The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-04
The Human Procession

orare lne centenary Ioaay with great eclat, for EIba lives chiefly in the memories of that ten months of comic opera when the man who had all but mastered Europe ape6 his vanished royalty, and. like a child with a new toy. issued foolish decrees which be- gan: Napoleon, Emperor, Sovereign of Elba, to His People, Utterly de- void of a sense of humor the Emperor must have been to take his new posi- ton so seriously. It was a huge joke that the powers played upon the Cor sican by permitting him to retain the title of Emperor and awarding him a Kingdom that placed him on the same footing with the Sultan of Su1u and the King of the Cannibal Isles. If Napoleon had remained there he would doubtless have become what his enemies intended he should be- come-an object of derision. the butt Of the worlds sneers and jeers. But he did not stay. and the glory of the Hundred Days.'' the carnage of Wa terloo. the culminating tragedy of St. Helena, restored Napoleon to a place among the worlds heroes.
 St. Helena was grim and terrible. There humanity pictures Napoleon 1 with his hands crossed behind him. yozs-,<- o,,+ ,,rr,, II, a z. <5 1ord Solo,-,u sea,',-a caged lion feared by all the world. Elba was trifling. pitiful. pet ty, insignificant, and there Napoleon was caged monkey to be laughed at
 Napoleon, haggard and shaken by the events of the year past and his attempt at suicide. was transported to Elba on the British cruiser .Un- daunted." When he landed at Elba the whole po4ulace turned out to cheer and welcome him. His first residence was the town hall of Porto Ferrajo. the little island capital. a town perched on a rocky northern cape, with f1at-roofed houses built in tiers and surrounded by a wall. it's streets mostly stairways. Soon after himself a .epalace'' on a height above the city-a '..palace.' in keeping with his Kingdom, since it was little more than a country villa- The MuIini Pal ace is now the property Of the town As a Summer residence Napoleon also. had constructed the villa Of San Mar tino, which was the ..st. Cloud Pal ace'' of his petty. kingdom. This villa is now private property. It was there that Napoleon was visited by the charming Pole, Countess waleswska, of whom he had long been enarmored, but the Emperor had more serious things to think of than the revival of love, affair, and the pretty bag gage was soon ordered to leave the island
 From May 4, 1914. to Feb 2e, 1915, Napoleon the Great played the role of Napoleon the Small at a burlesque court. But all the time he was think ing. thinking and the tenor of his thoughts led him to that day when he shook the dust of little Elba from his feet and stood once more on the soil of France and of the continent of Europe. Tn leaving France en route to EIba he had had to disguise
 himself in an Austrian uniform to escape the insults of the popuIace
 When he returned. single mah pit ting his wit and feeble strength against the millions of the most pow erful nations. the audicity of his act arousedt his former subjects to wild enthusiasm. The army of the. Bour- bon king refused to fire on the little
 man in the tattered uniform. and within three weeks of landing at Cannes Napoleon was back in Paris. Birthdays of Prominent Men.
 Judge George Gray, the eminent Delaware jurist who has twice been mentioned for the Presidency of the United States, was born at New Cas-