Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-06-19
STORY OF A VIOLET.
THE ROMANCE OF BUoNAPARTE AND
THE PURPLE FLOWER.

How the First Tidings of the Promotion
Which Opened Before Him Pathway to
/ Imperial Honor and Power Was Convey
ed to Napoleon.
| Three violets are known to us here
fhe great purple, the small gray and the
white. Tho great purple violet is not in
digenous. 1t came orr ginally from Corsi-
| ca, and it is the flower of the Bonapartes.
lt brought to the head of that family the
1rst news of his coming greatness From
that time forth it was the flower he loved
pest, and it was adopted by the Bona
partc family and Incorporated into their
coat of arms.
1t was the good fortune of the writer to
hear this story told by the daughter of a
| dame d'honneur at the court of the first
empire.
1t is France in 1894. The month is May,
and Mother Nature has just awakened
from their winters sleep the flowers, the
ioveliest Of her children. After such a
storm as history seldom records the last
waves of the revolution are sullenly beat
ing upon the land Of the Burgundy rose
and Bourbon lily.
BY quick combination of the old roy
alists and Jacobins the new convention
of Paris, though preferred by the people,
Is likely to be beaten by the mob The SO
wards of the city on the Seine are ablaze
| with passion.
| The convention is in session. 1t is awcd
| by the old royalist armies and the newer
national guards.
| One commander after another has gone
over either in person or spirit to the enc
mics of peace. Barras, who leads the con-
ycntion, is alert and ready, full Of the fer
tility of cxpcdicnt that characterizcs the
Latin race, but he can sec no hope. The
republic is lost, and mighty France, whose
traditions of honor and glory for thou
sand years have had one unbroken line in
history is to lose her place among the ma
tions, for who shall be her delivcrcr from
the awful cruelty Of her own unnatural
children? .E
| The shadows Of tho soft May day were
| growing longer when Barras, the peoples
champion, left the heated hall of the cen
vention for little rest and thought, and
his steps led him to the salon of q woman
famous in those days-for she was beauti
| full, well born and patriotic-whom he
| tenderly loved. She was alone, and to-
gcther they spoke of the nations danger,
of the fear which filled each heart that the
life OF the republic might soon run out i'll
a stream OF blood.
| There is no longer leader among us,
chcrc annie" said the great statesman and
orator. whose fervor and passion had so
touched the peoples hearts. 1.-The end has
come"
| Never despair. Perhaps the good God
may help u.s. softly replied the gracious
| T,,, ,t,,, Il TO J.,
| And you say you have no LEADER" she
| spoke after o long silence in musing way,
| thinking aloud. "Who are your command
ers, then? Where is that droll little man
you presented to me at Mr,c. dc Stacl's
the other evening? lie seemed to have
brains and courage too--that little Corsi-
can
| ''Pardic," said Barras, springing into
new life, Belle amic you have given me
q thought that may yet save France!'
| They talked very seriously for few
minutes, and he returned to the convcn-
ton full of new hope. But before he left
the salon he had written little note adj
dressed to 1.-The general of brigade, Napo
leon Buonapartc, who spoiled his name
| thus until after his coronation as cmper-
or, praying his immediate presence at the
| convention, and a trusty servant was
charged to deliver it personally into NJ.
| Buonapartc's hands and not TO fail.
| II have sent to you, NJ. Buonaparte
said Barras an hour later to the small,
:, palc faced man with whom he was err
nestly talking, because YOU arc our last
hone. and / will now present you to tho
convention"
"Can YOU restore peace and order?r said
the president to the young man before
him The members looked curiously on
hnd listened.
$50 France has come to this" whisper
I'D one graybeard to his ncighbor that
her life and fate lie in the hands of a youth
of 25'-who looked even less than his age
-"only feet inches in stature, with
hair combed low on his brow, like a wom-
ans. Farccur va!'
II am perfectly aware of the difficulties
In tho patb. but I am accustomed to sue
iced. - said the Young man, speaking with
n strong Italian. or rather Corsican &C
cent ..But one thing must insist upon.
II is that am not to be embarrassed by
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