The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1919-01-31

cient crimes of kings, all
Ignorant of the high part her agony was to pay In
the upward struggle of Europe, Marie Antoinette
did not Gle In vain. What the French revolution
began the world war has finished.
There is a corridor in Versailles at which the
Hun ENJOYS can look with bitterness only
a corridor and a gorgeous chamber. The chamber
is that in which Bismarck explained to the French
plenipotentiaries, Jules Favre and Louis Theirs,
the crushing and humiliating terms imposed by
Germany after the defeat of France AZ years ago.
Roles are somewhat reversed In this year of grace.
1913. Near the chamber is that sumptuous corri-
dor known as the Hall of Mirrors, where once the
French monarchs strolled and chatted with their
courts. 1t is the spot in which William l pro-
claimed the German empire, and 1t is the spot
where the peace treaty that skaters his empire
will doubtless be signed.
Strange, musty memories haunt every corner of
this gorgeous palace outside the Paris walls,
thrown open now to the clean. sweet winds Of free
dom. De Pompadour, Du Barry and the train of
lesser lovely harpies-their ~intrigues and their
wicked beauty still lend q dark CLEAN of romance
to the exquisite tapestries against which In the
yesterday of history their brocades stood out In
gltstening relief. Here is the mirror that reflected
the cynic. appraising smile of Louis XIV. There is
the marble balustrade so lately touched by the
jeweled fingers Of the Duchess d'Orleans. In that
corner famed the scarlet robe of the Cardinal de
Rohan.
But because of her innocence and her dramatic
fate, II lis Marie Antoinette most of all whose pres
ence pervades the wide, painted rooms. Over these
CLASSY floors her irresponsible feet danced. IN the
Petit Trianon across the way she played at milk
maid. And the gardens still hold a faint sigh of
her laugh. ringing out ~carefree as a peasant girls
when the whole court joined In blind mans buff.
Such q blind king and court, eyes closed against
the dreadful game impending. They were children,
the two soverelgns-children In years and in out
iook during those first holiday seasons 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 1915.
Marie Antoinette was only fourteen years old
when they arranged her befrothal to the fifteen
year-old daHphin. She was married at the age OF
sixteen. At the age Of twenty she was queen of
France. Just before her fortisth birthday she was
gui1lotined.
For three years the king and queen had been
virtually prisoners In the Tuileries palace, whittier
they were returned after one vain attempt at
flight. At last the revolutionary fury broke. On
the tenth OF August, In 1892, the steps Of the
Tuileries ran crimson with the blood of the faith
ful Swiss guard. Escaping to the national assem-
bly,. the king and queen. with their two children.
were lodged In the Temple, a prison fortress.
Blow after blow fell thereafter on the defense
less heads OF the royal family. The king was
taken away, tried. and sent back for an agonizins
scene Of farewell. Standing rigid as a statue in
her cell, Marie Antoinette heard the guns boom
forth the tidings OF his execution.
A little later she was separated from her chill
dren, subjected to revolving indignities during q
farcical trial. md ten months after the execution
of her husband was herself condemned to die. The
fortitude which Maria Theresa bequeathed to her
daughter had been shining With a pure and steady
light these many months. Marie Antoinette heard
her death sentence with a smile.
On q cold and windy morning in October they
summoned forth this daughter OF an empress on
whom an shame had been heaped. Her brown
hair had turned silver: her body was bent; her
voice had grown low and trsmulous. Not for years
had any man heard the gay laugh that once shai-
senxed court etiquette nf Versailles A weary won.