Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-11-23

cushions in pale fiowers-all the fiimsy
"chic" of modern Paris!
The stuff filled two halls in the Hotel
Drouot governmental building in mid
Paris, where all goods sold by the sheriff
must be auctioned.
labyrinth of numbered halls. Nos. SO
and 81 were crowded with smart Parisians.
1t was the first chance anybody had to buy
a royal princess glove box. Or perfume
vaporiZer.
Relics Of royalty I bought two bro
cade-covered, silk-lined handkerchief
boxes, with the price mark of Rue de la
Paix shop still in them-$8 each. You
can have almost the same thing at the
Printemps for $1.60. I got them for 70
cents. The auctioneer sold forty such
gimcrack dainty boxes. They had cost
Louise 1920. What had she kept in them?
Gloves by the tens of dozens, silk stock
ings which she never wore twice, jabots
why there was bushel bag Of jabots,
cuffs ruches and foulards, just tiny bit
mussed. and gathered up and stuck In a
closet by some servant who was doubt
less going to sell them.
Masses of shopping. and all so fiimsy.
The first afternoon sale lasted five hours.
Thrice, in solemn tones, the auctioneering
functionary called on Princess Louise to
appear and pay UP or her goods would
go by default. Thrice. silence. Then he
began by selling the dining room set
which brought SAG.
1t was the highest price Of the sale!
Six beautiful. tender bedroom curtains.
cream with pompadour trimmings,
fetched $50. Her bedroom set of carved
wood, lacquered. brought s1Os. A Louis
XVI couch was sold for $780, Six gilded
chairs upholstered in silk went cheap at
$162 A Louis XVI screen, gilt and bro
cade. $50. 1t was modern. The princess
had paid $50 for it, the price mark being
still on. An empire screen in acajou
gilt-bronze and cut glass, SIS. 1t was the
kind Of thing the high-class dealers sell
for $120.
Hour after hour they sold light, Chic
furniture OF other rooms. lacquer. ripolin,
gliding, painted roses, cushions, poufs,
screens, light, graceful stuff, cretonne or
liberty-trimmed, of no solidity or worth,
of shopping gimcracks, belts with fancy
buckles. handbags. book covers, card
cases, mantel trifies in metal and porce-
lain, perfume balls. toilet table trifies,
all the shopping mania of the Rue de la
Paix, all practically worthless the minute
ii becomes secondhand.
The two-day sale brought only 81. 800.
Yet Louise Of Belgium is, truly. queen
of the shoppers.
The explanation is that this was just a
Paris pied terre-a makeshift home for
temporary visits. All the Princess Louise 8
homes are like this.
She Is always buying fresh. They say
that she has twenty fats in twenty cities.
Unhappy wanderer. The world still re-
members. with thrill of sympathy, how
she escaped from the sanatorium at
Lindenhof where her husband Philip OF
Coburg. had imprisoned her.
44
Now, let US do even Philip justice.
She did not in reality escape from Lin
denhof. although she had been there. In
fact she escaped from a watering place
hotel-the Wettinerhof, at the baths OF
Elster. gay aristocratic little summer re-
sort
Only recently again she told Of her OPP
preston.
II was oppressed all my life" she said.
until met Count Gexa Mattachich.
~ ui insnorahl. ssvarity sA AZ. 1 1n our father.