Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1910-12-01

IN
EXILE

8Xfn OAO ~ luO lllllC 6lOup VI
I'm w wretched women who once
IST@ were queens and now ex-
- lies, without a country,
without a home. They are a pathetic
group and well are they called Queens
Of Sorrow: The mad Carlotta, once
empress of Mexico; the wandering
Eugene, nee empress of the French,
and now the beautiful Amelie, until
q few weeks ago queen Of Portugal.
1t would be difficult to say which of
the three is the most miserable. In
the case of poor Carlotta insanity has
kindly cast a curtain over her mind.
So she at least may not know how
full is the cup of her w~retchedness.
While the gay breezes played in the
bunting festooned from the govern
ment buildings and troops in bright
uniforms swung with spirit along the
broad and under triumphal
arches that proclaimed the greatness
Of the Mexico of today on the occasion
Of that country's one hundredth year
of freedom from the rule of Spain, the
vacant mind of Carlotta gave signs Of
= temporary awakening.
1t was the great Hidalgo that lib
Grated Mexico; it was the Hidalgos Of
a later day that bore Macmillan to
&the plains of Queretaro, looped the
kerchief over his eyes and gave the
signal to the file of soldiers to fire.
Men, aim at my heart" was Maxi
milian's only request. Easily granted.
He fell dead upon his own shadow
and became a monarchial memory.
And with his passing contemporaneous
history came to know the first of
these three Queens of Sorrow.
Beginning Of Llfe's Eclipse.
When the half score rifles flashed
the fire which robbed Carlotta of her
emperor she was standing in the audi
ence-room Of the Vatican appealing
for aid that the pope was powerless
to grant. Mexico had repudiated EN-
peror Macmillan. The French troops
that had held his monarchy together,
following the Civil war in our own
country, had been withdrawn. The
empress had gone abroad with a
prayer o. her lips to save the throne
for him she loved. First she went to
Louis Napoleon, who had bestowed
the bauble of kinship. He could do
nothing. Then she turned to the pope.
Again the Inevitable negative shake
of the head. Passing from the audi
ence-room, her attendants saw a smile
o~'erspread the face of the empress.
Then she laughed low and cultural
laugh. The beginning of the end had
come.
THE birds in the Borda gardens,
how sweetly they sing! Do you not
hear them, my Macmillan" ! she
asked, looking far off. The attend
ants made answer as best they could
in soothing phrase and bore her away
away to the north, where a court
was formed, with its chamberlains, Ia
discriminating and others of whatever
name and title satellites Of a crown
are known. And here they sat her
an empress gone mad-upon the
throne of make-believe.
Long years she has reigned in
empty fancy. For a time the formal.
ties Of court life were folio wed with
a punctiliousness almost real; for q
time a jeweled crown rested upon her
fast whitening hair and she wore the
ermines and purple yelvets of royalty;
for a time she bestowed phantom hon.
ors upon those who knelt, as do char.
acters in a S~hakespearian play, before
her. But not now. Fifty and odd
years have about done for the feeble
body the work that the tragic episode
Of early womanhood did for the brain
Awaiting the End.
The palace wherein they are wait
ing for the end is remote and forest
hidden. It is near Brussels and has
the name Chateau de Bouchard. OF
money to maintain 1t in magniticence
there Is a plenty-Leopold l. was Car
lotta's father. He left to her and her
sister the bulk Of his great fortune
King Leopold, the ruler Of Belgium
and the Congo and the royal spender
of Paris, who died recently, was her
brother.
Macmillan lived to know that his
empress had been bereft OF her rea
son, but Carlotta to this day doesn'i
know her emperor died at the hands
of military executioners.
When her lusterless eyes seemed tc
CLEAN with returning intelligence, as
the cable told a few weeks ago, she
grasped the arms of her chair and
rising, felt her way across the cham
<,ber as II in search Of something. She
smiled at a figure on a vase and hel
lips moved. She passed to a table
wherein stood a jardiniere of fragrant
roses. Again the lips seemed about tt
give coherent utterance. A lady-in
waiting took the feeble arm and fol
lowed where she willed. Then Carlot
ta's shoulders Strengthened and she
walked to the window with the grace
that onc was hers. Looking out upor
the towering trees from branches O.
which the frost-tinted leaves were fall
ing with each play Of the wind Car
lotta murmured, Macmillan"
That was all. The Aim gathered
again on her ewes. her body bent ait
she was lost again.
Eugene once reigned as empress O
the French, and for IA years her life
and activities were interviewer in the
story Of the rise and fall Of the ser