The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-01-02
GREAT LOVE
STORIES
of HISTORY
Copyright, b tAs Author.l
By Albert Payson Tsrhnns
HENRY VIII AND
ANNE BOIEYN

Copyright ~ tAs Aushor)
A girl who was 20 beautiful that
people overlooked the deformity of
her having two thumbs ON each hand
changed the religion and history Of
England by means OF silly Irritation.
The girl with the double set Of thumbs
was Anne Boleyn, daughter Of . six
with whom she undertook to dirt was
his (more or less) gracious majesty
King Henry VIII. Of England.
Henry was greatgrandson Of Owen
Tudor. He found England a third
rate European power. BY his personal
genius and statecraft he made 1t one
of the foremost nations OF the earth.
As q mere boy he had been married. for
reasons of state. to his elder brothers
widow, Catherine Of Aragon. She was
many years older than he. and was
an invalid and Of . melancholy. pious
nature. Henry was athletic. jolly and
not much given to piety. There was
nothing about such . woman a. Cath
crime to interest him. Moreover, they
had NO living children except one sick
~ daughter, Mary. And Henry longed
for 4 son to carry on his fame. Yet he
would probably have remained true to
Catherine to the end of her days II he
had not CHANGED to meet Anne Boleyn.
Anne was one of
VIZ! GATHERINGS maids
"a'o OF 'o"o' Of honor. She
managed to attract Henry's attention
and started violent Irritation with
him. That she at first dared expect
the affair to go further is doubtful
But Henry, who hitherto had paid lit
tie heed to such temptations. fell VIC
lently in love with her. She had the
beauty. youth and gayety his wife
lacked. Anne quite easily won him
from the poor. gentle old queen. Tho
latter had NO charms wherewith to
combat the younger womans art.
As soon a. she saw Henry was seri-
ously interested in her Anne set all
her wits to work to make herself
queen. The upshot Of the matter was
that Henry decided to get rid of Cath
crime Of Aragon. But this was not
not recognize divorce. Moreover.
GATHERINGS nephew. Charles v. Of
Germany. was too powerful . SOW
ereign for the pope to offend. Henry
solved tho problem by wrenching Eng
land away from its Catholic allegiance
and proclaiming himself the head of
the English church. In this new ca
pacity he srranged that the marriage
with his brothers widow be pro-
nounced null and void. Then. freed
from Catherine, he at once married
Anne. Tho wedding occurred early in
1883. Anne. who had earlier received
from the king the title of countess of
Pembroke. was solemnly crowned
queen Of England.
? Her ambition was at last gratifed.
She had turned Henry's heart from
his faithful old wife and had raised
herself to the highest position in the
land. Incidentally, she had changed
England's creed. and in 50 doing start
Cd an almost endless chain of religious
persecution, murders, executions. etc.
Not that this troubled her at all. For
three years she and Henry governed
England together. They had one
daughter. Elizabeth, who was destined
one day to become her country's great
est queen. Anne herself showed little
gift for ruling.
At the end Of three years Henry's
flckle fancy wandered from Anne to
one Of her young maids of honor, Jane
Seymour. Here retribution set In.
Anne was made to pay bitterly for her
past misdeeds. As she, while maid of
honor, bad stolen Henry's love from
his first wife, so now the younger,
prettier Jane Seymour won Henry
from Anne, and by much the same
methods. Henry. infatuated with Jane,
discovered he was heartily tired OF
Anne. Those double thumbs at last
began to outweigh her good looks He
sought some plausible way to get rid
of her. Courtiers helped him out by
trumping up accusations against Anne.
Among other crimes she was accused
of treason. There il NO reason for be-
lieving her guilty on any Of the
o charges. But she
n. was condemned to
death. Plucky to
the last, she wrote mockingly to the
king. thanking him for all he had done
for her. and ending with the words:
You made me q marchioness, then q
queen. And ~ you can raise me no
higher in the world. you are now
sending me to be q saint in heaven"
Whether or not she was accurate in
this prophecy as to her destination,
she was beheaded ON May 10, 1886.
Henry took great credit to himself for
msrcifully allowing her to be thus ex-
ecuted. instead of burning her at the
stake. The next day he married Jane
Seymour.
Jane did not live long to enjoy her
triumph. After she died Henry mar.
ried in quick succession three more
wives. His good luck. his health, his
personality-some think even his san
ity as well-had deserted him from
the day he cast aside Catherine Of Ar.
aGon to marry Anne Boleyn.
In Sasslety.
Wife-Here's another invitation to
dine at F1atley's. What a bore those
occasions are.