Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-03-21
A BRAVE PRINCESS.
Elected an Honorary Member OF a
Fire Brigade.
Through Her Heroism Many Human
Lives Were Ssved-GuiIty of Many
TnsaneSPranks, Hut Stin
HOnOred.

Lives were successfully OF Many
saneSPranks, Hut Stil
HOnOred.
Princess Metternich was lately elected
an honorary member of the Imperial
Austrian fire brigade in recognition of
the presence of mind and remarkable
courage and personal bravery which she
recently displayed on the occasion OF
the great fire at Banja, in Hungary,
says the New York Recorder. 1t was
entirely owing to her efforts that the
loss of life was not greater than it really
was. She rescued three lives with her
own hands, two of which were those of
children, while the enthusiasm with
which she inspired the firemen, both by
word and example, stimulated them to
altogether extraordinary exertions.
Princess Metternich is, without excep-
ton, one of the most popular women in
Austria, and, indeed, in the whole of
Europe. The stories and anecdotes
which are told of her are innumerable,
and scarcely a day passes without some
new freak or eccentricity on her part
furnishing a theme for discussion both
to the aristocracy and to the people, by
whom she is equally beloved, and,
may add, respected.
No matter how insane her pranlzs,
they are never counted to her as mis-
conduct. Indeed, she seems to exist for
the special purpose of demonstrating
the fact that woman of high lineage,
fortune and rank can do anything short
of actual felony without losing either
caste or public consideration. Although
her love affairs have been Of the most
u. .s.1.
material not alone sufficient to I'LL one
page or even one chapter, but several
thick volumes Of the Chroniques Scan
daleuses OF the nineteenth century
her position in society and at court is
absolutely unimpaired, and there is no
more honored guest at the imperial Aus
trian court than Pauline Metternich.
Even the empress, always so strict
about the conduct of her encourage,
overlooks all her misdeeds, and when
some new instance of Nine. de Meter
nich's legerete is reported to her males
ty she only shrugs her shoulders and
says that lit has always been thus with
Pauline"
There is one thing about Princess
Metternich which has probably greatly
contributed to her immunity from any
kind of public reproach or reprobation.
1t is her sparkling wit and her absolute
freedom from even the slightest sus-
picion of vulgarity, no matter how low
she stopped in her eternal research for
new sensations and amusements. Even
in the widest of her doings-and they
have included her dancing can-can in
public at Mabille while ambassadress
at Paris, and an appearance in male
costume at the F1aker ball in Vienna,
and pronounced hirtations with all
kinds of men, ranking from prime min
listers to circus riders-she has always
remained grand dame to the tips of her
exquisitely shaped fingers.
She is the most curious mixture of a
gamin and great lady which it is pos
sible to conceive. There is nothing rep
rehensible in her originality, nor is
there anything calculated or premedi-
tated in the audacity of her ways Of
talking and acting. Her influence has
contributed to marked degree in the
liberation of French society from the
trammels of that bourgeois decorum in
augurated by the Orleans dynasty, and
to free the Austrian grand monde
from the burdensome chains of Wen
nese etiquette.
If Vienna and Paris are to-day noted
as the headquarters of pleasure and
gayety, it is due to Pauline Metternich,
who has contributed more than anyone
else to make these two charming cap
itals what they are. Princess Metternich
has, however, lately become rather more
quoted down, owing to the sad and
sudden death of her favorite daughter,
the young Couatess Waldstein, under
very mysterious circumstances. In
deed, the mystery concerning the young
countess death is attributed in Viennese
society to suicide.
1t is rumored that she took poison in
order to avoid the exposure of her in
timacy with her husbands land stew
ard, an exceedingly handsome young
nobleman and ex-cava1ry officer. Color
is lent to this rumor by the fact that
when her husband died few weeks
later he avoided any mention of either
the Prince or Princess Metternich in his
will, and that they abstained from at
tending his obsequies.
The young Countess Waldstein was
almost as clever an amateur actress as
her mother, who was without dispute
the prima donna of that gay troupe
of amateur historians who contributed
so much to the gayety of life at the
Tuileries.
European Emigration to Brazil.