Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1910-07-28

| himself. opposed him. But both in
| time cut loose from their moorings
| and from revolutionlsts became mon
| archists.
During this shaking up of the king
| doms of Europe one of the thrones
| Il was electoral-became vacant. The
notary's boy had fought on their terri
tory and had been kind to the people
| Owing to his connection with the great
conqueror he was taken up as a can
didate and elected king. And so II
was that lean Baptiste Jules Berna-
dotte a French peasant. who had
stood guard while his king was exc
cuted. who had tatooed on his arm the
| motto Death to Kings and Tyrants"
became King of Sweden.
And now those words became obnox-
lous TO him. When the king took Off
his underclothes before going to bed,
there on his arm was the picture of
the guilotiue with the motto beneath.
When they had been placed there, who
would have guessed that fate intended
taking up this peasant soldier and one
day placing him on throne? The
king was rich aud would gladly have
given literally of his gold to any one
who would remove the picture and the
words. There was no surgeon in those
days so skillful that he could remove
them, and. though today tattoo work
may be so deadened as to be ordinarily
invisible. on rubbing the skin 1t will
family reappear to confront the one
who would Danish it,
One day the king fell i'll. The royal
physicians were sent for and decided
that his majesty must be bled. The
king raised the sleeve on his left arm.
I'VE usually bleed a patient on the
right arm. your majesty" said the op-
orator.
"And will not blood taken from the
left serve as well?" the king asked
shortly.
1T may be-"
Then draw 1t from the left"
perhaps 1t Is custom. your majesty,
perhaps because the left arm Is nearer
the heart. that physicians bleed from
the right"
"I choose to be bled from the left
arm" insisted the king, by this time
showing choleric redncss in the face.
They bled his majesty as be direct
ed, and he recovered. When again he
needed bleeding another physician was
called. Again the king barred his left
arm. The physician asked him 70
raise the right sleeve. This time his
majesty had lost some of his patience.
4 10
dered. do you suppose that |. who
have commanded on many battlefields
and detested taking orders from the
emperor himself. am to be dictated TO
by u surgeon?"
The kings command was obeyed.
And so it came to pass that the story
got abroad in the palace that the king
would never submit to be bled from
his right arm. 1t was repeated in
whispers. and all who heard 1t Won
dered. The king never heard it, but
he dreaded lest by what must seem his
strange action be had excited COM
ment
When his majesty arose in the morn
ing. unlike other sovereigns, he must
need exclude his chamberlains and his
gentlemen of the bedchamber. Not
even a valet could be admitted during
the change from night to day clothes
or during the bath lest the blue pic
ture of the guillotine and the words
beneath be seen and the secret come
out Who knows but the knowledge
that the king was thus chained to the
4 1t hfE
people might cause a sensation that
would eud In revolution? And how
would end the revolution? Well might
bis majesty shudder and see In the tat
toocd gullotine a picture of his own
end
Md so the king lived. chained. rs it
w"re to the scene in which he had as.
sisted in his early youth and which
now he would love to forget. Even
though he seldom saw the picture and
the motto he knew that they We're on
his arm. At times as he grew old and
was losing the strength that had en-
abled him to help build up an empire
the blue characters on his arm would
seem like serpent coled there. How
often at night in the loneliness of his
chamber he cried out at the ever pres
ent witness of his inglorious change of
principle was not known, for his maj
esty slept alone.
At last the king fell Ill and this time
knew that the hand of death was upon
him. His secret would be known. His
crown he could not take with him, and
he did not care to take it, One thing
only he would like to take. and that
was those tattoo marks he had pricked
on his arm with needle and india
Ink. But this memento of his past.
this link that bound him to the de-
thronement and murder of n sovereign,
he could no more carry with him than
the insignia OF royalty.
fhc king died. When Il mental went
to the death chamber 10 prepare the
body to lie in state and be viewed by
his majestys subjects. on barring the
chest and arms he saw the picture of
the guilio;ine and read the words be
low
death 10 Kings and Tyrantsw
Really Antique.
An excel III plaster of paris cast
hn Ia, ,f ~,