The Washington herald., 1914-08-02
LOOKING BACKWARD
FROM ST. HELENA
The Austrian marriage was an
abyss covered with flowers.

ample, however. was happily modified
in this instance, and her grand niece
was spared the annoyance OF changing
her clothes before her courtly retinue-
An elaborate trousseau, including sixty
four dresses, had been made for her in
Paris at a cost of $4,000, and Napoleon
had personally inspected II down to the
sixty pairs Of shoes, which were so small
and dainty for so tall a woman that he
displayed a pair of them admlringly to
Constant and asked, Have you seen
many feet that could wear these
After two hours steady work, the En-
press was duly arranged in the fashions
of Paris, The next thing she did was TO
sit down and write her father. Although
she protested that she was inconsolable
except for the reflection that she was
sacrificing herself for him, she playfully
added, II assure you I am already as
much perfumed as the French women.
But as she thought of the strangers who
surrounded her. the artless, homesick
girl exclaimed in her letter Heavens,
What a difference between the Austrian
and the French ladies' The more she
saw OF them, apparently, the more eager
she was to see Napoleon. and she told
betrothed than with his court danes
Queen Caroline Of Naples, Napoleon's
chief representative in the escorting
party. aroused her distrust at first
glance and no doubt excited in her pain
full memories OF her grandmother. whose
throne this new sister-in-law had taken.
At Munich the girl bride received a
painful blow. Napoleon had ordered that
no member OF her Austrian suite should
enter France with her and the one friend
who had been permitted to continue in
her company after the parting on the
Bavarian frontier was now sent back.
She was left utterly forlorn among
strangers, and although she submitted
in silent grief. she blamed Caroline for
subjecting her to this last. hard trial.
Yet she and the crafty. steely sister-in-
lo NfV,NNn to eli gfd h2- sid Ia In
the carriage for ten more long. weari-
some days. But in the spirit of a healthy
young girl. she was readily diverted
from her griefs by the glamour Of her
new dignity. In one Of her letters she
naively said: II can't tell you. dear papa,
how funny IL seems to me, who never
have had any will Of my own, to give
orders"
Napoleon WAITING.
Napoleon greeted his approaching
bride with a letter every day, which he
dispatched by courier. and every day he
received a letter from her. The nearer
she came, the longer her letters grew.
and after she entered France at Stras-
burg, she found bouquet of flowers
from the Emperor awaiting her every
morning.
AS he watched for her coming the
cares Of empire were forgotten and the
duties of rule neglected. He ordered
handsome new suit of clothes from King
Murat's wonderful tailor and he tried
once more TO learn TO waltz. but as al
ways II made his head swim.
He went to the palace of Compiegne
because II was fifty miles out on the road
by. which Marie Louise was coming. The
old chateau that, sits on its terrace above
the valley OF the Disc was swiftly re-
furnished and redecorated Napoleon in
stalled a system Of water works, set up
statues in the park and constructed a
broad iron-trellised walk three-qnarters
- H.-.se H.- L.
Louise's favorite arbor at Schonbrunn.
He also thoughtfully instructed his rep
resentatives at Vienna to forward the
most cherished of her personal belong
ings. They had complied by forwarding
her little dog her birds, and a piece of
tapestry which she had left behind un-
finished. and he fondly planned to sur
prise her with them on her arrival.
Faithfully copying to the last the de-
tails of Marie Antoinette's marriage to
Louis XVI, he arranged an elaborate re-