The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-07

! on the field, and after the final crushing
| defeat was among those who fled from
the eonquering French and hid in the
| fugitives' GrOttO, which is still shown in
a wilderness of granite far up on the side
of Monte Rotondo.
Might Have Been Born in England
Some 800 Corsicans. determined never
| TO wear the yoke of the French, gath
| cred around their general-in-chief and
/ sailed away on an exile to England
/ Signora Bonaparte's husband was eager
| to go with them. But for the objections
| of the wife, who was to be a mother
| again in three months. London and not
| Ajaccio would have been the birthplace
of Napoleon and he would have become
| perhaps a British soldier. Yielding to
her counsels, the husband took the lead
in making peace with the French COM
mander.
The subjugation of Corsica was COM
plete-and France had annexed Napoleon
| Bonapartel
And here 1 still stood before the holse
| In the Rue St. Charles with the marble
| tablet over the door, that lodestone which
| draws the visitor in Aiaccio again and
again. To an American seeking dramatic
effects in the pebian origin of the EN-
| peror, this house is a disappointment
| 1t is too large and too nearly palatial for
| the purpose of contrast
| While Napoleon was parvenu among
| hhuSS, he was an dflSIOCTaI dIuO1S Cor
| sicans and belonged to one of the first
families of Ajaccio His father was 'the
noble Signor Carlo di Buonaparte" in the
record of his marriage, and by the same
evidence his mother the daughter of the
noble Signor Jean jerome Ramolino."
A Tour of the House
| The place has hardly been occupied since
the Bonapartes were banished from Cor
sioa-to fame and fortune. Napoleon's
mother willed it to the King of Rome,
but she outlived the King, and at her
death it came into the possession of King
Joseph Bonaparte. Now it is the prop
erty of the ex-Empress Eugene.
| A knock at the door. therefore, would
only break the stiffness of the deserted
mansion. andI raped on the door of the
custodians house, which faces the tiny
| Place Letiza across the street from the
birthplace, where Eugene has bought and
sown with flower seed the site of the girl
hood home of Napoleons mother, the
| house of the Ramolini and the Feschs.
| Once when | raped a big mountain OF
| a Corsican came out in his uniform OF
high cap and long black coat with sill
yer buttons and again his stalwart and
smiling wife greeted me and let me in the
| great house with a shiny old steel key
that must be nearly a foot long.
In the large front room on the sec
ond floor, the salon de visite the inev-
liable register awaited my autograph and
| the equally inevitable table covered with
post cards awaited my pennies. But the
| memory does not linger long there. Ii
hastens on to the smaller but still fairly
large chamber, whose one window looks
out on the side street There are the
walls on which the eyes of Napoleon first
opened Their is the low, narrow sofa
where the young mother lay in the
clothes she wore at church and where
the child of destiny was born.
A Bride of ID
| A bride before she was A. Letizia was
now 10. and with the birth of Napoleon
four children had been born to her, the
two first, however, having failed to lay
hold on life. Remembering that sad ex-
perience and her recent struggles and prl-
vations with the army in the field, there
| was a natural anxiety about the new
| conner.
In a land of lovely women, Letizia had
| worn from girlhood the challenging title
| of the most beautiful woman in Corsica.
| According to the standards of a race of
low stature she was of medium height
and of graceful carriage, with the small
| hands and feet and ears, the regular
teeth, the chestnut hair, the noble fore
head the brilliant eyes, the long, well
formed nose, the fine mouth and strong
chin which Napoleon was to inherit as ne
however, that he was not hailed as a
pretty baby or one worthy of beautiful
mother and a handsome father, and for
long time the family was troubled be-
cause his big head was so out of propor-
tion to his really frail body
His mother nursed him while she could
and then her place was taken by a sailor s
wife, Camilla Ilari, another name immor-
talized by association with this infant,
her "Nabulionello," 20 as the good woman
fondly called her charge. wsN
| Although Letizia was attentive to her
church duties she neglected for two years
to have Napoleon baptized. Then the
ceremony was hastened on account ofsthe
birth of sister, whose promise of lite
| was SPLENDID and who lived only fye
| years. 1t was thought best not to take
the week-old baby to the cathedral, and
by special permission of Uncle Luciano
who was archdeacon, the baptism OF both
children took place here at home. The
occasion was made memorable by the
warlike spirit of Neapoleone, as he is
named in the certificate, and out of these
old windows his screams floated on the
air as he beat his little fists and kicked
his little feet like true son of Mars.
In the Birth Room
There is little in the birthroom now ex
cept memories, but they crowd it. A Bible
4 scene is there, carved in wood, a gift
that Napoleon brought his mother when
| he came home for the last time after his
Egyptian campaign. A bust of Eugenie $
Prince Imperial is on the mantel where
| she placed 1t with her own hands when
she was Empress of the French.
One the wall above the sofa is a simple
| engraving in a cheap frame 1t is a pic
ture of the child grown to young man
hood but still looking very poyish, the
| Little Corporal waving the tricolor flag
| of France on the bridge of Arcoe 1t
is like picture of him at play and in
keeping with these scenes of his youth,
| where on this red tiled floor he stamped
| about, wooden sword on his thigh.
The house as a whole Is now scantly
| furnished, but the birth chamber and
its sofa, the veritable nest in which the
| eagle was Matched, is enough for the
| most eager pilgrim, and this, with the
| holse itself should appease the greediest
| curiosity. Then there is Napoleon's back
| bedroom, where the boys wild dreams
did not equal the realities of the life
ahead of him. Moreover, this room has
a trap door, and the trap door has a
| legend of young Napoleon dropping
through 1t to escape from pursuing enc
mics in the revolution.
| If the largeness of the exterior takes
the visitor by surprise, he will be aston
ished by the imposing interiors of the
house, the drawing room, the dining
| room, the smoking room and the cabinet
or study of the father, all with their
mantels Of Carrara marble, and the grand
drawing room. This salon des fetes, its
floor of shining parquetry ready for ball
| and IFS walls hing with mirrors and "a ~