Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-09-25

An account of M. de Saint Hlla1re
relates that the shipwreck of Bona
partisan left him in early manhood high
and dry on the shore Of civil life, and
in consequence he took to literature.
He was destitute not only of historic
imagination, but likewise of the ca
pacity of good gossip-monger. The
scenes he had witnessed in the Tuil-
leries and the gossip he had heard in
ante-chambers did not at first seem to
have made impression on his memory,
though he turned them to account aft
erward.
His early authorship consisted in
producing a number of trivial books
on the arts of dining out, on smoking
on taking snuff, on tying ones cravat
and on making ones fortune. Even
this last, promising though it's title is,
does not seem to have had a startling
success.
Later in his life he tackled other
themes, but he was never much of a
writer
His aim was to represent Napoleon
as a hero of democracy. To this end
he issued sketches of the private
apartments of the Tuilleries, st. Cloud
and Malmaison; "reminiscences OF the
private life of Napoleon; incidents
connected with the grand army, and,
indeed, anything or everything that
had a bearing on the career of his
hero.
He was not particularly we'll treated
by Napoleon III, although his writings
are believed to have paved the way
for the coming of that son of the king
of Holland to the throne Of France
His chief reward, grudgingly given,
was his appointment as librarian of
Strasburg.
The shells of the Germans in the
war of 1870 set the library on fire, de-
stroying some of the most precious
books and manuscripts and putting an
end to M. de Saint Hilaire's Office of
librarian.
In his declining years generous
widow offered him her heart and hand
the latter having good, round sum
in (which he accepted, and the page
of Queen Hortense had a competence
in his old age.
The songs of half a century ago were
filled with the sayings and doings of
these aristocratic youths, attached in
dignifed servitude to the families of
kings and princes and mobiles of lesser
degree.
my pretty page, look out afar," says
the lady in one song, asking the youth
to tell her of the battle raging in the
plain beneath the castle walls.
A suggestion of the heroism and
poetry associated with the life of a
page in the olden time may be cleaned
from Mrs. Barrett Browning's "Ro-
maunt of the Page" where the knights
wife accompanies her lord to Palestine,
and achieves brave deeds in battle:
A knight of gallant deeds
And young page at his side,
From the holy war in Palestine
Did slow and thoughtful ride
The only song now sung for the last
of the pages of France, Marquis de
Casteja, was that of the Dies irae in
the requiem that was celebrated for
him on Monday last in the church of
Saint Augustin, in Paris.
The Pope's Onomastico.
Today Pope Leo XIII. holds a CIR
cle," or reception, at the Vatican, on
account of this being his "onamastico, !"
or name-day, Saint Joachim.
The Catholics of Rome in special
ceremonies, attended by large crowds,
take place today in the new church Of
Saint Joachim, in the Pratt di Cas-
tello.
The cause of exultation today is
heightened by the fact that Leo XIII.
is still in the land of the living, having
safely passed through the grave illness
that he was afflicted with in the spring
time. Prayers are offered that he may
still be spared to see the fortunate con-
clusion of the jubilee year, which will
end on the Christmas Day of 1900
One Catholic journal, in an article
congratulating Leo XIII. on his
"onomastico," writing of the coming
jubilee, says that an extraordinary
number of Catholics will set out for
Rome and for the tomb Of the apostles
and martyrs, to gain the indulgence
Of the ''holy ear" in 1900, but one
of the greatest attractions for the pill
grims will be that of seeing in the
Vatican this miracle of Pontiff with
his venerable white hairs, yet still so
vivid in intellect and still SO strong.
Speaking Of the late opposition made
to his influence by the Italian govern
ment, the same organ says that it
holds that wherever interests of par
ticular or of general order request the
intervention of the Pope, he will never
fail, and the very great majority of
Catholics obey his voice and follow his
counsels, and they will make every eff
fort that the high office which the
papacy exercises in Christian society
may not be in any way frustrated.
Many kindly messages and congrat-
ulatOry telegrams have been received