The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-11-24

! being in harder work. He labored
prodigiously. He was beloved for his
kindliness, his modesty, and rectitude,
and his high moral courage made 1t
possible for him to hold in leash the
Czechs, the Poles, the Serbs, the
Ruthenians and the Bulgars, who
made up the MOSAIC of nationalities
! in his dual empire.
i Gossip dealt plentifully with his prl-
vate life, filled with romance and mis-
| fortune. 1t is related that his mother
intended him to marry Princess Hell
ena, eldest daughter of Duke Max OF
Bavaria. With passive Indifference
the young emperor agreed to his
mothers wishes, and set out to pay
court to his intended bride. He got
no further than the park surrounding
the dukes castle, where he espled u
little girl whose extraordinary beauty
attracted him.
He learned that she was Princess
Elizabeth, younger sister of his In
tended. He resolved that Elizabeth
should be his bride and SO she became
in 1854.
In addition to her beauty Elizabeth
was highly endowed with talents, but
she found no welcome at court. The
emperor's mother would hardly coun-
tenance The match, and all of the
yiennese aristocracy held aloof from
her Elizabeth returned scorn for
scorn. Her enemies bore her every
tale that could wound her pride and
estrange her love. At last they sue
ceeded. In burst of pique she he'd
to her native Bavaria. She came back,
but the Viennese never foTgave her.
They charged her with loving fox
hunting in Ireland better than her
duty and preferred to remember her
always as the absent wife.
The estrangement widened. The
emperor was fond of pretty women
and Vienna did not lack them. Tne
empress grew more and more to con-
slider herself ga dutiful sovereign
lady, and less and less wife. The
tragic death of her only son drew her
nearer to her husband for While,
but there came a succeeding period OF
stronger repulsion, and thereafter She
almost disappeared from the 'Hofourg'
Fifteen years ago appeared kath-
arina Schratt, formerly Of the i'm
| perial theatre By her tact and Wit
she succeeded in creating for herself
place below but beside the throne,
never accorded before her time 50
openly and so permanently to any Wo-
man. Speculation as to her relations
with the emperor was wide and ma
licious. Of course it found its way
to the empress, and there followed an
incident which testifies to her uncom-
mon delicacy and courage.
Nettled by the continual hunllla-
ton of such distasteful scandal mon
gering, she devised way to end 1t.
One dav she took her youngest daugn-
ter bv the hand and. to the immeas-
ureable astonishment of her guests,
set out to pay a long call on Frau
Schratt at her country palace IN
Ischl, where all the world knew the
emperor spent hours daily. That end
ed it effectually. 1t was Impossible
to gossip before the empress about
condition which she herself had So
ciallv legalized by her presence.
Whatever the truth about Kath-
arina Schratt and the emperor, she
had the good sense never to attempt
to influence him politically. Those OF
her predecessors who had dared more
boldly paid the penalty of sudden and
noiseless removal from his surround
ings. When, with the ASSASSINATION
of the empress, the court went into
mourning, Frau Schratt was seen Dut
little. Shortly the old intimacy was
openly resumed, but it was Impossible
TO continue malignant about friend
ship that heightened into old age, and .
the sting of criticism gradually died
out. At Shonbrunn castle, Frau
Schratt appeared nearly every after
noon to keep the emperor compan?
for an hour or two. In turn ne de-
lighted to call on her at her town
house as a private gentleman, where
he could meet a few friends OF his
own choosing, and not guests imposed
on him by etiquette or reasons OF
state. Politics was never discussed.
Frau Schratt had her town house and
her country house, together with