Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-15
FAMOUS WOMEN OF HISTORY.
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.
l542-1587-PARTI.
Copyright. 1912. by Willis J. Abbot,

About the name of Mary Stuart, Queen
of Scots. tradition has built up fabric
OF romance which history is far from
suppOr1ing-the story of the beautiful
young queen from the earliest days of
her infancy made the pawn of rival fac
lions playing fer the thrones of England
and Scotland. and the figure about which
ragged the savage warfare between Cath
sixteenth century.
But Mary Queen of Scots was no pawn
except in her very earliest days. On the
chess board of International intrigue she
was every inch queen, and save for
the fact that she had To encounter one
OF the greatest monarchS who ever sat
on the English -ElZabeth-she
might have attained her ambition of
adding To her undisputed queenship of
Scotland the throne of ENGLAND as Well
As it was. betrayed by too lofty ambl-
tOn and CutSeneIaled at every point by
Coed Queen Bes.s''-who was not SO
ANA Zingiy good, by the way-sne ended
her days on the scaffold. Readers OF rO-
nance think Of her Il Young girl pa
thetiCdily barring her neck 10 the heads
man aN. As matter of fact. she was
fOrty-hve when her supreme fate befeIl
her IL was characteristic of the life of
pretense she had led that when the exc
Cutioner sought to raise her severed head
display il 10 the people the hair came
off in his grasp. a skull scantily covered
with PATCHES of gray hair fell to the
scaffOid. and Jack Ketch was left grasp
ing naught but IL wig.
Mary was born December .. 1Ji2. As
she came into world heavily freishted
with SORROW and woe for her. King James
Y vi Scotland. her father. was going out
of II with "A broken heart.
Henry VIII. who sat on the throne OF
En2land when Mary was born and James
died. began at once 10 intrigue for tine
union of the crown OF England and Scot
land by the marriage of Mary to his son,
the Prince of Waes. TIE infants con-
cerned. still wrapped in swaddling
clothes. Were not consulted. but every
faction. political Or religious, i'll either
England or Scotland had its say and in
the end the negotiations fell through. Re
lgious controversies had much to do with
the failure The queen Gowager and the
dominant powers in Scotland Were Cath
ollie: Henry and his party in England.
Protestant. Ii was the day when men by
the thousands slit one anothers throats
To Uphold or demolish Il religious dogma.
and nations went To war over Il mooteo
text in the creed.
At this time Mary was indeed "a pawn.
Setting aside the English "a lance. the
court party i'll Scotland arranged for her
to be sent to France. there to be placed
in charge of his most Catholic majesty
III nry III. This was in itself deadly af-
front 10 F-HSidhu mat Edtion anu
France were inveterate enemies. chron-
ically at war. Up and down the English
channel sailed the English fleet, hoping
to intercept the French yal galley
which was taking the baby queen to her
new school. But its vigilance was
evaded.
Then followed twelve years of happi
ness for little Mary. Hardly had she ar
rived when discussion o. her betrotha
to the dauphin. or eldest son of the Kinl
of France. began. The diplomacy of tn
AFFAIR was apparent. Wi the French
and Scottish thrones united England
would be isolated between two of her an
Gent and uncomprOmising enemies
While the diplomats We're planning th::
coup tutors of the highest order OF schol
arship were educating the child % tit he
for high place i'm the society OF European
monarchs. Ronsard, whose name still
ranks high among writer's of French