Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-06-04

MST she is no different from any old lady
nWo of eighty-eight. unless, the keen OBJ
server may see that she has suffered great and
enduring
The aged woman is Eugene de Montijo for
seventeen years. 1S53-1s7O. empress of the
French. wife of the Emperor Napoleon III and
mother of the illfated prince imperial, who was
Killed in the English against the Zulus in
1879
The old woman Of sorrows has been an EN-.
press OF romance as well as of France. Grand
daughter of an 1rishman named Kirkpatrick and
a Spanish lady, with her mother and sister she
royed the cities of Europe for seven years look.
Ing for a great marriage Scarce of noble birth
though her father was known as the count of
Teba in Spain, a petty title at best, her chances
for grand union seemed vague indeed At the
age OF twenty-five she achieved a notable n not
a grand marriage. No doubt it is very great
thing to be empress of the French and renntoa
one of the most beautiful and charming womon
in the world and to set the fashions of the mi
verse FOR 1t was to Eugenie that the world
owed the terrible crinoline hoopskirts and The
dreadful chignon of the sixties Previous IN tha
birth of the prince imperial, Eugenie very vain
OF her figure. assumed the hoopskirt. The worIJ
of women followed suit to the great amusement
and derision of their daughters and granddauaL
ters. Yet napoleon Iii was far from being ,
grand man. though he was emperor of ,bo
Trench. In the early ffties the countess of Toba
and her two daughters, the elder dark Spaniard
the other type of northern beauty chestnut
a
oval features. appeared at various European
capitals. The mother lived semibohemian life
at hotels something which was not approved of
those days, when grand ladies believed that
lady should live at home and visit only at the
houses of her friends. The girls were of an age
when they should have been in a convent So
attractive as they were. and popular. II was
Noted that many more men than women called
upon the Spanish countess and her daughters
Women viewed the attractive Spaniards with
eyebrows al
daughters of the countess of Teba were beautiful
rarely SO. They were not of great accomplish
ments and 1t cannot be said that they were re-
spected in the fullest of the word. They
interesting, they lovely. but in the
early ffties 1t held that ladies of rank should
not live at hotels or be at public dining
However, both girls made brilliant marriages.
The elder married the duke of Alva. owner of a
historic title. This marriage was regarded as a
triumph for the managing mother wit said
that the duke unfortunate in that she did
not choose to marry both daughters to him by
papal dispensaton. the implication being that not
the pope could Withstand the Establishments
of the countess No one. however, imagined
that the lady would be successful beyond her
widest dreams and her younger daughter
an empress, received with honor by the courts
of Europe. especially by the intensely proper Vic
tora of England.
: Eugenie had been. ii said. good deal of a
femme gallante or very forward lady In love
affairs She had thrown herself at the heads OF
two young nobemen. At time she had n
violent fancy for the Spanish count di Galva
and tried to commit suicide by swallowing shoe
blacklng when he made 1t plain that he did not
desire her Women gauged her as a wild and un-
disciplined girl, a sort of Lydia Languish, Becky
Sharp and Lady Teazle combined, a girl calcu-
lated to fI the mind of even ardent suitors with
misgivings as to her conduct a wife. She
was always Spanish and never understood the
French. She had great personal courage and
feared nothing. She meddlesome match
maker and In after years earned the unenViabe
distinction of having married the famous soug'
stress Adelina Patti. to the marquis of CauX,
marriage which turned out most unhappily. She
was superstitious dealt with mediums, would
firt audaciously, yet was always cold and emo
tonless within
This was the young lady of twenty-five. who
appeared in Paris in 1851, just after Louis Napo
leon. president of the republic. had accomplished
the bloody coup detat in which his troops shot
down hundreds of innocent persons along the
bouIevards of Paris. But Napoleon caused him
self to be reelected president for a term OF ten
wears and later in 1851, had himself declared
emperor of the French.
The previous life of the emperor had been
rather discreditable one. He had been con
stable in London, penniess exile in Hoboken
n L. he had made several futile and ridiculous
attempts TO restore the empire, his reputation
was that of silly impracticable dreamer. He
had had many disreputable love affairs and II
was known that an English woman who was
enamored Of him had financed his successful
effort in that direction. Soon afterward he
caused her to be deported by the police
Though he bore the magical name of Bona
narte Il wac doubtful that he had drop of Ma