Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-10-29

pealed their high and martial music. Use
less. The one or the other music fell upon
ears too dull to hear. The formal tribute to
the central soul for time continued OF It's
own inertia; for a time royalty mad still Its
worship; yet the custom was but q Tagging
one. The musicians grimaced and made
what discord they liked, openly, insolentiy,
scorning this weak and withered figure on
the silken bed. The Gordon of the white
and blue guards of the household still swept
about the vast pleasure grounds of this
fairy temple; yet the officers left their posts
and converSed one with the other. Musl-
all were waiting, waiting until the end
should come. Farther out and beyond,
where the peaked roofs Of Paris rose, back
of that line which this imperious mind lad
decreed should not be passed by the dwell
ingS of Paris. which must not come too near
this temple of luxury, nor disturb the king
while he enjoyed himself-back OF the per-
functorily loyal guards of the household,
there reached the ragged shapeless masses
of the people of Paris and of France, wait
ing, smiling, as some animal licking its
chops in expectation Of some satisfying
thing They were waiting for news of the
death of this shrunken man, this creature
once SO full of arrogant lust, then so full
Of somber repentance, now so full of the
very taste of death.
On the great tapestry that hung above
the head of the curtained bed sEone the
double sun Of Louis the Grand, which had
Europe. 1t blaZed. mimicking the glory
that was gone; but toward it there was
raised no sword nor scepter more in VOW or
exaltation. The race was run. the sun was
sinking to its setting. Nothing but a man
weary. worn-out. dying man-was Louis,
the Grand MonarQue, king for seventy-two
years of France, almost king of Europe.
This deathbed lay in the center of land
The hearts and lives of thousands were in
these colonnades. The people had paid fer
their king. They had fed him fat and kept
him full of loves In return, he had tram
pied the people into the very dust. He had
robbed even their ancient mobiles Of honors
and consideration. Blackened, ruined, n
vast graveyard, monumental starving
ground, France lay about his deathbed and
patience for their king to die. What France
might do in the future was unknown; yet it
was unthinkable that aught could be worse
than this glorious reign of Louis, the Grand
Monarque, this crumbling clod this resolv-
ing excrescence. this phosphoresce1t dis
migrating fungus of diseased life and
time.
Seventy-two years king: thirty years a
ubertine; twenty years a repentant. Son,
grandson. great-grandson, all gone, as
though to leave not one of that once haugf1-
ty breed. For France no hope at all; and
for the house Of Bourbon, all the hope there
might be In the life of a little boy, sullen
tiny. timid. Far over in Paris, busy about
his games and his loves. a TESTING, long
curled gallant. the Duke of Orleans, nephew
of this king. was holding court of his
own. And from this court which might be-
back to the court which was, but which
the fawning creatures of the former court
This was the central picture of France. and
Paris. and Of the New World on this day
of the year 1715.
tain groups Of watchers whispered noisily.
The five physicians who had. tried first one