The National tribune., 1908-01-16


appearance. Tho surrounded with the
rarest marbles, busts, vases and other
valuable articles, which were covered
with dust and arranged without order
or taste, Nine. Du Barry lived in the
simplest manner. Summer and Winter
she wore a robe of cotton cambria or
white muslin. even when she walked in
her park. In the evenings she and
Nine. Lebrun usually sat alone by the
fireside, when Du Barry would talk of
Louis XIV: and the days of her triumphs
and power at his court. The first time
they took their after-dinner coffee in
the famous pavilion, richly and taste
fully decorated. with the gallery above
for singers and musicians-the scene
doubtless of many a royal orgie-Mme.
Du Barry said, 1T is here that Louis
XIV did me the honor of coming to din
ner." Tho Nine. Du Barry had main
tanned no relations with the court which
surrounded her so long and lived al
most the life of recluse at Louve-
ciennes, she, like SO many of her char
acter was of kind heart, and did a
great deal of good among the poor.
Nine. Lebrun Travelled to foreign lands,
and painted many celebrities in other
countries. She spent a number of years
in Russia painting the Russian royal
ties, ladies of the court, etc, and even
the great Empress Catherine IL her.
self. The Empress was rather short
but carried herself well, while the
glance of her eagle eye and her master
full expression and manner clearly re-
vealed her true character. This Won
derful woman, who during the "a years
of her reign did SO much for Russia,
was the simplest of women in her hab
its of life. She rose at 8 in the MORN
ing, lit her own fire and made her own
coffee. Most of the day she spent on
matters of state, but in the evenings
she gathered about her the people of
her court she liked best, sent for her
grandchildren, and played blind mans
buff, hunt the slipper and other childish
games with them till about 10 O'Clock,
when Her Majesty retired. AT a gala
dinner at court which Nine. Lebrun at
tended the great Catherine, very simply
attired. but with wonderful diamonds
in her white hair and on her breast,
seated herself and proceeded at once
to pin a napkin carefully around h.i
neck, just as napkins are fastened on
little children, explaining that unless
she did SO she would spill everything
on her collar. The Empress enjoyed
her food exceedingly and ate great
deal. Perhaps the best known of Nine.
Lebrun's pictures is the one which rep
resents the artist clasping her little
daughter the child's face turned to the
front and her arms around her moth
er's neck. That and the famous Girl
with the Muff are familiar to everyone,
and tho painted doubtless over 100
years ago, have lost none of their popu-
larity with art lovers.
The second trial of Harry K. Thaw
for the murder of the architect, Stan
ford White, whose first trial yedr ago
furnished sensational reading for this
country and Europe while it lasted, was
begun very quietly Jan. 6. A success
fui Effort was made to keep people out
of the court room, and no women We're
admitted except those belonging to the
defendants family and newspaper writ
ers. The prisoner looked about as he
did at his first trial, pale, with some
what diSheveled hair, still wearing that
curious smile. Mrs Evelyn Thaw was
in evidence, of course, looking rosy and
plump, and was apparently in the best
of spirits, smiling and nodding fire.
quentiy at her husband. Poor Mrs. Wm
Thaw, the mother, the sad, stern-faced
woman, who, attired in her suit of sol
emn black, was so conspicuous a figure
at the last trial of her son, was not
present the other day, and it is said
that she is very dangerously i'll. OF
all the members of that little group of
which the prisoner is the central figure
she Is the only one who seems to merit
profound, sincere sympathy. The heart
of the whole world is filed with a ten
der pity for her in the heavy burden
which she bears, made more heavy
lately by the domestic sorrows of her
daughter Alice The week was taken
up in the making up of the jury, the
requisite number having been secured
by Friday, which is a gain of three
days on the time consumed in the Sc
lection of the first jury. The young
wife of the prisoner took the liveliest
Interest in the examination of the tales
men, signifying her approval or disap-
proval by a nod or shake of her pretty
head. The jury are most luxurously
housed in the Knickerbocker Hotel, at,
it is said, an expense of about $1,000
a week. The defense is to be insanity,
pure and simple, without any "demen-
tia Americana fixings His lawyers are
to save Thaw from the cleo
trio chair even if the only alternative
be the insane asylum, but they are
hopeful of sparing him that unpleasant
experience by proving, more success
fully this time, that tho crazy at the
time he shot White. he is entirely sane
now.
Mr.. W. S. Rossiter, whose too infre-
quent magazine articles are always most
Interesting, ana WnoSC style Is deIignt-
fully finished, clear and logical, tells
us in the January Review of Reviews
that an alarming condition of things
exists in the annual consumption of
timber, which exceeds three times the
annual growth. A large part of this
consumption is due to the soft wood
used in the manufacture of paper,
which has been found to be so cheap a
method of paper making that it mas
overshadowed all others during the last
IL years and led to great extravaganza
in the use of the wood. Spruce ard
hemlOck are the principal woods used
for this purpose, tho poplar and balsa m
are also employed, and so great have
been the inroads made on the great
forests of New England, New York and
Pennsylvania TO supply wood for paper
making that practically no extensive
tracts of soft wood now remain in this
section. That something must be done
to correct this stripping of our forests
is clear, and Mr.. Rosster suggests as
one way the cutting down of the size
of our newspapers, especially the Sun
day editions. He very wisely points ont
the fact that most of what fills the end
less pages or these editions is simply
padding" and is never read by the in
telligent and discriminating reader. The
turning over of page after page to find
something worth reading is wearisome
in the extreme. The very appearance
of such papers tires the brain before
one starts in to look at them, and the
editor who would have the courage to
cut down his Sunday edition to one
would undoubtedly be hailed by the
Q del ho