Evening star., 1923-10-14
France. at Last Honors Josephine,
Who Gave Up Throne to Help Nation

alliance. He must marry an Austrian
archduchess. Would Josephine be
great enough of heart to sacrifice her
i, throne, her love, her man, her wifely
place--and give the man she loved
and who loved her to another woman:
She consented. That is why France
honors her today so greatly. After
her divorce, declared state neces.
sity, the senatus- consultum main
tanned her in the empty rank of a
crowned empress. with 100000 francs
year, and two chateaux-Navarre
and Malmaison.
She lived at Malmaison, to be as
near to Napoleon as possible. They
kept up a tender correspondence,
which caused painful jealousy to
Marie-Louise-new empress,.
Malmaison again became a silent
park.
Again n mother walked with her
two children in it's shade-the same
two children, Hortense and Eugene.
now grown up. Hortense was Queen
of Holland. Eugene was Due de
Leuchtenberg. Was it all dream?
Josephine remembered coming to this
strangers park. with her two little
ones. Then she would wake to the
reality. Malmaison was hers! And
she lived there alone, 1t was al
ready Josephine's museum, while she
dwelt there. Abandoned!
At Croissy village you visit the
church of Josephine's first marriage,
the three houses she inhabited before
she knew Napoleon. and pass to Rueii
Church, where she is buried. All are
close together.
a I Malmaison, in Josephine's re-
ception parlor. you admire the
Gilded. chiselled bronze work on the
center table. The eight armchairs, in
hrocade, with the imperial eagle,
would sell for fortune. Observe
the carved wood and gilt bronze
work on the walls. Appreciate the
chimneypiece and mantel. The car
pet is too precious to be walked on.
Part is rolled up.
In the dining room, with its Pom
peian frescoes, there is an elaborate e
table service in Spanish porcelain.
the gift to Josephine of Charles ".
Napoleon's library is bare. of books,
but Its catalogue exists and the
whereabouts of almost every volume
known. Some day all will be re-
placed
ont on the terrace. there, Napoleon
played II spy.' helped the ladies' to
cheat at barre" and fed tobacco to
the pet gazelle of Josephine, until the
gentle creature tore the filmy sheath
gowns OF the fair ones and. accord
ing to the Duchess OF Abrantes, BIT
their legs!
In all but name il was already a
museum, like this. when the allied
soyereigns came to Paris in 1914.
Josephine, whose heart was with Ma
poleon at Elba, had to receive them
and take them through MaImaison,
like musuem curator.
Showing the grounds to. Napo-
Icons enemies one cold. damp day,
she took a congestion of the lungs
and died in the silk-hung bed. On
May 10 she took the chill, walking
with the Emperor Alexander. On
May 90, sisibly suffering, she had the
King of Prussia TO dinner. The next
day, while entertaining the grand
dukes at lunch, she had to quit the
table for her bed. In delirium, she
murmured:
"Bonaparte-Isle Of Elba-Marie-
Louise
Her last conscious act was 10 tear
into bits twenty copies of a wood
engraving, whose original oil paint
ing she had always hated, and whose
popularizing by thousands of copies,
some years previously, had broken
her heart for a second time. It was
the famous domestic happiness por-
trait" Of Napoleon and Marie-Louise,
circulated for political purposes, to
vaunt the Austrian alliance.
After his return from EIba Ma
poleon revisited Malmaison. In spite
of the vast work of gathering his
armies, he spent two days dreaming
over the chateau and gardens.
Poor Josephinew he said. ~At
every corner of these walks I expect
to meet her. Her death, which
learned on the Isle OF Elba, was the
greatest pain of an awful year. She
had her weakness, no doubt, but she
would never have abandoned me~