The Washington herald., 1914-07-19

\ Potocka how he danced. The countess
reply is a model: Sire. for a great man.
however. was not a great fool. and he
knew better.
Good people in France were sorely out
ragged by the strange dance from Ger
many. But although il invaded even ;he
frigid precincts Of the Tuileries. the EN-
peror did not shock the prudes by taking
II up, for whenever he tried to waltz that
marvellous head of his grew dizzy and
lost its balance.
A Court Picture.
To give his people a change of scene.
| Napoleon at stated times transferred his
| Fontainebleau. which Josephine detested.
| On these occasions the vast pile was
crowded with a population equal TO that
| of a town. requiring as many as l,lO0 beds
to be made in the chateau and as many
as 2,C00 covers laid at dinner. The apart
ments were assigned to the guests as in a
| big hotel, while the duties OF entertain
| ing were divided among the members OF
| the imperial family. If the Emperor gave
| A reception this evening. another evening
was marked by a card party under the
| hospitality of the Empress, while on
] other evenings there were plays or musi
! Gales, followed by balls under the patron
| age of the pTinCesses- The princes, the
ministers. the grand marshal. and the
ladies OF honor, each with dining table
in his or her apartment-once there were
| ifty-two tables to be served-gave all the
dinners. and thus left the Emperor at lib
erty to take refuge from the jaded mob
Of courtiers in a private dinner with the
Empress and whomsoever else he chose.
The social evolutions OF each day were
scheduled as in military training camp.
Breakfast over at II o'clock, the ladies
turned to tapestry work: at the men
went hunting, returning at or 9. where
upon the Emperor was likely to tap his
watch and say. Il give the ladies ten
minutes to dress for dinner" Sometimes
grha6ulad do "
morning. which obliged all those from
Paris to travel most Of the night, merely
TO stand In silence against the wall of a
corridor at Fontainebleau while the EN-
peror passed as in a review of the guard.
perhaps without a word or look. after
which the long return journey to the city
began.
Spite Of his tireless efforts to give his
court a good time. the Emperor grieved:
rs II not strange, l brought all these
people out to Fontainebleau; l wished
them TO be amused. and l arranged every
sort of pleasure. Yet here they are. with
long faces, all looking bored and tired"
Talleyrand explained, with the candor
which the Emperor permitted him in the |
privacy OF the cabinet, Sire. that Is be- |
cause pleasure cannot be summoned at |
seems to say to US. Come ladies and |
gentlemen. forward. march,
One night at Fontainebleau. as the inn |
perial party was coming from produc-
ton OF the Marriage OF rlgaro, the
wife OF Marshal Lannes, the Duchess OF
Montebello. sighed: TO think that once
let myself be almost trampled and /
smothered to see that play, and now
find nothing amusing in it," Napoleon
replied. That is because then you were
In the pit, and now you are In box!'
Royal Morals
Dreary as the court of the empire must
have been, Il had the then rare merit of
apparent cleanliness. at least. Il is true
that Napoleon. when he assumed the
crown assumed at the same time the
ancient prerogative OF monarch to be a
moral law unto himself 1t Is true he
proclaimed, Il stand apart from other
men; accept no ones conditions!" New
ertheless he continued 70 pay virtue the
tribute Of not openly adopting the now
low standards which generally
prevailed among royalty in a time when
the palaces Of Europe were houses Of
shame. and when there was not yet O