The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1919-02-01

ignorant of the high part her agony was to pay In
she upward struggle OF Europe, Marie Antolnette
Ed not Gle in vain. What the French revolution
began the world war has finished.
There is corridor In Versailles Mt which the
Hun ENJOYS can look with bitterness only
corridor and IL gorgeous chamber. The chamber
is that in which Bismarck explained to the French
yenipOentares Jules Fnvrc and Louis Theirs.
the crushing and humiliatins terms imposed by
Germany after the defeat of France Al years ago.
Roles somewhat reversed In this year of grace.
1919. Near the chamber is that sumptuous cOrri-
dor known the Hall of Mirrors. where once the
French monarcls stroled and clntted with their
courts. 1t Is the spot In which William pro-
claimed the German empire aud 1t is the spot
where the peace treaty that skaters his empire
VIII doubtless be signed.
Strange musty memories haunt every corner of
this gorgeous palace outside the Paris walls.
thrown open now to the clean. winds of free
dom. De Pompalour. Du Barry and the train of
lesser lovely hnrpes-their Intrgues and their
wicked beauty still lend dirk CLEAN of romance
10 the exquisite tapestries against which In the
yesterday of history their brOcades stood out In
rstenng relief. Here is the mirror that reflected
the cynic. apprnlsng smile Of Louis Nv. There is
the marble balustrade lately touched by the
jeweled fingers OF the Duchess d'Oreans. In that
famed the scarlet robe OF the Cardinal de
Rohnn.
But because of her Innocence and her dramatic
fate 1t is Marie AntoInette most OF all whose pres
ence pervades the wide, painted rooms. Over these
khSSy HoOTs HtT lFTespOhSlDe 1eet danced. In the
Petit Trianon across the way she played ut milk
maid. And the gardens still hold faint sigh OF
her lnugh. ringing out cnrefree MS peasant girls
when the whole court Joined In blind mans bun.
Such a blind king and court. eyes closed against
the dreadful game impending. They were children
the two sOvereigns-chdren in years and In out
look during those first holiday when the
court played and Paris starved and the first re-
mote STRINGS came which led by long and bloody
roads to the Versailles peace conference of the
year 1910.
Marie Antoinette only fourteen years old
when they arranged her betrOthal to the fifteen
year-old dauphin. She was married at the nge OF
sixteen. AT the age OF twenty she was queen of
France. Just before her f0rtieh birthday she was
suillotined.
For three years the king and queen had been
virtually prisoners in the Tuileries palace. whittier
they returned nfter vain attempt at
flight. At last the revolutionary fury broke. On
the tenth OF August In 1902. the steps Of the
Tulleries ran crimson with the blood of the faith.
full Swiss guard. Escaping to the national assem-
bly, the king and queen. with their two children
were lodged in the Temple. prison fortress.
Blow after blow fell thereafter the defense
loss heads of the royal family. The king was
taken away, tried. and sent back for an agonIzIng
scene OF farewell Standing rigid ms a statue In
her cell Marie AntoInette heard the guns boom
forth the ,idings OF his execution.
A little later she separated from her chill.
aren, subjected to revolving indIgnltIes during n
.srclcaI trIn and ten months after the execution
az her husband was herself condemned to die The
fortit,tle which Maria Theresa bequeathed to her
daughter had been shining with pure and steady
light these many months. Marie Antoinette heard
her tcnth sentence with smile
On a cold and windy morning In October they
summoned forth this daughter OF an empress on
whom all shame had been heaped. Her brown
hair had turned silver: her body was bent; her
voice Ind grown low and tremulous. Not for years
had any man heard the gay laugh that once chnI-
ianppd court etiquette ut Versailles weary won.