The Washington herald., 1914-10-11

I hid there for awhile IN ne troubled day.
/ OF g. and there Hugo passed three ol
| four years Of his infancy. while hi
! father, an army oft1cer under Bonaparte
| First Consul of France. was aiding Il
| establish French rule in the island.
| At the foot Of each Of those street.
stairways lies the harbor. while Fort
Stella, the sMulini Palace and Fort Fal'
lini, which is the property Of the Italian
government now, really Is no palace 1i
all, but a severely plain, modest dwelling
its plastered walls rising one and two
stories from a little public square. sths
Piazzale Napoleone Some oficials are
now installed in IL, but the green shut
tiers are tightly closed on the Emperor
own special apartments, which are silent
and untenanted, save for the spiders that
spin their webs in the bare rooms where
once Napoleon himself wove q clever
little web.
At the end Of the house a stone wall
shuts In the yard, but the custodian
swings the gate on its creaking hinges,
the visitor passes in between two stone
and is in the haunted stiffness Of the
little dooryard garden Of the imperial
exile. 1t Is still fragrant with the bloom
Of flowers. and in circle OF purple lilies
the encircling flowers combining to sug-
gest the warrior who put on the purple.
There are also a palm and q pine tree,
which seem to symbolic the wide rule
IndL ne G0CndhBto LOT MS lSldlo empire.
And did he not boast that 'I overlook
Europe from my windows?' Well, there
are the windows, giving on the garden.
There across the flower patch Is the
parapet Of the little terrace, hanging high
above the blue Tyrrhenian Sea, and there
Is Europe, away of through the ceru-
lean haze, where the mountains of Italy
break the horizon
If the Mulini was not much of q pal
ace II was a really charming prison. The
Emperor's method Of furnishing II was
delightfully."- Characteristic. It was part
of the irony of his exile, that his near
est part on the Continent should have
reminded him OF the days when he was
distributing crowns and coronets, and
when he created his sister Elisa the Prin-
s cess Of Piom6inIo' I witt with n. more ,rs subjects
ereigns had left him when they remade
the map Of Europe.
But the vision Of the bold hesdland Of
the principality did not awaken vain and
suggested the thought that when the
Austrians drove Elisa out she must IN
her haste have left behind her some
he Immediately sent his feet to 'Piom-
bino with orders to commander every
thing. The Austrian custodians protest.
ed. but what could they do under the
guns Of the EIban dreadnoughts, which
lay menacingly before the harbor wall?
Fortune sent the Emperor at the same
time another cargo Of furniture, which
was most opportunity wrecked on tine
island coast. This proved to be the prop
erty Of brother-in-law, the Prince Bor-
ghese, and Napoleon only kept Il in
the family when he conhscated 1t to his
own use.
Napoleon, Farmer.
With that accumulation Of furnishings,
he was enabled to set up housekeeping
at the Mulini and have q surplus for
his newly erected country villa of San
Martino. This st. Cloud Of the Elban
empire lies about three miles from Porto
terraio's only gate, which is made trebly
difieult for axsailants and invaders by
taking the form of q long. dark, twist ]
ing tunnel through the broad wall
Just outside the gate, the smokestaclIs |
Of modern steel mill smudge the azure
sky. Beyond the mill the dusty road, |
the only road from the town. sfretches
about the beautiful little bay until the |
pilgrim to San Martino leaves Il for the |
oyway that winds up pretty green
bill where Napoleon's simple suburban !
retreat nestles in a sylvan shade.
Here the banished lord Of all Europel
settled down to the task Of tiliing a few |
acres Of earth and to establishing q
farm that should be q model for his
subjects. He planted q grove Of uui-
berry trees and he introduced the potato 1
INTO the island But q tablet on q wall /
n one Of the hamlets thus records hts /
overthrow as q plowman: Napoleon, /
While passing by, took the plow IRON. q
PEASANT, but the oxen rebelled aRainet
he hands that had guided Europe and
,roke away from the fnrrow..
Since the Emperor was resolved to be
! farmer, San Aartino Is but . farrn-
iouse OF twelve modestt sized rooms and
wen le1s palstial than the Auiipt rs