The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-01-24
LIFE OF NATHILDE, THE
GOOD PRINCESS" LAST
NIECE OF NAPOLEON |
Woman Who Passed Unscathed
Amid the Temptations OF
French Court.
HANDSOME IN HER YOUTH
Remarkably Independent and
Commanded the Respect of All
Who Knew Her.
MARRIED RICH PRINCE
Who Took Her TO Russia, Became
Jealous, and Soon Carried Her
Back to Paris.
IN HER YOUTH
RICH PRINCE
BY Emily Crawford.

Princess Mathilde the last niece OF the
Emperor Napoleon l disappeared. OF all
his relatives. she I'm character most resem-
bled him, but with an admixture OF Ger
man sentiment and a touch of German
LONELINESS and much German honesty. she
had also German respect for forms that
never forsook her at times when she yielded
most completely TO impulse.
Beautiful cousins on the Bonapartean side.
with every gift Olympian gods and god
desses in a benehcent mood could bestow
on beings. led away by the ardor, the
levity of their temperaments or c0quettish
feeling Ieaped over traces and ended their
days without rag OF a character.
While leading a singularly independent
life for woman and a princess. Mathilde
ever commanded respect. A large fortune,
or at any rate income, her rank. mental
abilities and strong sense OF what she
and those around her owed TO her position
as a princess of imperial standing sheltered
her from the tongues Of the censorious. Not
that she ever acted a hypocritical part.
George Sand herself could not have been
FRANKIE in declaring her views and opin-
ions But the Princess Msthilde did not
declare hers 10 a bourgeois public. and she
could afford'to hire boxes at the Francois.
while George found herself obliged to re-
nounce the intellectual and artistic pleas
ures that theater afforded at a cheap rate
to those who sat in the pit. To obtain an
entrance TO that part of the house she had
TO wear mems clothes and pass as a stu
dent.
HER CLASS UNKNOWN.
In her time the class OF women TO which
Mime. Curie belongs were undreamed Of
George asserted her rights in literary mani
festoes, taking the character OF novels. A
set Of novels generally conceded with
change in her friendships with the other
sex. She was simply romantic with Jules
Sandeau; became lyrical with Musset;
mellihuous, as in Shiridon. which Thackery
raved about; with Chopin Socialist: with
Pierre Leroux, Republican; with Felix Piaf
and Eugene Pelletan, a lover OF oppressed
nationalities; with Charles Edmond, Pol
ish count whose real name was full of
'sheezes' and head quite as hairless as a
billiard ball.
The Princess Mathilde never asserted her
rights in print-she took them and said
nothing. An unwritten and absolute law
of her circle was 10 seem 10 ignore prefer
ence, amounting TO weakness. for any OF
the eminent artists. authors other per-
sonages she gathered round her. She. one
evening" ordered Edmond About's carriage
because he said loosely that Count Me
werkerke who had betrayed uneasinees a..
the pleasure the princess took in About's
smart sayings. felt jealous of him
If she admitted journalists TO her salon
IL was on the understanding that they
were on no account TO speak OF her or IL in
the papers. One read of her informal on
cial accounts OF fetes at the Tuileries or the
annual fete of the first communion at ST.
Gratien. near Enghien where she appeared
on that occasion as a sort or general god
mother Of these children who owed their
white muslin dresses. wells and white satin
shoes TO her generosity. Her gifts were not
always confined TO communicates OF her
| own sex. Her catholicism had no root In
| faith. She spoke of herself as "concorda-
taire;" OF the religious orders peetifcr-
Gus and indeed malady that called for the
scalpel and hot iron, and Of the Jesuits and
other monks les hommes noirs." Her
education has been outwsrdly Catholic.
/ with Protestant bent and a sympathetic
| attitude toward the Greek Church, whose
head. the Emperor Nicholas. stood 10 her
/ i'm the relation OF first cousin once re-
moved.
PLAN FOR HER MARRIAGE
Her first cousin. Helena, wife OF the Grand
/ Duke Michael Pawlowitch. and one OF the
most Intellectual women OF her time, en-
] ioyed perhaps a higher degree or prestige
than the Empress OF Russia Helena
most affectionate niece Of Catherine, ex-
/ Queen Of Westphaia. held out hopes OF
bringing the Emperor Nicholas round TO the
idea of a marriage between Mathilde and
| the Czarevich Alexander.
MathiIde received the first communion in
the private chapel of her grandmother.
Nine. Mere. in Rome. at the age OF ten. and
after the ceremony taken 10 the OUR
! inal TO receive the Papal benedction from
i Plus VIII Up 10 that time she had lived at
/ Florence. and she remained there until her
! mothers death, an event that took place In
/ her fifteenth year. The young princess
] thence lived near Trieste with the Murats
4 and Colonel Macdonald. and at Stuttgart
with her mothers family. There she shared
! the studies OF the Princess Sophie. after
/ ward Queen of The Netherlands. and a
woman % remarkable natural endowments.
They became sisters and the affectionhte
/ intimacy proved durable. But the compan-
| ionship ceased I'm 1889, when the cousin
/ Sophie became Princess OF Orange.
Mathilde. when at Stuttgart. had seen VI.
/ Theirs, who was making an historical tour
/ I'm south Germany and had found an oppor-
| tunity 10 be presented at the court and 20
/ converse with the niece Of his hero. Napo-
leon.
The idea occurred 10 him OF recommends
/ ing her 10 Louis Philippe as the most de-
| sirable match for the late Due de Orleans.
| and on his return from Paris he pressed IL
on that King But the explosion OF Fieschis
! Internal machine rendered II desirable for
| the heir 10 the throne marry at once. 80
| that his pOsterity might defend him from
! political assassins Numbering him. II he
| had sons. would be like numbering police
| man. Besides the citizen king. and stu
| more. Queen Marie Amelie. recoiled from
bringing Bonaparte into her family as
/ wife OF the heir apparent.
According Go Theirs's account. Mathilds
| must have been in her sixteenth year SPLEEN
/ didly handsome, OF an Italian type. 4
/ luscious smile, bet0kening a liberal, but
Z somewhat sensual. nature. played round ths
I mouth showing a set OF white and FAULT
/ lessly even teeth. The corners OF the mouth
had not then fallen. nor the face lost its
clear outlines-a change that had come on
I before / saw her for the first time. Al all
I times OF her life one noticed how nobiy the
/ head was set on the shoulders, and her
I whole being impressed one aa robust aud
replete with natural nobility, out not the
4 noDlencss of a woman OF nigh birth. though
II became her station Eut such as II was.
/ one might have found IL la 4 French market
t-l--t n~o Winder OF silk-worm
cocoons. an Apache nshworan o. a Roman
cOnt-Dil4a.
me british working class could not pro-