Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-03-14

Her Early Life and Her Separation
from Her First Husband.

In 1910. while the boys at Rrianne
still tormenting the litie Unframed
CorSican nobleman, and driving him
to his garden fortalice. there to seek
refuge from their taunts in
with his Plutarch. there had arrived
in Paris from Martinique a success
ful planter of that island, a French
gentleman of good family, NJ. Taschar
de la Pagerie, bringing back to that
city for the second time his daughter
Josephine. She was then a .irl of
sixteen, without either beauty or edu-
cation. but thoroughly matured. and
with a quick Creole intelligence and
Il graceful litheness of figure which
made her a most attractive woman.
Sne haG spent the years of her fife
from ten to fourteen in the convent of
Port Royal. Having passed rhe in
terval in her native isle, she was about
to contract a marriage which her rela-
tlVeS in France had arranged. Her
betrothed was the younger son OF q
family friend, fine Marquis de Beau
hdrnaiS. The bride landed on October
70, n the ceremony took place on
December Il. The young vicomre
brought his wife home to a suitable
establishment in the capital. Two,
children were born to them-Eugene
and HOrtense; but before the birth of
the latter the husband quarreled with
his wife for reasons that have never
been known. The court granted d
separation. with alimOny, to Nine. de
BeauharnaiS, who some years later
withdrew to her fathers home in Mar
Unique. Her husband sailed to Amer
lea with the forces of BOuille. and re-
manned there until the outbreak of the
revolution, when he returned. and was
elected a deputy to the st~ates-gen-
eral.
Becoming an ardent republican, he
was several times president of the ma
tiOnal assembly, and his house was an
important center of influence. In 100
NJ. Tascher died, and his daughter,
with her children, returned to France.
1t was probably at her husbands in
stance. for she at once joined him at
his cOunty-Seat, where they continued
to hive as brother and sister" until
Citizen BeauharnaiS was made COM
mander of the army of the Rhine. AS
the days of the terror approached,
every man of noble blood was more
and more in danger. At last Reau-
harnais's turn came; ne too was de
nOunced to the commune, and in0-
plisoned. Before long his wife was
behind the same bars. Their children
were in the care of an aunt. Mime.
Egle, who had been and was again to
be a woman of distinction in the social
world, but had temporarily sought the
protection of an old acquaintance, a
former abbe who had become a mem.
Der of the commune.
The gallant young general was not
II Of the four acquitted ont of the
batch of fOrty-nine among whom he
was finally summoned to the bar of
the revolutionary tribunal He died
on June %. 1874, true to his cOnvic-
lions, acknowledging in his farewell
to his wife a fraternal affection for
her, and committing solemnly to her
charge his OWN good name, which she
was to restore by proving his devotion
to France. The children We're to be
her consolation: they were to wipe out
the disgrace of his punishment by the.
practice Of virtue and-civism.-
Sloane's Life of Napoleon in the Cen
fury.