The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-03-07

II In q curious fact that nftor the failure OF
/ Louis Nopoleon's attempt TO induce tho garrison
Of Strasburg to march with him on Paris. no
| came near meeting for an hour the young girl
who WINS aftsrwnrd TO become his wife. He was,
IL is well known, arrested and brought to Paris,
where, on Nov. ~, 1896. he spent two hours at
tho Prefecture OF Police. The apartment In
which no was received by tho Project, VI. Ga
briel Delasart, was the large dining room OF the
Prefecture. In this very hall the two children
Of the Project came almost every morning
to take lessons In gymnastics with two very
young Spanish girls, the elder Of whom WINS, ono
day, to be tho Duchessc d'Alba, and tho younger
the Empress Of the French. Tho Prince. Of
course, never suspected that, on his road to exilo
he was sent to the United States-he had halted
for some hours In n room entered nearly every
day by tho child destined to sit with him upon
the throne OF Franco. Sixteen years later. when
Napoleon III. announced his marriage to tho
great legislative and administrative bodies Of
tho Said. no said that his betrothed was "a
woman Of high birth. a French woman by
inclination and education" Many persons
supposed at tho time that, In thus speak
ing. Napoleon III. exaggerated the facts In
order to render their new sovereign more
acceptable to the French people. This, however,
was not the case. Under the name OF Porto
Carrcro. the Comte do Teba had displayed re.
markablo valor and had become n Colonel Of mr.
tillery In the army Of Napoleon !. No French
mar had shown greater devotion to France than
had this Spanish gentleman. and he had brought
up his daughters in sentiments OF respect and
admiration for the Emperor's memory. At
Madrid his house on tho Gallo del Sordo was
filled from top to bottom with souvenirs OF
the Napoleonic regime. Moreover. tho future
Empress learned the imperial legend from
two great story tcllcrs. Prosper Merimeo
and "Stendahl" Henri BeyleL Merimeo
saw q great deal OF the Comte and
Comtesse do Teba at Madrid during
the childhood OF Eugene. Many a time would
the young French visitor In the Gale del Sordo
stroke the golden hair Of the little Eugenic,
while her mother. who knew the romantic his
tory OF Spain by heart, repeated legends Of the
Moorish kings. the exploits OF the Campcador.
and the souvenirs OF PelaCic and Don Pedro.
II was she who told Merimte the anccdote
which he made tho subject OF Carmen. When.
subsequently, the family Of the Comte de Teba,
who. by his elder brothers death. had become
Comte de Montijo. camo to Paris. Merimee
used to take the daughters out walking. cor.
rect their French exercises, and give
them lessons in writing and style. In
Paris, NJ. Henri Beyle likewise frequented tho
salon OF the Comtesse do Montijo. and told her
little girls tales about Napoleon which delight
ed them. Long afterward, tho Empress used to
soy that the evenings when NJ. Boyle came were
things apart. "Wo expected them with impa-
thence. because. on those days. we sat up later.
And his stories did umuse us So" One likes to
picture to oneself the little girls seated on
Beylo's knees. drinking In his words, while no
unfolded. episode by episode. the prodigious
drama he had witnessed, doubtless with
the vividness with which he has described
tho battle Of Waterloo In the "Chartreusc de
Parme." In 1887 the future sovereign and her
sistor entered the Convent OF the Sacred Heart
in the Rue de varcnne, Paris, where she partook
e her FIRST communion. She was known there
by one OF her ancestral names. Palafox. Eugene
Palafox. as she was thon called, was a gay and
charming young girl, much beloved by the nuns
and their pupils. Sixteen years later. when she
was afianccd to the French Emperor, her first
visit was to the convent, where the happy years
Of her childhood had been spent.