The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1905-04-28
il HELPLESS WOMAN.
BY ISABEL F. HAPGoop.

went TO the palace 10 see the prince re-
gent perform the ceremony of the
Washing OF Feet We arrived 2, ly and.
As we were watching the royalties drive
up In state to the church. on the opposite
side OF the courtyard, two women halted
beside us. Their speech betrayed them;
hey were Americans. one OF them ]
had seen a few days before in the Mu-
scum of Royal Equipages, ! had heard
her asking questions Of the attendant
about King Ludwig lis famous swan
sledge In German SO peculiar that had
fingered TO listen The "ti.r was very
pretty. mddle-aged woman, of remafka-
bly, ladylike appearance. Their unintcl-
ligcnt remarks amused us greatly, and
We kept silence lest they should discoy-
n our nationality from our speech. We
had a sort of presentimcnt of II catas.
trophe, caused by previous experiences
With some of our fellow country people.
At last. in an unguardod moment, We
exchanged remarks
oh, you are English" cried the two
women In glad surprise.
no"
Then you must be Americans. Amt
these royal princes homcly? Don't you
| think It's their duty to be good looking?
! They're paid for just that"
We soon discovered that the ladyllke
woman knew no German and rather
| glored In her ignorance. while the
other, whose eccentric German had en-
| joyed, was n teacher of that language
who had perfected herself by a years
! study in Berlin" They had met and
! Joined forces temporarily at d Munich
boarding house.
When We went upstairs to the large
| hall where the washing of feet was to
take place they followed us Somehow
they had not heard Of it before We had
to wait good while and our compal
riots utilized the time by making very
audible comments and, worse still per-
sonal Investigations The ladylikc wo-
man was the worse of the two and did
the most 10 belle her appearance An
elderly gentleman. dressed in civilians
clothes passed through the hall
How awkwardly he carries that
stovcpipc hat" remarked the ladylikc
woman, loudly. Say. old cock. when
sou get there tell them to hurry up.
| We're tired with standing" A little
later when the elderly gentleman re-
turned in uniform and orders, he proved
to be the prince regent.
But the ladylikc woman had not vast
ed time In the interim. At one end OF
he great hall was dals. with seats tor
the royal spectators; at the other end
were chairs Tor members of the court.
and in the center stood a lcCtcrn. COY
cred with gold bruCade which supported
a larg" book, apparently a service book
a gold cross and several vessels OF gold
ana silver
The ladylikc woman was seized with a
thirst for knowledge
DO you suppose she said to me
that that is real cloth Of gold. such as
one reads about and that those mugs
and big vessels are Of pure metal I'm
;oing 10 see for myself what all those
things aro,"
In vain did try to restrain her. She
walked to the loctcru fiuttcrcd over the
leaves Of the book inspected the vessels
turned them up and looked at the bot.
toms. felt Of the brocadp. gave a scorn.
tul toss of the nose and returned to her
place. eve had changed our places scv-
-ral times, but found that escape was
impossible unless we lett the hall and
missed thecermeunyD
Well ! hope you are satisfied" I
said severely.
81 amt; not bit. Why can't they
print their books in civilized Language
50 that n person could tell what they are
Those pIattcrs look like the genuine ar
ticle, but | guess they're only n sham.
| These riictc monarChs have to keep uu
the show, you know. but they're bank
rupt every one of them! I'm lust
going to perch on that platform. think
It's real mean of them not to provide
seats for us, when we've come all the
way from America to look at them"
on she flew and seated herself on n
corner of the royal dais What sudden
/
strained her from taking possession of
the prince regents chair | cannot ina.
| CINE. The Germans present gazed ut her
| proceedings with sCandalizcd faces hut
said nothing
| expected every minute that the wo-
man and everyone in her vicinity. in.
! Guiding ourselves would be ignomini.
Ously elected from the palace. Nothing
happened, however II she had been able
to see more perhaps catastrophe
might really have happened For she
| did not approve OF what she did see of
the washing OF feet during her suspen.
sion from helbcrdier's shoulder. and
distinctly expressed her disappruval of
the prince regents manner of handling
the aged beneiiciares.
A week later we met the ladyike wo-
man in the street. Escape was impossi.
bic and we answered her questions with
rs good grace as we could
Il thought you were going away" |
said.
81 was" she replied. 81 had planned
l " Jun obiIIf II ltlluN III vienna, lut the
people with whom | expected to travel
from here to Vienna have changed their
route, and don't see how am ever to
get there"
The railway II still in existence" |
remarked, and the journey is short
Why cannot you get there"
"Oh. wouldn't travel alone for any.
thing" she said Pm dreadfully tim
i'd"
But you came alone from America
iidn't yOu?" gasped as recalled her
| Holy Thursday performance
Yes, but that's different, and really
am horribly timid"
"Timid!" said "Oh, good-by! Bon
voyage! N Y Herald
Pigeons in German Fortresses.
There are on an average 200 pigeons
Officially kept In every German fortress