less for
| him than his as for her, bu5 old ladies are
more elastic than old gentlemen, and have
more courage in bearing the inevitable.
| This Is especially true when the early life
| has been good one. This is q reason why
| think it such libel on grandmothers to
call grandfathers of feeble will old
women Theresa Maria, Empress of Brazil,
developed splendid qualities as ears sped on
| with her. n brilliant woman she never was,
| either IN appearance, CT mind, or tongue.
'She was, to begin with, Of a singularly
short stature, with very long face and
| body. The contour of her face was of a
wedge form, and the complexion IF dingy
! blonde, when sue was young, with strong
features and nose that reminded one of
| those on the roughly modelled clay figures
| which are the rudlmentS Of classic i statues.
| There WAS an utter absence of chiSellug In
/ the nOsrilS. AS the empress aged, she
acquired physiognomy which told story
| of good intentions preserved in and applied,
| and of the habitual exercise of the best
affections With strangers the eye at first
was too suspicious to be agreeable. But
| this was not seen when she was in the
| company of those she liked and trusted.
| One then wondered whether wings we're not
| beginning to sprOut on her shoulder blades
| there was so much angelic GOODIES ex-
| pressed in her countena ice. White hair
| became her; but she did not think that it
| did, and her dresser rubbed a darkening
| pigment over it whenever re had to mold
reception or to 60 to some gra d party.
| The fashion of dressing her hair never
| changed. 1t was when | last saw her what
| 1t was when she was married-n a twist
| behind, and with those side bands which
| one sees in Winterhalters portrait Of Gu en-
| Victoria, and in Richmond's one of Char
| lOtte BrJnte. Theresa Maria was the half
sister Of the Conte de Chamboards mother,
| and the whole sister of the late Queen Chris
| tina, of Mary Anne, Grand Duchess of Tus-
cany, and of Maria Philoberta, Princess of
| Savoy Carignan. II was not her fault if
| she was also a sister of BOmba. She was
born during a violent shock of earthquake.
| Her mother was rather funny person, and
| so neglected the education of her daughters
that they only learned how to read when
they We're old enough to take themselves in
| hand. They were pretty much their own
| Inlstresses SO long as their father lived, but
| those OF them VINO were rot married were
held in with tight hand by Ferdinand IL.
Dona Theresa Maria was the youngest.
| The match betH cen her and the Emperor
/
| Phileberta's husband when he visited South
| America more than fifty years ago But as
| Dom Pedro was too young to take "a wife
| the engagement lasted five years. Theresa
| Maria was three years his senior He was
appalled, at her plainness when he went on
board the vessel which brought her to Rio.
1t was Neapolitan warship, of which the
| Duke of Aquila was captain. At first it was
| feared that the marriage would not turn out
| a happy one. But the empress had great
| subtlety of disposition, and gradually made
| a conquest of her husband. Size encouraged
his taste for the company of savants, gave n
wide berth to native-born or foreign beau
ties, and all her ladies were as ugly as sin.
This domestic policy succeeded.
| 'Three years after the marriage a crown
| princess was born. The empress did not
enter into the intellectual pursuits of her
| hus and, but shared in his philanthropic
| undertakings. She admired and revered
| him, but trembled at what appeared to her
| the irreligious tendency of his reforms. He
did not see to what degree her mind was
| STEPPED in the ultra-clerical notions of the
court of Naples, and left the two daughters
entirely to her guidance. She guided them
in what she thought to be the path I true
| religion, and, while the emperor was busy
| with science and savants, clerical party
| grew up at court, which placed its hopes in
the crown princess, and to secure to her
| great name in history, prompted her to
| hasten forward, by acts of personal au-
| thOrity, the abolition Of slavery. In token
of his approval, the pope sent her the golden
rose.
| "DOna Theresa was very much the COM
| pani0n of the emperor when he was not
| busy with subjects she did not understand.
and from a fear of shaking her orthodoxy
was afraid to study. Her attachment to
him was unreserved and faithful AS am
| olvg, i-o.. ,fX he i
not mean to belittle her in 50 ying that she
| went about with him as dog goes with its
master, looking up to him, watching those
| who approached him to be sure they were
| not disguised OF possible enemies, thinking
of his health, and mentally praying and
| making VOWS for his benefit She was a
firm believer in pious pilgrimageS, no.
| venas, and acts of faith, and of
vicarious modification. An extra )rdinary
act of penance, which lasted five years, was
! to wear an lll-fitting disfiuring, and horri-
/ bly, uncomfortable set Of front teeth, which
| shook every time she spoke. While she wore
| them her talk was a nGrDlottdge. Only
| those used to it could make out what she
mumbed. Naturally she had strong, over
i bearing temper, like her sister Christina her
brother Ferdinand, and her grandmother,
| Queen Caroline, the friend of Lady Hamil-
| ton. But she subdued IL, and became the
/ most forbearing of mOrtals. One of her
ladies, vino was with her from her marriage,
insisted on following her to Europe, and
| died the other day at the age of 81 at
Lisbon.
1.-The crown princess inherits the Caro-
| linian character, and is strikingly like
Caroline, but free from her vices. / can OF
think how the emperor can live without the
faithful friend which he had ever found in
his wife, and do not wonder at his having
swooned on seeing her corpse. He bore the
loss of the empire with noble calm, but his
misery must tie now as mind-shaking as
that of King Lear, the crown princess being
! alel to him in ideas, and thinking that, if
she and her children are exiles, tae fault is
in the liberal fads of Ter father. He suffers
from a disease which saps the Intellect and
makes the temper querulous.
with what cortege of sorrows he de-
| sends tombwardI | can hardly realize
what a bitter chalice he is obliged to
| drink. first saw him in 1873; tall, strong,
! bearing the highest honors with quiet
! dignity, free from self-consciousness, but in
/ the enjoyment Of great moral conscious
ness. He conveyed the idea of splendid
growth in all directions, and of one who
! had no more fused about how he had to
! grow than giant tree. He was kind as he
! could be. The empress was absorbed in her
| Bourbon relatives, while he wasl gong
/ about the room, where | saw Them both
/ talking TO those he recognized or