The Yellowstone journal., 1894-12-24
NAPoLEONIC STOCK.
HIS FATHER WAS A PATRIcIAN AND
HIS MOTHER A PEASANT.

But the Latter Was Cast In a Heroic
Mold, and From Her the Son Got His
Tremendous Physical Endurance-she
Was Mother of q Large Family.
OF the father and mother of the en-
peror Professor W. NJ Sloane writes
as follows i'll Century:
Certain undisputed facts throw a
strong light on Napoleon father. His
people were proud and poor; he endured
the hardships of poverty with equanim-
ity. strengthening what little influence
he could muster, he at first appears am
bitious and has himself described in his
diploma as patrician of Florence, San
Miniato and Ajaccio. On the other hand,
with no apparent regard for his person
al advancement by marriage, he follow.
ed his own inclination, and in 1864, at
the age of Is, rashly perhaps, but gal
lantly, welded lowly and beautiful
child of 3. Letitia Ramolino.
Her descent was the reverse of her
husbands, although her fortune was
quite equal if not superior TO his. She
was of peasant nature to the last day Of
her long life-hardy, unsentimental
frugal and sometimes INSCRIPTIONS
Yet the hospitality of her little home in
Ajaccio was lavish, after the manner
of her kind. and consequently famous.
Among the many guests who availed
themselves of il was Marbeuf, COM
mander in Corsica of the first army Of
aft nd
a malicious tradition that the French
general was Napoleon's father. The
morals of Letitia di Buonaparte, like
those of her conspicuous children, have
been bitterly assailed, but her own good
name, at least, has always been yindi
Gated. The evident motive of the story
sufficiently refutes such an aspersion as
it contains. OF the brides extraordina-
ry beauty there never has been a doubt
She was a woman of heroic mold, like
Juno in her majesty, unmoved in pros
perity, undaunted in adversely. 1t was
probably to his mother, whom he strong
ly Tesembled in childhood, that the IA
nous son owed his tremendous, even gi-
gantic, physical endurance. IL in his
mother was reproduced the type OF a
Roman matron, in the son would be re-
called the virtues and vigor of an i'm.
perator.
After their marriage the youthful
pair resided in Corte, waiting until
events should permit their return to
Ajaccio. Naturally of an indolent tenn
perament, the husband was at fr,t
drawn into the. daring enterprises Of
Paoli and displayed a temporary en-
thusiasm, but for more than year be
fore the end he wearied of them At the
head of body of men of his own rank
he finally Withdrew to Monte Rotondo.
and On May 2s, 1859, q few weeks be-
fore Paoli's flight, the band made form
q submission TO the two French gen
erals. Marbeuf and vaux. explaining
through Buonaparte that the national
bader bad inisled them by promises of
aid which never came, and that, recog-
ufzing the impossibility of further re-
sistsnce, they were anxious to accept
the new government, to return to their
homes and to resume the peaceful con-
duct Of their affairs. 1t was this pre-
cipitate naturalization of the father as
q French citizen which made his great
son Frenchman. Less than three
months afterward, ON Aug. 10, his
fourth child, Napoleone di Buonaparte,
was born in Ajaccio.
The resources of the Buonapartes, as
they still wrote themselves, were small,