The Clio messenger., 1915-06-18

iunotion and summoned parliament She refused
To allow the king of Italy to enter Rome, though
ne promised TO lend France his army for the
Sriyilege. She estranged Italy and offended Aus
trIa which might have joined Napoleon against
Germany.
Quickly the star of Eugene declined. Her
husband was taken prisoner at Sedan and rushed
into Germany. The parliament she had sum-
moned against his order dethroned her and her
emperor The glttering empire fell in a tre-
mendous crash. Her life was threatened by
Apaches on the boulevards. In disguise, Doctor
Evans, the famous American dentist, helped her
to sneak out of Paris to the seacoast where a
British yacht conveyed her to England Stripped
of her glory in few weeks Eugene settled in
a modest home given her by Victoria at Chisel-
hurst, England Three years later Napoleon died
there of cancer of the stomach.
1t seemed as If fate, which had lavished all its
favors on Eugene, bent upon her de-
struction Bereft Of empire. husband, honors
her cup seemel full to the brim. But the bitter
est blow of all was yet to fall upon Eugenie Her
son. Prince Louis, whom she brought up as heir
to the French throne was killed in petty war
against savages in South Africa. He was an
amiable, attractiv youth of twenty-three with
excellent parts when Zulu assegai found his
heart. The gay French had Knocked when he had
been sent to South Africa They felt that Eu-
genie was making a play" to their well known
love OF martial glory. So In the cafes chantants
they sang:
"Loulou Loulou,
Pe cnases Zulus"
But even the ETsnch cry Of mockery turned
to an agonized wall of sorrow when the prince
imperial was stricken down In a savage am.
buscade. 1t sad death. The party had
knowledge of the coming Of the savages and
proceeded to mount their horses and gallop away
Thinking that the prince had mounted his Eng
lish companions galloped off. Alas the horse
used by Eugenies only son proved restive and
ran away, leaving his rider to the mercy of the
savages, who did not know prince from pau
per and who gave no quarter.
The women of the world who had once dressed
with Eugenie now mourned with her 1t was the
last of the many blows sustained by the once
beautiful Mademoselle de Montijo
Then 1t was said that her fierce, impenetrable
pride and ambition had lost her her son. He
had been wanting to marry gentle English girl
and Eugene wanted him to marry a reigning
princess. She sent him to South Africa to sepa
rate him from his love. So, the high ambition
OF this Spanish woman raised her to the position
of the greatest monarch In Europe and dropped
her to state so lowly that even peasant women
pitied her forlorn plight.
She had been responsible for the death of
Maxmilian, the madness of Carlotta, the loss Of
the French empire and for the lives of her hus.
band and only son.
Even the widest French socialists now show
deep respect for the small, bowed figure, always
clothed in deepest mourning
Such Is the story OF the little white bent old
woman who moves among the English wounded
She Is of the past She is living sorrow An
old woman. poor in everything that makes a
woman rich save in sympathy. Her dearest de-
sire is to be forgotten.