The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-26
GREAT LOVE
STORIES
of HISTORY
Louis XIV and Nine.
De MaiutenOu
y Albert PoySon Ierhune
Copyright, BY the Author. J


This is the love story of a girl Who
was born in Jail and who lived to mar
ry the king OF France She was
FRANCHISE d'Aubigne; and historians
cannot agree as to whether she was q
saint or q very willy adventures. The
king she married was Louis XIV. OF
France He was the most dissipated
man of his century. firing Of his wild
life at the age of so. he married
FRANCHISE because she seemed SO good
and so unlike the other women of his
acquaintance. 1t was love story
which, oddly enough, had tremendous
influence on Americas future.
FRANCHISE was the daughter of a
worthless French noble who with his
wife was cast into prison and who
later died in Martinique. where he had
gambled away his fortune. leaving his
family penniless. FRANCHISE grew up
in poverty and neglect, yet managed
to procure good education and to
become a brilliant. talker. When she
was Is she attracted the interest Of a
Partisan poet. Scarron. who was old
and hideously deformed. Scarron Of
sion to convent or to marry her. She
cleverly chose the latter course. For
ten years she was at the head OF Scar
rons household. attracting the bright
est men and women of France to her
salon and reigning as queen of her de-
formed husbands small literary world.
From her Creole origin she was affec-
tionately nicknamed The Little In
dian"
Then Scarron died, and the govern
ment pension that had supported him
was cut on. FRANCHISE, at %. was
once more in poverty. Louis XIV. was
at this time king of France. He it
A Governess Who =" as ." WV 1s ,sa
Married a King. nension - Scar.
ron widow. Louis was vain,
pompous. extravagant little man, who
strutted about in high heels and an
enormous wig, and he taught his
courtiers to look upon him as a sort
of Divinity. He was lucky in surround
ing himself Gas had Elizabeth Of Eng
land) with wise and great men in all
walks of life. These gave to his court
luster that won him the name Of
THE Grand Monarch"
Through powerful friends FRANCHISE
was appointed governess to some of
Louis children. The king at first
could not bear the sight OF her and
kept out of her way. But as time went
on he began to notice this grave, beau.
good care of his children and who
treated him with such gratifying de-
ference. She was q wondrous con.
trast to the gay, hot-tempered beau.
ties of the court. Louis began to like
her. He made her Marquise de Main
tenor. The king was reaching the age
when the pleasures Of youth began to
pail. He was abjectly afraid of death
and trembled at thought of a future
punishment for the wild, dissolute life
he had led. He sought to mend his
ways and to atone for the past by
going to the opposite extreme. In
stead of a young profigate. he be-
came a middle-aged hypocrite. For
at heart, as history shows, he re
| manned as much Of q BLACKBOARD as
ever.
Nine. de Maintenon eagerly en-
couraged Louis in this new phase OF
| conduct. He looked on her as his
| good angel and learned to rely upon
her advice in every emergency. She
took quick advantage of his odd
! change of nature and soon had &C
| quired boundless influence over him
Then came her reward. When Louis
was so his wife died. BY this time he
was wholly under Nine. de Mainte
mons control. Against the wishes Of
| his family he secretly married the ex
| governess. For nearly 80 years. unit
| Louis death, the girl who had beer
| born in prison ruled as uncrownet
| queen of France. Louis thought she
! was supernaturally wise and disinter
ested. Wise she was. Disinterestet
| she certainly was not. She persuaded
| the king to promote her persona
friends to high Offices and to remove
| her enemies from the positions tina,
| many of them were holding with
credit. Even as Louis was her obedi
ent slave, so was she the slave of Ger
tain of the clergy. At their command
| she induced Loui.
.es;.. ~ 49, to make many
| starting changes
in the government.
BY far the most important of these
changes brought about by Nine. d.
Maintenon and the clergy who prompt
ed her was the revocation of the edic
Of Nantes, in 1885. This edict hat
been framed by Henry of Navarro anG
granted personal and political liberty
to all French Protestants. When the
edict was revoked and the Protestant
churches burned and their minister.
banished many thousands of Prot
estants left France. Large number.
of them came to America, where they
helped to build up the colonies here
and greatly strengthened the growing
power of the new world.
AS the years passed on Louis early
triumphs changed to defeats. His
wifes meddling with politics (Which
she did not understand) helped to un
dernine the nation. The king. feeble
embittered and shorn of his old-tims
glory, died in IT'S. Nine. de Main
tenon retired. with an enormous state
pension, to a convent she had founded