Red River prospector. (Red River, Taos County, N.M.) 1900-190?, 1905-03-30

Although of peasant extraction Os-
car II. of Sweden has for so many
years been the most imposing and ma
jestic-looking figure among the sover-
eigns of the Old World that the news
of his having been forced by illness
and old age to surrender his sceLter
to his eldest son and to step down
from the throne as incapable of ful-
filling any longer the onerous duties
of rulership will be received with a
feeling of regret even in this country,
Where popular sentiment is so averse
to monarchical forms of government.
Oscar was until a few months ago
a superb specimen of manhood, tower
ing head and shoulders " every
other king and emperor in Europe
with the exception of Leopold Of Bel
GUM, while his wonderfully varied
gifts and talents, his unusual culture
and his ~singularly sunny disposition
impaired to his manner an |extraordi-
nary charm and fascination that made
themselves felt to all those who had
the privilege of approaching him.
Indeed, for those who believe in the
advantages of blue blood and of an
cient lineage it was difficult to realize
that this grand-looking prince, so tru-
ly kingly in appearance and yet with
al so simple and so democratic in his
ways, was the grandson of a Pyre-
mean peasant and the great-grandson
on the distaff side of a Marseilles
s%hopkeeper.
The Swedish Dynasty.
There are few stories more roman
tic than hat of the present Swedish
dynasty. Gustavus ", the last mon
arch but n of the House of Vasa,
was brought to the throne at the
early age of IA by the assassination
of his father in that very palace at
Stockholm where Oscar a few days
ago turned over the reins of govern
ment to his eldest son.
Gustavus ". proved a most unsat-
isfantory ruler, and in 1909 was de-
posed by means of a military pronun-
ciamento, forced to sign his abdica-
ton after a most dramatic hand-to-
hand struggle with General Alder
kreutz and the officers implicated in
the conspiracy and was then ban
ished, along with his consort and his
children, his uncle taking his place
OF the throne as Charles XIII. The
latter being childless and an admiGer
of France and of Napoleon, selected
the French Field Marshal B%ernadotte,
, who had been born as a peasant near
Pau and who had risen from the
ranks, to become his heir. induced the
national Diet at Stockholm to ratify
his choice and established him in the
Swedish capital as Crown Prince.
Bernadotte, who took the name of
Charles John. soon made himself the
real ruler of the kingdom, associat-
ing himself heartily with his adopted
land, and in 1918. when Napoleon's
star began to wane, Joined the powers
which were striving to crush the EN-.
per0r. His services in bringing about
the latter's overthrow caused the
Congress of Vienna to leave him I'M
disturbed in the place which he had
attained at Stockholm, and in 1878,
on the death of Charles Kill. the last
OF the Vasa line of kings, he assembled
the throne under the title of Charles
XIV, his wife, Desiree, daughter of
the Marseilles stockbroker Clary and
%grand-child of a Marseilles shopkeep-
er, becoming Queen of Sweden and
Norway.
Napoleon Tilted Her.
Queen Desiree, it may be added.
was at one time betrothed to the first
Emperor Napoleon, who Tilted her
Her grandson, King Oscar. is the au.
thority for this assertion, and it will
be found likewise in the novel which
he published some years ago under
the pen name of 90. Frederick" and
entitled "A Romance of the Times OF
Napoleon and of Bernadotte."
Desiree was, according to heI
grandson, King Oscar, almost heart
roken when Napoleon abandoned hei
for Josephine de ~Beauharnais. anC
never forgaye him. For. after indig
nautly refusing Gen. Junot and Du
phOt, as Well as several other suit
ors supported and sponsored by The
emperors she finally accepted Berna
dotte, not because she loved him, buI
because in her eyes he was the only
Curious Receipt for Pew Rent.
Mrs. Frank Bingham of Bristol, n
H., has a printed receipt, oct. 20
1877, for the sale of zone pew situat
ed in the Congregational meeting
house in said Bristol, on the floor Of
the same, and numbered 10, at Sc, by
two several notes of hand of ever
date herewith; one drawn payable tC
tho town of Bristol for "a on demand
with tae interest annually; the othel
drawn payable 20 the treasurer Of the
First Congregational society IN Bris
TO- or order, for 50, in four months
N interest"