The Irish standard., 1914-08-22
QUEEN NATALIE IN A PARIS
CONVENT

QUEEN NATALIE IN \ PARIS
CONVENT.
Ex-Queen Natalie is spending her
days in retirement in Paris con-
vent. 1t is the guest house of 1.-THE
Solitude" that the Queen of Servia
now lives.
Here with small suite for COM
pany she devotes her time to differ
ent charitable works brought to the
notice of the nuns.
The guest mother, Mere Bettina,
a tiny, frail old woman. has the guest
house in her charge and comes in
many times day to see that all is
as it should be. A photograph of
King Milan stands on the chimney
piece in the salon, and another of
King Alexander and the Queen Draga
stands near the Queens chair.
Queen Natalie is at home in the
convent, for she was educated there
and she loves every stick and stone
IN the place. Her father was an Of
ncer In the French army, and her
marriage with the King of Servia
did not prove happy one. The
1rightful tragedy happening so close
ly on King Milan's abdication, when
King Alexander and his Queen were
murdered. has made Servia odious to
Queen Natalia and she will probably
make Paris her permanent home.
She is so happy in 1.-THE Solitude"
with the kindly nuns that she has.
for the moment. at all events, aban-
doned the idea of taking an apart
ment in the city.
So long as the Queen remains in
''The Solitude" no other guests Will
be admitted. All the year around
there is a great demand for rooms
in tie guest house and it is always
filled with visitors. old pupils of the
convent for the most part. or women
otherwise well accredited to the
mother superior. Mere Bettina looks
after their comfort and listens with
great enjoyment to their tales of the
outer world.
The nuns of this wealthy and aris-
tocratic Order of Notre Dame de
Sion are women of high culture, and
their principal occupation has been
teaching. They are tolerated by the
Government on account of the valu-
able colonizing work they do for
France by means of their branch
houses in Algeria, Morocco and the
East
The mother superior. accompanied
by small court composed of secre-
taries and assistants, moves from
one establishment to the other in
specting. organizing, advising, cor
recting and with great skill and tact
administering the vast property ac-
cumulated in the course of time by
the order.
Almost all the houses that stand
around the Paris convent and gar
den are the property of the convent,
and very hard indeed is it to obtain
lease from the sisters. Once your
character and position have been
proved satisfactory. however, and
you are in possession of an apart
ment, you are favored beyond the
common run of mortals, for the nuns
are the best of landlords.
1t is in these surroundings that
Queen Natalie is spending her lonely
widowhood, and here, guarded by
the sisters, in Golf and veil. the
weeks slip peacefully by. Every
day the Queen and her ladies cross
the garden to the convent chapel,
where they hear Mass, and often
Queen Natalie passes before that
crusty FORTRESS, and with single
one of her ladies for escort goes out
on some errand into the city.
VIC diIcAA oOu ieCeuIly, WneH
crossing the Tuileries Gardens. the
Servian ex-Queen passed another
widowed and exiled majesty, who,
leaning on an ebony stick, was slow
ly walking down the long terrace at
the end of which are the fragments
of the facade of the former Imperial
Palace. To the Empress Eugenie-
for of course it was she-Paris is
full of bitter reminders; to Queen
Natalie it is refuge and beloved
home.
THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS.