The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1897-04-22
THE QUEENS GRAY HAIR.
BT Gro. l.. MoULToS .


damp, and unhealthy, daylight scarce
ly ever reached it, and when 1t did II
seemed as though it fell regretfully
athwart its heavy iron bars that were
full of rust. In this miserable little
room, the jailer placed a small iron
bed, covering it with two straw mat
tresses, a sheet, a blanket, and by the
side of the bedstead left small earth
en- washbasin and little stool. Sure
| ly if the guardian of this prison made
such preparations as these. he must
have been expecting the arrival OF
some important person to occupy 1t.
Alas, it was the Queen of France, the
daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria,
who was to arrive.
1t was three o'clock in the morning
already the sky was colored by the TO
sy tints of an August dawn. 1t was
no longer night, nor scarcely yet day
it was the hour when Cften the
| Queen of France, opening the window
of her apartment in the palace of Yer
sailles, would wait alone in silence,
and in happy reverie, the suns first
rays and the first songs of the awak
ening birds How beautiful the gar
dens of Versailles were at that hour.
The crystalline murmuring of its
| fountains, as the water stole softly be-
tween the green lawns and luxurious
| flower beds, the crowd of statues
around them seeming as though they
were still asleep, the superb old trees
which had overshadowed the Great
King and the great centura, the SOM
bre paths where Bossuet had walked,
| and further on. at the end of the great
| avenue, the Little Trianow, the mar
bic cottage of which the Queen was
| shepherdess; such was the scene
which used to greet her eyes. But on
| this day we name, at three O'Clock in
The morning, the Queen was rudely
awakened from her slumbers. Get
up! get upr' they said to her, for she
was to leave the temple for the conci
ergerie, the cell she then inhabited be
ing thought too good for her. She
arose at the voice of the two gendar
mes and got into small common cab
| with them. The blinds Of the carri-
age were lowered, SO that the royal
captive should not see the bright
dawn even throug h its dirty windows.
There was to be no more happy dawns
| for the Queen. no more summers sky.
not bird to sing. not a flower to
bloom; the eXecutiCuer was all that
was left to her.
Reaching the conciergerie, its heavy
doors soon closed upon her, and it
seemed as though she already knew
all the ways of this new prison, SO
quickly did she pass through its
gloomy corridors. She walked through
| this obscure labyrinth as calmly as
though she were traversing the Gal
lery of Lebrun to enter the Kings
apartment. Then suddenly, from its
door. its menacing aspect, and its APP
proach guarded by spies, she OWNED
the cell that was intended for her and
entered it. They brought her the
jailor's book, in which she signed her
name with firm hand then taking
ont of her pocket white handker-
chief she wiped her lovely forehead
several tunes, which was covered with
great drops of perspiration from hav
ingdriven for SO long in the closed cab
in which she had been shut up withthe
two gendarmes; after which her gaze
fell upon thedamp wallsthat surround
ed her, She saw at glance all the new
misery about her, the cold stones, the
iron doors, the low-vaulted ceiling, all
the nakedness of her tomb. For an
instant her heart sank, but she soon
regained her noble calmness. Then
taking from her bosom little watch,
which they had left her, she saw it
was four o'clock, She then hung her
watch on nail which she had dis
covered in the wall, which was its sole
ornament, and as she had said her
prayers the night before on going to
bed in her other prison, she undressed
herself to lie down on the iron bed,
with its poor straw mattresses.
There was in the Queens cell the
guardians wife and her servant, who
was an honest little Breton maid, who.
plying the queen, offered to aid her
to undress herself. The Queen was
astonished at this kindness, and on
looking at the young girl she disco
covered her face was full of symp athy
and could hardly believe her eyes.
Thank you, my child,' she SAID to the
young Breton peasant, Il have waited
on myself for long time now," and
| then she laid down. Two gendarmes
guarded the cell, named Dufrene and
| Gilbert.
She remained thus for forty days
with no other misery than the misery
of every new day-a widow and alone,
| having not word of news OF her son,
the King of France; not word of
news of her children; not word of
news of Madame Elizabeth! No 9th
er sound than the grating cf her iron
doors, as they opeued and shut to
change the guards. No other noise
than the rumbling of the charette
as it rolled away each morning, carry
ing its daily food to the monster gull
lotine.
But toward the middle Of Septem
Der Fouquier Tinvllle went into the
Queens cell drunk with rage All OF
the republic was in excitement about
this prison The guards were chang
ed, the jailor was put in irons, and
they placed sentinel before the win
dow of this unhappy woman. and he
walked before it day and night. Il
was. you must know, because a little
pink had been thrown in at the Queens
window and fallen at her feet. She
; supported these new outrages without
complaining; she was passive, like The
beautiful marble which represents M
obe' and so calm and SAD that th'
r coarsest jailors became silent as the,
approached her, and took off thei
: hats involuntarily. For oncethe sen
T tine who marched beside her window
did not dare to look into her cell, TO
there seemed to radiate from it hol.
!. sadness which commanded respect
One day she said to the little servan