The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-01-27

markedly during the ten years from 1883
to 1893 that he was in England. She was
| his companion at the st. Petersburg cOro-
nation, and during their BRIEF stay there
made an excellent. impression upon the
/ present dowageT CEarina, who was then
corwned with her husband.
When Nine Waddington went TO Eng
land as ambassadors she found that her
reputation. gained in St Petersburg, had
/ preceded her: the Czarina's sister. Alex
andra, now Queen, but then Princess Of
! Wales: Queen Victoria herself the Ouch
! ess of Cambridge. Lady Salisbury. Mrs.
| Gladstone, Lady Spencer, and many other
women of rank and position made her
welcome, and she was also highly regard
! ed because Of her CleveTness by the most
prominent men of the country, Gladstone,
James Bryce. recently made ambassador
to Washington: Froude Lecky, and Alma
Tadema. the painter, being among those
whom she came 10 know well. She was
not less popular among the Americans
In London than among the English, James
Russell Lowell, American Minister 70
England. and the Waddingtons were
| close friends. When the ambassador re-
tired Mrs John w Mackay, Mrs. W. w.
Aston, Mrs. Ronalds, and Mrs. Henry
White united with Lady Salisbury Lady
Spencer, and Mrs. Gladstone in present
ing his American wife with a gem-in-
crusted gold pendant as souvenir Of
their friendship for her
Nine Washington has written enter
tainingly Of her acquaintance with all
| these people and sometimes she talks
most Interestingly about them, She saw
| the accompanying humOr Of every SPLEEN
did situation with true American eyes,
and says the thing which impressed her
I ~ q l.. - h4 al
most comic sight Of soldiers with drawn
swords apparently guarding the great
soup tureen at the coronation banquet
She went abroad I'm 1860, and made no
visit 10 her native country for nearly for
y years, when in 1904. she returned
with her son. Francis Washington. who
came on business visit There had
been vast changes In The United States
during her absence. and she hardly TeCOg-
nized New York, the city of her birth.
rs the steamer passed up the North River
10 its pier. although the shores of Long
Island and Staten Island had seemed nat
uraI, homelike, and charming 10 her
when the vessel reached the Narrows.
She is "A woman of marked personality.
and her gray hair adds distinction 10 her
appearance.
4 Presidents Helpful Wife.
3
served as President Of France a little
over year undoubtedly owes more di-
rectly to his wife who was Mile Jeanne
Bessou. OF Nerac, when he fell in love
with her. than does the constituted head
of any other nation
They met in 1853 OF 1860 He then had
an Indifferent reputation as a student
and was generally believed 90 be both
too gay and too lazy ever to amount TO
anything. His father in particular was
convinced that the sons case was hope
less. and after paying his way at several
schools, including one at Angouleme.
where he barely managed 10 take the de-
gree of bachelor of letters. peremptOriiy
| ordered him home from Paris, where he
puTpOsed studying law.
Now. the boy had fallen in love with
Mile. Besson. She was the granddaughter
of an attorney whose family. though
not of the nobility had long been in the
law, and was therefore held iu great re-
. spect by all classes. Mile Besson was as
much in love as young Falliercs. Il was
clearly impossible however, that she
should marry young man so lazy, so
dissolute. or both, that he could not pass
bis examinations. So. when his father
Z
on condition that he should study
Clement Armand turned over a new leaf
and put forth his very Sest efforts, work
ing early and late at his books As a
result he PASSED the dreadful examina-
ticns in record time after which he
speedily settled down to such further
study. as the law required before hc
could be admitted 10 practice
In his selection Of q preceptOr he show
ed what was probably the last exhibition
Of mis- old Observation-Disclosures. Instead OF
making the choice carefully ne spread
before him a list Of attorneys. shut his
eyes and jabbed the paper with a pen fill
ed with ink, taking for preceptor the at
torney whose name he had thus marked
at random.
This man was evidently a good attOr-
uey. since after a few months i'm his Of
fee young Fdliieres was able 10 pass his
final legal examinations and open a law
office of his own He decided to do this
in NeraC the home of his sweetheart,
now in the department Of Lot at Ga
rome not far from MeZin. his native
place. His devotion to Ia belle Mile
Jeanne Bess0n.' as she was widely known.
was thought little less than scandalous.
since the reputation he had gained by
his trivial conduct was well known in
Nerac. He set vigorously at work 20 live
it down, and at the same time TO build
up practice.
He succeeded fin both, and i'm due time
led the blushinE Jeanne 10 the church.
rather against the desires of her grand
father and other members Of the Besson
family. They thought themselves Of SUI
perior clay 10 the Fallieres family. since
Fallieres pere was only "a magistrates
clerk and his father grandfather OF him
VINO Is now President-was only a black
smith. and Clement Armand was born in
a shanty attached 10 his shop. Besides. /
the young man was understood to be a
crack-brained revOlutiOnist in politiCs-the
Third Empire was still in eXistence-aud
that of itself was enough. the Blossoms /
thought 10 disqualify him as Mile
Jeanne's bridegroom.
Fdllieres has advanced yearly ever since /
his marriage. save for a brief space after
his removal from the mayOralty OF Nerac
for political reasons His bride brought
him a considerable dot and in time her
grandfather's law practice was added 10
her husbands. She had friends a-plenty
among titled folk whose friendship was
not changed by her marriage While he
was mayor of Nerac, 1T some political
function or other a priest declared, no
doubt without much serious thought. that
he believed the mayor would some day be
President of the republic
Nine. Fallieres took the prophecy seri-
ously. however. and induced her husband
to do likewise. From that time she work.
ed constantly to make the priests words
come true; not by electioneering for him. !
as Lady Randolph Churchill used to do
for Lord Randolph nor by cutting a big
sWath in society. as his American wife
used TO that Lord CUrzon might get on
nor by writing his speeches for him. as
Mrs. Logan is understood to have done
for her husband. The plan of Nine. Fall /